I ILLINOIS

Production Note
Digital Rare Book Collections
Rare Book & Manuscript Library
University of Illinois Library at
Urbana-Champaign
2020
 
 
 

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Addrefs’d to a F RIEND.

 

PART I.

 

 
  
    
     

 
   
  
      

     
  

    
      
   
  
 

  
 

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DUBLIN:

Printed by S. P o W E L L:

For GEORGE RISK at the Shakefpear’s Head?
GEORGE EWING at the Angel and Bible, and
W x L I. I A M S M I T n at the Hercules: Bookfcllersin
Dame- mt? Mb D r: c. xxxuh

 
 
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READER-

S the Efiflolaiy Way ofWri-

A tiag hath prevailed mach of
late, we have veatarea’topah—

1th this Tieee compo/ed fame Time
flaee, am! who/e Aathor ehofle this
‘Maaaer, aotwith/iaaaiag his Sah-
jefiwashigh am! of dig-mt}, heeaafe
. £43 of its heiag mixt with Argument,
~ which of it: Natai'e approacheth to
Trofe. This, which we firfl give
the Reader, treaty of the Nature and
State of MAN, with Reflet‘t to the

A 2. UNI-

 
To the READER.

UNIVERSAL SYSTEM ; the rejz'. will
treat of him with Refpefl to his OWN
SYSTEM, a: au Individual, aua’ at a
Member of Society; uua’er eue or 0-
ther of which Heaa’e all Ethiehx are
iuelua’eel

.43 he imitates ua Mam/b he would
he thought to eye with ua Mau iu thefe
Epzflles, particularly with the uoted
fluther of. TWO lately publiflied:
But this he may mefl furely fay that
the Matter of them it/ueh, a: is of
Importance to all in general, aua’ of
Offence to none in particular.

 

 
 

AN

E S S AY on M 23’ N
Addrefs’d to a FRIEND.

WAK E! my L a 1 1 u 3, leave all meaner
Things
To low Ambition and the Pride of Kings.

Let Us (fince Life can little more fupply
Than iuf’t to look about us, and to die)
Expatiate free, o’er all this Scene of Man; 5
A mighty Maze! of walkswithout a Plan;
Or Wild, where Weeds and flow’rs promifcuous lhoot;
91‘ Garden, tempting with forbidden fruit.

Toge:

 
   
       
   
   
   
   
    
  
   
      
  
     

  

E 6 T
Togetherlet us beat this ample Field,

Try what the open, What the covert, yield 5 {so
The latent traéts, or giddy heights explore,

Of all who blindly creep, or fightlefs foar.

Eye Nature’s walks; {hoot Folly as it flies,

And catch the Manners, living as they rife;

Laugh where we muff; be candid where we can; 15'
But vindicate the Ways of God to Man.

  

Say fitll, of God above, or Mam below,
What can we reafim, but from What welmow 3

Of Man, what fee we but his Station here,

From which to reafoa, or to which refer E 20
Thro’ Worlds unbounded tho’ the God be knoWn;

’Tis ours to trace him, only in our own,

 

Of this vafl: Frame the Bearings, and the Ties,

The flrong Conneé’cions, nice Dependencies, ,.
I And Centres iull', has thy pervading Soul 25 ;

Look’d thro’ .9 Or can a part contain the Whole?

Is the great Chain that draws all to agree,
And drawn {upports, upheld by God, or thee 3
  

[7]

He who thro’ vafl Immenfity can pierce;

See Worlds on Worlds compofe one Univerfe; ' go
ObferVe how Syf’tem into Syflem runs,

What Other Planets, and what other Suns?

What vary’d Being peoples ev’ry Star?

May tell, why Heav’n has made us as We are.

