In contemplating this event, in the pecuiarity of its time, character, and consequences, well may we exclaim, "Lord, what is man!" and, while the consciousness of the infinite wisdom and mercy of God precludes us from saying, "What doest Thou?" we feel that it must be reserved for eternity to develop the mysterious design of these dispensations. It was in the year 1773 that this afflicting malady returned. Cowper sank into such severe paroxysms of religious despondency, that he required an attendant of the most gentle, vigilant, and inflexible spirit. Such an attendant he found in that faithful guardian, whom he had professed to love as a mother, and who watched over him during this long fit of a most depressing malady, extended through several years, with that perfect mixture of tenderness and fortitude which constitutes the characteristic feature of female services. I wish to pass rapidly over this calamitous period, and shall only observe that nothing could surpass the sufferings of the patient or excel the care of the nurse. Her unremitting attentions received the most delightful of rewards in seeing the pure and powerful mind, to whose restoration she had so greatly contributed, not only gradually restored to the common enjoyments of life, but successively endowed with new and marvellous funds of diversified talents, and a vigorous application of them. The spirit of Cowper emerged by slow degrees from its deep dejection; and, before his mind was sufficiently recovered to employ itself on literary composition, it sought and found much relief and amusement in domesticating a little group of hares. On his expressing a wish to divert himself by rearing a single leveret, the good-nature of his neighbors supplied him with three. The variety of their dispositions became a source of great entertainment to his compassionate and contemplative spirit. One of the trio he has celebrated in the Task, and a very animated and minute account of this singular family, humanized, and described most admirably by himself in prose, appeared first in the Gentleman's Magazine, and was subsequently inserted in the second volume of his poems. These interesting animals had not only the honor of being cherished and celebrated by a poet, but the pencil has also contributed to their renown. His three tame hares, Mrs. Unwin, and Mr. Newton, were, for a considerable time, the only companious of Cowper; but, as Mr. Newton was removed to a distance from his afflicted friend by preferment in London,* (to which he was presented by that liberal encourager of active piety, Mr. Thornton,) * He was preserted to the living of St. Mary Woolnoth, an the city.-ED. before he left Olney, in 1780, he humanely triumphed over the strong reluctance of Cowper to see a stranger, and kindly introduced him to the regard and good offices of the Rev. Mr. Bull of Newport-Pagnell. This excellent man, so distinguished by his piety and wit, and honored by the friendship of John Thornton, from that time considered it to be his duty to visit the invalid once a fortnight, and acquired, by degrees, his cordial and confidential esteem. The affectionate temper of Cowper inclined him particularly to exert his talents at the request of his friends, even in seasons when such exertion could hardly have been made without a painful degree of self-command. At the suggestion of Mr. Newton, we have seen him writing a series of hymns: at the request of Mr. Bull, he translated several spiritual songs, from the poetry of Madame de la Mothe Guyon, the tender and mystical French writer, whose talents and misfortunes drew upon her a long series of persecution from many acrimonious bigots, and secured to her the friendship of the mild and pious Fenelon! We shall perceive, as we advance, that the more distinguished works of Cowper were also written at the express desire of persons whom he particularly regarded; and it may be remarked, to the honor of friendship, that he considered its influence as the happiest inspiration; or, to use his own expressive words, The poet's lyre, to fix his fame, Should be the poet's heart: Affection lights a brighter flame Than ever blazed by art. The poetry of Cowper is itself an admirable illustration of this maxim; and perhaps the maxim may point to the principal source of that uncommon force and felicity with which this most feeling poet commands the affection of his reader. In delineating the life of an author, it seems the duty of biography to indicate the degree of influence which the warmth of his heart produced on the fertility of his mind. But those mingled flames of friendship and poetry, which were to burst forth with the most powerful effect in the compositions of Cowper, were not yet kindled. His depressing malady had suspended the exercise of his genius for several years, and precluded him from renewing his correspondence with the relation whom he so cordially regarded in Hertfordshire, except by brief letters on pe cuniary concerns. We insert the following as discovering symptoms of approaching convalescence. TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ.* Olney, Nov. 12, 1776. Dear Friend, One to whom fish is so wel * Private correspondence. come as it is to me, can have no great occasion to distinguish the sorts. In general, therefore, whatever fish are likely to think a jaunt into the country agreeable will be sure to find me ready to receive them. They are elegant and sensible, but have no thing in them that is characteristic, or that discriminates them from the letters of any other young man of taste and learning. As to the book you mention, I am in doubt Having suffered so much by nervous fevers whether to read it or not. I should like the myself, I know how to congratulate Ashley philosophical part of it, but the political, upon his recovery. Other distempers only which, I suppose, is a detail of intrigues carbatter the walls; but they creep silently into ried on by the Company and their servants,* the citadel and put the garrison to the sword. a history of rising and falling nabobs, I should You perceive I have not made a squeamish have no appetite to at all. I will not, thereuse of your obliging offer. The remem-fore, give you the trouble of sending it at brance of past years, and of the sentiments formerly exchanged in our evening walks, convinces me still that an unreserved acceptance of what is graciously offered is the handsomest way of dealing with one of your character. W. C. present. Yours affectionately, W. C. Believe me yours, As to the frequency, which you leave to my choice too, you have no need to exceed the number of your former remittances. TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ.* Olney, April-I fancy the 20th, 1777. My dear Friend,-Thanks for a turbot, a lobster, and Captain Brydone;† a gentleman, who relates his travels so agreeably, that he deserves always to travel with an agreeable companion. I have been reading Gray's Works, and think him the only poet since Shakspeare entitled to the character of sublime. Perhaps you will remember that I once had a different opinion of him. I was prejudiced. He did not belong to our Thursday society, and was an Eton man, which lowered him prodigiously in our esteem. I once thought Swift's Letters the best that could be written; but I like Gray's better. His humor, or his wit, or whatever it is to be called, is never ill-natured or offensive, and yet, I think, equally poignant with the Dean's I am yours affectionately, W. C. TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ.† Olney, July 13, 1777. My dear Friend,-You need not give yourself any further trouble to procure me the South Sea Voyages. Lord Dartmouth, who was here about a month since, and was so kind as to pay me two visits, has furnished me with both Cook's and Forster's. "Tis well for the poor natives of those distant countries that our national expenses cannot be supplied by cargoes of yams and bananas. Curiosity, therefore, being once satisfied, they may possibly be permitted for the future to enjoy their riches of that kind in peace. find out Baker upon the Microscope, or VinIf, when you are most at leisure, you can and send them, I shall be obliged to you,cent Bourne's Latin Poems, the last edition, either, or both, if they can be easily found. I am yours affectionately, W. C. Private correspondence. "Brydone," author of Travels in Sicily and Malta. They are written with much interest, Jut he indulges in remarks on the subject of Mount Etna which rather militate against the Mosaic account of the creation. TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ.† My dear Friend,-Your last packet was doubly welcome, and Mrs. Hill's kindness gives me peculiar pleasure, not as coming from a stranger to me, for I do not account her so, though I never saw her, but as coming from one so nearly connected with yourself. I shall take care to acknowledge the receipt of her obliging letter, when I return the books. Assure yourself, in the mean time, that I read as if the librarian was at my elbow, continually jogging it, and growling out, Make haste. But, as I read aloud, shall not have finished before the end of the week, and will return them by the diligence next Monday. TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ.* My dear Friend, We differ not much in our opinion of Gray. When I wrote last, II was in the middle of the book. His later Epistles, I think, are worth little, as such, but might be turned to excellent account by a young student of taste and judgment. As to West's Letters, I think I could easily bring your opinion of them to square with mine. Abbé Raynal, entitled "Philosophical and Political His*Cowper here alludes to the celebrated work of the tory of the Establishments and Commerce of Europeans in the two Indies." This book created a very powerful sensation, being written with great freedom of sentiment and boldness of remark, conveyed in an eloquent though rather declamatory style. Such was the alarm excited in France by this publication, that a decree passed the Par liament of Paris, by which the work was ordered to be burnt. † Private correspondence. I shall be glad if you will let me know whether I am to understand by the sorrow you express that any part of my former supplies is actually cut off, or whether they are only more tardy in coming in than usual. It is useful, even to the rich, to know, as nearly as may be, the exact amount of their income; but how much more so to a man of my small dimensions! If the former should be the case, I shall have less reason to be surprised than I have to wonder at the continuance of them so long. Favors are favors indeed, when laid out upon so barren a soil, where the expense of sowing is never accompanied by the smallest hope of return. What pain there is in gratitude, I have often felt; hut the pleasure of requiting an obligation has always been out of my reach. Affectionately yours, W. C. TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ.* My dear Friend,-Poor Sir Thomas !