 | Poems (1762) |  |
163
FAMILIAR EPISTLE
To ------ Apothecary.
When once a man so far is gone
To wet his lips at Helicon,
Not all the hellebore, which you
Buy in, the Lord knows what to do,
His head can settle, or restore
His reason as it was before.
To wet his lips at Helicon,
Not all the hellebore, which you
Buy in, the Lord knows what to do,
His head can settle, or restore
His reason as it was before.
Talk about physic, what you will,
And magnify the doctor's skill,
Mention the names of all the college,
Those shining miracles of knowledge,
Or more to justify your praise,
Call in the learn'd of former days,
Let Mead, Friend, Boorehave, Ratcliffe join,
Their mighty-knowing heads to thine,
Consult together, and survey
The whole Materia Medica,
The various powers of med'cine state,
And find out virtues, or create,
Try all old ways, if they won't do
Experimentally try new;
And when all's ended, rest assur'd,
Poetic madness can't be cur'd.
And magnify the doctor's skill,
Mention the names of all the college,
Those shining miracles of knowledge,
Or more to justify your praise,
Call in the learn'd of former days,
Let Mead, Friend, Boorehave, Ratcliffe join,
Their mighty-knowing heads to thine,
Consult together, and survey
The whole Materia Medica,
164
And find out virtues, or create,
Try all old ways, if they won't do
Experimentally try new;
And when all's ended, rest assur'd,
Poetic madness can't be cur'd.
When haughty Cælia's vain desires
Inflame her brain, and fancy fires,
When on her bed she sits elate
And takes it for a throne of state,
And with a sceptre made of straw
Keeps the subjected world in awe;
Or when Clarissa, hapless fair,
With downcast eye, and pensive air
Treads her lone cell, and now complains
Of broken vows, and perjur'd swains,
Now blames her own too easy heart,
Which took the base deluder's part;
Or when the poet's rowling eye
Proclaims his hour of phrenzy nigh,
When on imaginary horse
From pole to pole he takes his course,
Or, of fantastick trophies proud,
Bestrides some easy-pacing cloud,
Or wildly running thro' the streets,
Pours couplets out to all he meets;
Can Addington, with all his care,
The shatter'd seat of sense repair?
Inflame her brain, and fancy fires,
When on her bed she sits elate
And takes it for a throne of state,
And with a sceptre made of straw
Keeps the subjected world in awe;
Or when Clarissa, hapless fair,
With downcast eye, and pensive air
Treads her lone cell, and now complains
Of broken vows, and perjur'd swains,
Now blames her own too easy heart,
Which took the base deluder's part;
Or when the poet's rowling eye
Proclaims his hour of phrenzy nigh,
165
From pole to pole he takes his course,
Or, of fantastick trophies proud,
Bestrides some easy-pacing cloud,
Or wildly running thro' the streets,
Pours couplets out to all he meets;
Can Addington, with all his care,
The shatter'd seat of sense repair?
When Madness (now my worthy friend,
I must insist that you'll attend,
For of distinctions fond I'm grown,
And so will make one of my own,
A nice distinction, not a jot
It matters whether true or not,
For he proceeds on surest grounds
Who, when he can't convince, confounds,
And to the credit of his brain,
Puzzles the cause he can't maintain)
When Madness, of all sorts and sizes,
From bodily disease arises,
Whether the blood half froze remains,
And scarce moves lab'ring thro' the veins,
Or, over-hot with sanguine pride,
Impetuous rolls her rapid tide,
If the mind is no more affected,
Than as with body 'tis connected,
Physic may then of service prove,
Abate the grief, perhaps remove;
But if the body and the brain
Only, t'oblige the mind, complain,
And the distemper's in the heart,
It is beyond the reach of art.
I must insist that you'll attend,
For of distinctions fond I'm grown,
And so will make one of my own,
A nice distinction, not a jot
It matters whether true or not,
For he proceeds on surest grounds
Who, when he can't convince, confounds,
And to the credit of his brain,
Puzzles the cause he can't maintain)
When Madness, of all sorts and sizes,
From bodily disease arises,
166
And scarce moves lab'ring thro' the veins,
Or, over-hot with sanguine pride,
Impetuous rolls her rapid tide,
If the mind is no more affected,
Than as with body 'tis connected,
Physic may then of service prove,
Abate the grief, perhaps remove;
But if the body and the brain
Only, t'oblige the mind, complain,
And the distemper's in the heart,
It is beyond the reach of art.
But to distinguish farther still—
Read it or not, just as you will,
Or, if you read, commend or blame,
To me, old boy, 'tis all the same;
Say, if you please, perhaps say true,
This nothing is to me or you,
Or say, what observation says
Of many great men now-adays,
Of most indeed, that I am one
Of great distinction, judgment none.
But once more to return, for this
You'll read in a parenthesis,
Tho' I had left you in the dark
By leaving out the usual mark.
Read it or not, just as you will,
Or, if you read, commend or blame,
To me, old boy, 'tis all the same;
Say, if you please, perhaps say true,
This nothing is to me or you,
Or say, what observation says
Of many great men now-adays,
167
Of great distinction, judgment none.
But once more to return, for this
You'll read in a parenthesis,
Tho' I had left you in the dark
By leaving out the usual mark.
All-kinds of Madness, we shall find,
Ev'n those which spring out of the mind,
More readily a cure admit,
Than that which flows from Love of Wit.
In other phrenzies pain's endur'd,
The patient wishes to be cur'd,
If e'er some lucid interval
The scatter'd rays of sense recal;
Whereas the poet's highest pleasure,
And frequently his only treasure,
In Madness lies; his joys still vary,
Joys real or imaginary,
As his head turns, and he's most blest,
When most with Madness he's possest.
Ev'n those which spring out of the mind,
More readily a cure admit,
Than that which flows from Love of Wit.
In other phrenzies pain's endur'd,
The patient wishes to be cur'd,
If e'er some lucid interval
The scatter'd rays of sense recal;
Whereas the poet's highest pleasure,
And frequently his only treasure,
In Madness lies; his joys still vary,
Joys real or imaginary,
As his head turns, and he's most blest,
When most with Madness he's possest.
168
Phœbus himself, that we may quote
Example of undoubted note,
Phœbus, who well is known to be
Of Physic, God, and Poetry,
When first he found by symptoms sure
His brain affected, thought of cure;
Try'd ev'ry way, but try'd in vain,
To settle his distracted brain.
Convinc'd at length, that nought would do,
The useless drugs aside he threw,
And smiling to the list'ning croud
This maxim he declar'd aloud
(A maxim since most sacred had)
No Poet's wise who is not mad.
Example of undoubted note,
Phœbus, who well is known to be
Of Physic, God, and Poetry,
When first he found by symptoms sure
His brain affected, thought of cure;
Try'd ev'ry way, but try'd in vain,
To settle his distracted brain.
Convinc'd at length, that nought would do,
The useless drugs aside he threw,
And smiling to the list'ning croud
This maxim he declar'd aloud
(A maxim since most sacred had)
No Poet's wise who is not mad.
| Poems (1762) | |