When the proud Steed [hall know, why Man rei’trains
His fiery courfe, or drives him o’er the plains; (3 5
When the dull Ox, Why now he breaks the clod,
Now Wears a Garland, an [Egyptian God ;

Then {halo} Man’s Pride and Dulnefs comprehend
His Aé’cion’s, Paflion’s, Being’s, Ufe and End 5
Why doing, qu’ring, check’d, impell’d; and Why

49

This Hour aSlave, the nexta Deity 2

Prefumptubus Man! the Reafon would’fi thou find,
Why made ('0 weak , {0 little, and fo blind E
Fit-Pt, if thou can’&, the harder reaion guefs, 4;;
Why made no weaker, blinder, and no leis 5’
”Ask of thy Mother Earth, why Oaks are made
Taller or fironger than the Weedsthey fhade 2

Or

 

 
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[3]

Or ask of yonder argent fields above;
Why Jovn’s Satellites are lefs than jove ? 39‘»

0f Syflems poflible, if ’tis confeil:
That Wifdom infinite mull form the Befi,
Where all mull full or not coherent be,
And all that flies, rife in due degree;
Then, in the Scale of Life and Senfe , ’tis plain 5‘;
There muf’c he,jbme where, luch 3 Rank as Man;
And all the quefiion (Wrangle ’ere {0 long)
Is only this, if God has plac’d [aim wrong 2‘

Refpeéting Man whatever wrong we call, !
May, mufl be right, as relative to All. $0, j

In human works, tho’ labour’cl on with pain,~

 

A thoufand movements fcarce one purpofe gain g

In God’s, one {ingle can its E ml produce,

fl Yet lerves to fecond too {ome other U/é.

So Man, who here {eems principal alone, 6 5
Perhaps aé’rs fecond to fame Sphere unknOWn;
Touches fome Wheel, orverges to fome Gole 5

’Tis but a Part we fee, and not a Whole.

Then

 
 
   

[ 9 ]
Then fay nor Man’s imperfect, Heav’n in Fault;~

Say rather, Man’s as perfeét as he ought 5 70

His Being meafur’d to his State, and Place, '

His time a Moment, and a Point his fpace.

Heav’n from all creatures hides the book of Fate,
All but the page prefcrib’d, their prefentflate s
From Brutes what Men, from, Men what Spirits know ;
Or who could iufler Being here below a? ( 75’
The Lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to day
Had he thy Reafim, would he skip and play 2
Pleas’d to the lafl, he crops the flow’ry food,
And licks the Hand juf’t rais’d to {bed his blood. 80
Oh blindnefs to the future! kindly giv’n,
That each may fill the Circle mark’d by Heav’na
Who fees with equal eye, as God of All,
A Hero periih, or a Sparrow fall,
Atoms, or Syf’cems, into ruin hurl’d, 85
And now a Bubble burfl, and now a World!

Hopehumbly then 5- with trembling pinions (oar;

Wait the great teacher, Death, and God adore!

C What

 
 

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I What blifs aboVe, he gives not thee to know,

But gives that Hope to be thy blifs below,
Hope lprings eternal in the human breal’t 3
Man never is, but always to be blet’t;

The fouluneafy, and confin’d at home,
Reps, and expatiates, in a life to come.
If go be perfea in a certain State,

What matter, here or there, or {con 01‘ late? I
Safe inthe hand of one difpofing Pow'r,
Or in the natal, or the mortal hour :

And he that’s blefs'd to day, as fully [0,
As who began ten thoul‘and years ago.

Lo! the poor INDXAN, whofe untutor’d Mind
Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the winds
His foul, proud Science neVer taught to firay
Far as the Solar walk, ot-Milky way,

Yet fimple Nature to his hope has giv’n ‘
Behind the cloud-rcpt hill an humbler Heav’n,
Some fafer world in depth of Woods embrac’d, '
Some happier ifland in the watry wafle;

‘Where

96

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105

 
 

    
 
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W here Slaves once more their native land behold;

No Fiendstorment. nox Chrifiians thiri’t for Gold. 1 6

fl

But does he fay, the Maker is not good,
Till he’s exalted to what flate he wou’d ?
Himfelf alone, high Heav’ns peculiar care;
Alone made happy, when he will, and when?
To do, contents his natural defire, t 15
He asks no Angel’sWing or Seraph’s Fire,
But thinks, admitted to that equal sky
His faithful Dog lhall bear him company.‘
GO, wifer Thou! and in thy {cale of fence
Weigh thy Opinion againft Providence : '1 2.0
Call 1m perfefiion what thou fancy’fi Inch,
Pronounce HE aéts too little, or too much 5
Deflroy all Creatures for thy 1 port or gull,
Yet thou unhappy, think ’tis He’s unjufl ;
Snatch from his hand the Balance and the Rod 5 ' 125
Re-iudge his Jul’cice, Be the (ion of Goo .'

