Infancy, or the management of children a didactic poem, in six books. The sixth edition. To which are added poems not before published. By Hugh Downman |
 |
|
| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. | BOOK V. |
| VI. |
|
 | Infancy, or the management of children |  |
119
BOOK V.
120
ARGUMENT.
Address to Dr. Monro and Dr. Hunter.—Death of Hewson lamented.—Dr. Black.—Subject of the book, exercise.— Previous remarks on the human frame.—Obscurity of its laws and actions.—Early tendency to locomotion to be indulged. —Sleep to be procured by constant exercise.—The cradle never to be employed.—Child not to be assisted too much in his efforts.—Benefits of exercise.—Curiosity not to be check'd.—Advantages to the body, and the formation of the mind.—Weakly, and deformed children, gain strength, and recover the misfortune, by exercise.—The Country the best place for the education of children.—Neither cold nor heat to be shunned.—All the less cultivated nations escape many diseases, particularly nervous ones, by exercise, open air, and bathing.—Daughters not to be restrained from exercise proper for them.—Bad effects of too much labour, as well as of idleness.—Origin of exercise. A supposed fragment from Hesiod.
121
To thee Monro! whose industry and skill
The muse can witness, tracing every nerve,
Each tube arterial, vein, and filament,
With the perspicuous steel illustrating
The frame of man; nor less with vivid force
Of happy diction, to the observant ear
Teaching that physiology on truth
And reason founded, which beholds design
And matchless order on the different parts
Impress their functions, and pervade the whole,
From final causes rising to the prime,
The All-wise, All-perfect: and rejecting far
From physic, from anatomy, the doubts
Of Pyrrho's followers, and the assertions lewd
Of shallow atheists; while in thee survives
Thy father's spirit, who the school upraised,
With sapient Rutherford combined, and graced
The chair, his son with equal lustre fills.
These strains, Monro! I consecrate to thee,
To thee, and Hunter, rivals tho you are
Yet in my heart, my verse, shall you be join'd,
Both dear to science, to your country dear,
Deserving public fame, and private love.
The muse can witness, tracing every nerve,
Each tube arterial, vein, and filament,
With the perspicuous steel illustrating
The frame of man; nor less with vivid force
Of happy diction, to the observant ear
Teaching that physiology on truth
And reason founded, which beholds design
And matchless order on the different parts
Impress their functions, and pervade the whole,
From final causes rising to the prime,
The All-wise, All-perfect: and rejecting far
From physic, from anatomy, the doubts
Of Pyrrho's followers, and the assertions lewd
Of shallow atheists; while in thee survives
Thy father's spirit, who the school upraised,
With sapient Rutherford combined, and graced
122
These strains, Monro! I consecrate to thee,
To thee, and Hunter, rivals tho you are
Yet in my heart, my verse, shall you be join'd,
Both dear to science, to your country dear,
Deserving public fame, and private love.
Shall Hewson sink untimely to the grave,
And I the note refuse? refuse to paint
His gentle manners, amiably humane,
Winning with ease their unobtrusive way
Into the breast, where friendship and esteem
With warm embrace received them? Or his soul
Inquisitive, and ardent to detect
Nature, howe'er conceal'd beneath a cloud
Obscure, and to the search of common eyes
Impenetrable? Shall I not lament
His talents render'd useless? And the bloom
Of genius wither'd in its vernal morn.
And I the note refuse? refuse to paint
His gentle manners, amiably humane,
Winning with ease their unobtrusive way
Into the breast, where friendship and esteem
With warm embrace received them? Or his soul
Inquisitive, and ardent to detect
Nature, howe'er conceal'd beneath a cloud
Obscure, and to the search of common eyes
Impenetrable? Shall I not lament
His talents render'd useless? And the bloom
Of genius wither'd in its vernal morn.
When gratitude inspires the strain, shall Black
Remain unsung? Who first the path essay'd
Which since by many a bold adventurer trod,
Hath open'd sources unexplored? disclosed
Subtiler essences; to new pursuits
Awaken'd chemic art? and loosed the bonds
Of its establish'd empire? No; while praise
He covets not, and shrinks from due applause,
The muse shall not in silence pretermit
His lucid facts, and philosophic toil.
Remain unsung? Who first the path essay'd
Which since by many a bold adventurer trod,
123
Subtiler essences; to new pursuits
Awaken'd chemic art? and loosed the bonds
Of its establish'd empire? No; while praise
He covets not, and shrinks from due applause,
The muse shall not in silence pretermit
His lucid facts, and philosophic toil.
Tho foremost in the ranks of being, stand
The men, who active in the cause of truth,
Divine, or moral, or to human life
Subservient, with unceasing labour ply
Their task severe; to free the embodied mind,
And it's ideas raise above the ken
Of dull mortality; by useful arts
Invented, or improved, to subjugate,
And undeceive reluctant error, bring
To the true test of just experiment
Her specious visions, and elucidate
Her dark perplexities; yet is not He
Among the lowest, who their precepts strives
More widely to disseminate, arrange
In varied order their materials, place
Objects the same in different points of view,
Or cloath'd in fresher garb, attention win
By seeming novelty. Nor shall the bard
Howe'er condemn'd by folly, to the rank
Which petulance assigns him deign to stoop
His crest indignant, while he feels within
That living zeal, which, by occasion fired,
Would prompt his soul to dare celestial themes;
Inforce the rules of action which connect
Each social bond; or each ingenious mode
Of art unveil, whence profit or delight
Arise; and captivate with thrillings sweet
Of unluxurious pleasure the nice ear
Of sensibility: With thoughts select,
On which no vulgar images intrude,
The affections and the passions mingling bland.
The men, who active in the cause of truth,
Divine, or moral, or to human life
Subservient, with unceasing labour ply
Their task severe; to free the embodied mind,
And it's ideas raise above the ken
Of dull mortality; by useful arts
Invented, or improved, to subjugate,
And undeceive reluctant error, bring
To the true test of just experiment
Her specious visions, and elucidate
Her dark perplexities; yet is not He
Among the lowest, who their precepts strives
More widely to disseminate, arrange
In varied order their materials, place
124
Or cloath'd in fresher garb, attention win
By seeming novelty. Nor shall the bard
Howe'er condemn'd by folly, to the rank
Which petulance assigns him deign to stoop
His crest indignant, while he feels within
That living zeal, which, by occasion fired,
Would prompt his soul to dare celestial themes;
Inforce the rules of action which connect
Each social bond; or each ingenious mode
Of art unveil, whence profit or delight
Arise; and captivate with thrillings sweet
Of unluxurious pleasure the nice ear
Of sensibility: With thoughts select,
On which no vulgar images intrude,
The affections and the passions mingling bland.
