356 



THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



with each of these. There is little of the " thoughts that 

 breathe aud words that burn." But if Pope did not belong to 

 the greatest school, he is nevertheless among the greatest of our 

 poets. Every line of his is instinct with genius. His mere intel- 

 lectual power was immense, and every thought and sentiment is 

 expressed with a wealth of illustration and example which only 

 his imagination could supply. His observation of mankind, 

 and his appreciation of th.9 most delicate differences in character 

 and habit, were marvellously keen and accurate ; and to this were 

 added powers of wit and humour brilliant and unfailing. In 

 accuracy and elegance of diction probably no English poet has 

 ever been his equal ; and his verse has a flow and rhythm, 

 a little monotonous, perhaps, at times, but of unfailing beauty 

 aud harmony. 



In examining Pope's works it will be convenient to divide 

 them into certain strongly marked classes ; and in the case of 

 a writer whose genius was so early displayed, and his peculiar 

 characteristics so early made apparent, and so uniformly main- 

 tained, it is of less consequence that such a division should 

 coincide with the chronological order of the works in question. 



The first class of Pope's works which we shall consider, 

 though by no means the earliest in point of time, are his moral 

 or didactic poems ; and of these the most important is the 

 famous " Essay on Man." The "Essay on Man," comprised 

 in four epistles addressed to Bolingbroke, was, as its author tells 

 us, intended as an introduction to some pieces on " Life and 

 Manners," which he intended to write, and of which the 

 " Moral Essays " doubtless form a part. " I thought it more 

 satisfactory to begin with considering man in the abstract, his 

 nature and his state : since, to prove any moral duty, or en- 

 force any moral precept, or to examine the perfection or im- 

 perfection of any creature whatsoever, it is necessary first to 

 know what condition and relation it is placed in, and what is 

 the proper end and purpose of its being." Accordingly, in the 

 four epistles which make up the essay, Pope considers first 

 " The nature and state of man with respsct to the universe ; " 

 secondly, " The nature and state of man with respect to himself 

 as an individual;'' thirdly, "The nature and state of man 

 with respect to society ; " and fourthly, " The nature and state 

 of man with respect to happiness." Under these various heads 

 the poet seeks to expose and reprove the error of those who 

 complain of the condition of man in the world, and find fault 

 with the dealings of Providence, by pointing out that we see 

 only a portion of those dealings, and are therefore not in a 

 position to judge of them ; and by the aid of such reflections 

 as these he seeks to promote contentment and resignation, and 

 lay the basis of a system of moral duty. It must be admitted, 

 however, that as a philosophical treatise the " Essay on Man " 

 is eminently unsatisfactory. It is neither original nor pro- 

 found in thought ; and it is very far from disposing of the 

 difficulties and mysteries upon which it touches. But in lan- 

 guage and style the essay is throughout perfect ; and the 

 admirable truth of its observations of human nature, and the 

 marvellous beauty and eloquence of its illustrations of its 

 qualities, render it a very great poem. We take an example 

 almost at random. It is a trite observation that ignorance of 

 the future is one of the greab sources of our happiness, and 

 that without this ignorance the blessing of hope would be lost. 

 But see how Pope handles this theme : 



" Heaven from all creatures hides the book of fate, 

 All but the page prescribed, their present state ; 

 From brutes what men, from men what spirits know 

 Or who would suffer being here below ? 

 The lamb thy riot dooms to bleed to-day, 

 Had he thy reason would he skip and play? 

 Pleased to the last, he crops the flowery food, 

 Aud licks the hand just raised to shed his blood. 

 Oh, blindness to the future ! kindly given, 

 That each may fill the circle marked by Heaven; 

 Who sees with equal eye, as God of all, 

 A hero perish or a sparrow fall, 

 Atoms or systems into ruin hurled, 

 And now a bubble burst, aud now a world. 



Wait humbly, then ; with trembling pinions soar; 

 Wait the great teacher, Death, and God adore. 

 What future bliss He gives not thee to know, 

 But gives that hope to be thy blessing now. 

 Hope springs eternal in the human breast : 

 TVao. never is, but always to be blest. 



The soul uneasy aud confined from home, 

 Kests and expatiates in a life to come. 



Lo ! the poor Indian, whose untutored mind, 

 Sees God in clouds, or hears him in the wind : 

 His soul proud science never taught to stray 

 Far as the solar walk or Milky Way ; 

 Yet simple nature to his hope has given, 

 Behind the cloud-topped hill, an humbler heaven ; 

 Some safer world in depth of wood embraced, 

 Some happier island in the watery waste, 

 Where slaves once more their native land behold, 

 No fiends torment, 110 Christians thirst for gold. 

 To be, contents his natural desire, 

 He asks no angel's wing, no seraph's fire ; 

 But thinks, admitted to that equal sky, 

 His faithful dog shall bear him company.'' 



The higher moral and religious strain which runs through 

 this poem is well illustrated by the following lines which occur 

 near its close : 



" See the sole bliss Heaven could on all bestow, 

 Which who but feels cau taste, but thinks can know ; 

 Yet poor with fortune, and with learning bliud, 

 The bad must miss ; the good, untaught, will find ; 

 Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, 

 But looks through Nature up to Nature's God ; 

 Pursues that chain, which links th' immense design, 

 Joins heaven and earth, and mortal and divine ; 

 Sees that no being any bliss can know, 

 But touches some above and some below ; 

 Learns from this union of the rising whole 

 The first, last purpose of the human soul ; 

 And knows where faith, law, morals all began, 

 All end, in love of God and love of man. 



For him aloue, hope leads from goal to goal, 

 And opens still, and opens on his soul ; 

 Till lengthened on to FAITH and uuconfined, 

 It pours the bliss that fills up all the mind. 

 He sees why Nature plants in man alone 

 Hope of knovru bliss, arid f;iith in bliss unknown : 

 (Nature, whose dictates to no other kind 

 Are given in vairi, but what they seek they find) 

 Wise in her present ; sho connects iu this 

 His greatest virtue with his greatest bliss ; 

 At once his own bright prospect to be blest, 

 And strongest motive to assist the rest." 



One of the most touching and beautiful of Pope's minor 

 pieces, " The Dying Christian to his Soul," deserves to bo 

 given at length : 



" Vital spark of heavenly flame, 

 Quit, oh quit this mortal frame : 

 Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying 

 Oh the pain, the bliss of dying ! 



Cease, fond Nature, cense thy strife, 



And let me languish into life ! 



" Hark ! they whisper : angels say, 

 ' Sister spirit, come away ! ' 

 What is this absorbs me quite ? 

 Steals my senses, shuts my sight, 

 Drowns my spirits, draws my breath? 

 Tell me, my soul, can this be death ? 



" The world recedes, it disappears ! 

 Heaven opens on my eyes ! my ears 



With sounds seraphic ring : 

 Lend, lend your wings : I mount ! I fly ! 

 O Grave ! where is thy victory ? 



O Death ! where is thy sting ? " 



POLITICAL ECONOMY. V. 



BY J. E. THOROLD ROGERS, M.A. 



LAND AND EENT. 



IN this country it is constantly the case that one person owns 

 the land which is employed for agricultural purposes, another 

 person uses it in order to get agricultural produce, and a third 

 person, or class of persons, supplies that necessary manual 

 labour which the cultivation of the soil demands. In other 

 words, the produce is distributed among three persons the 

 landlord, the farmer, and the labourer the quantity of this 

 produce, appropriated by each of these parties, being deter- 

 mined by different causes in each case. In the case of tlie 



