Brisk sparkled the liquid, most lively and fine,
Transparent as amber, than crystal more pure,
Appearing those qualities rare to combine,
Adapted exactly his health to secure.
Pursuant to order, he drank in a trice,
Full confidence in his physician he placed;
For who that is favour'd with lady's advice
Can ever refuse their prescriptions to taste?
Unconscious what mischief within it might lurk,
He swallowed the doses again and again,
Till he fancied within him a manifold work,
Disturbing his heart and distracting his brain.
Suspecting, at last, from his feelings unus'd,
A trick on his faith had been wantonly play'd,
"Some philter or potion" he swore "was infused,
Some magic or poison instilled by the maid."
"Not this a Nepenthe the mind to compose,
Which Helen at Sparta employ'd in her feasts,
But a draught such as Circe, the sorceress, chose,
Transforming the drinkers to four-footed beasts."
"Not a worse composition did Shakspeare behold,
Prepared in their cauldron by witches obscene,
Nor were drugs more detested, as Hayley has told,
Commix'd by the fiends when they conjur'd up Spleen."
Thus railing and raving, awhile he went on,
Bethinking he soon must his testament make,
When lo! all the terrible symptoms were gone,
And his woful conjecture turn'd out a mistake.
No water from Seltzer the vessel contain'd,
Nor has Pyrmont or Spa such a remedy known;
For she candidly, since the prescription, explain'd,
Prepar'd by a process entirely her own.
The tears which at church on Good Friday she shed,
After Easter was over, had fairly been dry'd,
But the 'kerchief on which she supported her head
Was laid with the precious effusion aside.
This 'kerchief, to bleech in the sunshine was plac'd,
And expos'd to the weather by night and by day;
With snow-flakes of April was often incas'd,
And moisten'd as often by dew-drops of May.
In ether's high region, where thunders prevail,
Those drops by explosion's electric were form'd,
Had once in descending been frozen to hail,
And twice in the rainbow's refraction been warm'd.
Collecting these drops on their fall from above,
With myrtle's quintessence she tinctur'd the mass;
Then breath'd in the mixture the spirit of love,
And blessing, enclos'd it securely in glass.
This potent elixir, he plainly observes,
Of his head and his heart has pervaded the whole;
Excites every fibre, and quickens the nerves,
With sweet agitation delighting the soul.
Yet he fears its effects on his temper and health
Will make him his toilsome exertions disclaim;
No more be devoted to projects of wealth,
Nor seek to be crown'd with the laurels of Fame.
Nay--an antidote sovereign he long has possess'd,
His affections from spells and enchantments to free;
No foreign intruder can enter a breast,
Pre-occupied, heart winning S----h by thee.