The Works of William Cowper / His life, letters, and poems, now first completed by the introduction of Cowper's private correspondence

by William Cowper

CONTENTS.

PART THE FIRST.

	Page
The family, birth, and first residence of Cowper	[1]
His verses on the portrait of his mother	[1]
Epitaph on his mother by her niece	[2]
The schools that Cowper attended	[2]
His sufferings during childhood	[2]
His removal from Westminster to an attorney's office	[3]
Verses on his early afflictions	[4]
His settlement in the Inner Temple	[4]
His acquaintance with eminent authors	[4]
His translations in Duncombe's Horace	[4]
His own account of his early life	[4]
Stanzas on reading Sir Charles Grandison	[4]
His verses on finding the heel of a shoe	[5]
His nomination to the office of Reading Clerk in the House of Lords	[5]
His nomination to be Clerk of the Journals in the House of Lords	[5]
To Lady Hesketh. Journals of the House of Lords. Reflection on the singular temper of his mind. Aug. 9, 1763	[5]
His extreme dread of appearing in public	[6]
His illness, and removal to St. Alban's	[6]
Change in his ideas of religion	[7]
His recovery	[7]
His settlement at Huntingdon to be near his brother	[7]
The translation of Voltaire's Henriade by the two brothers	[7]
The origin of Cowper's acquaintance with the Unwins	[7]
His adoption into the family	[8]
His early friendship with Lord Thurlow, and J. Hill, Esq	[8]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Account of his situation at Huntingdon. June 24, 1765	[9]
To Lady Hesketh. On his illness and subsequent recovery. July 1, 1765	[9]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Huntingdon and its amusements. July 3, 1765	[10]
To Lady Hesketh. Salutary effects of affliction on the human mind. July 4, 1765	[10]
To the same. Account of Huntingdon; distance from his Brother, &c. July 5, 1765	[11]
To the same. Newton's Treatise on Prophecy; Reflections of Dr. Young, on the Truth of Christianity. July 12, 1765	[12]
To the same. On the Beauty and Sublimity of Scriptural Language. Aug. 1, 1765	[12]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Expected excursion. Aug. 14, 1765	[13]
To Lady Hesketh. Pearsall's Meditations; definition of faith. Aug. 17, 1765	[14]
To the same. On a particular Providence; experience of mercy, &c. Sept. 4, 1765	[14]
To the same. First introduction to the Unwin family; their characters. Sept. 14, 1765	[15]
To the same. On the thankfulness of the heart, its inequalities, &c. Oct. 10, 1765	[16]
To the same. Miss Unwin, her character and piety. Oct. 18, 1765	[16]
To Major Cowper. Situation at Huntingdon; his perfect satisfaction, &c. Oct. 18, 1765	[17]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. On those who confine all merits to their own acquaintance. Oct. 25, 1765	[18]
To the same. Agreement with the Rev. W. Unwin. Nov. 5, 1765	[18]
To the same. Declining to read lectures at Lincoln's Inn. Nov. 8, 1765	[18]
To Lady Hesketh. On solitude; on the desertion of his friends. March 6, 1766	[19]
To Mrs. Cowper. Mrs. Unwin, and her son; his cousin Martin. March 11, 1766	[19]
To the same. Letters the fruit of friendship; his conversion. April 4, 1766	[20]
To the same. The probability of knowing each other in Heaven. April 17, 1766	[20]
To the same. On the recollection of earthly affairs by departed spirits. April 18, 1766	[21]
To the same. On the same subject; on his own state of body and mind. Sept. 3, 1766	[22]
To the same. His manner of living; reasons for his not taking orders. Oct. 20, 1766	[23]
To the same. Reflections on reading Marshall. March 11, 1767	[24]
To the same. Introduction of Mr. Unwin's son; his gardening; on Marshall. March 14, 1767	[24]
To the same. On the motive of his introducing Mr. Unwin's son to her. April 3, 1767	[25]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. General election. June 16, 1767	[27]
To Mrs. Cowper. Mr. Unwin's death; doubts concerning Cowper's future abode. July 13, 1767	[26]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Reflections arising from Mr. Unwin's death. July 16, 1767	[26]
The origin of Cowper's acquaintance with Mr. Newton.	[26]
Cowper's removal with Mrs. Unwin to Olney.	[27]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Invitation to Olney. Oct. 10, 1767	[27]
His devotion and charity in his new residence.	[27]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. On the occurrences during his visit at St. Alban's. June 16, 1768	[27]
To the same. On the difference of dispositions; his love of retirement. Jan. 21, 1769	[27]
To the same. On Mrs. Hill's late illness. Jan. 29, 1769	[28]
To the same. Declining an invitation. Fondness for retirement. July 31, 1769	[28]
His poem in memory of John Thornton, Esq.	[28]
His beneficence to a necessitous child.	[29]
To Mrs. Cowper. His new situation; reasons for mixture of evil in the world. 1769	[29]
To the same. The consolations of religion on the death of her husband. Aug. 31, 1769	[30]
Cowper's journey to Cambridge on his brother's illness.	[30]
To Mrs. Cowper. Dangerous illness of his brother. March 5, 1770	[30]
The death and character of Cowper's brother.	[31]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Religious sentiments of his brother. May 8, 1770	[31]
To Mrs. Cowper. The same subject. June 7, 1770	[32]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Expression of his gratitude for instances of friendship. Sept. 25, 1770	[33]
To the same. Congratulations on his marriage. Aug. 27, 1771	[33]
To the same. Declining offers of service. June 27, 1772	[33]
To the same. Acknowledging obligations. July 2, 1772	[33]
To the same. Declining an invitation to London. Nov. 5, 1772	[33]
The composition of the Olney Hymns by Mr. Newton and Cowper.	[34]
The interruption of the Olney Hymns by the illness of Cowper	[35]
His long and severe depression	[35]
His tame hares, one of his first amusements on his recovery.	[35]
The origin of his friendship with Mr. Bull.	[35]
His translations from Madame de la Mothe Guion.	[35]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. On Mr. Ashley Cooper's recovery from a nervous fever. Nov. 12, 1776	[36]
To the same. On Gray's Works. April 20, 1777	[36]
To the same. On Gray's later epistles. West's Letters. May 25, 1777	[36]
To the same. Selection of books. July 13, 1777	[36]
To the same. Supposed diminution of Cowper's income. Jan. 1, 1778	[37]
To the same. Death of Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart. April 11, 1778	[37]
To the same. Raynal's works. May 7, 1778	[37]
To the same. Congratulations on preferment. June 18, 1778	[37]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Disapproving a proposed application to Chancellor Thurlow. June 18, 1778	[37]
To the same. Johnson's Lives of the Poets. May 26, 1779	[38]
To the same. Remarks on the Isle of Thanet. July, 1779	[38]
To the same. Advice on sea-bathing. July 17, 1779	[38]
To the same. His hot house; tame pigeons; visit to Gayhurst. Sept. 21, 1779	[39]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. With the fable of the Pine-apple and the Bee. Oct. 2, 1779	[39]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Johnson's Biography; his treatment of Milton. Oct. 31, 1779	[40]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. With a poem on the promotion of Edward Thurlow. Nov. 14, 1779	[40]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Quick succession of human events; modern patriotism. Dec. 2, 1779	[40]
To the same. Burke's speech on reform; Nightingale and Glow-worm. Feb. 27, 1780	[41]
To Mrs. Newton. On Mr. Newton's removal from Olney. March 4, 1780	[41]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Congratulations on his professional success. March 16, 1780	[42]
To the Rev. J. Newton. On the danger of innovation. March 18, 1780	[42]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. On keeping the Sabbath. March 28, 1780	[43]
To the same. Pluralities in the church. April 6, 1780	[43]
To the Rev. J. Newton. Distinction between a travelled man, and a travelled gentleman. April 16, 1780	[44]
To the same. Serious reflections on rural scenery. May 3, 1780	[44]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. The Chancellor's illness. May 6, 1780	[45]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. His passion for landscape drawing; modern politics. May 8, 1780	[45]
To Mrs. Cowper. On her brother's death. May 10, 1780	[46]
To the Rev. J. Newton. Pedantry of commentators; Dr. Bentley, &c. May 10, 1780	[46]
To Mrs. Newton. Mishap of the gingerbread baker and his wife. The Doves. June 2, 1780	[47]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Cowper's fondness of praise—Can a parson be obliged to take an apprentice?—Latin translation of a passage in Paradise Lost; versification of a thought. June 8, 1780	[47]
To the Rev. J. Newton. On the riots in 1780; danger of associations. June 12, 1780	[48]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Latin verses on ditto. June 18, 1780	[49]
To the same. Robertson's History; Biographia Britannica. June 22, 1780	[49]
To the Rev. J. Newton. Ingenuity of slander; lace-makers' petition. June 23, 1780	[50]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. To touch and retouch, the secret of good writing; an epitaph; July 2, 1780	[51]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. On the riots in London. July 3, 1780	[51]
To the same. Recommendation of lace-makers' petition. July 8, 1780	[51]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Translation of the Latin verses on the riots. July 11, 1780	[52]
To the Rev. J. Newton. With an enigma. July 12, 1780	[52]
To Mrs. Cowper. On the insensible progress of age. July 29, 1780	[53]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Olney bridge. July 27, 1780	[54]
To the Rev. J. Newton. A riddle. July 30, 1780	[54]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Human nature not changed; a modern, only an ancient in a different dress. August 6, 1780	[54]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. On his recreations. Aug. 10, 1780	[55]
To the Rev. J. Newton. Escape of one of his hares. Aug. 21, 1780	[56]
To Mrs. Cowper. Lady Cowper's death. Age a friend to the mind. Aug. 31, 1780	[56]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Biographia; verses, parson and clerk. Sept. 3, 1780	[57]
To the same. On education. Sept. 7, 1780	[57]
To the same. Public schools. Sept. 17, 1780	[58]
To the same. On the same subject. Oct. 5, 1780	[59]
To Mrs. Newton. On Mr. Newton's arrival at Ramsgate. Oct. 5, 1780	[60]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Verses on a goldfinch starved to death in his cage. Nov. 9, 1780	[60]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. On a point of law. Dec. 10, 1780	[60]
To the Rev. John Newton. On his commendations of Cowper's poems. Dec. 21, 1780	[60]
To J. Hill, Esq. With the memorable law-case between nose and eyes. Dec. 25, 1780	[61]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. With the same. Dec. 1780	[62]
To the Rev. John Newton. Progress of Error. Mr. Newton's works. Jan. 21, 1781	[62]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. On visiting prisoners. Feb. 6, 1781	[63]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Hurricane in West Indies. Feb. 8, 1781	[63]
To the same. On metrical law-cases; old age. Feb. 15, 1781	[64]
To the Rev. John Newton. With Table Talk. On classical literature. Feb. 18, 1781	[64]
To Mr. Hill. Acknowledging a present received. Feb. 19, 1781	[64]
To the Rev. John Newton. Mr. Scott's curacies. Feb. 25, 1781	[65]
To the same. Care of myrtles. Sham fight at Olney. March 5, 1781	[65]
To the same. On the poems, "Expostulation," &c. March 18, 1781.	[66]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Consolations on the asperity of a critic. April 2, 1781	[67]
To the Rev. John Newton. Requesting a preface to "Truth." Enigma on a cucumber. April 8, 1781	[68]
To the same. Solution of the enigma. April 23, 1781	[68]
Cowper's first appearance as an author.	[69]
The subjects of his first poems suggested by Mrs. Unwin.	[69]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Intended publication of his first volume. May 1, 1781	[69]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. On the composition and publication of his first volume. May 9, 1781	[70]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Reasons for not showing his preface to Mr. Unwin. May 10, 1781	[70]
To the same. Delay of his publication; Vincent Bourne, and his poems. May 23, 1781	[71]
To the Rev. John Newton. On the heat; on disembodied spirits. May 22, 1781	[72]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Corrections of his proofs; on his horsemanship. May 28, 1781	[72]
To the same. Mrs. Unwin's criticisms; a distinguishing Providence. June 5, 1781	[73]
To the same. On the design of his poems; Mr. Unwin's bashfulness. June 24, 1781	[73]
Origin of Cowper's acquaintance with Lady Austen.	[74]
Poetical epistle addressed to that lady by him.	[75]
Diffidence of the poet's genius.	[76]
To the Rev. John Newton. His late visit to Olney. Lady Austen's first visit. Correction in "Progress of Error." Intended portrait of Cowper. July 7, 1781	[76]
To the same. Humorous letter in rhyme, on his poetry. July 12, 1781	[77]
To the same. Progress of the poem, "Conversation." July 22, 1781.	[77]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Though revenge and a spirit of litigation are contrary to the Gospel, still it is the duty of a Christian to vindicate his right. Anecdote of a French Abbé, A fete champetre. July 29, 1781	[77]
To Mrs. Newton. Changes of fashion. Remarks on his poem, "Conversation." Aug. 1781	[78]
To the Rev. John Newton. Conversion of the green-house into a summer-parlour. Progress of his work. Aug. 16, 1781	[79]
To the same. State of Cowper's mind. Lady Austen's intended settlement at Olney. Lines on cocoa-nuts and fish. Aug. 21, 1781	[80]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Congratulations on the birth of a son. Remarks on his poem, "Retirement." Lady Austen's proposed settlement at Olney. Her character. Aug. 25, 1781	[81]
To the Rev. John Newton. Progress of the printing of his poem, "Retirement." Mr. Johnson's corrections. Aug. 25, 1781	[82]
To the same. Heat of the weather. Remarks on the opinion of a clerical acquaintance concerning certain amusements and music. Sept. 9, 1781	[82]
To Mrs. Newton. A poetical epistle on a barrel of oysters. Sept. 16, 1781	[83]
To the Rev. John Newton. Dr. Johnson's criticism on Watts and Blackmore. Smoking. Sept. 18, 1781	[83]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Thoughts on the sea. Character of Lady Austen. Sept. 26, 1781	[84]
To the Rev. John Newton. Religious poetry. Oct. 4, 1781	[85]
To the same. Brighton amusements. His projected Authorship. Oct. 6, 1781	[85]
To the Rev. John Newton. Disputes between the Rev. Mr. Scott and the Rev. Mr. R. Oct. 14, 1781	[86]
To Mrs. Cowper. His first volume. Death of a friend. Oct. 19, 1781	[87]
Reasons why the Rev. Mr. Newton wrote the Preface to Cowper's Poems	[87]
To the Rev. John Newton. Remarks on the proposed Preface to the Poems. Mr. Scott and Mr. R. Oct. 22, 1781	[87]
To the Rev. W. Unwin. Brighton dissipation. Education of young Unwin. Nov. 5, 1781	[88]
To the Rev. John Newton. Cowper's indifference to Fame. Anecdote of the Rev. Mr. Bull. Nov. 7, 1781	[89]
To the Rev. Wm. Unwin. Apparition of Paul Whitehead, at West Wycombe. Nov. 24, 1781	[90]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. In answer to his account of his landlady and her cottage. Nov. 26, 1781	[90]
To the Rev. Wm. Unwin. Origin and causes of social feeling. Nov. 26, 1781	[91]
To the Rev. John Newton. Unfavourable prospect of the American war. Nov. 27, 1781	[92]
To the same. With lines on Mary and John. Same date	[92]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Advantage of having a tenant who is irregular in his payments. Sale of chambers. State of affairs in America. Dec. 2, 1781	[93]
To the Rev. John Newton. With lines to Sir Joshua Reynolds. Political and patriotic poetry. Dec. 4, 1781	[93]
Circumstances under which Cowper commenced his career as an author	[94]
Letter to the Rev. John Newton, Dec. 17, 1781. Remarks on his poems on Friendship, Retirement, Heroism and Ætna; Nineveh and Britain	[95]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Dec. 19, 1781. Idea of a theocracy; the American war	[96]
To the Rev. John Newton; shortest day, 1781. On a national miscarriage; with lines on a flatting-mill	[96]
To the same, last day of 1781. Concerning the printing of his Poems; the American contest	[97]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Jan. 5, 1782. Dr. Johnson's critique on Prior and Pope	[97]
To the Rev. John Newton, Jan. 13, 1782. The American contest	[98]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Jan. 17, 1782. Conduct of critics; Dr. Johnson's remarks on Prior's Poems; remarks on Dr. Johnson's Lives of the Poets; poetry suitable for the reading of a boy	[99]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Jan. 31, 1782. Political reflections	[101]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 2, 1782. On his Poems then printing; Dr. Johnson's character as a critic; severity of the winter	[102]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Feb. 9, 1782. Bishop Lowth's juvenile verses; acquaintance with Lady Austen	[102]
Attentions of Lady Austen to Cowper	[103]
Letter from him to Lady Austen	[103]
She becomes his next door neighbour	[103]
To the Rev. William Unwin. On Lady Austen's opinion of him; attempts at robbery; observations on religious characters; genuine benevolence	[104]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 16, 1782. Charms of authorship	[104]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Feb. 24, 1782. On the publication of his poems; his letter to the Lord Chancellor	[105]
To Lord Thurlow, Feb. 25, 1782, enclosed to Mr. Unwin	[105]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 1782. On Mr. N.'s Preface to his Poems. Remarks on a Fast Sermon	[105]
To the same, March 6, 1782. Political Remarks; character of Oliver Cromwell	[106]
Decision and boldness of Cromwell	[107]
To the Rev. William Unwin, March 7, 1782. Remonstrance against Sunday routs	[107]
Remarks on the reasons for rejecting the Rev. Mr. Newton's Preface to Cowper's Poems	[107]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 14, 1782. On the intended Preface to his Poems; critical tact of Johnson the bookseller	[108]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., March 14, 1782. On the publication of his Poems	[108]
To the Rev. William Unwin, March 18, 1782. On his and Mrs. Unwin's opinion of his Poems	[109]
Improvements in prison discipline	[109]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 24, 1782. Case of Mr. B. compared with Cowper's	[110]
To the Rev. William Unwin, April 1, 1782. On his commendations of his Poems	[110]
To the same, April 27, 1782. Military music; Mr. Unwin's expected visit; dignity of the Latin language; use of parentheses	[111]
To the same, May 27, 1782. Dr. Franklin's opinion of his poems; remarkable instance of providential deliverance from dangers; effects of the weather; Rodney's victory in the West Indies	[111]
To the same, June 12, 1712. Anxiety of Authors respecting the opinion of others on their works	[112]
Reception of the first volume of Cowper's Poems	[113]
Portrait of the true poet	[113]
Picture of a person of fretful temper	[113]

