7

Made for his use all creatures if he call,

From Nature's chain whatever link you strike, Say what their use, had he the powers of all ? Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike. Nature to these without profusion, kind,

And, if each system in gradation roll The proper organs, proper powers assign'd; Alike essential to th' amazing whole, Each seeming want compensated of course,

The least confusion but in one, not all Here with degrees of swiftness, there of force; That system only, but the whole must fall. All in exact proportion to the state;

Let Earth unbalanc'd from her orbit fly, Nothing to add, and nothing to abate.

Planets and suns run lawless through the sky; Each beast, each insect, happy in its own:

Let ruling angels from their spheres be hurld, Is Heaven unkind to man, and man alone? Being on being wreck’d, and world on world; Shall he alone, whom rational we call,

Heaven's whole foundations to their centre nod, Be pleas'd with nothing, if not blest with all ? And Nature trembles to the throne of God.

The bliss of man (could pride that blessing find) All this dread order break-for whom ? for thee? Is not to act or think beyond mankind;

Vile worm Soh madness! pride! impiety! No powers of body or of soul to share,

IX. What if the foot, ordain'd the dust to tread, But what his nature and his state can bear. Or hand, to toil, aspir'd to be the head ? Why has not man a microscopic eye?

What if the head, the eye, or ear, repin'd
For this plain reason, man is not a fly.

To serve mere engines to the ruling mind ?
Say what the use, were finer optics given, Just as absurd for any part to claim
T'inspect a mite, not comprehend the Heaven? To be another in this general frame :
Or touch, if tremblingly alive all o'er,

Just as absurd, to mourn the tasks or pains
To smart and agonize at every pore?

The great directing mind of all ordains. Or quick effluvia darting through the brain,

All are but parts of one stupendous whole, Die of a rose in aromatic pain?

Whose body Nature is, and God the soul; If Nature thunder'd in his opening ears,

That chang'd through all, and yet in all the same;
And stunn'd him with the music of the spheres, Great in the Earth, as in th' ethereal frame;
How would he wish that Heaven had left him still Warms in the Sun, refreshes in the breeze,
The whispering zephyr, and the purling rill! Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees ;
Who finds not Providence all good and wise, Lives through all life, extends through all extent;
Alike in what it gives, and what denies ?

Spreads undivided, operates unspent;
VII. Far as creation's ample range extends, Breathes in our soul, informs our mortal part,
The scale of sensual, mental powers ascends : As full, as perfect, in a hair as heart,
Mark how it mounts to man's imperial race, As full, as perfect, in vile man that mourns,
From the green myriads in the peopled grass : As the rapt seraph that adores and burns :
What modes of sight betwixt each wide extreme, To him no high, no low, no great, no small;
The mole's dim curtain, and the lynx's beam; He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all.
Of smell, the headlong lioness between,

X. Cease, then, nor order imperfection name :
And hound sagacious on the tainted green; Our proper bliss depends on what we blame.
Of hearing, from the life that fills the flood, Know thy own point: this kind, this due degree
To that which warbles through the vernal wood! Of blindness, weakness, Heaven bestows on thee.
The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine !

Submit.-In this, or any other sphere,
Feels at each thread, and lives along the line : Secure to be as blest as thou canst bear :
In the nice bee, what sense so subtly true Safe in the hand of one disposing Power,
From poisonous herbs extracts the healing dew! Or in the natal, or the mortal hour.
How Instinct varies in the grovelling swine, All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;
Compar'd, half-reasoning elephant, with thine ! All Chance, Direction, which thou canst not see ;
'Twixt that, and Reason, what a nice barrier! All Discord, Harmony not understood ;
For ever separate, yet for ever near!

All partial Evil, universal Good.
Remembrance and Reflection how allied! And, spite of Pride, in erring Reason's spite,
What thin partitions Sense from Thought divide! One truth is clear, WHATEVER IS, IS RIGHT.
And middle natures, how they long to join,
Yet never pass th' insuperable line!
Without this just gradation, could they be

EPISTLE II.
Subjected, these to those, or all to thee ?
The powers of all subdued by thee alone,

OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH REIs not thy Reason all these powers in one ?

