"

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 ones
Nor ends the Pleasure with the fierce Embrace;
All love themselves, a third Time, in their Race.
The Beaft, the Bird, their common Charge attend,”
The Mothers nurfe it, and the Sires defend

A T
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 helplefs Kind demands;
That longer Care contracts more lafting 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 cau fes 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 himfelf to offer moft Help where moft Need requires, he is best fitted for Society; that is to fay, fuch alone can be faid to be good Men, ore! 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 reafon, 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 Forecaft juft Returns engage, That pointed back to Youth, this on to Age; While Pleafure, Gratitude, and Hope combin'd, Still spread the Intʼreft, and preserv'd the Kind. 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 these 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 Effay, 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 Instinct; 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

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

See him from Nature rifing flow to Art!
To copy Inftinet 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,2 Learn of the Mole to plow, the Worm to weave; Learn of the little Nautilus to fail, [&c. "Spread the thin Oar, and catch the driving Gale, "Yet go! and thus o'er all the Creatures fway, "Thus let the wifer 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 defcrib'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 raife 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 :

Till then by Nature crown'd each Patriarch fat King, Prieft, and Parent, of his growing State ; > On him, their fecond Providence," they hung, Their Law his Eye, their Oracle his Tongue.

So that it was the common Intereft alone, which induc'd Men to fet a King up over them; for our Poet fays, that Nature never knew any Right divine in Men, to be great, was understood to be good, in all Degrées, even up to the Deity, and that Kings were only intended that Men might be happier; made Kings for the Sake of the Many, and not to make them Royal.

Concerning which, and the abominable Doctrines of Superftition, leading to Tyranny and Ignorance, I do not remember to have feen finer Lines than the following:

Who first taught Souls enflav'd, and Realms unTh'enormous Faith of Many made for One? [done That proud Exception to all Nature's Laws, FE? invert the World, and counter-work its Caufe? Force firft made Conqueft, and that Conquest Law; Till Superftition taught the Tyrant Awe, Then fhar'd the Tyranny, and lent it Aid, And Gods of Conqu'rors, Slaves of Subjects made: She, 'midft the Lightning's Blaze, and Thunder's [Ground,

Sound,

When rock'd the Mountains, and when groan'd the
She taught the Weak to bend, the Proud to pray
To Pow'r unfeen, and mightier far than they.cons
Sheyofrom the rending Earth and bursting Skies,
Saw Gods defcend, and Fiends infernal rife,
Here fix'd the dreadful, there the bleft Abodes
Fear made her Devils, and weak Hope her Gods

God's

Gods partial, changeful, paffionate, unjuft,
Whofe Attributes were Rage, Revenge, or Luft:
Such as the Souls of Cowards might conceive,
And form'd like Tyrants, Tyrants would believe.
Zeal then, not Charity, became the Guide,
And Hell was built on Spite, and Heaven on Pride.
Then facred feem'd the ethereal Vault no more;
Altars grew Marble then, and reek'd with Gore:
Then firft the Flamen tafted living Food
Next his grim Idol fmear'd with human Blood;
With Heav'n's own Thunder fhook the World below,
And play'd the God an Engine on his Foe.

These were Effects of arbitrary Power, the chief of which is Superftition, which, tho' it ftops all the Avenues to Truth, has been fo much encourag'd by the Priests, because under the Shade of that they have (more formerly indeed than now) been able to set up what Idol they pleas'd, could fee Gods defcend, and Powers infernal rife, as it beft fuited what Work they had in Hand, affuming moreover to themselves a Dominion over the very Confciences of Man, and threat'ning everlafting Torments, not only to those whofe Practice or general Rule of Faith did not correfpond with theirs, but even for Want of Affent to one fingle Tenet, having the Interpretation of all foregoing religious Laws wholly in their own Power, fo that they took upon them to add, to interline where it was neceffary to their Schemes, and to alter, or wholly eraze what might appear to be against them, tho' the Privilege of impofing any Senfe upon any Words, one might think, was Safety enough; but fearing left fome Time or other fome free Spirit might arife, too great to become their Slaves, and take all upon Truft, or their Word, which is the fame Thing, they carefully provided as far as lay in