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modeft, where I introduce Plants fpeaking, to It has reach'd thy marrow, feiz'd thy inmoft fenfe, whom the Sacred Writ itfelf does fpeak as to in- And force or reafon cannot draw it thence. telligent beings:" Blefs the Lord, all ye green Think'st thou that Heav'n thy liberty allows, "things upon the earth; praife and exalt him for And laughs at poets' as at lovers' vorus? "ever," Dan. ch. iii. ver. 54. Apocr. Thofe fic- Forbear, my Friends! to wound with foarp difcourfe tions are not to be accounted for lies which cannot ¦ A wretched man that feels too much remorse, be believed, nor defire to be so. But that the Fate drags me on against my will, in vain names of Heathen deities and fabulous transfor-1 fruggle, fret, and try to break my chain. mations are fometimes intermixed, the matter it. Thrice I took bellebore, and, must confefs, felf compelled me against my will, being no other Hop'd I was fairly quit of the disease: way capable of embellishment; and it is well if, But the Moon's pow'r, to which all Herbs muft yield, by that means, we are fo. No painted garb is to Bids me be mad again, and gains the field: be preferred to the native dress and living colours At her command for pen and ink I call, of truth; yet in fome perfons, and on fome occa- And in one morn three hundred rhymes let fall; sions, it is more agreeable. There was a time Which, in the tranfport of my frantic fit, when it did not mifbecome a king to dance, yet I throw, like flones, at the next man I meet : it had certainly been indecent for him to have Ev'n thee, my Friend! Apollo-like I wound, danced in his coronation-robes. You are not, The arrows fly, the firing and bow refound. therefore, to expect in a work of this nature, the What methods canft thou study to reclaim majefty of an heroic style, (which I never found Whom nor bis own nor public griefs can tame? any Plant to speak in) for I propose not here to fly, Who in all feafons keep my chirping frain, but only to walk in my garden, partly for health's A grasshopper that fings in froft and rain. fake, and partly for recreation. Like her zubom boys, and youths, and elders, knew, I fee the path my judgment fould purfue, But what can naked I 'gainst armed Nature do? I'm no Tydides, whom a pow'r divine Could overcome; I mußt, I must refign. Ev'n thou, my Friend! (unless I much mistake) Whofe thund'ring fermons make the pulpit fake, Unfold the fecrets of the world to come, And bid the trembling earth expect its doom, As if Elias were come down in fire; Yet thou at night does to thy glass retire Like one of us, and (after mod rate ufe Of th' Indian fume, and European juice) Sett'ft into rhyme, and doft thy Mufe carefs, In learn'd conceits and barmless wantonness: 'Tis therefore juft thou shouldst excuse thy friend Who's 's none of thofe that trife without end: I can be ferious, too, when bus'ness calls, My frenzy ftill bas lucid intervals,

There remains a third difficulty, which will not, perhaps, so easily be folved. I had fome time fince been refolved in myself to write more verfes, and made thereof fuch public and folemn proteftation as almoft amounts to an oath :

Si quidem hercle poffim nil prius, neque fortius.

Eunuch, Scen. I

When, behold! I have fet in anew. Concerning which matter, because I remember myself to have formerly given an account in metre, I am willing (and Martial affirms it to be a poet's right) to clofe my Epiftle therewith; they were written to a learned and a moft ingenious friend, who labour ed under the very fame difcafe, tho' not with the fame dangerous symptoms.

More poetry! you'll cry. Dof thou return, Fond Man! to the difcafe thou baft for efworn?

OF PLANT S.

BOOK I. OF HERBS.
TRANSLATED BY J. O.

LIFE's loweft but far greatest sphere I fing,
Of all things that adorn the gaudy Spring;
Such as in deferts live, whom, unconfin'd,
None but the fimple laws of Nature bind;
And those who, growing tame by human care,
The wellbred citizens of gardens are;
Those that afpire to Sol their fire's bright face,
Or ftoop into their mother-Earth's embrace;
Such as drink streams or wells, or thofe, dry fed,
Who have Jove only for their Ganymede;
And all that Solomon's loft work of old,
(Ah! fatal lofs!) fo wifely did unfold.
Tho' I the oak's vivacious age fhould live,
I ne'er to all their names in verfe could give.
Yet the rife of groves will briefly fhew
In verfes like their trees, rang'd all a-row;
To which fome one, perhaps, new fhades may join,
Till mine at laft become a grove divine.
Affift me, Phoebus! wit of Heav'n, whofe care
So bounteously both Plants and Poets share :
Where'er thou com'ft, hurl light aud heat around,
And with new life enamel all the ground;
As when the Spring feels thee, with magic light,
Break thro' the bonds of the dead Winter's night;
When thee to Colchis the gilt Ram conveys,
And the warm'd North rejoices in thy rays.
Where fhall I first begin? for with delight
Each gentle Plant me kindly does invite.
Myfelf to flavish method I'll not tie,
But, like the bee, where'er I please, will fly,
Where I the glorious hopes of honey fee,
Or the free wing of Fancy carries me.
Here no fine garden-emblems fhall refide,
In well-made beds to prostitute their pride;
But we rich Nature, who her gifts bestows,
Unlimited (nor the vaft treasure knows)
And various plenty of the pathless woods
Will follow; poor men only count their goods.
Do thou, bright Phœbus! guide me luckily
Po the first Plant by fome kind augury.

The omen's good; fo we may hope the beft; The god's mild looks our grand defign have bleís'd a

For thou, kind Betony! at the first we fee,
And opportunely com'ft, dear Plant! for me;
For me, because the brain thou dost protect;
Sce, if ye're wife, my brain you don't neglect;
For it concerns you that in health that be;
I fing thy fifters, Betony! and thee;
But who, blefs'd Plant! can praise thee to thy
Or number the perfections you inherit ? [merit,
The trees he in th' Hercynian woods as well,
Or roses that in Pæftum grow, may tell.
Mufa at large, they fay, thy praises writ,
But I fuppofe did part of them omit.
Cæfar his triumphs would recount; do thou,
Greater than he, a Conquerefs! do so now.

Betony.

To know my virtues briefly you in vain
Defire, all which this whole Book can't contain.
O'er all the world of man great I prefide,
Where'er red ftreams thro' milky meadows glide;
O'er all you fee throughout the body spread,
Between the diftant poles of heel and head;
But in the head my chief dominions are,
The foul commits her palace to my care:
I all the corners purge, refresh, fecure,
Nor let it be, for want of light, obfcure: [dorn.
That foul that came from heav'n, which stars a-
Her God's great daughter, by Creation born,
Alas! to what a frail apartment now,
And ruinated cottage does the bow!
Her very manfion to infection turns,
And in the place wherein the lives fhe burns.
When falling fickness thunderftrikes the brain,
Oft' men, like victims, fall, as thunderflain;
Oft' does the head with a fwift whimsy reel,
And the foul's turned, as on Ixion's wheel:
Oft' pains i' th' head an anvil feem to beat,
And like a forge the brain-pan burns with heat.

* Antonius Mufa, physician to Auguftus.

Betony is hot and dry in the fecuad degree: wine or vinegar impregnated with it is excellent for the ftomach and fight. The fmell of it alone refreshes the brain. It is an Italian proverb, fe has as many virtues as Betony; i. c. innume.ab.c,

So Phoebus, I fuppofe, the Python flew, And with my juice his arrows did imbrue. From ev'ry limb all kinds of ach and pain I banifh, never to return again

The weary'd clown I with new vigour blefs,
And pains as pleafant make as idleness.
Nor do I only lie's fatigue relieve,
But t' is adorn'd with what I freely give:
I make the colour of the blood more bright,
And clothe the fkin with a mo.c graceful white.

