Page:The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books.djvu/36

28 Nothing so foreign but th' athletic hind Can labour into blood. The hungry meal Alone he fears, or aliments too thin, By violent powers too easily subdu'd, Too soon expell'd. His daily labour thaws, To friendly chyle, the most rebellious mass That salt can harden, or the smoke of years; Nor does his gorge the rancid bacon rue, Nor that which Cestria sends, tenacious paste Of solid milk. But ye of softer clay Infirm and delicate! and ye who waste With pale and bloated sloth the tedious day! Avoid the stubborn aliment, avoid The full repast; and let sagacious age Grow wiser, lesson'd by the dropping teeth.
 * Half subtiliz'd to chyle, the liquid food

Readiest obeys th' assimilating powers; Rh