Of Gerunds and Supines
Ever anxious to encourage the expansion of youthful minds, by as general a cultivation as possible of the various faculties, we beg to invite attention to the following combination of Grammar, Poetry, and Music.
Air — Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms. — Moore
The gerunds of verbs end in di, do, and dum,
But the supines of verbs are but two;
For instance, the active, which endeth in um,
And the passive which endeth in u.
Amandi, of loving, kind reader, beware;
Amando, in loving, be brief;
Amandum, to love, if you ’re doom’d, have a care,
In the goblet to drown all your grief.
Amatum, Amatu, to love and be loved,
Should it be your felicitous (?) lot,
May the fuel so needful be never removed
Which serves to keep boiling the pot.