The Works of William Cowper

She judges of refinement by the eye,
He by the test of conscience, and a heart
Not soon deceived; aware that what is base
No polish can make sterling, and that vice
Though well perfumed and elegantly dress'd,
Like an unburied carcase trick'd with flowers,
Is but a garnish'd nuisance, fitter far
For cleanly riddance than for fair attire.
So life glides smoothly and by stealth away,
More golden than that age of fabled gold
Renown'd in ancient song; not vex'd with care
Or stained with guilt, beneficent, approved
Of God and man, and peaceful in its end.
So glide my life away! and so at last
My share of duties decently fulfilled
May some disease, not tardy to perform
Its destined office, yet with gentle stroke,
Dismiss me weary to a safe retreat

990

995

1000

Beneath the turf that I have often trod.

1005

It shall not grieve me, then, that once when called
To dress a Sofa with the flowers of verse,

I play'd awhile, obedient to the fair,

With that light task; but soon to please her more
Whom flowers alone I knew would little please,
Let fall the unfinish'd wreath, and roved for fruit.
Roved far and gather'd much. Some harsh, 'tis true,
Pick'd from the thorns and briers of reproof,
But wholesome, well-digested. Grateful some
To palates that can taste immortal truth,
Insipid else, and sure to be despised.

31 And may at last my weary age
Find out the peaceful hermitage.

Penseroso.

Thus sheltered, free from care and strife
May I enjoy a calm through life,
Unhurt by sickness' blasting rage,
And slowly mellowing in age

When fate extends its gathering gripe.
Quit a worn being without pain,
Perhaps to blossom soon again.

Beg to lay it down,

Glad to be so dismissed in peace.

Spleen.

Par. Lost, ii. 506.

1010

1015

But all is in His hand whose praise I seek.
In vain the poet sings, and the world hears,
If he regard not, though divine the theme.
'Tis not in artful measures, in the chime
And idle tinkling of a minstrel's lyre
To charm His ear, whose eye is on the heart,
Whose frown can disappoint the proudest strain,
Whose approbation- prosper even mine.

1020

INDEX TO THE TASK.

"ACQUAINT thyself with God," Beauty and old age, iii. 601.

v. 779.

Action, i. 367.

Actor, iv. 200.

Bells, i. 174; vi. 6. 65.
Ben'et College, ii. 785.

Benevolus, i. 262. 331.

Address to domestic happiness, iii. Billiards, iv. 221; vi. 274.

41. 292.

Address to the Saviour, vi. 855.

Address to Winter, iv. 120.

Address to rural life, iv. 780.
Address to Evening, iv. 243.
Address to the Creator, v. 849.893.
Address to the Starry Host, v. 822.
Adulation, v. 260.

Egypt, (plague of frogs) ii. 827.
Affectation, ii. 417.
Air and exercise, i. 589.
Alcove, i. 278.

Alert and active, i. 396.
America lost, ii. 263.
Amusements, i. 463.

Ancient philosophy, ii. 500.
Angler, iii. 313.

Animals enjoying life, vi. 325.
Animals, sagacity and fidelity, vi. 610.
Antiquity, self-taught rites, vi. 231.
Apostrophe to London, iii. 835.
Apostrophe to popular applause, ii.

481.

Appetites, v. 630.
Aristæus, v. 135.

Atheist, vi. 486.

Auction, vi. 286.

Ausonia, ii. 214; iii. 582.
Authority asleep, iv. 593.
Azores, iii. 583.
Babel, v. 193.

Bacon (sculptor), i. 702.
Balaam, vi. 467.
Bastile, v. 383.

Battered fortunes, iii. 824.

Birds in winter, v. 77.

Bodies corporate, iv. 671.

Books, iii. 392; iv. 158; vi. 87. 98.
Bribe, iii. 796; iv. 609.

Brotherhood, iii. 208.

Brown ("Capability"), iii. 766.
Brown study, iv. 296.

Cæsar's laurels, vi. 939.
Caffraia, iii. 585.
Cain, v. 208.
Calenture, i. 447.

Candid and liberal, iii. 93
Captive, ii. 127; v. 400.
Cards, i. 472; iv. 207. 229.
Carnivorous through sin, vi. 457.
Carvers, rural, i. 281.
Champions of England, v. 511.
Chance, ii. 168; v. 865.
Change of scene, i. 507.
Chatham, ii. 237.
Chess, vi. 265.

