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Cornell University Library PR 4728.G25H3 1897 The Hawarden Horace. 3 1924 013 459 650 p/^ H3 6 THE HAWARDEN HORACE By the same Author. ■ This delightful little volume.'— TAe Times. With an Introduction by T. E. Page, M.A. Small post 8vo. 3J. 6rf. MORE HAWARDEN HORACE. Unlike most sequels, "More Hawarden Horace " easily sustains the promise of Mr. Charles L. Graves's earlier imitations. There is the same facile dexterity in technique, the same ingenious selec- tion of analogies, the same softly-feathered flight of wit that hits the mark but leaves no wound.' — World. ' Reveals the same pretty wit and the same unerring sense of the things which are and the things which are not in good taste, as distinguished the preceding volume.' — Pall Mall Gazette. * Mr Graves's charming pieces.' — Spectator. London : SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 Waterloo Place, S.W. THE HAWARDEN HORACE BY CHARLES L. GRAVES AUTHOR OF 'the BLARNEY BALLADS' ' THE GREEN ABOVE THE RED* FOURTH EDITION LONDON SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE 1897 \.A II rights reserved^ % H- ie Gn^ NOTE Ten of the following pieces have appeared in the columns of the Spectator, from which they are reprinted by the kind permission of the editor. The remainder are now published for the first time. The rendering of Eheu fugaces (Od. II. 14) is from the pen of Mr. M. H. Temple, and that of Est mihi nonum (Od. IV. n) by Mr. E. V. Lucas. For permission to include their un- published versions in my collection, as well as for many emendations and helpful suggestions, I desire most cordially and gratefully to acknowledge my indebted- ness to these two friends. C. L. G. M- ^ Cornell University Mi kj Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92401 3459650 CONTENTS PACK Ad Plantagenistam 3 Ad Hibbrniam .... .... 9 Ad Morleium . 15 Ad Astrologi^ Amatorem 21 Ad Amicum . . 23 Ad Aristiden Obfuscatum 27 Ad Cyrillum Flosculum 33 Ad Vbritatis Cultorem 37 Ad Ciceronem Nostrum ... -41 Ad Milesium Gloriosum . . . • . 47 Ad Postremum Gengulphum • ■ • • 53 Ad Primulam Vulgarem . 57 Ad Crcesum Chicaginensem 65 Carmen AmceB/Bum 71 Ad C^ciliom Africanum 79 Ad Dorotheam . 87 THE HAWARDEN HORACE AD M^CENATEM MAECENAS atavis edite regibus, O et praesidium et duke decus meum, Sunt quos curriculo pulverem Olympicum CoUegisse juvat, metaque fervidis Evitata rotis palmaque nobilis Terrarum dominos evehit ad deos ; Hunc, si mobilium turba Quiritium Certat tergeminis toUere honoribus ; Ilium, si proprio condidit horreo, Quidquid de Libycis verritur areis. Gaudentem patrio findere sarculo Agros Attalicis conditionibus AD PLANTAGENISTAM Vernon, whose lion port and stately grace Proclaim thee scion of a royal race ! Vernon, my strenuous henchman, stout and true, Hast marked the diverse aims that men pursue ? Some straddling hunchbacked o'er the ' scorching ' wheel In record-cutting all their joyance 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 planning to endow Each yokel with three acres and a cow. Others, again, unscrupulous modern Horners, Find bliss in making corn or cotton corners. AD M^ECENATEM Nunquam dimoveas, ut trabe Cypria Myrtoum pavidus nauta secet mare. Luctantem Icariis fluctibus Africum Mercator metuens otium et oppidi Laudat rura sui ; mox reficit rates Quassas indocilis pauperiem pati. Est qui nee veteris pocula Massici Nee partem solido demere de die Spernit, nunc viridi membra sub arbuto Stratus, nunc ad aquae lene caput sacrae. Multos castra juvant et lituo tubse Permixtus sonitus bellaque matribus Detestata. Manet sub Jove frigido Venator tenerae conjugis immemor, Seu visa est catulis cerva fidelibus, AD PLANTAGENISTAM 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 cobwebs from their brain By quaffing brimming bumpers of champagne ; While others, by capricious fortune tried. Prefer to ' cultivate their own fireside.' The soldier's life still yields a potent spell, Nor risk nor hardship can avail to quell ; For, spite of Labouchere's parochial 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 moorland, heath and crag. Their sole desire to make a goodly bag. AD M^CENATEM Seu rupit teretes Marsus aper plagas. Me doctarum hederae prsemia frontium Dis miscent superis ; me gelidum nemus Nympharumque leves cum Sat5Tis chori Secernunt populo, si neque tibias Euterpe cohibet nee Polyhymnia Lesboum refugit tendere barbiton. Quod si me lyricis vatibus inseres, Sublimi feriam sidera vertice. AD PLANTAGENISTAM Me, late withdrawn from Downing's dusty street To breezy Brighton's Tusculan retreat, An ardent aspiration stirs and sways To win and wear the unawarded bays. Oh, could I by some sweet and swanlike strain ' Translate ' myself unto that ' higher plane ' ' Where Homer, Tennyson, and Horace reign ! — Oh, 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 ! ' ' Tennyson's exertions have been on a higher plane of human action