+ I knew that I had a place in his affections, and, from his own information many years ago, a place in his will; but little thought that after lapse of so many years I should still retain it. His remembrance of me after so long a season of separation, has done me much honor, and leaves me the more reason to regret his decease. I am reading the Abbé with great satisfaction, and think him the most intelligent writer upon so extensive a subject I ever met with; in every respect superior to the Abbé in Scotland. W. C. Yours affectionately, I admire him as a philosopher, as a writer, as a man of extraordinary intelligence, and no less extraordinary abilities to digest it. Private correspondence. t Sir Thomas Hesketh, Baronet, of Rufford Hall, in Lancashire. Raynal. He is a true patriot. But then the world is W. C. TO THE REV. WILLIAM UNWIN. TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ.* My dear Friend, I have been in continual-pray remember the poor. This would fear lest every post should bring a summons disgust him, because he would think our forfor the Abbe Raynal, and am glad that I have mer intimacy disgraced by such an oblique finished him before my fears were realized. application. He has not forgotten me, and, I have kept him long, but not through neg- if he had, there are those about him who lect or idleness. I read the five volumes to cannot come into his presence without reMrs. Unwin; and my voice will seldom serve minding him of me, and he is also perfectly me with more than an hour's reading at a acquainted with my circumstances. It would time. I am indebted to him for much infor- perhaps give him pleasure to surprise me mation upon subjects which, however inter- with a benefit, and if he means me such a esting, are so remote from those with which favor, I should disappoint him by asking it. country folks in general are conversant, that, had not his works reached me at Olney, I should have been forever ignorant of them. I repeat my thanks for your suggestion; you see a part of my reasons for thus conducting myself; if we were together I could give you more. Yours affectionately, W. C. TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ.* Olney, June 18, 1778. My dear Friend, I truly rejoice that the Chancellor has made you such a present, that he has given such an additional lustre to it by his manner of conferring it, and that all this happened before you went to Wargrave, because it made your retirement there the more agreeable This is just according to the character of the man. He will give grudg ingly in answer to solicitaton, but delights in surprising those he esteems with his bounty. May you live to receive still further proofs that I am not mistaken in my opinion of him! Yours affectionately, W. C *Private correspondence. † Mr. Unwin had suggested to Cowper the propriety of an application to Lord Thurlow for some mark of favor; which the latter never conferred, and which Cowper was resolved never to solicit. TO THE REV. WILLIAM UNWIN. are sure to acquire by falling of their own I am obliged to you for the Poets, and, though I little thought that I was translating so much money out of your pocket into the bookseller's, when I turned Prior's poem into Latin, yet I must needs say that, if you think member upon this occasion) that Sam Cox, I remember (the last thing i mean to rethe counsel, walking by the sea-side, as if absorbed in deep contemplation, was ques tioned about what he was musing on. He it worth while to purchase the English Clas-replied, "I was wondering that such an almost infinite and unwieldly element should produce a sprat." Our love attends your whole party. sics at all, you cannot possess yourself of none that do. W. C. TO THE REV. WILLIAM UNWIN.* My dear Friend,—When I was at Margate, it was an excursion of pleasure to go to see Ramsgate. The pier, I remember, was accounted a most excellent piece of stonework, and such I found it. By this time, I suppose, it is finished, and surely it is no small advantage that you have an opportunity of observing how nicely those great stones are put together, as often as you please, without either trouble or expense. There was not at that time, much to be seen in the Isle of Thanet, besides the beauty of the country and the fine prospects of the sea, which are nowhere surpassed, except in the Isle of Wight, or upon some parts of the coast of Hampshire. One sight, however, I remember, engaged my curiosity, and I went to see it a fine piece of ruins, built by the late Lord Holland at a great expense, which, the day after I saw it, tumbled down for nothing. Perhaps, therefore, it is still a ruin; and, if it is, I would advise you by all means to visit it, as it must have been much improved by this fortunate incident. It is hardly possible to put stones together with that air of wild and magnificent disorder which they * Private correspondence. TO THE REV. WILLIAM UNWIN.* Olney, July 17, 1779. My dear Friend,-we envy you your seabreezes. In the garden we feel nothing but the reflection of the heat from the walls, and in the parlor, from the opposite houses. 