MOLA JUVENTUTIS RESTAURATRIX.
Non agitur ventis, non est versatilis undis,
Versandæ toti sufficit unus homo.
Pyxis quadrati ex ligni compagine, summum
Inversi coni conficit instar opus.
Huc ope scalarum ascendens, de margine capsæ
Conjicitur præceps, ut juvenescat, anus.
Dum rota versatur, (credat, qui conspicit) exit
Juxta exspectanti pulchra puella proco.
Pulchra, decens, habilis-vetulæ hæc miracula cer
Et propere ad scalas, ut renoventur, eunt. Jam non in plateis, longa confecta senecta,
Hoc vetula exaudit triste, Memento mori, Si quam pervulgata fidem pictura meretur, Læta magis vox est illa, Memento Moli.
NIGRAS inter aves avis est, quæ plurima turres,
Antiquas ædes, celsaque fana colit.
Nil tam sublime est, quod non audace volatu,
Aëriis spernens inferiora, petit.
Quo nemo ascendat, cui non vertigo cerebrum
Corripiat, certe hunc seligit illa locum.
Quo vix a terra tu suspicis absque tremore,
Illa metus expers incolumisque sedet.
Lamina delubri supra fastigia, ventus
Qua cœli spiret de regione, docet ;
Hanc ea præ reliquis mavult, secura pericli,
Nec curat, nedum cogitat, unde cadat.
Res inde humanas, sed summa per otia, spectat,]
Et nihil ad sese, quas videt, esse videt.
Coucursus spectat, plateaque negotia in omni,
Omnia pro nugis at sapienter habet.
Clamores, quos infra audit, si forsitan audit,
Pro rebus nihili negligit, et crocitat.
Ille tibi invideat, felix cornicula, pennas,
Qui sic humanis rebus abesse velit.
THERE is a bird who by his coat,
And by the hoarseness of his note,
Might be suppos'd a crow ;
A great frequenter of the church,
Where bishop-like he finds a perch,
And dormitory too.
Above the steeple shines a plate,
That turns and turns, to indicate
From what point blows the weather,
Look up your brains begin to swim,
'Tis in the clouds-that pleases him,
He chooses it the rather.
Fond of the speculative height,
Thither he wings his airy flight,
And thence securely sees
The bustle and the raree-show
That оссиру mankind below,
Secure and at his ease.
You think, no doubt, he sits and muses
On future broken bones and bruises,
If he should chance to fall,
No not a single thought like that
Employs his philosophic pate,
Or troubles it at all.
He sees that this great roundabout
The world, with all its motley rout,
Church, army, physic, law,
Its customs and its businesses
Are no concern at all of his,
And says, what says he ?—Caw.
Thrice happy bird! I too have seen
Much of the vanities of men,
And sick of having seen 'em,
Would chearfully these limbs resign
For such a pair of wings as thine,
And such a head between 'em.
OMNIBUS ex oculis, quos ars invenit et usus,
Per quos conspicimus res prope, resque procul;
Commodius nihil est, nihil est præsentius illis,
Impositos naso quos fere quisque gerit.
Sunt, qui temporibus, ne balba e nare loquantur,
Affigi malunt hæc vitrea auxilia.
Sunt, quibus in dextra vitrum prætenditur unum;
Hi sunt ex illis, quos pudet esse senes.
Nemo sagax magis est exploratore novorum,
Cum vitra in naso gestet, in ore tubum :
His pollens armis, his adjutricibus armis,
Arcani nihil est, quod subolere nequit.
Adjumenta domi hæc si fors fortasse relinquat,
Frustra sub cubito biblia portat anus:
Excidit ex animo, nihilique est concio tota
Ni caput et versum, secum habet, unde notet,
Induit alternis psalmodus et exuit infra
Clericus, alternis ut legat, utque canat,
Pollice tunc habuit suspensa, obliqua tuenti
Cum niveum ostendit nympha sopora sinum.
* Vide picturam Gul. Hogarth, quæ sopitam lepidissime describit congregationem.
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