Paffions are common to the fool and wife;
And all would hide them under art's disguise;
For fo avow'd, in others, is their fhame,

None hates them more, than he who has the fame.
But taste seems more peculiarly our own,
And every man is fond to make his known;
Proud of a mark he fancies is defign'd
By nature to advance him o'er his kind;
And where he sees that character impress'd,
With joy he hugs the favourite to his breaft.

But the main ftress of all our cares muft lie,
To watch ourselves with ftrict and constant eye :
To mark the working mind, when paffion's courfe
Begins to fwell, and reafon ftill has force;
Or, if she's conquer'd by the ftronger tide,
Obferve the moments when they firft fubfide;
For he who hopes a victory to win

O'er other men, must with himself begin ;
Elfe like a town by mutiny opprefs'd,
He's ruin'd by the foe within his breast ;
And they alone, who in themselves oft view
Man's image, know what method to pursue.
All other creatures keep in beaten ways,
Man only moves in an eternal maze :
He lives and dies, not tam'd by cultivation,
The wretch of reason, and the dupe of paffion;
Curious of knowing, yet too proud to learn ;
More prone to doubt, than anxious to discern:

Tir'd with old doctrines, prejudic'd at new ;
Miftaking ftill the pleasing for the true;
Foe to restraints approv'd by genʼral voice,
Yet to each fool-born mode a slave by choice:
Of reft impatient, yet in love with ease;
When moft good-natur'd, aiming how to teaze:
Difdaining by the vulgar to be aw'd,

Yet never pleas'd but when the fools applaud :
By turns fevere, indulgent, humble, vain;
A trifle ferves to lose him or to gain.

Then grant this trifle, yet his vices fhun,
Not like to CATO or to CLINIAS' fon :
This for each humour every fhape could take,
Ev'n virtue's own, though not for virtue's fake;
At Athens rakish, thoughtless, full of fire,
Severe at Sparta, as a Chartreux friar ;

In Thrace, a bully, drunken, rash, and rude;
In Afia gay, effeminate, and lewd;
While the rough Roman, virtue's rigid friend,
Could not to fave the cause he dy'd for bend:
In him 'twas scarce an honour to be good,
He more indulg'd a paffion than subdu'd.

See how the skilful lover spreads his toils,
When eager in purfuit of beauty's fpoils!
Behold him bending at his idol's feet ;

Humble, not mean; difputing, and yet fweet;

İn rivalihip not fierce, nor yet unmov'd;
Without a rival ftudious to be lov'd;

For ever chearful, though not always witty,
And never giving cause for hate or pity:
These are his arts, fuch arts as must prevail,
When riches, birth and beauty's felf will fail :
And what he does to gain a vulgar end,
Shall we neglect, to make mankind our friend ?

Good fenfe and learning may esteem obtain ;
Humour and wit a laugh, if rightly ta'en:
Fair virtue admiration may impart;
But 'tis good-nature only wins the heart :
It moulds the body to an easy grace,
And brightens every feature of the face:
It fmooths th' unpolish'd tongue with eloquence,
And adds perfuafion to the finest sense.

Yet this, like every disposition, has

Fixt bounds, o'er which it never ought to pass;
When stretch'd too far, its honour dies away,
Its merit finks, and all its charms decay;
Among the good it meets with no applause,
And to its ruin the malicious draws :
A flave to all, who force it, or entice,
It falls by chance in virtue or in vice.
'Tis true, in pity for the poor it bleeds,
It cloaths the naked, and the hungry feeds;
It cheers the ftranger, nay its foes defends
But then as oft it injures its best friends.

Study

"

Study with care Politenefs, that must teach
The modifh forms of gefture and of speech:
In vain Formality, with matron mien,

And Pertnefs apes her with familiar grin :
They against nature for applaufes ftrain,
Distort themselves, and give all others pain:
She moves with easy, though with measur❜d pace,
And shews no part of ftudy, but the grace.
Yet ev'n by this man is but half refin'd,
Unless philofophy fubdues the mind:
'Tis but a varnish that is quickly loft,
Whene'er the foul in paffion's fea is tost.
Would you both please and be inftructed too,
Watch well the rage of shining to fubdue;
Hear every man upon his fav'rite theme,
And ever be more knowing than you feem.
The lowest genius will afford fome light,
Or give a hint that had efcap'd your fight.
Doubt, 'till he thinks you on conviction yield,
And with fit queftions let each pause be fill'd:
And the most knowing will with pleasure grant,
You're rather much referv'd, than ignorant.

The rays of wit gild wherefoe'er they strike,
But are not therefore fit for all alike ;
They charm the lively, but the grave offend,
And raise a foe as often as a friend;

Like the refiftlefs beams of blazing light,
That cheer the strong, and pain the weakly fight.

VOL. I.

Y

If

If a bright fancy therefore be your share,
Let judgment watch it with a guardian's care;
'Tis like a torrent apt to overflow,
Unless by conftant government kept low;
And ne'er inefficacious paffes by,

But overturns or gladdens all that's nigh.
Or elfe, like trees, when fuffer'd wild to shoot,
That put forth much, but all unripen'd fruit;
It turns to affectation and grimace,

As like to wit, as dullnefs is to grace.

How hard foe'er it be to bridle wit,
Yet mem❜ry oft no less requires the bit :
How many, hurried by its force away,
For ever in the land of goffips ftray!
Ufurp the province of the nurse to lull,
Without her privilege for being dull!
Tales upon tales they raise ten ftories high,
Without regard to ufe or fymmetry:

So Ripley a, till his deftin'd space is fill'd,
Heaps bricks on bricks, and fancies 'tis to build.
A story should, to please, at least seem true,
Be à-propos, well told, concife, and new;

d “Ripley,” says Mr. Pope," was a carpenter, employ'd by a first mi"nifter, who raised him to an architect, without any genius in the art; "and after fome wretched proofs of his infufficiency in public buildings, "made him Comptroller to the Board of Works." Note to Moral Effays, Ep. iv. 1. 18.

And