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EPISTLE II.

NOW then thyself, prefume not God to scan,
The proper ftudy of Mankind is Man.

Plac'd on this ifthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wife, and rudely great :
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic fide,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,
He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himfelf a God, or Eeaft;
In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer ;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reason fuch,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much :
Chaos of Thought and Paffion, all confus'd;
Still by himfelt abus'd or disabus'd;

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Created half to rife, and half to fall
Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all ;

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VER. 2. The proper study, etc.] The poet having fhewn, in the first epiftle, that the ways of God are too high for our comprehenfion, rightly draws this conclufion and metho dically makes it the subject of his Introduction to the fecond, which treats of the Nature of Man.

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VARIATIONS.

VER. 2. Ed. ift.

The only science of Mankind is Man.

Self Love still stronger, as its Objects nigh
Reason's at distance, and in prospect lie;-
That sees immediate Good by present sense..
Reason the future, and the Consequence.
Efo:on Man Ep J

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Sole judge of Truth, in endless Error hurl'd:
The glory, jeft, and riddle of the world!

Go, wond'rous creature! mount where Science

guides,

Go, measure earth, weigh air, and flate the tides; Inftruct the planets in what orbs to run,

Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun;

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VER. 22. Correct old Time,] This alludes to Sir Ifaac Newton's Grecian Chronology, which he reformed on those two

VARIATION S.

After ver. 18. In the MS.

For more perfection than this state can bear
In vain we figh, Heav'n made us as we are.
As wifely fure a modeft Ape might aim
To be like Man, whofe faculties and frame
He fees, he feels, as you or I to be
An Angel thing we neither know nor fee.
Obferve how near he edges on our race;
What human tricks! how rifible of face!
It must be fo-why else have I the sense
Of more than monkey charms and excellence?
Why elfe to walk on two fo oft effay'd;
And why this ardent longing for a maid!
So Pug might plead, and call his Gods unkind
'Till fet on end, and married to his mind.
Go, reafoning Thing! affume the Doctor's chair.
As Plato deep, as Seneca fevere :

Fix moral fitnefs, and to God give rule,

Then drop into thyself, etc.

VER. 21. Ed. 4th and 5th.

Shew by what rules the wand'ring planets ftray,
Correct old Time, and teach the Sun his Way,

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Go, foar with Plato to th' empyreal sphere,
To the first good, firft perfect, and first fair;
Or tread the mazy round his follow'rs trod,
And quitting fenfe call imitating God;
As Eaftern priefts in giddy circles run,
And turn their heads to imitate the Sun.
Go, teach Eternal Wisdom how to rule
Then drop into thyfelf, and be a fool!
Superior beings, when of late they faw
A mortal Man unfold all Nature's Law,
Admir'd fuch wifdom in an earthly shape,
And fhew'd a NEWTON as we fhew an Ape.
Could he, whofe rules the rapid Comet bind, 35
Defcribe or fix one movement of his Mind?
Who faw its fires here rife, and there defcend,
Explain his own beginning, or his end?

fublime conceptions, the difference between the reigns of kings, and the generations of men; and the position of the colures of the equinoxes and folftices at the time of the Argonautic expedition.

VER. 37. Who Jaw its fires bere rife, etc.] Sir Ifaac Newton, in calculating the velocity of a Comet's motion, and the courfe it defcribes, when it becomes visible in its def cent to, and afcent from the Sun, conjectured, with the

VARIATIONS.

VER. 35. Ed. first.

Could he, who taught each Planet, where to roll,
Describe or fix one movement of the Soul?

Who mark'd their points to rife or to descend,

Explain his own beginning or his end?

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