SONG, SUNG BY MR. BLOOMFIELD AT THE ANNIVERSARY OF DOCTOR JENNER’S BIRTH-DAY, 1803. [*]
Come hither, mild Beauty, that dwell’st on the mountain,
Sweet handmaid of Liberty, meet us to-day;
Thy votary’s
[1] philanthropy; ask from
thy fountain,
A soul-chearing nectar wherewith to be gay.
The cup may o’erflow, and new grapes still be growing; 5
The eyes of the drinker
[2]
resplendently shine;
But grant us, bright Nymph, with thy gifts overflowing
To lighten our hearts and to relish our wine.
Is Beauty’s gay rose-bud a prize worth ensuring?
Its guardianship rests with the friends of our cause;10
Shall we mark unconcern’d what the blind are enduring?
[3] No! mercy and peace are the first of our laws.
Wave streamers of vict’ry, be brav’ry requited,
Be sails in all climes still with honour unfurl’d;
All lovers of man with our cause are delighted;15
’Tis to banish the fears, and the tears of the world.
All nations shall feel, and all nations inherit
The wonderful blessing we place in their view;
And if in that blessing a mortal claims merit,
O, Jenner, your country resigns it to you.20
From the field, from the farm, comes the glorious treasure,
[4] May its life-saving impulse, all fresh as the morn,
Still spread round the earth without bounds, without measure,
Till Time has forgot when his Jenner was born.
Notes
*Published in The Gentleman’s Magazine for June 1803, (pp. 550–1); it also appeared in The Lady’s Magazine Or Entertaining Companion for the Fair Sex in July (vol. 34, p. 383). BACK
[1] votary] votaries Remains BACK
[2] drinker] drinkers Remains BACK
[3] [note in Gentleman’s Magazine:] It is worthy of remark, that in the school for the indigent blind, in St. George’s Fields, the loss of sight in more than one half of the children has been occasioned by small pox. BACK
[4] [note in Gentleman’s Magazine:] The vaccine fluid. BACK