Let not this weak, unknowing hand
Presume thy bolts to throw,
And deal damnation round the land,
On each I judge thy foe.

If I am right, thy grace impart,
Still in the right to stay;

If I am wrong, oh teach my heart
To find that better way!

Save me alike from foolish pride,
Or impious discontent,
At aught thy wisdom has denied,
Or aught thy goodness lent.

Teach me to feel another's woe,
To hide the fault I see;
That mercy I to others show,
That mercy show to me.

NOTES.

25

30

35

40

Ver. 27. And deal damnation round the land, &c.] There was no opinion that Pope held in greater abhorrence than the uncharitable doctrine, that the goodness of God was limited to any one sect; insomuch that it had been his practice from his early years to mark it with his reprobation, whenever an opportunity occurred. "There may be errors," says he, "I grant, but I cannot think them of such consequence as to destroy utterly the charity of mankind; the very greatest bond by which we are engaged by God to one another; therefore, I own to you I was glad of any opportunity to express my dislike of so shocking a sentiment, as those of the religion I profess are commonly charged with." This was written when he was about his twenty-third year, and the same sentiment is repeated in various parts of his works.

Ver. 39. That mercy] It has been said that our Poet, in this Prayer

Mean though I am, not wholly so,
Since quicken'd by thy breath;
Oh lead me wheresoe'er I go,
Through this day's life or death!

This day, be bread and peace my lot:
All else beneath the sun,
Thou know'st if best bestow'd or not,
And let thy will be done.

To thee, whose Temple is all space,
Whose altar, earth, sea, skies,
One chorus let all Being raise!
All Nature's incense rise!

NOTES.

45

50

Prayer, chose the Lord's Prayer for his model; but there is no resemblance but in this passage, and in the last stanza but one.

M. Le Franc de Pompignan, a celebrated avocat at Montauban, author of Dido, a tragedy, was severely censured in France for translating this Universal Prayer, as a piece of Deism; which, having been printed in London, in 4to. by Vaillant, was conveyed to the Chancellor Aguesseau, who immediately sent a strong reprimand to M. Le Franc, and he vindicated his orthodoxy in a laboured letter to that learned Chancellor. Voltaire reproached Le Franc with making this translation. His brother, Bishop of Puy au Velei, has called Locke an atheist. Warton.

1

MORAL ESSAYS,

IN FOUR EPISTLES:

TO SEVERAL PERSONS.

Est brevitate opus, ut currat sententia, neu se
Impediat verbis lassis onerantibus aures :
Et sermone opus est modo tristi, sæpe jocoso,
Defendente vicem modo Rhetoris atque Poetæ,
Interdum urbani, parcentis viribus, atque

Extenuantis eas consultò.

Hor.