PART THE SECOND.

To the Rev. Wm. Bull, June 22, 1782. Poetical epistle on Tobacco	[114]
To the Rev. Wm. Unwin, July 16, 1782. Remarks on political affairs; Lady Austen and her project	[114]
To the same, August 3, 1782. On Dr. Johnson's expected opinion of his Poems; encounter with a viper; Lady Austen; Mr. Bull; Madame Guion's Poems	[116]
The Colubriad, a poem	[117]
Lady Austen comes to reside at the parsonage at Olney	[117]
Songs written for her by Cowper	[117]
His song on the loss of the Royal George	[118]
The same in Latin	[118]
Origin of his ballad of John Gilpin	[118]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Sept. 6, 1782. Visit of Mr. Small	[119]
To the Rev. Wm. Unwin, Nov. 4, 1782. On the ballad of John Gilpin; on Mr. Unwin's exertions in behalf of the prisoners at Chelmsford; subscription for the widows of seamen lost in the Royal George	[119]
To the Rev. William Bull, Nov. 5, 1783. On his expected visit	[120]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Nov. 11, 1782. On the state of his health; encouragement of planting; Mr. P——, of Hastings	[120]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Nov. 1782. Thanks for a present of fish; on Mr. Small's report of Mr. Hill and his improvements	[121]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Nov. 18, 1782. Acknowledgments to a beneficent friend to the poor of Olney; on the appearance of John Gilpin in print	[121]
To the Rev. William Unwin. No date. Character of Dr. Beattie and his poems; Cowper's translation of Madame Guion's poems	[122]
To Mrs. Newton, Nov. 23, 1782. On his Poems; severity of the winter; contrast between a spendthrift and an Olney cottager; method recommended for settling disputes	[122]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Dec. 7, 1782. Recollections of the coffee-house; Cowper's mode of spending his evenings; political contradictions	[123]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Jan. 19, 1783. His occupations; beneficence of Mr. Thornton to the poor of Olney	[124]
To the Rev. John Newton, Jan. 26, 1783. On the anticipations of peace; conduct of the belligerent powers	[124]
To the Rev. Wm. Unwin, Feb. 2, 1783. Ironical congratulations on the peace; generosity of England to France	[125]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 8, 1783. Remarks on the peace	[125]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Feb. 13, 1783. Remarks on his poems	[126]
To the same. Feb. 20, 1783. With Dr. Franklin's letter on his poems	[126]
To the same. No date. On the coalition ministry; Lord Chancellor Thurlow	[127]
Neglect of Cowper by Lord Thurlow	[127]
Lord Thurlow's generosity in the case of Dr. Johnson, and Crabbe, the poet	[127]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 24, 1783. On the peace	[127]
To the Rev. William Bull, March 7, 1783. On the peace; Scotch Highlanders at Newport Pagnel	[128]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 7, 1783. Comparison of his and Mr. Newton's letters; march of Highlanders belonging to a mutinous regiment	[128]
To the same. April 5, 1783. Illness of Mrs. C.; new method of treating consumptive cases	[129]
To the same. April 20, 1783. His occupations and studies; writings of Mr. ——; probability of his conversion in his last moments	[129]
To the Rev. John Newton, May 5, 1783. Vulgarity in a minister particularly offensive	[130]
To the Rev. William Unwin, May 12, 1783. Remarks on a sermon preached by Paley at the consecration of Bishop L.	[130]
Severity of Cowper's strictures on Paley	[131]
Important question of a church establishment	[131]
Increase of true piety in the Church of England	[131]
Language of Beza respecting the established church	[132]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., May 26, 1783. On the death of his uncle's wife	[132]
To the Rev. John Newton, May 31, 1783. On Mrs. C.'s death	[132]
To the Rev. William Bull, June 3, 1783. With stanzas on peace	[133]
To the Rev. William Unwin, June 8, 1783. Beauties of the green-house; character of the Rev. Mr. Bull	[133]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 13, 1783. On his Review of Ecclesiastical History; the day of judgment; observations of natural phenomena	[133]
Extraordinary natural phenomena in the summer of 1783	[134]
Earthquakes in Calabria and Sicily	[134]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 17, 1783. Ministers must not expect to scold men out of their sins	[135]
Tenderness an important qualification in a minister	[135]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 19, 1783. On the Dutch translation of his "Cardiphonia"	[135]
To the same, July 27, 1783. A country life barren of incident; Cowper's attachment to his solitude; praise of Mr. Newton's style as an historian	[136]
Remarks on the influence of local associations	[136]
Dr. Johnson's allusion to that subject	[137]
To the Rev. William Unwin, August 4, 1783. Proposed inquiry concerning the sale of his Poems; remarks on English ballads; anecdote of Cowper's goldfinches	[137]
To the same, Sept. 7, 1783. Fault of Madame Guion's writings, too great familiarity in addressing the Deity 138
To the Rev. John Newton, Sept. 8, 1783. On Mr. Newton's and his own recovery from illness; anecdote of a clerk in a public office; ill health of Mr. Scott; message to Mr. Bacon	[138]
To the same, Sept. 15, 1783. Cowper's mental sufferings	[139]
To the same, Sept. 23, 1783. On Mr. Newton's recovery from a fever; dining with an absent man; his niche for meditation	[139]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Sept. 29, 1783. Effect of the weather on health; comparative happiness of the natural philosopher; reflections on air balloons	[140]
To the Rev. John Newton, Oct. 6, 1783. Religious animosities deplored; more dangerous to the interests of religion than the attacks of its adversaries; Cowper's fondness for narratives of voyages	[141]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Oct. 10, 1783. Cowper declines the discussion of political subjects; epitaph on sailors of the Royal George	[142]
To the Rev. John Newton, Oct. 13, 1783. Neglect of American loyalists; extraordinary donation sent to Lisbon at the time of the great earthquake; prospects of the Americans	[142]
To the same, Oct. 20, 1783. Remarks on Bacon's monument of Lord Chatham	[143]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Oct. 20, 1783. Anticipations of winter	[144]
Cowper's winter evenings	[144]
The subject of his poem, "The Sofa," suggested	[144]
Circumstances illustrative of the origin and progress of "The Task"	[144]
Extracts from letters to Mr. Bull on that subject	[144]
Particulars of the time in which "The Task" was composed	[145]
To the Rev. John Newton, Nov. 3, 1783. Fire at Olney described	[145]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Nov. 10, 1783. On the neglect of old acquaintance; invitation to Olney; exercise recommended; fire at Olney	[146]
To the Rev. John Newton, Nov. 17, 1783. Humorous description of the punishment of a thief at Olney; dream of an air-balloon	[147]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Nov. 23, 1783. On his opinion of voyages and travels; Cowper's reading	[148]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Nov. 24, 1783. Complaint of the neglect of Lord Thurlow; character of Josephus's History	[148]
To the Rev. John Newton, Nov. 30, 1783. Speculations on the employment of the antediluvians; the Theological Review	[149]
To the same, Dec. 15, 1783. Speculations on the invention of balloons; the East India Bill	[150]
To the same, Dec. 27, 1783. Ambition of public men; dismissal of ministers; Cowper's sentiments concerning Mr. Bacon; anecdote of Mr. Scott	[151]
To the Rev. William Unwin, no date. Account of Mr. Throckmorton's invitation to see a balloon filled; attentions of the Throckmorton family to Cowper and Mrs. Unwin	[152]
Circumstances which obliged Cowper to relinquish his friendship with Lady Austen	[153]
Hayley's account of this event	[153]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Jan. 3, 1784. Dearth of subjects for writing upon at Olney; reflections on the monopoly of the East India Company	[154]
To Mrs. Hill, Jan. 5, 1784. Requesting her to send some books	[155]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Jan. 18, 1784. On his political letters; low state of the public funds	[155]
To the Rev. John Newton, Jan. 18, 1784. Cowper's religious despondency; remark on Mr. Newton's predecessor	[156]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Jan. 1784. Proposed alteration in a Latin poem of Mr. Unwin's; remarks on the bequest of a cousin; commendations on Mr. Unwin's conduct; on newspaper praise	[156]
To the Rev. John Newton, Jan. 25, 1784. Cowper's sentiments on East India patronage and East India dominion	[157]
State of our Indian possessions at that time	[158]
Moral revolution effected there	[158]
Latin lines by Dr. Jortin, on the shortness of human life	[158]
Cowper's translation of them	[158]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 1784. On Mr. Newton's "Review of Ecclesiastical History;" proposed title and motto; Cowper declines contributing to a Review	[158]
To the same, Feb. 10, 1784. Cowper's nervous state; comparison of himself with the ancient poets; his hypothesis of a gradual declension in vigour from Adam downwards	[159]
To the same, Feb. 1784. The thaw; kindness of a benefactor to the poor of Olney; Cowper's politics, those of a reverend neighbour; projected translation of Caraccioli on self-acquaintance	[160]
To the Rev. William Bull, Feb. 22, 1784. Unknown benefactor to the poor of Olney; political profession	[160]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Feb. 29, 1784. On Mr. Unwin's acquaintance with Lord Petre; unknown benefactor to the poor of Olney; diffidence of a modest man on extraordinary occasions	[161]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 8, 1784. The Theological Miscellany; abandonment of the intended translation of Caraccioli	[161]
To the same, March 11, 1784. Remarks on Mr. Newton's "Apology;" East India patronage and dominion	[162]
To the same, March 15, 1784. Cowper's habitual despondence; verse his favourite occupation, and why; Johnson's "Lives of the Poets"	[162]
To the same, March 19, 1784. Works of the Marquis Caraccioli; evening occupations	[162]
To the Rev. William Unwin, March 21, 1784. Cowper's sentiments on Johnson's "Lives of the Poets;" characters of the poets	[163]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 29, 1784. Visit of a candidate and his train to Cowper; angry preaching of Mr. S	[164]
To the same, April 14, 1784. Remarks on divine wrath; destruction in Calabria	[165]
Effects of the earthquakes, and total loss of human lives	[165]
To the Rev. William Unwin, April 5, 1784. Character of Beattie and Blair; speculation on the origin of speech	[166]
To the same, April 15, 1784. Further remarks on Blair's "Lectures;" censure of a particular observation in that book	[167]
To the same, April 25, 1784. Lines to the memory of a halybutt	[167]
To the Rev. John Newton, April 26, 1784. Remarks on Beattie and on Blair's "Lectures;" economy of the county candidates, and its consequences	[168]
To the Rev. William Unwin, May 3, 1784. Reflections on face-painting; innocent in Frenchwomen, but immoral in English	[168]
To the same, May 8, 1784. Cowper's reasons for not writing a sequel to John Gilpin, and not wishing that ballad to appear with his Poems; progress made in printing them	[170]
To the Rev. John Newton, May 10, 1784. Conversion of Dr. Johnson; unsuccessful attempt with a balloon at Throckmorton's	[170]
Circumstances attending Dr. Johnson's conversion	[171]
To the Rev. John Newton, May 22, 1784. On Dr. Johnson's opinion of Cowper's "Poems;" Mr. Bull and his refractory pupils	[171]
To the same, June 5, 1784. On the opinion of Cowper's "Poems" attributed to Dr. Johnson	[171]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 21, 1784. Commemoration of Handel; unpleasant summer; character of Mr. and Mrs. Unwin	[172]
To the Rev. William Unwin, July 3, 1784. Severity of the weather; its effects on vegetation	[172]
To the Rev. John Newton, July 5, 1784. Reference to a passage in Homer; could the wise men of antiquity have believed in the fables of the heathen mythology? Cowper's neglect of politics; his hostility to the tax on candles	[173]
To the Rev. William Unwin, July 12, 1784. Remarks on a line in Vincent Bourne's Latin poems; drawing of Mr. Unwin's house; Hume's "Essay on Suicide"	[174]
To the same, July 13, 1784. Latin Dictionary; animadversions on the tax on candles; musical ass	[174]
To the Rev. John Newton, July 14, 1784. Commemoration of Handel	[175]
Mr. Newton's sermon on that subject	[175]
To the Rev. John Newton, July 19, 1784. The world compared with Bedlam	[176]
To the same, July 28, 1784. On Mr. Newton's intended visit to the Rev. Mr. Gilpin at Lymington; his literary adversaries	[176]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Aug. 14, 1784. Reflections on travelling; Cowper's visits to Weston; difference of character in the inhabitants of the South Sea islands; cork supplements; franks	[177]
Original mode of franking, and reason for the adoption of the present method	[178]
To the Rev. John Newton, August 16, 1784. Pleasures of Olney; ascent of a balloon; excellence of the Friendly islanders in dancing	[178]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Sept. 11, 1784. Cowper's progress in his new volume of poems; opinions of a visitor on his first volume	[178]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Sept. 11, 1784. Character of Dr. Cotton	[179]
To the Rev. John Newton, Sept. 18, 1784. Alteration of franks; Cowper's green-house; his enjoyment of natural sounds	[179]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Oct. 2, 1784. Punctuation of poetry; visit to Mr. Throckmorton	[180]
To the Rev. John Newton, Oct. 9, 1784. Cowper maintains not only that his thoughts are unconnected, but that frequently he does not think at all; remarks on the character and death of Captain Cook	[181]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Oct. 10, 1784. With the manuscript of the new volume of his Poems, and remarks on them	[182]
To the same, Oct. 20, 1784. Instructions respecting a publisher, and corrections in his Poems	[182]
To the Rev. John Newton, Oct. 22, 1784. Remarks on Knox's Essays	[183]
To the same. Oct. 30, 1784. Heroism of the Sandwich islanders; Cowper informs Mr Newton of his intention to publish a new volume	[184]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Nov. 1, 1784. Cowper's reasons for not earlier acquainting Mr. Newton with his intention of publishing again; he resolves to include "John Gilpin"	[184]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Nov. 1784. On the death of Mr. Hill's mother; Cowper's recollections of his own mother; departure of Lady Austen; his new volume of Poems	[185]
To the Rev. John Newton, Nov. 27, 1784. Sketch of the contents and purpose of his new volume	[185]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Olney, 1784. On the transmission of his Poems; effect of medicines on the composition of poetry	[185]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Nov. 29, 1784. Substance of his last letter to Mr. Newton	[186]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Dec. 4, 1784. Aërial voyages	[188]
To the Rev. John Newton, Dec. 13, 1784. On the versification and titles of his new Poems; propriety of using the word worm for serpent	[188]
Passages in Milton and Shakespeare in which worm is so used	[189]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Dec. 18, 1784. Balloon travellers; inscription to his new poem; reasons for complimenting Bishop Bagot	[189]
To the Rev, John Newton, Christmas-eve, 1784. Cowper declines giving a new title to his new volume of Poems; remarks on a person lately deceased	[190]
General remarks on the particulars of Cowper's personal history	[190]
Remarks on the completion of the second volume of Cowper's Poems	[190]
Gibbon's record of his feelings on the conclusion of his History	[191]
Moral drawn from the evanescence of life	[191]
To the Rev. John Newton, Jan. 5, 1785. On the renouncement of the Christian character; epitaph on Dr. Johnson	[191]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Jan. 15, 1785. On delay in letter-writing; sentiments of Rev. Mr. Newton; Cowper's contributions to the Gentleman's Magazine; Lunardi's narrative	[192]
Explanations respecting Cowper's poem, entitled "The Poplar Field"	[192]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Jan. 22, 1785. Breaking up of the Frost; anticipations of proceedings in Parliament	[193]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Feb. 7, 1785. Progress of Cowper's second volume of Poems; his pieces in the Gentleman's Magazine; sentiments of a neighbouring nobleman and gentleman respecting Cowper	[193]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 19, 1785. An ingenious bookbinder; poverty at Olney; severity of the late winter	[194]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Feb. 27, 1785. Inquiry concerning his health, and account of his own	[195]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 19, 1785. Uses and description of an old card table; want of exercise during the winter; petition against concessions to Ireland	[195]
To the Rev. William Unwin, March 20, 1785. Remarks on a Nobleman's eye; progress of his new volume; political reflections; celebrity of "John Gilpin"	[196]
To the Rev. John Newton, April 9, 1785. On the prediction of a destructive earthquake, by a German ecclesiastic	[197]
To the Rev. John Newton, April 22, 1785. On the popularity of "John Gilpin"	[197]
To the Rev. William Unwin, April 30, 1785. On the celebrity of "John Gilpin;" progress of Cowper's new volume; Mr. Newton's sentiments in regard to him; mention of some old acquaintances; discovery of a bird's nest in a gate-post	[198]
To the Rev. John Newton, May, 1785. Sudden death of Mr. Ashburner; remarks on the state of Cowper's mind; reference to his first acquaintance with Newton	[199]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 4, 1785. Character of the Rev. Mr. Greatheed; completion of Cowper's new volume; Bacon's monument to Lord Chatham	[200]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., June 25, 1785. Cowper's summer-house; dilatoriness of his bookseller	[200]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 25, 1785. Allusion to the mental depression under which Cowper laboured; Nathan's last moments; complaint of Johnson's delay; effects of drought; tax on gloves	[201]
