Page 422

William Cowper. (1731–1800) (continued)

With melting airs or martial, brisk or grave;
Some chord in unison with what we hear
Is touch’d within us, and the heart replies.
How soft the music of those village bells
Falling at intervals upon the ear
In cadence sweet!

The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 1.

4542

Here the heart
May give a useful lesson to the head,
And Learning wiser grow without his books.

The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 85.

4543

Knowledge is proud that he has learn’d so much;
Wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
Books are not seldom talismans and spells.

The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 96.

4544

Some to the fascination of a name
Surrender judgment hoodwink’d.

The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 101.

4545

I would not enter on my list of friends
(Though graced with polish’d manners and fine sense,
Yet wanting sensibility) the man
Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.

The Task. Book vi. Winter Walk at Noon. Line 560.

4546

An honest man, close-button’d to the chin,
Broadcloth without, and a warm heart within.

Epistle to Joseph Hill.

4547

Shine by the side of every path we tread
With such a lustre, he that runs may read. 1

Tirocinium. Line 79.

4548

    What peaceful hours I once enjoy’d!
  How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
  The world can never fill.

Walking with God.

4549

And Satan trembles when he sees
The weakest saint upon his knees.

Exhortation to Prayer.

Note 1.
Write the vision, and make it plain, upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.—Habakkuk ii. 2.

He that runs may read.—Alfred Tennyson: The Flower. [back]

Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -CONCORDANCE INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD