21 APRIL 1894, Page 16

POETRY.

THE HAWARDEN HORACE.

AD PLANTAGENISTAM.

MAECENAS atavis edite regibus, 0 et praesidinm et duke decus insure:

Sunt qnos curriculo pnlverem Olympicum Collegisse jnvat, metaque fer- vidis Evitata rotis palmaque nobilis Terrarum dominos evehit ad deos ; Hun° si mobilinm turba Quiri- tium Certat tergeminis tollere honori- bus ; Ilium, si proprio condidit horreo, Quidquid de Libycis verritur areis.

Gaudentem patrio findere ear- cubo Agros Attalicis conditionibus Nunquam dimoveas, ut trabe Cypria.

Myrtoum pavidns nauta secet mare.

Luctantem Icariis fluctibus Africum Mercator metnens otium et oppidi Landat rnra sui ; mox reficit rates Quassas indocilis pauperiem pati.

Est qui neo veteris pocula Massici

VERNON, whose lion pert and stately grace

Proclaim thee scion of a royal race !

Vernon, my strenuous hench- man, stout and true, Haat marked the diverse aims ' that men pursue ?

Some straddling hunchbacked o'er the "scorching wheel" In record-cutting all their joy- ance feel, Or hold the bounding prowess of a Fry Exalts the happy athlete to the sky.

Others, again, before the masses bow, And spend their time in plan- ning to endow Each yokel with three acres and a cow.

Others, again, unscrupulous modern Homers, Find bliss in making corn or cotton corners.

The Celts, who hunger for the land in fee, Let aliens reap the riches of their sea : While British tars, of wind and wave the sport, Pray, as they pitch and roll, for any port; Anon, defiant of a watery doom, Their iron " Resolution " they resume.

Some whom I know chase cob- webs from their brain.

By quaffing brimming bumpers of champagne ; While others, by capricious for- tune tried, Nee partena solid() demere de die Spernit, nun° viridi membra sub arbnto Stratus, num ad aquae lene c,aput sacrae.

Multos castra juvant et lituo tnbae Permixtus sonitus bellaque matribus Detestata. Menet sub Jove frigido Venator tenerae conjugis im- memor, Seu visa eat catulis cerva fideli- bus, Seu rupit teretes Manus aper plagas.

Me doctarum hederae pra,emia frontium Die miscent superis ; me gelidum nemus Nympharumque levee cum Saty- ris chori Secernunt popnlo, Si neque tibias Euterpe cohibet nec Polyhymnia Lesboum refugit tendere barbi- ton.

Quod si me lyricis vatibns inseres, Sublimi feriam sidera vertice. Prefer to "cultivate their own fireside."

The soldier's life still wields a potent spell,

Nor risk nor hardship can avail to quell; For, spite of Labonchere's paro- chial view, Our youth read Kipling, and admire Selous.

Sport claims its numerous votaries, who roam, Regardless of the ties of House or home, By flood and field, o'er moor]and heath, and crag, Their sole desire to make a goodly bag.

Me, late withdrawn from Down- ing's dusty street -To breezy Brighton's Tusculan. retreat, An ardent aspiration stirs and sways To win and wear the unawarded bays.

0 could I by some sweet and swanlike strain " Translate " myself unto that "higher plane' * Where Homer, Tennyson, and Horace reign 0 then, without one solitary pang, Could I afford to let Home-rule go hang, Pardon the Peers, and from my conquering car

Look down with brow elate on Sun and Star?

CHARLES L. GRAVES.