To the Rev. John Newton, July 9, 1785. Mention of letters in praise of his Poems; conduct of the Lord Chancellor and G. Colman; reference to the commemoration of Handel; cutting down of the spinney	[202]
To the Rev. William Unwin, July 27, 1785. Violent thunder-storm; courage of a dog; on the love of Christ	[203]
To the Rev. John Newton, Aug. 6, 1785. Feelings on the subject of authorship; reasons for introducing John Gilpin in his new volume	[204]
To the Rev. John Newton, Aug. 17, 1785. Reasons for not writing to Mr. Bacon; Dr. Johnson's Diary; illness of Mr. Perry	[205]
Character of Dr. Johnson's Diary	[206]
Extracts from it	[207]
Arguments for the necessity of conversion	[207]
Johnson's neglect of the Sabbath	[207]
Testimony of Sir William Jones respecting the Holy Scriptures	[208]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Aug. 27, 1785. Thanks for presents; his second volume of Poems; remarks on Dr. Johnson's Journal; claims of who and that	[208]
To the Rev. John Newton, Sept. 24, 1785. Recollections of Southampton; recovery of Mr. Perry; proposed Sunday School	[209]
Origin of Sunday Schools	[210]
Their utility	[210]
Sentiments of the late Rev. Andrew Fuller on the Bible Society and on Sunday Schools	[210]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Oct. 11, 1785. Cowper excuses himself for not visiting Wargrave; on his printed epistle to Mr. Hill	[210]
Renewal of Cowper's intimacy with his cousin, Lady Hesketh	[211]
To Lady Hesketh, Oct. 12, 1785. Recollections revived by her letter; account of his own situation; allusion to his uncle's health; necessity of mental employment for himself	[211]
To the Rev. John Newton, Oct. 16, 1785. On the death of Miss Cunningham; expected removal of the Rev. Mr. Scott from Olney; Mr. Jones, steward of Lord Peterborough, burned in effigy	[212]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Oct. 22, 1785. Progress of his translation of Homer; course of reading recommended for Mr. Unwin's son	[213]
To the Rev. John Newton, Nov. 5, 1785. On his tardiness in writing; remarks on Mr. N.'s narrative of his life; strictures on Mr. Heron's critical opinions of Virgil and the Bible; lines addressed by Cowper to Heron	[214]
Remarks on Heron's "Letters on Literature"	[215]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Nov. 7, 1785. On the interruptions experienced by men of business from the idle	[215]
To Lady Hesketh, Nov. 9, 1785. Reference to his poems; he signifies his acceptance of her offer of pecuniary aid; his translation of Homer; description of his person	[215]
To the same, without date. His feelings towards her allusion to his translation of Homer	[217]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Nov. 9, 1785. On Bishop Bagot's Charge	[217]
To the Rev. John Newton, Dec. 3, 1785. Causes which led him to undertake the translation of Homer; visit from Mr. Bagot; renewal of his correspondence with Lady Hesketh; complains of indigestion	[217]
To the same, Dec. 10, 1785. On the favourable reports of his last volume of poems; censure of Pope's Homer	[218]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Dec. 24, 1785. On his translation of Homer	[219]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Dec. 24, 1785. On his translation of Homer	[219]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Dec. 31, 1785. On his negotiation with Johnson respecting the Translation of Homer; want of bedding among the poor of Olney	[220]
To Lady Hesketh, Jan. 10, 1786. His consciousness of defects in his poems; on his Translation of Homer	[221]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Jan. 14, 1786. On Mr. Unwin's introduction to Lady Hesketh; specimen of Cowper's translation of Homer, sent to General Cowper; James's powder; what is a friend good for? unreasonable censures	[221]
To the Rev. John Newton, Jan. 14, 1786. On his translation of Homer	[222]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Jan. 15, 1786. Explanation of the delay in the publication of his proposals; allusion to Bishop Bagot	[222]
To the same, Jan. 23, 1786. Dr. Maty's intended review of "The Task;" Dr. Cyril Jackson's opinion of Pope's Homer	[223]
To Lady Hesketh, Jan. 31, 1786. Acknowledgment of presents from Anonymous; state of his health; progress of his translation of Homer; correspondence with General Cowper	[223]
To the same, Feb. 9, 1786. Anticipations of a visit from her; description of the vestibule of his residence	[224]
To the same, Feb. 11, 1786. He announces that he has sent off to her a portion of his translation of Homer; effect of criticisms on his health; promise of Thurlow to Cowper	[225]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 18, 1786. On their correspondence; his translation of Homer; proposed mottoes	[226]
To Lady Hesketh, Feb. 19, 1786. Preparations for her expected visit; character of Homer; criticism on Cowper's specimen	[226]
To the Walter Bagot, Feb. 27, 1786. Condolence on the death of his wife	[227]
To Lady Hesketh, March 6, 1786. On elisions in his Homer; progress of the work	[227]
To the Rev. W. Unwin, March 13, 1786. Character of the critic to whom he had submitted his Homer	[229]
To the Rev. John Newton, April 1, 1786. Expected visitors	[229]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., April 5, 1786. Reasons for declining to make any apology for his translation of Homer	[229]
Motives which induced Cowper to undertake a new version	[230]
To Lady Hesketh, April 17, 1786. Description of the vicarage at Olney, where lodgings had been taken for her; Mrs. Unwin's sentiments towards her; letter from Anonymous; his early acquaintance with Lord Thurlow	[230]
To Lady Hesketh, April 24, 1786. On her letters; anticipations of her coming; General Cowper	[231]
To the same, May 8, 1786. On Dr. Maty's censure of Cowper's translation of Homer; Colman's opinion of it; Cowper's stanzas on Lord Thurlow; invitation to Olney; specimen of Maty's animadversions; recommendation of a house at Weston; blunder of Mr. Throckmorton's bailiff; recovery of General Cowper	[232]
To the same, May 15, 1786. Anticipations of her arrival at Olney; proposed arrangements for the occasion; presumed motive of Maty's censures; confession of ambition	[233]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, May 20, 1786. His translation of Homer; reasons for not adopting Horace's maxim about publishing, to the letter	[235]
Secret sorrows of Cowper	[235]
To the Rev. John Newton, May 20, 1786. Cowper's unhappy state of mind; his connexions	[236]
Remarks on Cowper's depression of spirit	[237]
Delusion of supposing himself excluded from the mercy of God	[237]
Religious consolation recommended in cases of disordered intellect	[237]
To Lady Hesketh, May 25, 1786. Delay of her coming; visit to a house at Weston; the Throckmortons; anecdote of a quotation from "The Task;" nervous affections	[238]
To the same, May 29, 1786. Delay of her coming; preparations for it; allusion to his fits of dejection	[239]
To the same, June 4 and 5, 1786. Cowper rallies her on her fears of their expected meeting; dinner at Mr. Throckmorton's	[240]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., June 9, 1786. Relapse of the Lord Chancellor; renewal of correspondence with Colman; the Nonsense Club; expectation of Lady Hesketh's arrival	[241]
Arrival of Lady Hesketh at Olney	[241]
Influence of that event on Cowper	[241]
Extract from a letter from him to Mr. Bull	[241]
Description of a thunder-storm, from a letter to the same	[242]
Cowper's House at Olney	[242]
His intimacy with Mr. Newton	[242]
His pious and benevolent habits	[242]
He removes from Olney to the Lodge at Weston	[242]
His acquaintance with Samuel Rose, Esq. and the late Rev. Dr. Johnson	[242]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., June 19, 1786. His intended removal from Olney	[242]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 22, 1786. His employments; interruption given to them by Lady Hesketh's arrival; Newton's Sermons	[243]
To the Rev. Wm. Unwin, July 3, 1786. Lady Hesketh's arrival and character; state of his old abode and description of the new one at Weston; books recommended for Mr. Unwin's son	[243]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, July 4, 1786. Particulars relative to the translation of Homer	[244]
To the Rev. John Newton, Aug. 5, 1786. His intended removal from Olney; its unhealthy situation; his unhappy state of mind; comfort of Lady Hesketh's presence	[245]
Cowper's spirits not affected apparently by his mental malady	[246]
To the Rev. William Unwin, Aug. 24, 1786. Progress of his Translation; the Throckmortons	[246]
To the same, (without date.) His lyric productions; recollections of boyhood	[246]
Extract of a letter to the Rev. Mr. Unwin	[247]
Lines addressed to a young lady on her birth-day	[247]
Proposed plan of Mr. Unwin for checking sabbath-breaking and drunkenness	[247]
To the Rev. Wm. Unwin, (no date.) Cowper's opinion of the inutility of Mr. Unwin's efforts	[247]
Exhortation to perseverance in a good cause	[248]
Hopes of present improvement	[248]
To the Rev. William Unwin, (no date.) State of the national affairs	[248]
To the Rev. William Unwin, (no date.) Character of Churchill's poetry	[249]
To the same, (no date.) Cowper's discovery in the Register of poems long composed and forgotten by him	[250]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Aug. 31, 1786. Defence of elisions; intended removal to Weston	[250]
To the Rev. John Newton, Sept. 30, 1786. Defence of his and Mrs. Unwin's conduct	[251]
Explanatory remarks on the preceding letter	[251]
Amiable spirit and temper of Newton	[251]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Oct. 6, 1786. Loss of the MS. of part of his translation	[251]
Cowper's removal to Weston	[251]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Nov. 17, 1786. On his removal from Olney; invitation to Weston	[253]
To the Rev. John Newton, Nov. 17, 1786. Excuse for delay in writing; his new residence; affection for his old abode	[253]
To Lady Hesketh, Nov. 26, 1786. Comforts of his new residence; the cliffs; his rambles	[254]
Unexpected death of the Rev. Mr. Unwin	[254]
To Lady Hesketh, Dec. 4, 1786. On the death of Mr. Unwin	[255]
To the same, Dec. 9, 1786. On a singular circumstance relating to an intended pupil of Mr. Unwin's	[255]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Dec. 9, 1786. Death of Mr. Unwin; Cowper's new situation at Weston	[256]
To the Rev. John Newton, Dec. 16, 1786. Death of Mr. Unwin; forlorn state of his old dwelling	[256]
To Lady Hesketh, Dec. 21, 1786. Cowper's opinion of praise; Mr. Throckmorton's chaplain	[257]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Jan. 3, 1787. Reason why a translator of Homer should not be calm; praises of his works; death of Mr. Unwin	[257]
Cowper has a severe attack of nervous fever	[258]
To Lady Hesketh, Jan. 8, 1787. State of his health; proposal of General Cowper respecting his Homer; letter from Mr. Smith, M.P. for Nottingham; Cowper's song of "The Rose" reclaimed by him	[258]
To the Rev. John Newton, Jan. 13, 1787. Inscription for Mr. Unwin's tomb; government of Providence in his poetical labours	[258]
To Lady Hesketh, Jan. 18, 1787. Suspension of his translation by fever; his sentiments respecting dreams; visit of Mr. Rose	[259]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., July 24, 1787. On Burns' poems	[260]
Remarks on Burns and his poetry	[260]
Passages from his poems	[261]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Aug. 27, 1787. Invitation to Weston; state of Cowper's health; remarks on Barclay's "Argenis," and on Burns	[261]
To Lady Hesketh, August 30, 1787. Improvement in his health; kindness of the Throckmortons	[262]
To the same, Sept. 4, 1787. Delay of her coming; Mrs. Throckmorton's uncle; books read by Cowper	[262]
To the same, Sept. 15, 1787. His meeting with her friend, Miss J——; new gravel-walk	[263]
To the same, Sept. 29, 1787. Remarks on the relative situation of Russia and Turkey	[263]
To the Rev. John Newton, Oct. 2, 1787. Cowper confesses that for thirteen years he doubted Mr. N.'s identity; acknowledgments for the kind offers of the Newtons; preparations for Lady Hesketh's coming	[263]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Oct. 19, 1787. State of his health; strength of local attachments	[264]
To the Rev. John Newton, Oct. 20, 1787. His miserable state during his recent indisposition; petition to Lord Dartmouth in behalf of the Rev. Mr. Postlethwaite	[264]
To Lady Hesketh, Nov. 10, 1787. On the delay of her coming; Cowper's kitten; changes of weather foretold by a leech	[265]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Nov. 16, 1787. On his own present occupation	[266]
To Lady Hesketh, Nov. 27, 1787. Walks and scenes about Weston; application from a parish clerk for a copy of verses; papers in "The Lounger;" anecdote of a beggar and vermicelli soup	[266]
To Lady Hesketh, Dec. 4, 1787. Character of the Throckmortons	[267]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Dec. 6, 1787. Visit to Mr. B.'s sister at Chichely; Bishop Bagot; a case of ridiculous distress	[267]
To Lady Hesketh, Dec. 10, 1787. Progress of his Homer; changes in life	[268]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Dec. 13, 1787. Requisites in a translator of Homer	[268]
To Lady Hesketh, Jan. 1, 1788. Extraordinary coincidence between a piece of his own and one of Mr. Merry's; "The Poet's New Year's Gift;" compulsory inoculation for small-pox	[269]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Jan. 5, 1788. Translation of the commencing lines of the Iliad, by Lord Bagot; revisal of Cowper's translation; the clerk's verses	[270]
To Lady Hesketh, Jan. 19, 1788. His engagement with Homer prevents the production of occasional poems; remarks on a new print of Bunbury's	[270]
To the Rev. John Newton, Jan. 21, 1788. Reasons for not writing to him; expected arrival of the Rev. Mr. Bean; changes of neighbouring ministers; narrow escape of Mrs. Unwin from being burned	[271]
To Lady Hesketh, Jan. 30, 1788. His anxiety on account of her silence	[272]
To the same, Feb. 1, 1788. Excuse for his melancholy; his Homer; visit from Mr. Greatheed	[272]
Causes of Cowper's correspondence with Mrs. King	[273]
To Mrs. King, Feb. 12, 1788. Reference to his deceased brother; he ascribes the effect produced by his poems to God	[273]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Feb. 14, 1788. A sense of the value of time the best security for its improvement; Mr. C——; brevity of human life illustrated by Homer	[273]
Commencement of the efforts for the abolition of the slave trade	[274]
To Lady Hesketh, Feb. 16, 1788. On negro slavery; Hannah More's poem on the Slave Trade; extract from it; advocates of the abolition of slavery; trial of Warren Hastings	[274]
To Lady Hesketh, Feb. 22, 1788. Remarks on Burke's speech impeaching Warren Hastings, and on the duty of public accusers	[276]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 1, 1788. Excuse for a lapse of memory in regard to a letter of Mr. Bean's	[276]
To the same, March 3, 1788. Arrival of Mr. Bean at Olney; Cowper's correspondence with Mrs. King	[276]
To Mrs. King, March 3, 1788. Brief history of his own life	[277]
To Lady Hesketh, March 3, 1788. Catastrophe of a fox-chace; Cowper in at the death	[278]
To the same, March 12, 1788. Remarks on Hannah More's works, and on Wilberforce's book; the Throckmortons	[278]
Cowper is solicited to write in behalf of the negroes	[279]
To General Cowper. 1788. Songs written by him on the condition of negro slaves	[279]
"The Morning Dream," a ballad	[279]
Efforts for the abolition of the Slave Trade	[280]
Wilberforce, the Liberator of Africa	[280]
Cowper's ballads on Negro slavery	[280]
The Negro's Complaint	[280]
The question why Great Britain should be the first to sacrifice interest to humanity answered by Cowper	[280]
Lines from Goldsmith's "Traveller," on the English character	[281]
Exposition of the cruelty and injustice of the slave trade, by Granville Sharp	[281]
Proof of the slow progress of truth	[281]
Extracts from Cowper's poems on Negro slavery	[282]
Case of Somerset, a slave, and Lord Mansfield's judgment	[282]
Final abolition of slavery by Great Britain, and efforts making for the religious instruction of the Negroes	[282]
Probability that Africa may be enlightened by their means	[283]
Cowper's lines on the blessings of spiritual liberty	[283]
Letter to Mrs. Hill, March 17, 1788. Thanks for a present of a turkey and ham; Mr. Hill's indisposition; inquiry concerning Cowper's library	[284]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 17, 1788. With a Song, written at Mr. N.'s request, for Lady Balgonie	[284]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, March 19, 1788. Coldness of the spring; remarks on "The Manners of the Great;" progress of his Homer	[284]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., March 29, 1788. He expresses his wonder that his company should be desirable to Mr. R.; Mrs. Unwin's character; acknowledges the receipt of some books; Clarke's notes on Homer; allusion to his own ballads on Negro slavery	[285]
To Lady Hesketh, March 31, 1788. He makes mention of his song, "The Morning Dream;" allusion to Hannah More on the "Manners of Great"	[286]
Character of and extracts from Mrs. More's work	[286]
To Mrs. King, April 11, 1788. Allusion to his melancholy, and necessity for constant employment; improbability of their meeting	[286]
To the Rev. John Newton, April 19, 1788. Remarks on the conduct of government in regard to the Slavery Abolition question	[287]
To Lady Hesketh, May 6, 1788. Smollett's Don Quixote; he thanks her for the intended present of a box for letters and papers; renewal of his correspondence with Mr. Rowley; remarks on the expression, "As great as two inkle weavers"	[288]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., May 8, 1788. Lament for the loss of his library; progress of his Homer	[288]
To Lady Hesketh, May 12, 1788. Mrs. Montagu and the Blue-Stocking Club; his late feats in walking	[288]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., May 24, 1788. Thanks for the present of prints of the Lacemaker and Crazy Kate; family of Mr. Chester; progress of Homer; antique bust of Paris	[289]
