The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to the Court of Madrid |
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 | The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys |  |
Ye champions, prompt to check the course of fate,
And give man's days their longest, healthiest date;
Go forth, the sick-man's sleepy couch to smooth,
With potent drugs the pang of anguish soothe;
The dart of death avert—his victim save—
And rescue thousands from th' untimely grave!
For this, from nature's mixture, chemic art
Extracts the healing from the pois'nous part.
And where our woods contain salubrious pow'rs,
In life-prolonging roots, and barks, and flow'rs;
Ye botanists! with sapient toil explore
Our continent's interminable store,—
A boundless field! ne'er view'd by human eye,
Where vegetation lives alone to die.
There search the sylvan world with eager view,
And call by name each plant that sips the dew;
From the proud pine, his lofty head who shrouds
In misty regions mid condensing clouds,
To tufted shrubs and gadding vines that crawl,
Or humble hyssop springing by the wall.
And give man's days their longest, healthiest date;
Go forth, the sick-man's sleepy couch to smooth,
With potent drugs the pang of anguish soothe;
The dart of death avert—his victim save—
And rescue thousands from th' untimely grave!
For this, from nature's mixture, chemic art
Extracts the healing from the pois'nous part.
And where our woods contain salubrious pow'rs,
In life-prolonging roots, and barks, and flow'rs;
Ye botanists! with sapient toil explore
Our continent's interminable store,—
A boundless field! ne'er view'd by human eye,
Where vegetation lives alone to die.
There search the sylvan world with eager view,
And call by name each plant that sips the dew;
From the proud pine, his lofty head who shrouds
In misty regions mid condensing clouds,
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Or humble hyssop springing by the wall.
| The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys | |