BRIDAL SONG.

(Catullus.)

YOUTHS.

VESPER is rising, fair youths, my good youths: look, afar, on

Olympus,

Waited so long for, he comes, very pale, with a tremulous glimmer. This is the time, the sweet time: leave the feasting: the maiden is

near us.

Sing we the song, as is meet, for the beautiful bride at her wedding. Hymen, good Hymen, O listen! be near us, good Hymen, sweet Hymen!

VIRGINS.

See ye the youths, true girls, still unwedded? Up! hasten to meet them!

That is the star of the night in the gold by the summit of Eta. Yonder, indeed, is the star! See the youths! how they leap to the contest!

Not to no end are they eager; they seek to win praise with their singing.

Hymen, good Hymen, O listen! be near us, good Hymen, sweet Hymen!

YOUTHS.

Easily think ye, fair youths, ye shall carry the prize of this singing? Look, how the virgins advance! how they whisper, they ponder together!

Not to no end do they muse,-we shall find by the charm of their music.

Well it may charm, when they give the best of their powers to the

making.

We have divided our ears to the song, and our minds to the answer: E'en may they bear off the palm; for victory favours the striving.

Youths, have a care, and be ready!-why, shall the fair maidens

surpass us?

Hark, they begin, as is meet; when they cease, we shall answer

the challenge.

Hymen, good Hymen, O listen! be near us, good Hymen, sweet Hymen!

VIRGINS.

Hesperus, dull is thy star! what star, looks can gaze on, is sadder? You, that so ruthlessly snatch a fair maid from the arms of her mother!

Ruthlessly snatch her, reluctant, and loth, from a parent's embraces!

Yielding her, virgin, untainted, at once to the arms of a husband! What could a victor do worse, in his rage, when he plunders a city? Hymen, good Hymen, O listen! be near, near us, good Hymen, sweet Hymen!

YOUTHS.

Hesperus, bright is thy star! what star, looks can gaze on, is gladder?

Binding at last, with thy beams, the beautiful bond of the wedded! Promises, vows, those sweet pledges of lovers and parents aforetime, Doubtfully waiting, not bound, are made strong in the dawn of thy

sweetness.

Is there an hour we would have, which the gods can allot us, more happy?

Hymen, good Hymen, O listen! be near us, good Hymen, sweet Hymen!

VIRGINS.

Hesperus, maids, of the maidens another true maiden has taken. Star, they set watch at your advent. Mad lovers, like robbers, lie lurking!

They,-in such watch never tired! Till you mix with the morning they linger.

Hymen, good Hymen, O listen! be near us, good Hymen, sweet Hymen!

YOUTHS.

Hark, how the maids, those unwedded ones, love to be loud in their chiding!

What do they chide you, pale star? yet and how would they

grieve if you came not!

Hymen, good Hymen, O listen! be near us, good Hymen, sweet Hymen!

VIRGINS.

When your new flower, from its birth, in a well-guarded garden grows hidden,

Safe from the browsing of cattle, nor bent by the bruise of the harrow,

Fed with the rain, and the sun, and the delicate air of the Zephyr, Gladly the youths gather round it, the maidens are proud of its beauty;

But if you pluck it, but pluck it,-just sever the stem of your blossom,

Little the youths will desire it, and little the maidens care for it.
So will a virgin be loved, if she live still a virgin, unmarried.
But if she give her sweet self to the resolute arms of a husband,
None of the youths will take trouble to praise, nor the maidens
to love her.

Hymen, good Hymen, O listen! be near us, good Hymen, sweet
Hymen!

YOUTHS.

As a wild vine that is set, by some chance, in the soil of the furrow, Never can lift up itself, nor be clad in the pride of its clusters; Stooping its delicate length to the ground with the weight of its burden,

Stooping its head to its root, and trailing the pride of its beauty, Cannot be dear to the hind, nor be dear to the hearts of the herdsmen ;

But if it cling, by good hap, to the cherishing elm with its branches, Then it is dear to the hind, and the hearts of the herdsmen joy

in it;

So will a virgin grow old, and be little desired, if unmarried:
Who, if she wed in her youth, in the bud of her prime, as is fitting,
Then is more dear to her lord, and less to her parents a trouble.
Prithee, sweet maiden, no more! why so timid? so willing to dally?
Dally no more,—such a lord as your lord! and your parents
approving!

Father and mother alike! it is fit that a maiden obey them.
Maidenhood is not your own: you may claim but a share in it only.
Still to the mother a third is allotted, a third to the father:

So to the maiden a third, but a third. You, be willing! obey, then!

Have they not yielded their right to your lord, and a dowry beside it ?

Hymen, good Hymen, O listen! be near us, good Hymen, sweet

Hymen!

"T. ASHE."

OUR CHRONICLE.

LENT TERM, 1862.

WE are glad to present to our readers this term an abundant answer to our appeal of last Lent Term. They will find in our pages communications from our friends in different parts of the globe,-letters from Rome, from Madeira, from the Pacific, which we hope will not fail to keep up a feeling of mutual kindness between those of us who remain here, and those who are scattered over the face of the earth.

The year has opened upon us but mournfully. The loss which the nation has had to deplore in the death of the Prince Consort, has doubly affected us, who lose thereby our former Chancellor. It is not for us to add anything to the tribute of praise which has been paid on all sides to his memory but as regards his work as Chancellor, we believe that his merits have been underrated, and that the interest which he took in University affairs was deeper and more frequently manifested than many imagined. The election of the Duke of Devonshire as his successor we need scarcely put on record here.

In some respects the chronicle of this term is cheering to us. Though our neighbour has again carried off the "blue riband" both in Mathematics and Classics, St. John's is in both cases successful in claiming "proximos honores." The Mathematical list shows the now almost usual six in the first ten, while of the thirty-two wranglers, St. John's has thirteen; of the remaining six candidates, four are senior optimes and two junior optimes. In the Classical Tripos also we have four in the First Class.

Other successes which we have to record are (1) the Craven University Scholarship awarded to Mr. H. W. Moss, (2) the Second Smith's prize awarded to Ds Laing, and (3) the Chancellor's Medal for Legal Studies adjudged to Ds Freeman.

Subjoined are the lists of the First Classes at the Christmas Examination :

It is our melancholy office to record the death of our late Senior Dean, the Rev. Basil Williams. Mr. Williams entered in June last upon the College living of Holme on Spalding Moor, and died on January 5th. The living is consequently again vacant. We believe Mr. Williams' successor will be the Rev. W. C. Sharpe, the present Senior Dean.

Since our last, Mr. G. D. Liveing has been elected to be Professor of Chemistry in the place of the late Professor Cumming. The post of Registrary is filled by the Rev. H. R. Luard of Trinity College, who was nominated by the Council together with Mr. Power of Pembroke.