To the Rev. William Bull, May 25, 1788. He declines the composition of hymns, which Mr. B. had urged him to undertake	[290]
To Lady Hesketh, May 27, 1788. His lines on Mr. Henry Cowper; remarks on Mrs. Montagu's Essay on the Genius of Shakespeare; antique head of Paris; remarks on the two prints sent him by Mr. Hill	[290]
To the same, June 3, 1788. Sudden change of the weather; remarks on the advertisement of a dancing-master of Newport-Pagnell	[291]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 5, 1788. His writing engagements; effect of the sudden change of the weather on his health; character of Mr. Bean; visit from the Powleys; he declines writing further on the slave-trade; invitation to Weston; verses on Mrs. Montagu	[291]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., June 8, 1788. On the death of his uncle, Ashley Cowper	[292]
To Lady Hesketh, June 10, 1788. On the death of her father, Ashley Cowper	[292]
To the same, June 15, 1788. Recollections of her father	[293]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, June 17, 1788. Coldness of the season; reasons for declining to write on slavery; contrast between the awful scenes of nature and the horrors produced by human passions	[293]
To Mrs. King, June 19, 1788. He excuses his silence on account of inflammation of the eyes; sudden change of weather; reasons why we are not so hardy as our forefathers; his opinion of Thomson, the poet	[294]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., June 23, 1788. Apology for an unanswered letter; providence of God in regard to the weather; visitors at Weston; brevity of human life	[294]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 24, 1788. Difficulties experienced by Mr. Bean in enforcing a stricter observance of the Sabbath at Olney; remarks on the slave trade	[295]
To Lady Hesketh, June 27, 1788. Anticipations of her next visit; allusion to Lord Thurlow's promise to provide for him; anecdote of his dog Beau; remarks on his ballads on slavery	[296]
The Dog and the Water Lily	[297]
To Joseph Hill, Esq, July 6, 1788. He gives Mr. H. notice that he has drawn on him; allusion to an engagement of Mr. H.'s	[297]
To Lady Hesketh, July 28, 1788. Her talent at description; the lime-walk at Weston; remarks on the "Account of Five Hundred Living Authors"	[297]
To the same, August 9, 1788. Visitors at Weston; motto composed by Cowper for the king's clock	[298]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., August 18, 1788. Circumstances of their parting; he recommends Mr. R. to take due care of himself in his pedestrian journeys; strictures on Lavater's Aphorisms	[298]
Remarks on physiognomy, and on the merits of Lavater as the founder of the Orphan House at Zurich. Note	[299]
To Mrs. King, August 28, 1788. He playfully guesses at Mrs. King's figure and features	[299]
To the Rev. John Newton, Sept. 2, 1788. Reference to Mr. N.'s late visit; his own melancholy state of mind; Mr. Bean's exertions for suppressing public houses	[300]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Sept. 11, 1788. Remarkable oak; lines suggested by it; exhortation against bashfulness	[300]
To Mrs. King, Sept. 25, 1788. Thanks for presents; invitation to Weston	[301]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Sept. 25, 1788. A riddle; superior talents no security for propriety of conduct; progress of Homer; Mrs. Throckmorton's bullfinch	[302]
To Mrs. King, Oct. 11, 1788. Account of his occupations at different periods of his life	[302]
To the Rev. John Newton, Nov. 29, 1788. Declining state of Jenny Raban; Mr. Greatheed	[303]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Nov. 30, 1788. Vincent Bourne; invitation to Weston	[303]
To Mrs. King, Dec. 6, 1788. Excuse for not being punctual in writing; succession of generations; Cumberland's "Observer"	[304]
To the Rev. John Newton, Dec. 9, 1788. Mr. Van Lier's Latin MS.; Lady Hesketh and the Throckmortons; popularity of Mr. C. as a preacher	[304]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Jan. 19, 1789. Local helps to memory; Sir John Hawkins' book	[305]
To the same, Jan. 24, 1789. Accidents generally occur when and where we least expect them	[305]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Jan. 29, 1789. Excuse for irregularity in correspondence; progress of Homer; allusion to political affairs	[305]
To Mrs. King, Jan. 29, 1789. Thanks for presents; Mrs. Unwin's fall in the late frost; distress of the Royal Family on the state of the King, and anecdote of the Lord Chancellor	[306]
To the same, March 12, 1789. Excuse for long silence, and for not having sent, according to promise, all the small pieces he had written; his poem on the King's recovery	[306]
To the same, April 22, 1789. He informs Mrs. K. that he has a packet of poems ready for her; his verses on the Queen's visit to London on the night of the illuminations for the King's recovery; disappointment on account of her not coming to Weston; Twinings' translation of Aristotle	[307]
To the same, April 30, 1789. Thanks for presents; his brother's poems	[308]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., May 20, 1789. Reference to his lines on the Queen's visit; character of Hawkins Brown	[309]
To Mrs. King, May 30, 1789. He acknowledges the receipt of a packet of papers; reference to his poem on the Queen's visit	[309]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., June 5, 1789. He commissions Mr. R. to buy him a cuckoo-clock; Boswell's Tour to the Hebrides; Hawkins' and Boswell's Life of Johnson	[309]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, June 16, 1789. On his marriage; allusion to his poem on the Queen's visit	[310]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., June 20, 1789. He expresses regret at not receiving a visit from Mr. R.; acknowledges the arrival of the cuckoo-clock; remark on Hawkins' and Boswell's Life of Johnson	[310]
To Mrs. Throckmorton, July 18, 1789. Poetic turn of Mr. George Throckmorton; news concerning the Hall	[310]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., July 23, 1789. Importance of improving the early years of life; anticipations of Mr. R.'s visit	[311]
To Mrs. King, August 1, 1789. Grumbling of his correspondents on his silence; his time engrossed by Homer; he professes himself an admirer of pictures, but no connoisseur	[311]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., August 8, 1789. Mrs. Piozzi'sTravels; remark on the author of the "Dunciad"	[312]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., August 12, 1789. Unfavourable weather and spoiled hay; multiplicity of his engagements; Sunday school hymn	[312]
To the Rev. John Newton, August 16, 1789. Excuse for long silence; progress of Homer	[313]
Remarks on Cowper's observation that authors are responsible for their writings	[313]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Sept. 24, 1789. Coldness of the season	[313]
To the same, Oct. 4, 1789. Description of the receipt of a hamper, in the manner of Homer	[314]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot (without date). Excuse for long silence; why winter is like a backbiter; Villoison's Homer; death of Lord Cowper	[314]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot (without date). Remarks on Villoison's Prolegomena to Homer	[314]
Note on the reveries of learned men	[315]
To the Rev. John Newton, Dec. 1, 1789. Apology for not writing; Mrs. Unwin's state of health; reference to political events	[315]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Dec. 18, 1789. Political reflections	[316]
Character of the French Revolution	[316]
Burke on the features which distinguish the French Revolution from that of England in 1688	[316]
Political and moral causes of the French Revolution	[317]
Origin of the Revolution in America	[317]
The Established Church endangered by resistance to the spirit of the age	[318]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Jan. 3, 1790. Excuses for silence; inquiry concerning Mr. R.'s health; laborious task of revisal	[318]
To Mrs. King, Jan. 4, 1790. His anxiety on account of her long silence; his occupations; Mrs. Unwin's state	[319]
To the same, Jan. 18, 1790. He contradicts a report that he intends to quit Weston; reference to his Homer	[319]
Commencement of Cowper's acquaintance with his cousin the Rev. John Johnson	[320]
To Lady Hesketh, Jan. 22, 1790. Particulars concerning a poem of his cousin Johnson's; anticipations of the Cambridge critics respecting his Homer	[320]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Feb. 2, 1790. He impugns the opinion of Bentley that the last Odyssey is spurious	[320]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 5, 1790. Account of his painful apprehensions in the month of January	[321]
To Lady Hesketh, Feb. 9, 1790. Service rendered by her to his cousin Johnson; Cowper's lines on a transcript of an Ode of Horace by Mrs. Throckmorton	[321]
To the same, Feb. 26, 1790. He promises to send her a specimen of his Homer for the perusal of a lady; his delight at being presented by a relative with his mother's picture	[322]
To Mrs. Bodham, Feb. 27, 1790. He expresses his delight at receiving his mother's picture from her; lines written by him on the occasion; recollections of his mother; invitation to Weston; remembrances of other maternal relatives	[323]
To John Johnson, Esq., Feb. 28, 1790. He refers to the present of his mother's picture; he mentions his invitation of the family of the Donnes to Weston; inquires concerning Mr. J.'s poem	[324]
To Lady Hesketh, March 8, 1790. On Mrs. —— opinion of his Homer; his sentiments on the Test Act; passage from his poems on that subject; ill health of Mrs. Unwin	[324]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., March 11, 1790. On the state of his health: he condemns the practice of dissembling indispositions	[325]
To Mrs. King, March 12, 1790. On her favourable opinion of his poems; his mother's picture and his poem on the receipt of it	[325]
To Mrs. Throckmorton, March 21, 1790. He regrets her absence from Weston; Mrs. Carter's opinion of his Homer; his new wig	[326]
To Lady Hesketh, March 22, 1790. His opinion of the style best adapted to a translation of Homer	[326]
To John Johnson, Esq., March 23, 1790. Character of the Odyssey; Cowper professes his affection for Mr. J.	[327]
To the same, April 17, 1790. Remark on an innocent deception practised by Mr. J.; Cowper boasts of his skill in physiognomy, and recommends the study of Greek	[328]
To Lady Hesketh, April 19, 1790. His revisal of Homer; anecdote of a prisoner in the Bastile, and lines on the subject	[328]
To the same, April 30, 1790. Message to Bishop Madan; remarks on General Cowper's approbation of his picture verses	[328]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., May 2, 1790. On the approaching termination of his employment with Homer	[329]
To Mrs. Throckmorton, May 2, 1790. Humorous account of a boy sent with letters to her in Berkshire; Cowper's adventure with a dog	[329]
To Lady Hesketh, May 28, 1790. He declines the offer of her services to procure him the place of poet laureat	[329]
To the same, June 3, 1790. He is applied to by a Welshman to get him made poet laureat	[330]
To John Johnson, Esq., June 7, 1790. Advice to Mr. J. on his future plans and studies; with remarks on Cowper's strictures on the University of Cambridge	[330]
Remarks on Cowper's exhortation respecting the divinity of the glorious Reformation	[330]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., June 8, 1790. Congratulations on his intended marriage; proposed riddle	[331]
To Mrs. King, June 14, 1790. His literary occupations; state of Professor Martyn's health; ill health of Mrs. Unwin	[331]
To Lady Hesketh, June 17, 1790. Grievance of going a-visiting; his envy of a poor old woman; inscriptions for two oak plantations	[332]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, June 22, 1790. Snakes and ants of Africa; Bishop Bagot and his mutinous clergy	[333]
To Mrs. Bodham, June 29, 1790. Anticipations of a visit from her	[333]
To Lady Hesketh, July 7, 1790. State of Mrs. Unwin; remarks on the abolition of ranks by the French	[334]
To John Johnson, Esq., July 8, 1790. Recommendation of music as an amusement; expected visit from Mr. J. and his sister	[334]
To Mrs. King, July 16, 1790. On their recent visit to Weston; reference to his own singularities; regrets for the distance between them	[334]
To John Johnson, Esq., July 31, 1790. Warning against carelessness and shyness; proposed employments and amusements	[335]
To the Rev. John Newton, Aug. 11, 1790. On the state of Mrs. Newton's health; he refers to his own state, and declines the offer of trying the effect of animal magnetism	[336]
To Mrs. Bodham, Sept. 9, 1790. He informs her of the termination of his labours with Homer, and the conveyance of his translation to London by Mr. Johnson	[336]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Sept. 13, 1790. On his marriage; Cowper's preface to his Homer; solution of the riddle in a former letter to Mr. R.	[337]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Sept. 17, 1790. On the list of subscribers to his Homer	[337]
To Mrs. King, Oct. 5, 1790. On her illness; allusion to a counterpane which she had presented to him; reference to the list of subscribers to his Homer, and the time of publication	[338]
To the Rev. John Newton, Oct. 15, 1790. On the death of Mrs. Scott; translation of Van Lier's letters; concern for Mrs. Newton's sufferings	[338]
To the same, Oct. 26, 1790. His instructions to Johnson, the bookseller, to affix to the first volume of his poems the preface written for it by Mr. N.; fall of the leaves a token of the shortness of human life	[338]
On Christian submission to the divine will in regard to life and death	[339]
To Mrs. Bodham, Nov. 21, 1790. Character of her nephew, Mr. Johnson; Mrs. Hewitt	[340]
To John Johnson, Esq., Nov. 26, 1790. On the study of jurisprudence; visit from the Dowager Lady Spencer	[340]
To Mrs. King, Nov. 29, 1790. On the praises of friends; his obligations to Professor Martyn; progress in printing his Homer	[341]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Nov. 30, 1790. On his professional exertions in behalf of a friend; revisal of proofs of his Homer	[341]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Dec. 1, 1790. He retorts the charge of long silence, and boasts of his intention to write; progress in printing his Homer; his reasons for not soliciting the laureatship	[341]
To the Rev. John Newton, Dec. 5, 1790. Dying state of Mrs. Newton	[341]
Remarks on the doubts and fears of Christians	[342]
To John Johnson, Esq., Dec. 18, 1790. Cambridge subscription for Homer; progress in printing the work	[342]
To Mrs. King, Dec. 31, 1790. Thanks for the present of a counterpane; his own indisposition; his poetical operations	[342]
Cowper's verses on the visit of Miss Stapleton to Weston	[343]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Jan. 4, 1791. On his own state of health; on the quantity of syllables in verse	[343]
To the Rev. John Newton, Jan. 20, 1791. On the death of Mrs. N.	[344]
To John Johnson, Esq., Jan. 21, 1791. He urges Mr. J. to come to Weston; caution respecting certain singularities	[344]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Feb. 5, 1791. Thanks for subscriptions from Scotland, and for the present of Pope's Homer	[344]
To Lady Hesketh, Feb. 13, 1791. Influence of a poet's reputation on an innkeeper	[345]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Feb. 26, 1791. He playfully gives Mr. B. leave to find fault with his verses; his sentiments respecting blank verse	[345]
To John Johnson, Esq., Feb. 27, 1791. Progress in printing Homer; neglect of his work by Oxford	[346]
To Mrs. King, March 2, 1791. Apology for forgetting a promise, owing to his being engrossed by Homer; success of his subscription at Cambridge; the Northampton dirge	[346]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., March 6, 1791. Progress in Printing his Homer	[346]
Commencement of Cowper's acquaintance with the Rev. James Hurdis	[347]
To the Rev. James Hurdis, March 6, 1791. He compliments Mr. H. on his poetical productions; thanks him for offers of service; excuses himself from visiting him, and invites him to Weston	[347]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., March 10, 1791. Simile drawn from French and English prints of subjects in Homer	[347]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, March 18, 1791. On Dr. Johnson's taste for poetry; aptness of Mr. B.'s quotations; Mr. Chester's indisposition	[347]
To John Johnson, Esq., March 19, 1791. On the poems of Elizabeth Bentley, an untaught female of Norwich	[348]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., March 24, 1791. On his application to Dr. Dunbar relative to subscriptions to Cowper's Homer	[348]
To Lady Hesketh, March 25, 1791. Slight of Horace Walpole; a night alarm and its effects; remarks on a book sent by Lady H.	[349]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 29, 1791. Recollections of past times; difference between dreams and realities; reasons why the occasional pieces which he writes do not reach Mr. N.; expected visit of his maternal relations; his mortuary verses	[349]
To Mrs. Throckmorton, April 1, 1791. On the failure of an attempt in favour of his subscription at Oxford; remarks on a pamphlet by Mr. T.	[350]
To John Johnson, Esq., April 6, 1791. Thanks for Cambridge subscriptions	[350]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., April 29, 1791. Subscriptions to his Homer	[351]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, May 2, 1791. Progress in printing Homer; visit from Mr. B.'s nephew; Milton's Latin poems	[351]
Dr. Johnson's remark on Milton's Latin poems	[351]
To the Rev. Mr. Buchanan, May 11, 1791. On a poem of Mr. B.'s	[352]
To Lady Hesketh, May 18, 1791. Complaint of her not writing; letter from Dr. Cogswell, of New York, respecting his poems	[352]
To John Johnson, Esq., May 23, 1791. On his translation of the Battle of the Frogs and the Mice	[352]
The Judgment of the Poets, a poem, by Cowper, on the relative charms of May and June	[352]
To Lady Hesketh, May 27, 1791. Tardiness of the printer of his Homer	[353]
To John Johnson, Esq., June 1, 1791. He congratulates Mr. J. on the period of his labours as a transcriber	[353]

