Essay on Man | Page 9

who dwell beneath its very zone,?Or never feel the rage, or never own;?What happier nations shrink at with affright,?The hard inhabitant contends is 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 wise;?And even 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 seeks a several goal;?But Heaven's great view is one, and that the whole.?That counter-works each folly and caprice;?That disappoints th' effect of every vice;?That, happy frailties to all ranks applied,?Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride,?Fear to the statesman, rashness to the chief,?To kings presumption, and to crowds belief:?That, virtue's ends from vanity can raise,?Which seeks no interest, no reward but praise;?And build on wants, and on defects of mind,?The joy, the peace, the glory of mankind.
Heaven forming each on other to depend,?A master, or a servant, or a friend,?Bids each on other for assistance call,?Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all.?Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally?The common interest, or endear the tie.?To these we owe true friendship, love sincere,?Each home-felt joy that life inherits here;?Yet from the same we learn, in its decline,?Those joys, those loves, those interests to resign;?Taught half by reason, half by mere decay,?To welcome death, and calmly pass away.
Whate'er the passion, knowledge, fame, or pelf,?Not one will change his neighbour with himself.?The learned is happy nature to explore,?The fool is happy that he knows no more;?The rich is happy in the plenty given,?The poor contents him with the care of Heaven.?See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing,?The sot a hero, lunatic a king;?The starving chemist in his golden views?Supremely blest, the poet in his muse.
See some strange comfort every state attend,?And pride bestowed on all, a common friend;?See some fit passion every age supply,?Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.
Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law,?Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw:?Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight,?A little louder, but as empty quite:?Scarves, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage,?And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age:?Pleased with this bauble still, as that before;?Till tired he sleeps, and life's poor play is o'er.
Meanwhile opinion gilds with varying rays?Those painted clouds that beautify our days;?Each want of happiness by hope supplied,?And each vacuity of sense by pride:?These build as fast as knowledge can destroy;?In folly's cup still laughs the bubble, joy;?One prospect lost, another still we gain;?And not a vanity is given in vain;?Even mean self-love becomes, by force divine,?The scale to measure others' wants by thine.?See! and confess, one comfort still must rise,?'Tis this, though man's a fool, yet God is wise.
ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE III.
OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RESPECT TO SOCIETY.
I. The whole Universe one system of Society, v.7, etc. Nothing made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for another, v.27. The happiness of Animals mutual, v.49.
II. Reason or Instinct operate alike to the good of each Individual, v.79. Reason or Instinct operate also to Society, in all Animals, v.109.
III. How far Society carried by Instinct, v.115. How much farther by Reason, v.128.
IV. Of that which is called the State of Nature, v.144. Reason instructed by Instinct in the invention of Arts, v.166, and in the Forms of Society, v.176.
V. Origin of Political Societies, v.196. Origin of Monarchy, v.207. Patriarchal Government, v.212.
VI. Origin of true Religion and Government, from the same principle, of Love, v.231, etc. Origin of Superstition and Tyranny, from the same principle, of Fear, v.237, etc. The Influence of Self-love operating to the social and public Good, v.266. Restoration of true Religion and Government on their first principle, v.285. Mixed Government, v.288. Various forms of each, and the true end of all, v.300, etc.
EPISTLE III.
Here, then, we rest: "The Universal Cause?Acts to one end, but acts by various laws."?In all the madness of superfluous health,?The trim of pride, the impudence of wealth,?Let this great truth be present night and day;?But most be present, if we preach or pray.
Look round our world; behold the chain of love?Combining all below and all above.?See plastic Nature working to this end,?The single atoms each to other tend,?Attract, attracted to, the next in place?Formed and impelled its neighbour to embrace.?See matter next, with various life endued,?Press to one centre still, the general good.?See dying vegetables life sustain,?See life dissolving vegetate again:?All forms that perish other forms supply?(By turns we catch the vital breath, and die),?Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne,?They rise, they break, and to that sea return.?Nothing is foreign: parts relate to whole;?One all-extending, all-preserving soul?Connects each being, greatest with the least;?Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast;?All served, all serving: nothing stands alone;?The chain holds on, and