See the blind beggar dance, the cripple sing, The sot a hero, lunatic a king;The starving chemist in his golden views Supremely blest, the poet in his muse.
See some strange comfort every state attend, And pride bestowed on all, a common friend;See some fit passion every age supply, Hope travels through, nor quits us when we die.
Behold the child, by Nature's kindly law, Pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw:
Some livelier plaything gives his youth delight, A little louder, but as empty quite:
Scarves, garters, gold, amuse his riper stage, And beads and prayer-books are the toys of age:
Pleased with this bauble still, as that before;Till tired he sleeps, 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 supplied, And each vacuity of sense by pride:
These build as fast as knowledge can destroy;In folly's cup still laughs the bubble, joy;One prospect lost, another still we gain;And not a vanity is given in vain;
Even 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, v.7, etc. Nothing made wholly for itself, nor yet wholly for another, v.27. The happiness of Animals mutual, v.49.
II. Reason or Instinct operate alike to the good of each Individual, v.79. Reason or Instinct operate also to Society, in all Animals, v.109.
III. How far Society carried by Instinct, v.115. How much farther by Reason, v.128.
IV. Of that which is called the State of Nature, v.144. Reason instructed by Instinct in the invention of Arts, v.166, and in the Forms of Society, v.176.
V. Origin of Political Societies, v.196. Origin of Monarchy, v.207.
Patriarchal Government, v.212.
VI. Origin of true Religion and Government, from the same principle, of Love, v.231, etc. Origin of Superstition and Tyranny, from the same principle, of Fear, v.237, etc. The Influence of Self-love operating to the social and public Good, v.266. Restoration of true Religion and Government on their first principle, v.285. Mixed Government, v.288.
Various forms of each, and the true end of all, v.300, etc.
EPISTLE III.
Here, then, we rest: "The Universal Cause Acts to one end, but acts by various laws."In all the madness of superfluous health, The trim of pride, the impudence of wealth, Let this great truth be present night and day;But most be present, if we preach or pray.
Look round our world; behold the chain of love Combining all below and all above.
See plastic Nature working to this end, The single atoms each to other tend, Attract, attracted to, the next in place Formed and impelled its neighbour to embrace.
See matter next, with various life endued, Press to one centre still, the general good.
See dying vegetables life sustain, See life dissolving vegetate again:
All forms that perish other forms supply (By turns we catch the vital breath, and die), Like bubbles on the sea of matter borne, They rise, they break, and to that sea return.
Nothing is foreign: parts relate to whole;One all-extending, all-preserving soul Connects each being, greatest with the least;Made beast in aid of man, and man of beast;All served, all serving: nothing stands alone;The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown.
Has God, thou fool! worked solely for thy Thy good, Thy joy, thy pastime, thy attire, thy food?
Who for thy table feeds the wanton fawn, For him as kindly spread the flowery lawn:
Is it for thee the lark ascends and sings?
Joy tunes his voice, joy elevates his wings.
Is it for thee the linnet pours his throat?
Loves of his own and raptures swell the note.
The bounding steed you pompously bestride, Shares with his lord the pleasure and the pride.
Is thine alone the seed that strews the plain?
The birds of heaven shall vindicate their grain.
Thine the full harvest of the golden year?
Part pays, and justly, the deserving steer:
The hog, that ploughs not nor obeys thy call, Lives on the labours of this lord of all.
Know, Nature's children all divide her care;The fur that warms a monarch, warmed a bear.
While man exclaims, "See all things for my use!""See man for mine!" replies a pampered goose:
And just as short of reason he must fall, Who thinks all made for one, not one for all.
Grant that the powerful still the weak control;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, stooping from above, Smit with her varying plumage, spare the dove?
Admires the jay the insect's gilded wings?
Or hears the hawk when Philomela sings?
Man cares for all: to birds he gives his woods, To beasts his pastures, and to fish his floods;For some his interest prompts him to provide, For more his pleasure, yet for more his pride:
All feed on one vain patron, and enjoy The extensive blessing of his luxury.
That very life his learned hunger craves, He saves from famine, from the savage saves;Nay, feasts the animal he dooms his feast, And, till he ends the being, makes it blest;Which sees no more the stroke, or feels the pain, Than favoured man by touch ethereal slain.
The creature had his feast of life before;Thou too must perish when thy feast is o'er!
To each unthinking being, Heaven, a friend, Gives not the useless knowledge of its end:
To man imparts it; but with such a view As, while he dreads it, makes him hope it too;The hour concealed, and so remote the fear, Death still draws nearer, never seeming near.
Great standing miracle! that Heaven assigned Its only thinking thing this turn of mind.
II. Whether with reason, or with instinct blest, Know, all enjoy that power which suits them best;To bliss alike by that direction tend, And find the means proportioned to their end.
Say, where full instinct is the unerring guide, What pope or council can they need beside?