Ere in our lays instructive, we proceed,
And dedicate the verse to exercise,
'Twere fit to search with deep attentive care
The human fabric, its component parts
And nature to determine, were it given
To poet or philosopher to treat
A subject so mysterious unreproved.
And dedicate the verse to exercise,
'Twere fit to search with deep attentive care
The human fabric, its component parts
And nature to determine, were it given
125
A subject so mysterious unreproved.
Much hath anatomy distinguish'd, much
Remains unknown; the rudiments of life
Who ever shall explore? Where dwells the power
Inherent, or acquired, which first expands
The comprehensive germ? Which moulds, propells,
And inorganic fluid can convert
To animated fibre? In the brain
Does it reside? Or in the central heart?
Or do they both their energy combine?
Is it subtile, elastic, and derived
From that ethereal essence which perchance
All space informs, and every substance fills?
Or is it from the blood by wondrous means
Secreted, render'd volatile, sublimed,
A pure, peculiar spirit? From his state
Of vegetable torpor when released,
Whate'er it be, by this the infant lives,
By this he moves; by this the absorbents bear
Their nurture from the stomach to the veins,
The wasted blood's supply, whose finer parts
Perpetually exhale; this gives the lungs
To play, which from the circumambient air
Its vital principle inspire, and yield
The effete mephitic vapour back again.
This stimulates the heart, and by the heart
And irritated fibres is in turn
Excited, quicken'd, strengthen'd: This extends
The solids, and enlarges, hasting on
The circulating stream. This generates,
Or is of living heat the copious fount,
Active while it exists, without it's aid
Soon changed to deadly cold. By this, the nerves
Of every various sense with speed convey
Each impulse to the brain, infixing there
The indelible ideas, there arranged,
Connected, modified, they haply form
Or seem at least to form the soul itself,
Immortal, immaterial: Hence the stores
Of wisdom are establish'd; hence the flash
Of wit bursts forth; and hence with keenest glance
Imagination darts her eye throughout
This mundane space, pierces beyond its bounds,
And worlds creates, and beings all her own.
Remains unknown; the rudiments of life
Who ever shall explore? Where dwells the power
Inherent, or acquired, which first expands
The comprehensive germ? Which moulds, propells,
And inorganic fluid can convert
To animated fibre? In the brain
Does it reside? Or in the central heart?
Or do they both their energy combine?
Is it subtile, elastic, and derived
From that ethereal essence which perchance
All space informs, and every substance fills?
Or is it from the blood by wondrous means
Secreted, render'd volatile, sublimed,
A pure, peculiar spirit? From his state
Of vegetable torpor when released,
Whate'er it be, by this the infant lives,
By this he moves; by this the absorbents bear
Their nurture from the stomach to the veins,
The wasted blood's supply, whose finer parts
126
To play, which from the circumambient air
Its vital principle inspire, and yield
The effete mephitic vapour back again.
This stimulates the heart, and by the heart
And irritated fibres is in turn
Excited, quicken'd, strengthen'd: This extends
The solids, and enlarges, hasting on
The circulating stream. This generates,
Or is of living heat the copious fount,
Active while it exists, without it's aid
Soon changed to deadly cold. By this, the nerves
Of every various sense with speed convey
Each impulse to the brain, infixing there
The indelible ideas, there arranged,
Connected, modified, they haply form
Or seem at least to form the soul itself,
Immortal, immaterial: Hence the stores
Of wisdom are establish'd; hence the flash
Of wit bursts forth; and hence with keenest glance
Imagination darts her eye throughout
This mundane space, pierces beyond its bounds,
And worlds creates, and beings all her own.
127
Is it of Heavenly origin? A ray,
A portion of divinity, this power
Miraculously working? Guided sure
By other springs it acts than those of chance;
For what is chance but a chimæra framed
From non-existence by the breath of fools?
We see the deeds of highest intellect,
The finger of a God. Profound we bend
In adoration, and though all his ways
We know not, though implicit darkness hang
Over this universe immense, confess
That nothing short of Deity, could e'er
Conceive, or raise the edifice of man.
A portion of divinity, this power
Miraculously working? Guided sure
By other springs it acts than those of chance;
For what is chance but a chimæra framed
From non-existence by the breath of fools?
We see the deeds of highest intellect,
The finger of a God. Profound we bend
In adoration, and though all his ways
We know not, though implicit darkness hang
Over this universe immense, confess
That nothing short of Deity, could e'er
Conceive, or raise the edifice of man.
Yet, while the mystic elements of things
Are undiscover'd still, while hidden lye
The interior agents; while to man himself
Man is a being which his utmost pains
Have fail'd to analyse; while tho we view,
Or think we view the circling chain of life
Depending link on link, in many a part
Chasms intervene, unfill'd but by the touch
Of vague conjecture, or of fancy wild:
The power of observation is not given
In vain; nor handed down from age to age
Facts by experience sanctified; nor shines
Fruitless the torch of clear analogy.
Or superseding all, the purest light
The steadiest, nature yields; unerring beams
Which point the way to truth, while reason smiles,
And judgment walks secure. O Nature! thee,
Goddess benign! when first this theme I chose
In early youth, with aspiration warm
I call'd; thee vow'd to follow; unrepell'd
By art's fastidious brow, or system's frown,
Unwarp'd by theory's delusive voice.
For thou alone the faithful monitor
Art placed within; thy motions, if observed,
Forever point to good. Nor will I now
Desert thee, or retract what then I swore.
For not from thee we only learn to raise
The frame corporeal to its destined pitch
Of health and strength; to ward with certain shield
The darts of sickness; or if rushing on,
Disease o'erwhelm us with impetuous might,
To catch the rapid moment, and at once
Expell the foe, or waste his violence
By due protraction, till he quit the field:
But, if by tyrant habit unenslaved,
If unimpair'd by affectation vile,
And imitative manners swimming down
The stream of head-long custom; thine is all
The mental glory: virtue, taste, design
Unborrow'd, glowing thoughts, expression strong,
The full emphatic eloquence of prose,
The liquid flow of melody, the burst
Of torrent rapture, and each foaming wave
Which swells the boundless tide of verse sublime.
Are undiscover'd still, while hidden lye
The interior agents; while to man himself
Man is a being which his utmost pains
Have fail'd to analyse; while tho we view,
Or think we view the circling chain of life
Depending link on link, in many a part
Chasms intervene, unfill'd but by the touch
Of vague conjecture, or of fancy wild:
128
In vain; nor handed down from age to age
Facts by experience sanctified; nor shines
Fruitless the torch of clear analogy.
