Sagittulae, Random Verses | Page 2

the Priest,?Spake out 'of Trojan warriors?'I am, perhaps, the least,?'Yet will I stand at thy right hand.'?Cried Pottius--'I likewise?'At thy left side will stem the tide?'Of myriad flashing eyes.
X.
Meanwhile the Ladies' Army,?Right glorious to behold,?Came clad in silks and satins bright,?With seal-skins and with furs bedight,?And gems and rings of gold.?Four hundred warriors shouted?'Placet' with fiendish glee,?As that fair host with fairy feet,?And smiles unutterably sweet,?Came tripping each towards her seat,?Where stood the dauntless Three.
XI.
The Three stood calm and silent,?And frowned upon their foes,?As a great shout of laughter?From the four hundred rose:?And forth three chiefs came spurring?Before their ladies gay,?They faced the Three, they scowled and scoffed,?Their gowns they donned, their caps they doffed,?Then sped them to the fray.
XII.
Generalis Post-Magister,?Lord of the Letter-bags;?And Dilkius Radicalis,?Who ne'er in combat lags;?And Graecus Professorius,?Beloved of fair Sabrine,?From the grey Elms--beneath whose shade?A hospitable banquet laid,?Had heroes e'en of cowards made.--?Brought 'placets' thirty-nine.
XIII
Stout Varius hurled 'non placet'?At Post-Magister's head:?At the mere glance of Pottius?Fierce Radicalis fled:?And Parvus Mariensis--?So they who heard him tell--?Uttered but one false quantity,?And Professorius fell!

XIV.
But fiercer still and fiercer?Fresh foemen sought the fray.?And fainter still and fainter?Stout Varius stood at bay.?'O that this too, too solid?Flesh would dissolve,' he sighed;?Yet still he stood undaunted,?And still the foe defied.
XV.
Then Pollia Nunamensis,?A student sweetly fair,?Famed for her smiles and dimples?Blue eyes and golden hair,?Of Cupid's arrows seized a pair,
One in each eye she took:?Cupid's best bow with all her might?She pulled--each arrow winged its flight,?And straightway reason, sense, and sight
Stout Varius forsook.
XVI.
'He falls'--the Placets thundered,?And filled the yawning gap;?In vain his trusty comrades?Avenge their chief's mishap--
His last great fight is done.?'They charge! Brave Pottius prostrate lies,?No Rider helps him to arise:?They charge! Fierce Mariensis dies.
The Bridge, the Bridge is won!
XVII.
In vain did Bencornutus?Flash lightnings from his beard;?In vain Fabrorum Maximus?His massive form upreared;?And Lumbius Revisorius--?Diviner potent he!--?And Peronatus robed in state,?And fine old Fossilis sedate,?All vainly stemmed the tide of fate--
Triumphed the Graces Three!
XVIII.
But when in future ages?Women have won their rights,?And sweet girl-undergraduates?Read through the lamp-lit nights;?When some, now unborn, Pollia?Her head with science crams;?When the girls make Greek Iambics,?And the boys black-currant jams;
XIX.
When the goodman's shuttle merrily?Goes flashing through the loom,?And the good wife reads her Plato?In her own sequestered room;?With weeping and with laughter?Still shall the tale be told,?How pretty Pollia won the Bridge?In the brave days of old.
(1881).
[1] The ancient name of Hitchin.
JULIA.
An Ode.
[NOTE.--The following imitation of Cowper's Boadicea was written in 1858; most of its predictions have since been fulfilled.]
When the Cambridge flower-show ended,?And the flowers and guests were gone,?And the evening shades descended,?Roamed a man forlorn alone.
Sage beside the River slow?Sat the Don renowned for lore?And in accents soft and low?To the elms his love did pour.
"Julia, if my learned eyes?Gaze upon thy matchless face:?'Tis because I feel there lies?Magic in thy lovely grace.
"I will marry! write that threat?In the ink I daily waste:?Marry--pay each College debt--?College Ale no more will taste.
"Granta, far and wide renowned,?Frowns upon the married state;?Soon her pride shall kiss the ground?Hark! Reform is at the gate.
"Other Fellows shall arise,?Proud to own a husband's name:?Proud to own their infants' cries--?Harmony the path to fame.
"Then the progeny that springs?From our ancient College walls,?Armed with trumpets, noisy things,?Shall astound us by their squalls.
"Sounds no wrangler yet has heard,?Our posterity shall fright:?E'en 'the Eagle,' [1] valiant bird,?Shall betake itself to flight."
Such the thoughts that through him whirl'd?Pensively reclining there:?Smiling, as his fingers curled?His divinely-glowing hair.
He, with all a lover's pride,?Felt his manly bosom glow,?Sought the Bull, besought the Bride,?All she said was "No, Sir, No!"
Julia, pitiless as cold,?Lo the vengeance due from Heaven!?College Living he doth hold;?Single bliss to thee is given.
[1] "The Eagle" is the well-known Magazine of St. John's College, Cambridge.
CLIO FATIDICA.
[NOTE.--The following lines were written to celebrate the 'bump' by which the Lady Margaret 1st Boat became "Head of the River" in 1871. On the next evening Professor Selwyn delighted the eyes and the hearts of all Johnians by sculling down the river to salute the Head of the River. The title of psychroloutes [*] needs no explanation to those who know the Selwyns, who are no less renowned as swimmers than as oarsmen.]
"Tell me, Muse, what colour floateth round
the River's ancient head:?Is it white and black, or white and blue, is it
scarlet, blue, or red?"?Thus I prayed, and Clio answered, "Why, I thought
the whole world knew?That the red of Margareta had deposed the flag
of blue!?Babes unborn shall sing in rapture how, desiring
Close [1] affinity,?Goldie, rowing nearly fifty, overlapped, and bumped
First Trinity.?I myself was at the Willows, and beheld the victory won;?Saw the victor's final effort, and the deed of daring done. I myself took off my bonnet, and forgetful of my years,?Patting Goldie on the shoulder, gave him three
times thrice three cheers.?Ne'er, oh! ne'er, shall be forgotten the excitement
of that