"Conscia ni dextram dextera pressa premat."
are a translation of the song in Sheridan's _Duenna_, Act I. Sc. 2.,
beginning--
"I ne'er could any lustre see," &c.
They were done by Marmaduke Lawson, of St. John's College, Cambridge, for
the Pitt Scholarship in 1814, for which he was successful:
"Phyllidis effugiunt nos lumina. Dulcia sunto.
Pulcra licet, nobis haud ea pulcra micant.
Nectar erat labiis, dum spes erat ista tenendi,
Spes perit, isque simul, qui erat ante, decor.
Votis me Galatea petit. Caret arte puella,
Parque rosis tenero vernat in ore color:
Sed nihil ista juvant. Forsan tamen ista juvabunt.
Si jaceant, victâ mente, rubore genæ:
Pura manus mollisque fluit. Neque credere possum.
Ut sit vera fides, ista premenda mihi est.
Nec bene credit amor (nam res est plena timoris),
Conscia ni dextram dextera pressa premat.
Ecce movet pectus suspiria. Pectora nostris
Ista legenda oculis, si meus urat amor.
Et, nostri modo cura memor nostrique caloris
Tangat eam, facere id non pudor ullus erit."
I have not sent the English, as it can be easily got at. The other
translation I am not acquainted with.