in the grovelling, the disagreeable, and the little. And yet we wonder that age should be feeble and querulous,-that the freshness of youth should fade away. Both worlds would hardly satisfy the extravagance of our desires and our presumption. ESSAY XVI. THE MAIN CHANCE. "Search then the ruling passion: there alone POPE. I AM one of those who do not think that mankind are exactly governed by reason or a cool calculation of consequences. I rather believe that habit, imagination, sense, passion, prejudice, words, make a strong and frequent diversion from the right line of prudence and wisdom. I have been told, however, that these are merely the irregularities and exceptions, and that reason forms the rule or basis; that the understanding, instead of being the sport of the capricious and arbitrary decisions of the will, generally dictates the line of conduct it is to pursue, and that self-interest or the main chance is the unvarying load-star of our affections or |