Spain in her happy woods firft gave me birth,
Then kindly ban fh'd me o'er all the earth;
Nor gain'd the greater honour when the bore
Trajan to rule the world, and to retiore

Rome's joys. "Tis truc, Le justly might compare

Some parts the pally oft' of fenfe deprives
And motion, (strange effect!) one fide furvives
The other. This Mezen ius' fury quite
Outdoes; in this difeafe dead limbs unite
With live ones. Some, with lethargy opprefs'd,
Under Death's weight feem fatally to reit.
Ah! Life! thou art Death's image, but that thee
In nought refembles fave thy brevity,
Vain phantoms oft' the mind distracted keep,
And roving thoughts poffefs the place of fleep.
Oft' when the nerves for want of juice grow dry,
(That heav'nly juice, unknown to th' ourward eye)
Each feebie limb as 't were grows lo fe, and quakes,
Yea, the whole fabric of the bay fakes,
These, and all evils which the brain infeft,
(For numerous faucy griefs that part moleft)
Me Phœbus bade by conftant war reftrain,
Saying," My kingdom, Child? fee you maintain."
And itraight he gave me arms well-forg'd from
Like thole to Aneas or Achilles giv'n.
One wondrous leaf he wifely did create
'Gainft all the darts of sicknefs and of Fate,
And into that a fov'reign myftic juice,
With fubtile heat from heav'n, he did infufe.
'Tis not in vain, bright Sire! that
I
beftow
you
Such arms on me, nor fhall they rufty grow:
No; from that crime not the just head alone
Acqui's me, but th' inferiour limbs will own
I'm guiltlefs. When the lungs, with phlegm
opprefs'd,

[heav'n, |

Want air to fan the heart, and cool the breast,
A fainty cough ftrives to expel the foe,
But fecks the help of pow'rful mcd'cines too;
It comes to me, I my affiftance lend,
Open the obstructed pores, and gently fend
Refreshment to the heart. Cool gales abate
Th' internal heat, and it grows temperate.
The quartan ague its dry holes forfakes,
As adders do; dropfies, like water-inakes,
With liquid aliment no longer fed,
By me are forc'd to fly their wat'ry bed.
Ilofs of appetite repair, and heat

The ftomach, to concoct the food men cat.
Torturing gripes I in the guts allay,

And fend out murm'ring blafts the backward way.
I wash the faffron jaundice off the fkin,
And ease the kidneys of dire ftones within.
Thick blood that itands in women's veins I foon
Force to flow down, more pow'rful than themoon:
But then th' unnatural floods of whites a ife;
Ah me! that common filth will not fuffice.
I likewife ftop the current, when the blood
Thro' fome new channel ferks a purple tood."
I all the tumults of the womb appeale,
And to the head, which that difturbs, give eafe.
Women's conceptions I corroborate,
And let no births their time anticipate;
Eat in the facred time of labour I
The careful midwife's hards with help fupply.
The lazy Gout my virtue fwiftly uns,
Whilft from the joints with nimble heels it runs.
All poifons I expel that men arncy,

And bancful ferpents by my pow'r deftroy;
My pointed odour thro' its marrow flies,
And of a fecret wound the adder dies.

With my deferts; his vines equal were:
But a good prince is the thort grant of Fate,
The world's fon robb'd of fuch a vaft citate:
But of my bounty men for ever talie,
And what he once was, I am like to laft.

Maidenhair, or Venuskair *.

BEING the chief of all the Hairy state,
Me they have chofen for their advocate,
To speak on their behalf: now we, you know,
Among the other Plants make no finall fhew;
And fern, too, far and near which does prefide
O'er the wild fields, is to our kind ally'd.
Some hairy comets alfo hence derive,
And marriages of stars with Plants contrive:
But we fuch kindred do not care to own;
Rather than rude relations, we'll have none.
My hair of parentage far better came;
'Tis not for nought it has Love's gentle name.
Beauty he fell my debtor is, fhe knows,
And of my threads Love does his nets compofe.
Their thanks to me the beauteous women pay
For wanten curls, and fhady locks, that play
Upon their fhoulders. Friend! whoe'er thou art,
(If thou'rt in love) to me perform thy part:
Keep thy hair florid, and ler dangling toils
Around thy head make ladies' hearts thy fpoils;
For when you head is bald, or hair grows thin,
In vain you boa of treafures lodg'd within:
The women won't believe you, nor will prize
Such wealth: all lovers ought to pleafe the eyes.
So I to Venus my affiftance lend,