Or superseding all, the purest light
The steadiest, nature yields; unerring beams
Which point the way to truth, while reason smiles,
And judgment walks secure. O Nature! thee,
Goddess benign! when first this theme I chose
In early youth, with aspiration warm
I call'd; thee vow'd to follow; unrepell'd
By art's fastidious brow, or system's frown,
Unwarp'd by theory's delusive voice.
For thou alone the faithful monitor
Art placed within; thy motions, if observed,
Forever point to good. Nor will I now
Desert thee, or retract what then I swore.
For not from thee we only learn to raise
The frame corporeal to its destined pitch
Of health and strength; to ward with certain shield
The darts of sickness; or if rushing on,
Disease o'erwhelm us with impetuous might,
To catch the rapid moment, and at once
129
By due protraction, till he quit the field:
But, if by tyrant habit unenslaved,
If unimpair'd by affectation vile,
And imitative manners swimming down
The stream of head-long custom; thine is all
The mental glory: virtue, taste, design
Unborrow'd, glowing thoughts, expression strong,
The full emphatic eloquence of prose,
The liquid flow of melody, the burst
Of torrent rapture, and each foaming wave
Which swells the boundless tide of verse sublime.
To nature then, with me, O Parent Mind!
Stoop lowly; and observe her impulse, rouse
From his first slumbrous state awaked, thy child.
How soon, tho active vigour be denied,
His arms, his feet, the tendency display
To loco-motion, and his roving eye
Darting swift glances; pleased that nought around
Should be at rest, nor pleased with rest himself.
Stoop lowly; and observe her impulse, rouse
From his first slumbrous state awaked, thy child.
How soon, tho active vigour be denied,
His arms, his feet, the tendency display
To loco-motion, and his roving eye
Darting swift glances; pleased that nought around
Should be at rest, nor pleased with rest himself.
130
Indulging this propensity, to all
His free unfetter'd limbs allow their quick
And yet unsteady efforts; let him gain
From his attendant, what he seems to ask,
Perpetual exercise; tho not at first
To agitation violent exposed,
Or tost in playful wantonness on high,
But gradually proceeding. Treated thus,
Kept in unceasing action while awake,
He will not need the cradle's most absurd
Pernicious motion, which the giddy brain
Confuses, and benumbs; on him shall steal
A softer, sweeter, more refreshing sleep.
Nor blame the muse, whose iterated strains,
Neglecting slavish art, its use forbid:
Wishing the invention with deserved contempt
Exiled forever; with the untoward swing,
The go-cart, and the leader, be it doom'd
To blank oblivion; or preserv'd with them
Only in some museum's nitch devote,
Teach future times, from past examples wise,
More ardently to follow nature's paths,
Her simpleness to venerate, and own
Her all-sufficient dictates. Let thy child
Enjoy his balmy slumber uncompell'd,
Or by himself alone acquired, from due
Instinctive exercise: And let him learn,
Untaught by others, his allotted task,
To creep, to stand, to walk; and let him know
Full early no assistance will be lent
In ought which by his proper strength and skill
He can accomplish. So shall strength and skill
Hourly increase; so he by days and months
The puny infant shall excell, deprived
By doating fondness of his native powers;
Or to the care of laziness assign'd,
Who suffers him with tottering step to drag
Incumbent, while the faithful eye alone
Should watch, or ready hand with gentlest touch
Uphold. Nor think (an argument of yore
For binding every limb) his tender form
Will from his own exertions e'er receive
Substantial injury; a posture wrong
Uneasiness will prompt him to correct:
Nor will his feebleness permit the force
Inducing harm, so strictly to his weight
Proportion'd: and how soon, uncheck'd by art,
Inherent sense, will threatened danger shun,
Is wondrous. Vanquish then ideal fears;
And on the matt, or carpet let him sport,
And feel his growing vigour; or entice
To their extremest verge his infant sight
With becks, and smiles, and captivating toys.
His free unfetter'd limbs allow their quick
And yet unsteady efforts; let him gain
From his attendant, what he seems to ask,
Perpetual exercise; tho not at first
To agitation violent exposed,
Or tost in playful wantonness on high,
But gradually proceeding. Treated thus,
Kept in unceasing action while awake,
He will not need the cradle's most absurd
Pernicious motion, which the giddy brain
Confuses, and benumbs; on him shall steal
A softer, sweeter, more refreshing sleep.
Nor blame the muse, whose iterated strains,
Neglecting slavish art, its use forbid:
Wishing the invention with deserved contempt
Exiled forever; with the untoward swing,
The go-cart, and the leader, be it doom'd
To blank oblivion; or preserv'd with them
Only in some museum's nitch devote,
Teach future times, from past examples wise,
More ardently to follow nature's paths,
Her simpleness to venerate, and own
131
Enjoy his balmy slumber uncompell'd,
Or by himself alone acquired, from due
Instinctive exercise: And let him learn,
Untaught by others, his allotted task,
To creep, to stand, to walk; and let him know
Full early no assistance will be lent
In ought which by his proper strength and skill
He can accomplish. So shall strength and skill
Hourly increase; so he by days and months
The puny infant shall excell, deprived
By doating fondness of his native powers;
Or to the care of laziness assign'd,
Who suffers him with tottering step to drag
Incumbent, while the faithful eye alone
Should watch, or ready hand with gentlest touch
Uphold. Nor think (an argument of yore
For binding every limb) his tender form
Will from his own exertions e'er receive
Substantial injury; a posture wrong
Uneasiness will prompt him to correct:
Nor will his feebleness permit the force
Inducing harm, so strictly to his weight
132
Inherent sense, will threatened danger shun,
Is wondrous. Vanquish then ideal fears;
And on the matt, or carpet let him sport,
And feel his growing vigour; or entice
To their extremest verge his infant sight
With becks, and smiles, and captivating toys.
For ends most wise, and most important, flows
Redundantly profuse within thy child
This active principle. By exercise
The quicken'd pulse and stimulated heart
More truly shape each fibre, give to each
Their tension, and elastic spring; urge on
In swift and properly successive waves
The crimson fluid, and from thence secern
The different humours, healthy, bland and pure.
