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and all is ferving. But with Regard to Man, the Cafe is different; he ftands fingle: For his Reafon hath endow'd him both with Power and Address fuf ficient to make all Things Jerve him; and his Selflove, of which you have fo largely provided for him, will difpofe him, in his Turn, to ferve none. There fore your Theory is imperfect. Not fo, replies "the Poet, [from Line 52 to 83] I grant you, Man, "indeed, affects to be the Wit and Tyrant of the "Whole, and would fain fhake off

That Chain of Love,

Combining all below, and all above:

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"But Nature, even by the very Gift of Reafon, "checks this Tyrant: For Reafon endowing Man "with the Ability of fetting together the Memory of "the Paft, and Conjecture about the Future; and "paft Misfortunes making him apprehenfive of more "to come, this difpofes him to pity and relieve o"thers in a State of Suffering. And the Paffion "growing habitual, naturally extends its Effects to "all that have a Senfe of Suffering. Now, as Brutes "have neither Man's Reafon, nor his inordinate "Self-love, to draw them from the Syftem of Bene"volence; fo they wanted not, and therefore have not, this human Sympathy of another's Mifery. By "which Paffion we fee thofe Qualities, in Man, ballance one another, and fo retain him in that general Order, in which Providence has plac'd its "whole Creation. But this is not all; Man's In"tereft, Amusement, Vanity, and Luxury, tie him "ftill closer to the Syftem of Benevolence, by obliging him to provide for the Support of other Animals; and tho' it be, for the moft Part, only to "devour them with the greater Guft, yet this does "not abate the proper Happiness of the Animals fo

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preferved,

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"preferved, to whom Providence has not given the <s ufelefs Knowledge of their End. From all which "it appears, that the Theory is yet uniform, and "perfect."

Grant that the Pow'rful ftill the Weak controul, Be Man the Wit and Tyrant of the Whole: Nature that Tyrant checks; he only knows And helps another Creature's Wants and Woes. Say, will the Falcon, ftooping from above, Smit with her varying Plumage, fpare the Dove? Admires the Jay, the Infect's gilded Wings, Or hears the Hawk when Philomela fings? Man cares for all, &c.—

For fome his Int'reft prompts him to provide,
For more his Pleasure, yet for more his Pride.'

After this he comes to the Subject propos'd for this Epiftle, the Sociability of Man, prov'd by the Subjection to the Parent and to the Magiftrate, and that our Society is altogether founded on our Wants, for wanting what another has to bestow, naturally causes us to make Application for it where it is, and thus we are by Neceffitv brought together; otherwife were it fo that Man wanted no Aid, or could reIceive no Good or Pleafure from another, Self-love might (there being no Attraction or Inclination) draw each a feperate Way, and the World would be peopled with Hermits. But Mr. Pope affirms it to be quite otherwise :

Whate'er of Life all-quickening Æther keeps, Or breathes thro' Air, or fhoots beneath the Deeps.

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Or pours profufe on Earth; one Nature feeds

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The vital Flame, and fwells the genial Seeds.

Not

Not Man alone, but all that roam the Wood,
Or wing the Sky, or roll along the Flood,
Each loves Itfelf, but not itself alone,
Each Sex defires alike, 'till two are one:
Nor ends the Pleasure with the fierce Embrace;
All love themselves, a third Time, in their Race.
The Beast, the Bird, their common Charge attend,
The Mothers nurse it, and the Sires defend;
The Young difmifs'd to wander Earth or Air,
There ftops the Inftinct, and there ends the Care,
The Link diffolves, each feeks a fresh Embrace,
Another Love fucceeds, another Race.
A longer Care Man's helpless Kind demands;
That longer Care contracts more lasting Bands:
Reflection, Reafon, ftill the Ties improve,
At once extend the Int'reft, and the Love.

Thus the Creatures are link'd together, and thus Men: Even the Love we bear to our Offfpring caufes an Uneafinefs and Care for them, which keeps awake that Tenderness and Solicitude, which when perform'd makes up our Happiness and theirs too; their Wants being by that Means alfo fupply'd. Thus he, who by the Obfervation of the Relation of Things in general, applies himself to offer moft Help where moft Need requires, he is beft fitted for Society; that is to fay, fuch alone can be faid to be good Men, or fo far good, as this Defire of Society and giving Happiness to their Fellow Creatures governs in them. In which Man has the Advantage of the Brutes, that he can reason, and make Choice of the Objects of his Love and Charity.

With Choice we fix, with Sympathy we burn; Each Virtue in each Paffion takes its Turn;

And ftill new Needs, new Helps, new Habits rife,
That graft Benevolence on Charities,
Mem❜ry and Forecast juft Returns engage,
That pointed back to Youth, this on to Age;
While Pleafure, Gratitude, and Hope combin'd,
Still fpread the Int'reft, and preserv'd the Kind.

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Strict Method (fays our Poet's Commentator) leads him next to speak of that Society which fucceeded the Natural, namely, the Civil, but as he does all by eafy Steps, in the natural Progreffion of Ideas, he firft explains [from 1. 169 to 200] the intermediate Means which led Mankind from natural to civil Society. These were the Invention and Improvement of Arts. For while Mankind liv'd in a mere State of Nature, unconscious of the Arts of Life, there was no Need of any other Government than the paternal; but when Arts were found out and improv'd, then that more perfect Form under the Direction of a Magiftrate, became neceffary. And for thefe Reasons; First, to bring thofe Arts, already found, to Perfection; and, Secondly, to fecure the Product of them to their rightful Proprietors. The Poet, therefore, comes now, as we fay, to the Invention of Arts but being always intent upon the great End for which he wrote his Eay, namely to mortify that Pride, which occafions the impious Complaints against Providence, he, with the greatest Art and Contrivance, fpeaks of thefe Inventions, as Leffons only learnt of mere Animals guided by Inftinct; and thus, at the fame Time, gives a new Inftance of the wonderful Providence of God, who has contrived to teach Mankind in a Way not only proper to humble human Arrogance, but to raise our Idea of infinite Wisdom to the greatest Pitch, All this he

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he does in a Profopopeia the moft fublime that ever entered into the human Imagination:

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See him from Nature rifing flow to Art! To copy Instinct then was Reafon's Part: Thus then to Man the Voice of Nature fpake"Go, from the Creatures thy Inftructions take; "Thy Arts of Building from the Bee receive, "Learn of the Mole to plow, the Worm to weave; [Sc.

"Learn of the little Nautilus to fail,

"Spread the thin Oar, and catch the driving Gale, Yet go! and thus o'er all the Creatures fway, <<Thus let the wiser make the reft obey, "And for thofe Arts mere. Inftinct could afford, "Be crown'd as Monarchs, or as Gods ador'd.

The little Nautilus mentioned in the Quotation above, from the Effay, is thus describ'd by Oppian. -Thefe Fishes fwim on the Surface of the Sea, on the Back of their Shells, which exactly refemble the Hulk of a Ship; they raise two Feet like Mafts, and extend a Membrane between, which ferves as a Sail, the other two Feet they employ as Oars at the Side: They are ‘uJually feen in the Mediterranean Sea.

This Voice of Nature, commanding Man to learn and gather Knowledge and Arts from the Creatures, was obey'd, and Men forming themselves by Degrees into little Societies, thofe again join'd, either thro' Love or Fear, or Conveniency of Commerce, and they grew into a State, then finding Government neceffary, and not to be conducted without particular Rulers, those most abounding in Virtue and Valour were chofen, and Kings and Generals govern'd States, as Families had been before govern'd by the Fathers of them:

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Till