than my own. He has worked in -a higher field, and his work will be more durable.' — Speech of Mr. Gladstone at Kirkwall, September 12, 1883. AD PYRRHAM Quis multa gracilis te puer in rosa Perfusus liquidis urget odoribus Grato, Pyrrha, sub antro ? Cui flavam religas comam Simplex munditiis ? Heu quoties fidem Mutatosque deos flebit, et aspera AD HIBERNIAM Redolent of ' Jockey Club,' Pliant as a lath, Is the boy you now decoy Down the primrose path. Him with neatly braided locks Lovingly you lure. Clad in green, and in your mien Studiously demure. Soon from off the gingerbread Vanishes the gilt : Ere the year be spent and sere You will prove a jilt. AD PYRRHAM Nigris sequora ventis Emirabitur insolens, Qui nunc te fruitur credulus aurea, Qui semper vacuam, semper amabilem Sperat, nescius aurae Fallacis ! Miseri quibus Intentata nites Me tabula sacer Votiva paries indicat uvida AD HIBERNIAM Do I blame him ? No, not I ; — Only could a wizard In your face the symptoms trace Of the coming blizzard. Trusting in your halcyon mood Thinks he, simple chiel, You will bide, whate'er betide, Lovable and leal. When a landsman in a sieve Braves the Western gales, Patrick Jones must have his bones — (Davy works for Wales). Lamentable is the lot Of the gilded friend You bemuse and Hugh Price Hughes Labours to amend. A£> PYRRHAM Suspendisse potenti Vestimenta maris deo. AD HIBERNIAM 13 I was very nearly wrecked Rounding Ireland's Eye ; But I swam, and here I am High and dry and spry. 14 AD PLANCUM Laudabunt alii claram Rhodon aut Mytilenen, Aut Epheson bimarisve Corinthi Mcenia, vel Baccho Thebas vel ApoUine Delphos Insignes aut Thessala Tempe. Sunt, quibus unum opus est intactse Palladis urbem Carmine perpetuo celebrare, et «5 AD MORLEIUM Some say 'twas in Midlothian, and some there be who swear I first beheld the moonlight in the wilds of county- Clare. Some say 'twas Tory Island, and some have little doubt 'Twas either Tara famed for song, or Dublin famed for stout. Some back the Modern Athens, whose architecture's grace In all its ' virgin purity ' ' in memory I retrace. ' ' I know Edinburgh well ; I knew almost every street and every comer . . . when Edinburgh was in what I may call the virgin purity of its architecture.' — Speech of Mr. Gladstone at the Council Chamber, Edinburgh, November 25, 1879. 1 6 AD PLANCUM Undique decerptam fronti prseponere olivam. Plurimus in Junonis honorem Aptum dicet equis Argos ditesque Mycenas. Me nee tarn patiens Lacedsemon Nee tarn Larissse percussit campus opimae, Quam domus Albuneae resonantis Et praeceps Anio ac Tiburni lucus at uda Mobilibus pomaria rivis. Albus ut obscuro deterget nubila coelo Ssepe Notus neque parturit imbres Perpetuos, sic tu sapiens finire memento Tristitiam vitaeque labores AD MORLEIUM 17 Hall Caine would like to claim me for the Isle of Grand Old Man, And Labouchere's disposed to think I hail from the Soudan ; While many a gallant Taffy is as sure as eggs can be That from the house of Harlech I derive my pedigree. But though unable to affirm that I have not been smitten With all the disadvantages of being born a Briton, In spite of strong inducements to emerge on alien earth I blush to own in Liverpool the background of my birth. But stay, I'll move the closure here. Though, Morley, you and I Were born and bred on English soil, 'neath England's foggy sky. Though wearied by your daily dose of endless Irish stew. Though Art is looking Yellow, and politics look blue, i8 AD PLANCUM MoUi, Plance, mero, seu te fulgentia signis Castra tenent seu densa tenebit Tiburis umbra tui. Teucer Salamina patremque Quum fugeret, tamen uda Lyaeo Tempora populea fertur vinxisse corona, Sic tristes aifatus amicos : ' Quo nos cunque feret melior fortuna parente Ibimus, o socii comitesque ! Nil desperandum Teucro duce et auspice Teucro ; Certus enim promisit Apollo, Ambiguam tellure nova Salamina futuram. O fortes pejoraque passi Mecum ssepe viri, nunc vino pellite curas ; Cras ingens iterabimus aequor.' AD MORLEIUM 19 Like me forget your troubles for a while, bid care avaunt, Take tickets for the pantomine, or visit ' Charley's Aunt.' Remember how in '65, when Dizzy's craft abhorred Induced my alma mater to throw me overboard — Did I assunie the willow, or cringe beneath the blow, Or bid my sad supporters an eternal farewell ? No ! I shook the dust of Oxford from my feet and sallied forth And in two days was sitting for a county in the North. ' Cheer up, faint-hearted Liberals ! ' — so rang my clarion cry — ' At last I am unmuzzled : never think of saying die ! What though my foster parent has ejected me in scorn, I'm certain of a welcome in the shire where I was born. Once more the flowing tide is ours ; be brave and banish sorrow. What Lancashire decides to-day is England's will to- morrow.' c 2 AD LEUCONOEN Tu ne quaesieris, scire nefas, quern mihi, quern tibi Finem di dederint, Leuconoe, nee Babylonios Tentaris numeros. Ut melius, quidquid erit, pati ! Seu plures hiemes seu tribuit Jupiter ultimam, Quas nunc oppositis debilitat pumicibus mare Tyrrhenum, sapias, vina liques et spatio brevi Spem longam reseces. Dum loquimur, fugerit invida -•Etas. Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero. 21 AD ASTROLOGI^ AMATOREM Dear Mr. Stead, excuse me if I beg you, as a friend, To cease importuning the spooks about my latter end. Your Babylonish numbers, I admit, were even worse. But still, a taste for spirits is undoubtedly a curse. Far better leave the stars alone, and, banishing to Burmah Your astral misalliances, take root on terra firma. This chilly June may be our last, or Providence decree That we shall both contribute to the Twentieth Century. In either case try drinking port, and study to be sane, Lest your high hopes should ruin down the limitless inane. E'en as I write this post-card, time flies, hand over hand : Then cultivate the daily press, nor trust in Borderland. AD M^CENATEM Vile potabis modicis Sabinum Cantharis, Grseca quod ego ipse testa Conditum levi, datus in theatro Cum tibi plausus, Care Maecenas eques, ut paterhi Fluminis ripse simul et jocosa Redderet laudes tibi Vaticani Montis imago. Csecubum et prelo domitam Caleno Tu bibes uvam : mea nee Falernas 23 AD AMICUM Dear Acton, next Wednesday, at dinner, I cannot but honestly think You'll find that my claret is thinner Than that you're accustomed to drink. Twelve shillings a dozen it cost me That year — I remember it well — When Oxford, that loved me yet lost me. Created you Hon. D.C.L. The cheers by your presence excited. That filled the Sheldonian dome. The Vatican vastly delighted, And sensibly gratified Rome. 24 AD MjECENATEM Temperant vites neque Formiani Pocula coUes. AD AMICUM 25 And so, for the savour historic That clings to my modest Bordeaux, You'll pardon its want of caloric. And vote it the choicest of Clos. 26 AD ARISTIUM FUSCUM Integer vitse scelerisque purus Non eget Mauris jaculis neque arcu Nee venenatis gravida sagittis, Fusee, pharetra, Sive per S5Ttes iter sestuosas Sive facturus per inhospitalem Caueasum vel quae loca fabulosus Lambit Hydaspes. Namque me silva lupus in Sabina, Dum meam canto Lalagen et ultra 27 AD ARISTIDEN OBFVSCATUM If clear be your conscience, my Morley, No bullet-proof coat you'll require. Though often dispirited sorely By Erin's Invincible ire : Nay further, discarding coercion, You may with impunity fare On a midsummer moonlight excursion Unarmed through the County of Clare. Look at me. As the breeze of the zephyr I strolled forth of late to enjoy, A vicious and virulent heifer — I was humming the ' Dear Irish Boy ' — 28 AD ARISTIUM FUSCUM Terminum curis vagor expeditis, Fugit inermem, Quale portentum neque militaris Daunias latis alit aesculetis Nee Jubae tellus general, leonum Arida nutrix. Pone me pigris ubi nulla campis Arbor sestiva recreatur aura, AD ARISTIDEN OBFUSCATUM Came fiercely galumphing beside me : But suddenly, soothed by my lay, The animal amiably eyed me, And cantered serenely away, O wild is Hibernia's Taurus, And Collings' chimerical cow. And neither demure nor decorous Is the Tammany Bos, but I vow That even in Chamberlain's garden ' No wickeder brute you'll espy Than the horrible heifer of Hawarden, Who fled from my emerald eye. Were I bound within range of a rifle In Dopping's implacable grip ; ' On May 7, 1894, Mr. Austen Chamberlain, M.P., wi by a Guernsey bull at Highbury. '30 AD ARISTIUM FUSCUM Quod latus mundi nebulae malusque Jupiter urget : Pone sub curru nimium propinqui Solis in terra domibus negata : Dulce ridentem Lalagen amabo, Dulce loquentem. AD ARISTIDEN OBFUSCATUM 31 Though I fled to the summit of Eiffel To give Ashmead-Bartlett the shp ; Were I doomed to despair on Sahara, Or sentenced to dine with the Shah, Still I'd chant, to the tune of Ta-ra-ra, The praises of Erin-go-Bragh. 32 AD PUERUM Persicos odi, puer, apparatus, Displicent nexse philyra coronae ; Mitte sectari, rosa quo locorum Sera moretur. Simplici myrto nihil allabores Sedulus euro : neque te ministrum 33 AD CYRILLUM FLOSCULUM Oriental flowers, my Cyril, (Save of language) I detest : Cull for me no costly orchid To adorn my blameless breast. Nor essay to deck my raiment With the blushing English rose. For its brutal Saxon odour Aggravates my Scottish nose. Me as Minister the fragrance Of the leek doth most arride, With the shamrock and the thistle In a triple posy tied : 34 AD PUERUM Dedecet myrtus, neque me sub arcta Vite bibentem. AD CYRILLUM FLOSCULUM 35 So, beneath my grand umbrella Firmly fixed on College Green, Let us deviate from duty In a deluge of poteen. 