PART THE THIRD.

Observations on Cowper's version of Homer	[353]
Reasons of his failure in that work to satisfy public expectation	[354]
Comparative specimens of Pope's and Cowper's versions	[354]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis, June 13, 1791. Completion of his Homer; their mutual fondness for animals; a woman's character best learned in domestic life	[355]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., June 15, 1791. Man an ungrateful animal; visit from Norfolk relations	[356]
To Dr. James Cogswell, June 15, 1791. Acknowledgement of a present of books; his translation of Homer; books sent by him to Dr. C.	[356]
To the Rev. John Newton, June 24, 1791. Exhortation to more frequent correspondence; affectionate remembrance of Mr. N.; on the recent loss of his wife; value of Homer	[357]
To Mrs. Bodham, July 7, 1791. Apology for having omitted to send a letter which he had written; he declines visiting Norfolk; state of health of her relatives then at Weston	[358]
To the Rev. John Newton, July 22, 1791. His engagement in making corrections for a new edition of Homer; decline of the Rev. Mr. Venn; reference to the riots at Birmingham	[359]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Aug. 2, 1791. Visit of Lady Bagot; riots at Birmingham	[359]
To Mrs. King, Aug. 4, 1791. State of her health; his own and Mrs. Unwin's; invitation to Weston; publication of his Homer	[360]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis, Aug. 1791. His study being liable to all sorts of intrusions, he cannot keep his operations secret; reason for his dissatisfaction with Pope's Homer; recommendation of Hebrew studies	[360]
To John Johnson, Esq., Aug. 9, 1791. Causes for his being then an idle man	[361]
Cowper undertakes the office of editor of Milton's works	[361]
Regret expressed that he did not devote to original composition the time given to translation	[361]
Origin of Cowper's acquaintance with Hayley	[362]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Sept. 21, 1791. He informs him of his new engagement as editor of Milton	[362]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Sept. 21, 1791. Pleasure afforded by Lord Bagot's testimony in favour of his Homer; inquiry concerning persons alluded to in an elegy of Milton's	[362]
To the Rev. Mr. King, Sept. 23, 1791. On Mrs. K.'s indisposition	[363]
To Mrs. King, Oct. 22, 1791. Congratulation on her recovery; he contends that women possess much more fortitude than men; he acquaints her with his new engagement on Milton	[363]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Oct. 25, 1791. Visit of Mr. Chester; poem of Lord Bagot's; condemnation of a remark of Wharton's respecting Milton	[364]
To John Johnson, Esq., Oct. 31, 1791. His delight to hear of the improved health of Mr. J. and his sister; his own state of health; his new engagement	[364]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., Nov. 14, 1791. On compound epithets; progress in his translation of Milton's Latin poems	[365]
To the Rev. John Newton, Nov. 16, 1791. Apology for not sending a poem which Mr. N. had asked for; Mr. N.'s visit to Mrs. Hannah More; her sister's application for Cowper's autograph; Cowper regrets that he had never seen a mountain; his engagement on Milton	[365]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Dec. 5, 1791. Expectation of a new edition of his Homer; he defends a passage in it; his engagement upon Milton	[366]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis, Dec. 10, 1791. His engagement upon Milton	[366]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., Dec. 21, 1791. Sudden seizure of Mrs. Unwin	[366]
Cowper's affliction on occasion of Mrs. Unwin's attack	[367]
To Mrs. King, Jan. 26, 1792. He describes the circumstances of Mrs. Unwin's alarming seizure; he asserts that women surpass men in true fortitude; his engagements	[367]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot, Feb. 14, 1792. On the indisposition of Mr. B. and his children; he professes his intention to avail himself of all remarks in a new edition of his Homer; course which he purposes to pursue in regard to Milton; his correspondence with the Chancellor	[368]
To Thomas Park, Esq., Feb. 19, 1792. Acknowledgment of the receipt of books sent by him; he signifies his acceptance of the offer of notices relative to Milton	[368]
To the Rev. John Newton, Feb. 20, 1792. Lines written by him for Mrs. Martha More's Collection of Autographs; his reply to the demand of more original composition; remarks on the settlement at Botany Bay, and African colonization	[369]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis, Feb. 21, 1792. Reasons for deferring the examination of Homer; progress made in Milton's poems	[369]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis, March 2, 1792. He expresses his obligations for Mr. H.'s remarks on Homer; he permits the tragedy of Sir Thomas More to be inscribed to him	[370]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 4, 1792. Departure of the Throckmortons from Weston; his dislike of change	[370]
To Mrs. King, March 8, 1792. On her late indisposition; testimonies concerning his Homer	[371]
To Thomas Park, Esq., March 10, 1792. On Mr. P.'s professional pursuits; he disclaims a place among the literati; and asks for a copy of Thomson's monumental inscription	[371]
To John Johnson, Esq., March 11, 1792. He mentions having heard a nightingale sing on new year's day, departure of Lady Hesketh; expected visit of Mr. Rose	[372]
Verses addressed to "The Nightingale which the author heard on new year's day, 1792"	[372]
To the Rev. John Newton, March 18, 1792. He assures Mr. N. that, though reduced to the company of Mrs. Unwin alone, they are both comfortable	[372]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis, March 23, 1792. Remarks on Mr. H.'s Tragedy of Sir Thomas More	[373]
To Lady Hesketh, March 25, 1752. Cause of the delay of a preceding letter to her; detention of Mr. Hayley's letter to Cowper, at Johnson the bookseller's	[373]
To Thomas Park, Esq., March 30, 1792. Remarks on a poem of Mr. P.'s	[374]
To Samuel Rose, Esq., March 30, 1792. Spends his mornings in letter writing	[374]
To the same, April 5, 1792. Vexatious delay of printers; supposed secret enemy	[374]
To William Hayley, Esq., April 6, 1792. Expected visit of Mr. H.; Cowper introduces Mrs. Unwin, and advises him to bring books with him, if he should want any	[375]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis, April 8, 1792. Apology for delay in writing; reference to Mr. H.'s sisters; and to an unanswered letter	[375]
To Joseph Hill, Esq., April 15, 1792. Thanks for a remittance; satirical stanzas on a blunder in his Homer; progress in Milton	[376]
To Lady Throckmorton, April 16, 1792. Lady thieves; report of his being a friend to the slave trade; means taken by him to refute it	[376]
Sonnet addressed to William Wilberforce, Esq., and published by Cowper in contradiction of the report above-mentioned	[377]
Remarks on a report respecting Cowper's sentiments relative to the Slave Trade	[377]
Reflections on Popularity	[377]
Letter to the Rev. J. Jekyll Rye. April 16, 1792. Cowper asserts the falsehood of a report that he was friendly to the Slave Trade	[377]
To the Printers of the Northampton Mercury; on the same subject, with a Sonnet addressed to Mr. Wilberforce	[378]
Remarks on the relative merits of rhyme and blank verse, with reference to a translation of Homer	[378]
Cowper's sentiments on the subject, and on translation in general	[379]
To the Lord Thurlow. On the inconvenience of rhyme in translation	[379]
Lord Thurlow to William Cowper, Esq. On the value of rhyme in certain kinds of poems; on metrical translations; close translation of a passage in Homer	[380]
To the Lord Thurlow. Vindication of Cowper's choice of blank verse for his translation of Homer; his version of the passage given by Lord T.	[381]
Lord Thurlow to William Cowper, Esq. On his translation of Homer	[382]
To the Lord Thurlow. On the same subject	[382]
Passages from Cowper's translation	[382]
Facts respecting it	[383]
To Mr. Johnson, the bookseller. Feb. 11, 1790. Cowper acknowledges his obligations to Mr. Fuseli, for his remarks on his translation of Homer	[383]
To the same. Sept. 7, 1790. On the same subject	[383]
Indignant remonstrance of Cowper's, addressed to Johnson on the alteration of a line in one of his poems	[384]
To Thomas Park, Esq. April 27, 1792. Remarks on some Poems of Mr. P.'s, and on his own literary engagements	[384]
Marriage of Mr. Courtenay to Miss Stapleton	[385]
To Lady Hesketh. May 20, 1792. On the marriage of Mr. Courtenay; Dr. Madan's promotion to a Bishopric; complimentary Sonnet produced by Cowper, addressed to Mr. Wilberforce; Lines to Warren Hastings, Esq.	[385]
To John Johnson, Esq. May 20, 1792. On the postponement of his Ordination, &c.	[386]
Hayley's visit to Cowper, and his account of it	[386]
Sonnet addressed by Cowper to Mrs. Unwin	[386]
Mrs. Unwin's paralytic attack	[386]
Kind attentions of Hayley	[387]
To Lady Hesketh. May 24, 1792. Seizure and state of Mrs. Unwin	[387]
To the same. May 26, 1792. State of Mrs. Unwin	[387]
Lines addressed to Dr. Austen	[388]
To Mrs. Bodham. June 4, 1792. On the postponement of Mr. Johnson's Ordination	[388]
To William Hayley, Esq. June 4, 1792. State of Mrs. Unwin	[388]
To the same. June 5, 1792. On the same subject	[388]
To the same. June 7, 1792. On the same subject	[389]
To the same. June 10, 1792. On the same subject; Lines addressed to Dr. Darwin	[389]
Origin of Darwin's Poem of the "Botanic Garden"	[389]
To Lady Hesketh. June 11, 1792. On his growing correspondence; improvement in Mrs. Unwin's health; events of the past two months; arrival of Mr. Johnson	[390]
To William Hayley, Esq. June 19, 1792. State of Mrs. Unwin; Ice-islands and cold summers; proposed visit to Hayley at Eartham	[390]
Remarks on a supposed change in the climate, with passages from Cowper's translation of a Poem of Milton's on that subject	[391]
To William Hayley, Esq. June 27, 1792. Intended journey to Eartham; Catharina, on her marriage to George Courtenay, Esq.	[391]
To the same. July 4, 1792. Suspension of his literary labours; his solicitude for Mrs. Unwin; his visit to Weston Hall	[392]
To the same. July 15, 1792. On the proposed journey to Eartham; translations from Milton; portrait of Cowper by Abbot	[392]
To Thomas Park, Esq. July 20, 1792. On the obstacles to his literary engagements; reference to Cowper's drawings, and to the Olney Hymns	[392]
To William Hayley, Esq. July 22, 1792. Preparations for the journey to Eartham	[393]
To the Rev. William Bull. July 25, 1792. On his sitting to Abbot for his portrait; his intended journey to Eartham	[393]
To William Hayley, Esq. July 29, 1792. His terror at the proposed journey; resemblance of Abbot's portrait	[394]
To the Rev. John Newton. July 30, 1792. State of Mrs. Unwin; intended journey to Eartham; recollections awakened by Mr. N.'s visit to Weston	[394]
To the Rev. Mr. Greatheed. Aug. 6, 1792. Account of his journey to Eartham, and situation there	[395]
To Mrs. Courtenay. Aug. 12, 1792. Particulars of the journey to Eartham, and description of the place	[395]
To Samuel Rose, Esq. Aug. 14, 1792. Invitation to Eartham	[396]
To the same. Aug. 18, 1792. Cowper wishes him to join the party at Eartham	[396]
To Mrs. Courtenay. Aug. 25, 1792. Epitaph on Fop; arrangements for the return to Weston; state of himself and Mrs. Unwin	[396]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. Aug. 26, 1792. On the death of his sister; invitation to Eartham	[397]
To Lady Hesketh. Aug. 26, 1792. Company at Eartham; his own state and Mrs. Unwin's; portrait of Cowper by Romney	[397]
To Mrs. Charlotte Smith. Sept. 1792. Sympathy of himself and Hayley in her misfortunes: remark on an expression in her letter; state of Mrs. Unwin	[398]
To Lady Hesketh. Sept. 9, 1792. Reasons for preferring Weston to Eartham; state of Mrs. Unwin; arrangements for their return; character of Mr. Hurdis	[398]
Cowper's occupations at Eartham	[399]
Account of Andreini's Adamo, which suggested to Milton the design of his Paradise Lost	[399]
To Mrs. Courtenay. Sept. 10, 1792. Reference to the French Revolution; state of Mrs. Unwin; remembrances to friends at Weston	[400]
Departure from Eartham	[400]
To William Hayley, Esq. Sept. 18, 1792. Cowper's feelings on his departure	[400]
To the same. Sept. 21, 1792. Particulars of his journey and arrival at Weston	[401]
To the same. Oct. 2, 1792. Unsuccessful attempt at writing	[401]
To the same. Oct. 13, 1792. Cowper's impatience for the arrival of Hayley's portrait; his intention of paying a poetical tribute to Romney	[401]
To Mrs. King. Oct. 14, 1792. Reference to the visit to Eartham	[402]
To the Rev. John Newton. Oct. 18, 1792. His employments at Eartham; and indisposition at Weston, urged as an excuse for not writing; reference to his visit to Hayley	[402]
To John Johnson, Esq. Oct. 19, 1792. On his expected visit; Cowper's unfitness for writing	[403]
To John Johnson, Esq. Oct. 22, 1792. Reflections on J.'s sitting for his picture	[403]
To William Hayley, Esq. Oct. 28, 1792. Cowper complains of his unfitness for literary labour, and the grievance that Milton is to him; sonnet addressed to Romney	[403]
To John Johnson, Esq. Nov. 5, 1792. Cowper's opinion of his Homer	[404]
To Samuel Rose, Esq. Nov. 9, 1792. Hindrances to his literary labours; Mrs. Unwin's situation and his own depression of spirits; he consents to the prefixing his portrait to a new edition of his poems	[404]
To the Rev. John Newton. Nov. 11, 1792. Apology for not writing to him; his gloomy state of mind	[405]
To John Johnson, Esq. Nov. 20, 1792. Thanks him for his verses; his engagement to supply the new clerk of Northampton with an annual copy of verses; reference to his indisposition	[405]
