Go, wond'rous creature! mount where Science guides, Go, measure earth, weigh air, and state the tides; Correct old Time, and regulate the Sun; Or VARIATION S. He fees, he feels, as you or I to be Go, reas'ning thing! affume the Doctor's chair, Fix moral fitness, and to God give rule, VER. 21. Ed. 4th and 5th. Show by what rules the wand'ring planets ftray, NOTÉS. VER. 20. Go, measure earth, &c.] Alluding to the noble and useful labours of the modern Mathematicians, in measuring a degree at the equator and the polar circle, in order to determine the true figure of the earth; of great importance to astronomy and navigation; and which proved of equal honour to the wonderful fagacity of Newton. W. VER. 22. Correct old Time, &c.] This alludes to Newton's Grecian Chronology, which he reformed on those two sublime conceptions, the difference between the reigns of kings, and the generations of men; and the pofition of the colours of the equinoxes and folítices at the time of the Argonautic expedition. W. Or tread the mazy round his follow'rs trod, NOTES. 25 30 Admir'd VER. 29, 30. Go, teach Eternal Wisdom, &c.] Thefe two lines are a conclufion from all that had been faid from Ver. 18. to this effect: Go now, vain Man, elated with thy acquirements in real science, and imaginary intimacy with God; go, and run into all the extravagancies I have exploded in the first epistle, where thou pretendeft to teach Providence how to govern; then drop into the obfcurities of thy own nature, and thereby manifest thy ignorance and folly. W. VER. 31. Superior beings, &c.] In these lines the Poet speaks to this effect: " But to make you fully fenfible of the difficulty of this study, I shall inftance in the great Newton himself; whom, when fuperior beings, not long fince, faw capable of unfolding the whole law of Nature, they were in doubt whether the owner of fuch prodigious fagacity fhould not be reckoned of their order; juft as men, when they fee the furprifing marks of Reafon in an Ape, are almoft tempted to rank him with their own kind." And yet this wondrous Man could go no further in the knowledge of himfelf than the generality of his fpecies. M. Du Refnel, who understood nothing of all this, tranflates these four celebrated lines thus, "Des celeftes Efprits la vive intelligence Regarde avec pitie notre foible Science; Newton, le grand Newton, que nos admirons tous But it is not the pity, but the admiration of those celestial Spirits which is here spoken of. And it was for no flight cause they admired; it was to fee a mortal man unfold the whole law of Nature. By which we fee it was not Mr. Pope's intention to bring any the Ape's qualities, but its fagacity, into the comparison. of W. Admir'd fuch wisdom in an earthly shape, 1 And fhew'd a NEWTON as we fhew an Ape. Could he, whofe rules the rapid Comet bind, 35 Describe or fix one movement of his Mind? Who faw its fires here rife, and there defcend, 40 VER. 35. Ed. Ift. VARIATIONS. Trace Could he, who taught each Planet where to roll, Who mark'd their points to rife, or to defcend, NOTES. VER. 34. As we fhew an Ape.] Evidently borrowed from the following paffage in the Zodiac of Palingenius, and not, as hath been fuggefted by Dr. Hurd, from Plato. Pope was a reader and publisher of the modern Poets of Italy who wrote in Latin. The words are, "Simia Cœliolûm rifufq; jocufq; Deorum eft Tunc Homo, cum temerè ingenio confidit, et audet VER. 37. Who faw its fires here rife, &c.] Sir Ifaac Newton, in calculating the velocity of a Comet's motion, and the course it describes, when it becomes vifible in its defcent to, and ascent from, the Sun, conjectured, with the highest appearance of truth, that Comets revolve perpetually round the Sun, in ellipfes vastly eccentrical, and very nearly approaching to parabolas. In which he was greatly confirmed, in obferving between two Comets a coincidence in their perihelions, and a perfect agreement in their velocities. W. Trace Science then, with Modefty thy guide: First strip off all her equipage of Pride; Deduct what is but Vanity, or Drefs, Or Learning's Luxury, or Idleness; Or tricks to fhew the stretch of human brain, NOTES. 45 Expunge VER. 44. First firip off] The abuses of learning are enumerated with brevity and elegance in these few lines. It was a favourite fubject with our author; and it is faid he intended to have written four epiftles on it, wherein he would have treated of the extent and limits of human reason; of arts and sciences useful and attainable; of the different capacities of different men; of the knowledge of the world; and of wit. Such cenfures, even of the most unimportant parts of literature, fhould not, however, be carried too far; and a fenfible writer observes, that there is not indeed any part of knowledge which can be called entirely ufelefs. "The moft abftracted parts of mathematics, and the knowledge of mythological history, or ancient allegories, have their own pleasures, not inferior to the more gay entertainments of painting, music, or architecture; and it is for the advantage of mankind that some are found who have a taste for these studies. The only fault lies in letting any of those inferior tastes engross the whole man to the exclufion of the nobler purfuits of virtue and humanity *." We may here apply an elegant obfervation of Tully, who fays, in his Brutus," Credo, fed Athenienfium quoque plus interfuit firma tecta in domiciliis habere, quam Minervæ fignum ex eboré pulcherrimum: tamen ego me Phidiam esse mallem quam vel optimum fabrum lignarium; quare non quantum quifque profit, fed quanti quifque fit, ponderandum eft: præfertim cum pauci pingere egregiè poffint aut fingere, operarii autem aut bajuli deesse non poffint." VER. 47. Or tricks to fhew the stretch of human brain,] Such as the mathematical demonftrations concerning the Small quantity of matter; the endless divifibility of it, &c. W. VER. 48. Mere curious pleafure, or ingenious pain ;] i. e. when Admiration has fet the mind on the rack. W. * Hutchefon's Nature and Conduct of the Paffions, p. 179. Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrefcent parts Of all our Vices have created Arts; Then fee how little the remaining fum, 50 Which ferv'd the past, and must the times to come! NOTES. VER. 49. Expunge the whole, or lop th' excrefcent parts Nor i. e. Those parts of natural Philosophy, Logic, Rhetoric, Poetry, &c. which adminifter to luxury, deceit, ambition, effeminacy, &c. VER. 53. Two Principles, &c.] The Poet having fhewn the difficulty which attends the study of Man, proceeds to remove it, by laying before us the elements or true principles of this science, in an account of the Origin, Ufe, and End of the PASSIONS; which, in my opinion, contains the trueft, clearest, shortest, and confequently the beft fyftem of Ethics that is any where to be met with. He begins (from Ver. 52 to 59.) with pointing out the two grand Principles in human nature, SELF-LOVE and REASON. Defcribes their general nature: The first sets Man upon acting, the other regulates his action. However, thefe principles are natural, not moral; and therefore, in themselves, neither good nor evil, but fo only as they are directed. This obfervation is made with great judgment, in oppofition to the defperate folly of thofe Fanatics, who, as the Afcetic, vainly pretend to eradicate Self-love; or, as the Myftic, are more fuccefsful in ftifling Reafon; and both, on the abfurd fancy of their being moral, not natural, principles. W. VER. 54. Self-love, to urge,] Such popular writers as Pascal, Nicole, and Rochefoucault, having given a wrong and improper definition of Self-love, and mistaken the origin of it for its end, have argued unfairly and inconclufively on the subject, and reprefented this firft fpring of all human actions, as base, mean, and difgraceful. Our Author, more wife and temperate, has endeavoured to reconcile Self-love with focial, and private good with univerfal happiness. He had the hint from Shaftesbury: "If there |