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ARGUMENT OF EPISTLE II.

Of the Nature and State of Man with respect to Himfelf, as an Individual.

I. THE bufinefs of Man not to pry into God, but to study himself. His Middle Nature; his Powers and Frailties, Ver. 1 to 19. The Limits of his Capacity, Ver. 19. &c. II. The two Principles of Man, Self-love and Reason, both neceffary, Ver. 53, &c. Self-love the ftronger, and why, Ver. 67, &c. Their end the fame, Ver. 81, &c. III. The PASSIONS, and their use, Ver. 93 to 130. The Predominant Paffion, and its force, Ver. 132 to 160. Its Neceffity, in directing Men to different purposes, Ver. 165, &c. Its providential Ufe, in fixing our Principle, and ascertaining our Virtue, Ver. 177. IV. Virtue and Vice joined in our mixed Nature; the limits near, yet the things separate and evident: What is the Office of Reason, Ver. 202 to 216. V. How odious Vice in itself, and how we deceive ourselves in it, Ver. 217. VI. That, however, the Ends of Providence and general Good are answered in our Paffions and Imperfections, Ver. 238, &c. How usefully these are diftributed to all Orders of Men,

Ver. 241. How useful they

are to Society, Ver. 251. And to Individuals, Ver. 263. In every state, and every age of life, Ver. 273, &c.

I.

KNOW

EPISTLE II.

Now then thyself, prefume not God to scan,
The proper study of Mankind is Man.

VARIATIONS.

Plac'd

VER. 2. Ed. ift.

The only science of Mankind is Man.

NOTES.

VER. 1. Know then thyself,] Not content with the fame acquired by writing those fine tragedies, Zaire, Alzire, Merope, and Mahomet, Voltaire must needs defcend to didactic poetry; for a defcent it is; out of an ambition to be an universal genius; and produced, in emulation of Pope, five Discourses on Man : the firft is, on the Equality of Happiness in the different Conditions of Man; the fecond, on the Freedom of Man; the third, on the Mischiefs of Envy, and that it is the chief Obstacle to our Happinefs; the fourth, to fhew that, to be Happy, we must be moderate in all Things; the fifth, that Pleasure must proceed from God; the fixth, that Perfect Happiness cannot be attained in this Life, and that Men ought not to complain; the seventh and last is, to fhew that Virtue chiefly confifts in Acts of Beneficence to our Fellow-creatures. A close refemblance is visible in the following lines of the fixth discourse to the Effay on Man. Ep. i. v. 173. “Un vieux Lettre Chinois, qui toujours fur les bancs Combattit la raison par de beaux argumens,

Plein de Confucins, et fa Logique en tête,
Diftinguant, concluant, présenta fa requête.
Pourquoi fuis-je en un point refferré par le tems?
Mes jours devraient aller par-dela vingt mille ans ;
Ma taille pour le moins dût avoir cent condées,
D'où vient que je ne puis, plus promt que mes idées,
Voyager dans la Lune, et reformer fon cours?
Pourquoi faut-il dormir un grand tiers de mes jours;
Pourquoi ne puis-je, au gré de ma pudique flâme;
Faire au moins en trois mois cent enfans à ma femme;

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Plac'd on this iftmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wife, and rudely great:
With too much knowledge for the Sceptic fide,
With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,

5

He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest;
In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast;

In

NOTES.

Pourquoi pis-je en un jour fi las de fes attraits?
Tes pourquoi, dit le Dieu, ne finiraient jamais
Bientot tes questions vont etre decidées :
Vas chercher ta réponse au pays des idées ;
Pars!".

Though there are many fenfible and fprightly paffages in these difcourfes, yet their inferiority to Pope is indifputable. As much as we may lament and reprobate the loofe and libertine principles wantonly scattered up and down in the writings of Voltaire, yet is it impoffible not to admire the fertility of his genius, the brilliancy of his wit, and the variety of his talents? It is vain to think it poffible to destroy and depreciate the man who, with such an unparalleled verfatility of mind, could produce, not only the tragedies just mentioned, and fome parts of the Henriade, but Comic Tales, a certain Mock Heroic Poem, and Familiar Epiftles in verfe, equal to the facility and naiveté of La Fontaine; as well as fuch hiftories as that of Charles XII. Louis XIV. and the Effay on General History; which laft work has had the great merit of giving a new turn to historical compofitions, and carrying them from accounts of battles, and fieges, and negotiations alone, to investigations of the progrefs of manners, laws, and arts; and this in a style of marvellous perfpicuity and precision; fo that his profe is quite equal to his verfe, perhaps fuperior. They who are fond of attributing the disorders and enormities in France to the influence of Voltaire's writings, ought in common justice to be reminded, that even in one of his most exceptionable works, the Dictionaire Philofophique, are various passages, strongly pointed, against Atheism, Equality, and Democracy, and the very impious tenets of the Systeme de la Nature.

VER. 3. On this ifthmus] From Cowley, in the Ode on Life and Fame. As alfo line 205. in the 4th Epistle,

To Kings, or to the Favorites of Kings.

In doubt his Mind or Body to prefer;
Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err;
Alike in ignorance, his reafon fuch,
Whether he thinks too little, or too much:
Chaos of Thought and Paffion, all confus'd;
Still by himself abus❜d, or difabus'd;
Created half to rife, and half to fall;
Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all;
Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd:
The glory, jeft, and riddle of the world!

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15

VARIATIONS.

After Ver. 18. in the MS.

For more perfection than this state can bear
In vain we figh, Heav'n made us as we are.
As wifely fure a modeft Ape might aim
To be like Man, whofe faculties and frame

Go,

He

NOTES.

VER. 11. Alike in ignorance, &c.] i. e. The proper sphere of his reason is fo narrow, and the exercife of it fo nice, that the too immoderate use of it is attended with the fame ignorance that proceeds from the not using it at all. Yet though, in both these cafes, he is abused by himself, he has it ftill in his own power to dif abuse himself, in making his paffions fubfervient to the means, and regulating his Reason by the end of life.

W.

VER. 12. Whether he thinks too little,] It was obferved by Bayle, above an hundred years ago, "that philofophy might be compared to certain powders, fo very corrofive, that, having consumed the proud and spongy flesh of a wound, they would corrode even the quick and found flesh, rot the bones, and penetrate to the very marrow. Philofophy is proper at first to confute errors, but if she be not stopped there, she attacks truth itself; and, when she has her full scope, fhe generally goes fo far that she loses herfelf, and knows not where to ftop." What would Bayle have faid if he had feen the ufes to which philofophy has been applied in the present times?

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