Imatges de pàgina
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With a span of ribbon brac'd,
And the fwell of either breast,
And the wide high-vaulted cheft,
And the neck fo white and round,
Little neck with brilliants bound,
And the ftore of charms which shine
Above, in lineaments divine,
Crowded in a narrow space
To complete the defperate face,
These alluring powers, and more,
Shall enamour'd youths adore;
Thefe, and more, in courtly lays,

Many an aking heart shall praise.
Happy thrice, and thrice again,
Happiest he of happy men,

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Who, in courtship greatly sped,

Wins the damfel to his bed,
Bears the virgin-prize away,
Counting life one nuptial day :
For the dark-brown dusk of hair,
Shadowing thick thy forehead fair,
Down the veiny temples growing,
O'er the floping fhoulders flowing,
And the smoothly pencil'd brow,
Mild to him in every vow,

And the fringed lid below,

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Thin as thinneft bloffoms blow,

And the hazely-lucid eye,

Whence heart-winning glances fly,
And that cheek of health, o'erfpread
With foft-blended white and red,
And the witching smiles which break
Round those lips, which sweetly speak,
And thy gentleness of mind,
Gentle from a gentle kind,

These endowments, heavenly dower!
Brought him in the promis'd hour,
Shall for ever bind him to thee,
Shall renew him ftill to woo thee.

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On

On the DEATH of the RIGHT HONOURABLE

WILLIAM EARL COWPER. 1723.

STROPHE I.

WAKE the British harp again,

To a fad melodious ftrain;

Wake the harp, whofe every ftring,
When Halifax refign'd his breath,

Accus'd inexorable death;

For I, once more, must in affliction fing,
One fong of forrow more bestow,

The burden of a heart o'ercharg'd with woe:
Yet, O my foul, if aught may bring relief,
Full many, grieving, shall applaud thy grief,
The pious verse, that Cowper does deplore,
Whom all the boasted powers of verse cannot restore.

ANTIS TROPHE I.

Not to her, his fondest care,

Not to his lov'd offspring fair,

Nor his country ever dear,

From her, from them, from Britain torn:
With her, with them, does Britain mourn :
His name, from every eye, calls forth a tear;
And, intermingling, fighs with praife,
All good men wish the number of his days

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Had

Had been to him twice told, and twice again,
In that feal'd book, where all things which pertain
To mortal man, whatever things befall,

Are from eternity confirm'd, beyond recall:

E PODE I.

Where every lofs, and every gain,
Where every grief, and every joy,
Every pleasure, every pain,
Each bitter, and each sweet alloy,
To us uncertain though they flow,
Are pre-ordain'd, and fix'd, above.
Too wretched state, did man foreknow
Those ills, which man cannot remove!
Vain is wisdom for preventing

What the wifest live lamenting.

STROPHE II.

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Hither fent, who knows the day

When he shall be call'd away?

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Various is the term affign'd:

An hour, a day, fome months, or years,
The breathing foul on earth appears:

But, through the fwift fucceffion of mankind,
Swarm after fwarm! a bufy race,

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The strength of cities, or of courts the grace,
Or who in camps delight, or who abide

Diffus'd o'er lands, or float on océans wide,

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Of them, though many here long-lingering dwell,
And see their children's children, yet, how few excel !

VOL. LVII.

F

ANTI

ANTIS TROPHE II.

Here we come, and hence we go,

Shadows paffing to and fro,

Seen a while, forgotten soon:

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But thou, to fair diftinction born,

Thou, Cowper, beamy in the morn

Of life, ftill brightening to the pitch of noon,
Scarce verging to the fteep decline,

Hence fummon'd while thy virtues radiant shine,
Thou fingled out the fofterling of fame,
Secure of praise, nor less fecur'd from blame,
Shalt be remember'd with a fond applause,
So long as Britons own the fame indulgent laws.

E PODE II.

United in one public weal,
Rejoicing in one freedom, all,
Cowper's hand apply'd the seal,
And level'd the partition-wall.
The chofen feeds of great events
Are thinly fown, and flowly rise:
And Time the harveft-fcythe presents,
In feason, to the good and wife:
Hymning to the harp my story,
Fain would I record his glory.

STROPHE III.

Pouring forth, with heavy heart,
Truth unleaven❜d, pure of art,

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