To William Hayley, Esq. Nov. 25, 1792. Acknowledgment of his friendship; his acceptance of the office of Dirge-writer to the new clerk of Northampton	[405]
To the Rev. John Newton. Dec. 9, 1792, Reasons for not being in haste with Milton; injurious effect of the season on his spirits	[406]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Dec. 16, 1792. Political reflections with reference to the question of Parliamentary Reform, reformation of the Church, and the rights of Catholics and Dissenters	[406]
First agitation of the question of Parliamentary Reform	[407]
To Thomas Park, Esq. Dec. 17, 1792. Obstacles to his writing while at Mr. Hayley's, and since his return home; on Johnson's intention of prefixing his portrait to his poems	[407]
Anecdote of Mrs. Boscawen	[407]
To William Hayley, Esq. Dec. 26, 1792. The year '92 a most melancholy one to him	[408]
To Thomas Park, Esq. Jan. 3, 1793. Introduction of Mr. Rose to him; Cowper refers to a remedy recommended by Mr P. for inflammation of the eyes; his share in the Olney Hymns	[408]
To William Hayley, Esq. Jan. 20, 1793. Cowper's solicitude respecting his welfare; arrival of Hayley's picture	[408]
To the same. Jan. 29, 1793. On the death of Dr. Austen	[409]
To John Johnson, Esq. Jan. 31, 1793. Thanks for pheasants, and promises of welcome to a bustard	[409]
To Samuel Rose, Esq. Feb. 5, 1793. Revisal of Homer	[409]
To Lady Hesketh. Feb. 10, 1793. Necessity for his taking laudanum; he rallies her on her political opinions	[410]
To Samuel Rose, Esq. Feb. 17, 1793. Remarks on a criticism on his Homer in the Analytical Review	[410]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. Feb. 22, 1793. He congratulates Mr. H. on the prospect of his being elected Poetry Professor at Oxford; observations in natural history	[410]
To William Hayley, Esq. Feb. 24, 1793. Complains of inflamed eyes as a hindrance to writing; revisal of Homer; dream about Milton	[411]
Milton's Vision of the Bishop of Winchester	[411]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot. March 4, 1793. His ailments and employments; reference to the French Revolution	[411]
Letter from Thomas Hayley (son of William Hayley, Esq.) to William Cowper, Esq. containing criticisms on his Homer	[412]
To Mr. Thomas Hayley. March 14, 1793. In answer to the preceding	[413]
To William Hayley, Esq. March 19, 1793. Complains of being harassed by a multiplicity of business; his progress in Homer; reference to Mazarin's epitaph	[413]
Last moments of Cardinal Mazarin	[413]
To Samuel Rose, Esq. March 27, 1793. On the conclusion of an engagement with Johnson for a new edition of his Homer	[413]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. March 29, 1793. Reference to his pecuniary circumstances; preparations for a new edition of his Homer; remarks on an intended canal	[414]
To John Johnson, Esq. April 11, 1793. On sending his pedigree to the Herald's College; liberality of Johnson the bookseller; on Mr. J.'s determination to enter the church	[414]
Illustrious ancestry of Cowper	[414]
To William Hayley, Esq. April 23, 1793. His engagement in writing notes to Homer	[415]
To the Rev. John Newton. April 25, 1793. He urges business as an excuse for the unfrequency of his letters; his own and Mrs. Unwin's state; his exchange of books with Dr. Cogshall of New York; reference to the epitaph on the Rev. Mr. Unwin	[415]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot. May 4, 1793. On the death of Bishop Bagot	[416]
To Samuel Rose, Esq. May 5, 1793. Apology for silence; his engagement in writing notes to his Homer; intended revisal of the Odyssey	[416]
To Lady Hesketh. May 7, 1793. His correspondence prevented by Homer; Whigs and Tories	[416]
To Thomas Park, Esq. May 17, 1793. Chapman's translation of Homer; Cowper's horror of London and dislike of leaving home; epitaph on the Rev. Mr. Unwin; his poems on Negro Slavery	[417]
To William Hayley, Esq. May 21, 1793. Employment of his time; insensible advance of old age; "Man as he is" attributed erroneously to the pen of Hayley; notes on Homer	[417]
To Lady Hesketh. June 1, 1793. Desiring her to fix a day for coming to Weston; lines on Mr. Johnson's arrival at Cambridge	[418]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. June 6, 1793. Uses of affliction; suspension of his literary labours; proposed revisal of his Homer	[418]
To the Rev. John Newton. June 12, 1793. State of Mrs. Unwin's and his own health; reference to a new work of Mr. N.'s	[418]
To William Hayley, Esq. June 29, 1793. Sonnet addressed to Mr. H.; Cowper declines engaging in a work proposed by Mr. H.; "The Four Ages"	[419]
To the same. July 7, 1793. He promises to join Mr. H. in the production of "The Four Ages;" reference to his oddities; embellishments of his premises	[419]
Antique bust of Homer presented to Cowper by Mr. Johnson	[420]
Cowper's poetical Tribute for the gift	[420]
To Thomas Park, Esq. July 15, 1793. Chapman's translation of the Iliad; Hobbes's translation; Lady Hesketh; his literary engagements	[420]
To Mrs. Charlotte Smith. July 25, 1793. On her poem of "The Emigrants," which was dedicated to Cowper	[421]
To the Rev. Mr. Greatheed. July 27, 1793. He thanks Mr. G. for the offer of part of his house; reasons for declining it; promised visits	[421]
To William Hayley, Esq. July 27, 1793. Anticipations of a visit from Mr. H.; head of Homer and proposed motto for it; question concerning the cause of Homer's blindness; garden shed	[422]
To the Rev. John Johnson. Aug. 2, 1793. On his ordination; Flaxman's designs to the Odyssey	[423]
To Lady Hesketh. Aug. 11, 1793. Miss Fanshaw; present from Lady Spencer of Flaxman's designs	[423]
Explanation respecting Miss Fanshaw; verses by her; Cowper's reply; his lines addressed to Count Gravina	[423]
To William Hayley, Esq. Aug. 15, 1793. Epigram on building; inscription for an hermitage; Flaxman's designs; plan of an Odyssey illustrated by them; inscription for the bust of Homer	[423]
To Mrs. Courtenay. Aug. 20, 1793. Story of Bob Archer and the fiddler; Flaxman's designs to Homer	[424]
To Samuel Rose, Esq. Aug. 22, 1793. Allusion to scenery on the south coast of England; his literary occupations	[425]
To William Hayley, Esq. Aug. 27, 1793. Question respecting Homer's blindness; Flaxman's illustrations of Homer; recollections of Lord Mansfield; erection of Homer's bust	[425]
To Lady Hesketh. Aug. 29, 1793. On her intended visit to Weston; Miss Fanshaw	[425]
To the Rev. Mr. Johnson. Sept. 4, 1793. His agreeable surprise on the appearance of a sun-dial, a present from Mr. J.; revisal of his Homer	[426]
To William Hayley, Esq. Sept. 8, 1793. Flaxman's designs to Homer; anticipations of Mr. H.'s visit	[426]
To Mrs. Courtenay. Sept. 15, 1793. His improvements at Weston; the sun-dial; Pitcairne	[427]
To the Rev. Mr. Johnson. Sept. 29, 1793. Visits devourers of time; expected visiters at Weston	[427]
To William Hayley, Esq. Oct. 5, 1793. Demands upon his time; expected visiters; reference to H.'s Life of Milton	[427]
To the same. Oct. 18, 1793. Anticipations of his visit to Weston	[428]
To the Rev. John Newton. Oct. 22, 1793. Apology for not writing; reference to a late journey of Mr. N.'s; thanks for his last publication	[428]
To the Rev. J. Jekyll Rye. Nov. 3, 1793. Thanks for his support of Mr. Hurdis; reference to the application of the clerk of Northampton	[428]
Hayley's second visit to Weston	[429]
Invitation to Cowper and his guests from Lord Spencer to Althorpe, to meet Gibbon the historian, declined by him	[429]
To Mrs. Courtenay. Nov. 4, 1793. He complains of being distracted with business; Hayley's visit; epidemic fever; Mrs. Unwin	[429]
State of Cowper and Mrs. Unwin as described by Hayley	[429]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Nov. 5, 1793. Lady Hesketh's visit to Wargrave; his house at Weston, and prospects from it	[430]
To the Rev. Walter Bagot. Nov. 10, 1793. Thanks him for his support of Mr. Hurdis; reference to the French Revolution	[430]
To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. Nov. 24, 1793. Congratulations on his election to the professorship of poetry at Oxford; Hayley's visit; his Life of Milton; revisal of his Homer; invitation to Weston	[430]
To Samuel Rose, Esq. Nov. 29, 1793. Expected visit from him and Mr. (the late Sir Thomas) Lawrence; subject from Homer proposed by the latter for his pencil; a companion to it suggested by Cowper; intention of Lawrence to take Cowper's portrait for engraving	[431]
To the same. Dec. 8, 1793. Thanks him for books; history of Jonathan Wild; character of "Man as he is"	[432]
To William Hayley, Esq. Dec. 8, 1793. Inquiries concerning his Life of Milton; his own literary occupations	[432]
Suspension of Cowper's literary labours, and decline of his mental powers	[432]
Results of Cowper's literary labours on the works of Milton	[432]
Specimens of his translation of the Latin poem addressed by Milton to his father	[433]
Hayley's remarks on that poem	[434]
Passages from Cowper's notes on Milton	[434]
Fuseli's Milton Gallery	[436]
Origin of Hayley's acquaintance with Cowper	[436]
Hayley's first letter, with a sonnet addressed to Cowper	[436]
To Joseph Hill, Esq. Dec. 10, 1793. On a sprain received by Mr. H.; revisal of Homer; inquiry concerning Lord Howe's fleet	[436]
The idea of the projected poem of "The Four Ages," suggested by Mr. Buchanan	[437]
To the Rev. Mr. Buchanan. May 11, 1793. Complimenting Mr. B. on the sketch which he furnished for the poem	[437]
Increasing infirmities of Mrs. Unwin, and their effect on Cowper	[437]
His affecting situation at this period	[437]
Dissatisfaction of Lord Thurlow with a passage in Cowper's Homer, and his and Hayley's attempts to improve upon it	[438]
To William Hayley, Esq. Dec. 17, 1793. With a new version of the passage above mentioned; criticisms on their performances; his own notions of the principles of translation	[438]
To the same. Jan. 5, 1794. New translation of the before-mentioned passage; remarks on translation, and particularly of Homer	[438]
To the same, from the Rev. William Greatheed. April 8, 1794. He acquaints Mr. H. with the alarming situation of Cowper, and urges his coming to Weston	[439]
Hayley repairs to Weston	[440]
Lady Hesketh obtains the advice of Dr. Willis	[440]
Grant of a pension of 300l. per annum, by his Majesty, to Cowper	[440]
Plan for the removal of Cowper and Mrs. Unwin to Norfolk	[441]
Cowper's sensations on leaving Weston	[441]
Lines "To Mary," the last original production composed by him at Weston	[441]
Journey from Weston to North Tuddenham, in Norfolk	[441]
Stay at Tuddenham	[441]
Removal to Mundsley, a village on the coast	[442]
Letter from Cowper to the Rev. Mr. Buchanan, describing his present situation, and soliciting news of Weston	[442]
Cowper becomes settled at Dunham Lodge, near Swaffham	[442]
He is induced by the appearance of Wakefield's edition of Pope's Homer, to engage in the revisal of his own version	[443]
Death of Mrs. Unwin	[443]
Her Funeral and Inscription	[443]
Cowper's malady renders him insensible to her loss	[443]
Successful effort of Mr. Johnson to engage him to return to the revisal of Homer, which he had discontinued	[444]
Hayley's testimony to the affectionate offices rendered to Cowper by Mr. Johnson	[444]
Trial of the effect of frequent change of place	[444]
Visit from Dowager Lady Spencer	[445]
Attempts of Mr. Johnson to amuse him	[445]
Letter from Cowper to Lady Hesketh, referring to his melancholy situation	[445]
He finishes the revisal of his Homer	[445]
"The Cast-away," his last original production	[445]
His removal to Dereham	[446]
His translations of Latin and Greek epigrams, and of some of Gay's Fables into Latin	[446]
New version of a passage in his Homer, being the last effort of his pen	[446]
Appearance of dropsy	[446]
His last illness	[446]
His death	[447]
His burial, and inscription by Hayley	[447]
Remarks on the mental delusion under which he laboured to the last	[447]
Memoir of the early Life of Cowper, written by himself	[449]
Remarks on the preceding Memoir	[460]
Death of Cowper's friend, Sir William Russel	[461]
Cowper's attachment to his Cousin, Miss Theodora Jane Cowper	[461]
Nervous attacks, and their presumed causes	[462]
Distinguishing features in his malady	[462]
His depression did not prevent the free exercise of his mental powers	[462]
It was not perceptible to others	[463]
It was not inconsistent with a rich vein of humour	[463]
His own picture of his mental sufferings	[463]
His religious views not the occasion of his wretchedness, but a support under it	[464]
Sketch of the character, and account of the last illness of the late Rev. John Cowper, by his brother	[465]
Narrative of Mr. Van Lier	[474]
Notices of Cowper's friends	[474]
The Rev. W. Cawthorne Unwin	[474]
Joseph Hill, Esq.	[475]
Samuel Rose, Esq.	[475]
Lady Austen	[476]
Rev. Walter Bagot	[476]
Sir George Throckmorton	[477]
Rev. Dr. Johnson	[477]
Rev. W. Bull	[477]
Particulars concerning the person and character of Cowper	[477]
Cowper's personal character illustrated by extracts from his Works	[478]
Poetical portraits drawn by him	[479]
His poem on the Yardley Oak	[481]
Description of the Tree	[481]
Original poem on the subject, by the late Samuel Whitbread, Esq.	[481]
Cowper's moderation amidst literary fame	[482]
Anecdote of Dr. Parr	[482]
Cowper's sensibility to unjust censure	[482]
Letter to John Thornton, Esq. on a severe criticism of his first volume of poems in the "Analytical Review"	[482]
His excellence as an epistolary writer	[482]
Character of his Latin poems	[483]
The Wish, an English version by Mr. Ostler	[483]
Sublime piety and morality of Cowper's works	[483]
Beneficial influence of his writings on the Church of England	[485]
Concluding remarks	[486]
Essay on the genius and poetry of Cowper, by the Rev. J. W. Cunningham, A.M.	[489]

