And makes what happiness we juftly call
Subfifts not in the good of one, but all.
There's not a bleffing individuals find,
But fome way leans and hearkens to the kind.
Each has his fhare; and who would more obtain,
Shall find, the pleasure pays not half the pain.

He observes that as it is neceffary for order, and the peace and welfare of fociety, that external goods fhould be unequal, happiness is not made to confift in thefe: for notwithstanding that in inequality, the balance of happiness among mankind is kept even by Providence, by the two paffions of hope and fear.

If then to all men happiness was meant,
God in externals could not place content.
Fortune her gifts may variously dispose,
And these be happy call'd, unhappy those;
But Heav'ns juft balance equal will appear,
While thofe are plac'd in hope, and these in fear:
Not prefent good or ill, the joy or curse,
But future views of better, or of worfe.

He tells us what the happiness of individuals is, as far as is confiftent with the conftitution of this world; and here it appears that the good man has evidently the advantage.

Know, all the good that individuals find,

Or God and nature meant to mere mankind;
Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense,
Lie in three words, health, peace, and competence.
But health confifts with temperance alone,
And peace, oh virtue ! peace is all thy own.
The good or bad the gifts of fortune gain,
But thefe lefs tafte them, as they worfe obtain.

After this he points out the error of imputing to virtue what are only the calamities of nature, or of fortune, and alfo the folly of expecting that God fhould alter his general laws in favour of particulars. He proves that we are unable to judge who are good, but concludes that whoever they are they must be happy. He obferves that

external goods are fo far from being the proper rewards of virtue, that they are very often inconfiftent with, and deftructive to it.

What nothing earthly gives, or can destroy,
The foul's calm fun-fhine, and the heart-felt joy,
Is virtue's prize: a better would you fix ?
Then give humility a coach and fix,

Juftice a conqueror's fword, or truth a gown,
Or public fpirit, its great care, a crown.
Weak, foolish man! will Heav'n reward us there
With the same trash mad mortals wish for here ?
The boy and man an individual makes,
Yet figh'ft thou now for apples and for cakes ?
-Go, like the Indian, in another life
Expect thy dog, thy bottle and thy wife;
As well as dream fuch are affign'd,
As toys and empires, for a god-like mind.
Rewards, that either would to virtue bring
No joy, or be deftructive of the thing:
How oft by thefe at fixty are undone
The virtues of a faint at twenty-one?

To prove that these can make no man happy without virtue, he has confidered the effect of riches, honours, nobility, greatnefs, fame, fuperior talents, &c. and given pictures of human infelicity in men poffefs'd of them all; whence he concludes, that virtue only conftitutes happinefs, whose object is univerfal, and whofe profpect eternal; and that the perfection of virtue and happiness confifts in a due conformity to the order of providence here, and a refignation to it here and hereafter.

We have dwelt long enough, perhaps too long, on this poem; but it was neceffary to give the whole scope and defign of the poet; that the reader might fee what art was required to make a subject so diy and metaphyfical, inftructive and pleafing: and that it is fo will appear by the extracts we have taken, which we hope will induce our readers to perufe attentively the poem itself. From the nature of his plan, the reader will fee that the poet was deprived of many embellishments which other fubjects will admit of, and tied down as it were to a chain of I

argument, which would allow of no digreffions, ftudied fimiles and descriptions, or allufions to ancient fables; the want of which he has fupplied, however, with feafonable remarks, and moral reflections; all of them juft, and many of them truly sublime.

A wit's a feather, and a chief a rod;

An honeft man's the nobleft work of God.
Honour and shame from no condition rife ;
Act well your part, there all the honour lies.

The learned editor of the author's works informs us that this poem is only a part of what the poet intended on the fubject, and that the whole would have made four books, of which this was to have been the first; but the author's bad state of health, and some other confiderations induced him to lay the plan afide: a remnant, however, of what he intended as a fubfequent part of this was published under the title of Moral Epiftles, which are in number four. The first treats of the knowledge and characters of men; the fecond, of the characters of women; and the two laft, of the use of riches; and from the masterly manner in which thefe are executed the world has great reafon to lament the lofs of the reft.

the mo

We come now to speak of thofe preceptive poems that concern our philofophical fpeculations; and these, tho' the fubject is fo pregnant with matter, affords fuch a field for fancy, and is fo capable of every decoration, are but few. Lucretius is the moft confiderable among the ancients and who has written in this manner; among derns I know of none but fmall detached pieces, except the poem called Anti-Lucretius, which, has not yet received an English dress, and Dr. Akenfide's Pleasures of the Imagination; both which are worthy of our admiration. Some of the fmall pieces are alfo well executed; and there is one entitled the Universe, written by Mr. Baker, from which I fhall borrow an example.

The author's fcheme is in fome measure coincident with Mr. Pope's, fo far efpecially as it tends to reftrain the pride of man, with which defign it was profeffedly written. It may be objected, perhaps, that this poem is not preceptive, and therefore not fuitable to our purpofe;

but it is to be confidered, that if it is not preceptive, it is didactic; if it does not teach by precept, it does by. description; and therefore we hope to be allowed the liberty we are about to take.

The paffage we have felected is that refpecting the planetary fyftem, which is, in our opinion very beautiful.

Unwife! and thoughtless! impotent! and blind! Can wealth, or grandeur, fatisfy the mind? Of all thofe pleasures mortals most admire, Is there one joy fincere, that will not tire ? Can love itself endure? or beauty's charms Afford that blifs we fancy in its arms?—— Then, let thy foul, more glorious aims pursue: Have thy CREATOR and his works in view: Be these thy ftudy: hence thy pleasures bring: And drink large draughts of wifdom from its fpring: That fpring, whence perfect joy and calm repofe, And bleft content, and peace eternal flows.

Obferve how regular the PLANETs run,

In ftated times, their courfes round the SUN.
Diff'rent their bulk, their diftance, their career,
And diff'rent much the compass of their year:
Yet, all the fame eternal laws obey,

While God's unerring finger points the way.

First MERCURY, amidft full tides of light,
Rolls next the fun, through his fmall circle bright.
All that dwell here must be refin'd and pure :
Bodies like ours fuch ardour can't endure:
Our EARTH Would blaze beneath fo fierce a ray,
And all its marble mountains melt away.

Fair VENUS, next, fulfils her larger round,
With fofter beams, and milder glory crown'd.
Friend to mankind, the glitters from afar,
Now the bright ev'ning, now the morning ftar.
More diftant ftill, our EARTH comes rolling on,
And forms a wider circle round the fun :
With her the Moon, companion ever dear!
Her courfe attending through the shining year.

See, MARS, alone, runs his appointed race,
And measures out, exact the deftin'd space:

Nor nearer does he wind, nor farther stray,
But finds the point whence first he roll'd away.

More yet remote from day's all-cheering fource,
Vaft JUPITER performs his conftant course :
Four friendly Moons, with borrow'd luftre, rise.
Beftow their Beams, benign, and light his skies.

Fartheft and laft, fcarce warm'd by Phœbus' ray,
Through his vaft orbit SATURN wheels away.
How great the change could we be wafted there!
How flow the seasons! and how long the year !
One Moon, on us, reflects its cheerful light:
T'here, five attendants brighten up the night.
Here, the blue firmament bedeck'd with stars,
There, over-head, a lucid Arch appears,

From hence how large, how ftrong, the fun's bright ball!
But feen from thence, how languid and how small !—
When the keen north with all its fury blows,
Congeals the floods, and forms the fleecy fnows,
"Tis heat intense to what can there be known:
Warmer our poles than is its burning zone.

Who there inhabit must have other pow'rs,
Juices, and veins, and sense, and life than ours.
One moment's cold, like theirs, would pierce the bone,
Freeze the heart-blood, and turn us all to ftone.
Strange and amazing maft the diff'rence be
"Twixt this dull Planet and bright Mercury:
Yet reafon fays, nor can we doubt at all,
Millions of Beings dwell on either ball,
With conftitutions fitted for that spot,
Where Providence, all-wife, has fix'd their lot.
Wond'rous art thou, O God, in all thy ways!
Their eyes to thee let all thy creatures raife;
Adore thy grandeur, and thy goodness praise.

Ye fons of men! with fatisfaction know, God's own right hand difpenfes all below: Nor good nor evil does by chance befall; He reigns fupreme, and he directs it all.

At his command, affrighting human-kind, COMETS drag on their blazing lengths behind : Nor, as we think, do they at random rove,

But, in determin'd times, through long ellipfes move,

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