36 AD DELLIUM Mqyskiii. memento rebus in arduis Servare mentem, non secus in bonis Ab insolenti temperatam Laetitia, moriture Delli, Seu maestus omni tempore vixens Seu te in remoto gramine per dies Festos reclinatum bearis Interiore nota Falerni. Hue vina et unguenta et nimium breves Flores amoense ferre jube rosae, Dum res et setas et sororum Fila trium patiuntur atra. 37 AD VERITATIS CULTOREM Henry, sore shattered by this trying summer, Pray keep a level head like mine, nor deign To play the mad Mephistophelean mummer, Should fickle fortune favour us again. Whether you toil in London like a nigger, Or, snatching hurriedly a breathing space. At some familiar German baths you figure, Quaffing the waters with impassive grace. Scorn not the wine-cup, puff the Melachrino, And pluck the pallid Primrose while you may. Ere Time, that mocks at Holloway and Eno, O'er Truth's own editor shall assert his sway. 38 AD DELLIUM Cedes coemptis saltibus et domo Villaque, flavus quam Tiberis lavit, Cedes, et exstructis in altum Divitiis potietur heres. Divesne prisco natus ab Inacho, Nil interest, an pauper et infima De gente sub divo moreris Victima nil miserantis Orci. Omnes eodem cogimur, omnium Versatur urna serius ocius Sors exitura et nos in aeternum Exsilium impositura cymbae. AD VERITATIS CULTOREM 39 For there will come an hour when you, my Labby, Must quit your charming villa and your lands At Twickenham, and (resting in the Abbey) Bequeath your modest pile to other hands. What though to noble Frenchmen famed in story You trace your blood's cerulean tint, I fear The least sophisticated rural Tory In mere longevity may prove your peer. Death waits on all, impartial, unrelenting. And none of mortals may the summons brave That bids us, or resigned or unconsenting. Fare forth upon th' irremeable wave. 40 AD SEPTIMIUM Septimi, Gades aditure mecum et Cantabrum indoctum juga ferre nostra et Barbaras Syrtes, ubi Maura semper ^stuat unda ; Tibur Argeo positum colono Sit meae sedes utinam senectas. Sit modus lasso maris et viarum Militiaeque ! 4' AD CICERONEM NOSTRUM Majestic Armitstead, colossal crony, Ever at shortest notice all agog To start for Brighton as my cicerone, For Gothenburg, Khartoum, or Ballybog — Prepared, did Arctic fever fire my soul. To pilot me in person to the Pole ! A truce, old friend, to Continental touring ; Tempt me no more in foreign realms to roam ; To me incomparably more alluring Are the delights of Hawarden and of home : For I have crowded more into my span Than any mortal since the Ithacan. 42 AD SEPTIMIUM Unde si Parcae prohibent iniquse, Dulce pellitis ovibus Galaesi Flumen et regnata petam Laconi Rura Phalanto. I lie terrarum mihi prseter omnes Angulus ridet, ubi non Hymetto Mella decedunt viridique certat Bacca Venafro. Ver ubi longum tepidasque praebet 1 upiter brumas, et amicus Aulon AD CJCERONEM NOSTRUM 43 Thence if the savage Sassenach should hound me Into the heart of gallant little Wales, O may some suitable retreat be found me Amid fair Cambria's enchanting vales ; For I have ever been, and am, a glutton For all things Welsh — from music down to mutton. Yes, Wales I love, home of the bilious bunny ; Home of my fiery namesake, Mr. Gee ; Whose heather yields the most delicious honey, Whose Bards are countless as the sands o' Dee. Whose leek, to any educated nose. Is sweeter than the overrated rose. There, to assuage the thirsty native throttle. My noble and accomplished friend Lord Bute ' ' ' In South Wales, Lord Bute has had a vineyard for nineteen years, and he has made good wine from his grapes. Lord Bute's 44 AD SEPTIMIUM Fertili Baccho minimum Falernis Invidet uvis. Ille te mecum locus et beatae Postulant arces ; ibi tu calentem Debita sparges lacrima favillam Vatis amici. AD CICERONEM NOSTRUM 45 Grows splendid wine at nine-and-six the bottle — A most refined and lucrative pursuit. In fact, some epicures would sooner fill Their glass with ' Castell Coch ' than Ldoville. There Watkin's high but hospitable chalet Will oftentimes invite us for a climb, By slow and easy stages firom the valley. To hoary Snowdon's pinnacle subUme. There let us live and die, and dying, win Meet elegy from Morris of Penbryn. head gardener says that some of the wine from the 1881 crop realised 115^. a. dozen when sold by auction at Birmingham last year. This crop was grown at Castell Coch. Lord Bute has now another large vineyard on the shore of the Bristol Channel, where the " Gamy Nori " grapes last year gave forty hogsheads of wine of the best quality.'— i?«z7y Graphic, September 17, 1894. 