VOTUM.

Nec misere morbosum adeo delira senectus
Conterat, ut faciat me superesse mihi;
Morte minus sera potius mea concidat arbor,
Dum ramis aliquis succus et humor inest.
Equo animum imperio &c.

47

Nec prius accersam medicum, nec pharmacopolam; Quam prope jam summum clauserit hora diem. Totum ubi desumpsi panem, cyathumque supremum, Tum mihi subsignent, ilicet, ire licet.

Æquo animum imperio &c.

Forti atque impavido suprema ubi venerit hora,
Hoc mihi qui dicat, sit, repetatque Vale :
Mortuus es, cui nullum aut mane aut vespere, nullum
Aut siccum aut madidum, Pope, videbo parem.
Equo animum imperio &c.

f That I may die regularly, observing all the ceremonies, formalities, and punctualities: "A la coutume," which is, according to our barbarous translation, " To a cow's thumb."

g"

-Ultima semper

"Expectanda dies homini est, dicique beatus

"Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet." Ovid, If you tell an Italian, such a one is a rich, or happy man; he will reply, " Dammi lo morto," as much as to say, let me see him dead, and then it will be evident whether he is or not; before that, no true judgment is to be made.

Without any ▲ noise when I've pass'd o'er the stage,
And decently acted what part 1 fortune gave,

And put off my k vest in a chearful old age,
May a few honest fellows see me laid in my grave.
May I govern &c.

I care not, whether under a turf or a stone,
With any inscription upon it, or none :

If a thousand years hence, m Here lies W. P.
Shall be read on my tomb, what is it to me?
May I govern &c.

Yet one wish I add, for the sake of those "few
Who in reading these lines any pleasure shall take;
May I leave a good fame, and a sweet-smelling name.
Amen. Here an end of my wishes I make.

CHORUS.

May I govern my passion with an absolute sway, And grow wiser and better, as my strength wears away; Without gout or stone, by a gentle decay. W. POPE.

"Secretum iter, et fallentis semita vitæ." Hor. “Nec vixit male, qui natus moriensque fefellit." Idem. "Quem dederat cursum fortuna, peregi." Virg.

* My garments of flesh wherein I acted my part on the stage of the world; when the farce is done, and the curtain drawn.

"Cum mente; nec turpem senectam

"Degere, nec cithara carentem."

Hor.

The poet presumes he shall have a very short and

modest epitaph, if any: only the two first letters of his

name,

VOTUM.

Quam fortuna dedit, fabella ubi rite peracta,
Exierim scena clam, strepituque procul,

Et placidam exuerim, carnis cum veste, senectam,
Pulvere me comitum condat amica manus.

Equo animum imperio &c.

Me nil solicitat, saxone an cespite signer,
Nominet an tumulus me, sileatne, meus.
Mille ubi transierint anni, quæ tanta sequetur
Gloria, si forsan litera bina legar?
Equo animum imperio &c.

Si tamen hos versus, si quem legisse juvabit,
Hoc addo optatis, et superaddo nihil :
Dulcis honor virtutum, et odoræ gratia famæ,
Votique et vitæ terminus esto meæ.
CHORUS.

Equo animum imperio subigam, prudentior usu,
Ut carptim attenuor, rex dominusque mei.
Nec podagræ, nec lithiasis cruciatibus urar,
Sed sensim extinctus devehar ad tumulum.

n

-Non, ut me miretur turba, laboro, "Contentus paucis lectoribus.”

• "Quæ post fata venit gloria, şera venit."

Hor.

Mart.

49

Though fame will not concern me, after I am dead, yet

I wish for it, because it will be a pleasure to my surviv

ing friends:

Si quos" superesse volunt Di."

Hor.

If I do not (which has happened to many old men) outlive all my friends.

D

SWEET WILLIAM'S

FAREWELL TO BLACK-EY'D SUSAN.

ALL in the Downs the fleet was moor'd,
The streamers waving iu the wind,
When black-ey'd Susan came on board;
Oh! where shall I my true love find!

Tell me, ye jovial sailors, tell me true,
Does my sweet William sail among the crew ?

William, who high upon the yard,

Rock'd with the billows to and fro; Soon as her well-known voice he heard, He sigh'd, and cast his eyes below.

The cord slides swiftly through his glowing hands, And (quick as lightning) on the deck he stands.

So the sweet lark, high pois'd in air,

Shuts close his pinions to his breast,

(If, chance, his mate's shrill note he hear)
And drops at once into her nest.

The noblest captain in the British fleet,
Might envy William's lips those kisses sweet.

GULIELMUS

- SUSANNE VALEDICENS.

IN statione fuit classis, fusisque per auras
Ludere vexillis et fluitare dedit;

Cum navem ascendit Susanna; O dicite, nautæ,
Nostræ ubi deliciæ sunt? ubi noster amor?
Dicite vos, animi fortes, sed dicite verum,
Agminibus vestris num Gulielmus inest ?

Pendulus in summi Gulielmus vertice mali
Hinc agitabatur fluctibus, indé, maris;
Protinus, ut vocem bene notam audivit, ad infra
Præmisit gemitum, nec piger ipse sequi :
Vixque manu tangens funes, et præpete labels
Descensu, alati fulguris instar, adest.

Sic alto in cœlo tremulis se librat ut alis,
Si soci accipiat forsan alanda sonos,
Devolat extemplo; clausisque ad pectora penuis, I
In charæ nidum præcipitatur avis.
Basia, quæ Susanna suo perniisit amanti,
Navarcha optarit maximus esse sua.