In Pride (my Friend) in Pride, our error lies;
All Quit their f phere, and rufh into the Skies.

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Pride hill is a'iinin’g at thebleft abodes, '
Men wonld be Angels, Angels would be Gods.‘ 130
Afpiring to be Gods, if Angels fell,
Alpiring to be Angels, Men rebel: '
And who but wiihesro invert the Laws

Of ORDER, {ins againf’t th’ Eternal Cauf'c.

Ask for what end the heav’nly bodies thine .9 I 3 5
Earth for whofe uf'e ? Pride anlwers, ‘t ’Tisfor mine :
For me kind Nature wakes her genial power,

Suckles each herb, and {preads out ev'ry How’s;
Annual for me, the grape, the role renew _

The juice neé’careous, and the balmy dew 5 I“?
For me, the mine a thoufand treafures brings,

For me, health gufhes from a thoufand fprings; .

Seas roll to waft me, funs to light me rife;

My footflool Earth, my canopy the Skies! I

 

  
  
 
 

But errs not Nature from this gracious end, 145‘
From burning funs when livid deaths defcend,
When Earthquakes fwallow, or when tempefls (Weep
Towns to one grave, a Nation tothe deep 2 y

  

. Blame
 
 

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Blame we for this the wife Almighty Cauie 2

“ No (’tis reply’d) he afts by gm’ral Lam; 15¢
“ Th’ exceptions few; iome change fince all began ;

“ And what created, perfect 3 ”......Why then Man .9
If the great end be human Happinefs,

And Nature deviates 5 how can Man dolei's!

Nature as much a confiant courfe requires 1 :5;
Of ihow’rs and funfhine, as of man’s defires,

As much eternal fprings and cloudleis skies,

AS men for eVer temp’r‘ate, calm, and wife.

If Plagues or Earthquakes break not Heav'n’s defign,
Why then a Borgia or a Catiline 3 160
From Pride, from Pride, our very reas’ning fprings 5
‘Account for moral, as for nat’ralthings :

Why charge we Heav’n in thofe, in thefe acquit 3

In both, to reafon right is to fubmit.

Better for Us, perhaps, it might appear. 16;
Were there all Harmony, all Virtue here 5
That never Air or Ocean felt the wind;
That never Paflion difcompos’d the mind :

But

 

 
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But all fubfifis by Elemental firife I;
And Paflions are the Elements of Life: l '17::
The gen’ral ORDER, fince the whole began,
15 kept in Nature, and is kept in Man.

What would this Man? now upward willhe (oar,
And little lefs than Angelwould be more;
Now looking downward, iufl as griev'd appears 1 75'
To want the firength of Bulls, the Fur of Bears.
Made for his ufe all Creatures if he call,

Say what their ufe, had he the pow’rs of all 2

Nature to each, without profui-ron kind,
The proper organs, proper pow’rs aflign’d, J89
Each feeming want compeniated of courfe,
Here, due degrees of Swittnefs; - there, of Force;
Each Beafi, each Infeé’c, happy as it can;

 

Is Heav’n unkind to nothing butto Man 2 (
So iuflly all proportionfd to each (late, » 185‘ :l
Nothing to add, and nothing to abate :

Shall Man, {hall reafonable Man, alone,

BC, 91' endow’d with all, or pleas’d with none?

   
 
 

Thro’ gen’ral Life, behold the Scale arife
OF fin/ital, and of mental Faculties.
van Range of Senfe! from Man’s imperial race
To the green Myriads in the peopled Grafsl
What modes of fight, betwixt each wide extreme,
The mole’s dim curtain, and the Lynx’s beam:
Of 1mell, the headlong Lionefs between, _ .195"
And Hound, fagacious on the tainted green!
Of hearing, from the Life that fills the flood,
To that which warbles thro’ the vernal wood,

[Ir]

   

19o

In the nice Bee, Whatfenfe fo {ubtly true

From pois’nous herbs extraé‘cs the healing dew: 200
The Spider’s touch, how exquifitely fine,

Feele at each tread, and lives along the line.

How Inflz'nfi varies ! what a Hog may want;

Compar’d with thine, half-reas’ning Elephant!

Twixt that, and Reafim, what a nice Barrier, as;
For ever fep’rate, yet for ever near.