While thro their various channels are detach'd
The recremental dregs, of acrid kind,
Or fraught with particles to human life
Destructive. Exercise supports the flame
Of life itself, that steady heat, which glows,
And with peculiar fixedness, resists
External cold: Nor, in the torrid zone,
Where Phœbus' beams direct his fiercest ray,
Is by the scorching atmosphere increased
To morbid violence. By exercise,
The stomach unopprest, digests, concocts,
Assimilates, the generous chyle prepares,
And feels again the necessary goad
Of keenest appetite. That balance nice
With which health corresponds, of part to part,
Of muscles to their due antagonists,
Fluids to solids, to themselves, the just
Mixture, proportion, influence, strength of all;
Even the invisible ethereal stream,
As vigorous, or weak, condensed, or rare,
Sensation, passion, intellect, nay more,
Virtue, and vice, on exercise depend.
Redundantly profuse within thy child
This active principle. By exercise
The quicken'd pulse and stimulated heart
More truly shape each fibre, give to each
Their tension, and elastic spring; urge on
In swift and properly successive waves
The crimson fluid, and from thence secern
The different humours, healthy, bland and pure.
While thro their various channels are detach'd
The recremental dregs, of acrid kind,
Or fraught with particles to human life
Destructive. Exercise supports the flame
Of life itself, that steady heat, which glows,
And with peculiar fixedness, resists
133
Where Phœbus' beams direct his fiercest ray,
Is by the scorching atmosphere increased
To morbid violence. By exercise,
The stomach unopprest, digests, concocts,
Assimilates, the generous chyle prepares,
And feels again the necessary goad
Of keenest appetite. That balance nice
With which health corresponds, of part to part,
Of muscles to their due antagonists,
Fluids to solids, to themselves, the just
Mixture, proportion, influence, strength of all;
Even the invisible ethereal stream,
As vigorous, or weak, condensed, or rare,
Sensation, passion, intellect, nay more,
Virtue, and vice, on exercise depend.
Know its advantage then; nor judge thy child
With this profusion of activity
Endow'd in vain. For nature rules within,
Sage tutoress, and he now will soon acquire
By her instinctive precepts more than years
Of labouring education can impart,
So she be not in froward mood opposed,
Or not unseconded by thee. Behold,
And aid her movements, let him see and smell,
Hear, taste, and touch all objects at his will.
So the deceptive senses shall be fix'd;
So early repetition shall bestow
That just discrimination, that acute
Perceptive swiftness, which in future life
Seems instantaneous and intuitive,
Innate, and unpossest by second means.
With this profusion of activity
Endow'd in vain. For nature rules within,
Sage tutoress, and he now will soon acquire
By her instinctive precepts more than years
Of labouring education can impart,
134
Or not unseconded by thee. Behold,
And aid her movements, let him see and smell,
Hear, taste, and touch all objects at his will.
So the deceptive senses shall be fix'd;
So early repetition shall bestow
That just discrimination, that acute
Perceptive swiftness, which in future life
Seems instantaneous and intuitive,
Innate, and unpossest by second means.
Nor as with limbs more firm he treads, impede
His restless ardour, his inquisitive
And eager curiosity, which learns,
Approaching nigh, the varied form of things,
Their distance, situation, what resists,
Or yields, the innocuous, and replete with harm.
Excite, impell him forward; and when mind
Now beams apparent, and the flexile tongue,
By imitation, and habitual use,
Can utter sounds articulate, the names
Of every object teach him to repeat;
Add daily to his store of images
Simple, and unabstracted; let him walk
Or run the verdant fields and lawns along,
Nor thou disdain to attend him, and point out
As giddy apprehension can receive,
Or roving fancy lists, each herb, and tree,
Mountain, and stream, and mineral, the birds
Which skim the liquid air, or from the brake
Pour their sweet voices, herds, and bleating flocks,
Insects on wing, or on the lowly ground.
With him the nimble grashopper pursue,
And chace the gaudy butterfly; or strive
To catch the variegated bow which plants
Its base on earth, now near, but soon removed
To distant hills; or bid him mark the sun
Refulgent shining; or the clouds diverse;
At eve, the silver moon, crescent, or full;
And every star whose radiance decks the sky.
His restless ardour, his inquisitive
And eager curiosity, which learns,
Approaching nigh, the varied form of things,
Their distance, situation, what resists,
Or yields, the innocuous, and replete with harm.
Excite, impell him forward; and when mind
Now beams apparent, and the flexile tongue,
By imitation, and habitual use,
Can utter sounds articulate, the names
Of every object teach him to repeat;
Add daily to his store of images
135
Or run the verdant fields and lawns along,
Nor thou disdain to attend him, and point out
As giddy apprehension can receive,
Or roving fancy lists, each herb, and tree,
Mountain, and stream, and mineral, the birds
Which skim the liquid air, or from the brake
Pour their sweet voices, herds, and bleating flocks,
Insects on wing, or on the lowly ground.
With him the nimble grashopper pursue,
And chace the gaudy butterfly; or strive
To catch the variegated bow which plants
Its base on earth, now near, but soon removed
To distant hills; or bid him mark the sun
Refulgent shining; or the clouds diverse;
At eve, the silver moon, crescent, or full;
And every star whose radiance decks the sky.
Thus shalt thou see with pleasure on his cheek
Health's genial hue, his limbs proportion'd just,
And beauteous, as of yore the little loves
In Paphos, and Idalia, or as still
Warm from Albano's magic touch they breathe;
Sportive as Zephyr, agile as the son
Of Maia, when his infant hand deceived
Apollo's piercing sight, and stole his lyre.
Health's genial hue, his limbs proportion'd just,
And beauteous, as of yore the little loves
In Paphos, and Idalia, or as still
Warm from Albano's magic touch they breathe;
136
Of Maia, when his infant hand deceived
Apollo's piercing sight, and stole his lyre.
Thus reason's structure shalt thou help to form,
Laying the sure foundation, and avoid
Their error, who the memory haply load
With numerous words, and think their child endow'd
With parts prodigious, should he get by rote
Sonorous trifles, useless, and to him
Incomprehensible; debarr'd meanwhile
From action, which invigorates the frame,
And every curious sense directs to things,
Momentous, and substantial, understood
At once, or by spontaneous efforts stamp'd
On the sensorium, ne'er to be erased.
Laying the sure foundation, and avoid
Their error, who the memory haply load
With numerous words, and think their child endow'd
With parts prodigious, should he get by rote
Sonorous trifles, useless, and to him
Incomprehensible; debarr'd meanwhile
From action, which invigorates the frame,
And every curious sense directs to things,
Momentous, and substantial, understood
At once, or by spontaneous efforts stamp'd
On the sensorium, ne'er to be erased.
Reject their error. Nor should strength of nerve
To thy ill-fortuned offspring be denied,
Should e'en his limbs more tardily perform
Their office, and distortedly relax'd,
Trembling sustain their burthen; heed the voice
Of prejudice, or foolish tenderness,
Which, nature's power unknown, would recommend
Forbearance, and each slight exertion dread.
