Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/36

26 How rolling planets trace their deſtin’d way, Nor in the waſtes of pathleſs Æther ſtray; How the pale moon, with ſilver beams adorns Her chearful orb, and gilds her ſharpened horns; How the vail ocean’s ſwelling tides obey Her diſtant reign, and own her watr’y ſway; How erring floods, their circling courſe maintain, Supplied by conſtant ſuccours from the main; Whilſt to the ſea, the refluent ſtreams reſtore, The liquid treaſures which ſhe lent before; What dreadful veil obſcures the ſolar light, And Phæbe’s darkened face conceals from mortal ſight. Thy learned muſe, I with like pleaſure hear The wonders of the leſſer world declare, Point out the various marks of ſkill divine, Which thro’ its complicated ſtructure ſhine, In tuneful verſe, the vital current trace, Thro’ all the windings of its mazy race, And tell how the rich purple tide beſtows, Vigour, and kindly warmth where e’er it flows; By what contrivance of mechanic art The muſcles, motions to the limbs impart; How at th’ imperial mind’s impulſive nod, Th’ obedient ſpirits thro’ the nervous road Find thro’ their fib’rous cells the ready way, And the high dictates of the will obey; From how exact and delicate a frame, The channell’d bones their nimble action claim; With how much depth, and ſubtility of thought The curious organ of the eye is wrought; How from the brain their root the nerves derive, And ſenſe to ev’ry diſtant member give.


 * Th’ extenſive knowledge you of men enjoy,

You to a double uſe of man employ; Nor to the body, is your ſkill confin’d, Of error’s worſe diſeaſe you heal the mind. No