SPECT TO HIMSELF, AS AN INDIVIDUAL VIII. See, through this air, this ocean, and this earth,

Argument. All maiter quick, and bursting into birth. I. The business of man not to pry into God, but to A bove, how high! progressive life may go !

study himself. His middle nature: his powers Around, how wide! how deep extend below! and frailties. The limits of his capacity. II. The Vast chain of being! which from God began, two principles of man, self-love and reason, both Natures ethereal, human, angel, man,

necessary. Self-love the stronger, and why. Their Beast, bird, fish, insect, what no eye can see, end the same. III. The passions, and their use. No glass can reach ; from Infinite to thee,

The predominant passion, and its force. Its necesFrom thee to Nothing.-On superior powers

sity, in directing men to different purposes. Its Were we to press, inferior might on ours;

providential use, in fixing our principle, and as. Or in the full creation leave a void,

certaining our virtue. IV. Virtue and vice joined Where, one step broken, the great scale's destroy'd :| in our mixed nature; the limits near, yet the

reason.

:

things separate and evident: what is the office of Man, but for that, no action could altend,

V. How odious vice in itself, and how And but for this, were active to no end :
we deceive ourselves into it. VI. That, however, Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot;
the ends of Providence and general good are an- To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot,
swered in our passions and imperfections. How Or, meteor-like, flame lawless through the void,
usefully these are distributed to all orders of men. Destroying others, by himself destroy'd.
How useful they are to society; and to individu. Most strength the moving principle requires ;
als, in every state, and every age of life. Active its task, it prompts, impels, inspires.

Sedate and quiet the comparing lies,
I. Know then thyself, presume not God to scan, Form'd but to check, deliberate, and advise.
The proper study of mankind is man.

Self-love, still stronger, as its objects nigh;
Plac'd on this isthmus of a middle state,

Reason's at distance, and in prospect lie:
A being darkly wise, and rudely great :

That sees immediate good by present sense ;
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side, Reason, the future and the consequence.
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride, Thicker than arguments, temptations throng,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; At best more watchful this, but that more strong;
In doubt to deem himself a god, or beast; "The action of the stronger to suspend,
In doubt his mind or body to prefer;

Reason still use, to Reason still attend.
Born but to die, and reasoning but to err;

Attention, habit, and experience gains;
Alike in ignorance, his reason such,

Each strengthens Reason, and Self-love restrains.
Whether he thinks too little, or too much : Let subtle schoolmen teach these friends to fight,
Chaos of thought and passion, all confus'd ; More studious to divide than to unite;
Still by himself abus'd, or disa bus'd ;

And Grace and Virtue, Sense and Reason split,
Created half to rise, and half to fall;

With all the rash dexterity of Wit.
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all ; Wits, just like fools, at war about a name,
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurld : Have full as oft no meaning, or the same.
The glory, jest, and riddle of the world!

Self-love and Reason to one end aspire, Go, wondrous creature! mount where Science Pain their aversion, pleasure their desire ; guides,

But greedy that, his object would devour,
Go, measure Earth, weigh air, and state the tides ; This taste the honey, and not wound the flower:
Instruct the planets in what orbs to run,

| Pleasure, or wrong or rightly understood, Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun;

Our greatest evil, or our greatest good.
Go, soar with Plato to th’empyreal sphere,

III. Modes of Self-love the passions we may call;
To the first good, first perfect, and first fair; 'Tis real good, or seeming, moves them all :
Or tread the mazy round his followers trod, But since not every good we can divide,
And quitting sense call imitating God ;,

And Reason bids us for our own provide ;
As eastern priests in giddy circles run,

Passions, though selfish, if their means be fair, And turn their heads to imitate the Sun.

List under Reason, and deserve her care ; Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule- Those, that imparted, court a nobler aim, Then drop into thyself, and be a fool!

Exalt their kind, and take some virtue's name. Superior beings, when of late they saw

In lazy apathy let Stoics boast A mortal man unfold all Nature's law,

Their virtue fix'd ; 'tis fix'd as in a frost; Admir'd such wisdom in an earthly shape, Contracted all, retiring to the breast; And show'd a Newton as we show an ape.

But strength of mind is exercise, not rest : Could he, whose rules the rapid comet bind, The rising tempest puts in act the soul ; Describe or fix one movement of his mind! Parts it may ravage, but preserves the whole. Who saw its fires here rise and there descend, On life's vast ocean diversely we sail, Explain his own beginning or his end ?