Rather endeavour by repeated use
To brace the fibres; exercise can string
The slacken'd muscles, which their native tone
Shall reassume, and conquer by degrees
Hated deformity. Nor, should a cause
Obscure, and singular, as such may be,
Withhold him from the assiduous playfulness
Which health and nature love; indulge the inert
And heavy disposition; chide, invite,
Force him to move; lest sullen apathy,
And stupor, the phlegmatic habit's curse,
To their devoted victim cling thro life.
To thy ill-fortuned offspring be denied,
Should e'en his limbs more tardily perform
Their office, and distortedly relax'd,
Trembling sustain their burthen; heed the voice
Of prejudice, or foolish tenderness,
137
Forbearance, and each slight exertion dread.
Rather endeavour by repeated use
To brace the fibres; exercise can string
The slacken'd muscles, which their native tone
Shall reassume, and conquer by degrees
Hated deformity. Nor, should a cause
Obscure, and singular, as such may be,
Withhold him from the assiduous playfulness
Which health and nature love; indulge the inert
And heavy disposition; chide, invite,
Force him to move; lest sullen apathy,
And stupor, the phlegmatic habit's curse,
To their devoted victim cling thro life.
Without design, the lawns, and verdant fields,
We introduced not; mid the rural haunts
Was placed the tender nurseling; and from thence
If possible, for many a rolling year
Let nothing tempt thee with thy charge to seek
The baneful town. The country boasts alone
Untainted gales; the joys, and frolic sports
Here revel; temperance here awhile defies
Encroaching luxury, and beneath it's shades
Primeval, lingers innocence of soul,
And cherub-wing'd simplicity. Here dwells
The unvitiated muse, and thro the glade,
By Alphin's willow'd margin, or beneath
His lofty elms, or mid his apple groves
Thick blossoming, tunes the elegiac strain,
Or meditates, as now, the instructive lay:
Escaped from slavery, from the din of fools,
From envy, and deceit, the treacherous crew,
Who worse than fever or the pestilence
Infect the city's mansions; here intent
To meet Hygeia, and with her invert
The garden mould, copartner of her toil,
Or raise the drooping flower, or from the tree
Prune its luxuriant branches; or ascend
With her the swelling hill, or urge the steed
Across the neighbouring down, or fledge the hook,
And tempt the unwary native of the stream.
Oh! thou propitious power! tho long exiled,
The muse hath met thee here! Whence easier spring
The ideas from their secret source, around
Fancy once more her fairy visions spreads,
Light is the destined task, melodious airs
Inspire the bowers, and softer numbers breathe.
We introduced not; mid the rural haunts
Was placed the tender nurseling; and from thence
If possible, for many a rolling year
Let nothing tempt thee with thy charge to seek
The baneful town. The country boasts alone
Untainted gales; the joys, and frolic sports
Here revel; temperance here awhile defies
138
Primeval, lingers innocence of soul,
And cherub-wing'd simplicity. Here dwells
The unvitiated muse, and thro the glade,
By Alphin's willow'd margin, or beneath
His lofty elms, or mid his apple groves
Thick blossoming, tunes the elegiac strain,
Or meditates, as now, the instructive lay:
Escaped from slavery, from the din of fools,
From envy, and deceit, the treacherous crew,
Who worse than fever or the pestilence
Infect the city's mansions; here intent
To meet Hygeia, and with her invert
The garden mould, copartner of her toil,
Or raise the drooping flower, or from the tree
Prune its luxuriant branches; or ascend
With her the swelling hill, or urge the steed
Across the neighbouring down, or fledge the hook,
And tempt the unwary native of the stream.
Oh! thou propitious power! tho long exiled,
The muse hath met thee here! Whence easier spring
The ideas from their secret source, around
Fancy once more her fairy visions spreads,
139
Inspire the bowers, and softer numbers breathe.
If Sickness enter not the rural dells,
Or vanquish'd by the purer atmosphere
Give place to redient health; consider well
What desperate ills thy children may elude
Here educated, in whose veins yet flows
Unsullied ichor, by the steams which rise,
Mortal, and gross, in the throng'd city's bounds
Unchanged. Nor regulate with anxious zeal
Their pastimes and excursions, let them bend,
As tutor'd from within, each pliant limb,
Each mode of varied exercise essay,
Enjoy their animation, and the sting
Of innate sprightliness. Nor let them shun,
Accustomed thus, the summer's noonday heat,
Or winter's freezing sky. The inhabitants
Of every region are by nature apt
Its warmth, or cold to bear, its shifting winds,
And quick vicissitudes: in frigid climes
Still more alert, and stimulated more
To necessary action. Oh! forewarn'd,
Thy children in the stifling dome, howe'er
Grateful to thee, include not; and misled
By phantoms of imaginary harm,
Superfluous vestments, tho defensive deem'd,
Wrap not around them. So their vital powers
To danger unobnoxious, shall repell
All immature assaults; their nerves robust
Escape the morbid tenderness of thine,
Source of unnumber'd ailments; whence the mind
Itself at length unhinged, is timid, weak,
Irresolute, and to sensations doom'd,
Which tho they must exist, can scarce be borne.
Or vanquish'd by the purer atmosphere
Give place to redient health; consider well
What desperate ills thy children may elude
Here educated, in whose veins yet flows
Unsullied ichor, by the steams which rise,
Mortal, and gross, in the throng'd city's bounds
Unchanged. Nor regulate with anxious zeal
Their pastimes and excursions, let them bend,
As tutor'd from within, each pliant limb,
Each mode of varied exercise essay,
Enjoy their animation, and the sting
Of innate sprightliness. Nor let them shun,
Accustomed thus, the summer's noonday heat,
Or winter's freezing sky. The inhabitants
Of every region are by nature apt
Its warmth, or cold to bear, its shifting winds,
And quick vicissitudes: in frigid climes
Still more alert, and stimulated more
To necessary action. Oh! forewarn'd,
140
Grateful to thee, include not; and misled
By phantoms of imaginary harm,
Superfluous vestments, tho defensive deem'd,
Wrap not around them. So their vital powers
To danger unobnoxious, shall repell
All immature assaults; their nerves robust
Escape the morbid tenderness of thine,
Source of unnumber'd ailments; whence the mind
Itself at length unhinged, is timid, weak,
Irresolute, and to sensations doom'd,
Which tho they must exist, can scarce be borne.
