LOVE ABUSED. WHAT is there in the vale of life When friendship, love, and peace combine ANNUS MEMORABILIS, 1789. WRITTEN IN COMMEMORATION OF HIS MAJESTY'S HAPPY RECOVERY.' Of trophied helmets, spears, and shields, Through tomes of fable and of dream But none I found, or found them shared To modern times, with truth to guide *The king's recovery was announced on the 27th Feb. 1789. In a letter to Mr King, Cowper says that this poem, which he had written on the occasion, was to be presented to the queen, "by some kind body or another, I know not whom.' Here cities won, and fleets dispersed, Thus as the bee, from bank to bower, But rests on none till that be found A theme to ennoble even mine, In memorable eighty-nine. The spring of eighty-nine shall be An era cherish'd long by me. That threaten'd England's trembling state Her sovereign's tutelary care, One breath of heaven, that cried-Restore! And for the richest crown on earth, Then peace and joy again possess'd O Queen of Albion, queen of isles ! And strangers to the air of courts, Of grandeur that insures respect; ON THE QUEEN'S VISIT TO LONDON, WHEN, long sequester'd from his throne, By right of worth, not blood alone, Then loyalty, with all his lamps Chasing the darkness and the damps, "Twas hard to tell of streets or squares Bright shone the roofs, the dome, the spires, To hang their momentary fires So, fire with water to compare, Had all the pageants of the world And all the banners been unfurl'd For no such sight had England's queen Where, George recover'd made a scene Sweet always, doubly sweet. Yet glad she came that night to prove, A witness undescried, How much the object of her love Darkness the skies had mantled o'er Darkness, O Queen! ne'er call'd before On borrow'd wheels away she flies, And gratify no curious eyes Arrived, a night like noon she sees, Had known their sovereign come. Pleased she beheld aloft portray'd Emblems of health and heavenly aid, Unlike the enigmatic line, So difficult to spell, Which shook Belshazzar at his wine, Soon, watery grew her eyes and dim, It was a scene in every part Like those in fable feign'd, But other magic there, she knew, To raise such wonders in her view, That cordial thought her spirit cheer'd, Not else unworthy to be fear'd, Convey'd her calm along. So, ancient poets say, serene The sea-maid rides the waves, And fearless of the billowy scene Her peaceful bosom laves. With more than astronomic eyes Yet let the glories of a night Like that, once seen, suffice, THE COCK-FIGHTER'S GARLAND.* Nor speak the school from which he drew That such a man once was, may seem For proof to man, what Man may prove, This man (for since the howling wild Gentle he was, if gentle birth Could make him such; and he had worth, If wealth can worth bestow. In social talk and ready jest He shone superior at the feast, *Written on reading the following in the obituary of the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1789:-"At Tottenham, John Ardesoif, Esq., a young man of large fortune, and in the splendour of his carriages and horses rivalled by few country gentlemen. His table was that of hospitality, where it may be said, he sacrificed too much to conviviality; but, if he had his foibles, he had his merits also, that far outweighed them. Mr A. was very fond of cock-fighting, and had a favourite cock upon which he had won many profitable matches. The last bet he laid upon this cock he lost, which so enraged him that he had the bird tied to a spit and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of the miserable animal were so affecting, that some gentlemen who were present attempted to interfere, which so enraged Mr A., that he seized a poker, and with the most furious vehemence declared, that he would kill the first man who interposed; but, in the midst of his passionate asseverations, he fell down dead upon the spot. Such, we are assured, were the circumstances which attended the death of this great pillar of humanity." |