THE POEMS.

Preface to the Poems	[499]
Table Talk	[501]
The Progress of Error	[507]
Truth	[512]
Expostulation	[516]
Hope	[522]
Charity	[528]
Conversation	[533]
Retirement	[540]
The Task, in Six Books:—
Book I. The Sofa	[547]
II. The Time-Piece	[553]
III. The Garden	[559]
IV. The Winter Evening	[566]
V. The Winter Morning Walk	[572]
VI. The Winter Walk at Noon	[579]
Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq.	[587]
Tirocinium; or, a Review of Schools	[587]
The Yearly Distress, or Tithing Time at Stock, in Essex	[594]
Sonnet addressed to Henry Cowper, Esq.	[595]
Lines addressed to Dr. Darwin	[595]
On Mrs. Montagu's Feather Hangings	[595]
Verses supposed to be written by Alexander Selkirk, during his solitary Abode in the Island of Juan Fernandez	[596]
On observing some Names of little note in the Biographia Britannica	[596]
Report of an adjudged Case	[597]
On the Promotion of Edward Thurlow, Esq. to the Lord High Chancellorship of England	[597]
Ode to Peace	[597]
Human Frailty	[597]
The Modern Patriot	[598]
On the Burning of Lord Mansfield's Library, &c.	[598]
On the same	[598]
The Love of the World Reproved	[598]
On the Death of Mrs. (now Lady) Throckmorton's Bullfinch	[599]
The Rose	[599]
The Doves	[599]
A Fable	[600]
Ode to Apollo	[600]
A Comparison	[600]
Another, addressed to a Young Lady	[601]
The Poet's New Year's Gift	[601]
Pairing-time anticipated	[601]
The Dog and the Water Lily	[601]
The Winter Nosegay	[602]
The Poet, the Oyster, and the Sensitive Plant	[602]
The Shrubbery	[602]
Mutual Forbearance necessary to the Married State	[603]
The Negro's Complaint	[603]
Pity for Poor Africans	[604]
The Morning Dream	[604]
The Diverting History of John Gilpin	[604]
The Nightingale and Glow-worm	[607]
An Epistle to an afflicted Protestant Lady in France	[607]
To the Rev. W. Cawthorne Unwin	[607]
To the Rev. Mr. Newton	[608]
Catharina	[608]
The Moralizer corrected	[608]
The Faithful Bird	[609]
The Needless Alarm	[609]
Boadicea	[610]
Heroism	[611]
On the Receipt of my Mother's Picture out of Norfolk	[611]
Friendship	[612]
On a mischievous Bull, which the Owner of him sold at the Author's instance	[614]
Annus memorabilis, 1789. Written in Commemoration of his Majesty's happy recovery	[614]
Hymn for the use of the Sunday School at Olney	[615]
Stanzas subjoined to a Bill of Mortality for the year 1787	[615]
The same for 1788	[616]
The same for 1789	[616]
The same for 1790	[616]
The same for 1792	[617]
The same for 1793	[617]
On a Goldfinch starved to Death in his Cage	[617]
The Pineapple and the Bee	[618]
Verses written at Bath, on finding the Heel of a Shoe	[618]
An Ode, on reading Richardson's History of Sir Charles Grandison	[618]
An Epistle to Robert Lloyd, Esq.	[619]
A Tale, founded on a Fact, which happened in Jan. 1779	[619]
To the Rev. Mr. Newton, on his Return from Ramsgate	[620]
Love Abused	[620]
A Poetical Epistle to Lady Austen	[620]
The Colubriad	[621]
Song. On Peace	[621]
Song—"When all within is Peace"	[622]
Verses selected from an occasional Poem entitled "Valediction"	[622]
Epitaph on Dr. Johnson	[622]
To Miss C——, on her Birthday	[622]
Gratitude	[622]
Lines composed for a Memorial of Ashley Cowper, Esq.	[623]
On the Queen's Visit to London	[623]
The Cockfighter's Garland	[624]
To Warren Hastings, Esq.	[625]
To Mrs. Throckmorton	[625]
To the Immortal Memory of the Halibut, on which I dined	[625]
Inscription for a Stone erected at the sowing of a Grove of Oaks	[625]
Another	[625]
To Mrs. King	[625]
In Memory of the late John Thornton, Esq.	[626]
The Four Ages	[626]
The Retired Cat	[626]
The Judgment of the Poets	[627]
Yardley Oak	[628]
To the Nightingale which the Author heard sing on New Year's Day	[629]
Lines written in an Album of Miss Patty More's	[629]
Sonnet to William Wilberforce, Esq.	[629]
Epigram on Refining Sugar	[630]
To Dr. Austin, of Cecil Street, London	[630]
Catharina: on her Marriage to George Courtenay, Esq.	[630]
Epitaph on Fop, a dog belonging to Lady Throckmorton	[630]
Sonnet to George Romney, Esq.	[630]
Mary and John	[630]
Epitaph on Mr. Chester, of Chicheley	[630]
To my Cousin, Anne Bodham	[631]
Inscription for a Hermitage in the Author's Garden	[631]
To Mrs. Unwin	[631]
To John Johnson, on his presenting me with an antique Bust of Homer	[631]
To a young Friend	[631]
On a Spaniel called Beau, killing a young bird	[631]
Beau's Reply	[631]
To William Hayley, Esq.	[632]
Answer to Stanzas addressed to Lady Hesketh, by Miss Catharine Fanshawe	[632]
On Flaxman's Penelope	[632]
To the Spanish Admiral Count Gravina	[632]
Inscription for the Tomb of Mr. Hamilton	[632]
Epitaph on a Hare	[632]
Epitaphium Alterum	[633]
Account of the Author's Treatment of his Hares	[633]
A Tale	[634]
To Mary	[635]
The Castaway	[635]
To Sir Joshua Reynolds	[636]
On the Author of "Letters on Literature"	[636]
The Distressed Travellers; or, Labour in Vain	[636]
Stanzas on Liberties taken with the Remains of Milton	[637]
To the Rev. William Bull	[637]
Epitaph on Mrs. Higgins	[638]
Sonnet to a Young Lady on her Birth-day	[638]
On a Mistake in his Translation of Homer	[638]
On the Benefit received by his Majesty from Sea-bathing	[638]
Addressed to Miss —— on reading the Prayer for Indifference	[638]
From a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Newton	[639]
The Flatting Mill	[639]
Epitaph on a free but tame Redbreast	[640]
Sonnet addressed to W. Hayley, Esq.	[640]
An Epitaph	[640]
On receiving Hayley's Picture	[640]
On a Plant of Virgin's Bower	[640]
On receiving Heyne's Virgil	[640]
Stanzas by a Lady	[641]
Cowper's Reply	[641]
Lines addressed to Miss T. J. Cowper	[641]
To the same	[641]
On a sleeping Infant	[641]
Lines	[641]
Inscription for a Moss-house in the Shrubbery at Weston	[641]
Lines on the Death of Sir William Russel	[642]
On the high price of Fish	[642]
To Mrs. Newton	[642]
Verses printed by himself on a flood at Olney	[642]
Extract from a Sunday-school Hymn	[642]
On the receipt of a Hamper (in the manner of Homer)	[643]
On the neglect of Homer	[643]
Sketch of the Life of the Rev. John Newton	[643]

OLNEY HYMNS.

