O Mufe! relate (for you can tell alone, Wits have fhort Memories, and Dunces none) 620 Relate, who firft, who laft refign'd to reft; Whofe Heads the partly, whofe completely bleft; What Charms could Faction, what Ambition lull, The Venal quiet, and intrance the Dull; Till drown'd was Senfe, and Shame, and Right, and Wrong O fing, and hufh the Nations with thy Song! REMARKS. 625 VER. 620. Wits have short Memories,] This seems to be the reafon why the Poets, when they give us a Catalogue, conftantly call for help on the Mufes, who, as the Daughters of Memory, are obliged not to forget any thing. So Homer, Iliad ii. Πληθὺν δ ̓ ἐκ ἂν ἐγὼ μυθήσομαι ἐδ ̓ ὀνομήνω, Εἰ μὴ Ὀλυμπιάδες Μᾶσαι, Διὸς αιγιόχοιο Et meminiftis enim, Divæ, & memorare poteftis: Ad nos vix tenuis famæ perlabitur aura. But our Poet had yet another reason for putting this Tafk upon the Muse, that, all befides being asleep, the only could relate what paffed. SCRIBL. VER. 624. The Venal quiet, and &c.] It were a Problem IMITATIONS. VER. 621. Relate who firft, who last refign'd to reft; Quem telo primum, quem pofiremum afpera Virgo Dejicis? aut quot bumi, morientia corpora fundis? VIRG. In vain, in vain, the all-compofing Hour REMARK S. 630 worthy the folution of that profound Scholiaft, Mr. Upton himself (and perhaps not of lefs importance than some of those fo long difputed amongst Homer's) to inform us, which required the greateft effort of our Goddefs's power, to intrance the Dull, or to quiet the Venal. For though the Veral may be more unruly than the Dull, yet, on the other hand, it demands a much greater expence of her Virtue to intrance than barely to quiet. SCRIBL. VER. 629. She comes! She comes! &c.] Here the Muse, like Jove's Eagle, after a sudden stoop at ignoble game, foareth again to the skies. As Prophecy hath ever been one of the chief provinces of Poefy, our poet here foretells from what we feel, what we are to fear; and in the style of other prophets, hath ufed the future tense for the preterit; fince what he fays fhall be, is already to be feen, in the writings of fome even of our most adored authors, in Divinity, hilofophy, l'hyfics, Metaphyfics, &c. who are too good indeed to be named in fuch company. Ibid. The fable Throne behold] The fable Thrones of Night and Chaos, here reprefented as advancing to extinguish the light of the Sciences, in the first place blot out the Colours of Fancy and damp the Fire of Wit, before they proceed to their As one by one, at dread Medea's strain," VARIATIONS. VAR. 643. in the former Ed. it stood thus, 635 640 And this was intended as a censure of the Newtonian philofophy. For the poet had been mifled by the prejudices of foeigners, as if that philosophy had recurred to the occult qualities of Ariftotle. This was the idea he received of it from a man educated much abroad, who had read every thing, but every thing fuperficially. Had his excellent friend Dr. A. been confulted in this matter, it is certain that so unjust a reflection had never difcredited fo noble a fatire. When I hinted to him how he had been impofed upon, he changed the lines with great pleasure into a compliment (as they now ftand) on that divine genius, and a fatire on the folly by which he the Poet himself had been mifled. REMARK S. VER. 641. Truth to her old Cavern fled.] Alluding to the faying of Democritus, That Truth lay at the bottom of a deep well, from whence he had drawn her: Though Butler fays, He firft put ber in, before ke drew her out. VER. 643. Philofophy, that lean'd on Heav'n] Philofophy has at length brought things to that pass, as to have it efteem 2 Phyfic of Metaphyfic begs defence, REMARK S. 645 ed unphilofophical to reft in the firft caufe; as if its ends were an endless indagation of caufe after caufe, without ever coming to the firft. So that to avoid this unlearned difgrace, fome of the propagators of our best philosophy have had recourfe to the contrivance here hinted at. For this Philofophy, which is founded in the principle of Gravitation, firft confidered that property in matter, as fomething extrinfecal to it, and impreffed immediately by God upon it. Which fairly and modeftly coming up to the firft Cause, was pushing natural enquiries as far as they hould go. But this ftopping, though at the extent of our ideas, and on the maxim of the great founder of this Philofophy, Bacon, who fays, Circa ultimates rerum fruftranea eft inquifitio, was miftaken by foreign philofophers as recurring to the occult qualities of the Peripatetics. Pulfantes equidem vires intelligo nufquam Sed gravitas etiam crefcat, dum corpora centro Accedunt propius. Videor mihi cernere terrâ Pellai Juvenis Do&tor conjecerat olim In Phyfice ftudium: folitum dare nomina rebus, Anti-Lucr. To avoid which imaginary difcredit to the new theory, it was thought proper to feek for the cause of gravitation in a certain elaftic fluid, which pervaded all body. By this means, instead of really advancing in natural enquiries, we were brought back IMITATIONS. VER. 937. As Argus' eyes, &c] Et quamvis fapor eft oculorum parte receptus, Parte tamen vigilat -Vidit Cyllenius omnes Succubuife oculos, &c. Cvid. Met. . See Myftery to Mathematics fly !. In vain! they gaze, turn giddy, rave, and die. And unawares Morality expires.” REMARK S.. 650 again, by this ingenious expedient, to an unfatisfactory Second caufe: Philofophy, that lean'd on Heav'n before, Shrinks to her fecond caufe, and is no more. For it might ftill, by the fame kind of. objection, be asked, what was the cause of that elafticity? See this folly cenfured, v. 475. VER. 645, 646. Phyfic of Metaphyfic, &c.And Metaphy fic calls, &c.] Certain writers, as Malbranche, Norris, and o thers, have thought it of importance, in order to fecure the exiftence of the foul, to bring in queftion the reality of body; which they have attempted to do by a very refined metaphyfical reasoning: While others of the fame party, in order to perfuade us of the neceffity of a Revelation which promises immortality, have been as anxious to prove that thofe qualities which are commonly fuppofed to belong only to an immaterial Being, are but the refult from the sensations of matter, and the foul naturally mortal. Thus, between these different reafonings, they have left us neither Soul nor Body; nor, the Sciences of Phyfics and Metaphyfics the leaft fupport, by making them depend upon, and go a begging to, one another. VER. 647. See Mystery to Mathematics fly!] A fort of men, who make human reafon the adequate measure of all Truth, having pretended that whatsoever is not fully comprehended by it, is contrary to it; certain defenders of Religion, who would not be outdone in a paradox, have gone as far in the oppofite folly, and attempted to fhew that the myfteries of Religion may be mathematically demonftrated; as the authors of Philofophic, or Aftronomic Principles of Religion, natural and revealed; who have much prided themselves on reflecting a fantastic light upon religion from the frigid fubtilty of school moonshine. VER. 649. Religion blushing veils her facred fires,] Blushing as |