Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub
[ocr errors]

That mine to speak, and theirs was to obey;

For I in knowledge more than power did sway ;
And the astonish'd world in me beheld

685

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, faid he, thou wifeft of the wife;
As none has equal'd, none shall 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,
Echoed 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 dullest see!
My prophets and my sophists finish'd here
The civil efforts of the verbal war:
Not fo my rabbins and logicians yield;
Retiring ftill the 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;

690

695

700

705

710

Fix

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 reafon charg'd.

Soon their crude notions with each other fought:
The adverse 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 excufe for error find;
And darkling grope, not knowing we are blind.
Vain man! fince first thy blufhing fire essay'd

His folly with connected leaves to fhade;
How does the crime of thy resembling race
With like attempt that pristine error trace!

715

720

725

Too plain thy nakedness of soul espy'd,

Why doft thou strive the confcious fhame to hide
By mafks 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, thefe matters I revolv'd in vain.

My search still tir'd, my labour ftill renew'd,,
At length I ignorance and knowledge view'd,
Impartial; both in equal balance laid;

730

736

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

Forc'd by reflective reason, I confefs, That human science is uncertain guess.

740 Alas!

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

Can thought beyond the bounds of matter climb ?
Or who fhall tell me, what is fpace or time?

In vain we lift up our presumptuous 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; fill doubts remain ;
And who indulges thought, increases pain.

[blocks in formation]

How narrow limits were to wisdom given!
Earth fhe furveys; the thence would measure Heaven:
Through mifts obfcure now wings her tedious way;
Now wanders dazzled with too bright a day;
And from the fummit of a pathless coast
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 rashly catch at the forbidden fruit;
With empty labour and eluded ftrife
Seeking, by knowledge, to attain to life;
For ever from that fatal tree debarr'd,

Which flaming swords and angry cherubs guard?

760

765

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 de"lights of the fons of men, as mufical inftruments, " 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 said 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 stinking "favour: fo doth the little folly him that is in repu"tation for wisdom and honour." Chap. x. ver. 1. "The memory of the just is blessed, but the memoiy of "the wicked fhall rot." Proverbs, ch. x. ver. 7.

PLEASURE:

THE SECOND BOOK.

THE ARGUMENT.

Solomon, again feeking happiness, enquires if wealth and greatness can produce it: begins with the magnificence of gardens and buildings, the luxury of mufick and feasting; 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 Libertinifin and Idolatry; recovers his thought; reasons aright; and concludes, that, as to the pursuit 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

VOL. II.

K

T.

« ПредишнаНапред »