How oft by these at fixty are undone The virtues of a faint at twenty-one! To whom can Riches give Repute, or Truft, 185 Content, or Pleasure, but the Good and Juft? Judges and Senates have been bought for gold, Efteem and Love were never to be fold, COMMENTARY. VER. 185. To whom can Riches give Repute, or Trust,] The poet now enters more at large upon the matter: And till continuing his discourse to this third fort of complainers (whom he indulgeth, as much more pardonable than the firft or fecond, in rectifying all their doubts and mistakes) he proves, both from reafon and example, how unable any of thofe things are which the world most admires, to make a good man happy. For as to the Philofophic mistakes concerning Happinefs, there being little danger of their making a general impreffion, he had, after a fhort confutation, difmifled them at once. But External goods are thofe Syrens which fo bewitch the world with dreams. of Happiness, that it is of all things the most difficult to awaken it out of its delufions; though, as he proves in an exact review of the most pretending, they difhonour bad men, and add no Juftre to the good. That it is only this third and leaft criminal fort of complainers, againft which the remaining part of the difcourfe is levelled, appeareth from the poet's fo frequently addreffing himself, while he inforceth his arguments in behalf of Providence, from henceforward to his friend. I. He beginneth therefore (from y 184 to 205) with confidering RICHES. I. He examines, first, what there is of real value or enjoyment in them; and fheweth, they can give the good man only that very Contentment and that very Efteem and Love which he had before: And fcornfully cries out to those of a different opinion, Oh fool! to think God hates the worthy mind, The lover and the love of human kind, Whofe life is healthful, and whofe confcience clear; Oh fool! to think God hates the worthy mind, The lover and the love of human-kind, 190 Whofe life is healthful,and whofe confcience clear, Because he wants a thousand pounds a year. Honour and fhame from no Condition rife; Act well your part, there all the honour lies. 194 Fortune in Men has some small diff'rence made, One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade; The cobler apron'd, and the parfon gown'd, The frier hooded, and the monarch crown'd. "What differ more (you cry) than crown and cowl!" I'll tell you, friend! a wife man and a Fool. 200 COMMENTARY. 2. Next he examines the imaginary value of Riches, as the fountain of Honour. For his adverfaries objection ftandeth thus: -As Honour is the genuine claim of Virtue, and Shame the juft retribution of Vice; and as Honour, in their opinion, fol- . lows Riches, and Shame Poverty; therefore the good man fhould be rich. He tells them in this they are much mistaken : Honour and fhame from no Condition rife; Act well your part, there all the honour lies. What power then has Fortune over the Man? None at all; for as her favours can confer neither worth nor wisdom; fo neither can her difpleasure cure him of any of his follies. On his Garb indeed fhe hath fome little influence; but his Heart ftill remains the fame: Fortune in Men has fome fmall diff'rence made, One flaunts in rags, one flutters in brocade. But this difference extends no further than to the habit; the pride of heart is the fame both in the flaunter and flutterer, as it is the poet's intention to infinuate by the use of thofe terms. You'll find, if once the monarch acts the monk, Or, cobler-like, the parfon will be drunk, Worth makes the man, and want of it, the fellow; The rest is all but leather or prunella. 204 Stuck o'er with titles and hung round with strings, Has crept thro' fcoundrels ever fince the flood, VARIATIONS. VER. 207. Boaft the pure blood, &c.] in the MS. thus, Down from Lucretia to Lucretia roll'd, COMMENTARY. VER. 205. Stuck o'er with titles, &c.] II. Then as to NOBILITY, by creation or birth; this too the poet fhews (from 204 to 217) is in itself as devoid of all real worth as the reft; becaufe, in the firft cafe, the Title is generally gain'd by no merit at all; in the second, by the merit of the first Founder of the family; which will generally, when reflected on, be rather the fubject of Mortification than Glory. What can ennoble fots, or flaves, or cowards? 215 Alas! not all the blood of all the HowARDS. σε Look next on Greatness; say where Greatness lies? " Where, but among the Heroes and the Wife?" Heroes are much the fame, the point's agreed, From Macedonia's madman to the Swede; 220 The whole strange purpose of their lives, to find Or make, an enemy of all mankind! COMMENTARY. VER. 217. Look next on Greatness; &c.] III. The poet in the next place (from 216 to 237) unmasks the false pretences of GREATNESS; whereby it is feen that the Hero and Politician (the two characters that would monopolize that quality) after all their bustle effect only this, if they want Virtue, that the one NOTES. VER. 219. Heroes are much the fame, &c.] This character might have been drawn with greater force; and deserved the poet's care, But Milton fupplies what is here wanting. They err who count it glorious to fubdue Par. Reg. B. iii. 225 Not one looks backward, onward still he goes, Is but the more a fool, the more a knave. 230 Like good Aurelius let him reign, or bleed 235 Like Socrates, that Man is great indeed. What's Fame? a fancy'd life in others breath, A thing beyond us, ev'n before our death. COMMENTARY. proves himself a Fool, and the other a Knave: And Virtue they but too generally want; the art of Heroifm being underftood to confift in Ravage and Defolation, and the art of Politics in Circumvention. It is not fuccefs, therefore, that conftitutes true Greatnefs; but the end aimed at, and the means which are employed: And if these be right, Glory will be the reward, whatever be the iffue: Who noble ends by noble means obtains, VER. 237. What's Fame?] IV. With regard to FAME, |