There's not a blessing individuals find, But some way leans and hearkens to the kind; Each has his share; and who would more obtain, If all are equal in their happiness : But mutual wants this happiness increase; All Nature's difference keeps all Nature's peace. Bliss is the same in subject or in king, In who obtain defence, or who defend, In him who is, or him who finds a friend: 40 45 50 55 60 65 Heaven breathes through every member of the whole Not present good or ill, the joy or curse, O sons of Earth! attempt ye still to rise, 75 Know, all the good that individuals find, Or God and Nature meant to mere mankind, Reason's whole pleasure, all the joys of sense, Lie in three words, Health, Peace, and Competence. РОРЕ. ELEGY. TO THE MEMORY OF AN UNFORTUNATE LADY. WHAT beckoning ghost, along the moonlight shade 5 10 10 15 Most souls, 't is true, but peep out once an age, And separate from their kindred dregs below; 20 25 33 35 But thou, false guardian of a charge too good, Thou mean deserter of thy brother's blood! See on these ruby lips the trembling breath, These cheeks now fading at the blast of Death; Cold is that breast which warm'd the world before, And those love-darting eyes must roll no more. Thus, if eternal Justice rules the ball, Thus shall your wives, and thus your children fall: On all the line a sudden vengeance waits, And frequent hearses shall besiege your gates; There passengers shall stand, and pointing say, (While the long funerals blacken all the way,) "Lo! these were they, whose souls the Furies steel'd, And cursed with hearts unknowing how to yield." Thus unlamented pass the proud away, The gaze of fools, and pageant of a day! 40 So perish all, whose breast ne'er learn'd to glow 45 No friend's complaint, no kind domestic tear By foreign hands thy dying eyes were closed, By foreign hands thy decent limbs composed, By strangers honour'd, and by strangers mourn'd! 55 60 65 So peaceful rest, without a stone, a name, What once had beauty, titles, wealth, and fame. 70 How loved, how honour'd once, avails thee not, To whom related, or by whom begot; A heap of dust alone remains of thee, 'Tis all thou art, and all the proud shall be! Poets themselves must fall like those they sung, 75 Deaf the praised ear, and mute the tuneful tongue. Ev'n he, whose soul now melts in mournful lays, Shall shortly want the generous tear he pays; Then from his closing eyes thy form shall part, And the last pang shall tear thee from his heart, 80 M 122 PRESENT CONDITION OF MAN VINDICATED. Life's idle business at one gasp be o'er, The Muse forgot, and thou beloved no more! POPE. THE PRESENT CONDITION OF MAN VINDICATED. HEAVEN from all creatures hides the book of Fate, The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, 5 That each may fill the circle mark'd by Heaven; 10 Atoms or systems into ruin hurl'd, And now a bubble burst, and now a world. Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar; 15 Wait the great teacher Death, and God adore. What future bliss, he gives not thee to know, But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always TO BE blest. The soul, uneasy and confined, from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. Lo! the poor Indian, whose untutor'd mind Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind; 20 |