EPISTLE I.

TO SIR RICHARD TEMPLE, LORD COBHAM.

Of the Knowledge and Characters of Men.

The Argument.

1. THAT it is not fufficient for this knowledge to confider Man in the abstract : books will not ferve the purpofe, nor yet our own experience fingly, v. 1. General maxims, unless they be formed upon both, will be but notional, v. 10. Some peculiarity in every man, characteristic to himself, yet varying from himfelf, v. 15. D.fficulties arifing from cur own paffions, fancies, faculties, &c. v. 31 The shortnefs of life to obferve in, and the uncertai ty of the principles of action in Men to obferve by, v. 37, &c. Our own principle of action often hid from ourfelves, v. 41 Some few characte's plain, but in general confounded, diflembled, or inconfiftent, v. 51. The same man utterly different in different places and feafons, v. 71. Unimaginable weakneifes in the greatest, v. 77, &c. Nothing conftant and certain but God and Nature, v. 95. No judging of the motives from the actions; the fame actions proceeding from contrary motives, and the fime motives influencing contary actions, v. 100. II. Yet to form characters we can only take the frongeit actions of a man's life, and try to make them agree: the utter uncertainty of this, from Nature itself, and from policy, V. 120. Characters given according to the rank of men of the world, v. 135; and fome reafon for it, v. 140. Education alters the nature, or at leaft character, of many, v. 149. Actions, paffions, opinions, manners, humours, or principles, all fubject to change. No judging by Nature, from v. 158 to 174. III. It only remains to find (if we can) his ruling paffion: that will certainly influence all the rett, and can reconcile the feeming or real inconfiftency of all his actions, v. 175. Infianced in the extraordinary character of Clodio, v. 179. A caution against miftaking fecond qualities for first, which will deftroy ail poffibility of the knowledge of mankind, v. 210. Examples of the ftrength of the ruling paffion, and its continuation to the last breath, v. 222, &c.

PART I.

YES, you defpife the man to books confin'd,
Who from his ftudy rails at human kind;

Tho' what he learns he fpeaks, and may advance
Some gen'ral maxims, or be right by chance.
The coxcomb bird, fo talkative and grave,

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That from his cage cries Cuckhold, Whore, and Knave, Tho' many a pallenger he rightly call,

And yet the fate of all extremes is fuch,

You hold him no philofopher at all.

Men may be read, as well as books, too much.
To obfervations which ourselves we make

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We grow more partial for th' observer's sake;
To written wisdom, as another's, leís:

Maxims are drawn from notions, these from guess.
There's fome peculiar in each leaf and grain,
Some unmark'd fibre, or fome varying vein.

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Shall

Shall only man be taken in the grofs?
Grant but as many forts of mind as mofs.

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That each from other differs first confefs, Next, that he varies from himself no lefs; Add Nature's, Cuftom's, Reafon's, Paffion's ftrife, And all Opinion's colours caft on life.

Our depths who fathoms, or our fhallows finds?
Quick whirls and shifting eddies of our minds.
On human actions reason tho' you can,
It may be reason, but it is not man:
His principle of action once explore,
That inftant 'tis his principle no more.
Like following life thro' creatures you diffect,
You lose it in the moment you detect.

Yet more; the diff 'rence is as great between
The optics feeing as the objects feen.
All manners take a tincture from our own,
Or come difcolour'd thro' our passions shown;
Or fancy's beam enlarges, multiplies,

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Contracts, inverts, and gives ten thousand dyes.

Nor will life's ftream for obfervation stay,

It hurries all too fast to mark their way:

In vain fedate reflections we would make,

When half our knowledge we must snatch, not take.

Oft' in the paffions' wild rotation toft,

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Our fpring of action to ourselves is loft:

Tir'd, not determin'd, to the last we yield,
And what comes then is mafter of the field.
As the laft image of that troubled heap,
When fenfe fubfides, and fancy sports in fleep,
(Tho' paft the recollection of the thought)
Becomes the ftuff of which our dream is wrought;
Something as dim to our internal view
Is thus, perhaps, the cause of most we do.

True, fome are open, and to all men known;
Others fo very close they're hid from none;
(So darkness ftrikes the fenfe no less than light;)
Thus gracious Chandos is belov'd at fight,
And ev'ry child hates Shylock, tho' his foul
Still fits at fquat, and peeps not from its hole.

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At

At half mankind when gen'rous Manly raves,
All know 'tis virtue, for he thinks them knaves:
When univerfal homage Umbra pays,

All see 'tis vice, and itch of vulgar praise.
When flatt ry glares all hate it in a queen,
While one there is who charms us with his fpleen.
But thefe plain characters we rarely find;
Tho' ftrong the bent, yet quick the turns of mind:
Or puzzling contraries confound the whole,
Or affectations quite reverfe the foul.
The dull flat falfehood ferves for policy;
And in the cunning truth itself's a lie:
Unthought-of frailties cheat us in the wife;
The fool lies hid in inconfiftencies.