Reason the card, but Passion is the gale ; Alas, what wonder! Man's superior part

Nor God alone in the still calm we find, Uncheck'd may rise, and climb from art to art; He mounts the storm, and walks upon the wind. But when his own great work is but begun, Passions, like elements, though born to fight, What Reason weaves, by Passion is undone. Yet, mix'd and soften'd, in his work unite :

Trace Science, then, with Modesty thy guide ; These 'tis enough to temper and employ ; First strip off all her equipage of Pride ;

But what composes man, can man destroy ? Deduct what is but Vanity or dress,

Suffice that Reason keep to Nature's road,
Or Learning's luxury, or Idleness;

Subject, compound them, follow her and God.
Or tricks to show the stretch of human brain, Love, Hope, and Joy, fair Pleasure's smiling train,
Mere curious pleasure, or ingenious pain;

Hate, Fear, and Grief, the family of Pain;
Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrescent parts These, mixt with art, and to due bounds confin'd,
Of all our Vices have created Arts;

Make and maintain the balance of the mind; Then see how little the remaining sum,

The lights and shades whose well-accorded strife Which serv'd the past, and must the times to come! Gives all the strength and color of our life.

II. Two principles in human nature reign; Pleasures are ever in our hands and eyes; Self-love, to urge, and Reason, to restrain; And when in act they cease, in prospect rise : Nor this a good, nor that a bad we call,

Present to grasp, and future still to find, Each works its end, to move or govern all : The whole employ of body and of mind. And to their proper operation still,

All spread their charms, but charm not all alike; Ascribe all good, to their improper, ill.

On different senses, different objects strike: Self-love, the spring of motion, acts the soul; Hence different passions more or less inflame, Reason's comparing balance rules the whole. As strong or weak, the organs of ‘he framo;

ng

IS

And hence one master passion in the breast, The fiery soul abhorr'd in Catiline,
Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest. In Decius charms, in Curtius is divine :
As man, perhaps, the moment of his breath, The same ambition can destroy or save,
Receives the lurking principle of Death ;

And makes a patriot as it makes a knave.
The young disease, which must subdue at length, IV. This light and darkness in our chaos join'd,
Grows with his growth, and strengthens with his What shall divide ? The God within the mind.
strength :

Extremes in Nature equal ends produce,
So, cast and mingled with his very frame, In man they join to some mysterious use ;
The mind's disease, its Ruling Passion came ; Though each by turns the other's bound invade,
Each vital humor which should feed the whole, As in some well-wrought picture, light and shade,
Soon flows to this, in body and in soul :

And oft so mix, the difference is too nice
Whatever warms the heart, or fills the head, Where ends the virtue, or begins the vice.
As the mind opens, and its functions spread, Fools! who from hence into the notion fall,
Imagination plies her dangerous art,

That vice or virtue there is none at all.
And pours it all upon the peccant part.

If white and black blend, soften, and unite
Nature its mother, Habit is its nurse;

A thousand ways, is there no black or white ?
Wit, Spirit, Faculties, but make it worse; Ask your own heart, and nothing is so plain;
Reason itself but gives it edge and power; 'Tis to mistake them, costs the time and pain.
As Heaven's blest beam tums vinegar more sour. V. Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,

We, wretched subjects though to lawful sway, As, to be hated, needs but to be seen ;
In this weak queen, some favorite still obey : Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,
Ah! if she lend not arms, as well as rules, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.
What can she more than tell us we are fools ? But where th’extreme of vice, was ne'er agreed :
Teach us to mourn our nature, not to mend; Ask where's the north? at York, 'tis on the Tweed;
A sharp accuser, but a helpless friend!

