Till at last having laboured, drudged early and late,
Bowed down by degrees, he bends to his fate;
Blind, old, and feeble, he tugs round a mill,
Or draws sand, till the sand of his hour-glass stands still.
And now cold and lifeless, exposed to the view,
In the very same cart which he yesterday drew,
While a pitying crowd his sad relics surrounds,
The high-mettled Racer is sold for the hounds.
THE BATTLE OF GLADSMUIR.
THE Battle of Gladsmuir, it was a noble stour,
And weel do we ken that our young Prince won :
The gallant Lowland lads, when they saw our tartan plaids,
Wheeled round to the right and away they run!
For Master Johnnie Cope, being destitute of hope,
Took horse for his life and left his men ;
In their arms he put nae trust, for he kenned it wa' just,
That the king should enjoy his ain agen.
LADYBIRD, ladybird, fly away home;
Your house is on fire, your children will burn.
Heu! multam ad noctem surgente a sole laborans
Paulatim extremam curarum vergit ad horam;
Cæcus enim et longa macie confectus et annis
Perpetuos ægre peragit sub verbere gyros:
Aut, sua dum Clepsydra vacet, trahit agmen aquarum ;
Supremumque cadens, vitalem ubi reddidit auram,
In plaustro, quod heri duxit, projectus eodem,
Circumfusa dolet dum lugubre turba cadaver,
Venditur impastis canibus lacerandus Arion.
QUAM pulcris in monte Gladi certavimus armis !
Non pugnam vicit Carolus ancipitem :
Campestres pueri, quum jam saga picta notassent,
Dextrorsum attoniti corripuere fugam.
Copus enim super arva, ollis inglorius exspes
Anteferens vitam, præpete currit equo;
Nil gladiis fisus, qui scibat jure potiri
Regem iterum sceptris imperioque suo.
PARVA rubens, Scarabæa, domum cito confuge pennis; Ardet enim domus hæc, ardebit parvula proles.
Ay, but to die, and go we know not where;
To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot:
This sensible warm motion to become
A kneaded clod; and the delighted spirit
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice;
To be imprison'd in the viewless winds,
And blown with restless violence round about
The pendent world; or to be worse than worst
Of those, that lawless and uncertain thoughts
Imagine howling-'tis too horrible !
The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age, ache, penury, and imprisonment
Can lay on nature, is a paradise
To what we fear of death.
NOTHING CAN COME OF NOTHING. THERE was an old woman called 'Nothing-at-all,' Who rejoiced in a dwelling exceedingly small; A man stretched his mouth to its utmost extent, And down at one gulp house and old woman went. GAMMER GURTON.
ATTAMEN hinc ruere, et cæcis incurrere fatis,
Mors ubi mundanam clauserit ista diem:
Hoc calidum torpere, putrescere; sensile sensu
Privari; et fieri flexile corpus iners:
Divinam rutilis animam se mergere in undis,
Ignea qua torret pestis, et atra sitis:
Aut arces inter septam morere nivales,
Qua bruma astricto diriget usta gelu;
Sive rapi ventis telluris moenia circum,
Vincula perpessam carceris aërii :
Agmina seu miserorum inter sine fine vagari,
Per vacuas cœli jussa ululare vias:
Horribile est!-salvete, humani vos mala mundi
Pessima, pauperies, vincla, senecta, labor!
Morte procul, mortisque metu, vos pignora adeste,
Vos comites vitæ, sit modo vita, meæ.
EX NIHILO NIL FIT
QUE 'Nihili-omnino' gaudebat nomine, tectis
Læta perexiguis se recreabat Anus:
Stabat hiulca Gigas expandens ora, domumque
Ah! simul et miseram contumulabat Anum.
From some green Eden of the deep,
Where Pleasure's sigh alone is heaved,
Where tears of rapture lovers weep,
Endeared, undoubting, undeceived;
From some sweet Paradise afar
Thy music wanders, distant, lost;
Where Nature lights her leading star,
And love is never, never crossed.
Oh! gentle gale of Eden bowers,
If back thy rosy feet should roam,
To revel with the cloudless Hours
In Nature's more propitious home,
Name to thy loved Elysian groves,
That o'er enchanted spirits twine,
A fairer form than Cherub loves,
And let that name be CAROLINE!
THE TRAVELLED PUSS.
PUSSY cat, pussy cat, where have you been?"
I've been to London to see the Queen.'
Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there?"
'I frightened a little mouse under the chair.'
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