Vincent Bourne

Vincent Bourne (familiarly known as Vinny Bourne; 1695 – 2 December 1747), was an English classical scholar and Neo-Latin poet.

Quotes

When children first begin to spell,
And stammer out a syllable,
We think them tedious creatures;
But difficulties soon abate,
When birds are to be taught to prate,
And women are the teachers.

• Ardua discenti nulla est, res nulla docenti
     Ardua; cum doceat fœmina, discat avis.
  • Belinda and her bird! 'tis rare
    To meet with such a well-match'd pair, —
       The language and the tone,
    Each character in every part
    Sustain'd with so much grace and art,
       And both in unison.
    When children first begin to spell,
    And stammer out a syllable,
       We think them tedious creatures;
    But difficulties soon abate,
    When birds are to be taught to prate,
       And women are the teachers.
  • Simile agit in simile, l. 19. Translated by William Cowper as "The Parrot"

• Concursus spectat, plateaque negotia in omni,
     Omnia pro nugis at sapienter habet.
  Clamores, quos infra audit, si forsitan audit,
     Pro rebus nihili negligit, et crocitat.
  • He sees that this great roundabout
    The world, with all its motley rout,
    Church, army, physic, law,
    Its customs and its businesses,
    Is no concern at all of his,
    And says — what says he? — Caw.
  • Cornicula, l. 15. Translated by William Cowper as "The Jackdaw"

• Vernantem in campum mecum descende, novique
     Videris, ut surgat primula, veris honos.
  Dum populus circum cantat pennatus, amori
     Quam mecum ad Tuedam lenta vacare potes!
  • Come, let us go forth to the mead,
       Let us see how the primroses spring;
    We'll lodge in some village on Tweed,
       And love, where the feathered folks sing.
  • Tueda, l. 9. Translated by Robert Crawford as "Tweed-Side"

Quotes about Bourne

• I love the memory of Vinny Bourne. I think him a better Latin poet than Tibullus, Propertius, Ausonius, or any of the writers in his way, except Ovid, and not at all inferior to him.
  • William Cowper, Letter to John Newton (23 May 1781); Haley, Life and Posthumous Writings of Cowper, vol. 3 (1804) p. 76. Quoted as epigraph in The Poetical Works of Vincent Bourne (Oxford: Talboys and Wheeler, 1826) front matter

External links

• John Gilmore, "Parrots, Poets and Philosophers: Language and Empire in the Eighteenth Century", EnterText, vol. 2, no. 2 (Summer 2003) pp. 93–94