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THOUGHTS
ON
VARIOUS SUBJECTS[1].
WE have just enough[2] religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.
Reflect on things past, as wars, negotiations, factions, &c. we enter so little into those interests, that we wonder how men could possibly be so busy and concerned, for things so transitory; look on the present times, we find the same humour, yet wonder not at all.
A wise man endeavours, by considering all circumstances, to make conjectures, and form conclusions;
- ↑ Mr. Pope and dean Swift, being in the country together, had occasion to observe, that if men of contemplative turns were to take notice of the thoughts which suddenly present themselves to their minds, as they were walking in the fields, &c. they might find many, perhaps, as well worth preserving, as some of their more deliberate reflections. They accordingly agreed to write down such involuntary thoughts as occurred, during their stay there; and these are such as belong to the dean. Mr. Pope's are in the seventeenth volume.
- ↑ This use of the word, enough, as an adjective, preceding a substantive, is not allowed; it ought to be 'religion enough to make us hate,' &c. or 'enough of religion,' &c.
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but
