XXXIV.

Vincula sponte decidunt. Act. xii. 7.

Qui ferro Petrum cumulas, durissime custos,
A ferro disces mollior esse tuo.

Ecce fluit, nodisque suis evolvitur ultro:

I, fatue, et vinc'lis vincula pone tuis.

The chains spontaneously fall off.

Who loadest him with chains, thou jailer stern,

To be more kind e'en from those chains shalt learn.

Lo, they dissolve, and their own knots untie.

G.

Go, fool, and chains with chains to fetter try.

XXXV.

IN DIEM OMNIUM SANCTORUM.

Ne laedite terram, neque mare, neque arbores, quousque obsigna-
verimus servos Dei nostri in frontibus suis. Rev. vii, 3.
Nusquam immitis agat ventus sua murmura, nusquam
Sylva tremat, crispis sollicitata comis.

Acqua Thetis placide allabens ferat oscula Terrae ;
Terra suos Thetidi pandat amica sinus :
Undique pax effusa piis volet aurea pennis,

Frons bona dum signo est quaeque notata suo.
Ah, quid in hoc opus est signis aliunde petendis?
Frons bona sat lacrymis quaeque notata suis.

On All-Saints' Day.

Let wind with murmurs harsh nowhere be heard;
Nowhere wood tremble, its curl'd tresses stirr'd.

Calm-flowing Sea greet Earth with kisses bland,
Earth unto Sea its bosom kind expand.

Let holy Peace on golden pinions steal,

Till each blest brow is mark'd with its own seal.
Ah, why elsewhere for this, need signs be sought?
To each blest brow tears seal enough have brought.
R. WI.

XXXVI.

In die Conjurationis sulphureae.

Quam bene dispositis annus dat currere festis!
Post omnes Sanctos omne scelus sequitur.

Upon the Powder-day.

How fit our well-rank'd Feasts do follow!

All-mischiefe comes after All-Hallow.1

CR.

XXXVII.

Deus sub utero Virginis. Luc. i. 31.

Ecce tuus, Natura, pater; pater hic tuus hic est:
Ille, uterus matris quem tenet, ille pater.

Pellibus exiguis arctatur Filius ingens,

Quem tu non totum, crede, nec ipsa capis. Quanta uteri, Regina, tui reverentia tecum est, Dum jacet hic coelo sub breviore Deus! Conscia divino gliscunt praecordia motu,

Nec vehit aethereos sanctior aura polos.

1 Query Is there a punning-play on Judas'' All Hail' (i.e. All Hallow) before the Betrayal? G.

Quam bene sub teeto tibi concipiuntur eodem
Vota, et, vota cui concipienda, Deus!
Quod nubes alia, et tanti super atria coeli

Quaerunt, invenient hoe tua vota domi.
O tehx anima hace, quae tam sua gaudia tangit!
Sub conclave suo eni suus ignis adest.
Corpus amet, licet, illa suum, neque sidera malit:
Quod vine'lum est aliis, hoe habet illa domum.
Sola jace, neque sola; toro quocumque recumbis,
positi tuque tuusque toro.

Immo ubi ca ta tuo posita es cum conjuge conjunx ; Quod munum magis est, es tuus ipsa torus.

God on the Virgin's womb.

Thy Father, Nature, here thy Father see:
Whom womb of mother holds, thy Father He.
Scant feguments the mighty Son enchain,
Whom thou thyself not wholly dost contain.

What reverence, Queen, to thine own womb is given,
While God hes here beneath a lesser heaven!
Withered motion swells her conscious breast;
Nor are the pole, upborne by airs more blest.
'Neath the same roof are well conceiv'd by thee
and the God to whom vows offer'd be.

"

What other prayers o'er clouds and sky's vast bound
Neck, by thy prayer, this will at home be found.
Ble foul, o nigh to thy supreme desire,

To which 'neath its own shrine dwells its own fire.

She may her body love, nor heaven prefer:
What chains down others is a home to her.

Lone, yet not lone, where'er thou dost recline;

On that same couch are laid both thou and thine.
Nay, when with thy chaste spouse, chaste wife thou'rt

laid

More strange, thyself thine own blest couch art made. R. WI.

XXXVIII.

Ad Judaeos mactatores Stephani. Act. vii. 59.

Frustra illum increpitant, frustra vaga saxa: nec illi
Grandinis, heu, saevae! dura procella nocet.

Ista potest tolerare, potest nescire; sed illi,
Quae sunt in vestro pectore, saxa nocent.

To the Jews, murderers of St. Stephen.

Vainly ye cast stones, Jews; they give no shock:
Shower as the hail-storm, it is all in vain.

These he shall bear, and heed not: 'tis the rock

Of your obdurate hearts that gives him pain. G.

XXXIX.

D. Joannes in exilio. Rev. i. 9.

Exul, amor Christi est: Christum tamen invenit exul :

Et solitos illic invenit ille sinus.

Ah, longo, aeterno ah terras indicite nobis

Exilio, Christi si sinus exilium est.