Astra cadentia.

Infaustos qvoties strix cecinit modos,
Fatali qvoties Mors secuit manu
Quae vel texuerat Gloria vincula,
Vel sacrarat Amor pius.

Sint pacata animis somnia masculis ;
Sit fidis oculis post lacrumas qvies;
Virtus virgineis iuncta decoribus

Heroum ad tumulum gemat.

Nos inter nebulas sors tulit horridas:
Stellae post alias en aliae cadunt;
Magni qvidqvid erat nominis, aut facem
Praebebat populo, perit.

Tristis gutta fluit qvae dolet inritas
Spes aut laetitiam non revocabilem :
Heroum ad cineres fusa decentior
Stillat debita lacruma.

Fugerunt speculis lampades omnibus :
Te, centum celebris dux bone praeliis,
Teqve O cui labiis fluxit ab igneis
Pax et libera Veritas,

Ambos nox premit: at dum viget incluta
Virtus, dum Pietas Martis opus dolet,
Qvo vitam eximiam funere clauserint
Nativae recinent lyrae.

H. J. H.

Alcides.

Alcides thus his race began:
O'er infancy he swiftly ran:

The future god at first was more than man.
Dangers and toils and Juno's hate

E'en o'er his cradle lay in wait,

And there he grappled first with fate:

In his young hand the hissing snakes he pressed; So early was the deity confessed.

Thus by degrees he rose to Jove's imperial seat: Thus difficulties prove a soul legitimately great.

DRYDEN.

The Narcissus.

I saw the pride of all the meadow,
At morn a gay narcissus blow
Upon a river's bank, whose shadow

Bloomed in the silver waves below.
By noontide's heat its youth was wasted,

The waters as they passed complained;
At eve its glories all were blasted,

And not one former grace remained.
While the mild rose, more safely growing
Low in the unaspiring vale,
Amidst retirement's shelter blowing,

Long sheds its sweetness on the gale.

COWPER.

̓Αλκείδας.

̓Απὸ βαλβίδων τοιόνδ ̓ ἔλαχεν
δρόμον ̓Αλκείδας, ἀταλᾶς ἅβας
ταχὺ τέρμ ̓ ἀνύσας· ἦν δ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ὁ μέλλων
θεὸς ἐξ ἀρχᾶς κρεῖσσόν τι βροτοῦ·
τί γάρ, ὅντινα πῆμ ̓ ἐπιμαστίδιον
μόχθοι τ ̓ ἐλόχων χὡ κότος Ηρας·
καί νιν Μοίραις πρῶτ ̓ ἀντίπαλον
σπάργαν ̓ ἐδέρχθη
νεαρὸν νεαραῖς σύριγμ ̓ ὄφεων
χερσὶ δαμάζονθ'· ὧδε νεογνὸς
δείξας θεὸς ὤν, ὧδ ̓ ὑψίβατον
Ζηνὸς προσέβα χρόνιος θάκημ ̓·
ὧδ ̓ ὁ πόνος του

λῆμα κατ' αἶσαν μέγ ̓ ἐλέγχει.

R. S.

Narcissus.

Forte ego narcissum, nec pulcrior adfuit alter,
Vidi laeta novo pandere serta die.
Fronte super rivum gracili pendebat; imago
In liqvido pendens est iterata sinu.
Sole tamen medio floris marcere iuventas

Coeperat, et tremulo murmure lympha qveri. Et vergente die male provida serta petenti Nulla venustatis signa prioris erant. Sed rosa, non alios Phoebi passura calores, In magis umbrosa se reserarat humo. Est ea suavis adhuc, et basia provocat aurae, Qvae tenet obscurum, tutior inde, locum.

W. E. E.

The Coward Lover.

Faint amorist! What, dost thou think
To taste Love's honey, and not drink
One drop of gall? or to devour

A world of sweet, and taste no sour?
Dost thou ever think to enter

Th' Elysian fields, that dar'st not venture
In Charon's barge? A lover's mind

Must use to sail with every wind.

P. S.

Segnis Amans.

Sic tibi, segnis amans, qvod dulcia tingat acerbis,
Felle qvod inficiat mella, cavetur Amor?
Elysium speras, et abhorres lintre Charontis?
Nulla pati non sit flabra paratus amans.

K.

Omnipotence.

Beneath thy all-directing nod

Both worlds and worms are equal, God.
Thy hand the comet's orbit drew,
And lighted yonder glowworm too.
Thou didst the dome of heaven build up,
And form yon snowdrop's silver cup.

Creatio.

Rerum summe Parens, tuae bilances
Mundos lege pari librantqve vermes.
Quae scripsit manus orbitam cometae,
Et lampyridi tradidit lucernam.
Caeli tu rutilum lacunar idem
Et lili niveam creas corollam.

BOWRING.

K.