ON INOCULATION.
Written when it first began to be practised in England.
I
I heard two Neighbours talk, the other Night,
About this new Distemper-giving Plan,
Which some so wrong, and others think so right;
Short was the Dialogue, and thus it ran:
II
“If I had twenty Children of my own,
I would inoculate them ev'ry one.”—
“Ay, but should any of them die, what Moan
Would then be made for vent'ring thereupon!”
III
“No; I should think that I had done the best,
And be resign'd, whatever should befall.”—
“But could you really be so quite at Rest?”
“I could.”—“Then, why inoculate at all?
IV
“Since, to resign a Child to God, Who gave,
Is full as easy, and as just a Part,
When sick and led by Nature to the Grave,
As when in Health, and driv'n to it by Art.”
