“There is in souls a sympathy with sounds;
And as the mind is pitched the ear is pleased
With melting airs or martial, brisk, or grave:
Some chord in unison with what we hear
Is touched within us, and the heart replies.
How soft the music of those village bells
Falling at intervals upon the ear
In cadence sweet!”

Source: The Task (1785), Book VI, Winter Walk at Noon, Line 1.

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William Cowper 174
(1731–1800) English poet and hymnodist 1731–1800

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