 | The miscellaneous works (1813) |  |
EPISTLE:
ADDRESSED TO A PHYSICIAN IN THE WEST INDIES.
[_]
THE Author had been attended with unremitted care through a dangerous fever, in which his life was despaired of:—this Epistle shows his gratitude both to the Physician and the Science of Medicine.
From many a point the inconstant weather blows,
From many a source the Muse's current flows;
To regal chambers oft from sheds of straw
Penurious pencils panegyrics draw;
Envy and Pride inspire censorious lays,
And Vanity steps forth to catch the bays:
Not so my Muse, that rather would unhinge
Each darling line, than boast, or stab, or cringe.
Where merit dwells let panegyric fire!
And there, oh Phœbus! there alone inspire!
For such the praise I love, and such the line,
And heart-felt verse, that truth shall call divine.
Preserver of my life! receive the song,
To thee my first glad notes of health belong.
From many a source the Muse's current flows;
To regal chambers oft from sheds of straw
Penurious pencils panegyrics draw;
Envy and Pride inspire censorious lays,
And Vanity steps forth to catch the bays:
Not so my Muse, that rather would unhinge
Each darling line, than boast, or stab, or cringe.
68
And there, oh Phœbus! there alone inspire!
For such the praise I love, and such the line,
And heart-felt verse, that truth shall call divine.
Preserver of my life! receive the song,
To thee my first glad notes of health belong.
And come bright Goddess! come resplendent Health!
To own whose power bend fame, and life, and wealth,
Who at thy S---'s call obedient flew,
And through my frame the vital spark renew,
Unlock the springs from which thy currents flow,
Let Sydenhams live on Britain's isle to show
That dawning Medicine broke o'er Greece, but shone
Meridian bright on British shores alone.
So studious sires to sons their lore display,
Whose stronger genius beams with brighter ray.
The man whom Science and whom Practice sway
Commands disease, diseases all obey:
He chases sickness, he relieves all fears,
And leads fair Health wherever he appears.
Happy! whom Heaven shall partial thus endow!
Such once was Sydenham, such our S--- is now.
To own whose power bend fame, and life, and wealth,
Who at thy S---'s call obedient flew,
And through my frame the vital spark renew,
Unlock the springs from which thy currents flow,
Let Sydenhams live on Britain's isle to show
That dawning Medicine broke o'er Greece, but shone
Meridian bright on British shores alone.
So studious sires to sons their lore display,
Whose stronger genius beams with brighter ray.
The man whom Science and whom Practice sway
Commands disease, diseases all obey:
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And leads fair Health wherever he appears.
Happy! whom Heaven shall partial thus endow!
Such once was Sydenham, such our S--- is now.
As different ills a different treatment claim,
So different climes may well reject the same:
As pole from pole, as east from west retires,
Each varying clime a varying care requires.
So Nature spoke, so Wisdom justly taught,
So Health directed, and so Sydenham thought:
This tropic isle demands a partial care,
And thou wert born to be Life's guardian here.
Friend to mankind! be still the friend thou art,
Nor quit a stage where glorious is thy part;
Still lend thy hand to catch departing worth,
And strive to save it e'er it fly from earth:
Haply! the vile (if such to life you give)
From frowning Death may have been taught to live:
Continue then to spin the vital thread,
Till Fate cry “come,” and every hope be fled.
So different climes may well reject the same:
As pole from pole, as east from west retires,
Each varying clime a varying care requires.
So Nature spoke, so Wisdom justly taught,
So Health directed, and so Sydenham thought:
This tropic isle demands a partial care,
And thou wert born to be Life's guardian here.
Friend to mankind! be still the friend thou art,
Nor quit a stage where glorious is thy part;
Still lend thy hand to catch departing worth,
And strive to save it e'er it fly from earth:
Haply! the vile (if such to life you give)
From frowning Death may have been taught to live:
70
Till Fate cry “come,” and every hope be fled.
It seems as if, when Death was born of Sin,
And suffered here his carnage to begin,
It seems as if, beside the general lot
Doomed to mankind, that end by most forgot,
That end which drooping age around displays,
Encircling all till every frame decays;
It seems as if commission were bestowed,
On hungry Death by an enraged God,
To search mankind, to roam the earth around,
And where that daring mortal should be found,
Who, listless of the law that he ordains,
Should dare for pleasures to encounter pains,
To aim his dart without the previous nod,
And hurl him thoughtless to his last abode;
To stamp disease upon his infant race,
Parental monument of foul disgrace!
The healthless trunk inoculates the bud,
And Death regales on inoffensive blood.
But how was mercy pierced and justice cloyed,
When Death a thousand heedless youth destroyed!
And guiltless infants through a guilty stock,
Unconscious, met the inevitable rock,
Who had they lived till Wisdom led the way,
Had given some spirit to this world of clay!
Young Indiscretion blasted Manhood's worth,
And Death stood by to hurl it from the earth:
Heaven saw and sorrowed, and, with mercy fraught,
Bade genius rise, and Medicine was taught.—
The healing plant is culled from Nature's lap,
Whence the dried trunk receives recruited sap;
The stream of life, when boiling through each vein,
Drawn from its circle, learns to cool again;
Adapted means ingenious quest reward,
And Life encompass with an ample guard.
Death, thus opposed, by man is vanquished still,
Till interposing Fate elude all skill:
All, all must pass the dread involving wave,
And S--- himself must fail the power to save.
And suffered here his carnage to begin,
It seems as if, beside the general lot
Doomed to mankind, that end by most forgot,
That end which drooping age around displays,
Encircling all till every frame decays;
It seems as if commission were bestowed,
On hungry Death by an enraged God,
To search mankind, to roam the earth around,
And where that daring mortal should be found,
Who, listless of the law that he ordains,
Should dare for pleasures to encounter pains,
To aim his dart without the previous nod,
And hurl him thoughtless to his last abode;
To stamp disease upon his infant race,
Parental monument of foul disgrace!
71
And Death regales on inoffensive blood.
But how was mercy pierced and justice cloyed,
When Death a thousand heedless youth destroyed!
And guiltless infants through a guilty stock,
Unconscious, met the inevitable rock,
Who had they lived till Wisdom led the way,
Had given some spirit to this world of clay!
Young Indiscretion blasted Manhood's worth,
And Death stood by to hurl it from the earth:
Heaven saw and sorrowed, and, with mercy fraught,
Bade genius rise, and Medicine was taught.—
The healing plant is culled from Nature's lap,
Whence the dried trunk receives recruited sap;
The stream of life, when boiling through each vein,
Drawn from its circle, learns to cool again;
Adapted means ingenious quest reward,
And Life encompass with an ample guard.
72
Till interposing Fate elude all skill:
All, all must pass the dread involving wave,
And S--- himself must fail the power to save.
| The miscellaneous works (1813) | |