Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 002.djvu/694
Hic melior motu in terram bis præcipitavit.
In quarta et quinta cum Pullo Bourkius ultro
Congressus quoties, toties prostravit arena,
Naribus ex Bourki quamquam vis sanguinis ibat.
Tunc illi sexta impegit violentius ictum
Lumine sub lævo, et vasto cadit impete Pullus.
Septena, octavaque valet vis vivida Pulli
In caput adversum Bourki, qui plurima jactat
Vulnera, quorum unum incutiens crudelius ora
Includit vocem et tantum non sanguine vitam.
Extemplo quovis contendunt pignore cuncti
Victorem fore, sed nono in certamine major
Bourkius evadit, plagasque repercutit omnes;
Atque iterum in terram Pullus procumbit anhelans.
Sic optata brevem nectit Victoria Palmam
Alterutri; nunc cæditur Hic, nunc Ille triumphat.
Quatuor inque vices quæ tempora nona sequntur
Jam memorata, leves ægre Dea ventilat alas,
Inque caput Bourki recto pede stare videtur;
Lucta ferox interdum, et parte severa ab utraque est,
Jamque ter, et vicies pugnatum est; nec mora. Victor
Vi genuum nitens, nec non fretus pede dextro,
Bourkiadem terra immanem applicat, insuper ipsum
Ridet anhelantem dura ad discrimina casus;
Perque vices trinas minor ex certamine semper
Bourkius excessit, nec dextram tollere contra
Vixque oculum est ausus: quin certi protinus omnes
Uno ore exclamant, cuinam prætendere palmam
Et dubitamus adhuc? dum clamant, Bourkius ultro
Efferus ecce iterum in pugnam ruit, omnis, et ingens
Mole suâ in terram gravis indicit; adstat Amicus,
Suadet et Adjutor sævo cessare duello
Semper inæquali, et cedendo victus abire.
Nondum animo domitus negat Hic, longeque recusat,
Extremasque vices pugnæ integrat, et sibi fidens
Os offert Pullo incautum: sub pondere dextræ
Contusæ resonant nares; torrente sonoro
It sanguis; conduntur lumina, et effugit omnis,
Aut omnem fugisse putes, evandia vita,
Hic finis Bourki in præsens; hic exitus illum
Hac vice devictum agnovit, Pulloque minorem.
Vulneribus lotis, deleto stigmate vultus,
Et cute curatâ, forsan te, Pulle, domabit.
Plus æquo ne victor ovans tua cornua tollas
Aut nimium tibi mens elata superbiat, oro.
V. P.[1]
TESTIMONIA
Virorum doctorum in Stephanum Pearcium Wimbledonia Victorem.
Υμνει τὰς πύκλας εὖμάλα πυγμαχίσας·
Υμετέρω Στεφάνῳ φθονέει τὶς μῆλα σελινα,
Ἄξιος ἔτι φέρειν ἄθλον Οὐιμβλεδινον.
B.
Square all the rounds, and make the odds even.
R.
Spreta jocos, Burki prælia quæ cecinit.
C. M. A.
ΜΑΤΘΙΑΣ.
REMARKS ON THE PERIODICAL CRITICISM OF ENGLAND—IN A LETTER TO A FRIEND.
(Translated from the German of Von Lauerwinkel.[2])
The observations which I made on the periodical critics of Britain, in my last letter, do not satisfy you.—You insist that my late journey to London must have furnished me with much new and interesting information concerning English literature in all its branches; and you request me to communicate to you whatever I may have learned respecting those strange Reviews, which at present rule the authors and readers of the freest country in Europe, with as arbitrary and merciless a sway as was ever exerted over the civil and political world by a sportive Nero, or a gloomy Tiberius. My dear friend, I went to England to transact a very delicate piece of business, not at all connected with literature; and during my stay in its metropolis, the great men whom I saw were not the great men of literature. I will do, however, all that I can to satisfy your desires.
- ↑ V. P. may stand for Victoria Pugilistica, Victor Pearcius, Versus Paræmiacus, or any thing else that the reader chooses.
- ↑ When we announced this letter some months ago, we mentioned it as the composition of a certain celebrated German critic. We delayed its publication in consequence of some suspicions we entertained as to that point, and have since learned from the translator, that the author is not the writer we had named, but his friend the Baron von Lauerwinkel. Editor.