Such my pursuits, and such my joys of yore, Such were my mates, but now my mates no more. Placed out of Envy's walk, (for Envy, sure, Would never haunt the cottage of the poor, Would never stoop to wound my homespun lays)

Expatiate free o'er all this scene of man;
A mighty maze! but not without a plan-

It was at first published,

A mighty maze! of walks without a plan.

In the fourth epistle likewise these lines of the first edition, God sends no ill, 'tis nature lets it fall,

Or chance escape, and man improves it all.

were in the later editions altered to the four following:

God sends not ill; if rightly understood,

Or partial ill is universal good,

Or change admits, or nature lets it fall,

Short, and but rare, till man improved it all.

444

Crousaz wrote against the first impression of the Essay, Warburton ingeniously defended the poem from one of the subsequent editions.

Time has now fixed the standard of public opinion respecting Pope, to whom may be applied the observation of a celebrated foreign writer on the literary character of Fontenelle, "Il a eté sans contredit au dessus de tous les sçavans (poetes) qui n'ont pas eu le don de l'invention."

There were not wanting some whose admiration for Churchill induced them to rate him higher than either Dryden or Pope, as appears from the following extract from a contemporary poetical epistle.

You'll own the great Churchill possesses, I hope,

More fancy than Cowley, more numbers than Pope,

More strength too than Dryden, for think on what's past, He has not only rivall'd but beat him at last.

With some few friends, and some small share of

praise,

Beneath oppression, undisturb'd by strife,

In peace

450

455

I trod the humble vale of life. Farewell, these scenes of ease, this tranquil state; Welcome the troubles which an empire wait: Light toys from this day forth I disavow; They pleased me once, but cannot suit me now: To common men all common things are free, What honours them might fix disgrace on me. Call'd to a throne, and o'er a mighty land Ordain'd to rule, my head, my heart, my hand, Are all engross'd; each private view withstood; And task'd to labour for the public good: Be this my study; to this one great end May every thought, may every action tend. Let me the page of history turn o'er, The instructive page, and heedfully explore What faithful pens of former times have wrote Of former kings; what they did worthy note What worthy blame; and from the sacred tomb Where righteous monarchs sleep, where laurels bloom

460

464

470

Unhurt by time, let me a garland twine
Which, robbing not their fame, may add to mine.
Nor let me with a vain and idle eye
Glance o'er those scenes, and in a hurry fly
Quick as a post which travels day and night;
Nor let me dwell there, lured by false delight;
And, into barren theory betray'd

Forget that monarchs are for action made.

When amorous Spring, repairing all his charms, Calls Nature forth from hoary Winter's arms, Where, like a virgin to some lecher sold,

Three wretched months, she lay benumb'd, and

cold;

When the weak flower, which, shrinking from the

breath

480

485

Of the rude North, and timorous of death,
To its kind mother earth for shelter fled,
And on her bosom hid its tender head,
Peeps forth afresh, and, cheer'd by milder skies,
Bids in full splendour all her beauties rise,
The hive is up in arms-expert to teach,
Nor, proudly, to be taught unwilling, each
Seems from her fellow a new zeal to catch;
Strength in her limbs, and on her wings dispatch,
The bee goes forth; from herb to herb she flies,
From flower to flower, and loads her labouring

thighs

With treasured sweets, robbing those flowers,

which, left,

Find not themselves made poorer by the theft, Their scents as lively, and their looks as fair, As if the pillager had not been there.

491

Ne'er doth she flit on Pleasure's silken wing; 495
Ne'er doth she, loitering, let the bloom of Spring
Unrifled pass, and on the downy breast

Of some fair flower indulge untimely rest:
Ne'er doth she, drinking deep of those rich dews
Which chemist Night prepared, that faith abuse
Due to the hive, and, selfish in her toils,

To her own private use convert the spoils : Love of the stock first call'd her forth to roam, And to the stock she brings her booty home.

505

510

Be this my pattern-as becomes a king, Let me fly all abroad on Reason's wing: Let mine eye, like the lightning, through the earth Run to and fro, nor let one deed of worth, In any place and time, nor let one man, Whose actions may enrich dominion's plan, Escape my note: be all, from the first day Of Nature to this hour, be all my prey. From those whom Time, at the desire of Fame, Hath spared, let Virtue catch an equal flame: From those who, not in Time hath reprieved to damn from age to age, Let me take warning, lesson'd to distil, And, imitating Heaven, draw good from ill: Nor let these great researches in my breast A monument of useless labour rest;

mercy,

but in rage,

515

520

No-let them spread--the effects let Gotham share,
And reap the harvest of their monarch's care:
Be other times, and other countries known,
Only to give fresh blessings to my own.

Let me, (and may that God to whom I fly, 52
On whom for needful succour I rely
In this great hour, that glorious God of truth,
Through whom I reign, in mercy to my youth,
Assist my weakness, and direct me right;
From every speck which hangs upon the sight 530
Purge my mind's eye, nor let one cloud remain

536

To spread the shades of error o'er my brain,)
Let me, impartial, with unwearied thought,
Try men and things; let me, as monarchs ought,
Examine well on what my power depends;
What are the general principles, and ends
Of government; how empire first began;
And wherefore man was raised to reign o'er man.
Let me consider; as from one great source
We see a thousand rivers take their course,
Dispersed, and into different channels led,
Yet by their parent still supplied and fed, [wide,
That government, (though branched out far and
In various modes to various lands applied)
Howe'er it differs in its outward frame,

540

545

550

In the main ground works every where the same;
The same her view, though different her plan,
Her grand and general view-the good of man.
Let me find out, by reason's sacred beams,
What system in itself most perfect seems,
Most worthy man, most likely to conduce
To all the purposes of general use;
Let me find, too, where, by fair reason tried,
It fails, when to particulars applied;
Why in that mode all nations do not join,
And, chiefly, why it cannot suit with mine.
Let me the gradual rise of empires trace,
Till they seem founded on perfection's base;
Then (for when human things have made their way
To excellence, they hasten to decay)

Let me, whilst observation lends her clue,
Step after step to their decline pursue,

555