Of polisht idleness which shrinks from toil,
And cautious trembles at the external blast,
This is the sad result. While all the tribes
Uncultivated, whether in the wilds
Canadian, or Brazilian, on the steep
Of Caucasus, in Africa, or Ind,
In the Malayan Isles, or those late seen
By him, illustrious chief whose timeless fate
Britannia mourns, and shall forever mourn,
Whate'er erroneous customs they possess,
Howe'er productive of peculiar ills,
From this at least are free, this languor wan,
These nervous horrors which o'erwhelm the soul:
But from activity, from open skies,
And the lustration of pellucid streams,
Unmoved, support each accident of life,
Cold, hunger, thirst, and pain; nay dauntless meet,
And cheerfully resign'd, the stroke of death.
And cautious trembles at the external blast,
This is the sad result. While all the tribes
Uncultivated, whether in the wilds
Canadian, or Brazilian, on the steep
Of Caucasus, in Africa, or Ind,
In the Malayan Isles, or those late seen
By him, illustrious chief whose timeless fate
Britannia mourns, and shall forever mourn,
Whate'er erroneous customs they possess,
141
From this at least are free, this languor wan,
These nervous horrors which o'erwhelm the soul:
But from activity, from open skies,
And the lustration of pellucid streams,
Unmoved, support each accident of life,
Cold, hunger, thirst, and pain; nay dauntless meet,
And cheerfully resign'd, the stroke of death.
Thus too of old upon Eurotas' banks,
Or in the martial field near Tiber's waves,
From hardy childhood, Lacedæmon saw,
And Rome majestic, those intrepid bands,
Which taught the sons of haughty Greece to stoop,
Or subjected the world. To labour train'd
From early years, thus, undebauch'd by courts,
And softening indolence, in glory's page
Enroll'd, and with her laurels deck'd, have shone
Princes, and heirs of empire. Thus, advanced
From Persia's borders, unrelax'd, and brave,
Cyrus, whom Babylonia's walls in vain
Resisted, and the myriads which obey'd
Lydia's enervate monarch, while his crown
He slavishly survived, and baser still
Survived his liberty. Thus, mid the rocks
Of Bearn, as lived the youthful peasant race,
From them unknown, but by his royal mien,
With feet unsandall'd, and uncover'd head,
Henry, the future pride of France, was raised
By kind maternal virtue. Hence he quell'd
Iberia's modern Geryon; hence, the league
That factious hydra gored with many a wound,
And finally subdued: hence, graced his throne;
And peace and plenty thro his realms diffused.
Or in the martial field near Tiber's waves,
From hardy childhood, Lacedæmon saw,
And Rome majestic, those intrepid bands,
Which taught the sons of haughty Greece to stoop,
Or subjected the world. To labour train'd
From early years, thus, undebauch'd by courts,
And softening indolence, in glory's page
Enroll'd, and with her laurels deck'd, have shone
Princes, and heirs of empire. Thus, advanced
From Persia's borders, unrelax'd, and brave,
Cyrus, whom Babylonia's walls in vain
Resisted, and the myriads which obey'd
Lydia's enervate monarch, while his crown
142
Survived his liberty. Thus, mid the rocks
Of Bearn, as lived the youthful peasant race,
From them unknown, but by his royal mien,
With feet unsandall'd, and uncover'd head,
Henry, the future pride of France, was raised
By kind maternal virtue. Hence he quell'd
Iberia's modern Geryon; hence, the league
That factious hydra gored with many a wound,
And finally subdued: hence, graced his throne;
And peace and plenty thro his realms diffused.
Let then the sturdy boy unlimited
Follow the bent of nature; nor too soon
Enslave thy daughter; let her limbs possess
Their utmost freedom to the extremest verge
Which custom will permit. The lengthen'd walk,
The more delightful ride, the mazy dance
Whose rapid evolutions ever please,
These, fashion, rigid decency allow,
Whate'er her age: and if each day pursued
In regular succession, will create
That mode of happy texture, which attracts
The lover's eye desiring; where the blood
Speaks in the mantling cheek, but unsuffused
With coarse and vulgar crimson; where the frame
Is healthy, not robust, and elegant,
Not delicately fragile. Purer minds,
And gentler manners fancy here beholds,
By peevishness untinctured, undisturb'd
By malice and suspicion; nor perchance
Views with illuded eye. For much the soul
Depends on her companion. Exercise
Too far impell'd, abnormous, and for years
Continued, renders dense the nervous tide,
Or to the seat of thought at length imparts
Ideot rigidity. The effects of age
Intemperate toil can prematurely bring
On the worn frame, and sad untimely death.
While idleness relaxing every nerve
The mobile fluid is deranged by strokes
Of slightest force, nor life is worth the name.
Follow the bent of nature; nor too soon
Enslave thy daughter; let her limbs possess
Their utmost freedom to the extremest verge
Which custom will permit. The lengthen'd walk,
The more delightful ride, the mazy dance
Whose rapid evolutions ever please,
These, fashion, rigid decency allow,
Whate'er her age: and if each day pursued
In regular succession, will create
That mode of happy texture, which attracts
143
Speaks in the mantling cheek, but unsuffused
With coarse and vulgar crimson; where the frame
Is healthy, not robust, and elegant,
Not delicately fragile. Purer minds,
And gentler manners fancy here beholds,
By peevishness untinctured, undisturb'd
By malice and suspicion; nor perchance
Views with illuded eye. For much the soul
Depends on her companion. Exercise
Too far impell'd, abnormous, and for years
Continued, renders dense the nervous tide,
Or to the seat of thought at length imparts
Ideot rigidity. The effects of age
Intemperate toil can prematurely bring
On the worn frame, and sad untimely death.
While idleness relaxing every nerve
The mobile fluid is deranged by strokes
Of slightest force, nor life is worth the name.
What then do we advise? At first intent
On the corporeal organs, nature strives
To unfold, to strengthen them; and calls in aid
Their own endeavours, restless, and untamed.
In her more simple state, by keen desire
Of food the loco-motive powers are roused;
The savage else inactively reclines
In his low shed, or underneath the palm,
Or spreading cedar, if not urged to war,
And its impetuous deeds, by hot revenge;
Superiour swiftness and superiour strength
His highest excellence, and only boast,
The soul neglected, and to him unknown
Its finer feelings, and extatic joys.
On the corporeal organs, nature strives
To unfold, to strengthen them; and calls in aid
144
In her more simple state, by keen desire
Of food the loco-motive powers are roused;
The savage else inactively reclines
In his low shed, or underneath the palm,
Or spreading cedar, if not urged to war,
And its impetuous deeds, by hot revenge;
Superiour swiftness and superiour strength
His highest excellence, and only boast,
The soul neglected, and to him unknown
Its finer feelings, and extatic joys.
