Page:The Art of Preserving Health - A Poem in Four Books.djvu/94

For ever torn; and chaos floating round.
What dreams presage, what dangers these or those
415Portend to sanity, tho' prudent seers
Reveal'd of old, and men of deathless fame
We would not to the superstitious mind
Suggest new throbs, new vanities of fear.
'Tis ours to teach you from the peaceful night
420To banish omens, and all restless woes.

In study some protract the silent hours,
Which others consecrate to mirth and wine;
And sleep till noon, and hardly live till night.
But surely this redeems not from the shades
425One hour of life. Nor does it nought avail
What season you to drowsy Morpheus give
Of th' ever-varying circle of the day;
Or whether, thro' the tedious winter gloom,
You tempt the midnight or the morning damps.