46 AD LICINIUM MURENAM Rectius vives, Licini, neque altum Semper urgendo neque, dum procellas Cautus horrescis, nimium premendo Litus iniquum. Auream quisquis mediocritatem Diligit, tutus caret obsoleti Sordibus tecti, caret invidenda Sobrius aula. 47 AD MILESIUM GLORIOSUM 'TwouLD please me greatly, dear Tay Pay, If from exaggeration's sway You could be weaned. I'm not, although you'd have it so, A perfect seraph, nor is ' Joe ' A perfect fiend. The pressman who in all his prose ' Conspicuous moderation ' shows Can never fill A place upon the Birthday lists. Nor sink, 'mid hireling eulogists, To puff a pill. 48 AD LICINIUM MURENAM Saepius ventis agitatur ingens Pinus, et celsse graviore casu Decidunt turres, feriuntque summos Fulgura monies. Sperat infestis, metuit secundis Alteram sortem bene praeparatum Pectus. Informes hiemes reducit Jupiter, idem Summovet. Non, si male nunc, et olim Sic erit. Quondam cithara tacentem AD MILESIUM GLORIOSUM 49 Balloons that soar to heights unknown, An ugly way at times have shown Of going pop : And you, Sol's charioteer-in-chief. Must face, if e'er you come to grief, A long, long drop. When fickle fortune wears a frown, Be not disastrously cast down ; Nor trust her smile : The Sun, we know, can't always shine ; But then, last June was quite as fine As this is vile. Although the outlook's somewhat black. With Rosebery on Ladas' back 'Tis bound to mend ; E 50 AD LICINIUM MURENAM Suscitat musam neque semper aicum Tendit Apollo. Rebus angustis animosus atque Fortis appare ; sapienter idem Contrahes vento nimium secundo Turgida vela. AD MILESIUM GLORIOSUM 51 When Tara's harp is heard anew, Your editorial long-bow you May well unbend. Though our majorities be small, And candid friends predict our fall, Tay Pay, sit tight ; Refraining, when we gaily glide Upon the fair and flowing tide, From blatherskite. 52 AD POSTUMUM Eheu fugaces, Postume, Postume, Labuntur anni nee pietas moram Rugis et instanti senectae Afferet indomitseque morti : Non, si trecenis, quotquot eunt dies. Amice, places illacrimabilem Plutona tauris, qui ter amplum Geryonen Tityonque tristi Compescit unda, scilicet omnibus, Quicunque terrse munere vescimur, Enaviganda, sive reges Sive inopes erimus coloni. 53 AD POSTREMUM GENGULPHUM Ah, Ashmead, Ashmead ! Waning fame Nor art nor eloquence can stay j A dog, though hyphened be his name, Can only have his day. Though up and down the country you Should daily thump three hundred tubs, You would not soothe the Marquess, who Rollit and Randolph snubs. The common lot ! We all at last Receive the inevitable sack — The Jingo, the Iconoclast, The Peer, the Party Hack. 54 AD POSTUMUM Frastra cruento Marte carebimus Fractisque rauci fluctibus Hadrise, Frustra per autumnos nocentem Corporibus metuemus Austrum : Visendus ater flumine languido Cocytus errans et Danai genus Infame damnatusque longi Sis3rphus bolides laboris. Linquenda tellus et domus et placens Uxor, neque harum, quas colis, arborum Te praeter invisas cupressos UUa brevem dominum sequetur. Absumet heres Csecuba dignior Servata centum clavibus et mero Tinget pavimentum superbo, Pontificum potiore coenis. AD POSTREMUM GENGULPHUM 55 In vain to murderous war you urge The armies of the Empress Queen, In vain her navies o'er the surge You steer to College Green : Below the gangway must you sit With Bartley, Hanbury, and Bowles ; A mark for journalistic wit, A butt for all the Souls. No Civil Lordship then for you ; England, your love, will disappear ; The North American Review Alone your cry will hear. Another patriot will arise, A bolder guardian of the Guelph, A coiner of more raucous cries. More blatant than yourself. 56 AD GROSPHUM Otium divos rogat in patenti Prensus ^gseo, simul atra nubes Condidit lunam neque certa fulgent Sidera nautis ; Otium bello furiosa Thrace, Otium Medi pharetra decori, Grosphe, non gemmis neque purpura ve- nale neque auro. Non enim gazae neque consularis Summovet lictor miseros tumultus Mentis et curas laqueata circum Tecta volantes. 57 AD PRIMULAM VULGAREM Calm upon the broad Atlantic, tossed by billows fierce and frantic, Pallid passengers inordinately crave, As the angry ocean surges and the sire of Boanerges Cataclysmically merges cloud and wave. Calm it is that wan advisers of unconscionable Kaisers Unceasingly are striving to attain — Calm, the coveted of Chilians and belligerent Brazilians, Calm, that even Mackay's millions court in vain. For although your wealth be teeming far beyond a miser's dreaming. Though your lackeys have the lustre of Lord Mayors, Pomp affords no mitigation of the cankering vexation Of a democrat condemned to sit upstairs. 58 AD GROSPHUM Vivitur parvo bene, cui paternum Splendet in mensa tenui salinum, Nee leves somnos timor aut cupido Sordidus aufert. Quid brevi fortes jaculamur aevo Multa ? Quid terras alio calentes Sole mutamus ? Patriae quis exsul Se quoque fugit ? Scandit seratas vitiosa naves Cura nee turmas equitum relinquit, Ocior cervis at agente nimbos Ocior Euro. AD PRIMULAM VULGAREM 59 Modest wants are soonest sated ; though their spoons be silver-plated, Many men by sounder slumbers are restored Than if they yearly spent more than the millionaire of Mentmore, Or drank from golden goblets like a lord. What avails our ceaseless striving, planning, plotting, and contriving, As we flit in search of sunshine or of peace To the heart of Cochin-China, Carolina, Argentina ? Even Liberators can't obtain release. Care asserts her odious power in the warship's conning- tower, Scruples not the gilded guardsman to assail ; And her onset far surpasses e'en such speed as Isinglass's, Surpasses e'en the racers of the rail. 6o AD GROSPHUM