[282] Private correspondence.
[283] Cowper alludes, in this passage, to the Commemoration of Handel, in Westminster Abbey, and its resemblance to an act of canonization. His censure is doubly recorded; in poetry, as well as in prose:—
"Ten thousand sit
Patiently present at a sacred song,
Commemoration mad; content to hear
(O wonderful effect of Music's power!)
Messiah's eulogy for Handel's sake.
But less, methinks, than sacrilege might serve," &c.
The Task, Book vi.
[284] Private correspondence.
[285] The original passage is as follows:—
Cum talis sis, utinam noster esses.
If intended, therefore, as a quotation, it should be quoted without alteration.
[286] Private correspondence.
[287] "If there is a regard due to the memory of the dead, there is yet more respect to be paid to knowledge, to virtue, and to truth."