XXII.

Fine Weather in Skye.

O island, pardon grant! forgive a bard's complaining!
Now shines again a cloudless sun. It is not raining!
The mists disperse, the vapour is conquered by the light;
The lofty mountains' jagged peaks are full in sight:
And rising in the mountains are endless waters seen
To cleave each one its rapid course the stones between.
O let thy clouds depart! bid storms afar to fly!
So mayest thou deserve thine airy name of Skye !

4. Jagged, fractus. Are full in 5. Endless, sine fine.
sight, patent.

XXIII.

"The Useful Trouble of the Rain.”

Sad mists are in the sloping valley spread,
And vapour hides the mountain's hoary head.
Meanwhile with merrier murmur does the rill,
Although it lacks the sun, its channels fill.

I moan, if heaven sends rain. The streamlet's voice
Bids me in "useful trouble" still rejoice.

Rain beats the ground, ceaseless the winds complain :
Seaward the brook urges its flood amain.

2. Amain, vi magna.

Within the furrows gliding onward, streams
Mix with the rivers: earth with vapour teems.
The sun is hidden from view; clouds dim the air :
Shadows prevail and moisture everywhere.

3. Glide, interlabor.

4. Teem, tepeo.

6. Everywhere, quocunque aspicias.

XXV.

To the Swallow.

Come, build thy nest beneath my eaves,
Where the vine shakes its sunny leaves.
No hand shall harm thy callow brood,
No noise upon thy peace intrude.
Be this thy home as it is mine,

A safe retreat for thee and thine.

All things are changing, nothing steadfast stands:
Where roars the strait, the crops smiled o'er the lands.
The smooth sand stretches where was once the street,
And fishes sported where the flock doth bleat.
So will it be till time shall be no more :—

Stand, have stood, and will stand, God's pledges sure.

1. Steadfast stands, constat.

3. Stretch, pateo.

5. Time shall be no more, annorum

cessaverit ordo.

XXVII.

The Exile.

1.

Land of my fathers, fare thee well!
Fate drives me forth beyond the sea,
A prey to care, bereft of friends,

To roam in lands unknown to me.
Wife, children, home are left behind,
Unseen, but ever in my mind.

1. Repeat the Latin for the first 4. End "vagor exul agris."
line to conclude the second, 5. Use gerundive.

and distribute the rest of the 6. "Vos tamen, haud visos, vos couplet between the hexa

meter and pentameter.

3. Begin a new sentence, as always

at the beginning of a couplet.

2.

meminisse juvat."

The billows roar around the prow,
And tossing fling the foam on high:
The wind is whistling in the sails,
The wild sea-bird goes screaming by.
Dangers to me no terror give :
'Twere sweet to die, no gain to live.

1. End "pulsatque carinam."

2. End "spumaque salsa salit."

4. Sea-bird, lārus, mergus.

"nubila nigra secat."

End

6. Invert the two phrases if necessary. No gain, nihil lucri.

XXVIII.

To a Rivulet.

O rivulet, that skirtest wood and lea,
Roll on thy waters to the boundless sea!

1. Skirt, lambere, 3.

To cruel Flora bear a lover's song,

And let it sough thy reedy waves among!
"O fairest maiden, do thou pity me!
For oh! I die, conquered by love for thee."
4. Sough, susurrare.

XXIX.

Chacun à son goût.

His boys gone home, the master still remains,
Whom within doors his library detains.
His pupils out with dogs beneath the sky,
The master only books accompany.

Their active limbs pity his frame so slow:
His learned mind pities their wits so low.

Let other poets praise the lily pale,

And praise the roses white and roses red :
To me then sweetest smiles the flowery vale,
When the spring primrose lifts its yellow head.
A present pleasure lilies bring and roses;
In the spring blossom future hope reposes.

1. Conf. Hor. Od. i. 7. 1; "Lau- 3. Then, tum demum.

dabunt alii," etc.

2. Red, purpureus.

6. Address the blossom. See M.

et I. 24. Reposes, latet.

XXXI.

"Give Light!"

Full many a songster's carol fills the sky,
When the bright car of morn is drawing nigh.
Full many a songster then appears to weep,
When that car falling seeks the western deep.
All love the light, both man and winged thing,
And fear lest night some hidden danger bring.
4. Falling, pronus.

1. Full many, plurimus.

2. Draw nigh, adeo, adsum.

1. End "

XXXII.

A Windy Day.

O'er land, o'er sea, the north wind raves,
And strips the trees and stirs the waves.
The mists are swept from off the sky,
And cloudless shines the sun on high.
While wrath and power all Nature sway,
Colour and light still cheer the day.

bacchatur, et arbos." 4. From on high, ex alto.
2. Begin "Nudatur."
5. Power, vis.

XXXIII.

Deserted.

The sun is setting; I am left alone.

Ah! faithless lover, thou desertest me!

Yet still I seem to roam the fields with thee,
Still seems to speak by night thy voice well known.
Oh why does memory love to mock my pain?

Why to recall days that come not again?

1. Is setting, subit undas.

5. Memory, Mnēmŏsynē.

2. Faithless, non bene fidus. See 6. That come not again, praeteritus.

M. et I. 5.