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Show [ 120 ] -Five haplefs f wains with foft affuafi ve fmiles The harlot me!hes in her deathful toils ; '' Drink deep," fhe carols, as ihe waves 111 atr The mantling goblet, " and forget your care."- O'er the dread feaf.l: tnalignant Chetnia fcowls, 36 5 And tningles poifon in the nectar' d bowls; Fell Gout peeps grinning throt1gh the flimfy fcene, And bloated Dropfy pants behind unfeen; W rapp' d in his robe white Lepra hides his ftains, And filent Frenzy writhing bites his chains. So when PROMETHEUs brav'd the Thunderer's ue, Stole from his blazing throne ethereal fire, Promethtus. l. 3 7 I. The ancient !lory of Prometheus, who concealed in his bofom the fire he had llolen, and afterwards had a vulture perpetually gnawing his liver, affords fo apt an allegory for the effects of drinking fpirituous liquors, that one fhould be induced to think the art of dillillation·, as well as fome other chemical proceffes (fuch as calcining gold), had been known in times of great antiquity, and loll again. The f wallowing drams cannot be better rcprefented in hieroglyphic language than by taking_ ' fire into one's bofom; and certain it is, thilt the general effeCl: of drinking fermented or fpirituous liquors is an inflamed fchirrous, or paralytic liver, with its various critical or confequential difeafes, as leprous eruptions on the face, gout, dropfy, epilepfy, infanity. It is remarkable, that all the difeafes from drinking fpirituous or fermented liquors are liable to become hereditary, even to the third generation, gradually increafing, if the caufe be continued, till the family becomes extincl:. ( I2I ) And, lantern' d in his breafl, from reahns of day Bore the bright treafure to his Man of clay;High on cold Caucafus by VuLCAN bound, The lean itnpaticnt Vulture fluttering round, His writhing limbs in vain he twifis and firains To break or loofe the adamantine chains. The gluttonous bird, exulting in his pangs, Tears his fwoln liver with retnorfclefs fangs. The gentle CYcLAMEN with dewy eye Breathes o'er her lifelefs babe the parting :figh ; And, bending low to earth, with pious hands Inhumes her dear Departed in the :Cands. 375 Cyclamen. I. 181. Shew-bread, or Show-bread. When the feeds are ripe, the llalk of the flower gradually twills itfelf fpirally downwards, till it touches the ground, and forcibly penetrating the earth lodges its feeds, which are thought to receive nourifhment from the parent root, as they are fairl not to be made to grow in any other fituation. The Trifolium fubterraneum, fubterraneous trefoil, is another plant whi<.!h buriei its feeds, the globular head of the feed penetrating the earth; which, however, in this plant may be only an attempt to conceal its feeds from the ravages of birds; for there is another trefoil, the Trifolium Globofum, or globular woolly-headed trefoi l, which has a curious manner of concealing its feeds; the lower florets only have carols, and are fertile; the upper ones wither into a kind of wool, and, forming a head, completely conceal the fertile calyxes. Lin. Spec. Plant. a Reichard. R |