Page:The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books.djvu/60

Of grosser crudity convey, pervades
The far-remote meanders of our frame.
Ah! fly deceiver! Branded o'er and o'er,
Yet still believ'd! Exulting o'er the wreck
465Of sober Vows! But the Parnassian maids
Another time perhaps shall sing the joys,
The fatal charms, the many woes of wine;
Perhaps its various tribes, and various powers.

Meantime, I would not always dread the bowl,
470Nor every trespass shun. The feverish strife,
Rous'd by the rare debauch, subdues, expells
The loitering crudities, that burthen life;
And, like a torrent full and rapid, clears
Th' obstructed tubes. Besides, this restless world
475Is full of chances, which by habit's power
To learn to bear is easier than to shun.
Ah! when ambition, meagre love of gold,