Martin Madan, Cowper's cousin. It created a sensa-
tion in the religious world, and provoked Cowper to
write, besides the above, a long poem entitled, " Anti-
thelyphthora," also " Love Abused," and several epi-
grams — the best of which is " If John marries Mary."



40 Anti-thelyphthora, or the Doves.
" Our mutual bond of faith and truth

No time shall disengage,
Those blessings of our early youth

Shall cheer our latest age :

" While innocence without disguise,

And constancy sincere.
Shall fill the circles of those eyes,

And mine can read them there :

" Those ills, that wait on all below,

Shall ne'er be left by me,
Or gently felt, and only so.
As being shared by thee.
" When lightnings flash among the trees.
Or kites are hovering near,
I fear lest thee alone they seize.
And know no other fear.
" 'Tis then I feel myself a wife.
And press thy wedded side,

Resolved a union form'd for life
Death never shall divide.
Anti-thelyphthora, or the Doves. 41

" But oh ! if fickle and unchaste
(Forgive a transient thought),

Thou could'st become unkind at last,
And scorn thy present lot,

" No need of lightnings from on high.
Or kites with cruel beak ;
Denied the endearments of thine eye.
This widow'd heart would break."

Thus sang the sweet sequester'd bird,

Soft as the passing wind,
And I recorded what I heard,

A lesson for mankind.
The poem as published began thus :—

Reasoning at every step he treads,

Man yet mistakes his way,
While meaner things, whom instinct leads,

Are rarely known to stray.
One silent eve I wander'd late,
&c.
42 Tom Raban.