Lsetus in prsesens animus quod ultra est Oderit curare et amara lento Temperet risu. Nihil est ab omni Parte beatum. Abstulit clarum cita mors Achillem, Longa Tithonum minuit senectus, Et mihi forsan, tibi quod negarit, Porriget hora. Te greges centum Siculseque circum Mugiunt vaccse, tibi toUit hinnitum AD PRIMVLAM VULGAREM 6i To anticipate disaster brings it hitherward the faster ; Oh, believe me, Tapley's attitude is best. As for Labouchere's reviling, learn from me to bear it smiling : No lot on earth is altogether blest. Canning's doom was brilliant brevity ; ineffectual lon- gevity Obscured the early eminence of Grey : And it may be in our sequel, though in length of span unequal, Serener joys shall crown my closing day. You have parks as broad as prairies, you've Elizabethan dairies,' You've an army of retainers at your call : ' ' Mentmore, the " lordly pleasure house " which the Earl of Rosebery came into possession of on his marriage, is celebrated far 62 AD GROSPHUM Apta quadrigis equa, te bis Afro Murice tinctae Vestiunt lanae : mihi parva rura et Spiritum Graiae tenuem Camenae Parca non mendax dedit et malignum Spernere vulgus. AD PRIMULAM VULGAREM 63 And the winner of the ' Guineas ' and the Derby proudly whinnies Whene'er the Opposition has a fall. I've a small estate at Hawarden, with a nice old-fashioned garden, I've a pair of carriage-horses and a cob ; And I con my classic folios far from Parliament's im- broglios, Unembarrassed by the mandate of the mob. and wide for its noble halls and beautiful gardens. . . . Lord Rose- bery's is essentially a dairy farm. . . . The dairy is . . . provo- cative of admiration, with its Elizabethan architecture. ... In the centre is a marble fountain On the wooden shelves is a good deal of china, chieily in Dresden and other 6ne ware The orchard is under the jurisdiction of Mr. J. Smith, who has fifty gardeners and labourers under his direction.' — From 'The Prime Minister as Farmer,' Westminster Gazette, April 25, 1894. 64 DE CONTINENTIA NoN ebur neque aureum Mea renidet in domo lacunar, Non trabes Hymettiae Premunt columnas ultima recisas Africa, neque Attali Ignotus heres regiam occupavi. Nee Laconicas mihi Trahunt honestae purpuras clientae : At fides et ingeni Benigna vena est, pauperemque dives Me petit ; nihil supra Deos lacesso nee potentem amicum 6s AD CRCESUM CHICAGINENSEM No staircase of marble, no ceiling By Tadema painted, are mine ; My spoons are unworthy of stealing, No epicure envies my wine. No millionaire ever bequeathed me The tithe of his riches untold, Nor has any Tracy enwreathed me, Like Dizzy, with laurels of gold. No, mine is an intellect spacious, A record unsullied by blame. And even Carnegie is gracious Enough my acquaintance to claim. 66 DE CONTINENTIA Largiora flagito Satis beatus unicis Sabinis. Truditur dies die, Novaeque pergunt interire lunse. Tu secanda marmora Locas sub ipsum funus et sepulcri Immemor struis domos Marisque Baiis obstrepentis urges Summovere litora, Parum locuples continente ripa. Quid, quod usque proximos Revellis agri terminos et ultra Limites clientium Salis avarus ? Pellitur paternos In sinu ferens deos Et uxor et vir sordidosque natos. AD CRCESUM CHICAGINENSEM 67 Heav'n's bounty for naught I importune, I cringe not to rich or to great, Supremely content with my fortune. My snug httle Flintshire estate. Though time, like Niagara speeding, Brings doom to the plutocrat peer, Of death and its duties unheeding New palaces hastes he to rear. Or, craving a keener emotion Than life on the mainland supplies, He scours o'er the surface of ocean In yachts of extravagant size. Nay more if he thinks that his shooting The huts of the husbandmen spoil. He never refrains from uprooting Poor tenants by scores from the soil : 68 DE CONTINENTIA Nulla certior tamen Rapacis Orci fine destinata Aula divitem manet Herum. Quid ultra tendis ? ^qua tellus Pauperi recluditur Regumque pueris, nee satelles Orci Callidum Promethea Revexit auro captus. Hie superbum Tantalum atque Tantali Genus coercet, hie levare functum Pauperem laboribus Vocatus atque non vocatus audit. AD CRCESUM CHICAGINENSEM 69 For, sifting the facts from the fictions — A duty no sage should refuse — 'Twixt Scottish and Irish evictions There isn't a penny to choose. Yet Harcourt, that resolute wrecker, Whose _/fa/ we humbly obey, To fatten his famished exchequer Marks down even Dukes for his prey ! In vain his remorseless exaction They daily endeavour to dodge ; Death's sole and supreme satisfaction Is tasted by penniless Hodge. ^o CARMEN AMCEB^UM Hor. Donee gratus eram tibi, Nee quisquam potior brachia candidse Cerviei juvenis dabat, Persarum vigui rege beatior. Lyd. Donee non alia magis Arsisti, neque erat Lydia post Chloen, 71 CARMEN AMCEBjEUM Will. When in the golden days of yore Thy favour I enjoyed (Though purely Scottish to the core), My bliss was unalloyed : Proud of a love that jealous fate Methought could never mar, I