291

Taught power's due ufe to people and to kings,
Taught nor to flack nor ftrain its tender ftrings,
The lefs, or greater, fet fo juftly true,
That touching one must strike the other too;
Till jarring interefts of themselves create
Th' according music of a well-mix'd state.
Such is the world's great harmony, that springs
From order, union, full confent of things:
Where small and great, where weak and mighty,
made

To ferve, not fuffer, ftrengthen, not invade ;
More powerful each as needful to the rest,
And, in proportion as it bleffes, bleft;
Draw to one point, and to one centre bring
Beast, man, or angel, fervant, lord, or king

For forms of government let fools conteft;
Whate'er is best administer'd is best:

For modes of faith, let graceless zealots fight;
His can't be wrong whose life is in the right;
In faith and hope the world will disagree,
But all mankind's concern is charity:

300

All must be falfe that thwarts this one great end;
And all of God, that bless mankind, or mend 310
Man, like the generous vine, fupported lives:
The strength he gains is from th' embrace he gives.
On their own axis as the planets run.
Yet make at once their circle round the fun;
So two confiftent motions act the foul;
And one regards itfelf, and one the whole.

Thus God and nature link'd the general frame, And bade felf-love and social be the fame.

EPISTLE IV.

Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Happiness.

THE ARGUMENT.

J. FALSE notions of happiness, philofophical and popular, anfwered from ver. 19 to 77. II. It is the end of all men, and attainable by all, ver. 30. God intends happiness to be equal; and to be fo, it must be social, fince all particular happinefs depends on general, and fince he governs by general, not particular laws, ver. 37. 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, ver. 51. But, notwithstanding that inequality, the balance of happiness among mankind is kept even by providence, by the two paffions of hope and fear, ver. 70.-III. What the happinefs of individuals is, as far as is confiftent with the conftitution of this world; and that the good man has here the advantage, ver. 77. The error of imputing to virtue what are only the calamities of nature, or of fortune, ver. 94 IV. The folly of expecting that God fhould alter his general laws in favour of particulars, ver. 121. V. That we are not judges who are good; but that, whoever they are, they must be happieft, ver. 133. &c. VI. That external goods are not the

proper rewards, but often inconfiftent with, or deftructive of virtue, ver. 167. That even these can make no man happy without virtue : Inftanced in riches, ver. 185. Honours, ver. 193. Nobility, ver. 205 Greatnefs, ver. 217. Fame, ver. 237. Superior talents, ver. 257. &c. With pictures of human infelicity in men, poffeffed of them all, ver. 269, &c. VII. That virtue only conftitutes a happiness, whofe object is universal, and whof: profpect eternal, ver. 307 That the perfection of virtue and happiness confifts in a conformity to the Order of Providence here, and a refignation to it here and hereafter, ver. 326, &c.

On Happiness our being's end and aim!
Good, pleasure, eafe, content whate'er thy name:
That fomething ftill which prompts th' eternal
figh,

For which we bear to live, or dare to die,
Which still fo near us, yet beyond us lies,
O'erlook'd, feen double, by the fool and wife:
Plant of celeftial feed; if dropp'd below,
Say, in what mortal foil thou deign'st to grow?
Fair opening to fome court's propitious shine,
Or deep with diamonds in the flaming mine? 10
Twin'd with the wreaths Parnaffian laurels yield,
Or reap'd in iron harvests of the field?
Where grows? where grows it not? If vain our
toil,

We ought to blame the culture, not the foil:
Fix'd to no fpot is happiness fincere,
'Tis no where to be found, or every where:
'Tis never to be bought, but always free,
And fled from monarchs, St. John! dwells with
thee.
[blind:

Afk of the learn'd the way? The learn'd are This bids to ferve, and that to fhun mankind; 20 Some place the blifs in action, fome in ease, Those call it pleasure, and contentment thefe: Some, funk to beasts, find pleasure end in pain; Some, fwell'd to gods, confefs ev'n virtue vain; Or, indolent, to each extreme they fall, To truft in ev'ry thing, or doubt of all.

Who thus define it, fay they more or less, Than this, that happiness is happiness?

