verse.

discriminating expreffiveness of the epithets diftinguished above by italics will be particularly regarded. Perhaps we have no image in the language, more lively than that of the last "To live along the line" is equally bold and beautiful. In this part of this Epistle the poet seems to have remarkably laboured his ftyle, which abounds in various figures, and is much elevated. POPE has practifed the great fecret of Virgil's art, which was to difcover the very fingle epithet that precisely suited each occafion.

14. Without this juft gradation, could they be Subjected, these to those, or all to thee? The pow'rs of all fubdu'd by thee alone,

Is not thy reason all these pow'rs in one? *

"Such then is the admirable diftribution of nature, her adapting and adjusting not only the stuff or matter to the fhape and form, and even the shape itself and form, to the circumstance, place, element, or region; but also the affections, appetites, fenfations, mutually to

each other, as well as the matter, form, action, and all befides; all managed for the best, with perfect frugality and just reserve: profufe to none, but bountiful to all: never employing in one thing more than enough; but with exact œconomy retrenching the fuperfluous, and adding force to what is principal in every thing. And is not thought and reason principal in man? Would we have no reserve for these? No faving for this part of his engine *?"

15. Above, how high, progreffive life may go !

Around, how wide! how deep extend below!
Vaft chain of being! which from God began,
Natures ætherial, human, angel, man,
Beaft, bird, fish, infect, what no eye can fee,
No glass can reach ; from infinite to thee,
From thee to nothing. S

"THAT there should be more fpecies of intelligent creatures above us, than there are of fenfible and material below us, is probable to me from hence; that in all the vifible corporeal world, we fee no chafms, or gaps. All quite

*The Moralifts, vol. ii. pag. 199.

§. Ver. 235.

down

down from us, the defcent is by easy steps, and a continued series of things, that in each remove differ very little from one another. And when we confider the infinite power and wisdom of the maker, we have reason to think, that it is fuitable to the magnificent harmony of the universe, and the great defign and infinite goodness of the architect, that the fpecies of creatures should also, by gentle degrees, defcend to us downwards: which if it be probable, we have reason then to be perfuaded, that there are far more fpecies of creatures above us, than there are beneath; we being in degrees of perfection, much more remote from the infinite being of God, than we are from the lowest state of being, and that which approaches nearest to nothing *.'

16. From nature's chain whatever link you ftrike,

Tenth, or ten thousandth, breaks the chain alike. †

THIS doctrine is precisely the fame with that of the philofophical emperor. Πήρεται γαρ

• Locke's Effay on Human Understanding, vol. ii, pag. 49.

+ Ver. 245.

TO

το ὁλοκληρον, εαν και ότι εν διακοψης της συνα φειας και συνέχειας, ώσπες των μορίων, έτω δε και των αιτιων· διακοπτεις δε όσον επι σοι ὅταν δυσαρέσης, και τροπον τινα αναιρης

17. Juft as abfurd, to mourn the talks or pains, The great directing MIND of ALL ordains. §

HERE again we must transcribe another noble fentiment of the fame lofty writer. “ Όποιον και το λεγομενον, ὅτι συνεταξεν ὁ Ασκληπιος τετω ἱππασιαν, η ψυχρολυσίαν, η ανοποδισιαν τοις τον εξι και το, συνέταξεν τετο η των όλων φυσις νοσον, η πηρωσιν, η αποβολην, η αλλο τι των τοιέτων * και γαρ εκει το συνεταξεν, τοιςτον τι σημαίνει, εταξε τετο προς τετο, ὡς καταλ ληλον εις ύγιειαν· και ενταυθα το συμβαινον ἑκατω τετακλαι πως προς αυτω καταλληλον εις την ειμαρμηνην

Ολως γαρ αρμονια εςι μια 4.”

18. All are but parts of one ftupendous whole,
Whose body nature is and God the foul;

That chang'd thro' all, and yet in all the fame;
Great in the earth, as in th' ætherial frame;

* M. Antoninus, Lib. v. S. 8.

§ Ver. 265.

†M. Antoninus, Lib. v. S. 8.

Warms

Warms in the fun, refreshes in the breeze,

Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees;
Lives thro' all life, extends thro' all extent,
Spreads undivided, operates unspent ;
Breathes in our foul, informs our mortal part,
As full as perfect in a hair as heart;

As full as perfect in vile man that mourns,
As the rapt feraph that adores aud burns:
To him no high, no low, no great, no small;
He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all. *

WHILST I am transcribing this exalted description of the omnipresence of the Deity, I feel myself almost tempted to retract an affertion in the beginning of this work, that there is nothing transcendently fublime in POPE. These lines have all the energy and harmony that can be given to rhyme. They bear fo marvellous a fimilitude to the old Orphic verses quoted in the valuable treatife Περι Κοσμο, that I cannot forbear introducing them, as they are curious and fublime.

Ζευς πρώτος γενετο, Ζευς υσίαλος αρκικεραυνος .
Ζευς κεφαλη, Ζευς μεσσα· Διος δ ̓ εκ παντα τελυκία.