Not distant shall thy suppliant rove To find the little wanderer, Love: Oh no!-but, come, the kiss impart, For, see, I have him-in my heart. FROM BUCHANAN'S SYLVAE. Nec mihi quae tenebris condit nox omnia, &c. OFT to my heart the fairy sprite, And bids me view, entranced, the while, But soon, alas! the vision dies, THE Commentators have supposed, that under the image of a ship, HORACE meant the Republick; and that the fourteenth ode of his first book, was a protest against a war into which his country appeared to be entering, when in a situation very unprepared for the contest. I have attempted an imitation. O SHIP! what newly veering gale, What sudden breakers thus assail, And all your timbers shock?1 Why tempt, a wreck, the stormy main?2 Come, helm a lee! about again, And keep within your dock. Behold your sails, not half unbent, Your spars by southern tempests rent, And yet, you thus would brave the seas! Your canvass see, a fluttering rag, 6 Hangs as neglected as that flag, Which waved when dangers tried you. No pilots now their aid to lend, On whom, alas! can you depend 'Mongst rocks and shoals to guide you." Your timbers, once the dock-yard's boast, Are now unfit to leave the coast, In idleness worm-eaten. 8 The wary sailor ne'er relies 9 On painted sides. O yet be wise, Weigh not, thus weather-beaten! 10 Source of my pain, my toil, my care," May'st thou the gods my wish inspire-- That howl o'er the Atlantick. 13 1 O navis, referent in mare te novi Fluctus? O quid agis?-3 Fortiter occupa Portum.- Nonne vides, ut Nudum remigio latus, Et malus celeri saucius Africo, Antennaeque gemant?-5 ac sine funibus Vix durare carinae Possint imperiosius |