fhould in the quieteft retirement, be less able to fleep or meditate, than in the middle of a fea-fight.". 13. From the green myriads in the peopled grafs- Feels at each thread, and lives along the line *. THESE lines are felected as admirable patterns of forcible diction. The peculiar and difcriminating expreffivenefs of the epithets diftinguished above by italics will be particularly regarded. Perhaps we have no image in the language, more lively than that of the laft verfe. "To live along the line" is equally bold and beautiful. In this part of this Epiftle the poet seems to have remarkably laboured his ftyle, which abounds in various figures, and is much elevated. POPE has practised the great fecret of Virgil's art, which was to discover the very fingle epithet that precifely fuited each occafion. 14. Without this juft gradation, could they be "Such then is the admirable diftribution of nature, her adapting and adjusting not only the ftuff or matter to the shape and form, and even the shape itself and form, to the circumftance, place, element, or region; but alfo the affections, appetites, fenfations, mutually to each other, as well as the matter, form, action, and all befides; all managed for the beft, with perfect frugality and just referve: profuse to none, but bountiful to all: never employing in one thing more than enough; but with exact œconomy retrenching the fuperfluous, and adding force to what is principal in every thing. And is not thought and reafon principal in man? Would we have no referve for these? No faving for this part of his engine?” * Ver. 229. + The Moralifts, vol. ii. pag. 199. 15. Above, 15. Above, how high, progreffive life may go ! Around, how wide! how deep extend below! "THAT there fhould be more fpecies of intelligent creatures above us, than there are of fenfible and material below us, is probable to me from hence; that in all the vifible corporeal world, we fee no chasms, or gaps. All quite down from us, the defcent is by easy steps, and a continued feries of things, that in each remove differ very little from one another.-And when we confider the infinite power and wisdom of the maker, we have reason to think, that it is fuitable to the magnificent harmony of the universe, and the great design and infinite goodness of the architect, that the fpecies of creatures fhould alfo, by gentle degrees, defcend to us downwards: which if it be probable, we have reason then to * Ver. 235. be be perfuaded, that there are far more species of creatures above us, than there are beneath; we being in degrees of perfection, much more remote from the infinite being of God, than we are from the lowest state of being, and that which approaches nearest to nothing *." 16. From nature's chain whatever link you ftrike, Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike †. THIS doctrine is precisely the fame with that of the philofophical emperor ‡. 17. Juft as abfurd, to mourn the tasks or pains, The great directing MIND of ALL ordains §. Here again we must infert another noble fentiment of the fame lofty writer, Locke's Effay on Human Understanding, vol. ii. pag. 49. + Ver. 245. * Πηρεται γαρ το όλόκληρον, εαν και ότι αν διακοψης της συνάφειας και συνέχειας, ώσπερ των μορίων, έτω δε και των αιτίων· διακοπτεις δε όσον επι σοι όταν δυσα ρεσης, και τρόπον τινα αναιρης. M. Antoninus, Lib. v. S. 8. § Ver. 265. As, when it is faid, that, Æsculapius hath prescribed to one a courfe of riding, or the cold bath, or walking bare-footed; fo it may be faid, that the nature prefiding in the whole, hath prefcribed to one a disease, a maim, a lofs of a child, or such like. The word prescribed, in the former cafe, imports that he enjoined it as conducing to health; and in the latter too, whatever befals any one, is appointed as conducive to the purposes of fate or providence. Now there is one grand harmonious compofition of all things. M. Antoninus, B. 5. 18. All are but parts of one ftupendous whole, That chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the fame; refreshes in the breeze, Warms in the fun, As full as perfect in a hair as heart; |