time after he had thoughts of resuming his plan, and of dedicating it, by an Introductory Ode to M. de Montesquieu; but that great man's death, which happened in 1755, made him drop his design finally.

On carefully reviewing the scattered papers in prose, which he writ, as hints for his own use in the prosecution of this work, I think it best to form part of them into a kind of commentary at the bottom of the pages; they will serve greatly to elucidate (as far as they go) the method of his reasoning.

ESSAY I.

—Пóray' o 'yalé; ràv yàp ảoidàv
Οὔτι πω εἰς 'Αΐδαν γε τὸν ἐκλελάθοντα φυλαξεῖς.

THEOCRITUS.

As sickly plants betray a niggard earth,
Whose barren bosom starves her gen'rous birth,
Nor genial warmth, nor genial juice retains
Their roots to feed, and fill their verdant veins :
And as in climes, where Winter holds his reign,
The soil, though fertile, will not teem in vain,
Forbids her gems to swell, her shades to rise,
Nor trusts her blossoms to the churlish skies:

COMMENTARY.

5

The Author's subject being (as we have seen) THE NECESSARY ALLIANCE

BETWEEN A GOOD FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND A GOOD MODE OF EDUCA

TION, IN ORDER TO PRODUCE THE HAPPINESS OF MANKIND, the Poem opens with two similes; an uncommon kind of exordium: but which I suppose the Poet intentionally chose, to intimate the analogical method he meant to pursue in his subsequent reasonings. 1st. He asserts that men without education are like sickly plants in a cold or barren soil, (line 1 to 5, and 8 to 12;) and, 2dly,

NOTES.

As sickly plants, &c. 1. 1.] If any copies of this Essay would have authorized me to have made an alteration in the disposition of the lines, I would, for the sake of perspicuity, have printed the first twelve in the following manner;

So draw mankind in vain the vital airs,
Unform'd, unfriended, by those kindly cares,
That health and vigour to the soul impart,

Spread the young thought, and warm the opening heart:
So fond Instruction on the growing powers

Of nature idly lavishes her stores,
If equal Justice with unclouded face
Smile not indulgent on the rising race,
And scatter with a free, though frugal hand,
Light golden showers of plenty o'er the land:
But Tyranny has fix'd her empire there
To check their tender hopes with chilling fear,
And blast the blooming promise of the year.
This spacious animated scene survey,
From where the rolling Orb, that gives the day,
His sable sons with nearer course surrounds
To either pole, and life's remotest bounds.
How rude soe'er th' exterior form we find,
Howe'er opinion tinge the varied mind,

COMMENTARY.

10

15

}

20

he compares them, when unblest with a just and well-regulated government, to plants that will not blossom or bear fruit in an unkindly and inclement air (1. 5 to 9, and 13 to 22). Having thus laid down the two propositions he means to prove, he begins by examining into the characteristics which (taking a general view of mankind) all men have in common one with another (1. 22 to 39);

NOTES.

because I think the poetry would not have been in the least hurt by such a transposition, and the Poet's meaning would have been much more readily perceived. I put them down here for that purpose.

As sickly plants betray a niggard earth,

Whose barren bosom starves her gen'rous birth,
Nor genial warmth, nor genial juice retains
Their roots to feed, and fill their verdant veins :

So draw mankind in vain the vital airs,

Unform'd, unfriended by those kindly cares,
That health and vigour to the soul impart,

Spread the young thought, and warm the opening heart.
And as in climes, where Winter holds his reign,

The soil, though fertile, will not teem in vain,

Forbids her gems to swell, her shades to rise,
Nor trusts her blossoms to the churlish skies:
So fond Instruction, &c.

Alike, to all the kind, impartial Heav'n'
The sparks of truth and happiness has giv'n:
With sense to feel, with memory to retain,
They follow pleasure, and they fly from pain;

30

Their judgment mends the plan their fancy draws,

Th' event presages, and explores the cause;

The soft returns of gratitude they know,

By fraud eludé, by force repel the foe;

35

While mutual wishes, mutual woes endear
The social smile and sympathetic tear.

Say, then, through ages by what fate confin'd
To different climes seem different souls assign'd?

Here measur'd laws and philosophic ease

40

Fix, and improve the polish'd arts of peace.
There industry and gain their vigils keep,

Command the winds, and tame th' unwilling deep.

they covet pleasure and avoid pain (1. 31); they feel gratitude for benefits (1. 34); they desire to avenge wrongs, which they effect either by force or cunning (1. 55); they are linked to each other by their common feelings, and participate in sorrow and in joy (l. 36, 37). If then all the human species agree in so many moral particulars, whence arises the diversity of national characters? This question the Poet puts at 1. 38, and dilates upon to 1. 64. Why, says he, have some nations shewn a propensity to commerce and industry; others to war and rapine; others to ease and pleasure? (1. 42 to 46.) Why have the Northern people overspread, in all ages, and prevailed over the Southern? (1. 46 to 58.) Why has Asia been, time out of mind, the seat of despotism, and Eu

NOTES.

