Through distant climes condemn'd to fly, Thy steps within a stranger's doors. Perish the fiend whose iron heart, To fair affection's truth unknown, Bids her he fondly loved depart, Unpitied, helpless, and alone; Who ne'er unlocks with silver key 2 The milder treasures of his soul, May such a friend be far from me, And ocean's storms between us roll! THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY A COLLEGE EXAMINATION. HIGH in the midst, surrounded by his peers, Medea, who accompanied Jason to Corinth, was deserted by him for the daughter of Creon, king of that city. The chorus from which this is taken here addresses Medea; though a considerable liberty is taken with the original, by expanding the idea, as also in some other parts of the translation. 2 The original is Καθαρὰν ἀνοίξαντι κλῆρα φρενών ;" literally "disclosing the bright key of the mind." 3 No reflection is here intended against the person mentioned under the name of Magnus. He is merely represented as performing an unavoidable function of his office. Indeed, such an attempt could only recoil upon myself; as that gentleman is now as much distinguished by his eloquence, and the dignified propriety with which he fills his situation, as he was in his younger days for Placed on his chair of state, he seems a god, Happy the youth in Euclid's axioms tried, What, though he knows not how his fathers bled, wit and conviviality. [Dr. William Lort Mansel was, in 1790, appointed to the headship of Trinity College, by Mr. Pitt. While a Bachelor of Arts, he distinguished himself as the author of several jeux d'esprit. Dr. Jowett, of Trinity Hall, having amused both himself and the public by a pretty little fairy garden, with narrow gravel walks besprinkled with shells and pellucid pebbles, and enclosed by a delicate Chinese railing, Dr. Mansel wrote the following lines thereon: "A little garden little Jowett made, And fenced it with a little palisade If you would know the taste of little Jowett; He was indebted to the influence of his pupil, the late Mr. Perceval, for his promotion, in 1808, to the see of Bristol. He is supposed to have materially assisted in the "Pursuits of LiteraHis Lordship died at Trinity Lodge in June, 1820.] ture." Such is the youth whose scientific pate We speak to please ourselves, not move the crowd: A proper mixture of the squeak and groan : The man who hopes t' obtain the promised cup No matter what, so it can not be heard. Thus let him hurry on, nor think to rest : The sons of science these, who, thus repaid, Linger in ease in Granta's sluggish shade; Where on Cam's sedgy banks supine they lie, Unknown, unhonoured, live, unwept for die : 1 Demosthenes. [In most colleges, the Fellow who superintends the chapel service is called Dean.] Dull as the pictures which adorn their halls, 1 Yet prizing Bentley's, Brunck's, or Porson's 1 note, The present Greek professor at Trinity College, Cambridge; a man whose powers of mind and writings may, perhaps, justify their preference. [In a letter written in 1818, Lord Byron says,— "I remember to have seen Porson at Cambridge, in the hall of our college, and in private parties; and I never can recollect him except as drunk or brutal, and generally both: I mean in an evening; for in the hall he dined at the Dean's table, and I at the Vice-master's; and he then and there appeared sober in his demeanour; but I have seen him, in a private party of undergraduates, take up a poker to them, and heard him use language as blackguard as his action. Of all the disgusting brutes, sulky, abusive, and intolerable, Porson was the most bestial, as far as the few times I saw him went. He was tolerated in this state amongst the young men for his talents; as the Turks think a madman inspired, and bear with him. He used to recite, or rather vomit, pages of all languages, and could hiccup Greek like a Helot; and certainly Sparta never shocked her children with a grosser exhibition than this man's intoxication."-1818.] 2 Since this was written, Lord Henry Petty has lost his place, and subsequently (I had almost said consequently) the honour of representing the University. A fact so glaring requires no comment. [Lord Henry Petty is now (1836) Marquess of Lansdowne.] This much, at least, we may presume to say 1806. TO A BEAUTIFUL QUAKER. What though we never silence broke, And hush the mandates of the heart; |