RUBECULAM

INVITATIO.

I.

HOSPES avis, conviva domo gratissima cuivis, Quam bruma humanam quærere cogit opem, Huc O! hyberni fugias ut frigora cœli, Confuge, et incolumis sub lare vive meo: Unde tuam esuriem releves, alimenta fenestræ Apponam, quoties itque reditque dies;

Usu etenim edidici, quod grato alimenta rependes Cantu, quæ dederit cunque benigna manus.

II.

Vere novo, tepidæ spirant cum molliter auræ,
Et suus in quavis arbore vernat honos,
Pro libitu ad lucos redeas, sylvasque revisas,
Læta quibus resonat musica parque tuæ :

But if another winter's blast

Should bring me back my guest again,

Again with music come prepar'd

Thy friendly host to entertain.

III.

The sacred power of harmony

In this its best effect appears,

That friendship in the strictest bands
It both engages and endears.
In music's ravishing delights

You feather'd race with men agree;

Of all the animated world

The only harmonists are we.

THE SNOW-DROP.

WITH head reclin'd, the snow-drop see!

The first of Flora's progeny,

In virgin modesty appear,

To hail and welcome in the year!

Sin iterum, sin forte iterum, inclementia brumæ

Ad mea dilectam tecta reducat avem,

Esto, redux, grato memor esto rependere cantu
Pabula, quæ dederit cunque benigna manus.

III.

Vis hinc harmoniæ, numerorum hinc sacra potestas
Conspicitur, nusquam conspicienda magis,
Vincula quod stabilis firmissima nectit amoris,
Vincula vix longâ dissocianda die.
Captat et incantat blando oblectamine musa
Humanum pariter pennigerumque genus ;

Nos homines et aves, quotcunque animalia vivunt,
Nos soli, harmoniæ gens studiosa sumus.

FLORE PRIMITIÆ.

VIRGINEUM casto caput en! recline pudore Flosculus ostentat, de nive nomen habens! Ecce! recens natum primus resalutet ut annum, Exerit e gelidâ se properanter humo !

Fearless of winter, it defies
The rigour of inclement skies,
And early hastens forth to bring
The tidings of approaching spring.

Though simple in its dress and plain,
It ushers in a beauteous train ;
And claims, how gaudy e'er they be,
The merit of precedency.

All that the gay or sweet compose,
The pink, the violet and the rose,
In fair succession as they blow,
Their glories to the snow-drop owe.

LOVE DISARMED.

BY MR. PRIOR.

BENEATH a myrtle's verdant shade,
As Chloe half asleep was laid,

Cupid perch'd lightly on her breast,
And in that heaven desir'd to rest:

Nec rigidi conterret eum inclementia coli,

Frigida nec Boreæ vis, hyemisque minæ ; Axe statim verso, quin protinus exit in auras, Veris ut instantis nuncia læta ferat.

Nativo quamvis cultu candoreque simplex,
Pulchrum illâ inducit simplicitate chorum,
Nec totidem veneres inter, quotcunque sequuntur,
Se primum dubitat promeruisse locum.

Quicquid enim tenerum spirant, vel amabile miscent,
Lilia, vel violæ, purpureæque rosæ,
Quique aliis alii succedunt floribus, omne
Ex uno excipiunt simplice flore decus.

AMOR INERMIS.

QUA myrtus ramis viridem contexuit umbram.
Diffusis, jacuit semisupina Chloe.

Huc tacito accessit tendens vestigia gressu,

Et furtim in molli pectore sedit amor.