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THE LILY AND THE ROSE.

1.

THE Nymph must lose her female friend,
If more admir'd than she-

But where will fierce contention end,
If flow'rs can disagree?

II.

Within the garden's peaceful scene
Appear'd two lovely foes,

Aspiring to the rank of queen,

The Lily and the Rose.

III.

The Rose soon redden'd into rage,
And swelling with disdain,
Appeal'd to many a poet's page,

To prove her right to reign.

IV.

The Lily's height bespoke command,
A fair imperial flow'r ;

She seem'd design'd for Flora's hand,
The sceptre of her pow'r.

V.

This civil bick'ring and debate

The goddess chanc'd to hear,

And flew to save, ere yet too late,
The pride of the parterre;
VI.

Yours is, she said, the nobler hue,
And yours the statelier mien :
And till a third surpasses you,
Let each be deem'd a queen

VII.

Thus, sooth'd and reconcil'd, each seeks

The fairest British fair,

The seat of empire is her cheeks,

They reign united there.

IDEM LATINE REDDITUM.

I.

HEU inimicitias quoties parit æmula forma,
Quam raro pulchræ pulchra placere potest?

Sed fines ultra solitos discordia tendit,
Cum flores ipsos bilis et ira movent.
II.

Hortus ubi dulces præbet tacitosque recussus,
Se rapit in partes gens animosa duas;
Hic sibi regales Amaryllis candida cultus,
Illic purpureo vindicat ore Rosa.

III.

Ira Rosam et meritis quæsita superbia tangunt, Multaque ferventi vix cohibenda sinu,

Dum sibi fautorum ciet undique nomina vatum, Jusque suum, multo carmine fulta, probat.

IV.

Altior emicat illa, et celso vertice nutat,
Ceu flores inter non habitura parem,
Fastiditque alios, et nata videtur in usus
Imperii, sceptrum, Flora quod ipsa gerat.

V.

Nec Dea non sensit civilis murmura rixæ,
Cui curæ est pictas pandere ruris opes.
Deliciasque suas nunquam non prompta tueri,
Dum licet et locus est, ut tueatur, adest.

VI.

Et tibi forma datur procerior omnibus, inquit ;
Et tibi, principibus qui solet esse, color;
Et donec vincat quædam formosior ambas,
Et tibi reginæ nomen, et esto tibi.

VII.

His ubi sedatus furor est, petit utraque nympham,
Qualem inter Veneres Anglia sola parit;

Hanc penes imperium est, nihil optant amplius, hujus Regnant in nitidis, et sine lite, genis.

THE POPLAR FIELD

THE poplars are fell'd, farewell to the shade,
And the whispering sound of the cool colonnade;
The winds play no longer and sing in the leaves,
Nor Ouse on his bosom their image receives.

Twelve years have elaps'd since I last took a view
Of my fav'rite field, and the bank where they grew,
And now in the grass behold they are laid,
And the tree is my seat, that once lent me a shade.

The blackbird has fled to another retreat,
Where the hazels afford him a screen from the heat,
And the scene, where his melody charm'd me before,
Resounds with his sweet-flowing ditty no more.

My fugitive years are all hasting away,
And I must ere long lie as lowly as thoy,

With a turf on my breast, and a stone at my head,
Ere another such grove shall arise in its stead

"Tis a sight to engage me, if any thing can,
To muse on the perishing pleasures of man ;

Though his life be a dream, his enjoyments, I see,
Have a being less durable even than he.*

IDEM LATINE REDDITUM.

POPULEÆ cecidit gratissima copia silvæ,
Conticuere susurri, omnisque evanuit umbra.
Nullæ jam levibus se miscent frondibus auræ,
Et nulla in fluvio ramorum ludit imago.

Hei mihi! bis senos dum luctu torqueor annos,
His cogor silvis suetoque carere recessu,
Cum sero rediens; stratasque in gramine cernens,
Insedi arboribus, sub queis errare solebam.

Ah ubi nunc merulæ cantus? Felicior illum
Silva tegit, duræ nondum permissa bipenni;
Scilicet exustos colles camposque patentes
Odit, et indignans et non rediturus abivit.

Sed qui succisas doleo succidar et ipse,
Et prius huic parillis quam creverit altera silva
Flebor, et, exequiis parvis donatus, habebo
Defixum lapidem tumulique cubantis acervum.

Tam subito periisse videns tam digna manere,
Agnosco humanas sortes et tristia fata-

Sit licet ipse brevis, volucrique simillimus umbræ,
Est homini brevior citiusque obitura voluptas.

*Mr Cowper afterwards altered this last stanza in the following manner :

The change both my heart and my fancy employs,
I reflect on the frailty of man, and his joys;
Short-liv'd as we are, yet our pleasures, we see,
Have a still shorter date, and die sooner than we.

VOTUM.

O MATUTINI rores, auræque salubres,
O nemora, et lætæ rivis felicibus herbæ,
Graminei colles, et amænæ in vallibus umbræ !
Fata modo dederint quas olim in rure paterno
Delicias, procul arte procul formidine novi,
Quam vellem ignotus, quod mens mea semper avebat,
Ante larem proprium placidam expectare senectam,
Tum demum, exactis non infeliciter annis,
Sortiri tacitum lapidem, aut sub cespide condi!

CICINDELA.

BY VINCENT BOURNE.

Sub sepe exiguum est, nec raro in margine ripe,
Reptile, quod lucet nocte, dieque latet.
Vermis habet speciem, sed habet de lumine nomen;
At prisca a fama non liquet, unde micet.
Plerique a cauda credunt procedere lumen ;
Nec desunt, credunt qui rutilare caput.
Nam superas stellas quæ nox accendit, et illi
Parcam eadem lucem dat, moduloque parem.
Forsitan hoc prudens voluit Natura caveri,
Ne pede quis duro reptile contereret.

Exiguam, in tenebris ne gressum offenderet ullus,
Prætendi voluit forsitan illa facem.

Sive usum hunc Natura parens, seu maluit illum,
Haud frustra accensa est lux, radiique dati.
Ponite vos fastus, humiles nec spernite, magni ;
Quando habet et minimum reptile, quod niteat.

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