In Scotland, at the Orcades; and there,
Or from a judge turn pleader, to persuade

At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where.
The choice we make, or justify it made ;

No creature owns it in the first degree,
Proud of an easy conquest all along,

But thinks his neighbor further gone than he:
She but removes weak passions for the strong : Evin those who dwell beneath its very zone,
So, when small humors gather to a gout,

Or never feel the rage, or never own;
The doctor fancies he has driv'n them out. What happier natures shrink at with affright,

Yes, Nature's road must ever be preferr'd; The hard inhabitant contends is right.
Reason is here no guide, but still a guard :

Virtuous and vicious every man must be, 'Tis hers to rectify, not overthrow,

Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree;
And treat this passion more as friend than foe; The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wise ;
A mightier power the strong direction sends, And ev'n the best, by fits, what they despise.
And several men impels to several ends :

'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill;
Like varying winds, by other passions tost, For, vice or virtue, Self directs it still ;
This drives them constant to a certain coast. Each individual seeks a several goal;
Let power or knowledge, gold or glory, please, VI. But Heaven's great view, is one, and that the
Or (oft more strong than all) the love of ease;

whole.
Through life 'tis follow'd ev'n at life's expense; That counter-works each folly and caprice;
The merchant's toil, the sage's indolence,

That disappoints th' effect of every vice:
The monk's humility, the hero's pride,

That, happy frailties to all ranks applied ;
All, all alike, find Reason on their side.

Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride;
Th' Eternal Art, educing good from ill,

Fear to the statesman, rashness to the chief;
Grafts on this passion our best principle :

To kings presumption, and to crowds belief: "Tis thus the mercury of man is fix’d,

That, Virtue's ends from vanity can raise,
Strong grows the virtue with his nature mixd; Which seeks no interest, no reward but praise.
The dross cements what else were too refin'd, And build on wants, and on defects of mind,
And in one interest body acts with mind. The joy, the peace, the glory of mankind.
As fruits, ungrateful to the planter's care,

Heaven forming each on other to depend,
On savage stocks inserted learn to bear;

A master, or a servant, or a friend,
The surest virtues thus from passions shoot, Bids each on other for assistance call,
Wild Nature's vigor working at the root.

Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all.
What crops of wit and honesty appear

Wants, frailties, passions, closer still ally
From spleen, from obstinacy, hate, or fear! The common interest, or endear the tie.
See anger, zeal and fortitude supply;

To these we owe true friendship, love sincere,
Ev'n avarice, prudence; sloth, philosophy ; Each home-felt joy that life inherits here ;
Lust, through some certain strainers well refind, Yet from the same we learn, in its decline,
Is gentle love, and charms all woman-kind; Those joys, those loves, those interests, to resign;
Envy, to which th' ignoble mind 's a slave, Taught half by Reason, half by mere decay,
Is emulation in the learn'd or brave;

To welcome death, and calmly pass away.
Nor virtue, male or female, can we same,

Whate'er the passion, knowledge, fame, or pelf,
But what will grow on pride, or grow on shame. Not one will change his neighbor with himself.

Thus Nature gives us (let it check our pride) The learn'd is happy Nature to explore,
The virtue nearest to our vice allied :

The fool is happy that he knows no more.
Reason the bias turns to good from ill,

The rich is happy in the plenty given,
And Nero reigns a Titus, if he will.

The poor contents him with the care of Heaven.

SPECT TOSOCIETY.

See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing, Attract, attracted to, the next in place
The sot a hero, lunatic a king;

Form'd and impell’d its neighbor to embrace. The starving chymist in his golden views

See malter next, with various life endued,
Supremely blest, the poet in his Muse.

Press to one centre still, the general good.
See some strange comfort every state attend, See dying vegetables life sustain,
And pride bestow'd on all, a common friend : See life dissolving, vegetate again :
See some fit passion every age supply ;

All forms that perish other forms supply, Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die. (By turns we catch the vital breath, and die,)

Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne, Pleas'd with a ratile, tickled with a straw: They rise, they break, and to that sea return. Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight, Nothing is foreign ; parts relate to whole ; A little louder, but as empty quite :

One all-extending, all-preserving soul Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage, Connects each being, greatest with the least ; And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age : Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast; Pleas'd with this bauble still, as that before ; All serv’d, all serving : nothing stands alone; 'Till tir'd he sleeps, and Life's poor play is o'er. The chain holds on, and where it ends unknown. Meanwhile Opinion gilds with varying rays

Has God, thou fool! work'd solely for thy good.
Those painted clouds that beautify our days : Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food ?
Each want of happiness by Hope supplied, Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn,
And each vacuity of sense by Pride:

For him as kindly spread the flowery lawn:
These build as fast as Knowledge can destroy ; Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings ?
In Folly's cup still laughs the bubble, Joy ; Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.
One prospect lost, another still we gain;

Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat ?
And not a vanity is givin in vain :

Loves of his own and raptures swell the note. Ev'n mean Self-love becomes, by force divine, The bounding steed you pompously bestride, The scale to measure others' wants by thine. Shares with his lord the pleasure and the prido See! and confess, one comfort still must rise ; Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain? 'Tis this, Though man 's a fool, yet GOD IS WISE. The birds of Heaven shall vindicate their grain.