Take nature's path, and mad opinion's leave; All ftates can reach it, and all heads conceive: 30 Obvious her goods, in no extreme they dwell; There needs but thinking right, and meaning well; And, mourn our various portions as we pleafe, Equal is common fenfe, and common ease. Remember, "the Universal Caufe "Ads not by partial, but b gen'ral laws," And makes what happiness we justly call, Subfift not in the good of one, but all.

man,

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 1. Oh happiness, &c.] in the MS. thus: Oh happiness, to which we all afpire, Wing'd with ftrong hope, and borne by full dea fire:

That cafe, for which in want, in wealth we figh That cafe, for which we labour, and we die.

There's not a bleffing individuals find,

But fome way leans and hearkens to the kind: 40
No bandit fierce, no tyrant mad with pride,
No cavern'd hermit, refts felf-fatisfy'd:
Who most to fhun or hate mankind pretend,
Seek an admirer, or would fix a friend:
Abstract what others feel, what others think,
All pleasures ficken, and all glories fink:
Each has his fhare; and who would more obtain,
Shall find, the pleasure pays not half the pain.

Order is Heaven's first law; and this confeft,
Some are, and must be, greater than the reft, 50
More rich, more wife; but who infers from hence
That such are happier, shocks all common sense.
Heaven to mankind impartial we confess,
If all are equal in their happiness:
But mutual wants this happiness increase;
All nature's difference keeps all nature's peace.
Condition, circumftance, is not the thing;
Blifs is the fame in fubject or in king,
In who obtain defence, or who defend,
In him who is, or him who finds a friend:
Heaven breathes through every member of the
whole

One common bleffing, as one common foul.
But fortune's gifts if each alike poffeft.
And each were equal, must not all conteft?
If then to all men happiness was meant,
God in externals could not place content.

Fortune her gifts may variously dispote,
And these be happy call'd, unhappy those;
But heaven's just balance equal will appear,

60

Say, in purfuit of profit or delight, [right?
Who risk the most, that take wrong means, or
Of vice or virtue, whether bleft or curst,
Which meets contempt, or which compassion first ?
Count all th' advantage profperous vice attains,
'Tis but what virtue flies from and difdains: 90
And grant the bad what happiness they would,
One they must want, which is, to pass for good.
Oh blind to truth, and God's whole fcheme below,
Who fancy blifs to vice, to virtue woe!
Who fees and follows that great scheme the best,
Beft knows the bleffing, and will most be blest.
But fools, the good alone, unhappy call,

For ills or accidents that chance to all.
See Falkland dies, the virtuous and the juft!

See godlike Turenne proftrate on the duft! 102
See Sidney bleeds and the martia lftrife!
Was this their virtue, or contempt of life?
Say, was it virtue, more though heaven ne'er
gave,

Lamented Digby! funk thee to the grave?
Tell me, if virtue made the fon expire,
Why, full of days and honour, lives the fire?
Why drew Marfeilles' good bishop purer breath,
When nature ficken'd, and each gale was death?'
Or why fo long (in life if long can be)
Lent heaven a parent to the poor and me?
What makes all phyfical or moral ill?
There deviates nature, and here wanders will.
God fends not ill; if rightly understood,
Or partial ill is universal good,

Or change admits, or nature lets it fall,

Say not, "Heaven's here profufe, there poorly "faves,

"And for one monarch makes a thousand flaves." You'll find, when caufes and their ends are known, 'Twas for the thousand Heaven has made that one. After ver. 66, in the MS.

'Tis peace of mind alone is at a flay:
The reft mad fortune gives or takes away.
All other blifs by accident's debarr'd;
But virtue's, in the inftant, a reward;
In hardest trials operates the best,

Shall burning Etna, if a fage requires,
Forget to thunder, and recal her fires?
On air or fea new motions be impreft,
Oh blameless Bethel! to relieve thy breast?
When the loofe mountain trembles from on high,
Shall gravitation ceafe, if you go by?