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See the fame man in vigour, in the gout,

Alone, in company, in place, or out,
Early at bus'nefs, and at hazard late,
Mad at a fox-chafe, wife at a debate,
Drunk at a borough, civil at a ball,
Friendly at Hackney, faithless at Whitehall.
Catius is ever moral, ever grave,
Thinks who endures a knave is next a knave,
Save juft at dinner-than prefers, no doubt,
A rogue with ven'fon to a faint without.

Who would not praise Patricio's high defert,
His hand unftain'd, his uncorrupted heart,
His comprehenfive head! all int'refts weigh'd,
All Europe fav'd, yet Britain not betray'd.
He thanks you not, his pride is in Picquette,
Newmarket fame, and judgment at a bett.

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What made (fay Montaigne, or more fage Charron)
Otho a warrior, Cromwell a buffoon?
A perjur'd prince a leaden faint revere,
A godlefs regent tremble at a star?

The throne a bigot keep, a genius quit,
Faithlefs thro' piety, and dup'd thro' wit?
Europe a woman, child, or dotard, rule,
And juft her wifeft monarch made a fool?

Know, God and Nature only are the fame.
In man the judgment fhoots at flying game;

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A bird of paffage, gone as foon as found;
Now in the moon, perhaps now under ground.

PART II.

In vain the fage, with retrospective eye,

Would from th' apparent what conclude the why, 100
Infer the motive from the deed, and show

That what we chanc'd was what we meant to do.
Behold! if Fortune or a miftrefs frowns,

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Some plunge in bus'nefs, others fhave their crowns:
To eafe the foul of one oppreffive weight
This quits an empire, that embroils a state.
The fame aduft complexion has impell'd
Charles to the convent, Philip to the field.
Not always actions fhew the man: we find
Who does a kindness is not therefore kind:
Perhaps profperity becalm'd his breast;
Perhaps the wind just shifted from the east:
Not therefore humble he who feeks retreat;
Pride guides his fteps, and bids him fhun the great.
Who combats bravely is not therefore brave;
He dreads a death-bed like the meanest flave.
Who reasons wifely is not therefore wife;
His pride in reas'ning, not in acting, lies.
But grant that actions best discover man;
Take the most strong, and fort them as you can: 120
The few that glare each character must mark;
You balance not the many in the dark.
What will you do with such as disagree ?
Suppress them, or miscall them policy?
Muft then at once (the character to fave)
The plain rough hero turn a crafty knave?
Alas! in truth, the man but chang'd his mind;
Perhaps was fick, in love, or had not din'd.
Afk why from Britain Cæfar would retreat?
Cæfar himself might whisper, he was beat.
Why risk the world's great empire for a punk?
Cæfar perhaps might answer, he was drunk.
But, fage Hiftorians! 'tis your talk to prove
One action conduct, one heroic love.

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'Tis

"Tis from high life high characters are drawn ; A faint in crape is twice a faint in lawn;

A judge is juft, a chanc'llor jufter still;

A gownman learn'd; a bishop what you will:
Wife if a minifter; but if a king,

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More wife, more learn'd, more just, more ev'ry thing.
Court-virtues bear, like gems, the highest rate,
Born where Heav'n's influence fcarce can penetrate.
In life's low vale, the foil the virtues like,

They please as beauties, here as wonders strike.
Tho' the fame fun with all-diffufive rays

Blush in the rofe, and in the di'mond blaze,
We prize the stronger effort of his pow'r,
And juftly fet the gem above the flow'r.

'Tis education forms the common mind;
Juft as the twig is bent the tree's inclin❜d.
Boastful and rough, your first son is a squire;
The next a tradesman, meek, and much a liar :
Tom struts a foldier, open, bold, and brave;
Will sneaks a fcriv'ner, an exceeding knave;
Is he a Churchman? then he's fond of pow'r: 55
A Quaker? fly: a Prefbyterian? four:
A fmart free-thinker? all things in an hour.
Afk mens' opinion: Scoto now fhall tell,
How trade increases and the world goes well:
Strike off his penfion by the setting fun,
And Britain, if not Europe, is undone.

That gay Free-thinker, a fine talker once, What turns him now a ftupid filent dunce? Some god or fpirit he has lately found,

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Or chanc'd to meet a minifter that frown'd.
Judge we by Nature? habit can efface,
Int'reft o'ercome, or policy take place.
By actions? thofe uncertainty divides.
By Paffions? these diffimulation hides.
Opinions? they still take a wider range.
Find, if you can, in what you cannot change.
Manners with fortunes, humours turn with climes,
Tenets with books, and principles with times.

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PART