Her sovereign's tutelary care, One breath of Heaven, that cried-"Restore!" 40 And far the richest crown on earth, Then peace and joy again possessed The good on earth they valued most, O Queen of Albion, queen of isles! 45 59 50 55 35 60 65 * "For;" Eds. 1808, 1810, 1812, 1817, Grimshawe, Dale, Bell. "Far;" Eds. 1821, 1825, Southey. +"Ill;" Ed. 1808, corrected in 1810 and subsequent editions. "Tis but the natural effect Of grandeur that ensures respect; But she is something more than Queen, 70 HYMN, FOR THE USE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AT OLNEY.* EAR, Lord, the song of praise and prayer In Heaven thy dwelling place, Thanks for thy Word, and for thy Day, Thy holy Sabbaths more. 5 * On the 12th of August, 1789, Cowper wrote to his friend Hill, "My friend, the vicar of the next parish [Mr. Bean], engaged me the day before yesterday to furnish him by next Sunday with a hymn to be sung on the occasion of his preaching to the children of the Sunday School." The hymn thus called forth was printed in Poems, Ed. 1808, vol. ii., p. 294 and again in vol. iii. (1815), p. 98. In the edition of 1817 the same repetition occurs in vol. ii., p. 339, and vol. iii., p 111. Grimshawe printed half the little poem "for the benefit of his younger readers," in vol. iv., p. 122, and the same half again in vol. viii., p. 40, and the whole Hymn in vol. vii., p. 270. Dr. J. Johnson added a note to his copy in Ed. 1815, 8vo., p. 138, in which he assigned a little different date to that given in Cowper's letter quoted above, but of course Cowper himself was right. Thanks that we hear,-but oh! impart To each desires sincere, That we may listen with our heart, For if vain thoughts the minds engage What hope, that, at our heedless age, Much hope, if thou our spirits take, Wisdom and bliss thy word bestows, A sun that ne'er declines, And be thy mercies showered on those 15 STANZAS SUBJOINED TO THE YEARLY BILL OF MORTALITY OF THE PARISH OF ALL-SAINTS, NORTHAMPTON,* ANNO DOMINI 1787. Pallida Mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, HILE thirteen moons saw smoothly run W All these, life's rambling journey done, Was man (frail always) made more frail Did Famine or did Plague prevail, No; these were vigorous as their sires, And never waves his claim. 5 10 * Composed for John Cox, a parish clerk of Northampton, under circumstances which Cowper stated in a letter to Lady Hesketh of the 27th of November, 1787. Mr. Bull printed the lines at the end of his little volume of poems translated from Madame Guion by Cowper, published at Newport Pagnel, in 1801. They will be found included in the edition of Cowper's Poems, 1803, vol. ii., p. 335, and in all subsequent editions. Like crowded forest-trees we stand, Green as the bay tree, ever green, The gay, the thoughtless, have I* seen, Read, ye that run, the awful truth No present health can health insure For yet an hour to come; No medicine, though it oft can† cure, Can always balk the tomb. And oh that humble as my lot, And scorned as is my strain, These truths, though known, too much forgot, I may not teach in vain. So prays your Clerk with all his heart, And, ere he quits the pen, Begs you for once to take his part, And answer all-" Amen!" 30 35 * "I have," Eds. 1801, 1806(2); "have I," Ed. 1808 and subsequent editions. "Often," the like; "oft can," in Ed. 1808. |