SG2 HEXRY KIRKE WHITe's EE.VAINS. 



England ranks him with her favourite sons, and that 

 sense, fanc}'', and wit were not his greatest honours, for 

 that his virtues formed the magic of his sono; : or who, 

 hearing this, would be the better for the information ? 

 Had Mr Hajlej been employed in the monumental 

 praises of a private man, this might have been excusable, 

 but speaking of such a man as Cowper, it is idle. This 

 epitaph is not appropriate, therefore, and we have shown 

 that it is not remarkable for simplicity. Perhaps the re- 

 spectable critics themselves may not feel inclined to dis- 

 pute this point very tenaciously. Epithets are very con- 

 venient little things for rounding off a period ; and it 

 will not be the first time that truth has been sacrificed 

 to verbosity and antithesis. 



To measure lances with Hayley may be esteemed pre- 

 sumptuous ; but probably the following, although much 

 inferior as a composition, would have had more effect than 

 his polished and harmonious lines : — 



INSCRIPTION FOR A MONUMENT TO THE MEMORY 

 OF COWPER. 



Reader ! if with no vulgar sympathy 



Thou view'st the wreck of genius and of worth, 



Stay thou thy footsteps near this hallowed spot. 



Here Cowper rests. Although renown have made 



His name familiar to thine ear, this stone 



May tell thee that his virtues were above 



The common portion : — that the voice, now hush'd 



In death, was once serenely querulous 



With pity's tones, and in the ear of woe 



Spake music. Now forgetful at thy feet 



His tired head presses on its last long rest, 



Still tenant of the tomb ; — and on the cheek 



Once warm with animation's lambent flush. 



Sits the pale image of unmark'd decay. 



Yet mourn not. He had chosen the better part ; 



And these sad garments of mortality 



Put off, we trust, that to a happier land 



He went a light and gladsome passenger. 



Si^h'st thou for honours, reader ? Call to miiid 



