But, lo! the fatal victor of mankind, At length again fair Science shot her ray, (In vain the folemn coul furrounds her face, 395 400 4.05 410 'Twas then plain Donne in honeft vengeance rose; His wit harmonious, tho' his rhyme was profe: 416 He, 'midft an age of puns and pedants, wrote With genuine fenfe and Roman ftrength of thought. Yet fcarce had Satire well relum'd her flame (With grief the Mufe records her country's fhame) Ere Britain faw the foul revolt commence, And treach'rous Wit began her war with Senfe. Then rofe a fhameless mercenary train, 421 Whom latest time shall view with just difdain: A race fantastic, in whofe gaudy line 425 Untutor'd thought and tinfel beauty shine; To martyr Virtue, or blafpheme his God. Ill-fated Ill-fated Dryden! who unmov'd can fee Th' extremes of wit and meanneis join'd in thee! Flames that could mount, and gain their kindred skies, Low creeping in the putrid fink of Vice; 436 A Mufe whom Wisdom woo'd, but woo'd in vain; More happy France: immortal Boileau there But fee, at length the British Genius fimile, 440 445 450 455 460 shall I find 465 Here Vice, dragg'd forth by Truth's fupreme decree, 470 With watchful fondnefs o'er thy cradle hung, 475 480 And bless mankind with Virtue's facred ftore; A nobler joy than wit can give, impart, 485 And pour a moral transport o'er the heart. Ye deathlefs names! ye fons of endless praife! 491 495 500 505 510 Or, Or if, O Warburton! infpir'd by you, If fuch her fate, do thou, fair Truth! defcend, 520 To court no friend, nor own a foe, but thine. But if her giddy eye should vainly quit Thy facred paths, to run the maze of wit; 525 Urge, urge thy pow'r, the black attempt confound, 530 IN FOUR EPISTLES. TO H. ST. JOHN. L. BOLINGBROKE. THE DESIGN. AVING proposed to write fome pieces on Human Life and Manners, bufinefs and bofoms,' I thought it more fatisfactory to begin with confidering Man in the abstract--his Nature and his State; fince, to prove any moral duty, to enforce any moral precept, or to examine the perfec tion or imperfection of any creature whatfoever, it is neceffary first to know what condition and relation it is placed in, and what is the proper end and purpofe of its being. The fcience of human nature is, like all other sciences, reduced to a few clear points: there are not many certain truths in this world. It is therefore in the anatomy of the mind, as in that of the body; more good will accrue to mankind by attending to the large, open, and perceptible parts, than by studying too much fuch finer nerves and veffcis, the conformations and ufes of which will for ever efcape our obfervation. The difputes are all upon thefe lat; and, I will venture to fay, they have lefs fharpened the wits than the hearts of men against each other, and have diminished the practice more than advanced the theory of morality. If I could flatter myself that this Effay has any merit, it is in Ateering betwixt the extremes of doctrines feemingly oppofile, in paffing over terms utterly unintelligible, and in forming a temperate, yet not inconfitent, and a thort, yet not imperfect, System of Ethics. This I might have done in profe; but I chofe verfe, and even rhyme, for two reafons. The one will appear obvious; that principles, maxims, or precepts, fo written, both ftrike the reader more itrongly at first, and are more easily retained by him afterwards: the other may feem odd, but it is true; I found I could exprefs them more fhortly this way than in profe itself; and nothing is more certain than that much of the force as well as grace of arguments or inftructions depends on their concifenefs. I was unable to treat this part of my fubject more in detail without becoming dry and tedious, or more poetically, without facrificing peripicuity to ornament, without wandering from the precision, or breaking the chain of reafoning. If any man can unite all thefe without diminution of any of them, I freely confefs he will compafs a thing above my capacity. What is now published is only to be confidered as a general Map of Man, marking out no more than the greater parts, their extent, their limits, and their connection, but leaving the particular to be more fully delineated in the charts which are to follow; confequently thefe Epistles in their progrefs (if I have health and leifure to make any progreis) will be lefs diy, and more fufceptible of poetical ornament. I am here only opening the fountains, and clearing the paffage: to deduce the rivers, to follow them in their courfe, and to obferve their effects, may be a talk more agreeable. |