When wit and genius meet their doom <br />In all devouring flame, <br />They tell us of the fate of Rome, <br />And bid us fear the same. <br /> <br />O'er Murray's loss the Muses wept, <br />They felt the rude alarm, <br />Yet blessed the guardian care that kept <br />His sacred head from harm. <br /> <br />There memory, like the bee that's fed <br />From Flora's balmy store, <br />The quintessence of all he read <br />Had treasured up before. <br /> <br />The lawless herd, with fury blind, <br />Have done him cruel wrong; <br />The flowers are gone, - but still we find <br />The honey on his tongue.<br /><br />William Cowper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-the-same-on-the-burning-of-lord-mansfield-s-library/
