Page:The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books.djvu/59

B. II. A more voluptuous, a more sprightly draught; Perhaps more active.Wine unmix'd, and all The gluey floods that from the vex'd abyss Of fermentation spring; with spirit fraught, And furious with intoxicating fire; Retard concoction, and preserve unthaw'd Th' embodied mass. You see what countless years, Embalm'd in fiery quintescence of wine, The puny wonders of the reptile world, The tender rudiments of life, the slim Unrav'lings of minute anatomy, Maintain their texture, and unchang'd remain!
 * We curse not wine: The vile excess we blame;

More fruitful, than th' accumulated board, Of pain and misery. For the subtle draught Faster and surer swells the vital tide; And with more active poison, than the floods Rh