That mine to fpeak, and theirs was to obey;
For I in knowledge more than power did fway:
And the astonish'd world in me beheld
Mofes eclips'd, and Jeffe's fon excell'd.
Humble a fecond bow'd, and took the word;
Forefaw my name by future age ador'd:
O live, said he, thou wiseft of the wise;
As none has equall'd, none fhall ever rife
Excelling thee.-

Parent of wicked, bane of honeft deeds,.
Pernicious Flattery! thy malignant feeds,
In an ill hour, and by a fatal hand,
Sadly diffus'd o'er Virtue's gleby land,
With rifing pride amidst the corn appear,
And choak the hopes and harvest of the year.
And now the whole perplex'd ignoble crowd,
Mute to my questions, in my praises loud,
Echo'd the word: whence things arofe, or how
They thus exift, the apteft nothing know:

What
yet is not, but is ordain'd to be,
All veil of doubt apart, the dulleft see !
My prophets and my fophifts finifh'd here
The civil efforts of the verbal war:
Not fo my rabbins and logicians yield;
Retiring, ftill they combat; from the field
Of open arms unwilling they depart,
And fculk behind the fubterfuge of art.
To speak one thing, mix'd dialects they join,
Divide the fimple, and the plain define;

685

690

695

700

705

710

Fix

715

720

Fix fancy'd laws, and form imagin'd rules,
Terms of their art, and jargon of their schools,
Ill-grounded maxims, by false glofs enlarg'd,
And captious fcience against reason charg’d.
Soon their crude notions with each other fought:
The adverfe fect deny'd what this had taught;
And he at length the ampleft triumph gain'd,
Who contradicted what the last maintain’d.
O wretched impotence of human mind!
We erring ftill excuse for error find,
And darkling grope, not knowing we are blind.
Vain man! fince first thy blufhing fire effay'd
His folly with connected leaves to fhade,
How does the crime of thy resembling race
With like attempt that priftine error trace!
Too plain thy nakednefs of foul espy'd,
Why doft thou ftrive the confcious shame to hide
By masks of eloquence and veils of pride?

With outward fmiles their flattery I receiv'd;
Own'd my fick mind by their discourse reliev❜d;
But bent, and inward to myself, again
Perplex'd, these matters I revolv'd in vain.
My fearch ftill tir'd, my labour still renew'd,
At length I ignorance and knowledge view'd,
Impartial; both in equal balance laid,

725

730

735

Light flew the knowing fcale, the doubtful heavy weigh'd.

Forc'd by reflective reafon, I confefs,

That human science is uncertain guess.

740 Alas!

Alas! we grasp at clouds, and beat the air,
Vexing that spirit we intend to clear.

Can thought beyond the bounds of matter climb ?
Or who fhall tell me what is space or time?
In vain we lift up our prefumptuous eyes

To what our Maker to their ken denies :

The fearcher follows faft; the object fafter flies.
The little which imperfectly we find,
Seduces only the bewilder'd mind
To fruitless fearch of fomething yet behind.
Various difcuffions tear our heated brain;
Opinions often turn; ftill doubts remain ;
And who indulges thought, increases pain.

How narrow limits were to wifdom given !

745

750

}

Earth fhe furveys; fhe thence would measure heaven:
Through mists obfcure now wings her tedious way;
Now wanders dazzled with too bright a day;
And from the fummit of a pathlefs coaft
Sees infinite, and in that fight is loft.

Remember, that the curs'd defire to know,
Offspring of Adam! was thy fource of woe.
Why wilt thou then renew the vain pursuit,
And rafhly catch at the forbidden fruit ;
With empty labour and eluded fstrife
Seeking, by knowledge, to attain to life;

760

765

For ever from that fatal tree debarr'd,

Which flaming fwords and angry cherubs guard?

TEXTS

TEXTS CHIEFLY ALLUDED TO IN BOOK II.

"I faid in my own heart, Go to now, I will prove thee

"with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure." Eccl. ii. 1. "I made me great works, I builded me houses, I "planted me vineyards.” Ver. 4.

"I made me gardens and orchards; and I planted trees " in them of all kind of fruits.” Ver. 5.

"I made me pools of water, to water therewith the "wood that bringeth forth trees." Ver. 6. "Then I looked on all the works that my hands had "wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: "And behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit; "and there was no profit under the fun." Ver. 11. "I gat me men-fingers and women-fingers, and the delights of the fons of men, as musical instruments, " and that of all forts." Ver. 8.

"I fought in mine heart to give myself unto wine (yet "acquainting mine heart with wifdom) and to lay "hold on folly, till I might fee what was that good "for the fons of men, which they should do under "heaven, all the days of their life.” Ver. 3. "Then I faid in my heart, As it happeneth unto the

"fool, fo it happeneth even unto me; and why was "I then more wife? Then I faid in my heart, that "this alfo is vanity.” Ver. 15.

"Therefore I hated life, because the work that is wrought

"under the fun is grievous unto me." Ch. ii. ver. 27. "Dead flies cause the ointment to fend forth a ftinking "favour: fo doth a little folly him that is in repu"tation for wisdom and honour." Chap. x. ver. I. "The memory of the just is blessed, but the memory of "the wicked fhall rot." Proverbs, ch. x. ver. 7.

PLE

ASUR E:

THE SECOND BOOK.

THE ARGUMEN t.

Solomon, again feeking happiness, inquires if wealth and greatness can produce it: begins with the magnificence of gardens and buildings, the luxury of mufic and feafting; and proceeds to the hopes and defires of love. In two epifodes are fhewn the follies and troubles of that paffion. Solomon, ftill difappointed, falls under the temptations of libertinifm and idolatry; recovers his thought; reafons aright; and concludes that, as to the purfuit of pleasure and fenfual delight, All is Vanity and Vexation of Spirit.

T

RY then, O man, the moments to deceive,

That from the womb attend thee to the grave: For weary'd nature find fome apter scheme : Health be thy hope, and Pleasure be thy theme. From the perplexing and unequal ways, Where ftudy brings thee; from the endless maze, Which doubt perfuades to run, forewarn'd, recede To the gay field and flowery path, that lead

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