Thine the full harvest of the golden year?

Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer:
EPISTLE III.

The hog, that plows not, nor obeys thy call,
Lives on the labors of this lord of all.

Know, Nature's children all divide her care, OF THE NATURE AND STATE OF MAN WITH RE- The fur that warms a monarch, warm'd a bear.

While man exclaims, “ See all things for my uso

“See man for mine!" replies a pamper'd goose : Argument.

And just as short of reason he must fall,

Who thinks all made for one, not one for all. 1. The whole universe one system of society. Grant that the powerful still the weak control,

Nothing made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly Be man the wit and tyrant of the whole : for another. The happiness of animals mutual. Nature that tyrant checks; he only knows, JI. Reason or instinct operate alike to the good And helps, another creature's wants and woes. of each individual. Reason or instinct operate Say, will the falcon, stooping from above, also to society in all animals. III. How far Smit with her varying plumage, spare the dove? society carried by instinct. How much farther Admires the jay the insect's gilded wings ? by reason. IV. Of that which is called the state Or hears the hawk when Philomela sings ? of nature. Reason instructed by instinct in the Man cares for all: to birds he gives his woods, invention of arts, and in the forms of society. To beasts his pastures, and to fish his floods : V. Origin of political societies. Origin of mon- For some, his interest prompts him to provide, archy Patriarchal government. VI. Origin of For more his pleasure, yet for more his pride : true religion and government, from the same all feed on one vain patron, and enjoy principle, of love. Origin of superstition and Th' extensive blessing of his luxury. tyranny, from the same principle of fear. The That very life his learned hunger craves, influence of self-love operating to the social and He saves from famine, from the savage saves ; public good. Restoration of true religion and Nay, feasts the animal he dooms his feast, government on their first principle. Mixed gov- And, till he ends the being, makes it blest :

Various forms of each, and the true Which sees no more the stroke, or feels the pain, end of all

Than favor'd man by touch ethereal slain.

The creature had his feast of life before ; HERE then we rest; “the Universal Cause Thou too must perish, when thy feast is o'er! Acts to one end, but acts by various laws." To each unthinking being, Heaven, a friend, In all the madness of superfluous health,

Gives not the useless knowledge of its end : The train of pride, the impudence of wealth, To man imparts it; but with such a view Let this great truth be present night and day; As, while he dreads it, makes him hope it too : But most be present, if we preach or pray.

The hour conceal'd, and so remote the fear, I. Look, round our world; behold the chain of Death still draws nearer, never seeming near.

Great standing miracle! that Heaven assign'd Combining all below and all above.

Its only thinking thing this turn of mind. See plastic Nature working to this end,

II. Whether with reason, or with instinct blest, The single atoms each to other tend,

Know, all enjoy that power which suits them best ;

ernment.

Love

To bliss alike by that direction tend,

Self-love and social at her birth began,
And find the means proportion'd to their end. Union the bond of all things, and of man.
Say, where full Instinct is th' unerring guide, Pride then was not; nor arts, that Pride to aid ;
What pope or council can they need beside ? Man walk'd with beast, joint tenant of the shade ;
Reason, however able, cool at best,

The same his table, and the same his bed ;
Cares not for service, or but serves when prest, No murder cloth'd him, and no murder fed.
Stays till we call, and then not often near; In the same temple, the resounding wood,
But honest Instinct comes a volunteer,

All vocal beings hymnd their equal God :
Sure never to o'ershoot, but just to hit;

The shrine with gore unstain'd, with gold undress'd
While still too wide or short is human Wit; Unbrib'd, unbloody, stood the blameless priest :
Sure by quick Nature happiness to gain,

Heaven's attribute was universal care,
Which heavier Reason labors at in vain.

