about fifty lines more, all of them finished in his highest manner. Had this noble design been compleated, I may, with great boldness, assert that it would have been one of the most capital Poems of the kind that ever appeared either in our own, or any language. I am not able to inform the reader how many Essays he meant to write upon the subject; nor do I believe that he had ever so far settled his plan as to determine that point: But since his theme was as extensive as human nature, (an observation he himself makes in a subsequent letter on the "Esprit des Loix") it is plain the whole work would have been considerable in point of size. He was busily employed in it at the time when M. de Montesquieu's book was first published: On reading it, he said the Baron had forestalled some of his best thoughts; and yet the reader will find, from the small fragment he has left, that the two writers differ a little in one very material point, viz. the influence of soil and climate on national manners*. Some time after he had thoughts of resuming his plan, and of dedicating it, by an introductory Ode, to M. de Montesquieu; but that great man's death, which happened in 1755, made him drop his design finally.

* See L'Esprit des Loix, Liv. 14. chap. 2, &c.

On carefully reviewing the scattered papers in prose, which he writ, as hints for his own use in the prosecution of this work, I think it best to form part of them into a kind of commentary at the bottom of the pages; they will serve greatly to elucidate (as far as they go) the method of his reasoning.

ESSAY I.

Πόταγ ̓ ᾧ γαθέ; τὰν γὰρ ἀοιδὰν

Οὔτι πω εἰς Αίδαν γε τὸν ἐκλελάθονα φυλαξεις.

THEOCRITUS.

As sickly Plants betray a niggard earth,

Whose barren bosom starves her gen'rous birth,
Nor genial warmth, nor genial juice retains
Their roots to feed, and fill their verdant veins:

COMMENTARY.

The Author's subject being (as we have seen) THE NECESSARY ALLIANCE BETWEEN A GOOD FORM OF GOVERNMENT AND A GOOD MODE OF EDUCATION, IN ORDER TO PRODUCE THE HAPPINESS OF MANKIND, the Poem opens with two similies; an uncommon kind of exordium: but which, I suppose, the Poet intentionally chose, to intimate the analogical method he meant to pursue in his subsequent reasonings. 1st, He asserts that men without education are like sickly plants in a cold or barren soil, (line 1 to 5, and

l.

NOTES.

[As sickly Plants, &c. 1. 1.] If any copies of this Essay would have authorised me to have made an alteration in the disposition of the lines, I would, for the sake of perspicuity, have printed the

And as in climes, where Winter holds his reign,
The soil, tho' fertile, will not teem in vain,
Forbids her gems to swell, her shades to rise,
Nor trusts her blossoms to the churlish skies:
So draw Mankind in vain the vital airs,
Unform'd, unfriended, by those kindly cares,
That health and vigour to the soul impart,

5

10

Spread the young thought, and warm the opening heart: So fond Instruction on the growing powers

Of nature idly lavishes her stores,

COMMENTARY.

8 to 12); and, 2dly, he compares them, when unblest with a just and well-regulated government, to plants that will not blossom or bear fruit in an unkindly and inclement air (l. 5 to 9, and l. 13 to

NOTES.

first twelve in the following manner; because I think the poetry would not have been in the least hurt by such a transposition, and the Poet's meaning would have been much more readily perceived, I put them down here for that purpose.

As sickly Plants betray a niggard earth,

Whose barren bosom starves her gen'rous birth,
Nor genial warmth, nor genial juice retains
Their roots to feed, and fill their verdant veins:
So draw Mankind in vain the vital airs,
Unform'd, unfriended by those kindly cares,
That health and vigour to the soul impart,

Spread the young thought, and warm the opening heart.
And as in climes, where Winter holds his reign,

The soil, tho' fertile, will not teem in vain,

Forbids her gems to swell, her shades to rise,
Nor trusts her blossoms to the churlish skies;
So fond Instruction, &c,

If equal Justice with unclouded face
Smile not indulgent on the rising race,

And scatter with a free, tho' frugal hand

Light golden showers of plenty o'er the land:
But Tyranny has fix'd her empire there,

To check their tender hopes with chilling fear,
And blast the blooming promise of the year.
This spacious animated scene survey,

From where the rolling Orb, that gives the day,

His sable sons with nearer course surrounds

15

20

To either pole, and life's remotest bounds.

25

How rude soe'er th' exteriour form we find,

Howe'er opinion tinge the varied mind,

Alike, to all the kind, impartial Heav'n
The sparks of truth and happiness has giv’n:
With sense to feel, with memory to retain,
They follow pleasure, and they fly from pain;
Their judgment mends the plan their fancy draws,
Th' event presages, and explores the cause;
The soft returns of gratitude they know,
By fraud elude, by force repell the foe;

30

35

COMMENTARY.

22.) Having thus laid down the two propositions he means to prove, he begins by examining into the characteristics which (taking a general view of mankind) all men have in common one with another (1. 22 to 39); they covet pleasure and avoid pain (1. 31); they feel gratitude for benefits (1. 34;) they desire to avenge wrongs, which they effect either by force or cunning (1, 35); they