17.

And, though some trifling share of praise,

To cheer my last declining days,

To me were doubly dear;

Whilst blessing your beloved name,
I'd wave at once a Poet's fame,
To prove a Prophet here.

GRANTA, A MEDLEY.

Αργυρέαις λογχαισι μαχε και παντα Κρατήσαις.

I.

OH! Could LE SAGE'S demon's gift

Be realized at my desire,

This night my trembling form he'd lift,

To place it on St. Mary's spire.

2.

Then would, unroof'd, old Granta's halls

Pedantic inmates full display;

* The Diable Boiteux of LE SAGE, where Asmodeus, the Demon, places Don Cleofas on an elevated situation, and unroofs the houses for his inspection.

Fellows who dream on lawn, or stalls,

The price of venal votes to pay.

3.

Then would I view each rival wight,
P-tty and P-lm-st-n survey;

Who canvass there with all their might,
Against the next elective day.

4.

Lo! candidates and voters lie,

All lull'd in sleep, a goodly number!

A race renown'd for piety,

Whose conscience won't disturb their slumber.

5.

Lord H―, indeed, may not demur,

Fellows are sage, reflecting men!

They know preferment can occur
But very seldom,-now and then

6.

They know the Chancellor has got
Some pretty livings in disposal;
Each hopes that one may be his lot,

And, therefore, smiles on his proposal.

7.

Now, from the soporific scene

I'll turn mine eye, as night grows later,

To view, unheeded and unseen,

The studious sons of Alma Mater.

8.

There, in apartments small and damp,
The candidate for college prizes

Sits poring by the midnight lamp,

Goes late to bed, yet early rises.

9.

He, surely, well deserves to gain them,
With all the honours of his college,
Who, striving hardly to obtain them,
Thus seeks unprofitable knowledge;

10.

Who sacrifices hours of rest,

To scan, precisely, metres Attic;

Or agitates his anxious breast

In solving problems mathematic;

II.

Who reads false quantities in Sele,*
Or puzzles o'er the deep triangle;
Deprived of many a wholesome meal,

In barbarous Latin † doom'd to wrangle;

12.

Renouncing every pleasing page
From authors of historic use;
Preferring to the letter'd sage

The square of the hypothenuse. §

13.

Still, harmless are these occupations,
That hurt none but the hapless student,
Compared with other recreations,

Which bring together the imprudent.

* Sele's publication on Greek metres displays considerable talent and ingenuity, but, as might be expected in so difficult a work, is not remarkable for accuracy.

The Latin of the schools is of the CANINE SPECIES, and not very intelligible.

The discovery of Pythagoras, that the square of the hypothenuse is equal to the squares of the other two sides of a right angled triangle.

14.

Whose daring revels shock the sight,
When vice and infamy combine;
When drunkenness and dice unite,
And every sense is steep'd in wine.

15.

Not so the methodistic crew,
Who plans of reformation lay:

In humble attitude they sue,

Forgetting, that their pride of spirit,
Their exultation in their trial,
Detracts most largely from the merit
Of all their boasted self-denial.

17.

'Tis morn,-from these I turn my sight:
What scene is this which meets the eye?
A numerous crowd array'd in white,*
Across the green in numbers fly.

* On a Saint day, the students wear surplices in chapel.