ODE TO HEALTH.

BY MR. SHEPHERD.

Hrom the crude banquets of Intemp'rance bred ;

ENCE meagre, pale Disease,

Nurs'd in the fluggard bed,

And folded in the arms of pamper'd ease:
Hence to Baotian bogs, '

Whence humid Aufter on his drooping wings
Grofs exhalations brings;

Where rank effluvia from the marshy brake,
Or murky stagnate lake,

Pregnant with ills arise in mifty fogs.

And come, Hygeïa, bland and fair,
Flush'd with the glow of morning air;
With coral lip and sparkling eye,
Complexion of enfauguin'd dye;
With chearful fmile, and open brow,

Where Care could ne'er one furrow plough;

With fteady step, and afpect fleek,

The rofe that glows on Stella's cheek,

And fnowy bofom, whence exhales

The sweetness of Etefian gales.

In fylvan fcenes is thy delight,

To climb the tow'ring mountain's height;
Or blithely on thy native plain

To gambol with the Dryad train.

Those plains, where, in unguarded hour,

Far from the ken of her chafte bow'r,
As o'er the dew-befpangled glade
Rov'd Temperance, the mountain maid;
She stopp'd, in fix'd attention viewing
Lufty Exercife pursuing,

Ffz

With

With miffive shaft and beechen spear,
Thro' op'ning lawns the tremb'ling deer.
The God furveys the mufing dame, '
The lover quits his flying game:

His treffes dropp'd with morning dew,
While to the wood-nymph's arms he flew;
And from their hale embraces fprung
Hygeïa, ever fair and young.

t

Long, virgin, may thy genial fire Each late exhaufted vein infpire, The crimson tide of life renew, And give to glide in channels blue ; Thee Wit and Mirth fpontaneous ferve, That give a tone to ev'ry nerve; Invoke thee, Harmony's bright queen, To tune the difarrang'd machine. The glow of Titian's orient ray Thy happy pencil shall pourtray, With grace more exquifite than lies In Guido's air, or Titian's dyes; Hence the pale hue of Sickness chase, And call up each reviving grace, O'er which, as late, with haggard hand, Confumption fhook her magick wand; Nature's laft debt prepar'd to pay, Youth's drooping flow'rs 'gan fade away; No crimson hue was feen to glow, The flagnate blood forgot to flow; Their luftre fled, the languid eyes Stood fix'd in motionless furprize; Each fenfe feem'd loft in endless night,

The trembling foul was wing'd for flight; Which Death's rude fhaft had half fet free In unconceiv'd eternity.

Then, Varus, was the pow'r difplay'd Of medicine's heav'n-directed aid,

Vers'd in each drug's balfamick ufe,
The Dædal foils of earth produce,
In ev'ry flow'r of ev'ry hue,

And herb that drinks the morning dew,
Thy lenient hand allay'd each throe,
And gave a milder face to Woė;
Bade the bold pulse elastick play,
The eye emit it's vivid ray,
Call'd back the flitting life again,
And health infpir'd thro' ev'ry vein.
Again thrills with her genial zest
Each nerve; again my languid breast
Vifits the cherub Joy. For this
May thy aufpicious heart ne'er mifs,
Oft as the fair for charms decay'd
Implores thy falutary aid,

To smooth the lovely mourner's brow,
And bid reviving beauties glow;
To foothe the tender parent's cries,
And wipe the tears from infant eyes!

But chief, my Mufe, with rev'rent awe
To him, whofe will is Nature's law,
Thy hymns of gratulation pay,
To Him direct the tribute lay;
From whom derives the balmy pill,
It's virtues, the phyfician's fkill;
That o'er each act and thought prefides,
Directs his hand, his counsel guides:
Elfe medicine's unavailing ftore
Shall vainly glide thro' ev'ry pore;
Thro' ev'ry pore the mineral rill
In vain it's gifted pow'rs inftil.

Father divine, eternal King,

To thee I wake the trembling ftring.
If mad Ambition ne'er misled,
In paths where Virtue dares not tread,

My

My vagrant step; if fordid views
Ne'er won the prostituted Mufe;
For others let Pactolus flow,

Let honour wreath another's brow:
Health I intreat; whofe jocund throng
Wantons each laughing grace among;
With Health the dancing minutes crown'd,
The field of all my wishes bound.

PHILO's

COMPLAINT.

ADDRESSED TO MISS C

BY MR. T. WOOLSTON.

Thou, much favour'd by the tuneful train!
Attentive bend, nor let thine ear refuse

To lift awhile to hapless Philo's strain ;
The foft complainings of an artless Muse.

The swain beneath a spreading willow flood,
That, drooping, fwept the flowly-winding stream;

His briny tears increas'd the paffing flood,

While mournful flow'd this fadly-plaintive theme.

In life's fair fpring, I rofe at early dawn,
• With ruddy health, while ev'ry scene was gay;
Ere foaring larks forfook the dewy lawn,

To chant their morning fongs to op'ning day.

Then, free from heart-felt care, at eafe I rov'd, • No dark depreffing views my fancy chill'd; • The Mufe's lore my infant mind approv'd,

And glowing transports in my bofom thrill'd.

• Adown

Adown the vales, by ever-murm'ring rills,

• Led by their magick, oft I wander'd long : • Or, while day linger'd on the lofty hills,

• There, chearful mufing, fram'd the artless song.

And when Night's fable banners, all unfurl'd,

Difplay'd the fparkling glories of the skies,
Panting to quit this fublunary world,

At length, full plum'd, fhe wings a daring flight,
• Thro' pathless æther foaring unconfin'd,
• To radiant orbs beyond the reach of fight,
And, fearless, leaves far diftant ftars behind.

• No more confin'd to any earthly place,

• Swifter than light fhe darts her piercing eye,
And fees a thousand funs, thro' boundless space,
• With light and life ten thousand worlds supply.

Now, where the comet fweeps with awful train,
• With him she fkims the vaft etherial round;
• Millions of leagues, without or fear or pain,
Beyond old frozen Saturn's dreary bound.

• Then farther ftill, in regions yet unfeen

By mortal eye, her curious fearch explores
• Unnumber'd lucent fpheres, a beauteous fcene!
• Where day eternal gilds their blissful shores.

So, inftantaneous, thence would she defcend,
• O'er this her own congenial globe to roam;

And ev'ry charm of each fair clime would blend,