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 Seale,1
Or puzzles o'er the deep triangle;
Depriv'd 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."

i. And agitates.-[4to]

ii. And robs himself of many a meal.-[4to]

1. Seale'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. [An Analysis of the Greek Metres; for the use of students at the University of Cambridge. By John Barlow Seale (1764), 8vo. A fifth edition was issued in 1807.]

2. The Latin of the schools is of the canine species, and not very intelligible.

3. 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.

13.

Still, harmless are these occupations,

That hurt none but the hapless student, Compar'd with other recreations,

Which bring together the imprudent;

i. But harmless are these occupations Which.-[4to]

ii. When Drunkenness and dice unite.

And every sense.-[4to. P. on V. Occasions.]

iii. And exultation.-[4to]

17.

"Tis morn :-from these I turn my sight:

What scene is this which meets the eye?
A numerous crowd array'd in white,1

Across the green in numbers fly.

18.

Loud rings in air the chapel bell;

'Tis hush'd :—what sounds are these I hear?

The organ's soft celestial swell

Rolls deeply on the listening ear.

19.

To this is join'd the sacred song,

The royal minstrel's hallow'd strain;
Though he who hears the music long,"
Will never wish to hear again.

20.

Our choir would scarcely be excus'd,

E'en as a band of raw beginners;

All mercy, now, must be refus'd it.

To such a set of croaking sinners.

21.

If David, when his toils were ended,

Had heard these blockheads sing before him,

i. But he.-[4to]

ii. But mercy.-[4to]

1. On a saint's day the students wear surplices in chapel.

To us his psalms had ne'er descended,—

In furious mood he would have tore 'em.

22.

The luckless Israelites, when taken

By some inhuman tyrant's order,
Were ask'd to sing, by joy forsaken,
On Babylonian river's border.

23.

Oh! had they sung in notes like these1
Inspir'd by stratagem or fear,

They might have set their hearts at ease,
The devil a soul had stay'd to hear.

24.

But if I scribble longer now,"

The deuce a soul will stay to read;
My pen is blunt, my ink is low;

'Tis almost time to stop, indeed.

25.

Therefore, farewell, old Granta's spires!
No more, like Cleofas, I fly;

No more thy theme my Muse inspires :

The reader's tir'd, and so am I.

i. But had they sung. -[4to]

October 28, 1806.

ii. But if I write much longer now.-[4to. P. on V. Occasions.]

TO THE SIGHING STREPHON.1

I.

YOUR pardon, my friend,

If my rhymes did offend,
Your pardon, a thousand times o'er;

From friendship I strove,

Your pangs to remove,

But, I swear, I will do so no more.

2.

Since your beautiful maid,

Your flame has repaid,

No more I your folly regret ;

She's now most divine,

And I bow at the shrine,

Of this quickly reformed coquette.

3.

Yet still, I must own,1

I should never have known,

From your verses, what else she deserv'd;

i. But still.-[4t0]

1. [The letters "J. M. B. P." are added, in a lady's hand, in the annotated copy of P. on V. Occasions, p. 17 (British Museum).]