Tirocinium:

OR,

A REVIEW OF SCHOOLS.

Κεφαλι οὗ δη παιδειας ορθή τροφή,

Αρχη πολιτείας απάσης νέων τζίφα.

Plato.

Diog Laert.

傻

TO THE

REV. WM. CAWTHORNE UNWIN,

RECTOR OF STOCK IN ESSEX,

THE TUTOR OF HIS TWO SONS,

THE FOLLOWING

POEM

RECOMMENDING PRIVATE TUITION,

IN PREFERENCE TO

AN EDUCATION AT SCHOOL,

IS INSCRIBED,

By his Affectionate Friend,

WILLIAM COWPER.

Olney, Nov. 6th, 1784.

Tirocinium.

Ir is not from his form, in which we trace
Strength joined with beauty, dignity with grace,
That man, the master of this globe, derives
His right of empire over all that lives.
That form indeed, th' associate of a mind
Vast in its powers, ethereral in its kind,
That form, the labour of almighty skill,
Framed for the service of a freeborn will,
Asserts precedence, and bespeaks control,
But borrows all its grandeur from the soul.
Hers is the state, the splendour, and the throne,
An intellectual kingdom, all her own.

For her the Memory fills her ample page
With truths poured down from every distant age;
For her amasses an unbounded store,

The wisdom of great nations, now no more;
Though laden, not encumbered with her spoil;
Laborious, yet unconscious of her toil;
When copiously supplied, then most enlarged;
Still to be fed, and not to be surcharged.
For her the Fancy, roving unconfine,
The present muse of every pensive mind,
Works magic wonders; adds a brighter hue
To Nature's scenes than Nature ever knew.