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If all, united, thy ambition call,

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From ancient ftory learn to scorn them all.
There, in the rich, the honour'd, fam'd, and great,
See the false scale of Happiness complete!

In hearts of Kings, or arms of Queens who lay,
How happy! those to ruin, these betray.
Mark by what wretched fteps their glory grows,
From dirt and fea-weed as proud Venice rofe;
In each how guilt and greatness equal ran,
And all that rais'd the Hero, funk the Man:

NOTES.

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to I-columbkill, defcribing the church there, tells us, that "In one corner is a pe"culiar inclosure, in which "were the monuments of "the kings of many diffe

men, who have overturned | Sachavarel, in his Voyage the Liberties of their Country. The times, in which others fucceeded in this attempt, were fuch as faw the fpirit of Liberty fuppreffed and stifled by a general luxury and venality: But Cromwell fubdued his country, when this fpirit was at its height, by a fuccessful strug

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rent nations, as Scotland, "Ireland, Norway, and the Ifle of Man. THIS (faid the person who fhewed me

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"ftone) was the monument "of the Great TEAGUE, "king of Ireland. I had

gle against court-oppreffion;" place, pointing to a plain and while it was conducted and fupported by a set of the greatest Geniuses for government the world ever faw embarked together in one common cause.

VER. 283. Or ravish'd with the whiffling of a Name,] And even this fantaftic glory fometimes fuffers a terrible reverse.

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never heard of him, and "could not but reflect of "how little value is Great"nefs that has barely left a 66 name fcandalous to a na"tion, and a grave which "the meaneft of mankind "would never envy.".

Now Europe's laurels on their brows behold,

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But ftain'd with blood, or ill exchang'd for gold: Then fee them broke with toils, or funk in eafe, Or infamous for plunder'd provinces.

Oh wealth ill-fated! which no act of fame

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E'er taught to shine, or fanctify'd from shame!
What greater blifs attends their clofe of life?
Some greedy minion, or imperious wife.
The trophy'd arches, ftory'd halls invade
And haunt their flumbers in the pompous fhade.
Alas! not dazzled with their noon-tide ray,
Compute the morn and ev'ning to the day;
The whole amount of that enormous fame,
A Tale, that blends their glory with their shame!
Know then this truth (enough for Man to know)
"Virtue alone is Happiness below."

The only point where human bliss stands still,
And tastes the good, without the fall to ill;
Where only Merit conftant pay receives,
Is bleft in what it takes, and what it gives;

The joy unequal'd, if its end it gain,

And if it lofe, attended with no pain:

VARIATIONS.

After 316. in the MS.

Ev'n while it seems unequal to difpofe,

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And checquers all the good Man's joys with woes,

Without fatiety, tho' e'er fo blefs'd,

And but more relifh'd as the more diftrefs'd:
The broadeft mirth unfeeling Folly wears,

Lefs pleafing far than Virtue's very tears:

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Good, from each object, from each place acquir'd, For ever exercis'd, yet never tir'd;

Never elated, while one man's opprefs'd;

Never dejected, while another's blefs'd;

And where no wants, no wishes can remain, 325° Since but to wish more Virtue, is to gain.

See the fole blifs Heav'n could on all bestow! Which who but feels can taste, but thinks can know : Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, The bad must miss; the good, untaught, will find: Slave to no fect, who takes no private road, But looks thro' Nature, up to Nature's God;

VARIATIONS.

'Tis but to teach him to fupport each state,
With patience this, with moderation that;
And raise his base on that one folid joy,

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Which confcience gives, and nothing can destroy. Thefe lines are extremely finished. In which there is fuch a foothing fweetnefs in the melancholy harmony of the verfification, as if the poet was then in that tender office in which he was moft officious, and in which all his Soul came out, the condoling with fome good man in affliction.

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Pursues that Chain which links th’immenfe defign,
Joins heav'n and earth, and mortal and divine,
Sees, that no Being any bliss can know,
But touches fome above, and fome below;
Learns, from this union of the rifing Whole,
The firft, last purpose of the human foul;
And knows where Faith, Law, Morals, all began,
All end, in LOVE OF GOD, and LOVE OF MAN. 340
For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal,
And opens ftill, and opens on his foul;

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NOTES.

Hope, the moft powerful "of the Divinities, in go"verning the ever-changing "and inconftant temper of "mortal men." To dè under ἑαυτῷ ἀδικον ξυνειδότι ἡδεῖα ἐλπὶς ἀεὶ πάρεςι, καὶ ἀγαθὴ γηροτρόφος, ὡς καὶ Πίνδαρος λέγει. Χαριέντως γάρ τοι, ὦ Σώκρατες, τῦτ ̓ ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν, ὅτι ὃς ἂν δικαίως καὶ ὁσίως

VER. 341. For him alone," joy, and is the fupport and Hope leads from goal to goal, "comfort of his old age. &c.] PLATO, in his firit" book of a Republic, hath a remarkable paffage to this purpose. "He whofe confcience does not reproach him, has chearful Hope, “ for his companion, and “ the fupport and comfort • of his old age, according “ to Pindar. For this great 66 poet, O Socrates, very ἢ τὸν βίον διαγάγῃ, γλυκεῖα οἱ καρ " elegantly fays, That he “ who leads a juft and holy |

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δίαν ατάλλεσα γηροτρόφος συνπορεί ἐλπὶς, ἃ μάλιςα θνατῶν πολύςρο

" life has always amiable | φον γνώμαν κυβερνά. In the fame Hope for his companion, manner Euripides fpeaks in "which fills his heart with his Hercules furens,

Οὗτος δ ̓ ἀνὴς ἄριςος, ὅσις ἐλπίσιν

Πέποιθεν αἰεί, τὸ δ ̓ ἀπορεῖν, ἀνδρὸς κακα.

105.

'Till lengthen'd on to Faith, and unconfin'd,

It pours the blifs that fills up all the mind.

He fees, why Nature plants in Man alone

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Hope of known blifs, and Faith in bliss unknown: (Nature, whofe dictates to no other kind

Are giv'n in vain, but what they feek they find)
Wife is her prefent; fhe connects in this
His greatest Virtue with his greatest Bliss;
At once his own bright prospect to be blest,
And strongest motive to affift the rest.

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Self-love thus pufh'd to focial, to divine, Gives thee to make thy neighbour's bleffing thine. Is this too little for the boundless heart?

Extend it, let thy enemies have part:

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Grafp the whole worlds of Reafon, Life, and Senfe,

In one close system of Benevolence:

Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree,

And height of Bliss but height of Charity.

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God loves from Whole to Parts: But human foul

Muft rife from Individual to the Whole.

Self-love but ferves the virtuous mind to wake,

As the fmall pebble ftirs the peaceful lake;

NOTES.

"He is the good man in "without hope in the world "whose breaft Hope fprings" is the portion of the eternally But to be : "wicked."

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