By what contrivance of mechanic art
The muscles, motions to the limbs impart;
How at th' imperial mind's impulsive nod,
Th' obedient spirits thro' the nervous road
Find thro' their fib'rous cells the ready way,
And the high dictates of the will obey;
From how exact and delicate a frame,
The channeled bones their nimble action claim;
With how much depth, and subtility of thought
The curious organ of the eye is wrought;
How from the brain their root the nerves derive,
And sense to ev'ry distant member give.

Th' extensive knowledge you of men enjoy,
You to a double use of man employ;
Nor to the body, is your skill confin'd,
Of error's worse disease you heal the mind.
No longer shall the hardy atheist praise
Lucretius' piercing wit, and philosophic lays;
But by your lines convinc'd, and charm'd at once,
His impious tenets shall at length renounce,
At length to truth and eloquence shall yield,
Confess himself subdu'd, and wisely quit the field.


[Footnote A: See his Life prefixed to his works, by William Duncomb
Esq;]

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