The poetical works of William Cowper Complete edition, with memoir, explanatory notes, &c .. . study culture, and with artful toilTo meliorate and tame the stubborn soil;To give dissimilar yet fruitful landsThe grain, or herb, or plant that each demands ;To cherish virtue in an humble state, 4 And share the joys your bounty may create;To mark the matchless workings of the powerThat shuts within its seed the future flower,Bids these in elegance of form excel,In colour these, and those delight the smell,Sends Nature forth, the daughter of the skies,To dance on earth, and charm all hum
The poetical works of William Cowper Complete edition, with memoir, explanatory notes, &c .. . study culture, and with artful toilTo meliorate and tame the stubborn soil;To give dissimilar yet fruitful landsThe grain, or herb, or plant that each demands ;To cherish virtue in an humble state, 4 And share the joys your bounty may create;To mark the matchless workings of the powerThat shuts within its seed the future flower,Bids these in elegance of form excel,In colour these, and those delight the smell,Sends Nature forth, the daughter of the skies,To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes ;To teach the canvas innocent deceit,Or lay the landscape on the snowy sheet;These, these are arts pursued without a crime,That leave no stain upon the wing of time. Me poetry (or, rather notes that aimFeebly and vainly at poetic fame)Employs, shut out from more important views,Fast by the banks of the slow-winding Ouse;Content if, thus sequesterd, I may raiseA monitors, though not a poets praise,And while I teach an art too little known,To close life wisely, may not waste my THE DIVERTING HISTORY OP JOHN GILPIN, SHOWING HOW HE WENT FARTHER THAN HE INTENDED, AND CAMESAFE HOME AGAIN. 1782. The story of John Gilpins ride was related to Cowper by his friend, Lady Austen, whohad heard it as a child. It caused the poet a sleepless night, we are told, as he was keptawake by laughter at it. During these restless hours he turned it into the famous appeared in the Public Advertiser, November 14th, 1782, anonymously. A celebrated actor named Henderson took it for one of his public recitations at Free-masons Hall. It became immediately so popular that it was printed everywhere—innewspapers, magazines, and separately. It was even sung as a common ballad in thestreets. It has preserved its popularity to the present date. The original John Gilpin was, it is said, a Mr. Beyer, a linendraper, who lived at theCheapside corner of Paternoster Row. He died in 1791, at the
Size: 1747px × 1431px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1872