(I'm pleas'd to be my heav'nly namefake's friend.)
Tho' I am modeft, and content to go
In fimple weeds, that make no gaudy fhew;
For I am cloth'd as when I firit was born,
No painted flow's my rural head adorn:
But above all, I'm fober; I ne'er drink
Sweet streams, nor does my thirt make rivers fink.
When Jove to Plants begins an health in fhow'rs,
And from the fky large bowls of water pours,
You fee the Herbs quaff all the liquor up,
When they ought only modeftly to lup: [Rhine,
You'd think the German drunkards, car the
Were keeping holyday with them in wine;

* The name it har, herauf it tinges the hair, and is to this ungle boilta in wing with parficy feed, are pinay of oil, which rergers the air quick and cooling, and keps it from falling. It is > wald green, bil never fewes. It delights in dry places, and te BERLAIN WILM..., ha, witheis Lot in winter. Plin.

1

Meanwhile 1 blush, fhake from my trembling | To life, whose body was almost its urn,

leaves

The drops, and Jove my thanks in drought receives.
But I no topers envy; for my mien
Is always gay, and my complexion green;
Winter itfelf does not exhauft the juice
That makes me look fo verdant and fo fpruce :
Yet the physicians steep me cruelly

In hateful water, which I drink and die.
But I ev'n dead on humours operate,
Such force my afhes have beyond my fate.
I thro' the liver, ipleen, and reins, the foe
Purfue, whilft they with fpced before me flow:
Ten thoufand maladies down with 'em they,
Like monsters fell, in brackish waves convey.
For this I might deferve, above the air,
An higher place than Berenice's hair;
But if into the fea the ftars turn round,
Rather than heav'n itfelf I'd choofe dry ground.

Sage

SAGE who by many virtues gain't renown, Sage! whofe deferts all happy mortals own, Since thou, dear Sage preferv'it the memory, I cannot, fure, forgetful prove of thee: Thee! who Mnemofyne doft recreate, Her daughter Mufes ought to celebrate, Nor fhalt thoue'er complain that they're ingrate. High on a mount the foul's firm manfion ftands, And with a view the limbs below commands: Sure feme great architect this pile defign'd, Where all the world is to a fpan confin'd. A mighty throng of fpirits here refide, Which to the foul are very near ally'd: Here the grand council's held; hence to and fro The fpirits icont to fee what news below; Bufy as bees thro' ev'ry part they run, Thick as the rays ftream from the glittering fun : Their fubtile limbs filk, thin as air arrays, And therefore nought their rapid journey stays; But with much toil they weary grow; at length Perpetual labour tires the greatest strength. Oft, too, as they in pains beftow their hours, The airy vagrants hoftile heat devours. Oft' in venereal raptures they expire, Or burnt by wine, and drown'd in liquid fire. Then leaden Sleep does on the fenfes feize, And with dull drowzinefs the vitals freeze. Cold floods of dire diftempers swifty roll, For want of dams and fences, o'er the foul: Then are the nerves diffolv'd, each member quakes, And the whole ruinated fabric shakes: You'd think the hands fear'd poifon in the cup, They tremble fo, and cannot lift it up. Hence, Sage! 'tis manifeft what thou canft do. And glorious dangers beg relief from you. The foe, by cold and humours fo enclos'd, From his chill throne by thy ftrong heat's depos'd, And to the fpirits thou bring'ft fresh recruits, When they are wearied in fuch long difputes:

The virtues of Sage are highly celebrated in all authors, parti. cularis the writers of Schola Salernitana. who may be confulted. It is not in the fir), and dry in the fecond degree. It is easily attringent, and Rays biceding it Lengthens the ftomach and brains, and reuzes a duil appetite; but its peculiar faculty is to corroborate the nerves, and to oppofe ak ditesies in 1dent to them: hence it hath the highest reputation among medicaments for the memory.

New life (if I may fay it) does return:
The members by the nerves are fteady ty'd;
A pilot, not the waves, the veffel guide.
You all things fix: who this for truth would take,
That thy weak fibres fuch strong bonds fhould
make!