1 fancy Virgil was so situated when he wrote those two beautiful lines: Oh quis me gelidis in vallibus Hæmi Sistat, et ingenti ramorum protegat umbrâ ! The worst of it is that, though the sunbeams strike as forcibly upon my harp-strings sounds, but rather produce such groans as as they did upon his, they elicit no such they are said to have drawn from those of the statue of Memnon. As you have ventured to make the experiment, your own experience will be your best guide in the article of bathing. An infe rence will hardly follow, though one should pull at it with all one's might, from Smollett's case to yours. He was corpulent, either stolen or strayed, such a description muscular, and strong; whereas, if you were of you in an advertisement would hardly direct an inquirer with sufficient accuracy and exactness. make your head ache, or prevent you sleep. But, if bathing does not ing at night, I should imagine it could not hurt you. Yours affectionately, W. C. TO THE REV. WILLIAM UNWIN. Olney, Sept. 21, 1779. Amico mio, be pleased to buy me a gla zier's diamond pencil. I have glazed the two frames, designed to receive my pine plants. But I cannot mend the kitchen win. dows, till, by the help of that implement, I can reduce the glass to its proper dimensions. If I were a plumber, I should be a complete glazier, and possibly the happy time may come, when I shall be seen trudg ing away to the neighboring towns with a shelf of glass hanging at my back. If gov ernment should impose another tax upon * Private correspondence. that commodity, I hardly know a business in which a gentleman might more successfully employ himself. Ă Chinese, of ten times my fortune, would avail himself of such an opportunity without scruple; and why should not I, who want money as much The newspaper informs me of the arrival as any mandarin in China? Rousseau would of the Jamaica fleet. I hope it imports some have been charmed to have seen me so occu- pine-apple plants for me. I have a good pied, and would have exclaimed with rapture frame, and a good bed prepared to receive "that he had found the Emilius who, he sup- them. I send you annexed a fable, in which posed, had subsisted only in his own idea." the pine-apple makes a figure, and shall be I would recommend it to you to follow my glad if you like the taste of it. Two pair of example. You will presently qualify your-soles, with shrimps, which arrived last night, self for the task, and may not only amuse demand my acknowledgments. You have yourself at home, but may even exercise heard that when Arion performed upon the your skill in mending the church windows; harp the fish followed him. I really have no which, as it would save money to the parish, design to fiddle you out of more fish; but, would conduce, together with your other if you should esteem my verses worthy of ministerial accomplishments, to make you such a price, though I shall never be so reextremely popular in the place. nowned as he was, I shall think myself equally indebted to the Muse that helps me I have eight pair of tame pigeons. When I first enter the garden in the morning, I find them perched upon the wall, waiting for heir breakfast, for I feed them always upon the gravel walk. If your wish should be accomplished, and you should find yourself furnished with the wings of a dove, I shall undoubtedly find you amongst them. Only be so good, if that should be the case, to announce yourself by some means or other. For I imagine your crop will require something better than tares to fill it. Your mother and I, last week, made a trip in a post-chaise to Gayhurst, the seat of Mr. Wright, about four miles off. He understood that I did not much affect strange faces, and sent over his servant, on purpose to inform me that he was going into Leicestershire, and that if I chose to see the gardens I might gratify myself without danger of seeing the proprietor. I accepted the invitation, and was delighted with all I found there. The situation is happy, the gardens elegantly disposed, the hot-house in the most flourishing state, and the orange-trees the most captivating creatures of the kind I ever saw. A man, in short, had need have the talents of Cox or Langford, the auctioneers, to do the whole scene justice. Our love attends you all. Yours, W. C. TO JOSEPH HILL, ESQ.* My dear Friend,—You begin to count the remaining days of the vacation, not with impatience, but through unwillingness to see the end of it. For the mind of man, at least of most men, is equally busy in anticipating the evil and the good. That word anticipation puts me in remembrance of the pamphlet • Private correspondence. of that name, which, if you purchased, I should be glad to borrow. I have seen only an extract from it in the Review, which made me laugh heartily and wish to peruse the whole. THE PINE-APPLE AND THE BEE. "The pine-apples," &c.* My affectionate respects attend Mrs. Hill. She has put Mr. Wright to the expense of building a new hot-house: the plants produced by the seeds she gave me having grown so large as to require an apartment by themselves. Yours, W. C. TO THE REV. WILLIAM UNWIN. Olney, Oct. 31, 1779. My dear Friend, I wrote my last letter merely to inform you that I had nothing to say, in answer to which you have said no. thing. I admire the propriety of your conduct, though I am a loser by it. I will endeavor to say something now, and shall hope for something in return. I have been well entertained with Johnson's biography, for which I thank you: with one exception, and that a swingeing one, I think he has not acquitted himself with his usual good sense and sufficiency. His treatment of Milton is unmerciful to the last degree. He has belabored that great poet's character with the most industrious cruelty. As a man, he has hardly left him the shadow of one good quality. Churlishness in his private life, and a rancorous hatred of everything royal in his public, are the two colors with which he has smeared all the canvas If he had any virtues, they are not to be found in the Doctor's picture of him; and it is well for Milton that some sourness in his temper is the only vice with which his memory has been charged; it is evident enough that, if his biographer could have discovered more, he would not have spared him. As a * Vide Cowper's Poems. |