Sonnet, Addressed To Henry Cowper, Esq.

A poem by William Cowper

On His Emphatical And Interesting Delivery Of The Defence Of Warren Hastings, Esq., In The House Of Lords.


Cowper, whose silver voice, task’d sometimes hard,
Legends prolix delivers in the ears
(Attentive when thou read’st) of England’s peers,
Let verse at length yield thee thy just reward.


Thou wast not heard with drowsy disregard,
Expending late on all that length of plea
Thy generous powers, but silence honour’d thee,
Mute as e’er gazed on orator or bard.


Thou art not voice alone, but hast beside
Both heart and head; and couldst with music sweet
Of Attic phrase and senatorial tone,
Like thy renown’d forefathers, far and wide
Thy fame diffuse, praised not for utterance meet
Of others’ speech, but magic of thy own.