Fools! who from hence into the notion fall,
That Vice or Virtue there is none at all.
If white and black blend, foften, and unite
A thousand ways, is there no black or white?
Ask your own heart, and nothing is so plain;
"Tis to mistake them, cofts the time and pain.
Vice is a monster of fo frightful mien,

As, to be hated, needs but to be feen;
Yet feen too oft, familiar with her face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace.

215

220

But where th' Extreme of Vice, was ne'er agreed: Afk where's the North? at York, 'tis on the Tweed; In Scotland, at the Orcades; and there,

At Greenland, Zembla, or the Lord knows where.
No creature owns it in the firft degree,

225

But thinks his neighbour further gone than he:

Ev'n those who dwell beneath its very zone,

Or never feel the rage, or never own;
What happier natures shrink at with affright,
The hard inhabitant contends is right.

VARIATIONS.

230

Virtuous

After ver. 220. in the first Edition followed thefe,
A Cheat! A Whore! who starts not at the name,
In all the Inns of Court or Drury-lane?

After ver. 226. in the MS.

The Colonel fwears the Agent is a dog,
The Scrivener vows th' Attorney is a rogue.
Against the Thief th' Attorney loud inveighs,
For whofe ten pounds the County twenty pays.
The Thief damns Judges, and the Knaves of State;
and dying, mourns fmall Villains hang'd by great.

Virtuous and vicious every Man must be,
Few in th' extreme, but all in the degree;
The rogue and fool by fits is fair and wife;
And ev❜n the beft, by fits, what they despise.
'Tis but by parts we follow good or ill;

For, Vice or Virtue, Self-directs it still;
Each individual feeks a feveral goal;

235

But Heaven's great view, is One, and that the Whole. That counter works each folly and caprice;

That difappoints th' effect of every vice;

240

That, happy frailties to all ranks apply'd :
Shame to the virgin, to the matron pride.
Fear to the statesman, rafhnefs to the chief:
To kings prefumption, and to crowds belief:
That, Virtue's ends from vanity can raife,
Which feeks no intereft, no reward but praise ;
And build on wants, and on defects of mind,
The joy, the peace, the glory of Mankind.
Heaven forming each on other to depend,

A mafter or a fervant, or a friend,

Bids each on other for affistance call,

'Till one Man's weakness grows the ftrength of all. Wants, frailties, paffions, clofer still ally

The common intereft, or endear the tie.

245

250

To these we owe true friendship, love fincere,

255

Each home-felt joy that life inherits here;
Yet from the fame we learn, in its decline,
Those joys, those loves, those interests, to resign;
Taught half by reafon, half by mere decay,
To welcome death, and calmly pass away.

E 2

260

Whate'er

Whate'er the paffion, knowledge, fame, or pelf, Not one will change his neighbour with himself. The learn'd is happy nature to explore,

The fool is happy that he knows no more;

The rich is happy in the plenty given,

265

The poor contents him with the care of Heaven.
See the blind beggar dance, the cripple fing,
The fot a hero, lunatic a king;

The starving chemist in his golden views
Supremely bleft, the poet in his Mufe.

See fome strange comfort every state attend,

And pride bestow'd on all, a common friend :
See fome fit paffion every age fupply,

Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.
Behold the child, by nature's kindly law,
Pleas'd with a rattle, tickled with a straw:
Some livelier play-thing gives his youth delight,
A little louder, but as empty quite :

Scarfs, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage,
And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age:
Pleas'd with this bauble ftill, as that before;
Till tir'd he fleeps, and Life's poor play is o'er.
Meanwhile Opinion gilds with varying rays.
Those painted clouds that beautify our days;
Each want of happiness by hope fupply'd,
And each vacuity of fenfe by Pride :
These build as fast as knowledge can destroy;
In folly's cup ftill laughs the bubble, joy;
One profpect loft, another still we gain;
And not a vanity is giv'n in vain;

270

275

280

285

290

Ev'n mean Self-love becomes, by force divine,
The scale to measure others wants by thine.
See! and confess, one comfort still must rise;
'Tis this, Though Man's a fool, yet GOD IS WISE.

ARGUMENT OF

EPISTLE III.

Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Society,

I. THE whole Universe one system of Society, ver. 7, &c. Nothing made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for another, ver. 27. The happiness of Animals mutual, ver. 49. II. Reason or Inftinct operate alike to the good of each Individual, ver. 79. Reason or Inftinct operate alfo to Society in all animals, ver. 109, III. How far Society carried by instinct, ver. 115, How much farther by Reason, ver. 128. IV. Of that which is called the State of Nature, ver. 144. Reafon inftructed by Instinct in the Invention of Arts, ver. 166. and in the Forms of Society, ver. 176. V. Origin of Political Societies, ver. 196. Origin of Monarchy, ver. 207. Patriarchal Government, ver, 212. VI. Origin of true Religion and Government, from the fame principle, of Love, 231, &c. Origin of Superstition and Tyranny, from the fame principle of Fear, ver. 237, &c. The Influence of Self-love operating to the focial and public Good, ver. 266. Restoration of true Religion and Government on their first principle, ver. 285. Mixt Government, ver, 288. Various Forms of each, and the true end of all, ver. 300, &c.

EPISTLE