Or fome old temple, nodding to its fail,
For Chartres' head referve the hanging wall? 130
But ftill this world (fo fitted for the knave)
Contents us not, A better fhall we have?
A kingdom of the juft then let it be :
But first confider how thofe just agree.
The good muft merit God's peculiar care;
But who, but God, can tell us who they are?
One thinks on Calvin heaven's own fpirit fell;
Another deems him inftrument of hell;

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 92, in the MS. Let fober moralifts correct their speech, No bad man's happy; he is great, or rich. After ver. 116, in the MS. Of every evil, fince the world began,

If Calvin feel heaven's bleffing, or its rod,
This cries there is, and that, there is no God. 140
What fhocks one part, will edify the rest,
Nor with one fyftem can they all be bleft.
The very best will varioufly incline,
And what rewards your virtue, punish mine.
Whatever is, is right. This world, 'tis true,
Was made for Cæfar-but for Titus too;

And which more bleft? who chain'd his country, fay,

Or he whofe virtue figh'd to lofe a day?

"But fometimes virtue ftarves, while vice is fed."

What then? Is the reward of virtue bread? 150
That, vice may merit, 'tis the price of toil;
The knave deferves it, when he tills the foil;
The knave deserves it, when he tempts the main,
Where folly fights for kings, or dives for gain.
The good man may be weak, be indolent;
Nor is his claim to plenty, but content.
But grant him riches, your demand is o'er ?
"No-fhall the good want health, the good want

"power?"

170

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 Spirit its great cure, a crown. Weak, foolish man! will Heaven reward us there With the fame trash mad mortals with for here? The boy and man an individual makes, Yet figh'st 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 trifles are affign'd, As toys and empires, for a godlike mind. Rewards, that either would to virtue bring No joy, or be destructive of the thing; How oft by these at fixty are undone The virtues of a faint at twenty-one ! To whom can riches give repute, or trust, Content, or pleasure, but the good and just? judges and fenates have been bought for gold; Lfteem and love were never to be fold.

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 142, in fome editions,

Give each a system, all must be at ftrife; What different fyftems for a man and wife!

180

The joke, though lively, was ill placed, and therefore ftruck out of the text.

After ver. 172, in the MS.
Say, what rewards this idle world imparts,
Or fit for fearching heads or honeft hearts.

190

Oh fool to think God hates the worthy mind,
The lover and the love of human kind,
Whofe life is healthful, and whose conscience clear
Because he wants a thousand pounds a-year.

Honour and shame from no condition rife;
Act well your part, there all the honour lies.
Fortune in men has some small difference made,
One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade;
The cobler apron'd, and the parfon gown'd.
The friar hooded, and the monarch crown'd.
"What differ more (you cry) than crown and
"cowl!"

In quiet flow from Lucrece to Lucrece :
But by your fathers' worth if yours you rate,
Count me thofe only who were good and great.
Go if your ancient, but ignoble blood
Has crept through fcoundrels ever since the flood,
Go! and pretend your family is young;
Nor own your fathers have been fools fo long.
What can ennoble fots, or flaves, or cowards?
Alas! not all the blood of all the Howards. [lies:

220

Look next on greatness; fay where greatness
"Where, but among the heroes and the wife?”
Heroes are much the fame, the point's agreed,
From Macedonia's madman to the Swede;
The whole ftrange purpose of their lives, to find,
Or make, an enemy of all mankind!
Not one looks backward, onward still he goes,
Yet ne'er looks forward further than his nofe.
No lefs alike the politic and wife :

All fly flow things, with circumfpective eyes:
Men in their loose unguarded hours they take,
Not that themselves are wife, but others weak.
But grant that thofe can conquer, these can cheat;
'Tis phrafe abfurd to call a villain great : 230
Who wickedly is wife, or madly brave,
Is but the more a fool, the more a knave.
Who noble ends by noble means obtains,
Or failing, fmiles in exile or in chains,
Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed
Like Socrates, that man is great indeed.

What's fame? a fancy'd life in others' breath,
A thing beyond us, ev'n before our death.
Just what you hear, you have; and what's un-
known,

The fame (my lord) if Tully's, or your own. 240

VARIATIONS.

Ver. 207. Boaft the pure blood, &c.] In the
MS. thus:

The richest blood, right-honourably old,
Down from Lucretia to Lucretia roll'd,
May fwell thy heart and gallop in thy breast,
Without one dafh of ufher or of pricft:
Thy pride as much defpife all other pride,
As Chrift Church once all colleges befide.