Remembrance, and Refleé’tion, how ally’d!

‘What thin partitions Senfe from Thought divide

And middle Natures, how they long to join,

Yet never pafs th’ infuperable Line! 210

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[16]

Without thisiuf’t Gradation, could they be
'r Subiefied thefe to thofe, or:all to thee ?

The_jPow’rs of all fubdu’d by thee alone,

Is not thy Reaion all thofe pow’rs in one 2

Is, not to know, or think, beyond Mankind 5
No felflconiounding Faculties to [bare 5
No Senfes flronger than his brain can bear2
Why has not Man a microfcopic eye 2

' For this plain realon, Man is nor a Fly :

Whatthe Advantage, if his finer eyes
Study a Mite, not, comprehend the Skies?

His Touch, if tremblingly alive all o’er,

To (inert, and agonize at ev’ry pore .3 H

Or quick Efliuvia darting thro’ his brain :-

Dye of a Rafe, in Aromatic pain .2 '

If Nature thunder’d in his opening ears,‘

And fiunn’d him with the mufic of the S pheres,‘
How wouldhe with, that yHeav’n had left him Frill

The whifp’ring Zephyr, and the purling Kill?

The bliis of Man (could Pride that blefling find) 2. If

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Who finds not Providence all-good and wife; .
Alike in what it gives, and what denies :

See, thro" this Air, this Ocean, andthis Earth;
AllNature quick, and burfling into birth.
Above, how high progreflive life may go? :35?
Around how wide? how deep extend below?
Vafl Chain of Being! which from God began;
Ethereal Efience, Spirit, Subflance, Man,

if 173

   

Beaf’c, Bird, Fifh, Infeé’c! Whatno Eye can fee,

No Glafs can reach ! from Infinite to Thee! 240
“From Thee to Nothing!
Were we to profs, inferior might on cuts 5

Or in the full Creation leave aVoid,

Where one fiep broken, the great Scale’sdefiroy’d :
From Nature’s Chain whatever Link you firike, 245
Tenth, ot- ten thoufandth, breaks the chain alike?

'And if each Syfiemin Gradation roll,
Alike effential to th’amlazing Whole 5
The leai’t confufion but. in one, not all ‘
That Syflem only, hut-the whole mull; fall. 25%:

On fu erior Pow’rs
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All this dread Order, Ihall it break .9 For thee 2

Vile Worm! " OMadneis! Pride! Impiety!

 

What if the Foor, ordain’d the duft to tread,
Or Hand to toil, afpir’d to be the Head?
What if the Head, the eye, or car, repin’d 25';
To ferve mere Enginesto the ruling Mind 2
jufl: as abfurd, for any Part to claim
To be another, in this gen’ral Frame :
juf’c as ablurd, to“ mourn the tasks 0r pains,

The great direé‘ting MIND of ALL ordains. 260

All are but parts of one l’tupendous Whole :
.Whofe Body Nature is, and God the Soul.
That, chang’d thro’ all and yet in all the fame,
(Great in the Earth as in th’ IEtherial ii'ame,
' Warms in the Sun, refrelhesin the Breeze, , '26;

Glows in the Stars, and bloifoms in the Trees;

 

Lives thro’ all Life, extends thro’ all extent,

 

Spreads undivided, operates unf pent,
Breathes in our foul, informs our mortal part;

Asfull, asperfefi, inahair, as heart, , 2’70.

 
 
     

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As full, as perfeé’c, in vile Man that mourns,
As the rapt Seraphim, that fings and burns;
‘To Him no high, no low, no great, no {mall 5

He fills, he bounds, connefis, and equals all.

Ceafe then, nor ORDER Imperfefiiou name:
Our proper blifs depends on what we blame.
Know thy own Point. This iufl, this kind degree
0f blindnefs, weaknefs, Heav’n bef’tows on thee“,

Submit in this, or any Other Sphere.

 

Secure to be as blef‘t as thou canfi bear.

All Nature is but Art, unknown to thee;

All Chance, Direétion which thou canfl: not fee;
All Dilcord, Harmony not underflood;

'All partial Evil, univerfal Good:

And fpight of Pride, and in thy Reafon’s fpight;

W

Que truth is glean “ Whatever Is, is RIGHTS;

FINIS.

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