Our fphere of action is life's happiness,
And he that thinks beyond, thinks like an afs.
Thus whilft against false reasoning I inveigh,
I own right reason, which I would obey;
That reafon, which diftinguishes by fenfe,
And gives us rules of good and ill from thence;
That bounds defires with a reforming will,
To keep them more in vigour, not to kill:
Your reason hinders, mine helps to enjoy,
Renewing appetites, yours would destroy.
My reason is my friend, yours is a cheat ;
Hunger calls out, my reafon bids me eat;
Perversely yours, your appetite does mock;
This afks for food; that anfwers, what's a clock?
This plain diftinction, Sir, your doubt secures;
'Tis not true reason I defpife, but yours.
Thus I think reafon righted: but for man,
I'll ne'er recant, defend him if you can.
For all his pride, and his philofophy,
'Tis evident beafts are, in their degree,
As wife at leaft, and better far than he.
Thofe creatures are the wifeft, who attain,
By fureft means, the ends at which they aim.
If therefore Jowler finds, and kills his hare,
Better than Meres fupplies committee-chair;
Though one's a statefinan, th' other but a hound,
Jowler in juftice will be wifer found.
You fee how far man's wisdom here extends:
Look next if human nature makes amends;
Whofe principles are most generous and just;
And to whose morals you would fooner trust :
Be judge yourself, I'll bring it to the test,
Which is the bafeft creature, man or beast:
Birds feed on birds, beafts on each other prey,
But favage man alone does man betray.
Preft by neceffity, they kill for food;
Man undoes man, to do himfelf no good:
With teeth and claws by nature arm'd, they hunt
Nature's allowance, to fupply their want.
But man, with smiles, embraces, friendships, praise,
Inhumanly his fellow's life betrays ;
With voluntary pains works his distress ;
Not through neceffity, but wantonnefs.
For hunger or for love, they bite or tear,
Whilft wretched man is ftill in arms for fear:
For fear he arms, and is of arms afraid,
From fear to fear fucceffively betray'd:
Bafe fear, the fource whence his beft paffions came,
His boafted honour, and his dear-bought fame :
The luft of power, to which he 's fuch a flave,
And for the which alone he dares be brave;
To which his various projects are defign'd,
Which makes him generous, affable, and kind;
For which he takes fuch pains to be thought wife,
And fcrews his actions in a forc'd disguise;
Leads a mast tedious life, in mifery,
Under laborious, mean hypocrify.
Look to the bottom of his vaft defign,
Wherein man's wifdom, power, and glory join;
The good he acts, the ill he does endure,
'Tis all from fear, to make himself secure.
Merely for fafety, after fame they thirst ;
For all men would be cowards if they durft :
And honesty's against all common sense;
Men must be knaves; 'tis in their own defence,
Mankind's difhoneft; if you think it fair,
Amongst known cheats, to play upon the square,
You'll be undone------
Nor can weak truth your reputation fave;
The knaves will all agree to call you knave.
Wrong'd fhall he live, infulted o'er, oppreft,
Who dares be lefs a villain than the reft.
Thus here you see what human nature craves,
Moft men are cowards, all men should be knaves.
The difference lies, as far as I can fee,
Not in the thing itself, but the degree;
And all the fubject-matter of debate,
Is only who's a knave of the first rate.
ALL this with indignation have I hurl'd,
At the pretending part of the proud world,
Who, fwoln with selfish vanity, devise
Faife freedoms, holy cheats, and formal lyes,
Over their fellow-flaves to tyrannize.
But if in court so just a man there be,
(In court a just man, yet unknown to me)
Who does his needful flattery direct,
Not to opprefs and ruin, but protect;
Since flattery, which way foever laid,
Is ftill a tax on that unhappy trade;
If fo upright a statesman you can find,
Whofe paffions bend to his unbiass'd mind;
Who does his arts and policies apply,
To raise his country, not his family.
Is there a mortal who on God relies ?
Whose life his faith and doctrine justifies ?
Not one blown up with vain afpiring pride,
Who, for reproof of fins, does man deride:
Whofe envious heart with faucy eloquence,
Dares chide at kings, and rail at men of fense:
Who in his talking vents more peevish lyes,
More bitter railings, fcandals, calumnies,
Than at a goffiping are thrown about,
When the good wives drink free, and then fall out.
None of the fenfual tribe, whofe talents lie
In avarice, pride, in floth, and gluttony;
Who hunt preferment, but abhor good lives,
Vhofe luft exalted to that height arrives,
They act adultery with their own wives;
And, ere a score of years completed be,
Can from the lofty stage of honour see,
Half a large parish their own progeny.
Nor doating
who would be ador'd,
For domineering at the council-board,
A greater fop, in bufinefs at fourfcore,
Fonder of fexious toys, affected more,
Than the gay glittering fool at twenty proves,
With all his noife, his tawdry cloaths, and loves.
But a meek humble man of modest sense,
Who, preaching peace, does practise continence;
Whofe pious life's a proof he does believe
Myfterious truths, which no man can conceive.
If upon earth there dwell fuch godlike men,
I'll here recant my paradox to them;
Adore thofe fhrines of virtue, homage pay,
And, with the thinking world, their laws obey.
If fuch there are, yet grant me this at least,
Man differs more from man, than man from beast.
S fome brave admiral, in former war
Depriv'd of force, but preft with courage ftill,
Two rival fleets appearing from afar,
Crawls to the top of an adjacent hill:
From whence (with thoughts full of concern) he views
The wife and daring conduct of the fight:
And each bold action to his mind renews
His prefent glory and his past delight.
III.
From his fierce eyes flashes of rage he throws,
As from black clouds when lightning breaks away,
Transported thinks himself amidst his foes,
And abfent, yet enjoys the bloody day.
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