Except when life declines, even sober cups. And give the hesitating wheels of life What dextrous thousands just within the goal In youthful bodies more severely felt, More sternly active, shakes their blasted prime; Prevent the lingering fates. For know, whate'er The sanguine tide; whether the frequent bowl * In the human body, as well as in those of other animals, the larger blood-vessels are composed of smaller ones; which, by the violent motion and pressure of the fluids in the large vessels, lose their cavities by degrees, and degenerate into impervious Condens'd to solid chords) a firmer tone, By Nature fix'd, when life must downward tend. The stubborn vessels, more reluctant still Through tedious channels the congealing flood It loiters still; and now it stirs no more. chords or fibres. In proportion as these small vessels become solid, the larger must of course become less extensile, more rigid, and make a stronger resistance to the action of the heart, and force of the blood. From this gradual condensation of the smaller vessels, and consequent rigidity of the larger ones, the progress of the human body from infancy to old age is accounted for. : What does not fade? the tower that long had stood The crush of thunder and the warring winds, Shook by the slow, but sure destroyer, Time, Now hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base. And flinty pyramids, and walls of brass, Descend the Babylonian spires are sunk ; Achaia, Rome, and Egypt moulder down. Time shakes the stable tyranny of thrones, And tottering empires crush by their own weight. This huge rotundity we tread grows old; And all those worlds that roll around the Sun, The Sun himself, shall die; and ancient Night Again involve the desolate abyss: 'Till the great FATHER through the lifeless gloom Extend his arm to light another world, And bid new planets roll by other laws. New worlds are still emerging from the deep; BOOK III. EXERCISE. THROUGH Various toils th' adventurous Muse has past; But half the toil, and more than half, remains. Rude is her theme, and hardly fit for song; Plain, and of little ornament; and I His care were ill bestow'd Who would with warm effeminacy nurse The thriving oak which on the mountain's brow In dust, in rain, in cold and sultry skies! He studies none. Yet him nor midnight fogs Infest, nor those envenom'd shafts that fly Serene he bears the peevish eastern blast, Such the reward of rude and sober life; Indeed, and temperance pain. By arts like these Laconia nurs'd of old her hardy sons; And Rome's unconquer'd legions urg'd their way, Unhurt, through every toil in every clime. Toil, and be strong. By toil the flaccid nerves Grow firm, and gain a more compacted tone; The greener juices are by toil subdu'd, Mellow'd and subtiliz'd; the vapid old Expell'd, and all the rancour of the blood. Come, my companions, ye who feel the charms Of Nature and the year; come, let us stray Where chance or fancy leads our roving walk : Come, while the soft voluptuous breezes fan The fleecy Heavens, enwrap the limbs in balm, And shed a charming languor o'er the soul. Nor when bright Winter sows with prickly frost The vigorous ether, in unmanly warmth Indulge at home; nor even when Eurus' blasts This way and that convolve the lab'ring woods. My liberal walks, save when the skies in rain Or fogs relent, no season should confine Or to the cloister'd gallery or arcade. Go, climb the mountain; from th' ethereal source Imbibe the recent gale. The cheerful morn Beams o'er the hills; go, mount th' exulting steed. Already, see, the deep-mouth'd beagles catch The tainted mazes; and, on eager sport Intent, with emulous impatience try Each doubtful trace. Or, if a nobler prey Delight you more, go chase the desperate deer; . And through its deepest solitudes awake The vocal forest with the jovial horn. But if the breathless chase o'er hill and dale |