use the juice of the grape; that
is, to go so far as to make our hearts merry, gay, and sprightly, and so
as to forget our cares.

It would be here useless to shew, by a great many examples, the
disorders that drunkenness has caused, when pushed too far, because it
was never the intention of this work, but to divert (as wine was
designed to do) and make merry, I shall therefore conclude the whole
with an Ode to Bacchus, as follows:--

[[Footnote a: Ovid, _Remedium Amoris_ 809-810.]]

AN ODE TO BACCHUS.

I.

Let's sing the glories of the god of wine,
May his immortal praise
Be the eternal object of our song,
And sweetest symphonies; may ev'ry tongue
And throat sonorous, vocal music raise,
And ev'ry grateful instrument combine
To celebrate, great god, thy power divine.
Let other poets to the world relate,
Of Troy, the hard, unhappy fate;
And in immortal song rehearse,
Purpled with streams of blood the Phrygian plain;
The glorious hist'ry of Achilles slain,
And th' odious memory of Pelop's sons revive in verse.

II.

God of the grape, thou potent boy,
Thou only object of our cordial vows,
To thee alone I consecrate my heart,
Ready to follow thee in ev'ry part:
Thy influence sweet mirth bestows,
For thee alone I'd live and die in scenes of joy.
Thy bounty all our wishes still prevents;
Thy wond'rous sweetness calms to soft repose
Our wild regrets and restless woes,
And richly ev'ry craving mind contents.
Without thee Venus has no charms;
You constancy to am'rous souls impart,
And hopes bestow to each despairing heart,

III.

But, what involuntary transports roll,
And seize, at once, my agitated soul!
Into what sacred vale! what silent wood!
(I speak not by the vulgar understood,)
Am I, O god! O wond'rous deity!
Ravish'd, brimful of thy divinity and thee!
To my (once infidel) believing eyes
Bacchus unveils entire his sacred mysteries.
Movements confus'd of joy and fear
Hurry me I know not where.
With boldness all divine the god inspires;
With what a pleasing fury am I fill'd!
Such raging fires
Never the Menades in Thracian caves beheld.

IV.

Descend, O mother-queen of love,
Leave a while the realms above;
With your gay presence grace the feast
Of that great god, who bears a boundless sway,
Who conquer'd climates where first rose the day.
Descend, O mother-queen o