Remember thee! there is no shame in this,
    Though oft my heart may wander, and my eye,
  Picturing fair shapes of too ideal bliss,
    Forgets the “cold world of reality.”

  Remember thee! there is no error here—­
    To love the gay, the beautiful, the bright,
  With fondest passion, then to turn with fear
    To sterner duties—­tasks forgotten quite.

  Remember thou that one, who loved thee well
    Though scorned, and broken-hearted, and undone,
  When, without shame, thy ruby lips may tell
    How deep the passion of that nameless one!

  Remember! oh, remember! in those years
    Which fleet so fast—­which I may never see;
  Then, whilst I linger in this “vale of tears,”
    What should I think upon, but God and thee!

THOMAS M——­s.

* * * * *

ANCIENT ROMAN FESTIVALS

AUGUST.

(For the Mirror.)

The Portumnalia was a festival in honour of Portumnus, who was supposed to preside over ports and havens, celebrated on the 17th of August, in a very solemn and lugubrious manner, on the borders of the Tiber.

The Vinalia were festivals in honour of Jupiter and Venus.  The first was held on the 19th of August, and the second on the 1st of May.  The Vinalia of the 19th of August were called Vinalia Rustica, and were instituted on occasion of the war of the Latins against Mezentius; in the course of which war, that people vowed a libation to Jupiter of all the wine in the succeeding vintage.  On the same day likewise fell the dedication of a temple to Venus; whence some authors have fallen into a mistake, that these Vinalia were sacred to Venus.

The Consuales Ludi, or Consualia, were festivals at Rome in honour of Consus, the god of counsel, whose altar Romulus discovered under the ground.  This altar was always covered, except at the festival, when a mule was sacrificed, and games and horse-races exhibited in honour of Neptune.  It was during these festivals (says Lempriere) that Romulus carried away the Sabine women, who had assembled to be spectators of the games.  They were first instituted by Romulus.  Some say, however, that Romulus only regulated and re-instituted them after they had been before established by Evander.  During the celebration, which happened about the middle of August, horses, mules, and asses were exempted from all labour, and were led through the streets adorned with garlands and flowers.

The Volturnalia was a festival kept in honour of the god Volturnus, on the 26th of August.