The Boat Race.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2149, 23 November 1875, Page 2

The Boat Race.

Jupiter is reported to have mixed divers particles with that clay from which he.first formed man, and to have added .the pluck oj the lion, to itlie human frame.; >.-•■: ■:.'.:" .' . : ; ,•",;<*; ';-, Horace—Freely; translated." Beni!'

The boat race comes off to-morrow, I weather permitting, and the following is meant to be a prophecy of the race as we think it will eventuate.- There is a possibility of its being true, and a probability of its being untrue. Our own idea briefly expressed, for the benefit of those whose time or temper will not allow them to wade through the following ryhmes, is tbat it will be... a good: race ;?fo'r a mile, and then thfe Parawai crew will have the best of it. However, we confess we have seen but very little of the crews, and we sincerely hope that neither will attach more importanpe to these few lines than we dp ourselves, and that is but very little indeed. We hope it is needless to say they are not written with any idea of discouraging either side, and as for our sympathies, they are with the losers whichever they may be :—

Some two dozen years back o'er his nectar one day, King Jove to the gods in Olympus did say— •'.'Degenerate mortals, it must be confessed,. . T Grow smaller each year round the arm and the chest. Not twenty colonials together could swing The stone that Great Ajax unaided did fling;; They make hoast about Jim Mace, and Heenan, and' Nat, You bet that old Milo, though puffy ; and fat, Could thrash the whole ring should they come within range, From slashing Tom Say.ers to sneaking Bill Bainge. Go and fetch me some,, clay—no, not that common stuff, But Waller's best meerschaum, and fetch me enough To make eight hearty fellow*, all muscle and-bone, Whose .average weight shall be hard on 12 stone, And two crews out of these eight, as I am alive, I'll fashion to race in eighteen seventy-five. ■ On Tararu wharf stands collected a crowd, And the voices of backers wax eager and loud, And with hope high and keen swells each partizan's heart As the oarsmen sit ready awaiting the start. They are off for the race, and, determined to win it, The B.N.Z. show" first, rowing forty a minute ; While careless of distance, only thinking of speed, The Parawai stroke " quickens " up for the lead. But the pace tells a tale ere a mile has'ocen passed, And Hargreaves finds "forty "a little too fast, And though not a man there his duty would shirk, Yet, though willing the spirit, the flesh needs more work. And the Parawai crew forges slowly ahead, And the hopes of the Bankers are withered and fled, i Strange ! The first past the post, though the terrible pace ■ Took away all their form, rowed with plenty of Grace. The race'being over the God s,hook:his head, But Venus who stood by his side gaily said— To one crew, 0 Father! you. gave all the luck, But to both of the crews you gave plenty of pluck.