But in those climes where polity hath smooth'd
Our innate roughness, where humanely taught,
By wholesome laws conjoin'd, by the intercourse
Of liberal manners, and the incircling chain
Of arts and commerce, there the faculties
Of nobler birth are prized; the general-weal
Defends each individual, who less heeds,
Or values strength, except as far as health
Asks his attention; nor the body sole,
But mind, while gather the successive years,
Parental notice claims. When this expands,
Controul too fervid action, regulate
Its wilder efforts. Social life requires
The head considerate, and the labouring hand,
Business and speculation, study deep,
And enterprise which laughs at danger's frown,
Tost on the stormy billows, or engaged
In fighting fields. Whate'er his lot, adapt
Thy child to vigorous deeds, or strenuous thought.
Let exercise and books with mutual sway
Divide his time well-govern'd. Who alone
Pursues the hare, the fox, and bounding stag,
Or pores unceasing on the mouldy page,
Equal contempt and blame deserves. Nor fail
If totally their charms engross the soul,
Acute philosophy, or e'en the muse
With all her softer beauties, to contract
The span of life, to fill that span minute
With languor, discontent, disease, and pain.
Our innate roughness, where humanely taught,
By wholesome laws conjoin'd, by the intercourse
Of liberal manners, and the incircling chain
Of arts and commerce, there the faculties
Of nobler birth are prized; the general-weal
Defends each individual, who less heeds,
Or values strength, except as far as health
Asks his attention; nor the body sole,
But mind, while gather the successive years,
Parental notice claims. When this expands,
145
Its wilder efforts. Social life requires
The head considerate, and the labouring hand,
Business and speculation, study deep,
And enterprise which laughs at danger's frown,
Tost on the stormy billows, or engaged
In fighting fields. Whate'er his lot, adapt
Thy child to vigorous deeds, or strenuous thought.
Let exercise and books with mutual sway
Divide his time well-govern'd. Who alone
Pursues the hare, the fox, and bounding stag,
Or pores unceasing on the mouldy page,
Equal contempt and blame deserves. Nor fail
If totally their charms engross the soul,
Acute philosophy, or e'en the muse
With all her softer beauties, to contract
The span of life, to fill that span minute
With languor, discontent, disease, and pain.
Ere We conclude, this added verse receive,
From Greece derived; for as of late immerst
In rapturous thought, memory its chiefs pourtray'd
Its sages, patriots, bards, Apollo's self
Appear'd, or in my day-dream seem'd to appear.
With him the car I press'd, which swiftly flew
O'er continents, and seas; not swifter rush'd
The trident-bearing God to Simois' plains,
When under his immortal feet the woods,
And thro their vast extent, the mountains shook.
We gain'd Bœotia, where arose the cliffs
Of Helicon, the impurpled lawn I trod,
And to its top beyond my feeble ken,
Ascended my conductor, where he join'd
The expectant choir, whose harmony methought
Far distant struck my ear. But on a bank
With lotus and with hyacinth o'erspread
Reclined the Ascræan poet, him I knew,
For by his side was placed the verdant branch
Of scepter'd laurel, which the muses erst
With their own hands bestow'd, and bade him sing
Their high descent, and all the ethereal race.
His sheep were scatter'd round, and many swains,
And many virgins with attentive ear
Imbibed his flowing numbers, with the throng
I mingled, and regretting that so late
My footsteps had arrived, for now his strains
Were well-nigh finish'd, and the sun declined
Toward ocean's bed, with deep respectful awe
Heard his last notes, while thus the master sung.
From Greece derived; for as of late immerst
In rapturous thought, memory its chiefs pourtray'd
Its sages, patriots, bards, Apollo's self
146
With him the car I press'd, which swiftly flew
O'er continents, and seas; not swifter rush'd
The trident-bearing God to Simois' plains,
When under his immortal feet the woods,
And thro their vast extent, the mountains shook.
We gain'd Bœotia, where arose the cliffs
Of Helicon, the impurpled lawn I trod,
And to its top beyond my feeble ken,
Ascended my conductor, where he join'd
The expectant choir, whose harmony methought
Far distant struck my ear. But on a bank
With lotus and with hyacinth o'erspread
Reclined the Ascræan poet, him I knew,
For by his side was placed the verdant branch
Of scepter'd laurel, which the muses erst
With their own hands bestow'd, and bade him sing
Their high descent, and all the ethereal race.
His sheep were scatter'd round, and many swains,
And many virgins with attentive ear
Imbibed his flowing numbers, with the throng
I mingled, and regretting that so late
My footsteps had arrived, for now his strains
147
Toward ocean's bed, with deep respectful awe
Heard his last notes, while thus the master sung.
“His anger ceased; for on the rocks which bound
The solid earth, with adamantine chains
Braced firm, Prometheus groan'd, while on his prey
The screaming eagle darted from above.
And Epimetheus too of vacant soul
Had as a bride received the treacherous maid
Vulcan's alluring work, with graces fraught
Celestial, but diffusing evils dire.
When now the sovereign Father bade convene
The subject powers; soft pity fill'd his breast
For new-created man; on golden thrones,
They sat in order due; he thus address'd
The assembled Deities. Ye Sons of Heaven
Who on Olympus dwell, or ocean's waves
Inform, or o'er the streams preside, or haunt
The woods, and forests! with avengement just
The traitor is exiled, who first presumed
Our living fire to steal, who expiates now
His guilt, and stretch'd upon the Scythian crags
Horrific, lies exposed to piercing winds,
Fierce-driving-rain, and snow, or beating hail,
Which with unmitigable violence
Assault his desolate abode. Nor fails
Our ravenous bird at early morn to seek
His nightly-growing feast. Such punishment
From us he merited; nor have we spared
His favour'd mortals, with Pandora's gifts
Enchanted, by her blandishments subdued.
But them we now with kinder eye behold,
Ill-form'd to last, and verging to decay
Hourly; no doubt with skill and care composed,
Worthy their author, and with heaven's own flame
Instinct, from our ethereal dome procured
By fraudful stratagem; yet weak to bear
The changeful elements, diseases fell,
And accidental ills, a numerous train;
Too exquisitely wrought, and destined soon
Again to mingle with their kindred clay,
Unless thelr fate some means yet unreveal'd
Awhile protract; toward them my wrath relents,
Not of themselves, from their own previous wills
Originated, and to transient life
From dust upraised. To you the means I leave
Immortal powers. Who wishes to preserve
The race terrestrial, hapless, and forlorn,
From speedy dissolution, may explain
Free, and unblamed the dictates of his heart.
