Testaris Superos; fugis; ancillæque minaris;
Illa canit; gravior fit quoque gyrus aquæ.
Ingruit interea cum multo pulvere nimbus,
Et movet alternas sævus uterque vices.
Densior at cœlo cum tandem decidit imber,
Guttaque jam guttam continuata premit,
Femina per madidos festinat plurima vicos;
Admissas alias prompta taberna capit.
Quælibet expositas miratur Delia merces;
Et nihil empturæ cuncta licentur anus.
Comptus inurbanum metitur Pollio cœlum,
De conducendis ceu dubitaret equis:
Non lentis Phyale pedibus succincta laborat;
In latus umbellæ flumina mille furunt.
Hic varie ductos, variis qui partibus adstant,
Hospita colloquio congregat umbra pari;
Quique habet imperium regni, quique ardet habere;
Regnorum immemores si loca sicca petant.
Parte alia juvenis lectica vectus operta,
Dum sedet, effusas in caput horret aquas: En corium stridet, pluvias quod desuper arcet; Horrendus sonor est-intus et ille tremit.
Omnibus interea in plateis tumuere canales, Fertque simul prædam quæque cloaca suam;
They, as each torrent drives with rapid force,
From Smithfield to St Pulcre's shape their course;
And in huge confluence joined at Snowhill ridge,
Fall from the conduit prone to Holborn bridge.
Sweepings from butchers' stalls, dung, guts and blood,
Drowned puppies, stinking sprats, all drenched in mud,
Dead cats and turnip tops come tumbling down the flood.
SWIFT.
Too late I stayed, forgive the crime;
Unheeded flew the hours :
How noiseless falls the foot of Time
That only treads on flowers!
What eye with clear account remarks
The ebbing of the glass,
When all the sands are diamond sparks,
That dazzle as they pass?
Ah! who to sober measurement
Time's happy swiftness brings,
When birds of Paradise have lent
Their plumage to his wings?
Utque ruunt luteum per vicum impulsa tropæa,
Ipsa notant a queis partibus urbis eant.
Per Fora per totum violens fluit unda macellum;
Immensos aperit longa Suburra sinus;
Hic varia effoeti rapiuntur pignora vici,
Ilia percussi mista cruore bovis,
Piscesque, immundique canes, felesque, fimusque,
Stercus odoriferæ colluviesque viæ.
Sed mihi nec spatium est nec mens, ut singula narremCuncta simul tumidis rapta feruntur aquis.
DA veniam fasso; puduit, te absente, teneri—
Oblitus horarum fui:
Quam tacito incedit Tempus pede, nil nisi molles
Cum calce flores proterit !
Quis, sensim ut refluunt, ita grana fidelis ocellus
In vitreo notat globo,
Si gemmis splendet simul omnis arena minutis,
Nitore quæ fallunt suo?
Quis quod amat metitur opus celeremque volatum
Inter serena Temporis,
Cum Paradisiacæ plumæ suffuderit alis
Tempus colores aureos?
Which circle on the green,
Come follow Mab your queen:
Hand in hand let's dance around,
For this place is Faery ground.
When mortals are at rest,
And snoring in their nest,
Unheard and unespied
Through keyholes we do glide;
Over tables stools and shelves
We trip it with our Faery elves.
Upon a mushroom bed
Our table cloth we spread;
A grain of rye or wheat
Is manchet which we eat ;
Pearly drops of dew we drink
In acorn cups filled to the brink.
The brains of nightingales,
With unctuous fat of snails,
Between two cockles stewed,
Is meat that's easily chewed:
Tails of worms, and marrow of mice,
Do make a dish that's wondrous nice.
MABELLA REGINA.
EIA! omnes celeri gradu sequentes, Vos, quotquot Dryadum minutiorum Circum gramineum perambulatis, Reginam comitate vos Mabellam : Conjunctis manibus, choro rotundo, Sacrata saliamus hac in umbra.
Quum mortale genus, sopore victum,
Stertit pacifico toro recumbens,
Nos clavis cavitatem inire doctæ,
Quas non audiet aut videbit ullus;
Per mensas, abacos, scabella, turmæ
Saltamus Dryadum minutiorum.
Boleti caput en! torale nostrum
Apte sustinuit; levemque panem
Dat granum Cereris, levemque potum
Roris gutta, micans ut alba gemma,
In glandis cyatho satis capaci.
Quantum in luscinia latet cerebri,
Et testudinum adeps inunctiorum,
Cum binis cochleis perinde coctus,
Non est difficilis cibus molari:
Caudæ vermibus et medulla muri
Componunt epulas perelegantes.
|