On the Burning of Lord Mansfield's Library

William Cowper 1731 (Berkhamsted) – 1800 (Dereham)



On the Burning of Lord Mansfield's Library, Together with his MSS. by the Mob, in the Month of June 1780.

So then - the Vandals of our isle,
Sworn foes to sense and law,
Have burnt to dust a nobler pile
Than ever Roman saw!

And Murray sighs o'er Pope and Swift,
And many a treasure more,
The well-judged purchase and the gift
That graced his lettered store.

Their
pages mangled, burnt, and torn,
The loss was
his alone;

But ages yet to come shall mourn
The burning of
his own.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
433

Quick analysis:

Scheme X ABAB CDCD XEXF EXF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 473
Words 93
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 1, 4, 4, 4, 3

William Cowper

William Macquarie Cowper was an Australian Anglican archdeacon and Dean of Sydney. more…

All William Cowper poems | William Cowper Books

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