Part 30 (1/2)

'1 St. John:'

Henry St. John, Lord Bolingbroke, Pope's ”guide, philosopher, and friend,” under whose influence the 'Essay on Man' was composed.

'5 expatiate:'

range, wander.

'6'

Pope says that this line alludes to the subject of this first Epistle, ”the state of man here and hereafter, disposed by Providence, though to him unknown.” The next two lines allude to the main topics of the three remaining epistles, ”the const.i.tution of the human mind ... the temptations of misapplied self-love, and the wrong pursuits of power, pleasure, and false happiness.”

'9 beat ... field:'

the metaphor is drawn from hunting. Note how it is elaborated in the following lines.

'12 blindly creep ... sightless soar:'

the first are the ignorant and indifferent; those who ”sightless soar”

are the presumptuous who reason blindly about things too high for human knowledge.

'15 candid:'

lenient, free from harsh judgments.

'16'

An adaptation of a well-known line of Milton's 'Paradise Lost', l, 26.

'17-23'

Pope lays down as the basis of his system that all argument about man or G.o.d must be based upon what we know of man's present life, and of G.o.d's workings in this world of ours.

'29 this frame:'

the universe. Compare 'Hamlet', II, ii, 310, ”this goodly frame, the earth.”

'30 nice dependencies:'

subtle inter-relations.