On The Burning Of Lord Mansfields Library, Together With His Mss., By The Mob, In The Month Of June 1780.

So thenthe Vandals of our isle,
Sworn foes to sense and law,
Have burnt to dust a nobler pile
Than ever Roman saw!


And Murray sighs oer Pope and Swift,
And many a treasure more,
The well-judged purchase and the gift
That graced his letterd store.


Their pages mangled, burnt, and torn,
The loss was his alone;
But ages yet to come shall mourn
The burning of his own.

William Cowper

William Cowper was an English poet and hymnodist known for his contributions to English literature and the Evangelical revival of the 18th century. He suffered from periods of severe depression and mental illness, which influenced much of his work. Despite his struggles, Cowper produced notable works including 'Olney Hymns' in collaboration with John Newton and 'The Task,' which gained considerable popularity. His poetry is often characterized by its introspective, religious, and sometimes melancholic themes.

William Cowper

Extract From A Sunday-School Hymn.

William Cowper, Simple Poetry

The Diverting History Of John Gilpin; Showing How He Went Farther Than He Intended, And Came Safe Home Again.

William Cowper, Simple Poetry

To Miss C-----, On Her Birthday.

William Cowper, Simple Poetry

The Colubriad.

William Cowper, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

On The Same. (On The Burning Of Lord Mansfields Library, Together With His Mss., By The Mob, In The Month Of June 1780.)

When wit and genius meet their doom
In all-devouring flame,
They tell us of the fate of Rome,
And bid us fear the same.


Oer Murrays loss the muses wept,
They felt the rude alarm,
Yet blessd the guardian care that kept
His sacred head from harm.


There Memory, like the bee thats fed
From Floras balmy store,
The quintessence of all he read
Had treasured up before.


The lawless herd, with fury blind,
Have done him cruel wrong;
The flowers are gonebut still we find
The honey on his tongue.

William Cowper

On The Author Of Letters On Literature.[1]

The Genius of the Augustan age
His head among Romes ruins reard,
And, bursting with heroic rage,
When literary Heron appeard;


Thou hast, he cried, like him of old
Who set the Ephesian dome on fire,
By being scandalously bold,
Attaind the mark of thy desire.


And for traducing Virgils name
Shalt share his merited reward;
A perpetuity of fame,
That rots, and stinks, and is abhorrd.

William Cowper

On The Gunpowder Plot.[1]

Cum simul in regem nuper satrapasque Britannos
    Ausus es infandum perfide Fauxe nefas,
Fallor? an & mitis voluisti ex parte videri,
    Et pensare mala cum pietate scelus;
Scilicet hos alti missurus ad atria caeli,
    Sulphureo curru flammivolisque rotis.
Qualiter ille feris caput inviolabile Parcis
    Liquit Jordanios turbine raptus agros.


                Another on the Same.

Siccine tentasti caelo donasse Jacobum
    Quae septemgemino Bellua monte lates?
Ni meliora tuum poterit dare munera numen,
    Parce precor donis insidiosa tuis.
Ille quidem sine te consortia serus adivit
    Astra, nec inferni pulveris usus ope.
Sic potius foedus in caelum pelle cucullos,
    Et quot habet brutos Roma profana Deos,
Namque hac aut alia qu...

William Cowper

Boadicea. An Ode.

When the British warrior queen,
Bleeding from the Roman rods,
Sought, with an indignant mien,
Counsel of her countrys gods,


Sage beneath the spreading oak
Sat the Druid, hoary chief;
Every burning word he spoke
Full of rage, and full of grief.


Princess! if our aged eyes
Weep upon thy matchless wrongs,
Tis because resentment ties
All the terrors of our tongues.


Rome shall perishwrite that word
In the blood that she has spilt;
Perish, hopeless and abhorrd,
Deep in ruin as in guilt.


Rome, for empire far renownd,
Tramples on a thousand states;
Soon her pride shall kiss the ground
Hark! the Gaul is at her gates!


Other Romans shall arise,
Heedless of a soldiers name;
Sou...

William Cowper

Stanzas. On The Late Indecent Liberties Taken With The Remains Of Milton.[1]

Me too, perchance, in future days,
The sculptured stone shall show,
With Paphian myrtle or with bays
Parnassian on my brow.


But I, or ere that season come,
Escaped from every care,
Shall reach my refuge in the tomb,
And sleep securely there.


So sang, in Roman tone and style,
The youthful bard, ere long
Ordaind to grace his native isle
With her sublimest song.


Who then but must conceive disdain,
Hearing the deed unblest
Of wretches who have dared profane
His dread sepulchral rest?


Ill fare the hands that heaved the stones
Where Miltons ashes lay,
That trembled not to grasp his bones
And steal his dust away!


O ill requited bard! neglect
Thy living worth repaid,
And bli...

William Cowper

Stanzas.

Subjoined To The Yearly Bill Of Mortality Of The Parish Of All Saints, Northampton, Anno Domini 1787.


(Composed for John Cox, parish clerk of Northampton.)


Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas,
Regumque turres.Horace.


Pale death with equal foot strikes wide the door
Of royal halls and hovels of the poor.


While thirteen moons saw smoothly run
The Nens barge-laden wave,
All these, lifes rambling journey done,
Have found their home, the grave.


Was man (frail always) made more frail
Than in foregoing years?
Did famine or did plague prevail,
That so much death appears?


No; these were vigorous as their sires,
Nor plague nor famine came;
This annual tribute Death requires,
And ...

William Cowper

On The Burning Of Lord Mansfields Library, Together With His Mss., By The Mob, In The Month Of June 1780.

Suggested Poems

On The Burning Of Lord Mansfields Library, Together With His Mss., By The Mob, In The Month Of June 1780.