University of Virginia Library

Search this document 
The Works of William Cowper

Comprising his poems, correspondence, and translations. With a life of the author, by the editor, Robert Southey

expand sectionII. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionVI. 
expand sectionVII. 
collapse sectionVIII. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
ON THE SAME [THE BURNING OF LORD MANSFIELD'S LIBRARY].
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand sectionIX. 
expand sectionX. 
expand sectionXI, XII. 
expand sectionXIII, XIV. 
expand sectionXV. 

ON THE SAME [THE BURNING OF LORD MANSFIELD'S LIBRARY].

When wit and genius meet their doom
In all devouring flame,
They tell us of the fate of Rome,
And bid us fear the same.
O'er Murray's loss the Muses wept,
They felt the rude alarm,
Yet bless'd the guardian care that kept
His sacred head from harm.

323

There memory, like the bee that's fed
From Flora's balmy store,
The quintessence of all he read
Had treasured up before.
The lawless herd, with fury blind
Have done him cruel wrong;
The flowers are gone,—but still we find
The honey on his tongue.