6 JUNE 1896, Page 17

POETRY.

Yates ? quid orat, de paters thought of forming novum This library, and lo!

opimae temple-warming. Apollinem To keep your memory green I Fundens liquorem P Non Behold me drinking at your Sardiniae segetea feraces, If then you wish to testify your gratitude, Let me define my wants in their extremest latitude. Non aestuosae grata Calabria° Armenta, non aurum nut ebur Indicum, Non runs, quae Liris quiets Mordet aqua taciturnus amnia.

Premant Calms falce, quibus dedit Fortuna, vitem ; dives at aureis Mercator exsiccet culullis Vitus Syra reparata meree, Dis calms ipsis, quippe ter at quater Anno revisens aequor Atlanticum Impune. Me pascunt olivae, Me cichorea levesque malvae.

Frui paratis et valid° mihi, Latoo. dones, et precor integra, Cum mente ; nee turpem senet.tam Degere, nee cithara carentem.

I crave not Britain's beeves, Nor yet New Zealand's ad- mirable mutton :

For rich Columbia's sheaves I do not care one solitary button : Nor should I feel the very faintest pleasure In "mopping up the Transvaal" and its golden treasure.

I covet not the lead Trellised by rich Oportes purple clusters : I would not " jump the Rand," Backed by a troop of brawny filibusters: Nor do I think it very greatly matters

Whether I dine off golden plate or simple wooden platters. • Let others scour the seas In gorgeous pleasure yacht Or swift Cunarder :

Content with bread and cheese No costly tax I levy on my larder:

Preferring simple salads of tomato To all the sumptuous banquets of the great Barnato.

Give me but strength to chew Each mouthful two and thirty times precisely— Read Dante through and through,

And I shall hold that I am doing nicely, Breathing a pure, bucolic, bland, Virgilian air Untasted by your squalid, striving, scheming, modern millionaire.

C. L. GRAVES.