envied not the high estate Of Kaiser or of Czar. Brit. So long, sweet William, as I reigned Unrivalled in thy breast, Ere blarneying Hibernia gained The throne I erst possessed ; 72 CARMEN AMCEB^UM Multi Lydia nominis Romana vigui clarior Ilia. Hor. Me nunc Thressa Chloe regit Dulces docta modos et citharse sciens, Pro qua non metuam mori, Si parcent animse fata superstiti. Lyd. Me torret face mutua Thurini Calais iilius Ornyti, CARMEN AMCEB^UM 73 Proud of thy genius and thy love, I candidly confess I ranked Victoria's realm above The realm of good Queen Bess. Will. Me now Hibernia holds in thrall. My crownless harpy Queen ! With her I chant in Tara's Hall ' The Wearing of the Green.' For her dear sake I'd rant and rail At every institution, Although such conduct should entail A sudden dissolution. Brit. Me Cecil fires with mutual flame ; I love his vast possessions, His grand Elizabethan name, His blazing indiscretions ! 74 CARMEN AMCEB^EUM Pro quo bis patiar mori, Si parcent puero fata superstiti. Hor. Quid, si prisca redit Venus, Diductosque jugo cogit aeneo ? Si flava excutitur Chloe, Rejectaeque patet janua Lydiae ? Lyd. Quanquam sidere pulchrior Ille est, tu levior cortice et improbo CARMEN AMCEBMUM 7S Two dissolutions in two years For him I'd undergo, Provided that the House of Peers Escaped an overthrow. Will. Suppose the old familiar fire Afresh within me burned ? Suppose the lady and her lyre In weariness I spurned ? What if I bowed my Irish bride Politely to the door, And swore unswervingly to bide With thee for evermore ? Brit. Though fairer than the Star were he, Than Hottentot thou sabler, More flighty than Mid-Cork's M.P., Than Channel chops unstabler, 76 CARMEN AMCEBMUM Iracundior Hadria, Tecum vivere amem, tecum obeam libens. CARMEN AMCEB^UM 77 With thee as guardian of my race Life's bHss anew would bloom, With thee unfalteringly I'd face The deadly ding of doom. 78 AD MMCENATEM Inclusam Danaen turris aenea Robustaeque fores et vigilum canum Tristes excubiae munierant satis Nocturnis ab adulteris Si non Acrisium virginis abditae Custodem pavidum Jupiter et Venus Risissent : fore enim tutum iter et patens Converse in pretium dec. Aurum per medios ire satellites Et perrumpere amat saxa potentius 79 AD C^CILIUM AFRICANUM Girt round by scrub and stream, and closely guarded By valiant warriors waiting on his call, Loben the brave, who erst the lean earth larded. Were even now at peace within his kraal. Holding unchallenged sway o'er his possessions. Meting rude justice both to young and old, But for the craze for claims and for concessions. But for the over-mastering greed of gold. Gold saps the moral fibre of electors, Lures building companies from virtue's way, So AD M^CENATEM Ictu fulmineo : concidit auguris Argivi domus ob lucrum Demersa exitio ; diffidit urbium Portas vir Macedo et subruit aemulos Reges muneribus ; munera navium Saevos illaqueant duces. Crescentem sequitur cura pecuniam Majorumque fames. Jure perhorrui Late conspicuum toUere verticem, Maecenas, equitum decus. Quanto quisque sibi plura negaverit, Ab dis plura feret : nil cupientium Nudus castra peto et transfuga divitum Partes linquere gestio, AD CMCILIUM AFRICANUM Demoralises deputies, directors, And brings the house of Jahez to decay. Gold tempts the skippers of a neutral nation To run the fearful perils of blockade ; Gold was the means of Erin's degradation, When Pitt his ' blackguard ' policy essayed. Wealth, as it waxes, only brings vexation. Linked with a never-ceasing thirst for pelf : Happy is he, who, shunning speculation, Remains a simple commoner, like myself. The life of self-denial far surpasses The ' cushioned ease ' ' of dukes and millionaires. And I have found more virtue in the masses Than in the cleanest class who purchase Pears'. ' ' It is possible that he [Mr. Chamberlain] may have a cer- tain enjoyment in the cushioned ease of that society in which he now mixes with satisfaction.' — Speech of Mr. Gladstone at the Memorial Hall, London, July 29, 1887. AD MyECENATEM Contemptse dominus splendidior rei, Quam si quidquid arat impiger Apulus Occultare meis dicerer horreis, Magnas inter opes inops. Purae rivus aquae silvaque jugerum Paucorum et segetis certa fides meae Fulgentem imperio fertilis Africae Fallit sorte beatior. Quanquam nee Calabrae mella ferunt apes Nee Laestrygonia Bacehus in amphora Langueseit mihi nee pinguia Gallicis Crescunt vellera pascuis, Importuna tamen pauperies abest Nee, si plura velim, tu dare deneges. AD C^CILIUM AFRJCANUM 83 Leader of these, I harbour no ambition To own a gold reef, or control De Beers : My small estate in Wales, my Irish mission, Suffice to solace my decUning years. Such is the bliss for which alone I hunger ; So dowered, I would not, were the option free, Exchange with you, though forty summers younger. And lord of Africa from sea to sea. 