And wet his cheeks with sorrows not his own.
The heart of man, for such a task too frail,
When most relied on is most sure to fail;
And, summoned to partake its fellow's woe,
Starts from its office like a broken bow.

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Votaries of business and of pleasure prove Faithless alike in friendship and in love. Retired from all the circles of the gay, And all the crowds that bustle life away, To scenes where competition, envy, strife, Beget no thunder-clouds to trouble life, Let me, the charge of some good angel, find One who has known, and has escaped mankind; Polite, yet virtuous, who has brought away The manners, not the morals, of the day: With him, perhaps with her (for men have known No firmer friendships than the fair have shown), Let me enjoy, in some unthought-of spot, All former friends forgiven, and forgot, Down to the close of life's fast fading scene, Union of hearts without a flaw between.

'Tis grace, 'tis bounty, and it calls for praise, If God give health, that sunshine of our days! And if he add, a blessing shared by few, Content of heart, more praises still are due— But if he grant a friend, that boon possessed Indeed is treasure, and crowns all the rest; And giving one, whose heart is in the skies, Born from above and made divinely wise, He gives, what bankrupt nature never can, Whose noblest coin is light and brittle man, Gold, purer far than Ophir ever knew, A soul, an image of Himself, and therefore true.

Nov. 1783.

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GRATITUDE.

ADDRESSED TO LADY HESKETH.*

HIS cap, that so stately appears,
With ribbon-bound tassel on high,
Which seems by the crest that it rears
Ambitious of brushing the sky:

This cap to my cousin I owe,

She gave it, and gave me beside, Wreathed into an elegant bow,

The ribbon with which it is tied.

This wheel-footed studying chair,

Contrived both for toil and repose,
Wide-elbowed, and wadded with hair,
In which I both scribble and dose,
Bright-studded to dazzle the eyes,
And rival in lustre of that
In which, or astronomy lies,
Fair Cassiopeia sat:

These carpets, so soft to the foot,
Caledonia's traffic and pride!

Oh spare them, ye knights of the boot,
Escaped from a cross country ride!

* Hayley, 1803, vol. II. p. 266.

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This table and mirror within,

Secure from collision and dust,
At which I oft shave cheek and chin,
And periwig nicely adjust:

This moveable structure of shelves,

For its beauty admired and its use,
And charged with octavos and twelves,
The gayest I had to produce;
Where, flaming in scarlet and gold,
My poems enchanted I view,
And hope, in due time, to behold
My Iliad and Odyssey too:

This china that decks the alcove,
Which here people call a buffet,

But what the gods call it above

Has ne'er been revealed to us yet: These curtains, that keep the room warm Or cool, as the season demands,

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These stoves that for pattern and form

Seem the labour of Mulciber's hands.

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All these are not half that I owe

To one, from our earliest youth, To me ever ready to show

Benignity, friendship, and truth; For Time, the destroyer declared

And foe of our perishing kind, If even her face he has spared,

Much less could he alter her mind.

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Thus compassed about with the goods
And chattels of leisure and ease,
I indulge my poetical moods

In many such fancies as these;
And fancies I fear they will seem-
Poets' goods are not often so fine;
The poets will swear that I dream
When I sing of the splendour of mine.

1786.

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ON THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO LONDON.*

THE NIGHT OF THE SEVENTEENTH OF MARCH, 1789.

HEN, long sequestered from his throne
George took his seat again,

By right of worth, not blood alone,
Entitled here to reign,

The lines were written

Hayley, 1803, vol. 1. p. 326. shortly after the event they commemorate. They are mentioned in a letter to Lady Hesketh of the 14th April, 1789; and in letters to Mrs. King, of the 22nd April and 30th May of the same year. In the last letter, Cowper mentions that they had been presented to the Princess Augusta, who had probably given them to the Queen; "but of their reception I have heard nothing. It would, indeed, be unreasonable to expect that persons who keep a Laureate in constant pay should have either praise or emolument to spare for every volunteer scribbler who may choose to make them his subject."

ON THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO LONDON.

Then Loyalty, with all her* lamps
New trimmed, a gallant show!
Chasing the darkness and the damps,
Set London in a glow.

'Twas hard to tell, of streets or squares,
Which formed the chief display,
These most resembling clustered stars,
Those the long milky way.

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Bright shone the roofs, the domes, the spires,

And rockets flew, self-driven,

To hang their momentary fires

Amid the vault of heaven.

So, fire with water to compare,
The ocean serves, on high
Up-spouted by a whale in air,
To express unwieldy joy.

Had all the pageants of the world

In one procession joined,

And all the banners been unfurled

That heralds ere designed,

For no such sight had England's Queen
Forsaken her retreat,

Where George, recovered, made a scene
Sweet always doubly sweet.

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*Hayley has "her lamps," and is followed by Grimshawe. Dr. John Johnson (vol. II. 1815, 8vo. p. 114, 12mo. p. 81) has "his lamps," and is followed by Southey and Bell. Cowper had, perhaps, in his mind the Goddess Fides.