Church fares ill, vi. 888.
Cities, i. 128. 689; iii. 729.
Civilized life, i. 596. 679; iv. 659.

Clerical coxcomb, ii. 445.

Contemplation, vi. 263. 924.

Evening, address to, iv, 243.

Contrivers of creation, iii. 156; vi. 198. Excise, iv. 471.

Conventicle, ii. 437.

Country, ("God made,") i. 749; iii.
708.

Country, few lovers of it, iii. 293. 725.
Country deserted, iii. 711. 750; iv.
589.

Country, who love it, iii. 320.
Course of human things, iv. 578.
Cowley, iv. 723.

Cowper, account of himself, iii. 108;
early love of the country, iv. 695;
wish or tranquil end, vi. 999;
brother's character, ii. 780.
Crazy Kate, i. 534.

Cruelty to animals, vi. 381. 594.
Cucumber, iii. 462. 566.
Custom, force of, v. 299.
Cyrene, v. 136.

Death unrepealable, v. 610.
Decorum, vi. 981.
Deist, v. 670.

Demagogue, iv. 61.
Despot, v. 311.
Dice, iv. 221.

Discipline, ii. 702.

Discord, iv. 482.

his

Excursive poem, iv. 232.
Exercise, i. 367.
Exile, v. 832.

Fables false as hell, v. 862.
Fair, eloquent, iv. 53.
Familiarity with nature, vi. 121
Famine, ii. 185.
Fancy, iv. 242. 286.
Fashion, ii. 598; vi. 852.
Father, vi. 30.

Fatigue of idleness, i. 395. 755
Fatigue of thought, vi. 106.
Feats of nature, v. 118.X
Fiddle, iv. 478.

Fire-side enjoyments, iv. 140.
Flora, i. 455.

Flowers, iii. 648,

Foddering of cattle, v. 30.
Folly, ii. 283; iii. 34.
Fontainbleau, ii. 262.
Forebodings, v. 606.
Fortune, ii. 658.

France, ii, 213. 264; v. 468.

Freedom, ii. 33. 130; v. 375.

Freeman truth makes free, v. 733.883.

Frost, fantastic doings, v. 113.
Frosty morning, v. 7

Gaiety, i. 504.

Domestic happiness, iii. 41. 292. 675. Gaming, i. 503; iii. 761.

Gardening, iii. 397. 658x
Garrick, iii. 598; vi. 654.
Geologist, iii. 150.
Ghostly counsel, ii. 556.
Gipsies, i, 559.

Glide my life away! vi. 1000

God in every thing, ii. 161, v. 808;x

England, ii. 206; iii. 742; v. 456. Gout, i. 105.

525.

Enmity, ii. 18.

Epictetus, ii. 540

Eternity for bubbles, iii. 175.
Evander, vi. 490.

Grace, v. 688.

Gratitude and love, iv. 182.
Great offices, iv. 788.

Green-house, iii. 566x

Groans of Nature, vi. 728.

Heavenward all things tend, vi. 818. Man praises man, vi. 632. 694.

History writers, iii. 139.

Homeborn happiness, iv. 140.

Homer, iii. 454.

Honest pride, iv. 405.

Honest rags, iii. 806.

Horace, iv. 190.

Humanity, iii. 196.

Hume, v. 729.

Hunting, iii. 326.

Hypocrisy, iii. 100.

Ice-palace, v. 127.

"Idle man's" employment, iii. 352. Miracle "all we behold," vi. 132.

Idleness fatiguing, i. 755.

Idol of the mob, v. 260; vi. 710.

Imprisonment, v. 397.

Improvement "idol of the age," iii. Monitor, ii. 580.

764.

India, iv. 28.

Moon, iv. 3. 254.

Moralists, ii. 531; v. 670.

Mother, vi. 43.

Multitude, iii. 673; v. 247.

Music, iv. 160.

Mutability, v. 529.

Nasal twang, ii. 436.

Nature "free to all," iii. 721; love
of it "Nature's dictate," i. 412;
iv. 731; 66 a name for an effect,"
vi. 223; its Author disclosed, v.
891. Nebuchadnezzar's dream, v.
400.

Newspaper, iv 50.
Newton, iii. 252.
Nightingale, i. 200.
Noah, vi. 450.

Novelty, iii. 54; vi. 706.
Nymph, rural, iv. 534.

Oak, i. 377.

Oaths, iv. 491. 629.

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