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(From an Imitation of Horace)
Translated by J. Duncombe
IN four days Zealand’s coasts appear, | |
| And a wished port we find at Veer. | |
| Thence Middleburgh by land we gain; | |
| Next morn once more we tempt the main; | |
| And soon with joy at Dort arrive, | 5 |
| Whence Maese and Waal unite to drive | |
| With kindred streams invading foes, | |
| And every bold attack oppose. | |
| At Rotterdam, with reverence due; | |
| Erasmus my attention drew; | 10 |
| Then Delft, where thy proud tomb, Nassau, | |
| Claims equal reverence, equal awe! | |
| At Leyden we reposed that night; | |
| And, with the next returning light, | |
| Received the welcome of a pair, | 15 |
| Distinguished by Apollo’s care,— | |
| Saumaise and Heinsius, whom the Nine | |
| Have blessed with all their warmth divine! | |
| The public library surveyed, | |
| And anatomic hall, we strayed | 20 |
| Among the choice exotic trees, | |
| And saw whate’er could strangers please. | |
| At Haerlem, our next stage, just fame | |
| For the first printing-press they claim, | |
| And for the ships, with saw-like prows, | 25 |
| Fatal to their Pelusian foes. | |
| To Amsterdam we haste, and there | |
| With looks which heartfelt joy declare, | |
| Choice friends our wished arrival greet; | |
| Bochart and Vossius there we meet, | 30 |
| And (though unmentioned) numbers more, | |
| All bound to Sweden’s distant shore. | |
| How pleasant, when abroad we roam, | |
| To find the friends most loved at home! * * * * * | |
| To Utrecht then we take our way, | 35 |
| And there to matchless Schurman pay | |
| Our due respects, her sex’s pride; | |
| With admiration I descried | |
| The virgin’s works of every kind, | |
| The labors of her hands and mind. | 40 |
| Departing thence, at night we meet | |
| With paltry lodgings at Elspeet; | |
| Holm dishes held our rustic cheer, | |
| Straw was our bedding, threshed this year. | |
| From thence next day to Zwoll we went, | 45 |
| Where his long life good Kempis spent, | |
| And still his pious fame survives, | |
| And in his grateful country lives. | |
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