The Poetical Works of James Beattie
The thirst he acquired when a devil.[7]

That charging drives fire from a phial,

It was natural for him to think,

After finding, from many a trial,

That drought may be kindled by drink.

A certain high priest could explain,[8]

How the soul is but nerve at the most;

And how Milton had glands in his brain,

That secreted the Paradise Lost.

And sure it is what they deserve,

Of such theories if I aver it,

They are not even dictates of nerve,

But mere muddy suggestions of claret.

Our Holland Philosophers say, Gin

Is the true philosophical drink,

As it made Doctor Hartley imagine

That to shake is the same as to think.[9]

For, while drunkenness throbb'd in his brain,

The sturdy materialist chose (O fye!)

To believe its vibrations not pain,


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