Excerpt: ...but hate; But fashion's art the waste of time repairs, Each wrinkle fills, and dies her silver hairs; Thus wrought anew, our gentle bosoms low; We cannot chuse but love what's comme il fauts.' Alas, poor Cowper! could thy chasten'd eye, (Awhile forgetful of thy joys on high) Revisit earth, what indignation strange Would sting thee to behold the courtly change! Here "velvet" lawns, there "plushy" woods that lave Their "silken" tresses in the "glassy" wave; Here "'broider'd" meads, there flow'ry "carpets" spread, ...
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Excerpt: ...but hate; But fashion's art the waste of time repairs, Each wrinkle fills, and dies her silver hairs; Thus wrought anew, our gentle bosoms low; We cannot chuse but love what's comme il fauts.' Alas, poor Cowper! could thy chasten'd eye, (Awhile forgetful of thy joys on high) Revisit earth, what indignation strange Would sting thee to behold the courtly change! Here "velvet" lawns, there "plushy" woods that lave Their "silken" tresses in the "glassy" wave; Here "'broider'd" meads, there flow'ry "carpets" spread, And "downy" banks to "pillow" Nature's head; How wouldst thou start to find thy native soil. Like birth-day belle, by gross mechanick toil Trick'd out to charm with meretricious air, As though all France and Manchester were there! But this were luxury, were bliss refin'd, To view the alter'd region of the mind; Where whim and mystery, like wizards, rule, And conjure wisdom from the seeming fool; Where learned heads, like old cremonas, boast Their merit soundest that are cracked the most; While Genius' self, infected with the joke, His person decks with Folly's motley cloak. Behold, loud-rattling like a thousand drums, Eccentrick Hal, the child of Nature, comes! Of Nature once--but now he acts a part, And Hal is now the full grown boy of art. In youth's pure spring his high impetuous soul Nor custom own'd nor fashion's vile control. By Truth impelled where beck'ning Nature led, Through life he mov'd with firm elastic tread; But soon the world, with wonder-teeming eyes, His manners mark, and goggle with surprise. "He's wond'rous strange!" exclaims each gaping clod, "A wond'rous genius, for he's wond'rous odd!" Where'er he goes, there goes before his fame, And courts and taverns echo round his name; 'Till, fairly knocked by admiration down, The petted monster cracks his wond'rous crown. No longer now to simple Nature true, He studies only to be oddly new; Whate'er he does, whatever he deigns to say, Must all be said and done the oddest way;...
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Add this copy of The Sylphs of the Season With Other Poems to cart. $12.91, new condition, Sold by Just one more Chapter, ships from Miramar, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2025 by Alpha Edition.
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Add this copy of The Sylphs of the Season With Other Poems to cart. $25.72, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2023 by Legare Street Press.
Add this copy of The Sylphs of the Season With Other Poems to cart. $37.41, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2023 by Legare Street Press.
Add this copy of The Sylphs of the Season with Other Poems to cart. $21.66, new condition, Sold by Ingram Customer Returns Center rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from NV, USA, published 2019 by Outlook Verlag.
