The design of printing the subscribers' names is to show, that the late undertaking has the sanction of a college act; and that it is not a project carried on by five or six members, as those that oppose it would unjustly insinuate.

THE

DISPENSARY.

A POEM.

IN SIX CANTOS.

Hanc veniam petimusque damusque vicissim.

Hor. de Arte Poet.

X 2

THE

DISPENSARY.

CANTO I.

SPEAK, goddess! since 'tis thou that best canst tell, How ancient leagues to moderen discord fell; And why physicians were so cautious grown Of others' lives, and lavish of their own! How by a journey to the' Elysian Plain Peace triumph'd and old Time return'd again. Not far from that most celebrated place, Where angry Justice* shows her awful face; Where little villains must submit to fate, That great ones may enjoy the world in state; There stands a dome,† majestic to the sight, And sumptuous arches bear its oval height; A golden globe plac'd high with artful skill, Seems, to the distant sight, a gilded pill: This pile was, by the pious patron's aim, Rais'd for a use as noble as its frame; Nor did the learn'd Society decline The propagation of that great design;

• Old Baily.

+ College of Physicians.

In all her mazes Nature's face they view'd,
And as she disappear'd*, their search pursued.
Wrapt in the shade of night the goddess lies,
Yet to the learn'd unviels her dark disguise,
But shuns the gross access of vulgar eyes.
Now she unfolds the faint and dawning strife
Of infant atoms kindling into life;

How ductile matter new meanders takes,
And slender trains of twisting fibres makes :
And how the viscous seeks a closer tone,
By just degrees to harden into bone;
While the more loose flow from the vital urn,
And in full tides of purple streams return;
How lambent flames from life's bright lamps arise,
And dart in emanations through the eyes;
How from each sluice a gentle torrent pours,
To slake a feverish heat with ambient show'rs,
Whence, their mechanic powers, the spirits claim;
How great their force, how delicate their frame;
How the same nerves are fashion'd to sustain
The greatest pleasure and the greatest pain.
Why bilious juice a golden light puts on,
And floods of chyle in silver currents run;
How the dim speck of entity began

To' extend its recent form, and stretch to man:
To how minute an origin we owe

Young Ammon, Cæsar, and the great Nassau;
Why paler looks impetuous rage proclaim,
And why chill virgins redden into flame;

VARIATION.

they still pursued.

They find her dubious now, and then, as plain,
Here' she's too sparing; there profusely vain.