Note 1022 — AN ESSAY ON MAN, IN FOUR EPISTLES (continued 3)
Reading edition
MS.:
Where gold ne'er grows, and never Spaniards come, Where trees bear maize, and rivers flow with rum. Exiled or chained he lets you understand Death but returns him to his native land; Or firm as martyrs, smiling yields the ghost, Rich of a life that is not to be lost. But does he say the Maker is not good, Till he's exalted to what state he would: Himself alone high heav'n's peculiar care, Alone made happy when he will and where?
There is an earlier form of the last couplet:
He waits for bliss in a remoter sphere Nor proudly claims it when he will and where.