And man's prerogative, to rule, but spare.
This 100 serves always, Reason never long : Ah! how unlike the man of times to come!
One must go right, the other may go wrong. Of half that live the butcher and the tomb;
See then the acting and comparing powers

Who, foe to Nature, hears the general groan,
One in their nature, which are two in ours ! Murders their species, and betrays his own.
And Reason raise o'er Instinct as you can, But just disease to luxury succeeds,
In this 'lis God directs, in that 'tis man.

And every death its own avenger breeds ;
Who taught the nations of the field and wood The Fury-passions from that blood began,
To shun their poison, and to choose their food ? And turn'd on man, a fiercer savage, man.
Prescient, the tides or tempests to withstand, See him from Nature rising slow to Art!
Build on the wave, or arch beneath the sand ? To copy Instinct then was Reason's part:
Who made the spider parallels design,

Thus then to man the voice of Nature spake-
Sure as De Moivre, without rule or line ?

'Go, from the creatures thy instructions take:
Who bid the stork, Columbus-like, explore Learn from the birds what food the thickets yield
Heavens not his own, and worlds unknown before? Learn from the beasts the physic of the field;
Who calls the council, states the certain day? Thy arts of building from the bee receive ;
Who forms the phalanx, and who points the way? Learn of the mole to plow, the worm to weave;

III. God, in the nature of each being, founds Learn of the little Nautilus to sail,
Its proper bliss, and sets its proper bounds : Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.
But as he fram'd a whole, the whole to bless, Here too all forms of social union find,
On mutual wants built mutual happiness:

And hence let Reason, late, instruct mankind :
So from the first, eternal Order ran,

Here subterranean works and cities see ;
And creature link'd to creature, man to man. There towns aëreal on the waving tree.
Whate'er of life all-quickening ether keeps, Learn each small people's genius, policies,
Or breathes through air, or shoots beneath the deeps, The ants' republic, and the realm of bees ;
Or pours profuse on earth, one Nature feeds How those in common all their wealth bestow,
The vital flame, and swells the genial seeds. And anarchy without confusion know;
Not man alone, but all that roam the wood, And these for ever, though a monarch reign,
Or wing the sky, or roll along the flood,

Their separato cells and properties maintain.
Each loves itself, but not itself alone,

Mark what unvaried laws preserve each state,
Each sex desires alike, till two are one.

Laws wise as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate.
Nor ends the pleasure with the fierce embrace ; In vain thy Reason finer webs shall draw,
They love themselves, a third time, in their race. Entangle Justice in her net of Law,
Thus beast and bird their common charge attend, And right, too rigid, harden into wrong ;
The mothers nurse it, and the sires defend ; Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong.
The young dismiss'd to wander earth or air, Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures sway,
There stops the Instinct, and there ends the care; Thus let the wiser make the rest obey :
The link dissolves, each seeks a fresh embrace, And for those arts mere Instinct could afford,
Another love succeeds, another race.

Be crown'd as monarchs, or as gods ador'd."
A longer care man's helpless kind demands ; V. Great Nature spoke ; observant man obey'd ;
That longer care contracts more lasting bands : Cities were built, societies were made :
Reflection, Reason, still the ties improve,

Here rose one little state ; another near
At once extend the interest, and the love: Grew by like means, and join'd through love or fear
With choice we fix, with sympathy we burn; Did here the trees with ruddier burthens bend,
Each virtue in each passion takes its turn; And there the streams in purer rills descend,
And still new needs, new helps, new habits rise, What War could ravish, Commerce could bestow;
That graft benevolence on charities.

And he return'd a friend, who came a foe.
Still as one brood, and as another rose,

Converse and Love mankind might strongly draw,
These natural love maintain'd, habitual those : When Love was Liberty, and Nature Law.
The last, scarce ripen'd into perfect man,

Thus states were form’d; the name of king unknown,
Saw helpless him from whom their life began : Till common interest plac'd the sway in one.
Memory and Forecast just returns engage, 'Twas Virtue only, (or in arts or arms,
That pointed back to youth, this on to age ; Diffusing blessings, or averting harms,)
While Pleasure, Gratitude, and Hope, combin'd, The same which in a sire the sons obey'd,
Still spread the interest, and preserve the kind. A prince the father of a people made.
IV. Nor think, in Nature's state they blindly VI. Till then, by Nature crown'd, each patriarch

sate,
The state of Nature was the reign of God : King, priest, and parent, of his growing state :

а

trod;