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Poems on Several Occasions

With some Select Essays in Prose. In Two Volumes. By John Hughes; Adorn'd with Sculptures

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ODE To the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor COWPER . Anno MDCCXVII.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


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ODE To the Right Honourable the Lord Chancellor COWPER . Anno MDCCXVII.

In allusion to Horace , Lib. II. Ode XX.

I

I'm rais'd, transported, chang'd all o'er!
Prepar'd, a tow'ring Swan, to soar
Aloft; See, see the Down arise,
And clothe my Back, and plume my Thighs!
My Wings shoot forth; now will I try
New Tracks, and boldly mount the Sky;
Nor Envy, nor Ill-fortune's Spite,
Shall stop my Course, or damp my Flight.

II

Shall I, obscure or disesteem'd,
Of Vulgar Rank henceforth be deem'd?
Or vainly toil my Name to save
From dark Oblivion and the Grave?
No—He can never wholly die,
Secure of Immortality,

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Whom Britain's COWPER condescends
To own, and numbers with his Friends.

III

'Tis done—I scorn mean Honours now;
No common Wreaths shall bind my Brow.
Whether the Muse vouchsafe t'inspire
My Breast with the Cœlestial Fire;
Whether my Verse be fill'd with Flame,
Or I deserve a Poet's Name,
Let Fame be silent; only tell
That gen'rous COWPER loves me well.

IV

Thro' Britain's Realms I shall be known
By COWPER's Merit, not my own.
And when the Tomb my Dust shall hide,
Stripp'd of a Mortal's little Pride,
Vain Pomp be spar'd, and ev'ry Tear;
Let but some Stone this Sculpture bear:
Here lies his Clay, to Earth consign'd,
To whom great COWPER once was kind.