KEV. WILLIAM CAWTHORNE UN WIN,

RECTOR OF STOCK IN ESSEX,

THE TUTOR OF HIS TWO SONS,
THE FOLLOWING

POEM,

RECOMMENDING PRIVATE TUITION

IN PREFERENCE TO

AN EDUCATION AT SCHOOL,

IS INSCRIBED,
BY HIS AFFECTIONATE FRIEND,

WILLIAM COWPER,

Olney, Mrv. 6, 1784.

TIROCINIUM.*

It is not from his form, in which we trace
Strength joined with beauty, dignity with grace,
That man, the master of this globe, derives
His right of empire over all that lives.
That form indeed, the associate of a mind
Vast in its powers, ethereal in its kind,
That form, the labour of almighty skill,
Framed for the service of a free-born will,
Asserts precedence, and bespeaks control,
But borrows all its grandeur from the soul.
Hers is the state, the splendour, and the throne,
An intellectual kingdom, all her own.
For her the memory fills her ample page
With truths poured down from every distant age;
For her amasses an unbounded store,
The wisdom of great nations, now no more;

* In this Poem the author would be very sorry to stand suspected of having aimed his censure at any particular school. His objections are such, as naturally apply themselves to schools in general. If there were not, as for the most part there is, wilful neglect in those who manage them, and an omission even of

Though laden, not encumbered with her spoil;
Laborious, yet unconscious of her toil;
When copiously supplied, then most enlarged;
Still to be fed, and not to be surcharged.
For her the fancy, roving unconfined,
The present muse of every pensive mind,
Works magic wonders, adds a brighter hue
To nature's scenes than nature ever knew.
At her command winds rise and waters roar,
Again she lays them slumbering on the shore;
With flower and fruit the wilderness supplies,
Or bids the rocks in ruder pomp arise.
For her the judgment, umpire in the strife
That grace and nature have to wage through life,
Quick-sighted arbiter of good ajid ill,
Appointed sage preceptor to the will,
Condemns, approves, and with a faithful voice
Guides the decision of a doubtful choice.

Why did the fiat of a God give birth
To yon fair sun and his attendant earth? ,

such discipline as they are susceptible of, the objects are yet too numerous for minute attention; and the aching hearts of ten thousand parents, mourning under the bitterest of all disappointments, attest the truth of the allegation. His quarrel therefore is with the mischief at large, and not with any particular instance of it.

And, when descending he resigns the Skies,

Why takes the gentler moon her turn to rise,

Whom ocean feels through all his countless waves,

And owns her power on every shore he laves?

Why do the seasons still enrich the year,

Fruitful and young as in their first career?

Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees,

Rocked in the cradle of the western breeze;

Summer in haste the thriving charge receives

Beneath the shade of her expanded leaves,

Till autumn's fiercer heats and plenteous dews

Dye them at last in all their glowing hues.—

'Twere wild profusion all, and bootless waste,

Power misemployed, munificence misplaced*

Had not its author dignified the plan,

And crowned it with the majesty of man.

Thus formed, thus placed, intelligent, and taught,

Look where he will, the wonders God has wrought,

The wildest scorner of his Maker's laws

Finds in a sober moment time to pause,

To press the important question on his heart,

"Why formed at all, and wherefore as thou art?"

If man be what he seems, this hour a slave,

The next mere dust and ashes in the grave;

Endued with reason only to descry

His crimes and follies with an aching eye j