The works of William Cowper, esq., comprising his poems, correspondence, and translations Volume 10 - Softcover

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1837 Excerpt: ... in verse to British ears unknown, And Thames exchange for Arno's fair domain; So Love has will'd, and ofttimes Love has shown That what he wills, he never wills in vain. Oh that this hard and steril breast might be To Him, who plants from heaven, a soil as free! CANZONE. They mock my toil--the nymphs and amorous swains--And whence this fond attempt to write, they cry, Love-songs in language that thou little know'st? How darest thou risk to sing these foreign strains? Say truly,--find'st not oft thy purpose cross'd, And that thy fairest flowers here fade and die? Then with pretence of admiration high--Thee other shores expect, and other tides; Rivers, on whose grassy sides Her deathless laurel leaf, with which to bind Thy flowing locks, already Fame provides; Why then this burthen, better far declined? Speak, Muse! for me.--The fair one said, who guides My willing heart, and all my fancy's flights, "This is the language in which Love delights." SONNET. TO CHARLES DIODATI. Charles--and I say it wondering--thou must know That I, who once assumed a scornful air, And scoff'd at Love, am fallen in his snare. (Full many an upright man has fallen so.) Yet think me not thus dazzled by the flow Of golden locks, or damask cheek; more rare The heart-felt beauties of my foreign fair, A mien majestic, with dark brows that show The tranquil lustre of a lofty mind; Words exquisite of idioms more than one, And song, whose fascinating power might bind, And from her sphere draw down the labouring Moon, With such fire-darting eyes, that should I fill My ears with wax, she would enchant me still. SONNET. Lady! it cannot be, but that thine eyes Must be my sun, such radiance they display, And strike me even as Phoebus him, whose way Through horrid Libya's sandy desert ...