On observing some Names of little Note recorded in the BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA. William Cowper Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T14895 K027775.000 Cowper, William, 1731-1800. Poems: by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. London printed for J. Johnson 1782 pp. 314-315. [4],367,[1]p. ; 8⁰.

This e-text is part of the Works section of the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

XML created for the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA).

The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) text-indent: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: center; text-align: right; text-align: left; display: inline font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;
On observing some Names of little Note recorded in the BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA . OH fond attempt to give a deathless lot , To names ignoble , born to be forgot ! In vain recorded in historic page , They court the notice of a future age , Those twinkling tiney lustres of the land , Drop one by one from Fame's neglecting hand , Lethaean gulphs receive them as they fall , And dark oblivion soon absorbs them all . So when a child , as playful children use , Has burnt to tinder a stale last year's news , The flame extinct , he views the roving fire , There goes my lady , and there goes the 'squire , There goes the parson , oh ! illustrious spark , And there , scarce less illustrious , goes the clerk .