Has Scythia breath'd, &c. l. 47.] The most celebrated of the early irruptions of the Scythians into the neighbouring countries is that under the conduct of Madyes, about the year of the creation 3350, when they broke into Asia, during the reign of Cyaxares, king of the Medes, and conqueror of the Assyrians, plundered it at discretion, and kept possession of it during twenty-eight years. Many successive incursions, attended with every kind of desolation, are enumerated by historians; particularly those, in A. D. 252, during the reign of Gallus and Volusianus, and in 261, under that of Gallienus. Under the Greek emperors also, to mention only the years 1053 and 1191, it appears that the Scythians still continued their accustomed ravages. In later times, the like spirit of sudden and destructive invasion has constantly prevailed; and these

And, where the deluge burst, with sweepy sway

Their arms, their kings, their gods were roll'd away.

As oft have issued, host impelling host,

The blue-eyed myriads from the Baltic coast.
The prostrate South to the destroyer yields
Her boasted titles, and her golden fields: ́
With grim delight the brood of winter view.
A brighter day, and heav'ns of azure hue,
Scent the new fragrance of the breathing rose,
And quaff the pendent vintage as it grows.
Proud of the yoke, and pliant to the rod,
Why yet does Asia dread a monarch's nod,

NOTES.

50

55

same Scythians, under their modern name of Tartars, have, at different periods, overrun Asia, and even some parts of Europe: it is sufficient, on this point, to recal to the reader's memory the names of Gingis-Chan, Octaï, and Tamerlane.

The blue-eyed myriads, &c. 1. 51.] The different nations of Germans, who inhabited or bordered on this coast, have been always distinguished by their various emigrations in search of a better soil and climate, and of a more commodious settlement. The reader will readily recollect the expedition of the Teutones, who joined the Cimbri, when they invaded the Roman territories to the united amount, it is said, of 300,000 fighting men; the many inroads of the Germans into Gaul, under the conduct of Ariovistus; and the numerous irruptions into the Roman empire, of the Suevi, the Goths, the Vandals, and lastly of the Lombards; most of which nations came originally from the coasts here mentioned. The epithet, "blue-eyed," exhibits a distinguishing feature of the ancient Germans; and is particularly remarked by Tacitus and Juvenal. "Truces et cærulei oculi," observes the former, "de Popul. German. cap. 4." and the latter, "Cærula quis stupuit Germani lumina ?" "Sat. 13. ver. 164."

With grim delight, &c. l. 54.] It may not be improper here, after admiring the noble vein of poetical expression and imagery which adorns this description, to relate an incident in itself curious, which shews the propriety of it. The Normans, who came originally from Norway and Scandinavia, having, after a century of ravages, settled themselves in Neustria (since called Normandy) in 912, were invited into the southern parts of Italy, in the year 1018, by Gaimar, prince of Salerno. The ambassadors, by his particular direction, carried with them a quantity of citrons, and of other rare fruits, as the most alluring proof of the mildness of the climate. He thought (and the event shewed he was right in thinking so) that this "brood of winter," delighted with the taste and fragrance of these delicacies, would the more readily consent to his proposal. [See Leo Ostiensis in his "Chron. Cassin,” and Petavius, “Rationarium Temp. pars. prim. lib. viii."] Mr. Gray's judgment, in what remains to us of this essay, is very remarkable. He borrows from poetry his imagery, his similes, and his expressions; but his thoughts are taken, as the nature of the Poem requires, from history and observation.

While European freedom still withstands

60

Th' encroaching tide, that drowns her lessening lands;
And sees far off with an indignant groan
Her native plains, and empires once her own.
Can opener skies and suns of fiercer flame
O'erpower the fire, that animates our frame;
As lamps, that shed at eve a cheerful ray,
Fade and expire beneath the eye of day?
Need we the influence of the Northern star

65

To string our nerves and steel our hearts to war?
And, where the face of nature laughs around,

70

Must sick'ning virtue fly the tainted ground?
Unmanly thought! what seasons can controul,

What fancied zone can circumscribe the soul,

Who, conscious of the source from whence she springs,

By reason's light, on resolution's wings,

75

Spite of her frail companion, dauntless goes

O'er Lybia's deserts, and through Zembla's snows?
She bids each slumb'ring energy awake,

Another touch, another temper take,

Suspends th' inferior laws, that rule our clay:
The stubborn elements confess her sway;
Their little wants, their low desires, refine,
And raise the mortal to a height divine.

Not but the human fabric from the birth
Imbibes a flavour of its parent earth.
As various tracts enforce a various toil,
The manners speak the idiom of their soil.
An iron-race the mountain-cliffs maintain,
Foes to the gentler genius of the plain:
For where unwearied sinews must be found
With side-long plough to quell the flinty ground,

COMMENTARY.

80

85

90

rope that of freedom? (1. 59 to 64.) Are we from these instances to imagine men necessarily enslaved to the inconveniences of the climate where they were born? (1. 64 to 72.) Or are we not rather to suppose there is a natural strength in the human mind, that is able to vanquish and break through them? (1. 72 to 84.) It is confessed, however, that men receive an early tincture from the situation they are placed in, and the climate which produces them (1. 84 to 88). Thus the inhabitants of the mountains, inured to labour and patience, are naturally trained to war (l. 88 to 96); while those of the plain are more open to any