William Cowper

If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture,
let us be more ashamed of shabby read more

If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture,
let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy
philosophies. . . . It would be a sad situation if the wrapper
were better than the meat wrapped inside it.

How soft the music of those village bells,
Falling at interval upon the ear
In cadence sweet; read more

How soft the music of those village bells,
Falling at interval upon the ear
In cadence sweet; now dying all away,
Now pealing loud again, and louder still,
Clear and sonorous, as the gale comes on!
With easy force it opens all the cells
Where Memory slept.

The faults of our neighbours with freedom we blame,
But tax not ourselves, though we practise the same.

The faults of our neighbours with freedom we blame,
But tax not ourselves, though we practise the same.

There is a pleasure in poetic pains,
Which only poets know.

There is a pleasure in poetic pains,
Which only poets know.

Still ending, and beginning still.

Still ending, and beginning still.