On The Same. (On The Burning Of Lord Mansfields Library, Together With His Mss., By The Mob, In The Month Of June 1780.)
By William Cowper
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.
Oer Murrays loss the muses wept,
They felt the rude alarm,
Yet blessd the guardian care that kept
His sacred head from harm.
There Memory, like the bee thats fed
From Floras 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 gonebut still we find
The honey on his tongue.