The Love of Friendship

from The Life of William Cowper

Excerpt from "Retirement" by William Cowper

Luxury gives the mind a childish cast,

And while she polishes, perverts the taste;

Habits of close attention, thinking heads,

Become more rare as dissipation spreads,

Till authors hear at length, one gen’ral cry,

Tickle and entertain us, or we die.

The loud demand, from year to year the same,

Beggars invention and makes fancy lame,

Till farce itself, most mournfully jejune,

Calls for the kind assistance of a tune;

And novels (witness ev’ry month’s review)

Belie their name, and offer nothing new.

 (Retirement, lines 703-714)

On the death of Ashley Cowper

Ashley Cowper was the Uncle of William Cowper, he who stopped William and Theodora (Ashley Cowper's daughter) from marrying. On the death of Ashley Cowper in 1788, William Cowper composed these lines:

Farewell! endued with all that could engage

All hearts to love thee, both in youth and age!

In prime of life, for sprightliness enroll’d

Among the gay, yet virtuous as the old;

 ~

In life’s last stage, (oh blessings rarely found!)

Pleasant as youth with all its blossoms crown’d,

Through every period of this changeful state

Unchanged thyself - wise, good, affectionate!

 ~

Marble may flatter, and lest this should seem

O’ercharged with praises on so dear a theme,

Although thy worth be more than half supprest

Love shall be satisfied, and veil the rest.

~

Another Classical Translation by William Cowper

Some things never change ...

On a Battered Beauty

Hair, wax, rouge, honey, teeth you buy,

A multifarious store!

A mask at once would all supply,

Nor would it cost you more.

Vincent Bourne: Invitation to the Redbreast

Vincent Bourne taught William Cowper the Classics at Westminster School. He was a poet in his own right and regarded very highly by Cowper. The following poem by Bourne was translated by Cowper, displaying that William Cowper was not alone in his affection for wildlife and attention to detail in portraying its antics.