FABLE XX.
The DEADLY NIGHTSHADE[23].
I.
“DETESTED weed, enrag’d, I said,
“That spread’st thy poison’d train
“In this fair land, midst blooming flow’rs,
“Which grace the happy plain!
II.
“Thy baleful root most surely springs
“From deep Tartarean shade;
“By envious Dæmons nurs’d below,
“In Stygian gloom array’d.
III.
“Thee Circe, and Medæa too,
“In black enchantment us’d;
“With baneful plants most fitly mix’d,
“In hellish steams suffus’d.
IV.
“Ah! why does Parent Nature form,
“Such works, her works to spoil;
“And by her own hand teach mankind,
“Infernal arts and guile?
V.
“Say, fell Enchantress of the plain,
“The foe of human-kind?
“Say for what crimes man’s hapless race
“From thee such evils find!
VI.
“Oh! quit the woods, the plains, the fields,
“Where health and plenty bloom:
“Retire to rocks and desart-wilds,
“Or shade the Murd’rer’s tomb.
VII.
“Or rather haste to Pluto’s realm;
“There hide thy hated head,
“And flourish still unrival’d there;
“Where Styx’ nine streams are spread.
VIII.
“But here may ev’ry healing flow’r
“In prime of beauty bloom:
“To sick’ning Man restoring health,
“And shedding rich perfume!”
IX.
I ceas’d—The Flow’r indignant heard;
And all its leaves display’d
A deep’ning gloom, which flung around
A double night of shade.
X.
“Insulting Man!” she trembling cry’d,
“Of creatures most unjust;
“Still taxing Nature with those faults,
“Sprung from his evil lust.
XI.
“The poison’d Snake, the noxious Weed,
“Earth’s venom’d juices drain;
“And, more than all yon’ fragrant flow’rs,
“Enrich with health the plain.
XII.
“Nay of my race grows many a plant,
“Which, of rich gifts possest,
“The sage Physician culls with care,
“To ease the Patient’s breast.
XIII.
“Let Man his own wild passions tame,
“And hush them into Peace;
“Medæa’s wand, and Circe’s cup,
“Were innocent to these.
XIV.
“For me, great Nature’s high behest;
“Contented I fulfil;
“Nor dream that aught by her ordain’d,
“Can ever end in ill.
XV.
“Go thou, fond youth, and Virtue’s charge
“With equal care obey:
“Then ev’ry Weed shall prove a Flow’r,
“To strew thy destin’d way.”
Fab. XXI.
The Crown Imperial and Heartsease.
Fab. XXII.
The Water Lily.