Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, ON THE BURNING OF LORD MANSFIELD'S LIBRARY (2), by WILLIAM COWPER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ON THE BURNING OF LORD MANSFIELD'S LIBRARY (2), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: When wit and genius meet their doom
Last Line: The honey on his tongue.
Subject(s): Books; Great Britain - Gordon Riots (1780); Murray, William. 1st Earl Of Mansfield; Vandalism; Reading


TOGETHER WITH HIS MSS.,

BY THE MOB, IN THE MONTH OF JUNE 1780.

WHEN Wit and Genius meet their doom
In all devouring flame,
They tell us of the fate of Rome,
And bid us fear the same.

O'er Murray's loss the Muses wept,
They felt the rude alarm,
Yet blessed the guardian care that kept
His sacred head from harm.

There Memory, like the bee that's fed
From Flora's balmy store,
The quintessence of all he read
Had treasured up before.

The lawless herd, with fury blind,
Have done him cruel wrong;
The flowers are gone--but still we find
The honey on his tongue.





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