Note 283 — PART THE SECOND. (continued 5)
Reading edition
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.