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John Armstrong
The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books
Published by Good Press, 2020
EAN 4064066063955
Table of Contents
LONDON:
Printed for A. Millar, opposite to Katharine-Street in the Strand.
MDCCXLIV.
[Price Four Shillings sewed.]
Books(not individually listed)
I. Air II. Diet III. Exercise IV. The Passions
I. Air
THE
ART
OF PRESERVING
HEALTH.
BOOK I.
AIR.
Daughter of Pæon, queen of every joy,
Hygeia[1]; whose indulgent smile sustains The various race luxuriant nature pours, And on th' immortal essences bestows 5Immortal youth; auspicious, O descend! Thou, chearful guardian of the rolling year, Whether thou wanton'st on the western gale,
Or shak'st the rigid pinions of the north,
Diffusest life and vigour thro' the tracts
10Of air, thro' earth, and ocean's deep domain.
When thro' the blue serenity of heav'n
Thy power approaches, all the wasteful host
Of pain and sickness, squallid and deform'd,
Confounded sink into the loathsom gloom,
15Where in deep Erebus involv'd the fiends
Grow more profane. Whatever shapes of death,
Shook from the hideous chambers of the globe,
Swarm thro' the shuddering air: whatever plagues
Or meagre famine breeds, or with slow wings
20Rise from the putrid watry element,
The damp waste forest, motionless and rank,
That smothers earth and all the breathless winds.
Or the vile carnage of th' inhuman field;
Whatever baneful breathes the rotten south;
25Whatever ills th' extremes or sudden change
Of cold and hot, or moist and dry produce;
They fly thy pure effulgence: they, and all
The secret poisons of avenging heaven,
And all the pale tribes halting in the train
30Of vice and heedless pleasure: or if aught
The comet's glare amid the burning sky,
Mournful eclipse, or planets ill-combin'd,
Portend disastrous to the vital world;
Thy salutary power averts their rage,
35Averts the general bane: and but for thee
Nature would sicken, nature soon would die.
Without thy chearful active energy
No rapture swells the breast, no poet sings,
No more the maids of Helicon delight.
40Come then with me, O Goddess heavenly-gay!
Begin the song; and let it sweetly flow,
And let it wisely teach thy wholesom laws:
"How best the fickle fabric to support
"Of mortal man; in healthful body how
45"A healthful mind the longest to maintain."
'Tis hard, in such a strife of rules, to chuse
The best, and those of most extensive use;
Harder in clear and animated song
Dry philosophic precepts to convey.
50Yet with thy aid the secret wilds I trace
Of nature, and with daring steps proceed
Thro' paths the muses never trod before.
Nor should I wander doubtful of my way.
Had I the lights of that sagacious mind
55Which taught to check the pestilential fire,
And quel the dreaded Python of the Nile.
O Thou belov'd by all the graceful arts,
Thou long the fav'rite of the healing powers,
Indulge, O Mead! a well-design'd essay,
60Howe'er imperfect: and permit that I
My little knowledge with my country share,
Till you the rich Asclepian stores unlock,
And with new graces dignify the theme.
YE who amid this feverish world would wear
65A body free of pain, of cares a mind;
Fly the rank city, shun its turbid air;
Breathe not the chaos of eternal smoke
And volatile corruption, from the dead,