< Page:Pastorals Epistles Odes (1748).djvu
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ODES.

83

On the Death of the Right Honourable
William
Earl Cowper.

1723

STROPHE I.
WAKE the British harp again,
To a sad melodious strain;
Wake the harp, whose every string,
When Halifax resign'd his breath, 4
Accus'd inexorable death;
For I, once more, must in affliction sing,
One song of sorrow more bestow,
The burden of a heart o'ercharg'd with woe: 8
Yet, O my soul, if aught may bring relief,
Full many, grieving, shall applaud thy grief,
The pious verse, that Cowper does deplore,
Whom all the boasted powers of verse cannot restore. 12

ANTISTROPHE I.
Not to her, his fondest care,
Not to his lov'd offspring fair,
Nor his country ever dear,

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