Temper'd with drugs, of sovereign use t'assuage
The boiling bosom of tumultuous rage;
To clear the cloudy front of wrinkled care,
And dry the tearful sluices of despair;
Charm'd with that virtuous draught, th' exalted mind
All sense of woe delivers to the wind.
Tho' on the blazing pile his father lay,
Or a loved brother groan'd his life away,
Or darling son, oppress'd by ruffian force,
Fell breathless at his feet a mangled corse,
From morn to eve, impassive and serene,
The man entranced would view the deathful scene:
These drugs so friendly to the joys of life,
Bright Helen learn'd from Thone's imperial wife."
Milton thus speaks of it in Comus:
"Behold this cordial julep here,
That flames and dances in his crystal bounds!
Not that Nepenthe, which the wife of Thone
In Egypt gave to Jove-born Helena,
Is of such power as this to stir up joy,
To life so friendly, or so cool to thirst.
