Book 4.-Ode 7.-To Lucius Manlius Torquatus.
Now snows are quite dissolv'd, fresh

grass we see To fields returned, and leaves to every tree. Earth changeth hue; the swelling waters sink, And with soft current glide within their brink. Aglaia naked, dares upon the ground With nymphs and her two sisters dance around. Hope not in mortal things!-so years do say, So warn the hours, which circumvolve the day. Soft western winds on winter, mildness bring, Soon with'ring summer weareth out the spring, Then mellow autumn pours his fruit amain, And instantly dull winter 'turns again. Yet speedy moons these heavenly charms restore ; But when we hence depart, where gone before Rich Tullus, good Æneas, Ancus stay, We are but dust and shadows pass'd away !* Who knoweth whether the celestial powers Will add to this day's sum, to morrow's hours. Your greedy heir in nothing shall have part Of what your living gave with bounteous heart, But when you once are dead, and powers divine, you an equal sentence shall assign;

Το

Nor blood, Torquatus then, nor fluent vein,
Nor piety, can life restore again!
For neither chaste Hippolitus, was free
By Dian sent, from hell's obscurity;
Nor for his dear Pyrithous, the pains
Of Theseus could dissolve Lethean chains.

* The moon renews her orb with growing light,
But when we sink into the depths of night,
Where all the good, the rich, the brave are laid,

Our best remains are ashes and a shade. —(FRANCIS.) To convey the beauty of the original is impossible, but Francis departs entirely from the literal meaning.

E

Liber IV.-Carmen XII.-Ad Virgilium.

Jam veris comites, quæ mare temperant,
Impellunt animæ lintea Thraciæ:

Jam nec prata rigent, nec fluvii strepunt
Hiberna nive turgidi:

Nidum pmit, Ityn flebilitur gemens,
Infelix avis, et Cecropia domus
Eternum opprobrium; quod male barbaras
Regum est ulta libidines:

Dicunt in tenero gramine pinguium

Custodes ovium carmina fistula ;

Delectantque Deum, cui pecus et nigri
Colles Arcadia placent.

Adduxere sitim tempora, Virgili:
Sed pressum Calibus ducere Liberum
Si gestis, juvenum nobilium cliens,

Nardo vina merebere :

Nardi parvus onyx eliciet cadum,
Qui nunc Sulpitiis accubat horreis,
Spes donare novas largus, amaraque
Curarum eluere efficax.

Ad quæ

si properas gaudia, cum tua Velox merce veni: non ego te meis Immunem meditor tingere poculis,

Plena dives ut in domo.

Verum pone moras et studium lucri ; Nigrorumque memor, dum licet, ignium, Misce stultitiam consiliis brevem:

Dulce est desipere in loco.

Book 4.-Ode 12.-To Virgilius.

South winds the spring attending still,
Now becalm and sails do fill :

Now frosts make not the meadows hoar,
Nor winter's snow-swoln rivers roar.
The luckless bird her nest doth frame,
Bewailing Itys, and the shame

Of Cecrop's house, and that so ill,
On king's rude lust she wrought her will,
The shepherds of rich flocks rehearse,
And to their pipes chaunt rural verse :
Seeking his god-head to appease,
Whom flocks and hills Arcadian please.
These times do thirsty seasons send ;
But if thou Virgil, Cæsar's friend,
Calenian wines desir'st to try,
To me with fragrant unguents hie,
And purchase with a little box,
Wine which Sulpitius safely locks,
New hopes most powerful to create,
And bitter cares to dissipate :
To which content if thou agree,
Stay not, but quickly come to me :
I'll not free cost my cups carouse,
As rich men in a plenteous house.
Then leave delays and gain's desire,
And mindful of black funeral fire,
Short folly mix with councils best,
'Tis sweet sometimes to be in jest.

SIR JOHN MENNES.

BORN 1598.-DIED 1670.

"Sir John Suckling, SIR JOHN MENNES, and Prior, are all of one school."

(POPE, as reported by Spence.)

SANDWICH in Kent, one of the most distinguished of the five ancient maritime towns, has been in all ages a nursery of those brave men, who, by their enterprize, have extended the bounds of knowledge, and increased the sum of national wealth;-by their skill, united with undaunted courage, have conquered and preserved to their country the absolute dominion of the ocean, and elevated her to the highest rank in the scale of nations; and, what is of far greater importance to their fellow citizens, have by repelling hostile invasion, preserved them from war and its horrors which have in succession visited every other community of people on the surface of the globe. If for ages the sound of cannon in the hands of foreign enemies has not been heard within the vallies of Britain, the sole and efficient cause has been the conduct of her seamen ;-and if there be any one class of men superior to all others, to which the meed of British praise and the debt of British gratitude, are pre-eminently due, it is that of her naval heroes,

Sir John Mennes was the third son of Andrew Mennes, Esq. of Sandwich, in Kent, by his second wife, Jane Blechenden, and born at that town May the 11th, 1598. His father being in good circumstances, he received a liberal education, and in due time was removed to Oxford, and placed at Corpus Christi College. He devoted himself to the sea service, and during a long life rendered himself conspicuous for his enterprise and knowledge of maritime affairs, his loyalty and his wit, and general literary attainments.

successor was ap

Durin the grand

He held a place in the navy-office during the reign of James the First, and in that of his pointed Comptroller of the Navy. rebellion as it is called, he took an active part both naval and military in favour of the crown, and was honoured with the dignity of knighthood at Dover in 1641, being at that time a Vice-Admiral. In the following year he commanded a ship called the "Rainbow” but was soon afterwards displaced from command by the authorities then in power, on account of his attachment to the unfortunate King. His name occurs in the account of the Kentish insurrection in favor of the King which took place in 1648, but how far he was actually engaged does not appear.

*

At the restoration he was reinstated in his office of Chief Comptroller of the Navy, and Charnock asserts,* but probably erroneously, made Governor of Dover Castle. In 1661, he was appointed to command a ship named the "Henry," and received a commission to act as Vice-Admiral and Commander in Chief of

# Biograph, Nav, 1. 61.