ing recourfe to the doctrine of a future ftate, and of the depraved state of man.

3. But of this frame the bearings, and the ties *, The ftrong connections, nice dependencies, Gradations juft, has thy pervading foul

Look'd thro'? Or can a part contain the whole ?

"IMAGINE only fome perfon entirely a ftranger to navigation, and ignorant of the nature of the fea or waters, how great his aftonishment would be, when finding himfelf on board fome veffel anchoring at sea, remote from all land-prospect, whilst it was yet a calm, he viewed the ponderous machine firm and motionlefs in the midft of the fmooth ocean, and confidered it's foundations beneath, together with it's cordage, mafts, and fails above. How eafily would he see the Whole one regular ftructure, all things depending on one another; the ufes of the rooms below, the lodgements, and the conveniencies of men. and ftores? But being ignorant of the in

Τα μερη προς αυτο το όλον δεν σκοπείν, ει συμφωνα και αρμόζτονία εκείνων

Plotinus.

tent

tent or defign of all above, would he pronounce the mafts and cordage to be useless and cumbersome, and for this reafon condemn the frame, and defpife the architect? O my friend! let us not thus betray our ignorance; but confider where we are, and in what an univerfe. Think of the many parts of the vast machine, in which we have fo little infight, and of which it is impoffible we should know the ends and ufes when instead of feeing to the highest pendants, we fee only fome lower deck, and are in this dark cafe of flesh, confined even to the hold and meanest station of the veffel *." I have inferted this paffage at length,

* Characteristics, vol. ii. pag, 188. edit. 12mo.-There is a close resemblance in the following lines with another paffage of Shaftesbury's Moralifts.

What would this man? Now upward will he foar,
And little lefs than angel, would be more;
Now looking downwards, juft as griev'd appears
To want the ftrength of bulls, the fur of bears.

Afk not merely, why man is naked, why unhoofed, why flower footed than the beafts: Afk, why he has not wings alfo for the air, fins for the water, and fo on that he might take poffeffion of each element, and reign in all.

VOL. II.

F

Not

length, because it is a noble and poetical illustration of the foregoing lines, as well as of many other paffages in this Effay.

4. Prefumptuous man! the reason would'st thou find,
Why form'd fo weak, so little and so blind?
First if thou can't the harder reafon guefs,
Why form'd no weaker, blinder, and no less *.

VOLTAIRE, in the late additions to his works, has the following remarkable words. "I own it flatters me to fee that POPE has

fallen upon the very fame fentiment which

I had entertained many years ago." "Vous vous étonnez que Dieu ait fait l'homme fi borné, fi ignorant, fi peu heureux. Que ne vous étonnez-vous, qu'il ne l'ait pas fait plus borné, plus ignorant, & plus malheureux? Quand un Français & un Anglais

Not fo, faid I, neither; this would be to rate him high indeed! As if he were by nature, lord of all, which is more than I could willingly allow. 'Tis enough, replied he, that this is yielded. For if we allow once, a subordination in his cafe, if nature herself be not for man, but man for nature; then muft man, by his good leave, fubmit to the elements of nature, and not the elements to him." Vol. ii. pag. 195, ut fupra.

Ver. 34.

penfent

penfent de meme, il faut bien qu'ils ayent raifon *."

5. The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day,
Had he thy reason, would he skip and play?
Pleas'd to the last, he crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand juft rais'd to fhed his blood +.

The tenderness of this ftriking image, and particularly the circumftance in the last line, has an artful effect in alleviating the dryness in the argumentative parts of the Effay, and interesting the reader.

6. The foul uneafy, and confin'd from home, Refts and expatiates in a life to come .

In former editions it used to be printed at home; but this expreffion feeming to exclude a future existence, as, to speak the plain truth, it was intended to do, it was altered to from home, not only with great injury to the harmony of the line, but also, to the reafoning of the context.

* Ouevres de Voltaire. Tom. iv. pag. 227.

+ Ver. 81.

↑ Ver. 97.

F 2

7. La

7. Lo the poor Indian! whofe untutor❜d mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind
His foul proud science never taught to ftray,
Far as the folar walk or milky way;

d;

Yet fimple nature to his hope has giv'n,
Behind the cloud-topp'd hill an humbler heav'n:
Some fafer world in depth of woods embrac'd,
Some happier ifland in the wat❜ry waste,

Where flaves once more their native land behold,
No fiends torment, no Chriftians thirst for gold.
TO BE Content's his natural defire,

He afks no angel's wing, no feraph's fire;
But thinks, admitted to that equal fky,
His faithful dog fhall bear him company *.

POPE has indulged himself in but few digreffions in this piece; this is one of the moft poetical. Representations of undifguifed nature and artlefs innocence always amuse and delight. The fimple notions which uncivilized nations entertain of a future ftate, are many of them beautifully romantic, and some of the best subjects for poetry. It has been queftioned whether the circumftance of the dog, although ftriking at the first view, is introduced with propriety, as it is known that this

* Ver. 99.