William Cowper

. . . thieves at home must hang; but he that puts
Into his overgorged and bloated purse
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. . . thieves at home must hang; but he that puts
Into his overgorged and bloated purse
The wealth of Indian provinces, escapes.

How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest read more

How fleet is a glance of the mind!
Compared with the speed of its flight,
The tempest itself lags behind,
And the swift-winged arrows of light.

And spare the poet for his subject's sake.

And spare the poet for his subject's sake.

Defend me, therefore, common sense, say
From reveries so airy, from the toil
Of dropping buckets into read more

Defend me, therefore, common sense, say
From reveries so airy, from the toil
Of dropping buckets into empty wells,
And growing old in drawing nothing up.

Hast thou not learn'd what thou art often told,
A truth still sacred, and believed of old,
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Hast thou not learn'd what thou art often told,
A truth still sacred, and believed of old,
That no success attends on spears and swords
Unblest, and that the battle is the Lord's?