The Celestial Bed (1780s) Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Two guineas a time to enter the Temple of Health
Electric medicine attracted the famous and rich.

Such delights awaited!
Ornately furnished rooms,
Perfumed air,
Soothing music
'medico-electrical apparatus, '
Half dressed beauties posing among the statues.
(One became Nelson's lover)

The centerpiece itself, the 'Celestial Bed, '
Cost £50 per night.
The cure for the sterile or impotent.

This electrifying bed was twelve feet long
By nine feet wide
Could be tilted for various angles.

The mattress was stuffed with
Sweet new wheat or oat straw,
Aromatic with balm, rose leaves, and lavender flowers,
With hair from the tails of rampant English stallions.

Lovers lay in the bed,
Heard soft music play
Breathed in fragrant air,
Stared up at the mirror suspended from the ceiling

Electricity crackled across the Celestial bed's headboard.
The air hissed with magnetic fluid
Stimulated libido

The phrase, 'Be fruitful. Multiply. Replenish the Earth'
Inscribed to be acted upon.