Loofe teeth thou faften'ft, which at thy command
Well-rivetted in their firm fockets stand:
May that fair ufeful bulwark ne'er decay.
Nor the mouth's iv'ry fences e'er give way!
Conceptions women by thy help retain,
Nor does the injected feed flow back again.
Ah! Death! do not life itfelf anticipate;
Let a man live before he meets his fate;
Thou'rt too fevere, if, in the very dock,
Our fhip, before 'tis built, ftrikes on a rock.
Of thy perfections this is but a tafte;
You bring to view things abfent, and what's paft
Recal: fuch tracks i' th' mind of things you make,
None can the well-form'd characters mistake;
And left the colours there fhould fade away,
Your oil embalms, and keeps 'em from decay.

Baum

HENCE, Cares! my conftant troublefome com

pany;

Begone! Meliffa's come, and fmiles on me:
Smiling fhe comes, and courteoufly my head
With chaplets binds from ev'ry fragrant bed,
Bidding me fing of her, and for my strains
Herfelf will be the guerdon of my pains. grown,
My heart, methinks, is much more lightfome
And I thy influence, kind Plant! must own:
Juftly thy leaves may reprefent the heart,
For that, among its wealth, counts thee a part:
As of kings' heads guineas th' impreffion bear,
That princely part you in effigy wear.

All ftorms and clouds you banish from the mind,
But leave ferenity and peace behind.
Bacchus himfelf not more revives our blood,
When he infufcs his hot purple flood;

When in full bowls he all our forrow drowns,
And flatt'ring hopes with short-liv'd riches crowns:
But thofe enjoyments fome difturbance bring,
And fuch delights flow from a muddy fpring;
For Bacchus does not kill, but wound the foe,
Whose rage and strength increases by the blow:
But without force or dregs thy pleasures flow,
Thy joys no afterclaps of torments know:
Thy honey, gentle Baum! no pointed ftings,
Like bees, thy great admirers, with it brings.
Oh heav'nly gift to fickly humankind,
All goddess, if from care thou freeft the mind:
All plagues annoy, but cares the whole man feize,
Whene'er we labour under this disease:
Thefe, though in profp'rous affluence we live,
To all our joys a bitter tincture give:
Frail human nature its own poifon breeds,
And life itself thy healing virtue needs.

Baum is hot and dry, in the first denee. It is excellent again if murancholy, and the evils arifing therefi m It causes chirertenci ag od cigestion, and a florid colour. The leaves are faiu, by there whe mind fignatures, to refemble a heart.

Scurvygrafs ¶.

A MALADY there is that runs through all
The northern world, which they the Scurvy call,
Thrice happy Greece that fcorns the barb'rous
Nor in its tongue a nearer does afford. [word,
Destructive Monster! God ne'er laid a curfe
On man like this, nor could he fend a worfe.
A thousand horrid fhapes the monster wears,
And in as many hands fierce arms it bears.
This water-ferpent in the belly's bred,

By muddy fens and fulph'rous moistures fed.
Him either floth, or too much labour breeds,
He both from cafe and pain itself proceeds;
Oft' from a dying fever he receives
His birth, and in the ashes of it lives.
Of him juft born you eafily may difpofe,
Then he's a dwarf, but foon a giant grows.
That a fmall egg fhould breed a crocodile
Of fuch vaft bulk and itrength, the wond'ring Nile
Thinks that as much amaz'd he ought to ftand,
As men, when he o'erflows the drowned land.
With nally humours and dry falts he's fed,
By ftinking wind and vapours nourished.
Even in his cradle he unlucky grows
(Though he be fon of Sloth, no floth this fhews)
His toils no fooner Hercules began;
Monsters now ape that monster-murd'ring man.
E'er he's well born, the limbs he does opprefs,
And they are tir'd with very idlencfs;
They languish, and deliberating stand,
Loath to obey the active foul's command.
Nor does it to your wilder'd fenfe appear
Where their pain is, 'caufe 'tis ev'ry where.
When men for want of breath can hardly blow,
Nor purple streams in azure channels flow,
Then the bold enemy fhews he is too nigh;
One fo mifchievous cannot hidden lic.
The teeth drop out, and noifome grows the breath,
The man not only fmells, but looks like Death.
Qualms, vomiting, and torturing gripes within,
Belides unfeemly fpots upon the fkin,
His other symptoms are; with clouds the mind
He overcafts, and, fettering the fenf,
To life itself makes living an offence.

