IMITATION OF HORACE,

AND OTHER POEMS.

We have not room for a poetical composition of any length, although we have many lying by us, ready for insertion. But our readers may expect some poetry; or something in the shape of light and amusing composition, which, if not poetry, is, at least, written in rhyme. We, therefore, publish the following parody of Horace; and the more willingly, as we have just been speaking of the sea and watering-places. One of the other short pieces is founded on a fact, which occurs but too often; and where the fault, we are afraid, is far more frequently on the side of man, than of woman. The remaining two have the merit of expressing those feelings, which every man must feel, who loves his country, and is separated from it.

HORAT. Lib. I., Od. 3.

Sic te Diva potens Cypri,
Sic patres Helenæ, lucida sidera,
Ventuumque regat pater,
Obstrictis aliis præter Iapyga;
Navis! quæ tibi creditum

Debes Virgilium, finibus Atticis

Reddes incolumem, precor;
Et serves animæ dimidium meæ !
Illi robur et æs triplex

IMITATION.

So may the Cyprian belles, who grace
The citizens' gay watering-place;
So may their fav'rites, mad to be
All stars of the first quality
So fashion aid thee, richly dight
With gilding fresh, and boiler tight,
And careless how the wind may blow,
Or east, or west, or high, or low,
Oh, steam-boat! as thou shalt restore
The pledge, which to thy deck I bore;
And safely land on Margate pier,
My best beloved, my Mary dear,
With form unwet, and baggage whole,
The half, and more than half, my soul!
Well was he cas'd in triple steel-
For men were yet untaught to feel
The comforts of a good cork-jacket-

Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci He, who first dared in ship or packet,

Commisit pelago ratem

Primus; nec timuit præcipitem

Aprium

Decertantem Aquilonibus,

Consign his sails and self together,
To treacherous seas, and raging wea-
ther:

But she, ah, heedless! did invest
Her flimsiest covering, and her best,
With nought from cold and rain to
fence her,

But muslin gown, and satin spencer,-
As, spite of nausea, storms, and wreck,

Nec tristes Hyadas, nec rabiem She stepped upon the steamer's deck.

Noti;

Quo non arbiter Adriæ

Yet feared she not the winds that

shiver

The trading craft, which line the river; Nor crowded boat; nor messmates puking

Major, tollere seu ponere vult freta. That plague past bearing or rebuking;

Quem mortis timuit gradum,
Qui fixis oculis monstra natantia;

Qui videt mare turgidum, et
Infames scopulos Acroceraunia?
Nequicquam Deus abscidit

Prudens Oceano dissociabili

Terras, si tamen impiæ

Whether above you choose to stride,
And view the banks on either side;
Or read, play cards, or scandal blab, in

The close confinement of the cabin.
What sights again shall her amaze
Who, with unflinching eye, could gaze
On Thames, with barge and barge-
men crown'd,

And little monsters bathing round?
Who saw the foaming waves, and how
They whiten round the steamer's prow;
Saw Greenwich park, the steep resort,
Where 'prentices at Easter sport;
And mighty Tilbury's famous fort;
With vain design, have grey-beards
sage

Non tangenda rates transiliunt vada. Made road and turn-pike, mail and

Audax omnia perpeti

stage;

And thought there should in justice be
The land for men, for fish the sea;

Gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas. If impious cits, with son and daughter,

Audax Iapeti genus

Will go to Margate still by water.
Presumptuous man still

dashes,

onward

Ignem fraude malâ gentibus intulit: Nor needs to M. or spur, or lashes.

Post ignem ætheriâ domo

PresumptuousWatt, with guileful aims,
Dared to the waves apply the flames;
With fire-engendered steam, dared

urge

Subductum, macies et nova febrium The vessel through the wondering

Terris incubuit cohors;

Semotique prius tarda necessitas

Lethi corripuit gradum

Expertus vacuum Dædalus aëra

Pennis non homini datis :

surge.
And since such treacherous use of fire,
Longings, and fevers of desire,
To know what things at sea befal,
Have seized the Cockneys one and all.
Once in dull hoy, with motion slow,
They reach'd it in six days, or so:
Now be the wind or foul or fair,
They in as many hours are there;
Unlike the common tardy smack,
Without a single pause, or tack,
The gallant steamer flies to Margate,

Perrupit Acheronta Herculeus labor: Straight as the ball unto the target.

Nil mortalibus arduum est,

Cœlum ipsum petimus stultitiâ, ne

que

Per nostrum patimur scelus

Iracunda Jovem ponere fulmina.

STANZAS, WRITTEN ABROAD.

THOUGH from his native land afar

His step the Briton bends;
Still there his country's glories are,
And are to him as friends.

There they protect him-there they seem
A mantle o'er him spread ;

A guardian spell-a sacred beam-
A radiance round his head.

In ev'ry clime, at ev'ry hour,
He walks in England's fame;
Safe in the shelter of her pow'r,
And honour'd in her name.

Or, borne o'er ocean, as the keels
Divide the sparkling foam,
That boundless main, he proudly feels,
Is but a Briton's home.

For to the world's remotest shore,

Old Albion's deeds are known ; And till its white waves roll no more, Shall Ocean seem her own.

Then must the Briton, though he strays

O'er distant seas or earth,

Find reason yet to love and praise
The land that gave him birth.

A TRUE TALE.

'TWAS when the birds of summer flock

To climes where warmer suns are glowing;

The waves dash'd loudly o'er the rock,
And fitfully the gale was blowing.

And ev'ning now was into night,

As autumn into winter fading:

One gallant vessel lay in sight,

With frequent steps its deck parading.