�208 THE POEMS OP ANNE �DEMOCRITUS AND HIS NEIGHBOURS Imitated from Fontaine �In Vulgar Minds what Errors do arise ! How diff'ring are the Notions, they possess, �From theirs, whom better Sense do's bless, Who justly are enroll'd amongst the Learn'd and Wise ! Democritus, whilst he all Science taught, �Was by his foolish Neighbours thought Distracted in his Wits; �Who call his speculative Flights, �His solitary Walks in starry Nights, �But wild and frantick Fits. 10 �Bless me, each cries, from such a working Brain! �And to Hippocrates they send �The Sage's long-acquainted Friend, To put in Tune his jarring Mind again, �And Pericranium mend. Away the Skilful Doctor comes �Of Recipes and Med'cines full, To check the giddy Whirl of Nature's Fires, �If so th' unruly Case requires; �Or with his Cobweb-cleansing Brooms 20 �To sweep and clear the over-crouded Scull, If settl'd Spirits flag, and make the Patient dull. �But asking what the Symptoms were, �That made 'em think he was so bad? �The Man indeed, they cry'd, is wond'rous Mad. You, at this Distance, may behold him there �Beneath that Tree in open Air, Surrounded with the Engines of his Fate, �The Gimcracks of a broken Pate. �Those Hoops a Sphere he calls, 30 �That Ball the Earth ; ������ �
