Virtuous and vicious ev'ry Man must be, 235 But HEAVEN'S great view is One, and that the Whole. That counter-works each folly and caprice; That disappoints th'effect of ev'ry vice; COMMENTARY. 240 Vice being unfettled, Men conclude that Vice itself is only nominal. VER. 231. Virtuous and vicious ev'ry Man must be,] There is yet a third cause of this error of no Vice, no Virtue, composed of the other two, i. e. partly fpeculative, and partly practical. And this alfo the Poet confiders (from Ver. 230 to 239) fhewing it arifeth from the imperfection of the best characters, and the inequality of all: whence it happens that no Man is extremely virtuous or vicious; nor extremely conftant in the purfuit of either. Why it fo happens, the Poet informs us, who with admirable fagacity affigns the cause in this line: "For, Vice or Virtue, SELF directs it ftill." An adherence or regard to what is, in the fenfe of the world, a man's own intereft, making an extreme, in either, impoffible. Its effect in keeping a good man from the extreme of Virtue, needs no explanation; and in an ill Man, Self-intereft fhewing him the neceffity of fome kind of reputation, the procuring and preferving that, will neceffarily keep him from the extreme of Vice. VER. 239 That counter-werks each folly and caprice ;] The mention of this principle, that Self directs vice and virtue, and its confequence, which is, that That, happy frailties to all ranks apply'd; 250 Till one Man's weakness grows the strength of all. Wants, frailties, paffions, closer still ally The common int'reft, or endear the tie. COMMENTARY. "Each individual feeks a feveral goal," leads the Author to obferve "That HEAV'N's great View is One, and that the Whole." And this brings him naturally round again to his main subject, namely, God's producing good out of ill, which he profecutes from Ver. 238 to 249. VER. 249. Heav'n forming each on other to depend,] I. Hitherto the Poet hath been employed in difcourfing of the ufe of the Paffions, with regard to Society at large; and in freeing his doctrine from objections: This is the first general divifion of the subject of this epiftle. NOTES. VER. 253. Wants, frailties, paffions, closer ftill ally As these lines have been mifunderstood, I fhall give the reader their plain and obvious meaning. To thefe frailties (fays To these we owe true friendship, love fincere, 255 Yet from the fame we learn, in its decline, COMMENTARY. 260 II. He comes now to fhew (from Ver. 248 to 261) the ufe of these Paffions, with regard to the more confined circle of our friends, relations, and acquaintance: and this is the fecond general divifion. VER. 261. Whate'er the Paffion, &c.] III. The Poet having thus fhewn the ufe of the Paffions in Society, and in Domestic life, comes, in the laft place, (from 260 to the end) to fhew their ufe to the Individual, even in their illufions; the imaginary happiness they present, helping to make the real miseries of life lefs infupportable: And this is his third general divifion : "Opinion gilds with varying rays "Thofe painted clouds that beautify our days," &c. NOTES: he) we owe all the endearments of private life; yet, when we come to that age, which generally disposes men to think more seriously of the true value of things, and consequently of their provifion for a future ftate, the confideration, that the grounds of those joys, loves, and friendships, are wants, frailties, and paffions, proves the best expedient to wean us from the world; a difengagement fo friendly to that provifion we are now making for another state. The obfervation is new, and would in any place be extremely beautiful, but has here an infinite grace and propriety, as it fo well confirms, by an inftance of great moment, the general thefis, That God makes Ill, at every step, productive of Good. 265 The learn'd is happy nature to explore, The starving chemist in his golden views COMMENTARY. "One profpect loft, another ftill we gain; 270 Which must needs vaftly raise our idea of God's goodness; who hath not only provided more than a counterbalance of real happiness to human miferies, but hath even, in his infinite compaffion, beftowed on thofe who were fo foolish as not to have made this provifion, an imaginary happiness; that they may not be quite overborne with the load of human miferies. This is the Poet's great and noble t ought; as ftrong and folid as it is new and ingenious: It teaches, that thefe illufions are the faults and follies of Men, which they willfully fall into; and thereby deprive themselves of much happiness, and expose themselves to equal mifery: but that ftill, God (according to his univerfal way of working) graciously turns thefe faults and follies fo far to the advantage of his miserable creatures, as to become the prefent folace and fupport of their diftreffes: "Tho' Man's a fool, yet God is wife." NOTES. VER. 270.-the poet in his Mufe.] The Author having faid, that no one would change his profeffion or views for thofe of another, intended to carry his obfervation still further, and fhew that men were unwilling to exchange their own acquirements even for thofe of the fame kind, confeffedly larger, and infinitely more eminent, in another. See fome strange comfort ev'ry state attend, And pride bestow'd on all, a common friend : See some fit paffion ev'ry age supply, Hope travels thro', nor quits us when we die. And beads and pray'r-books are the toys of age: To this end he wrote, NOTES. "What partly pleafes, totally will shock: But wanting another proper inftance of this truth, he reserved the lines above for fome following edition of this Effay. VER. 280. And beads and pray'r-bocks are the toys of age.] A Satire on what is called in Popery the Opus operatum. As this is a defcription of the circle of human life returning into itself by a fecond child-hood, the Poet has with great elegance concluded his defcription with the fame image with which he fet out-And life's poor play is o'er. VER. 286. And each vacuity of Senfe by Pride:] An eminent Cafuift, Father Francis Garaffe, in his Somme Theologique, VOL. III. I |