191 INSTABILITY OF HUMAN LIFE ΟΥΔΕΝ ἐν ἀνθρώποισι μένει χρῆμ ̓ ἔμπεδον αἰεί, ἓν δὲ τὸ κάλλιστον Χῖος ἔειπεν ἀνήρ· ‘οἷη περ φύλλων γενεή, τοιήδε καὶ ἀνδρῶν· στέρνοις ἐγκατέθεντο· πάρεστι γὰρ ἐλπὶς ἑκάστῳ, SIMONIDES 192 ON THE SHORTNESS OF MAN'S LIFE AND THE MISERIES OF OLD AGE ἩΜΕΙΣ δ ̓ οἷά τε φύλλα φύει πολυανθέος ὥρη τοῖς ἴκελοι πήχυιον ἐπὶ χρόνον ἄνθεσιν ἥβης πολλὰ γὰρ ἐν θυμῷ κακὰ γίγνεται· ἄλλοτε οἶκος ἄλλος νοῦσον ἔχει θυμοφθόρον· οὐδέ τις ἔστιν MIMNERMVS 195 196 FAIR AIR marble, tell to future days REQVIESCAT AIR is her cottage in its place, FAIR where yon broad water sweetly glides; it sees itself from thatch to base dream in the sliding tides. And fairer she, but ah how soon to die! to some more perfect peace. Jo THE CRUSADER'S RETURN OY to the fair!-thy knight behold, A. TENNYSON no wealth he brings, nor wealth can need, his lance and sword to lay him low; Joy to the fair! whose constant knight where meet the bright and noble train; SIR W. SCOTT 197 198 199 THE WISH OF DR CYRIL JACKSON MIGHT gently wear my wife away, not moiled by wealth or power's imperial sway! but rather in some sweet sequestered nook, uttering plain comments on the Holy Book: with modest glebe and tithes paid uncompelled, and not in title only 'reverend' held! And O the Greek, the Roman Muse be mine! THIS F. WRANGHAM EPITAPH ON A YOUNG LADY HIS humble grave though no proud structure grace, yet truth and goodness sanctify the place: yet blameless virtue that adorned thy bloom, lamented maid, now weeps upon thy tomb: escaped from life, O, safe on that calm shore where sin and pain and passion are no more! what never wealth could buy nor power decree, regard and pity wait sincere on thee: lo! soft remembrance drops a pious tear and holy friendship sits a mourner here. WHEN EUTHANASIA D. MALLET HEN Time or soon or late shall bring Oblivion, may thy languid wing wave gently o'er my dying bed! No band of friends or heirs be there, to feel or feign decorous woe. But silent let me sink to earth with no officious mourners near: LORD BYRON 200 201 202 EE how the day beameth brightly before us! blue is the firmament, green is the earth: grief hath no voice in the universe-chorus; nature is ringing with music and mirth: enter the treasuries pleasure uncloses; list, how she thrills in the nightingale's lay: breathe, she is wafting the sweets from the roses: feel, she is cool in the rivulet's play: taste, from the grape and the nectarine gushing flows the red rill in the beams of the sun: green in the hills, in the flower-groves blushing, look! she is always and everywhere one. THE HARPER AS! the fervent harper did not know ALAS! that for a tranquil soul the lay was framed, Love had he found in huts where poor men lie; the sleep that is among the lonely hills. In him the savage virtue of the race, revenge and all ferocious thoughts were dead: I HAPPINESS OF THE SHEPHERD'S LIFE ENVY not the mighty great, who settle nations as they please, 203 TO AN UNFORTUNATE WOMAN WHOM THE AUTHOR HAD KNOWN IN THE DAYS OF HER INNOCENCE YRTLE-LEAF that, ill besped, MYRTLE-LEAF pinest in the gladsome ray, soiled beneath the common tread When the partridge o'er the sheaf sad I saw thee, heedless leaf, Gaily from thy mother-stalk wert thou danced and wafted high— soon on this unsheltered walk flung to fade, to rot and die. S. T. COLERIDGE 204 THE varying year with blade and sheaf here rests the sap within the leaf; to spirits folded in the womb. on every slanting terrace lawn; the fountain to his place returns |