The Poetry Corner

To Warren Hastings, Esq. By An Old Schoolfellow Of His At Westminster.

By William Cowper

Hastings! I knew thee young, and of a mind, While young, humane, conversable, and kind, Nor can I well believe thee, gentle then, Now grown a villain, and the worst of men. But rather some suspect, who have oppressd And worried thee, as not themselves the best.