I am not fond of fancy's toys; I swoon not at the noise of wrack, I envy none, I none disdain.-Sylvester. Into Greek Prose. Difficult indeed is our situation. In all situations of difficulty, men will be influenced in the part they take not only by the reason of the case, but by the peculiar turn of their own character. The same ways to safety do not present themselves to all men, nor to the same men in different tempers. There is a courageous wisdom: there is also a false reptile prudence, the result not of caution but of fear. Under misfortunes it often happens that the nerves of the understanding are so relaxed, the pressing peril of the hour so completely confounds all the faculties, that no future danger can be properly provided for, can be justly estimated, can be so much as fully seen.-Burke. WEDNESDAY, March 25. Into Latin Hexameters. He looked, and saw wide territory spread Both horse and foot, nor idly mustering stood; Paradise Lost, B. XI. FRIDAY, March 27. Into Latin Elegiacs. Weave the crimson web of war, Wading through the ensanguined field, O'er the youthful king your shield: Ours to kill, and ours to spare: Weave the crimson web of war. Sisters, hence with spurs of speed! Hurry, hurry, to the field. Gray.-The Fatal Sisters, MONDAY, March 30. Into Greek Iambics. Believe me, Syphax, there's no time to waste; Will set the victor thundering at our gates. WEDNESDAY, April 1. Into Greek Anapastics. Man's feeble race what ills await! Labour and penury, the racks of pain, Disease and sorrows weeping train, Addison's Cato. And death, sad refuge from the storms of fate! Say, has he given in vain the heavenly muse? Her spectres wan, and birds of boding cry, Till down the Eastern cliffs afar Hyperion's march they spy, and glittering shafts of war. Gray's Progress of Poesy. FRIDAY, April 3. Into Latin Prose. Charles then rose from his seat, and leaning on the shoulder of the Prince of Orange, because he was unable to stand without support, he addressed himself to the audience, and from a paper which he held in his hand, in order to assist his memory, he recounted with dignity but without ostentation all the great things which he had undertaken and performed since the commencement of his administration. He observed that from the seventeenth year of his age he had dedicated all his thought and attention to public objects; reserving no portion of his time for the indulgence of his ease, and very little for the enjoyment of private pleasure: that either in a pacific or hostile manner he had visited Germany nine times, Spain_six times, France four times, Italy seven times, the Low Countries ten times, England twice, Africa as often, and had made eleven voyages by sea that while his health permitted him to discharge his duty, and the vigour of his constitution was equal, in any degree, to the arduous office of governing such extensive dominions, he had never shunned labour, nor repined under fatigue; that now, when his health was broken, and his vigour exhausted by the rage of an incurable distemper, his growing infirmities admonished him to retire. Robertson's History of Charles V. MONDAY, April 6. Into Latin Alcaics. Ah! what avails the lengthening mead, Along the vale of flowers! See how the sturdy peasants stride. Welcome, O welcome, Pleasure's Queen, The jocund train advance: With scattered flowers they fill the air, WEDNESDAY, April 15. Into Latin Elegiacs. When from the cave thou risest with the day, I'll fetch quick fuel from the neighbouring wood, FRIDAY, April 17. Into Greek Iambics. With doubtful feet and wavering resolution, But conjugal affection, Once more thy face, and know of thy estate, To lighten what thou sufferest, and appease Samson Agonistes. MONDAY, April 20. Into Greek Prose. I appeal to the common sense of the public, to which I have ever directed myself. For of this I am sure that there is nothing else upon which to place a steady reliance. Trick and low cunning may be the fittest means to carry a particular point; if they have not common sense there is no prospect of gaining for them any real permanent good. The same passions which have been artfully used by an honest man for their advantage, may be more artfully employed by a dishonest man for their destruction. I desire them to apply their common sense to these arguments, not for my sake, but their own; they concern them most nearly; for the principles they contain lead to disgrace and ruin, and are inconsistent with every notion of civil society. Horne.-Letter to Junius. WEDNESDAY, April 2. Into Latin Prose. Nor was he so fond of reigning as to retain the sceptre in an impotent hand, which was no longer able to protect his subjects or to render them happy: |