This monfter Nature gave me to fubdue,
(Such feats with Herbs t' accomplish 'tis not new)
So the fierce Bull, and watchful Dragon too,
On Colchis' fhore the valiant Jafon flew;
But whether thofe defeated moniters fell
By virtue of my juice I cannot tell :

But them he conquer'd, and then back he row'd
C'er the proud waves; nor was it only gold
He got; he brought away a royal maid
Befide, (may all phyficians fo be paid.)
The hardnels of my taik my courage fir'd,
A pow'rful foe was that I molt defir'd.
I love to be commended, I must own,
And that my name in phyfic-books be fhewn.
I envy them whom Galen deigns to name,
Or old Hippocrates, great fons of Fame.
Achilles Alexander envy'd; why,
If he complain'd fo juftly, may not I;

Scurvy:afs is reckoned among the medicines peculiar to this dale. It opens, penetrates, rendes volatile the crude and grois bours, purges by urine and fweat, and itrengtheus the entrails.

When Grecian names did other Plants adorn,
And were by them as marks of honour born,
grew inglorious on the British coaft,
(For Britain then no reafon had to boast)
Haplefs I on the Gothic fhore did lie,
Nor was the fea-weed lefs esteem'd than I.
Now fure 'tis time thofe loffes were regain'd,
Which in my youth and fame fo long I have fuf-
tain'd:

'Tis time, and fo they are; now I am known,
Thro' all the univerfe my fame has flown :
Who my deferts denies, when by my hands
That tyrant falls that plagues the northern lands?
Sing lo Pan; yea, thrice lö fing.
And let the Gothic fhore with triumphs ring;
That wild difeafe which such disturbance gave,
Is led before my chariot like a flave.

Dodier.

THOU neither leaf, nor ftalk, nor root, can't fhew
How, in this penile pofture, doft thou grow?
Thou'rt perfect magic: and I cannot now
Thofe things you do for miracles allow;
Thofe wonders, if compar'd to you, are none,
Since you yourself are a far greater one.
To make the ftrength of other Herbs thy prey,
'The huntress thou thyfelf for nets doft lay.
Live, Riddle! he that would thy myfteries
Unfold, muft with fome Oedipus advife.
No wonder in your arms the Plants you hold.
Thou being all arms must needs them to infold:
For thee large threads the Fatal Sifters spin,
But to your work, nor woof, nor web, put in:
Hence 'tis that you fo intricately twine
About the flax which yields fo long a line.
Oh! fpouse most conftant to a Plant most dear,
Than whom no couple e'er more loving were.
No more let Love of wanton ivy boat,
Her kindness is th' effect of nought but luft:
Another the enjoys; but that her love
And the are two, many diftinctions prove.
Their ftrength and leaves are diff'rent,and her fruit
Puts all the difference beyond difpute.
The likeness to the parent does profefs
That the in that is no adulterefs.
Her root with different juices is fupply'd,
And the her maiden-name bears, tho' a bride:
But Dodder on her fpoufe depends alone,
And nothing in herfelf can call her own:
Fed with his juice, fhe on his stalk is born,
And thinks his leaves her head full well adorn.
Whoe'er he be, fhe loves to take his name,
And muft with him be ev'ry way the fame.
Alcefte and Evadne, thus inflam'd,

Are, with fome others, for their paffion fam'd:
So, Dodder! for thy husband Flax thou'dft die,
I guefs, but may'st thou fpeed more luckily.
This is her living paflion, but the grows

Still more renown'd for kindness which the fhews
To mortal men when the 'as refign'd her breath,
For the of them is mindful even in death.
The liver and the spleen moft faithfully
Of all oppreflions fhe does cafe and free,

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