TO CERES.

CERES, most bounteous lady, thy rich leas

Of wheat, rye, barley, vetches, oats and pease;
Thy turfy mountains, where live nibbling sheep,
And flat meads thatched with stover, them to keep:

Thy bank with pionied and twilled brims,

Which spungy April at thy hest betrims,

To make cold nymphs chaste crowns; and thy broom

groves,

Whose shadow the dismissed bachelor loves,

Being lass-lorn; thy pole clipt vineyard;

And thy sea-marge sterile and rocky-hard,

Where thou thyself dost air-the queen o' the sky,
Whose watery arch, and messenger am I,

Bids thee leave these; and with her sovereign grace,
Here on this grass-plot, in this very place,

To come and sport: her peacocks fly amain;
Approach, rich Ceres, her to entertain.

SHAKESPEARE.

CHARLEY.

CHARLEY loves good ale and wine,
And Charley loves good brandy,
And Charley loves a pretty girl,
As sweet as sugar candy.

GAMMER GURTON.

1

AD CEREREM.

DIVA Ceres, opulenta, tibi hæc Junonia longe
Jussa fero, cujus liquidis in nubibus Iris
Ipsa per ætherios labor prænuntia tractus.
Jamne tuas multa vibrantes messe novales,
Triticeamque ultro segetem, viciamque, fabamque,
Linquis, et erectæ penetrabile culmen avenæ?
Jamne tuos montes, ovium et rodentia sæcla,
Et, tutela vagi pecoris, quæ plurima sepes
Implicitis planos distinxit cratibus agros?
Jamne et ripicolas fluviorum in margine flores,
Lilia, pæoniamque, Aprilia dona, rubentem,
Usum in nympharum, et nuribus redimicula castis?
At neque te multo vindemia consita palo,
Quæque genistarum læsis stat amantibus umbra,
Detineat; nec litus iners scruposaque saxa,
Equoris in scatebris ubi mollia frigora captas.
Sic Regina jubet, tecum hæc viridaria ludo
Quæ terere et dulces dignatur inire choreas.
At bijugis actos pavonibus aspice currus!
Ipsa veni, Dominamque pio, Diva, accipe vultu.

C. M.

CAROLI DELICIÆ.

CAROLUS acer amat cerevisia vina, merumque
Carolus, et quotquot fortia et uda simul;
Carolus egregiam formosa fronte puellam,
Et dulcem, ut succus quem sua canna parit.

F. H.

EVENING.

HAIL meek eyed maiden, clad in sober grey, Whose soft approach the weary woodman loves, As homeward bent to kiss his prattling babes, Jocund he whistles through the twilight groves.

When Phoebus sinks behind the gilded hills,

You lightly o'er the misty meadows walk; The drooping daisies bathe in honey dews,

And nurse the nodding violet's tender stalk.

The panting Dryads that in day's fierce heat
To inmost bowers and cooling caverns ran,
Return to trip in wanton evening dance;

Old Silvan too returns, and laughing Pan.

To the deep wood the clamorous rooks repair,

Light skims the swallow o'er the watery scene; And from the sheep-cote and fresh furrowed field Stout ploughmen meet, to wrestle on the green.

The swain, that artless sings on yonder rock,

His supping sheep and lengthening shadow spies; Pleased with the cool, the calm, refreshful hour,

And with hoarse humming of unnumbered flies.

VESPERA.

TE placido vultu glaucaque in veste, Puella,
Leniter ingressam fessus arator amat :

Ille domum repetens balbæ parat oscula proli,
Et nemorum tenebris omnia læta canit.

Cum sub purpureos condit sol lumina montes,
Tu levis incedens prata vapore tegis,
Lilia mellifero perfundis rore per herbam,
Nutantem violam tu fragilemque foves.

Quæ Dryades trepidæ fugerunt solis anheli
Spelunca in tacita vim gelidoque cavo,
Lasciva properant reduces saltare chorea,
Pan quoque Silvano cum sene festus adest.

Ecce! lacus placidos circumvolat ales hirundo,
Cornices siluas, garrula turba, petunt;

A grege composito sulcoque recente coloni
Certatum in viridi congrediuntur humo.

Aspicit exercens pastor sine lege Camœnam, Conantum ut pecudum longior umbra cadat; Illum etiam gelidi tranquilla silentia mulcent

Temporis, et rauco plurima musca sono.

Now every passion sleeps; desponding Love,
And pining Envy, ever-restless Pride;
A holy calm creeps o'er my peaceful soul,
Anger and mad Ambition's storms subside.

O modest Evening! oft let me appear

A wandering votary in thy pensive train; Listening to every wildly-warbling throat

That fills with farewell sweet thy darkening plain.

ANON.

FROM THE ORIGINAL OPPOSITE.

SING a song of sixpence,

A pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty blackbirds
Baked in a pie :

When the pie was opened

The birds began to sing;
Was not that a dainty dish
To set before the King?

The King was in the parlour
Counting out his money;
The Queen was in the kitchen
Eating bread and honey;
The maid was in the garden
Hanging out the clothes:

Down came a blackbird

And carried off her nose.

GAMMER GURTON.