The solid earth, with adamantine chains
Braced firm, Prometheus groan'd, while on his prey
The screaming eagle darted from above.
And Epimetheus too of vacant soul
Had as a bride received the treacherous maid
Vulcan's alluring work, with graces fraught
Celestial, but diffusing evils dire.
When now the sovereign Father bade convene
The subject powers; soft pity fill'd his breast
For new-created man; on golden thrones,
They sat in order due; he thus address'd
The assembled Deities. Ye Sons of Heaven
Who on Olympus dwell, or ocean's waves
Inform, or o'er the streams preside, or haunt
The woods, and forests! with avengement just
The traitor is exiled, who first presumed
Our living fire to steal, who expiates now
His guilt, and stretch'd upon the Scythian crags
148
Fierce-driving-rain, and snow, or beating hail,
Which with unmitigable violence
Assault his desolate abode. Nor fails
Our ravenous bird at early morn to seek
His nightly-growing feast. Such punishment
From us he merited; nor have we spared
His favour'd mortals, with Pandora's gifts
Enchanted, by her blandishments subdued.
But them we now with kinder eye behold,
Ill-form'd to last, and verging to decay
Hourly; no doubt with skill and care composed,
Worthy their author, and with heaven's own flame
Instinct, from our ethereal dome procured
By fraudful stratagem; yet weak to bear
The changeful elements, diseases fell,
And accidental ills, a numerous train;
Too exquisitely wrought, and destined soon
Again to mingle with their kindred clay,
Unless thelr fate some means yet unreveal'd
Awhile protract; toward them my wrath relents,
Not of themselves, from their own previous wills
Originated, and to transient life
149
Immortal powers. Who wishes to preserve
The race terrestrial, hapless, and forlorn,
From speedy dissolution, may explain
Free, and unblamed the dictates of his heart.
“He spoke. Then Pallas with attentive eye,
Smiling, beheld the Deities around,
Or pondering silent, or consulting deep.
Smiling she sat; but graceful from her throne
At length arose, and thro the effulgent hall,
Proceeding o'er the jasper pavement, sought
The door high-arch'd, whose valves of solid gold
Spontaneous open'd; ere again they closed,
The blue-eyed maid return'd, and by the hand
Led, in the prime of youth, and blooming charms,
A Nymph of heavenly mien, and as it seem'd
A sister Goddess. On her cheeks was spread
The glowing hue of Hebe; waving hung
And loose her raven locks, but just confined;
Her robe succinct a golden clasp upheld
Baring the knee: Not languishingly soft
Like Venus in her gait, nor rivalling
Majestic Juno; but in all her limbs
Dwelt symmetry divine, activity,
And sparkling ardour; while her hand sustain'd
A spear, too light for battles dire, in which
Mars wields his massy javelin, but to feats
Of mimic war adapted, or to wage
The sylvan conflict. To the feet of Jove
Led on, the assembled powers at once survey'd
Her virgin form with wonder and desire,
As from her breath perfumes, and from her hair
Dropp'd fragrant roses. Then Minerva paused,
And thus began. O Father! see, with thine
How all my thoughts accord. The means I bring
Thy clement aim to perfect; from their fate
Suddenly threatening hapless man to save,
And bless with length of days: by this my work,
This beauteous nymph, whom I with plastic hand
In emulation of Vulcanian skill,
Or Promethean, fashion'd; not of earth,
Or fire, like their productions, but of pure
And elemental æther; nor by thee
Forbidden, or with anger now survey'd.
Her name Gymnasia, and in future times,
And regions yet by mortal feet untrod,
Health-giving exercise. For she the race
Of men shall urge to exertion and to toil,
Snatch from Pandora's arms the tender babe,
String his young nerves, and thro the eventful scenes
Of chequer'd life support him, scattering wide
The mists of torpid indolence, the worst
Of all the plagues, which in the fatal box
Were stored, whose sweetness poisons, and the frame
Weak of itself, to double weakness dooms.
Smiling, beheld the Deities around,
Or pondering silent, or consulting deep.
Smiling she sat; but graceful from her throne
At length arose, and thro the effulgent hall,
Proceeding o'er the jasper pavement, sought
The door high-arch'd, whose valves of solid gold
Spontaneous open'd; ere again they closed,
The blue-eyed maid return'd, and by the hand
Led, in the prime of youth, and blooming charms,
A Nymph of heavenly mien, and as it seem'd
A sister Goddess. On her cheeks was spread
The glowing hue of Hebe; waving hung
And loose her raven locks, but just confined;
Her robe succinct a golden clasp upheld
Baring the knee: Not languishingly soft
Like Venus in her gait, nor rivalling
150
Dwelt symmetry divine, activity,
And sparkling ardour; while her hand sustain'd
A spear, too light for battles dire, in which
Mars wields his massy javelin, but to feats
Of mimic war adapted, or to wage
The sylvan conflict. To the feet of Jove
Led on, the assembled powers at once survey'd
Her virgin form with wonder and desire,
As from her breath perfumes, and from her hair
Dropp'd fragrant roses. Then Minerva paused,
And thus began. O Father! see, with thine
How all my thoughts accord. The means I bring
Thy clement aim to perfect; from their fate
Suddenly threatening hapless man to save,
And bless with length of days: by this my work,
This beauteous nymph, whom I with plastic hand
In emulation of Vulcanian skill,
Or Promethean, fashion'd; not of earth,
Or fire, like their productions, but of pure
And elemental æther; nor by thee
Forbidden, or with anger now survey'd.
Her name Gymnasia, and in future times,
151
Health-giving exercise. For she the race
Of men shall urge to exertion and to toil,
Snatch from Pandora's arms the tender babe,
String his young nerves, and thro the eventful scenes
Of chequer'd life support him, scattering wide
The mists of torpid indolence, the worst
Of all the plagues, which in the fatal box
Were stored, whose sweetness poisons, and the frame
Weak of itself, to double weakness dooms.
“She said. The Power superior, with a smile
Approved her wisdom, with a smile that cheer'd
Heaven, earth, and seas; viewing the lovely nymph
Moulded by her, and by her skill adorn'd,
The stedfast friend, and guardian of mankind.
Approved her wisdom, with a smile that cheer'd
Heaven, earth, and seas; viewing the lovely nymph
Moulded by her, and by her skill adorn'd,
The stedfast friend, and guardian of mankind.
“They thro the yielding air with speedy flight
Descended, hasting to the nether world;
With acclamations loud Olympus rang.”
Descended, hasting to the nether world;
With acclamations loud Olympus rang.”
END OF THE FIFTH BOOK.
| Infancy, or the management of children | |