Men of thofe common Comforts of Life, which are a Kind of Support to us under the Want of Happinefs: Such as the more innocent of those Delufions which he speaks of in the fecond Epiftle, where he fays: 'Till then, Opinion gilds with varying Rays Thofe painted Clouds, that beautify our Days, &c. L. 265. Having thus prov'd how empty and unfatisfactory. all these greatest external Goods, are, from an Examination of their Nature, the Poet proceeds to ftrengthen his Argument [from 1. 258 to 299] by thefe two farther Confiderations: rft, That the Acquirement of thefe Goods is made with the Lofs of one another; or of greater, either as inconfiftent with them, or as spent in attaining them: 2 How much of other each is fure to coft? 2dly, That the Poffeffors of each of thefe Goods are generally fuch as are fo far from raising Envy in a good Man, that he would refufe to take their Per fons, tho' accompanied with their Poffeffions. And this the Poet illuftrates by Examples: Think, and if still thefe Things thy Envy call, Say, would't thou be the Man to whom they fall? &c. 3dly, Nay, that even the Poffeffion of them all together, where they have excluded Virtue, only terminates in more enormous Mifery: If all, united, thy Ambition call, From antient Story learn to fcorn them all. VOL. II. There, There, inthe Rich, the Honour'd, Fam'd, and Great, See the falfe Scale of Happiness compleat ! Mark by what wretched Steps their Glory grows, From Dirt and Sea-weed, as proud Venice rofe, &e." Having thus at length fhewn, that Happiness confifts neither in any external Goods, nor in all Kinds of internal, that is, fuch of them as are not of our own Acquirement, he concludes [from L. 298 to 301] that it is to be found in Virtue alone. Tis not Titles nor Names that make either Nobity or Happiness: You'll find if once the Monarch acts the Monk, Or Cobler like the Parfon will be drunk, Worth makes the Man, and Want of it the Fellow; The reft is all but Leather and Prunella. In every Part of the whole Effay, he very ftrongly recommends Virtue, by firft fhewing the Beauty of it, and then by praifing of it. It is in that we tafte the Good without the Fall to Ill: It is there he declares, that Merit receives conftant Pay; that it brings the greatest Joy if it obtain its End, and if not is exempt from Pain; that tho' it be ever fo blefs'd it never knows Satiety, and Diftrefs cannot take away the Relifh of its Joy; that the very Fears of Virtue are more pleafing than the loud Laughter of Folly, and always increafing; for only to with for more Virtue is to gain it; and the fimple-minded Man, with Nature only for his Guide, found plainly in what Happiness fhould be plac'd:. Yet poor with Fortune, and with Learning blind, The Bad muft mifs, the Good antaught will find; Slave to no Sect, who takes no private Road, But looks thro' Nature up to Nature's God. Purfues that Chain, which links th' immenfe Defign, Joins Heav'n and Earth, and Mortal and Divine. Sees Sees that no Being any Blifs can know, . And now having mention'd the Love of God, he makes Use of this Occafion to make Profeffion of his Faith; for tho' he would not have this plain virtuous Man be a Slave to any Sect, nor look further than Nature, yet here he seems to wifh, that Hope may open fill and open on his Soul, 'till at laft it comes to be Faith. Mr. Pope has us'd thefe Words Faith and Hope before, as if he meant the fame Thing, and doubtlefs moft Hopes are mix'd with a Degree of Faith, arifing from Probability; but whether that be fuch a Faith as Mr. Pope defires to be here meant, I shall not take upon me to determine, he feems to intimate otherwife, when he fays, Hope in known Blifs, and Faith in Bliss unknown. Which he affirms Nature has planted in Man, and arifes from his Self-love, which is focial and divine; and the good Man makes Happiness to himself out of the Bleffings of his Neighbours, nay of his Enemies: Self-love thus pufh'd to Social, to Divine, Gives thee to make thy Neighbour's Bleffing thine: Grafp the whole Worlds of Reafon, Life, and Senfe, Happier, as kinder! in whate'er Degree, Bb 2 This This leads the Poet to a beautiful Comparison of a Pebble thrown into the Water, which at firft makes a small, and then a larger, and ftill larger Circle, 'till it goes over the whole Lake. This he applies to Self-love, tho' it better expreffes Social-love; but as Mr. Pope thinks, that by this Time he has prov'd them both to be the fame, he has no longer Need to make the Distinction. The Lines taking Self-love here to mean Social or Univerfal-love, cannot be ex cell'd: Self-love but ferves the virtuous Mind to wake, Friend, Parent, Neighbour, firft it will embrace, Earth fmiles around, with boundless Bounty bleft, Immediately after this he addreffes his noble Friend, with whom he is fuppos'd to have been expatiating all the Time, over the Scene of Man; and having brought all his Proofs forward, after a very noble Submiffion, in which he begs to be taught by him, he confefies to have wrote this Epiftle at his Inftance. In thefe laft Lines of this Epiftle have been notic'd feveral great Beauties. 1. The firft and chief is a Grandeur and Sublimity of Conception: Come then, my Friend! my Genius come along, O Mafter of the Poet, and the Song! And while the Mufe now ftoops, and now afcends, To Man's low Paffions, or their glorious Ends. 2. The Second, that pathetick Enthufiafm, which at the fame Time melts and enflames: Teach me, like thee, in various Nature wife, 3. A certain elegant Formation and Ordinance of Figures: O! while along the Stream of Time, thy Name, 4. A fplendid Diction. " When Statefmen, Heroes, Kings, in Duft repofe, And Fifthly, which includes in itself all the reft, Thefe laft five Lines are a Summary of the Whole: But whether Reafon and Paffion anfwer one great End or no, or whether Self-love and Social be the Bb 3 fame, |