Avarice in thee was the desire of wealth
By rust unperishable or by stealth,
And if the genuine worth of gold depend
On application to its noblest end,

Thine had a value in the scales of Heaven
Surpassing all that mine or mint had given.
And, though God made thee of a nature prone
To distribution boundless of thy own,

And still by motives of religious force
Impell'd thee more to that heroic course,
Yet was thy liberality discreet,

Nice in its choice, and of a temper'd heat;
And, though in act unwearied, secret still,
As in some solitude the summer rill
Refreshes, where it winds, the faded green,
And cheers the drooping flowers, unheard, unseen.
Such was thy charity: no sudden start,
After long sleep, of passion in the heart,
But stedfast principle, and, in its kind,
Of close relation to the Eternal Mind,
Traced easily to its true source above,
To him whose works bespeak his nature, love.
Thy bounties all were Christian, and I make
This record of thee for the Gospel's sake
That the incredulous themselves may see
Its use and power exemplified in thee.

Nov. 1790.

1

THE FOUR AGES.

(A BRIEF FRAGMENT OF AN EXTENSIVE PROJECTED POEM.)

“ I COULD be well content, allowed the use
Of past experience, and the wisdom glean d
From worn-out follies, now acknowledged such,
To recommence life's trial, in the hope

Of fewer errors, on a second proof!”

Thus, while gray evening lull'd the wind, and
call'd

Fresh odours from the shrubbery at my side,
Taking my lonely winding walk, I mused,
And held accustom'd conference with my heart;
When from within it thus a voice replied:

“Couldst thou in truth? and art thou taught at length

This wisdom, and but this, from all the past?
Is not the pardon of thy long arrear,

Time wasted, violated laws, abuse
Of talents, judgment, mercies, better far
Than opportunity vouchsafed to err

With less excuse, and, haply, worse effect ?"
I heard, and acquiesced: then to and fro
Oft pacing, as the mariner his deck,
My gravelly bounds, from self to human kind
I pass'd, and next consider'd-what is man.
Knows he his origin? can he ascend
By reminiscence to his earliest date?
Slept he in Adam? And in those from him..

Through numerous generations, till he found
At length his destined moment to be born?
Or was he not, till fashion'd in the womb?
Deep mysteries both! which schoolmen must have
toil'd

To unriddle, and have left them mysteries still.
It is an evil incident to man,

And of the worst, that unexplored he leaves
Truths useful and attainable with ease,
To search forbidden deeps, where mystery lies
Not to be solved, and useless if it might.
Mysteries are food for angels; they digest
With ease, and find them nutriment; but man,
While yet he dwells below, must stoop to glean
His manna from the ground, or starve and die.
May, 1791.

THE RETIRED CAT.*

A POET'S cat, sedate and grave
As poet well could wish to have,
Was much addicted to inquire

For nooks to which she might retire,

*Cowper's partiality to animals is well known. Lady Hesketh, in one of her letters, states, "that he had, at one time, five rabbits, three hares, two guinea-pigs, a magpie, a ay, and a starling; besides two goldfinches, two canary birds, and two dogs. It is amazing how the three hares can find room to gambol and frolic (as they certainly do) in his small parlour;" and she adds, " I forgot to enumerate a squirrel, which

And where, secure as mouse in chink,
She might repose, or sit and think.

I know not where she caught the trick-
Nature perhaps herself had cast her
In such a mould philosophique,

Or else she learn'd it of her master
Sometimes ascending, debonnair,
An apple tree, or lofty pear,

Lodged with convenience in the fork,
She watch'd the gardener at his work;
Sometimes her ease and solace sought
In an old empty watering pot:
There, wanting nothing save a fan,
To seem some nymph in her sedan
Apparell'd in exactest sort,

And ready to be borne to court.

But love of change, it seems, has place

Not only in our wiser race;

Cats also feel, as well as we,

That passion's force, and so did she.
Her climbing, she began to find,
Exposed her too much to the wind,
And the old utensil of tin

Was cold and comfortless within:

he had at the same time, and which used to play with one of the hares continually. One evening, the cat giving one of the hares a sound box on the car, the hare ran after her, and, having caught her, punished her by drumming on her back with her two feet, as hard as drum-sticks, till the creature would have actually been killed, had not Mrs. Unwin rescued her."

She therefore wish'd instead of those
Some place of more serene repose,
Where neither cold might come, nor air
Too rudely wanton with her hair,
And sought it in the likeliest mode
Within her master's snug abode.

A drawer, it chanced, at bottom lined
With linen of the softest kind,
With such as merchants introduce
From India, for the ladies' use,
A drawer impending o'er the rest,
Half open in the topmost chest,
Of depth enough, and none to spare,
Invited her to slumber there;
Puss with delight beyond expression
Survey'd the scene, and took possession.
Recumbent at her ease, ere long,
And lull'd by her own humdrum song,
She left the cares of life behind,

And slept as she would sleep her last, When in came, housewifely inclined, The chambermaid, and shut it fast; By no malignity impell'd,

But all unconscious whom it held. Awaken'd by the shock (cried Puss)

"Was ever cat attended thus?

The open drawer was left, I see,
Merely to prove a nest for me,

For soon as I was well composed,

Then came the maid, and it was closed,