BAGATELLES.

LINES

WRITTEN IN RIDICULE OF CERTAIN POEMS PUBLISHED IN 1777.

WHERESOE'ER I turn my view,

All is strange, yet nothing new;
Endless labour all along,

Endless labour to be wrong;
Phrase that timelhas Aung away,
Uncouth words in disarray,
Trick'd in antique ruff and bonnet,
Ode, and elegy, and sonnet.

PARODY

OF A TRANSLATION FROM THE MEDEA OF Euripides.

ERR shall they not, who resolute explore
Time's gloomy backward with judicious eyes;
And, scanning right the practices of yore,
Shall deem our hoar progenitors unwise.

They to the dome where smoke with curling play,
Announced the dinner to the regions round,
Summon'd the singer blithe, and harper gay,
And aided wine with dulcet-streaming sound,

The better use of notes, or sweet or shrill,
By quivering string or modulated wind;
Trumpet or lyre-to their harsh bosoms chill,
Admission ne'er had sought, or could not find.
Oh! send them to the sullen mansions dun,

Her baleful eyes where Sorrow rolls around; Where gloom-enamour'd Mischief loves to dwell, And Murder, all blood-bolter'd, schemes the wound.

When cates luxuriant pile the spacious dish,
And purple nectar glads the festive hour,
The guest, without a want, without a wish,
Can yield no room to music's soothing power.

BURLESQUE

OF THE MODERN VERSIFICATIONS OF ANCIENT

LEGENDARY TALES.

An Impromptu.

THE tender infant, meek and mild,
Fell down upon the stone;
The nurse took up the squealing child,
But still the child squeal'd on.

TRANSLATION

OF TWO STANZAS OF THE SONG, RIO VErde, rio verde,' PRINTED IN PERCY'S RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY.

An Impromptu.

GLASSY water, glassy water,

Down whose current clear and strong,

Chiefs confused in mutual slaughter,

Moor and Christian roll'd along.

IMITATION OF THE STYLE OF ****

'HERMIT hoar, in solemn cell
Wearing out life's evening gray;
Strike thy bosom, sage, and tell
What is bliss, and which the way!'-
Thus I spoke, and speaking sigh'd,
Scarce repress'd the starting tear;
When the hoary sage replied,-

Come, my lad, and drink some beer.'

BURLESQUE

OF THE FOLLOWING LINES OF LOPEZ DE VEGA.

An Impromptu.

SE acquien los leones vence
Vence una muger hermosa

O el de flaco averguençe

O ella di ser mas furiosa.

If the man who turnips cries
Cry not when his father dies;
'Tis a proof that he had rather
Have a turnip than his father.

TRANSLATION

OF THE FOLLOWING LINES AT THE END OF BARETTI'S

EASY PHRASEOLOGY.

An Impromptu.

VIVA! viva la padrona!
Tutta bella, e tutta buona,
La padrona è un angiolella
Tutta buona e tutta bella;

Tutta bella e tutta buona;
Viva! viva la padrona!

Long may live my lovely Hetty!
-Always young and always pretty,
Always pretty, always young,
Live my lovely Hetty long!
Always young and always pretty,
Long may live my lovely Hetty!

IMPROVISO TRANSLATION

OF THE FOLLOWING DISTICH ON THE DUKE OF MODENA'S RUNNING AWAY FROM THE COMET, IN 1742 OR 1743.

SE al venir vostro i principi se n' vanno

Deh venga ogni di

durate un anno.

If at your coming princes disappear,
Comets! come every day—and stay a year.

IMPROVISO TRANSLATION

OF THE FOLLOWING LINES OF MONS. BENSERADE A SON LIT.

THEATRE des ris, et des pleurs,
Lit! où je nais, et où je meurs,
Tu nous fais voir comment voisins,
Sont nos plaisirs, et nos chagrins.

In bed we laugh, in bed we cry,
And born in bed, in bed we die;
The near approach a bed may show
Of human bliss to human woe.

T

TRANSLATION

OF THE FOLLOWING LINES WRITTEN UNDER A PRINT REPRESENTING PERSONS SKAITING.

SUR un mince crystal l'hyver conduit leurs pas, Le precipice est sous la glace;

Telle est de nos plaisirs la legère surface, Glissez, mortels; n'appuyez pas.

O'er ice the rapid skaiter flies,

With sport above and death below; Where mischief lurks in gay disguise, Thus lightly touch, and quickly go.

IMPROMPTU TRANSLATION

OF THE SAME.

O'ER crackling ice, o'er gulfs profound,
With nimble glide the skaiters play;
O'er treacherous pleasure's flowery ground
Thus lightly skim, and haste away.

TO A LADY',

WHO SPOKE IN DEFENCE OF LIBERTY.

LIBER ut esse velim, suasisti, pulchra Maria, Ut maneam liber, pulchra Maria, vale.

1 Miss Molly Aston.