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النشر الإلكتروني

181

"Here too all forms of social union find, "And hence let Reason, late, inftruct Mankind "Here fubterranean works and cities fee; "There towns aerial on the waving tree.. "Learn each small People's genius, policies, "The Ant's republic, and the realm of Bees ; "How thofe in common all their wealth bestow, "And Anarchy without confufion know; "And these for ever, tho' a Monarch reign, "Their fep'rate cells and properties maintain.

COMMENTARY.

Thus then to Man the voice of Nature jpake:
"Go, from the Creatures thy inftructions take, &c.
"And for thofe Arts mere Inftinct could afford,
"Be crown'd as Monarchs, or as Gods ador'd."

186

The delicacy of the poet's address in the first part of the last line, is very remarkable. In this paragraph he has given an account of those intermediate means, that led Mankind from natural to civil Society, namely, the invention and improvement of Arts. Now here, on his conclusion of this account, and his entry upon the defcription of civil Society itself, he connects the two parts the moft gracefully that can be conceived, by this true hiftorical circumftance, that it was the invention of those Arts which raised to the Magiftracy in this new Society formed for the perfecting them.

NOTES.

lib. i. defcribes this fifh in the
following manner :
"They
"fwim on the furface of the
fea, on the back of their
"fhells, which exactly refem-
"ble the hulk of a fhip; they

raise two feet like mafts,

and extend a membrane be"tween, which ferves as a "fail; the other two feet they " employ as oars at the fide. "They are usually seen in the "Mediterranean." P.

"Mark what unvary'd laws preserve each state, "Laws wife as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate. 190 "In vain thy Reason finer webs fhall draw,

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Entangle Justice in her net of Law,

"And right, too rigid, harden into wrong; "Still for the ftrong too weak, the weak too ftrong. "Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway, 195 "Thus let the wifer make the rest obey; "And for thofe Arts mere Inftinct could afford, Be crown'd as Monarchs, or as Gods ador'd." V. Great Nature spoke; obfervant Men obey'd; Cities were built, Societies were made:

Here rofe one little state; another near

200

Grew by like means, and join'd, thro' love or fear.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 197. in the first Editions,

Who for those Arts they learn'd of Brutes before,
As Kings fhall crown them, or as Gods adore.

VER. 201. Here rofe one little state, &c.] In the MS. thus,
The Neighbours leagu'd to guard their common fpot:
And Love was Nature's dictate, Murder, not.

COMMENTARY.

VER. 199. Great Nature spoke ;] After all this neceffary pre

NOTES.

VER. 199. obfervant Men obey'd;] The epithet is beautiful, as fignifying both obedi

ence to the voice of Nature, and attention to the leffons of

the animal creation,

Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend,
And there the streams in purer rills defcend?
What War could ravish, Commerce could beftow,
And he return'd a friend, who came a foe. 206
Converse and Love mankind might strongly draw,
When Love was Liberty, and Nature Law.
Thus States were form'd; the name of King un-
known,

'Till common int'reft plac'd the fway in one. 210

VARIATIONS.

For want alone each animal contends;

Tygers with Tygers, that remov'd, are friends.
Plain Nature's wants the common mother crown'd,
She pour'd her acorns, herbs, and ftreams around.
No Treasure then for rapine to invade,

What need to fight for fun-shine or for shade?
And half the cause of contest was remov'd,
When beauty could be kind to all who lov'd.

COMMENTARY.

paration, the poet fhews (from 198 to 209) how civil Society followed, and the advantages it produced.

VER. 209. Thus States were form'd ;] Having thus explained the original of Civil Society, he fhews us next (from 208 to 215) that to this Society a civil magiftrate, properly fo called, did belong And this in confutation of that idle hypothefis which pretends that God conferred the regal title on the Fathers of fa

NOTES.

VER. 208. When Love was Liberty,] i. e. When men had no need to guard their native liberty from their governors by

civil pactions; the love which each mafter of a family had for those under his care being their beft fecurity.

= "Twas VIRTUE ONLY (or in arts or arms,
Diffusing bleffings, or averting harms)
The fame which in a Sire the Sons obey'd,
A Prince the Father of a People made.

VI. 'Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Patri

arch fate,

King, priest, and parent of his growing state;

COMMENTARY.

215

milies; from whence men, when they had inftituted Society, were to fetch their Governors. On the contrary, our author fhews, that a King was unknown, 'till common interest, which led men to inftitute civil government, led them at the same time to institute a governor. However, that it is true that the fame wisdom or valour, which gained regal obedience from fons to the fire, procured kings a paternal authority, and made them confidered as fathers of their people. Which probably was the original (and, while mistaken, continues to be the chief support) of that flavish error; antiquity representing its earliest monarchs under the idea of a common father, walng adv. Afterwards indeed they became a kind of foster-fathers, wouira λawv, as Homer calls one of them: 'Till at length they began to devour that flock they had been so long accustomed to fhear; and, as Plutarch fays of Cecrops, ἐκ χρησὲ βασιλέως ἄγριον καὶ δρακοντώδη γενόμενον

TYPANNON.

VER. 215. 'Till then, by Nature crown'd, &c.] The poet now returns (at 215 to 241) to what he had left unfinished in his description of natural Society. This, which appears irregular, is indeed a fine Inftance of his thorough knowledge of the art of Method. I will explain it:

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On him, their second Providence, they hung,
Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue.
He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food,
Taught to command the fire, controul the flood, 220
Draw forth the monsters of th'abyfs profound,
Or fetch th'aerial eagle to the ground.
'Till drooping, fick'ning, dying they began
Whom they rever'd as God to mourn as Man:

COMMENTARY,

This third epiftle, we fee, confiders Man with refpect to Society; the fecond, with refpect to Himfelf; and the fourth, with refpect to Happiness. But in none of thefe relations does the poet ever lofe fight of him under that in which he stands to God; it will follow, therefore, that speaking of him with refpect to Society, the account would be then most imperfect, were he not at the fame time confidered with refpect to his Religion; for between these two there is a close, and, while things continue in order, a moft interefting connection:

True faith, true policy united ran;

That was but love of God, and this of Man.

Now Religion fuffering no change or depravation, when Man first entered into civil Society, but continuing the fame as in the ftate of Nature; the author, to avoid repetition, and to bring the accounts of true and false religion nearer to one another, in order to contraft them by the advantage of that fituation, deferred giving account of his Religion till he had fpoken of the origin that Society. Thence it is that he here resumes the account of the state of Nature, that is, fo much of it as he had left untouched, which was only the Religion of it. This confifting in

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of

the four elements, and made them fubfervient to the use of

Man.

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