DU

CHLOE MONITA.

UM fastu me, chara Chloe, fas præter et æquum,

Subruis, et reficis spe, cruciasque metu,
Deperdis, lætæ quod amænum est omne juventæ ;
Inque senectutem triste reponis onus.
Forma brevis, dicis, flos est ætatis, amorque
Rebus, quæ pereunt, ortus, et ipse perit;
Hoc tibi persuades: sed re modo dicta probâris,
Quàm male persuades, experiendo scies.

Ut sit perpetuus, formâ qui nascitur, ut sit
Mutuus, officiis crescere debet amor.
Sunt blandi risus primordia lucis; amore,
Tum modo, cùm fruimur, fulget aperta dies.
Si tibi nox tenebris illos obvelet ocellos,
Qui tam jucundum nunc rutilumque nitent;
Si totum eripiat cœlum caligine, quanta,
Dicemus memores, lux aliquando fuit!

Darbæum en vetulum vetulâ cum conjuge! vitam Quàm placide infirmum par, et amanter agunt!

* This Poem first appeared in the Appendix to ed. 43, p. 148.

56

ADVICE TO CHLOE.

He's dropsical, she is sore-eyed,

Yet they're ever uneasy asunder. Together they totter about,

Or sit in the sun at the door;

And at night, when old Darby's pot's out,
His Joan will not smoke a whiff more.

No beauty nor wit they possess,

Their several failings to smother;

Then what are the charms, can you guess,
That make them so fond of each other?
"Tis the pleasing remembrance of youth,
The endearments which youth did bestow;
The thoughts of past pleasure and truth,
The best of our blessings below.

These traces for ever will last;

No sickness or time can remove; For when youth and beauty are past, And age brings the winter of love, A friendship insensibly grows

By reviews of such raptures as these; The current of fondness still flows,

Which decrepit old age cannot freeze.

CHLOE MONITA.

57

Blæsa illa est oculis, et crura hydropicus ille Vix trahit; at letho majus abesse malum est. Gressibus invalidis conjux cum conjuge reptat; Aut simul apricans considet ante fores; Cùmque ille extremum cyathi desumpserit hausDeponit, certâ lege, Joanna tubum.

[tum,

Cùm nulla utrivis, quicquid delinquit utervis,
Corporis excusent ingeniive bona;

Quas esse aut illi veneres aut conjicis illi?
Unde fit, alterius tam sit ut alter amans?
Dulce recordari est actos feliciter annos,

Quàm sensim ad canam consenuêre fidem; Inde sacrum fœdus, firmoque est copula nexu; Quâ melius terris dii tribuêre nihil.

Longum illa, in longum, quæ nulla aboleveritætas, Nullaque morborum vis, monumenta manent: Namque decor simul omnis abest et gratia formæ ; Fitque, quod ætatis restat, amoris hyems; Crescit amicitiæ suavis reputantibus usus, Quàm vel adhuc grati præteriêre dies. Quæque retardari possunt per nulla senectæ Frigora, perpetuo gaudia fonte fluunt.

BUSY, curious, thirsty fly,

Drink with me, and drink

Freely welcome to my cup,
Couldst thou sip, and sip it up:
Make the most of life you may,
Life is short and wears away.

Both alike, both thine and mine,
Hasten quick to their decline;

as

Thine's a summer, mine's no more,

Though repeated to threescore:

İ;

Threescore summers, when they're gone,

Will appear as short as one.

+ This Poem appeared in the Appendix to the third edi

tion, p. 200.

"Made ex

See Ritson's English Songs, vol. ii. p. 17. tempore by a gentleman, occasioned by a fly drinking out of his cup of ale." This Poem is translated in the Carmina Quadragesimalia, vol. ii. p. 17, by Thomas.

Picta auro et nitidis variata Coloribus alis,

Musca, veni nostris hospes, amica Scyphis, &c.

POTAR

OTARE, musca, de meo aut quovis scypho
Vocata, non vocata, præsens advena,

Lubens libensque curiosam exple sitim,
Siccare totum si valebis poculum:
'Evi fugacis punctulum carpe, arripe;
Evi, quod interire pergit indies.

Utriusque vita properat, et tua et mea,
Ad exitum cursu incitato vergere;
Estas tuæ, nec amplius spatium est meæ,
Ad bis tricenas usque si redit vices:
Cùm præteribit bis tricena, sicuti
Unius æstatis videbitur fuga.

1 Fugacis Evi, quod potes, carpe, arripe
Evi perire non morantes indies. Ed. 3. 1743.