IDACTIC poetry, perhaps one of the earliest forms of verse, has become a rarity in modern times, esteemed chiefly as a curiosity of literature. Indeed, some critics are positive that the words didactic and poetry are of themselves so incompatible that no real poetry can be didactic. And yet, Hesiod, that shadowy rhymester, who seems as composite an individual as Homer himself, wrote the first didactic poems of which fragments have come down to us, and the elegant Aratus and Lucretius and Virgil followed in the footsteps of the rustic singers of ancient Greece. This could not fail to impress and influence those students who in later days read Greek and Roman literature. So it was that the intensive study of the old languages and the classical authors which came with the "revival of learning," and the practice of writing Latin verses which was a fashionable affectation of erudition in the Renaissance period and later, caused

a revival of the study and imitation of the ancient poems in European countries which influenced writers for at least two centuries. Indeed much didacticism is found in late eighteenth-century poetry; Pope was essentially a didactic poet.

Like some primitive civilized peoples who put all their knowledge into verse, so that their learned men forgot nothing old yet originated nothing, these later didactic poets forgot little of the ancient learning, good or bad, and in their passion for precedent learned little that was new. Their scope was wide and versatile they instructed the public in philosophy, astronomy, agriculture, religion and especially in medicine. Nauseous as the remedies of that day certainly were, the prescriptions were sweetened and sugared with rhyme, so that no patient with a soul attuned to verse could well refuse them. There is, for example, the very ancient regimen of health of the University of Salerno, claimed by some to be as old as that venerable shrine of learning itself and conservatively placed as early as the thirteenth century-the equivalent of our modern books on personal

hygiene. It is a little difficult to realize that people were interested in hygiene in that remote period-yet here is the proof.

The eighteenth century witnessed a perfect flood of medical didactic verse, some of the type of Garth's "The Dispensary," a poem which endeavored to reduce the excessive charges of the apothecary-a very serious evil in that day. Not only were many English medical poems written at that time, but a fairly large number were translated from other languages into English.

We are learning slowly enough that there is nothing very new under the sun, but we always mentally reserve certain ideas of the present day which are so peculiarly identified in our minds with modern thought and modern progress as to constitute in themselves a landmark between old times and modern days. One of these is the idea of educational propaganda by means of books and pamphlets to prevent infant mortality. Because of this it will come as something of a surprise to learn that in the didactic poetry of the eighteenth century at least two such treatises were translated into English from foreign languages-one, “The Nurse," by Tansillo, from the Italian by Roscoe; the other, "Pædotrophia, or the Feeding and Uprearing of Children," by St. Marthe, a French writer of Latin verse, translated by H. W. Tytler, M.D. "The Nurse" was printed in London in 1798 and reprinted in New York in 1800, while St. Marthe's poem was translated from the Latin into French, exhausted ten editions in its native tongue and was given two separate English translations, the last published in London in 1797.

In 1776, more than two decades before

1 Luigo Tansillo: "The Nurse," translated from the Italian by William Roscoe, Liverpool. London: 1798.

2 "Padotrophia; or, the Art of Nursing and Rearing Children," translated from the Latin of Scévole de St. Marthe by H. W. Tytler, M.D. London: 1797.

either of these translations appeared, Dr. Hugh Downman, an English physician who dabbled in classic literature, wrote a didactic poem in his native tongue called “Infancy, or the Management of Children," which went into seven editions. As a historical source it has little value as compared with the translations by Roscoe and Tytler, though it is probable that its publication may have stimulated interest in the foreign literature on the same subject. Throughout the six books the author seems more concerned with airing his classic lore than anything else, and the anxious mother would have a difficult time to remember his florid axioms, excellent though they were. Both Tansillo and St. Marthe expressed themselves both more succinctly and more wisely than Dr. Downman-because they really wrote for the mothers of their day. "Infancy" deals with breast feeding, accessory feeding, weaning, diet for older children, clothing and bathing, walking and exercise, and the simpler ailments.

In the sixth book Dr. Downman pays a tribute to Lady Mary Montagu, and credits her with having established the practice of inoculation to prevent smallpox. As this work was published in 1776, it precedes Jenner's publication of vaccination by many years. Though the poet says inoculation has "saved thousands," he details no personal experiences with it.

She hath been the cause

Of heartfelt joy to thousands; thousands live
And still shall live through her. . .

Yet Downman corroborates the statement of Klebs and others that inoculation against smallpox was widely used in England before vaccination was shown to be of greater value. There are so many apostrophes to eminent physicians-Armstrong and Garth (the medical poets), Cullen, Hunter, Mead, Hewson, Codrington and

"Infancy, or the Management of Children," by Hugh Downman. Exeter: Trewman & Son, 1803. 6th ed.