'Tis true no dainties deck my frugal table ; I don't possess a dozen of Lafitte ; I own no cattle-ranche nor racing stable, Nor do my yachts with ' Vigilant ' compete. But I am far removed from destitution. Far from the ' Union,' whatsoe'er betide ; And, judging by your famous contribution. More, if I wanted it, you would provide. 84 AD MyECENATEM Contracto melius parva cupidine Vectigalia porrigam, Quam si Mygdoniis regnum Alyattei Campis continuem. Multa petentibus Desunt multa : bene est, cui deus obtulit Parca, quod satis est, manu. AD CMCILIUM AFRICANUM 85 Take it from me — no philosophic tyro — Happier the man who limits his desires, Than he who prances from Cape Town to Cairo, Or spans the wastes of Africa with wires. Excessive wants on earth are never sated. Nor mines nor millions avarice can assuage : Blest he, from Income-tax emancipated. Who is content to earn a living wage. g6 AD PHYLLIDEM Est mihi nonum superantis annum Plenus Albani cadus ; est in horto, Phylli, nectendis apium coronis ; Est hederse vis Multa, qua crines religata fulges ; Ridet argento domus ; ara castis Vincta verbenis avet immolato Spargier agno ; Cuncta festinat manus, hue et illuc Cursitant mixtse pueris puellae ; Sordidum flammae trepidant rotantes Vertice fumum. 8? AD DOROTHEAM I KNOW where there is honey in a jar Meet for a certain little friend of mine ; And, Dorothy, I know where daisies are That only wait small hands to intertwine A wreath for such a golden head as thine. The thought that thou art coming makes all glad ; The house is bright with blossoms high and low, And many a little lass and little lad Expectantly are running to and fro : The fire within our hearts is all aglow. 88 AD PHYLLIDEM Ut tamen noris quibus advoceris Gaudiis, Idus tibi sunt agendae, Qui dies mensem Veneris marinae Findit Aprilem, Jure soUemnis mihi sanctiorque Faene natali proprio, quod ex hac Luce Maecenas meus adfluentes Ordinal annos. Telephum, quem tu petis, occupavit Non tuae sortis juvenem puella Dives et lasciva tenetque grata Compede vinctum. Terret anibustus Phaethon avaras Spes, et exemplum grave praebet ales Pegasus terrenum equitem gravatus Bellerophontem, Semper ut te digna sequare et ultra Quam licet sperare nefas putando AD DOROTHEAM 89 We want thee, child, to share in our delight On this high day, the holiest and best. Because 'twas then, ere youth had taken flight. Thy grandmamma, of women loveliest, Made me of men most honoured and most blest. That haughty boy who led thee to suppose He was thy sweetheart, has, I grieve to tell. Been seen to pick the garden's choicest rose And toddle with it to another belle, Who does not treat him altogether well. But mind not that, or let it teach thee this — To waste no love on any youthful rover (All youths are rovers, I assure thee, Miss). No, if thou wouldst true constancy discover. Thy grandpapa is perfect as a lover. 90 AD PHYLLIDEM Bisparem vites. Age jam meorum Finis amorum — Non enim posthac alia calebo Femina — condisce modos amanda A'oce quos reddas ; minuentur atrae Carmine curse. AD DOROTHEAM 91 So come, thou playmate of my closing day, The latest treasure life can offer me. And with thy baby laughter make us gay. Thy fresh young voice shall sing, my Dorothy, Songs that shall bid the feet of sorrow flee. PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET S(^UARE LONUON NEW AND CHEAPER EDITION OF ROBERT BROWNING'S POETICAL WORKS. * An edition which in everi/ point of excellence will satisfy the most fantidioua taste,*— The Scotsman. In 2 vols, large crown 8vo. Bound in cloth, gilt top. With a Portrait Frontispiece to each volume, Js. 6d. per volume. THE COMPLETE WORKS OK ROBERT BROWNING. Edited and Annotated by AUGUSTINE BIRRELL, Q.C., M.P., and FREDERIC G. KENYON. U^^ An edition has also been printed on Oxford India paper. This can be obtained only through Booksellers. EDITOR'S NOTE. This edition of Mr. Browning's poems and plays makes no pretence to be critical. One of the most useful of ihe Shakespearian commentators, Mr. Theobald, has observed that the science of criticism, so far a-, it affects an editor, is reduced to thrte classes: ' The emendation of corrupt passages, the explanation of obscure and difficult ones, and an inquiry into the beauties and defects of composition.' Happily there are no corrupt passages in Browning, but undoubtedly there are some obscure and difficult ones, although the reader will often be surprised to find how frequently obscurity and difficulty will be dissifiated and removed by a careful study of the context. So, too, Browning has his beauties and defects of composition ; but neither his beauties or defects of composition, nor the obscurities and difficulties of particular passages, are here discussed or explained. All that has been done is to prefix (within square brackets) to some of the plays and prems a few lines explanatory of the characte-s and events depicted and described, and to explain in the man^in of the volumes the meaning of such words as might, if left unexplained, momentarily arre