1 Alike in ignorance, his reafon fuch, Whether he thinks too little, or too much: Chaos of Thought and Paffion, all confus'd VARIATIONS. After 18. in the MS. For more perfection than this state can bear VER. 11. Alike in ignorance, &c.] i. e. The proper sphere of his Reason is so narrow, and the exercise of it fo nice, that the too immoderate use of it is attended with the fame ignorance that proceeds from the not ufing it at all. Yet, tho' in both these cases, he is abufed by himself, he has it ftill in his own power to difabufe himself, in making his Paffions fubfervient to the means, and regulating his Reafon by the end of Life. VER. 12. Whether he thinks too little, or too much :] This is fo true, that ignorance arifes as well from pushing our enquiries too far, as from not carrying them far enough, that we may obferve, when Speculations, even in Science, are carried beyond a certain point; that 15 point where ufe is reafonably fuppofed to end, and mere curiofity to begin; they conclude in the most extravagant and fenfelefs inferences; fuch as the unreality of matter; the reality of fpace; the fer vility of the Will, &c. The reafon of this fudden fall out of full light into utter darkness appears not to refult from the natural condition of things, but to be the arbitrary decree of infinite wifdom and goodnefs, which impofed a barrier to the extravagances of its giddy lawless creature, always inclined to pursue truths of lefs importance too far, to the neglect of those more neceffary for his improvement in his ftation here. VER.17. Sole judge of Truth, in endless Error burl'd:] Some Go, wond'rous creature! mount where Science guides, 19 Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides; VARIATION S. As wifely fure a modest Ape might aim An Angel thing we neither know nor fee. NOTES. have imagined that the author, " in it." genus and This fhews us how cautious we ought to be in cenfuring the expreffions of a wri ter, one of whose characteristic qualities was correctness of expreffion and propriety of fenti ment. VER. 20. Go, measure earth, &c.] Alluding to the noble and ufeful project of the mo Inftruct the planets in what orbs to run, VARIATIONS. Go, reafoning Thing! affume the Doctor's chair, As Plato deep, as Seneca fevere: Fix moral fitness, and to God give rule, Then drop into thyfelf, &c. VER. 21. Ed 4th and 5th. Show by what rules the wand'ring planets ftray, NOTES. dern Mathematicians, to meafure a degree at the equator and the polar circle, in order to determine the true figure of the earth; of great importance to aftronomy and navigation. VER. 22. Correct old Time,] This alludes to Sir Ifaac Newton's Grecian Chronology, which he reformed on thofe two fublime conceptions, the 25 39 difference between the reigns of kings, and the generations of men; and the pofition of the colures of the equinoxes and folftices at the time of the Argonautic expedition. VER. 29, 30. Go, teach Eternal Wisdom &c.] Thefe two lines are a conclufion from all that had been faid from 18, to this effect: Go now, vain Man, elated Superior beings, when of late they faw COMMENTARY. VER. 31. Superior beings, &c.] To give this fecond argument its full force, he illuftrates it (from 30 to 43) by the nobleft example that ever was in fcience, the incomparable NEWTON; who, although he penetrated fo far beyond others into the works of GOD, yet could go no farther in the knowledge of his own nature than the generality of his fellows. Of which the poet affigns this very just and adequate reason: In all other fciences the Understanding is unchecked and uncontrouled by any oppofite principle; but in the science of Man, the Paffions overturn as fast as Reason can build NOTES. with thy acquirements in real fcience, and imaginary intimacy with God; go, and run into all the extravagancies I have exploded in the firft epistle, where thou pretendeft to teach Providence how to govern; then drop into the obfcurities of thy own nature, and thereby manifeft thy ignorance and folly. VER. 31. Superior beings, &c.] In thefe lines he speaks to this effect: But to make you fully fenfible of the difficulty of this ftudy, I fhall inftance in the great Newton himfelf; whom, when fuperior beings, not long fince, faw capable of unfolding the whole law of Nature, they were in up. | doubt whether the owner of fuch prodigious fcience should not be reckoned of their own order; just as men, when they fee the furprifing marks of Reason in an Ape, are almost tempted to rank him with their own kind. And And yet this wondrous Man could go no farther in the knowledge of himself than the generality of his fpecies. In which we fee it was not Mr. Pope's intention to bring any of the Ape's qualities, but its fagacity, into the comparison. But why the Ape's, it may be faid, rather than the fagacity of fome more decent animal, particularly the half-reafoning elephant, as the poet calls it; which, as Could he, whose rules the rapid Comet bind, Describe or fix one movement of his Mind? 36 Who faw its fires here rise, and there descend, Explain his own beginning, or his end? VER. 35. Ed. Ift. VARIATIONS. Could he, who taught each Planet where to roll, NOTES. well on account of this its fuperiority, as for its having no ridiculous fide, like the Ape, on which it could be viewed, feems better to have deserved this honour? I reply, Because, as none but a shape refembling human, accompanied with great fagacity, could occafion the doubt of that animal's relation to Man, the Ape only having that resemblance, no other animal was fitted for the comparison. And on this ground of relation the whole beauty of the thought depends; Newton and those fuperior spirits being equally immortal, though of different orders. And here let me take notice of a new fpecies of the Sublime, of which our poet may be justly said to be the maker; fo new, that we have yet no name for it, though of a nature distinct from every other poetical excellence. The two great perfections of works of genius are Wit and Sublimity. Many writers have been witty, feveral have been fublime, and fome few have even poffeffed both these qualities feparately; but none that I know of, befides our Poet, hath had the art to incorporate them; of which he hath given many examples, both in this Effay and his other poems, one of the nobleft being the paffage in queftion. This feems to be the laft effort of the imagination, to poetical perfection and in this compounded excellence the Wit receives a dignity from the Sublime, and the Sublime a fplendor from the Wit; which, in their ftate of separate exiftence, they both wanted. VER. 37. Who faw its fires here rife, &c.] Sir Ifaac New |