Note 1355 — AN ESSAY ON MAN, IN FOUR EPISTLES (continued 3)
Reading edition
In the MS. thus:
The neighbours leagued to guard their common spot, And love was nature's dictate, murder not. For want alone each animal contends; Tigers with tigers, that removed, are friends. Plain nature's wants the common mother crowned, She poured her acorns, herbs, and streams around. No treasure then for rapine to invade, What need to fight for sunshine, or for shade? And half the cause of contest was removed, When beauty could be kind to all who loved.—Warburton.
Of the first couplet there are two other versions in the MS.:
Fear would forbid th' unpractised to engage, And nature's dictate love, not blood and rage.
Or,
Unpractised man, that knew no murd'ring skill, And nature's dictate was to love, not kill.