Ah! if she lend not Arms, as well as Rules,
What can fhe more than tell us we are Fools?
Teach us to mourn our Nature, not to mend,
A fharp Accufer, but a helpless Friend!
Or from a Judge turn Pleader, to perfuade
The Choice we make, or juftify it, made;
Proud of an eafy Conqueft all along,
She but removes weak Paffions for the Strong;
So, when small Humours gather to a Gout,
The Doctor fancies he has driv'n 'em out.
Yes, Nature's Road muft ever be preferr'd;
Reason is here no Guide, but ftill a Guard;
Tis her's to rectify, not overthrow,
And treat this Paffion more as Friend than Foe:
Like varying Winds, by other Paffions tofs'd,
This drives them conftant to a certain Coast;
Let Pow'r or Knowledge, Gold, or Glory, please,
Or (oft more strong than all) the Love of Eafe:
Thro' Life 'tis follow'd, ev'n at Life's Expence ;
The Merchant's Toil, the Sage's Indolence,
The Monk's Humility, the Hero's Pride,,
And all, alike, find Reason on their Side.
Th' eternal Art, educing Good from Ill,,
Grafts on this Paffion our beft Principle:
Tis thus, the Mercury of Man is fix'd :
Strong grows the Virtue with his Naturè mix'd;
The Drofs cements what else were too refin'd
And in one Inter'ft Body acts with Mind.
As Fruits, ungrateful to their Planter's Care,
On Savage-Stocks inferted, learn to bear;
The fureft Virtues, thus from Paffions shoot,
Wild Nature's Vigour working at the Root.
- What Crops of Wit and Honesty appear,
From Spleen, from Obftinacy, Hate, or Fear!
See Anger, Zeal and Fortitude fupply;
Ev'n Avarice, Prudence; Sloth, Philofophy;
Envy, to which th' ignoble Mind's a Slave,
Is Emulation in the Learn'd and Brave:
Nor Virtue, Male or Female, can we name,
But what or grows on Pride, or grows on Shame.
Thus Nature gives us (let us check our Pride)
The Virtue neareft to our Vice ally'd;
Reafon the Byafs turns to Good from Ill,
And Nero reigns a Titus, if he will.
The fiery Soul, abhor'd in Cataline,
In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine.
The fame Ambition can destroy or save,
And makes a Patriot, as it makes a Knave.
This Light and Darkuefs in our Chaos join'd,
What fhall divide? The God within the Mind.
Tho' each by turns the other's Bounds invade,
As in fome well-wrought Picture Light and Shade,
And oft fo mix, the Diff'rence is too nice,
Where ends the Virtue, or begins the Vice:
Fools! who from hence into the Notion fall,
That Vice or Virtue there is none at all.
If white and black blend, foften, and unite
A thousand Ways, is there no black and white?
Afk your own Heart, and nothing is fo plain;
'Tis to mistake them, cofts the Time aud Pain.
Vice is a Monster of fo frightful Mein,
As, to be hated, needs but to be seen;
But feen too oft, familiar with her Face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace :
A Cheat! a Whore! who ftarts not at the Name, 205 In all the Inns of Court, or Drury-Lane?
But where the Point of Vice, was ne'er agreed:
Afk where's the North? At York, 'tis on the Tweed:
In Scotland, at the Orcades, and there,
At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where. 210 No Creature owns it, in the first Degree,
But thinks his Neighbour farther gone than he.
Ev'n those who dwell beneath the very Zone,
Or never feel the Rage, or never own;
What happier Nature fhrinks at with Affright,
The hard Inhabitant contends his Right.
Virtuous and Vicious every Man must be,
Few in th' Extreme, but all in the Degree:
The Rogue and Fool, by Fits, is fair and wife,
And ev❜n the best, by Fits, what they despise.
'Tis but by Parts we follow Good or Ill,
For, Vice or Virtue, Self directs it still;
Each Individual feeks a fev'ral Gole;
But HEAVEN'S great View is One, and that the WHOLE?
That counter-works each Folly and Caprice;
That difappoints th' Effects of ev'ry Vice.
That happy Frailties to all Ranks apply'd,
Shame to the Virgin, to the Matron Pride;
Fear to the Statefman, Rafhness to the Chief,
To Kings Prefumption, and to Crowds Belief.
That Virtue's Ends from Vanity can raise,
Which feeks no Int'reft, no Reward but Praise.
And builds on Wants, and on Defects of Mind,
The Joy, the Peace, the Glory of Mankind.
Heav'n forming each on other to depend,
A Master, or a Servant, or a Friend,
Bids each on other for Affiftance call,
'Till one Man's Weakness grows the Strength of all.
Wants, Frailties, Paffions, closer still allye
The common Int'reft, or endear the Tye:
To these we owe true Friendship, Love fincere,
Each home-felt Joy that Life inherits here:
Yet from the fame we learn, in it's Decline,
Those Joys, thofe Loves, thofe Int'refts to refign.
Taught half by Reason, half by mere Decay,
To welcome Death, and calmly pass away.
Whate'er the Paffion, Knowledge, Fame, or Pelf,
Not one will change his Neighbour with himself.
The Learn'd are happy, Nature to explore;
The Fool is happy, that he knows no more;
The Rich are happy in the Plenty given ; ·
The Poor contents him with the Care of Heaven.
See! the blind Beggar dance, the Cripple fing,
The Sot a Hero, Lunatic a King:
The ftarving Chymift in his golden Views
Supreamly blefs'd; the Poet in his Mufe.
See! fome ftrange Comfort, ev'ry State attend.
And Pride bestow'd on all, a common Friend;
See! fome fit Paffion ev'ry Age fupply,
Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.
Till then, Opinion gilds with varying Rays
Those painted Clouds that beautify our Days;
Each Want of Happiness by Hope fupply'd,
And each Vacuity of Senfe by Pride.
These build up all that Knowledge can destroy.
In Folly's Cup ftill laughs the Bubble, Joy;
One Prospect loft, another ftill we gain,
And not a Vanity is giv'n in vain;
Even mean Self-Love becomes by Force divine,
The Scale to measure others Wants by thine.
See! and confefs, one Comfort ftill must rise,
'Tis this, tho' Man's a Fool, yet GOD IS WISE.
The End of the fecond EPISTLE.
"Acts to one End, but acts by various Laws.".
In all the Madness of fuperfluous Health,
The Trim of Pride, and Impudence of Wealth;
Let that great Truth be prefent Night and Day;
But most be present, if thou preach, or pray.
View thy own World: Behold the Chain of Love
Combining all below, and all above.
See, lifelefs Matter moving to one End,
The fingle Atoms each to other tend;
Attract, attracted to, the next in Place,
By Nature form'd its Neighbour to embrace.
Behold it next with various Life fuftain,
Prefs to one Centre fill, the Gen'ral Good.
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