"Here fubterranean works and cities fee;

181

186

"There towns aerial on the waving tree. "Learn each fmall People's genius, policies, "The Ant's republic, and the realm of Bees; "How thofe in common all their wealth bestow, "And Anarchy without confufion know; "And these for ever, tho' a Monarch reign, "Their fep'rate cells and properties maintain. "Mark what unvary'd laws preferve each state, "Laws wife as Nature, and as fix'd as Fate. 190 "In vain thy Reafon finer webs fhall draw,

Entangle Justice in her net of Law,

"And right, too rigid, harden into wrong;

"Still for the strong too weak, the weak too strong. "Yet go! and thus o'er all the creatures fway, 195 "Thus let the wifer make the rest obey; "And for thofe Arts mere Inftinct could afford, "Be crown'd as Monarchs, or as Gods ador'd." V. Great Nature spoke; obfervant Men obey'd; Cities were built, Societies were made:

VARIATIONS.

VER. 197. in the firft Editions,

Who for thofe Arts they learn'd of Brutes before,
As Kings fhall crown them, or as Gods adore.

NOTES.

200

VER 199. obfervant Mentiful, as fignifying both obebey'd;] The epithet is beau-dience to the voice of Na

Here rofe one little ftate; another near

Grew by like means, and join'd, thro' love or fear. Did here the trees with ruddier burdens bend,

206

And there the streams in purer rills descend ? What War could ravish, Commerce could beftow, And he return'd a friend, who came a foe. Converfe and Love mankind might strongly draw, When Love was Liberty, and Nature Law.

VARIATIONS.

VER. 201. Here rofe one little ftate, &c.] In the MS. thus,

The Neighbours leagu'd to guard their common spot:
And Love was Nature's dictate, Murder, not.

For want alone each animal contends;

Tygers with Tygers, that remov'd, are friends.
Plain Nature's wants the common mother crown'd,
She pour'd her acorns, herbs, and streams around.
No Treasure then for rapine to invade,

What need to fight for fun-fhine or for shade?
And half the cause of contest was remov'd,
When beauty could be kind to all who lov'd.

NOTES.

ture, and attention to the leffons of the animal crea

tion.

VER. 208. When Love was Liberty, i. e. When men had no need to guard

their native liberty from their governors by civil pactions; the love which each mafter of a family had for thofe under his care being their beft fecurity.

Thus States were form'd; the name of King un

known,

'Till common int'reft plac'd the fway in one. 210 'Twas VIRTUE ONLY (or in arts or arms,

Diffusing bleffings, or averting harms)

The fame which in a Sire the Sons obey'd,
A Prince the Father of a People made.

VI. 'Till then, by Nature crown'd, each Pa

triarch fate,

215

King, priest, and parent of his growing state;
On him, their fecond Providence, they hung,
Their law his eye, their oracle his tongue.
He from the wond'ring furrow call'd the food,
Taught to command the fire, controul the flood, 220
Draw forth the monfters of th'abyfs profound,
Or fetch th'aerial eagle to the ground.
'Till drooping, fick'ning, dying they began
Whom they rever'd as God to mourn as Man:

NOTES.

VER. 211. 'Twas Virtue | räv dæò rñç ágélñs, ǹ nal' værɛpoonly, &c.] Our author hath Toléru yivac. good authority, for his ac- VER. 219. He from the count of the origin of king-wond ring furrow,&c.] i.e. fhip. Ariftotle affures us of He fubdued the intractabithis truth, that it was Vir-lity of all the four elements, tue only, or in arts or arms: and made them fubfervient Καθίςαλαι Βασιλεὺς ἐκ τῶν ἐπιεικῶν ¦ to the ufe of Man. καθ ̓ ὑπεροχὴν ἀρετῆς, ἡ πράξεων

225

230

Then, looking up from fire to fire, explor'd
One great firft father, and that first ador❜d.
Or plain tradition that this All begun,
Convey'd unbroken faith from fire to fon;
The worker from the work diftinct was known,
And fimple Reason never fought but one:
E'er Wit oblique had broke that steddy light,
Man, like his Maker, faw that all was right;
To Virtue, in the paths of Pleasure, trod,
And own'd a Father when he own'd a God.
LOVE all the faith, and all th' allegiance then; 235
For Nature knew no right divine in Men,

No ill could fear in God; and understood

A fov'reign being but a fov'reign good.

NOTES.

VER. 225. Then, looking up, &c.] The poet here maketh their more ferious attention to Religion to have arifen, not from their gratitude amidst abundance, but from their helpleffnefs in diftrefs; by fhewing that,

during the former state, they refted in second causes, the immediate authors of their bleffings, whom they revered as God; but that, in the other, they reasoned up to the Firft:

Then, looking up from fire to fire, &c. This, I am afraid, is but too true a reprefentation of hu

man nature.

VER 231. E'er Wit

|

oblique, &c.] A beautiful allufion to the effects of the prifmatic glafs on the rays of light.

1

True faith, true policy, united ran,

That was but love of God, and this of Man.240′′]

Who first taught fouls enflav'd, and realms undone, Th' enormous faith of many made for one;

That proud exception to all Nature's laws,
T'invert the world, and counter-work its Cause?
Force first made Conqueft, and that conqueft, Law;
'Till Superstition taught the tyrant awe,

246

Then fhar'd the Tyranny, then lent it aid,
And Gods of Conqu❜rors, Slaves of Subjects made:
She 'midft the light'ning's blaze, and thunder's
found,

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:
She, from the rending earth and bursting skies,
Saw Gods defcend, and fiends infernal rife:

NOTES.

VER. 242. Th' enormous faith, &c.] In this Ariftotle placeth the difference between a King and a Tyrant, that the firft fuppofeth him felf made for the People; the other, that the People are made for him: Belas

250

δ ̓ ὁ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ εἶναι φύλαξ, ὅπως

μὲν κεκλημένοι τὰς ἐσίας μηθὲν ἄδικον πάσχωσιν, ὁ δὲ δῆμος μὴ ὑβρίζηται μηθέν· ἡ δὲ ΤΥΡΑΝΝΙΣ πρὸς ἐδὲν ἀποβλέπει κοινὸν, εἰ μὴ τῆς ἰδίας ὠφελείας χάριν. Pol. lib. v. cap. 10.