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All constraint, / Except what wisdom lays on evil men, / Is evil.

William Cowper

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William Cowper
Age: 68 †
Born: 1731
Born: November 26
Died: 1800
Died: April 25
Hymnwriter
Poet
Poet Lawyer
Translator
Writer
Berkhamsted
Hertfordshire
Constraint
Constraints
Lays
Except
Wisdom
Evil
Men

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Domestic happiness, thou only bliss Of paradise that has surviv'd the fall!
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With spots quadrangular of diamond form, ensanguined hearts, clubs typical of strife, and spades, the emblems of untimely graves.
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They love the country, and none else, who seek For their own sake its silence and its shade. Delights which who would leave, that has a heart Susceptible of pity, or a mind Cultured and capable of sober thought.
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The few that pray at all pray oft amiss.
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The Frenchman, easy, debonair, and brisk, Give him his lass, his fiddle, and his frisk, Is always happy, reign whoever may, And laughs the sense of mis'ry far away.
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Built God a church and laughed His word to scorn.
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All flesh is grass. and all its glory fades Like the fair flower dishevell'd in the wind Riches have wings, and grandeur is a dream The man we celebrate must find a tomb, And we that worship him, ignoble graves.
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Misery still delights to trace Its semblance in another's case.
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There goes the parson, oh illustrious spark! And there, scarce less illustrious, goes the clerk.
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Spring hangs her infant blossoms on the trees, Rock'd in the cradle of the western breeze.
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Just knows, and knows no more, her Bible true,- A truth the brilliant Frenchman never knew.
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Tis Providence alone secures In every change both mine and yours.
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The earth was made so various, that the mind Of desultory man, studious of change, And pleased with novelty, might be indulged.
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They fix attention, heedless of your pain, With oaths like rivets forced into the brain And e'en when sober truth prevails throughout, They swear it, till affirmance breeds a doubt.
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Thus happiness depends, as nature shows, less on exterior things than most suppose.
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Fate steals along with silent tread, Found oftenest in what least we dread Frowns in the storm with angry brow, But in the sunshine strikes the blow.
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Anticipated rents, and bills unpaid, Force many a shining youth into the shade, Not to redeem his time, but his estate, And play the fool, but at the cheaper rate.
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I am out of humanity's reach.I must finish my journey alone,Never hear the sweet music of speechI start at the sound of my own.
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No tree in all the grove but has its charms, Though each its hue peculiar.
William Cowper
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We sacrifice to dress till household joys and comforts cease. Dress drains our cellar dry, and keeps our larder lean.
William Cowper