1

285

If all, united, thy ambition call,
From ancient story learn to scorn them all.
There, in the rich, the honour'd, fam'd, and great,
See the false scale of Happiness complete !
In hearts of Kings, or arms of Queens who lay,
How happy! those to ruin, these betray.
Mark by what wretched steps their glory grows,
From dirt and fea-weed as proud Venice rose;
In each how guilt and greatness equal ran,
And all that rais'd the Hero, funk the Man:

NOTES.

290

men, who have overturned | Sachavarel, in his Voyage the Liberties of their Coun

try. The times, in which
others succeeded in this at-
tempt, were such as saw the
spirit of Liberty suppressed
and stifled by a general luxu-
ry and venality: But Crom-
well subdued his country,
when this spirit was at its
height, by a successful strug-
gle against court-oppression;
and while it was conducted
and supported by a set of
the greatest Geniuses for
government the world ever
saw embarked together in
one common cause.

VER. 283. Or ravish'd
with the whistling of a
Name,] And even this fan-
tastic glory sometimes fuf-
fers a terrible reverse.

to I-columbkill, describing the church there, tells us, that " In one corner is a pe"culiar inclosure, in which "were the monuments of "the kings of many diffe

rent nations, as Scotland, "Ireland, Norway, and the "Isle of Man. THIS (faid "the person who shewed me place, pointing to a plain stone) was the monument "of the Great TEAGUE, "king of Ireland. I had "never heard of him, and "could not but reflect of "how little value is Great"ness that has barely left a

66

name scandalous to a na"tion, and a grave which "the meanest of mankind " would never envy."

Now Europe's laurels on their brows behold, 295
But stain'd with blood, or ill exchang'd for gold:
Then see them broke with toils, or funk in ease,
Or infamous for plunder'd provinces.
Oh wealth ill-fated! which no act of fame
E'er taught to shine, or fanctify'd from shame! 300
What greater bliss attends their close of life?
Some greedy minion, or imperious wife.
The trophy'd arches, story'd halls invade
And haunt their slumbers in the pompous shade.
Alas! not dazzled with their noon-tide ray, 305
Compute the morn and ev'ning to the day;
The whole amount of that enormous fame,
A Tale, that blends their glory with their shame!
Know then this truth (enough for Man to know)
"Virtue alone is Happiness below."
310
The only point where human bliss stands still,
And tastes the good without the fall to ill;
Where only Merit constant pay receives,
Is blest in what it takes, and what it gives;
The joy unequal'd, if its end it gain,
And if it lose, attended with no pain:

VARIATIONS.

After 316. in the MS.

Ev'n while it seems unequal to dispose,

315

And checquers all the good Man's joys with woes,

Without satiety, tho' e'er so bless'd,
And but more relish'd as the more distress'd:

The broadeft mirth unfeeling Folly wears,

320

Less pleasing far than Virtue's very tears:
Good, from each object, from each place acquir'd,

For ever exercis'd, yet never tir'd;

Never elated, while one man's oppress'd;

Never dejected, while another's bless'd;

And where no wants, no wishes can remain, 325 Since but to wish more Virtue, is to gain.

See the fole bliss Heav'n could on all bestow! Which who but feels can taste, but thinks can know: Yet poor with fortune, and with learning blind, The bad must miss; the good, untaught, will find; Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks thro' Nature, up to Nature's God;

VARIATIONS.

'Tis but to teach him to support each state,
With patience this, with moderation that;
And raise his base on that one folid joy,

331

Which confcience gives, and nothing can destroy.

These lines are extremely finished. In which there is such a soothing sweetness in the melancholy harmony of the verfification, as if the poet was then in that tender office in which he was most officious, and in which all his Soul came out, the condoling with some good man in affiction.

335

Pursues that Chain which links th'immense design,
Joins heav'n and earth, and mortal and divine,
Sees, that no Being any bliss can know,
But touches fome above, and fome below;
Learns, from this union of the rifing Whole,
The first, last purpose of the human foul;
And knows where Faith, Law, Morals, all began,

All end, in LOVE OF GOD, and LOVE OF MAN. 340
For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal,

And opens still, and opens on his foul;

NOTES.

"joy, and is the support and "comfort of his old age.

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VER. 341. For him alone, Hope leads from goal to goal, &c.] PLATO, in his firit book of a Republic, hath a remarkable passage to this purpose. "He whose con"science does not reproach "him, has chearful Hope, "for his companion, and "the support and comfort " of his old age, according "to Pindar. For this great poet, O Socrates, very elegantly says, That he "who leads a just and holy | ἐλπὶς, ἃ μάλιςα θνατῶν πολύςρο

"life has always amiable

Hope, the most powerful " of the Divinities, in go" verning the ever-changing " and inconftant temper of "mortal men.” Τῷ δὲ μηδὲν ἑαυτῷ ἄδικον ξυνειδότι ἡδεῖα ἐλπὶς ἀεὶ πάρεςι, καὶ ἀγαθὴ γηροτρόφος, ὡς καὶ Πίνδαρος λέγει. Χαριένιως γάρ τοι, ὦ Σώκρατες, τῦτ ̓ ἐκεῖνος εἶπεν, ὅτι ὃς ἂν δικαίως καὶ ὁσίως τὸν βίν διαγάγη, γλυκεῖά οἱ καρδίαν ἀτάλλεσα γηροτρόφος συναορεῖ

φον γνώμαν κυβερνᾷ. In the same manner Euripides speaks in his Hercules furens,

i

'Till lengthen'd on to Faith, and unconfin'd,
It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind.
He fees, why Nature plants in Man alone
345
Hope of known bliss, and Faith in bliss unknown:
(Nature, whose dictates to no other kind

Are giv'n in vain, but what they feek they find)
Wife is her present; she connects in this
His greatest Virtue with his greatest Bliss;
At once his own bright prospect to be blest,
And strongest motive to assist the rest.

350

Self-love thus push'd to social, to divine, Gives thee to make thy neighbour's blessing thine. Is this too little for the boundless heart?

Extend it, let thy enemies have part:

355

Grasp the whole worlds of Reason, Life, and Sense,

In one close system of Benevolence:

Happier as kinder, in whate'er degree,

And height of Bliss but height of Charity.

360

God loves from Whole to Parts: But human foul

Must rise from Individual to the Whole.

Self-love but ferves the virtuous mind to wake,
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake;

NOTES.

"He is the good man in
"whose breast Hope springs
eternally: But to be

“without hope in the world " is the portion of the " wicked."