[Page 366]To the Rev. WILLIAM CAWTHORNE UNWIN. [ed.]
To the Rev. WILLIAM CAWTHORNE UNWIN. [ed.][ed.] William Cawthorne Unwin (1744–86), son of the Revd. Morley Unwin, a retired schoolmaster, and his wife Mary, became curate of Comberton, Cambridgeshire, in 1769, and rector of Stock, in Essex, in 1778. (Baird/Ryskamp [1980-95], vol. 1, xv.)
(AH)
1.
1 UNWIN, I should but ill repay,
2 The kindness of a friend,
3 Whose worth deserves as warm a lay
4 As ever friendship penn'd,
5 Thy name omitted in a page,
6 That would reclaim a vicious age.
2.
7 An union form'd, as mine with thee,
8 Not rashly or in sport,
9 May be as fervent in degree,
10 And faithful in its sort,
11 And may as rich in comfort prove,
12 As that of true fraternal love.
3.
13 The bud inserted in the rind,
14 The bud of peach or rose,
15 Adorns, though diff'ring in its kind,
16 The stock whereon it grows
[Page 367]17 With flow'r as sweet or fruit as fair,
18 As if produc'd by nature there.
4.
19 Not rich, I render what I may,
20 I seize thy name in haste,
21 And place it in this first assay,
22 Lest this should prove the last.
23 'Tis where it should be, in a plan
24 That holds in view the good of man.
5.
25 The poet's lyre, to fix his fame,
26 Should be the poet's heart,
27 Affection lights a brighter flame
28 Than ever blaz'd by art.
29 No muses on these lines attend,
30 I sink the poet in the friend.
Source edition
Cowper, William, 1731-1800. Poems: by William Cowper, of the Inner Temple, Esq. London: printed for J. Johnson, 1782, pp. 366-367. [4],367,[1]p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T14895; OTA K027775.000) (Page images digitized by the University of California Libraries.)
Editorial principles
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 ECPA 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.
Other works by William Cowper
- ANOTHER. Addressed to a YOUNG LADY. ()
- BOADICEA, AN ODE. ()
- CHARITY. ()
- A COMPARISON. ()
- CONVERSATION. ()
- THE DIVERTING HISTORY OF JOHN GILPIN, SHEWING HOW HE WENT FARTHER THAN HE INTENDED AND CAME SAFE HOME AGAIN. ()
- THE DOVES. ()
- AN EPISTLE TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ. ()
- EXPOSTULATION. ()
- A FABLE. ()
- HEROISM. ()
- HOPE. ()
- HORACE. Book the 2d. ODE the 10th. ()
- HUMAN FRAILTY. ()
- THE LILY AND THE ROSE. ()
- THE LOVE OF THE WORLD REPROVED; OR, HYPOCRISY DETECTED. ()
- THE MODERN PATRIOT. ()
- MUTUAL FORBEARANCE, Necessary to the Happiness of the Married State. ()
- THE NIGHTINGALE AND GLOW-WORM. ()
- ODE TO PEACE. ()
- On a GOLDFINCH starved to Death in his Cage. ()
- On observing some Names of little Note recorded in the BIOGRAPHIA BRITANNICA. ()
- On the Burning of LORD MANSFIELD'S Library, together with his MSS. by the Mob, in the Month of June, 1780. ()
- On the Promotion of EDWARD THURLOW, Esq. to the Lord High Chancellorship of ENGLAND. ()
- ON THE SAME. ()
- The PINE APPLE and the BEE. ()
- THE POET, THE OYSTER, AND SENSITIVE PLANT. ()
- THE PROGRESS OF ERROR. ()
- A REFLECTION on the foregoing ODE. ()
- REPORT Of an adjudged Case not to be found in any of the Books. ()
- RETIREMENT. ()
- THE SHRUBBERY, Written in a Time of Affliction. ()
- TABLE TALK. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK I. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK II. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK III. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK IV. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK V. ()
- [THE TASK, A POEM, IN SIX BOOKS.] BOOK VI. ()
- TIROCINIUM. ()
- To the REV. MR. NEWTON. An Invitation into the Country. ()
- [Translation] 1. THE GLOW-WORM, ()
- [Translation] 2. THE JACK DAW. ()
- [Translation] 3. THE CRICKET. ()
- [Translation] 4. THE PARROT. ()
- TRUTH. ()
- VERSES, supposed to be written by ALEXANDER SELKIRK, during his solitary Abode in the Island of JUAN FERNANDEZ. ()
- THE WINTER NOSEGAY. ()