quote · Legacy record
The silver trumpet’s heavenly call Sounds for the poor, but sounds alike for all; Kings are invited, and, would kings obey, No slaves on earth more welcome were than they; But royalty, nobility, and state, Are such a dead preponderating weight, That endless bliss, how strange soe’er it seem, In counterpoise flies up, and kicks the beam.
The silver trumpet’s heavenly call Sounds for the poor, but sounds alike for all; Kings are invited, and, would kings obey, No slaves on earth more welcome were than they; But royalty, nobility, and state, Are such a dead preponderating weight, That endless bliss, how strange soe’er it seem, In counterpoise flies up, and kicks the beam.
Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
Meaning not yet available
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Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- William Cowper
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
author lifetime midpoint (1731–1800)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 343 · printed citation: Cowper · subject: KING
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.