Sævit hiems late, et brumæ intractabilis horror—
Quocunque aspiciunt, nix undique et undique cœlum.
Maximus interea Borealem deserit axem
Visa micare polo, et rapidis tremere excita flammis.
Cur tamen expediam, longæ queis tædia brumæ
Solati ludis fuerint studiisve Britanni?
Quantaque defessas recrearint gaudia mentes,
Expectata diu cum prima rubescere cœlo
Aurora inciperet? Jamjam, splendore corusco
Paullatim assurgens, totum sol aureus orbem
Protulit. Uno omnes solem clamore salutant;
Una omnes lætis optatum lumen ocellis
Excipiunt, et vix possunt se explere videndo.
Accipiunt redduntque ; et victus sponte ministrant ;
Cervorumque ferunt, velamina mollia, pelles.
1 These lights are called by mariners "the merry-dancers."
Namque per ingentem variè dispergitur Arcton Gens effræna virum,-ignavi gens inscia luxus. Illi, inter brumam, concretis moenia crustis Ædificant, niveoque domus fundamine tollunt.
Hic studium, seros hybernæ ad lampadis ignes,
Spicula conficere et duris hastilia lignis,
Retiaque implicitis subtilia texere nodis.
At steriles campos cum ver geniale resolvit,
Continuo læti sese effudere per arva,
Venandoque feras urgent, cursuque fatigant.
Sic ubi formicas hiemalibus elicit antris
Dulce jubar Phoebi; varius labor occupat omnes;
Undique fervet opus, nigrumque extenditur agmen.
Præterea pisces ac monstra natantia ponti
Illi audent jaculis dubiâque lacessere pugnâ:
Et vigilant stantes glaciali in littoris orâ;
Unde, per adversam cetus cum volvitur undam,
Ilicet ingentem, qui proximus, injicit hastam.
Corripuit pelagus torquens se vulnere monstrum,
Attollitque globos undarum, atque erigit albas
Oceani spumas cauda; sævitque ruitque,
Pone trahens totum vasta cum mole profundum.
At quoties maris e barathro consurgit ad auras,"
Turba virûm in cymbis passim dispersa per æquor
Crebrius ingeminant ictus: dum bellua tandem'
Purpuream evomuit multo cum sanguine vitam,
Extremo exsiliens nisu: quem sensit ab imis
Fluctibus, et tremulo in sese mare confluit æstu.
Jam vero interea, solido dum stricta rigescit
Unda gelu, inclusos studii diversa Britannos
Cura tenet: variis recreant pars corpora ludis;
Pars etiam informes phocas ursasque sequuntur,
Atque onerant humeros spoliis, prædamque reportant.
At subito, ludos inter mediosque labores,
Omnibus audiri fragor ingens: visa repente
Horrifico moti strepitu ruere atria cœli !
Scilicet, irruptis late divulsa ruinis,
Undique dissiluit stricti tota area campi!
Exultare viri, et lætas ad sidera voces
Tollere," Io," clamant," tandem via panditur alto!
“Clausa diu, tremulo rursus sub lumine Phœbi
"Unda salit: liquidoque natant in marmore puppes."
Nulla mora est, cunctos idem simul excitat ardor:
Ilicet arripuere viam: plausuque secundo
Vela parant reduces, et ventis carbasa pandunt.
Quanta tamen cunctis pertentat corda voluptas
Cum procul optatam per cærula marmora terram
Prospiciunt, notumque mari consurgere littus?
Aspice jam portus sese venientibus offert;
Jam secura quies, finisque et meta laborum !
Sic magnus rediit post tot discrimina rerum
Parrius æternos famæ sibi nactus honores,
Qui socios tandem per magna pericula ponti1
Duxerat in patriam incolumes: Arctoaque regna,
Littoraque, ingentesque sinus, tractusque latentes,
Et prius ignotas orbi detexerat oras!
THOMAS EVANS,
Reg. Schol. Salop. Alumnus.
1 "To have established the much-contested existence of a Polar Sea; finally, after wintering eleven months, to have brought back his crew in a sound and vigorous state; were enough to raise his fame above that of any former Arctic voyager."-Cf. Leslie's "Polar Seas and Regions."
MACBETH. ACT II. SCENE I.
Go, bid thy mistress, when my drink is ready,
She strike upon the bell.-Get thee to bed.
Is this a dagger, which I see before me,
The handle towards my hand? Come, let me clutch thee:
I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.
Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible
To feeling, as to sight? or art thou but
A dagger of the mind-a false creation,
Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?
I see thee yet, in form as palpable
As this which now I draw.
Thou marshal'st me the way that I was going,
And such an instrument I was to use.
Mine eyes are made the fools o' the other senses,
Or else worth all the rest. I see thee still
And on thy blade and dudgeon, gouts of blood,
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