"the caprice
Of man's weak will belongs no more to thee;
Than do the changeful passions of his breast
To thy unvarying harmony!"
Pope himself did not more distinctly draw the line between theism, and atheism, when he said—
"The workman from the work distinct was known."
It is true these lines contradict the idea of an ever-ruling necessity, to which would be of course attributed the caprice, and the changeful passions of humanity, as much as the actions which are declared to be absolutely controlled by this fatal necessity; for he very gravely observes afterwards—
"all that the wide world contains
Are but thy passive instruments."
I am, however, at some loss to guess why these lines are included in the indictment. Absurd as they are, I perceive no atheism in them. There is a change of epithets, but little more. He exclaims—
"Spirit of Nature! all sufficing power!"
This refers to that principle which regulates the movements of the creation; which he calls—
"Necessity, thou mother of the world!"
It is an odd phrase, and excites some odd
