Why trouble or seek for the praise of a clique— A cleek here is common to all;

And the lie that might sting is a very small thing When compared with the lie of a ball.

Come youth and come age, from the study or stage,

From Bar or from Bench-high and low! A green you must use as a cure for the blues You drive them away as you go. We're outward bound on a long, long round, And it's time to be up and away:

If worry and sorrow come back with the morrow, At least we'll be happy to-day.

SIR ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE.

THE BATSMAN'S ART.

STAND you erect, as doth befit a man ;

Firm let your right foot on the ground be set; Keep your left elbow up, nor e'er forget Keenly the bowler and the ball to scan, And hit not by a preconcerted plan.

Play a straight bat, so shall each ball be met
By the full blade. Still at the practice net
Play as you would if now the match began.

Do not assault the Umpire. Play to win,
Not to achieve a lordly average;

Pull not a fast straight ball; with care begin;
Answer at once your fellow-batsman's call,
Last, play not under, but above the ball:

So counsels you Polonius the sage.

EDMUND B. V. CHRISTIAN.

THE FOOT RACE IN SICILY.

(From Virgil's "Eneid," Book V.)

FROM thence his way the Trojan hero bent Into the neighbouring plain, with mountains

pent,

Whose sides were shaded with surrounding

wood.

Full in the midst of this fair valley stood
A native theatre, which rising slow

By just degrees o'erlooked the ground below.
High on a sylvan throne the leader sate;
A numerous train attend in solemn state.
Here those that in the rapid course delight,
Desire of honour and the prize invite,
The rival runners without order stand,
The Trojans mixed with the Sicilian band.
First Nisus with Euryalus appears,
Euryalus a boy of blooming years,

With sprightly grace and equal beauty crowned;
Nisus for friendship to the youth renowned;
Diores next, of Priam's royal race,

Then Salius, joined with Patron, took their place;

But Patron in Arcadia had his birth,

And Salius his from Acarnanian earth.

Then two Sicilian youths, the names of these
Swift Helymus and lovely Panopes,

Both jolly huntsmen, both in forests bred,
And owning old Acestes for their head,
With several others of ignobler name,

Whom time has not delivered o'er to fame.

1

To these the hero thus his thoughts explained,
In words which general approbation gained:
"One common largess is for all designed,
The vanquished and the victor shall be joined.
Two darts of polished steel and Gnosian wood,
A silver studded axe alike bestowed.

The foremost three have olive wreaths decreed;
The first of these obtains a stately steed

Adorned with trappings, and the next in fame,
The quiver of an Amazonian dame,

With feathered Thracian arrows well supplied;
A golden belt shall gird his manly side,
Which with a sparkling diamond shall be tied;
The third this Grecian helmet shall content."

He said to their appointed base they went,
With beating hearts the expected sign receive,
And starting all at once, the barrier leave.

Spread out, as on the wingèd winds they flew,
And seized the distant goal with greedy view.
Shot from the crowd, swift Nisus all o'erpassed,
Nor storms, nor thunder, equal half his haste;
The next, but though the next, yet far disjoined,
Came Salius, and Euryalus behind;
Then Helymus, whom young Diores plied
Step after step, and almost side by side,
His shoulders pressing, and in longer space
Had won, or left at least a dubious race.

Now spent, the goal they almost reach at last,
When eager Nisus, hapless in his haste,
Slipped first, and slipping, fell upon the plain,
Soaked with the blood of oxen, newly slain;

The careless victor had not marked his way,
But treading where the treacherous puddle lay,
His heels flew up, and on the grassy floor
He fell, besmeared with filth and holy gore.
Not mindless then, Euryalus, of thee,
Nor of the sacred bonds of amity,

He strove the immediate rival's hope to cross,
And caught the foot of Salius as he rose :
So Salius lay extended on the plain;
Euryalus springs out, the prize to gain,

And leaves the crowd; applauding peals attend The victor to the goal, who vanquished by his friend;

Next Helymus; and then Diores came,
By two misfortunes made the third in fame.

But Salius enters, and exclaiming loud
For justice, deafens and disturbs the crowd,
Urges his cause may in the courts be heard,
And pleads the prize is wrongfully conferred.
But favour for Euryalus appears -

His blooming beauty, with his tender years,
Had bribed the judges for the promised prize;
Besides, Diores fills the court with cries,
Who vainly reaches at the last reward
If the first palm on Salius be conferred.

Then thus the prince: "Let no disputes arise;
Where Fortune placed it, I award the prize;
But Fortune's errors give me leave to mend,
At least to pity my deserving friend."
He said; and from among the spoil he draws
(Ponderous with shaggy mane and golden paws)

A lion's hide; to Salius this he gives:

Nisus with envy sees the gift and grieves.
"If such rewards to vanquished men are due,"
He said, "and falling is to rise by you,

What prize may Nisus from your bounty claim,
Who merited the first rewards and fame?
In falling, both an equal fortune tried :
Would Fortune for my fall so well provide?
With this he pointed to his face, and showed
His hands and all his habit smeared with blood.
The indulgent father of the people smiled,
And caused to be produced an ample shield
Of wondrous art, by Didymaon wrought,
Long since from Neptune's bars in triumph
brought;

Thus given to Nisus, he divides the rest,
And equal justice in his gifts expressed.

JOHN DRYDen.

IN NICHOLSON'S "ALMANAC OF SPORTS."

(With Verses by Kipling.)

IN all your Calendar of Sports

Why, Rudyard, do you slight the wheel? Were you, then, never out of sorts

Until you felt the vibrant steel

Skim over miles of level track?

For youth, with all its hope and cheer, When we 're a-wheel comes rolling back · And it is summer all the year!

ROBERT BRIDGES (" Droch ").