All that we feel of it begins and ends
In the fmall circle of our foes or friends;
To all befide as much an empty fhade
An Eugene living, as a Cæfar dead;

Alike or when, or where they fhone, or fhine,
Or on the Rubicon, or on the Rhine.

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

An honest man's the nobleft work of God.
Fame but from death a villain's name can fave,
As juftice tears his body from the grave;
When what t' oblivion better were refign'd,
Is hung on high to poifon half mankind.
All fame is foreign, but of true defert;

250

280

290

To figh for ridbands if thou art so filly,
Mark how they grace Lord Umbra, or Sir Billy.
Is yellow dirt the paffion of thy life;
Look but on Gripus, or on Gripus' wife,
If parts allure thee, think how Bacon fhin'd,
The wifeft, brightest, meaneft of mankind:
Or ravish'd with the whistling of a name,
See Cromwell, damn'd to everlasting fame!
If all, united, thy ambition call,
From ancient flory, learn to fcorn them all,
There, in the rich, the honour'd, fam'd, and great,
See the falfe fcale of happinefs complete!
In hearts of kings, or arms of queens who lay,
How happy! those to ruin, thefe betray,
Mark by what wretched fteps their glory grows,
From dirt and fea-weed as proud Venice role;
In each how guilt and greatness equal ran,
And all that rais'd the hero, funk the man:
Now Europe's laurels on their brows behold,
But ftain'd with blood, or ill exchang'd for gold:
Then fee them broke with toils, or funk in eafe,
Or infamous for plunder'd provinces.
O. wealth ill-fated which no act of fame
E'er taught to fine, or fan&tify'd from shame! 300
What greater bhis attends their clofe of life?
Some greedy minion, or imperious wife,
The trophy'd arches, flory'd halls invade,

Alas! not dazzled with their noon-tide ray,
Compute the morn and evening to the day;
The whole amount of that enormous fame,
A tale, that blends their glory with their fhame!
Know then this truth (enough for man to
know)

"Virtue alone is happiness below."

310

The only point where human bliss stands still,
And taftes the good without the fall to ill;
Where only merit conftant pay receives,
Is bleft in what it takes, and what it gives;
The joy unequal'd, if its end it gain,
And if it lofe, attended with no pain:
Without fatiety, though e'er fo blefs'd,
And but more relifh'd as the more diftrefs'd:
The broadest mirth unfeeling folly wears,
Lefs pleafing far than virtue's very tears:
Good, from each object, from each place acquir'd,
For ever exercis'd, yet never tir'd;
Never elated, while one man's opprefs'd;

Never dejected, while another's bleft;
And where no wants, no wishes can remain,
Since but to wish more virtue, is to gain.

320

See the fole blifs heaven could on all beftow! Which who but feels can tafte, but thinks can know:

Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, The bad muft mifs; the good, untaught, will find; Slave to no fect, who takes no private road, 331 But looks through nature, up to nature's God; Pursues that chain which links th' immenfe de

fign,

340

Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine;
Sees, that no being any blifs can know,
But touches fome above, and fome below;
Learns from this union of the rifing whole,
The firft, laft purpofe of the human foul;
And knows where faith, law, morals, all began,
All end, in love of God, and love of man.
For him alone, hope leads from goal to goal,
And opens ftill, and opens on his foul;
Till lengthen'd on to faith, and unconfin'd,
It pours the blifs that fills up all the mind.
He fees, why Nature plants in man alone
Hope of known blifs, and faith in blifs unknown:
(Nature, whofe dictates to no other kind
Are given in vain, but what they feek they find),
Wife is her prefent; fhe connects in this
His greatest virtue with his greatest blifs;
At once his own bright profpect to be bleft,
And strongest motive to affift the rest.
Self-love thus pufh'd to focial, to divine,
Gives thee to make thy neighbour's bleffing thine.
Is this too little for the boundless heart?
Extend it, let thy enemies have part;

VARIATIONS.

After ver. 316, in the MS.

350

Ev'n while it feems unequal to dispose,
And chequers all the good man's joys with woes,
'Tis but to teach him to fupport each state,
With patience this, with moderation that;
And raife his bafe on that one folid joy,