To William, Bishop of Oxford / by Brian Kunde

To William, Bishop of Oxford
by Brian Kunde

One William was a bishop in
The Oxford of Queen Anne:
He preached to Parliament on sin;
A most important man.

The sermon that he gave that day
Was published, and the name
Of William, Oxford’s bishop, lay
In print before the same.

A man of his importance needs
No fuller introduction.
The office of itself succeeds
In selling the production.

His publisher presumably
Felt so—and who’s to say
He then was wrong? But certainly
It wouldn't wash today.

What was your surname, William? I
Can’t learn, by hook or crook;
Which aggravates me as I try
To catalog your book.

* * * * *

Note:  For those who are interested,  further research identified
the person in question as William Talbot (b. 1658/1659, d. 1730,
bishop of Oxford  1699-1715).  The piece I was cataloging was
a microfilm of:
     A sermon preached before the lords, spiritual and temporal, Jan.
     19, 1703/4,  being  the  fast  day ...  by  William,  Lord  Bishop of
     Oxford. -- London, Printed for W.S. by T. Bennet, 1704.

* * * * *

To William, Bishop of Oxford (B-0017 [B-10.2])
(Poems from Left Field: 2)

from Two by Four : and other poems, 3rd ed., Dec. 2000.
An earlier version appeared in
SUL News Notes, Vol. 4 no. 8, Feb. 24, 1995.

1st web edition posted 12/27/1995
(updated 1/25/1996).
2nd web edition posted 3/11/1998
(updated 2/15/2000).
3rd web edition posted 6/25/2004.
This page last updated 6/25/2004.