Alexander's feast: or, the power of musick. An ode ... Perform'd ... before the ... Governors of the Small-Pox Hospital / [John Dryden].
- John Dryden
- Date:
- 1753
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Alexander's feast: or, the power of musick. An ode ... Perform'd ... before the ... Governors of the Small-Pox Hospital / [John Dryden]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![[ *5 ] {truCtive Diftemper is thereby rendered mild and manageable, and becomes rather a Purgation of the Body from the latent Seeds of an expeded Difeafe, than creating a Diieafe it ielf. It delivers People from thofe Apprehenfions, with which, till they have had the SMALL-POX, they are always haunted. It frees them from the Objections, that are con¬ tinually made to their being received into any Family, while they remain expo fed to that Difeafe in the Natural Way. It gives them Courage to enter into the Service of their Counr try, either by Land or Sea ; and protects them, while in that Service, from the Rifque of being carried off, for Want of thofe Accommodations, which Camps and Ships rarely fupply. To all thefe, if we add the general and great Considera¬ tion of preferving fo many Lives, which may evidently arife from thefe different Ways of having the Diieafe, (for upon a general Calculation, 25 or 30 die out of 150 Patients, having the Diftemper in the Natural Way, and one only out of this Number, when Inoculated,) it will appear, that this is a Thing of very high Importance ; and that it is not eafy to name an Undertaking more laudable in it- felf, or more beneficial in its Confequences, than the making a ProvXion, that thofe, who really ftand in the greateft Need of this Prelervative, and yet from their low, though ufeful Stations in Life, are precluded from it, fhould be refcued from a Condition, equally injurious to them and to Society. But as the World will be often divided in Sentiments, in Matters of fuch a Nature *, fo, by the Conflitution of this Charity, due Care is taken, that the Intentions of fuch well-difpofed Perfons, as fhall contribute to any Branch of it, fhall be punctually anfwer’d. For they may direCt their Benefactions to be bellowed upon fuch Perfons only, as are infeCted with the Natural SMALL-POX; or, if they judge the promoting Inoculation the more beneficial, they may confine their Gifts thereto ; or, if given without any DiitinCtion, it will be applied to the general Fund, both for Natural SMALL-POX and for Inoculation. .To](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30350244_0015.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
