Vere nitent Terrae.

ERRAE iam viridis, caerulus est color caeli: ver vegetum, cuncta redintegrans, ver laetum subiit: iam senium domat

iratasque hiemis minas

festivus radiis sol iuvenalibus. mitescunt zephyris frigora: Nereo sternuntur tacito marmora; balsamis manat quisque suis ager,

omnesque induitur divitias humus; concordes avium carmina dum chori aures atque animos pellicientia blandis ingeminant modis.

K.

Luscinia.

MMERITOS flentem casus vertisse puellam dicitur in volucrem rexque paterque deum. illa volat, ramoque sedens suavissima silvas, nomine Lusciniae cognita, mulcet avis. devius in latebris illam nemoralibus olim audiit ambrosium fundere carmen Amor: audiit, aeternique Patris miracula prisca prodigiis credit vincere posse novis. Iuppiter in volucrem converterat ante puellam ; femineo volucrem corpore donat Amor. haec est, quae domitas Orpheo carmine gentes fascinat, Arctoae gloria Linda plagae.

K.

Publica Vota.

AX et Copia sint sine sanguine; bubula binis senisque far sestertiis.

F

к.

Where were ye, Nymphs?

HERE were ye, Nymphs, when the remorseless deep

closed o'er the head of your loved Lycidas? for neither were ye playing on the steep, where your old bards, the famous Druids, lie, nor on the shaggy top of Mona high,

nor yet where Deva spreads her wizard stream.
ay me! I fondly dream

had ye been there; for what could that have done?
what could the Muse herself that Orpheus bore,
the Muse herself, for her enchanting son?

whom universal Nature did lament,

when by the rout that made the hideous roar
his gory visage down the stream was sent,
down the swift Hebrus to the Lesbian shore.
alas! what boots it with incessant care
to attend the homely slighted shepherd's trade,
and strictly meditate the thankless Muse?
were it not better done, as others use,
to sport with Amaryllis in the shade
or with the tangles of Neaera's hair?

fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise,
that last infirmity of noble mind,

to scorn delights and live laborious days.
but the fair guerdon when we hope to find,
and think to burst out into sudden blaze,
comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears,
and slits the thin-spun life. but not the praise,'
Phoebus replied, and touched my trembling ears.

MILTON.

Jest.

LL things are big with Jest; nothing is plain, but may be witty, if we have the vein.

HERBERT.

Πᾶ ποκ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἦσθ' ὅκα Δάφνις ετάκετο ;

UA, nymphae, fueratis, inexorabile marmor ut vestri Lycidae subter caput hausit amatum ? nam neque ludus erat vobis in vertice clivi, qua Druidae, vates antiqua laude, quiescunt, vester honos; nec Mona iugo qua surgit ad auras hirta suo, vel Deva magum tamen explicat amnem. ei mihi, vos vano somni frustramine fingo praesentes: quid enim praesentia vestra iuvaret ? Musa quid ipsa, inquam, genetrix Orpheia, iuvit, natum Musa suum, tenuit quamquam omnia cantu, et rerum lamentatast natura peremptum, quando illum thiasus taetrum mittens ululatum ora dedit fluvio, fluvio ora cruenta secundo, Lesbiacumque rapax ad litus detulit Hebrus. eheu, perpetuis quid pastoralia curis incompta exercere iuvat despectaque pensa quid fida ingratam meditemur harundine musam? nonne fuit satius vulgi de more sub umbra seu temptare iocis Amaryllida, sive Neaerae nugari cum crine comisque illudere plexis? gloria calcar habet (versatque ille ultimus error excellentem animum), stimulet quod vivida corda spernere delicias et duros degere soles. cum tamen optato speramus posse potiri munere et ad claram subito iam emergere lucem, caeca venit furia atque invisa forfice vitae tenuia filia secat: sed laudem non tamen illa,' sic Phoebus contra, ac tremulas simul attigit aures.

Nil non ridiculum.

H. A. J. M.

QUANTUM est ridiculi! quae res tam seria nobis quin aliquid praestet, sit modo vena, ioci ?

K.

Unthrifty Sweetness.

DO confess thee smooth and fair,

and I might have gone near to love thee, had I not found the slightest prayer

that lips could feign had power to move thee. but I can let thee now alone

as worthy to be loved by none.

I do confess thee sweet, but find

thee such an unthrift of thy sweets, thy favours are but like the wind that kisses everything it meets. then since thou canst by more than one, thou'rt worthy to be kissed by none. The morning rose that untouched stands

armed with her briers, how sweet she smells; but, plucked and strained through ruder hands, her sweet no longer with her dwells:

but scent and beauty both are gone, and leaves fall from her one by one. Such fate ere long will thee betide,

when thou hast handled been awhile, with sere flowers to be thrown aside: and I will sigh while others smile, to see thy love for every one hath made thee to be loved by none.

SIR H. WOTTON.

On Cowley's Tragedy, The Fall of Sparta.'

O great thy art, that, when we viewed
of Sparta's sons the lot severe,
we caught the Spartan fortitude,

and saw their woes without a tear.

A.

Translatos alio maerebis amores.

T, fateor, levi spectaris candida forma,

nec multum afuerat quin mea flamma fores, ni prece vidissem tua pectora quaque moveri, ficta foret levibus quamlibet illa labris. nunc tamen illecebras didici contemnere tales; digna, reor, non es quam colat ullus amor. sunt tibi, non aliter dico, tua mella: sed illis debueras quondam parcere: parcis ubi? nonne vides? spargit cunctis aura obvia rebus oscula par aurae spargitur iste favor. sic, quoniam plures non dedignaris amantes, digna parum facta es quam petat ullus amans. matutina rosae fragrantia quanta recentist, quae redolet spinis horrida facta suis! sed manus hanc carptam contrectet durior, eheu nil ibi, quod fuerat suave, moratur adhuc ; fusus odor periit, veneres abiere priores,

et folia hinc illinc singula lapsa cadunt. et tibi, cum manibus fueris permissa trecenis, destinat haud aliud sors inimica malum. flens ego te positam, ceu marcida serta rosarum, aspiciam, forsan rideat alter amans,

quae male cauta, procis totidem studiosa placendi, feceris ut ne cui sis placitura proco.

T. M.

Fortitudo.

RS tua tam mirast, cum Spartae fata videmus, aemula mens Spartae nos quoque flere vetat.

K.