Preliminary Remarks on the Olney Hymns			[652]
	Hymn I.	Walking with God	[656]
	II.	Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide	[656]
	III.	Jehovah-Rophi. I am the Lord that healeth thee	[656]
	IV.	Jehovah-Nissi. The Lord my Banner	[657]
	V.	Jehovah-Shalom. The Lord send Peace	[657]
	VI.	Wisdom	[657]
	VII.	Vanity of the World	[657]
	VIII.	O Lord, I will praise thee	[658]
	IX.	The contrite Heart	[658]
	X.	The future Peace and Glory of the Church	[658]
	XI.	Jehovah our Righteousness	[658]
	XII.	Ephraim repenting	[659]
	XIII.	The Covenant	[659]
	XIV.	Jehovah-Shammah	[659]
	XV.	Praise for the Fountain opened	[659]
	XVI.	The Sower	[659]
	XVII.	The House of Prayer	[660]
	XVIII.	Lovest thou me?	[660]
	XIX.	Contentment	[660]
	XX.	Old Testament Gospel	[661]
	XXI.	Sardis	[661]
	XXII.	Praying for a Blessing on the Young	[661]
	XXIII.	Pleading for and with Youth	[661]
	XXIV.	Prayer for Children	[661]
	XXV.	Jehovah-Jesus	[662]
	XXVI.	On opening a Place for social Prayer	[662]
	XXVII.	Welcome to the Table	[662]
	XXVIII.	Jesus hasting to suffer	[662]
	XXIX.	Exhortation to Prayer	[663]
	XXX.	The Light and Glory of the Word	[663]
	XXXI.	On the Death of a Minister	[663]
	XXXII.	The shining Light	[663]
	XXXIII.	Seeking the Beloved	[663]
	XXXIV.	The Waiting Soul	[664]
	XXXV.	Welcome Cross	[664]
	XXXVI.	Afflictions sanctified by the Word	[664]
	XXXVII.	Temptation	[664]
	XXXVIII.	Looking upwards in a Storm	[664]
	XXXIX.	The Valley of the Shadow of Death	[665]
	XL.	Peace after a Storm	[665]
	XLI.	Mourning and Longing	[665]
	XLII.	Self-Acquaintance	[665]
	XLIII.	Prayer for Patience	[666]
	XLIV.	Submission	[666]
	XLV.	The happy Change	[666]
	XLVI.	Retirement	[666]
	XLVII.	The hidden Life	[667]
	XLVIII.	Joy and Peace in Believing	[667]
	XLIX.	True Pleasures	[667]
	L.	The Christian	[667]
	LI.	Lively Hope and Gracious Fear	[668]
	LII.	For the Poor	[668]
	LIII.	My Soul thirsteth for God	[668]
	LIV.	Love constraining to Obedience	[668]
	LV.	The Heart healed and changed by Mercy	[668]
	LVI.	Hatred of Sin	[669]
	LVII.	The new Convert	[669]
	LVIII.	True and false Comforts	[669]
	LIX.	A living and a dead Faith	[669]
	LX.	Abuse of the Gospel	[669]
	LXI.	The narrow Way	[670]
	LXII.	Dependence	[670]
	LXIII.	Not of Works	[670]
	LXIV.	Praise for Faith	[670]
	LXV.	Grace and Providence	[670]
	LXVI.	I will praise the Lord at all times	[671]
	LXVII.	Longing to be with Christ	[671]
	LXVIII.	Light shining out of darkness	[671]

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE FRENCH OF MADAME DE LA MOTHE GUION.

Brief Account of Madame Guion, and of the Mystic Writers	[672]
The Nativity	[677]
God neither known nor loved by the World	[679]
The Swallow	[679]
The Triumph of Heavenly Love desired	[679]
A Figurative Description of the Procedure of Divine Love	[679]
A Child of God longing to see him beloved	[680]
Aspirations of the Soul after God	[680]
Gratitude and Love to God	[680]
Happy Solitude—Unhappy Men	[680]
Living Water	[680]
Truth and Divine Love rejected by the World	[681]
Divine Justice amiable	[681]
The Soul that Loves God finds him everywhere	[682]
The Testimony of Divine Adoption	[682]
Divine Love endures no rival	[682]
Self-Diffidence	[683]
The Acquiescence of Pure Love	[683]
Repose in God	[683]
Glory to God alone	[683]
Self-Love and Truth incompatible	[684]
The Love of God, the End of Life	[684]
Love faithful in the Absence of the Beloved	[684]
Love pure and fervent	[684]
The entire Surrender	[685]
The perfect Sacrifice	[685]
God hides his People	[685]
The Secrets of Divine Love are to be kept	[685]
The Vicissitudes experienced in the Christian Life	[686]
Watching unto God in the Night Season	[687]
On the same	[688]
On the same	[688]
The Joy of the Cross	[689]
Joy in Martyrdom	[689]
Simple Trust	[689]
The necessity of Self-Abasement	[690]
Love increased by Suffering	[690]
Scenes favourable to Meditation	[691]

TRANSLATIONS OF THE LATIN AND ITALIAN POEMS OF MILTON.

Elegy I.	To Charles Deodati	[691]
II.	On the Death of the University Beadle at Cambridge	[692]
III.	On the Death of the Bishop of Winchester	[692]
IV.	To his Tutor, Thomas Young	[693]
V.	On the Approach of Spring	[694]
VI.	To Charles Deodati	[695]
VII.		[696]
	Epigrams. On the Inventor of Guns	[697]
	To Leonora singing at Rome	[697]
	To the same	[697]
	The Cottager and his Landlord. A Fable	[697]
	To Christina, Queen of Sweden, with Cromwell's Picture	[697]
	On the Death of the Vice-Chancellor, a Physician	[697]
	On the Death of the Bishop of Ely	[698]
	Nature unimpaired by Time	[698]
	On the Platonic Idea as it was understood by Aristotle	[699]
	To his Father	[699]
	To Salsillus, a Roman poet, much indisposed	[700]
	To Giovanni Battista Manso, Marquis of Villa	[701]
	On the Death of Damon	[701]
	An Ode, addressed to Mr. John Rouse, Librarian of the University of Oxford	[704]
	Sonnet—"Fair Lady! whose harmonious name"	[705]
	Sonnet—"As on a hill-top rude, when closing day"	[705]
	Canzone—"They mock my toil"	[705]
	Sonnet—To Charles Deodati	[705]
	Sonnet—"Lady! it cannot be but that thine eyes"	[705]
	Sonnet—"Enamour'd, artless, young, on foreign ground"	[705]
	Simile in Paradise Lost	[706]
	Translation of Dryden's Epigram on Milton	[706]

TRANSLATIONS FROM VINCENT BOURNE.

The Glowworm	[706]
The Jackdaw	[706]
The Cricket	[706]
The Parrot	[707]
The Thracian	[707]
Reciprocal Kindness the Primary Law of Nature	[707]
A Manual more ancient than the Art of Printing	[708]
An Enigma—"A needle, small as small can be"	[708]
Sparrows self-domesticated in Trinity Coll. Cambridge	[708]
Familiarity dangerous	[709]
Invitation to the Redbreast	[709]
Strada's Nightingale	[709]
Ode on the Death of a Lady who lived one hundred years	[709]
The Cause won	[710]
The Silkworm	[710]
The Innocent Thief	[710]
Denner's Old Woman	[710]
The Tears of a Painter	[710]
The Maze	[711]
No Sorrow peculiar to the Sufferer	[711]
The Snail	[711]
The Cantab	[711]

TRANSLATIONS OF GREEK VERSES.

From the Greek of Julianus	[712]
On the same by Palladas	[712]
An Epitaph	[712]
Another	[712]
Another	[712]
Another	[712]
By Callimachus	[712]
On Miltiades	[712]
On an Infant	[712]
By Heraclides	[712]
On the Reed	[712]
To Health	[712]
On Invalids	[713]
On the Astrologers	[713]
On an Old Woman	[713]
On Flatterers	[713]
On a true Friend	[713]
On the Swallow	[713]
On late acquired Wealth	[713]
On a Bath, by Plato	[713]
On a Fowler, by Isidorus	[713]
On Niobe	[713]
On a good Man	[713]
On a Miser	[713]
Another	[713]
Another	[713]
On Female Inconstancy	[714]
On the Grasshopper	[714]
On Hermocratia	[714]
From Menander	[714]
On Pallas bathing, from a Hymn of Callimachus	[714]
To Demosthenes	[714]
On a similar Character	[714]
On an ugly Fellow	[714]
On a battered Beauty	[714]
On a Thief	[714]
On Pedigree	[715]
On Envy	[715]
By Moschus	[715]
By Philemon	[715]

TRANSLATIONS FROM THE FABLES OF GAY.

Lepus multis Amicus	[715]
Avarus et Plutus	[716]
Papilio et Limax	[716]

EPIGRAMS TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN OF OWEN.

On one ignorant and arrogant	[716]
Prudent Simplicity	[716]
To a Friend in Distress	[716]
Retaliation	[716]
"When little more than Boy in Age"	[717]
Sunset and Sunrise	[717]

TRANSLATIONS FROM VIRGIL, OVID, HORACE, AND HOMER.

The Salad, by Virgil	[717]
Translation from Virgil, Æneid, Book VIII. Line 18	[718]
Ovid. Trist. Book V. Eleg. XII.	[721]
Hor. Book I. Ode IX.	[722]
Hor. Book I. Ode XXXVIII.	[722]
Hor. Book II. Ode X.	[722]
A Reflection on the foregoing Ode	[722]
Hor. Book II. Ode XVI.	[723]
The Fifth Satire of the First Book of Horace	[723]
The Ninth Satire of the First Book of Horace	[725]
Translation of an Epigram from Homer	[726]

COWPER'S LATIN POEMS.

Montes Glaciales, in Oceano Germanico natantes	[726]
On the Ice Islands seen floating in the German Ocean	[727]
Monumental Inscription to William Northcot	[727]
Translation	[727]
In Seditionem Horrendam	[727]
Translation	[727]
Motto on a Clock, with Translation by Hayley	[728]
A Simile Latinised	[728]
On the Loss of the Royal George	[728]
In Submersionem Navigii, cui Georgius Regale Nomen inditum	[728]
In Brevitatem Vitæ Spatii Hominibus concessi	[728]
On the Shortness of Human Life	[729]
The Lily and the Rose	[729]
Idem Latine redditum	[729]
The Poplar Field	[729]
Idem Latine redditum	[730]
Votum	[730]
Translation of Prior's Chloe and Euphelia	[730]
Verses to the Memory of Dr. Lloyd	[730]
The same in Latin	[730]
Papers, by Cowper, inserted in "The Connoisseur"	[731]

---

THE
LIFE OF COWPER.
PART THE FIRST.

The family of Cowper appears to have held, for several centuries, a respectable rank among the merchants and gentry of England. We learn from the life of the first Earl Cowper, in the Biographia Britannica, that his ancestors were inhabitants of Sussex, in the reign of Edward the Fourth. The name is found repeatedly among the sheriffs of London; and William Cowper, who resided as a country gentleman in Kent, was created a baronet by King Charles the First, in 1641.[3] But the family rose to higher distinction in the beginning of the last century, by the remarkable circumstance of producing two brothers, who both obtained a seat in the House of Peers by their eminence in the profession of the law. William, the elder, became Lord High Chancellor in 1707. Spencer Cowper, the younger, was appointed Chief Justice of Chester in 1717, and afterwards a Judge in the Court of Common Pleas, being permitted by the particular favour of the king to hold those two offices to the end of his life. He died in Lincoln's Inn, on the 10th of December, 1728, and has the higher claim to our notice as the immediate ancestor of the poet. By his first wife, Judith Pennington (whose exemplary character is still revered by her descendants), Judge Cowper left several children; among them a daughter, Judith, who at the age of eighteen discovered a striking talent for poetry, in the praise of her contemporary poets Pope and Hughes. This lady, the wife of Colonel Madan, transmitted her own poetical and devout spirit to her daughter Frances Maria, who was married to her cousin Major Cowper; the amiable character of Maria will unfold itself in the course of this work, as the friend and correspondent of her more eminent relation, the second grandchild of the Judge, destined to honour the name of Cowper, by displaying, with peculiar purity and fervour, the double enthusiasm of poetry and devotion. The father of the subject of the following pages was John Cowper, the Judge's second son, who took his degrees in divinity, was chaplain to King George the Second, and resided at his Rectory of Great Berkhamstead, in Hertfordshire, the scene of the poet's infancy, which he has thus commemorated in a singularly beautiful and pathetic composition on the portrait of his mother.

Where once we dwelt our name is heard no more;
Children not thine have trod my nursery floor:
And where the gard'ner Robin, day by day,
Drew me to school along the public way,
Delighted with my bauble coach, and wrapt
In scarlet mantle warm, and velvet-capt,
'Tis now become a history little known,
That once we call'd the past'ral house our own.
Short-liv'd possession! but the record fair
That memory keeps of all thy kindness there,
Still outlives many a storm, that has effac'd
A thousand other themes less deeply traced.
Thy nightly visits to my chamber made,
That thou might'st know me safe and warmly laid;
Thy morning bounties ere I left my home,
The biscuit or confectionary plum;
The fragrant waters on my cheeks bestowed
By thy own hand, till fresh they shone and glow'd;
All this, and, more endearing still than all,
Thy constant flow of love, that knew no fall;
Ne'er roughen'd by those cataracts and breaks
That humour interpos'd too often makes:
All this, still legible in memory's page,
And still to be so to my latest age,
Adds joy to duty, makes me glad to pay
Such honours to thee as my numbers may.

The parent, whose merits are so feelingly recorded by the filial tenderness of the poet, was Ann, daughter of Roger Donne, Esq., of Ludham Hall, in Norfolk. This lady, whose family is said to have been originally from Wales, was married in the bloom of youth to Dr. Cowper: after giving birth to several children, who died in their infancy, and leaving two sons, William, the immediate subject of this memorial, born at Berkhamstead on the 26th of November, 1731, and John (whose accomplishments and pious death will be described in the course of this compilation), she died in childbed, at the early age of thirty-four, in 1737. Those who delight in contemplating the best affections of our nature will ever admire the tender sensibility with which the poet has acknowledged his obligations to this amiable mother, in a poem composed more than fifty years after her decease. Readers of this description may find a pleasure in observing how the praise so liberally bestowed on this tender parent, at so late a period, is confirmed (if praise so unquestionable may be said to receive confirmation) by another poetical record of her merit, which the hand of affinity and affection bestowed upon her tomb—a record written at a time when the poet, who was destined to prove, in his advanced life, her most powerful eulogist, had hardly begun to show the dawn of that genius which, after many years of silent affliction, rose like a star emerging from tempestuous darkness.

The monument of Mrs. Cowper, erected by her husband in the chancel of St. Peter's church at Berkhamstead, contains the following verses, composed by a young lady, her niece, the late Lady Walsingham.

Here lies, in early years bereft of life,
The best of mothers, and the kindest wife:
Who neither knew nor practis'd any art,
Secure in all she wish'd, her husband's heart.
Her love to him, still prevalent in death,
Pray'd Heav'n to bless him with her latest breath.
Still was she studious never to offend,
And glad of an occasion to commend:
With ease would pardon injuries receiv'd,
Nor e'er was cheerful when another griev'd;
Despising state, with her own lot content,
Enjoy'd the comforts of a life well spent;
Resign'd, when Heaven demanded back her breath,
Her mind heroic 'midst the pangs of death.
Whoe'er thou art that dost this tomb draw near,
O stay awhile, and shed a friendly tear;
These lines, tho' weak, are as herself sincere.

The truth and tenderness of this epitaph will more than compensate with every candid reader the imperfection ascribed to it by its young and modest author. To have lost a parent of a character so virtuous and endearing, at an early period of his childhood, was the prime misfortune of Cowper, and what contributed perhaps in the highest degree to the dark colouring of his subsequent life. The influence of a good mother on the first years of her children, whether nature has given them peculiar strength or peculiar delicacy of frame, is equally inestimable. It is the prerogative and the felicity of such a mother to temper the arrogance of the strong, and to dissipate the timidity of the tender. The infancy of Cowper was delicate in no common degree, and his constitution discovered at a very early season that morbid tendency to diffidence, to melancholy and despair, which darkened as he advanced in years into periodical fits of the most deplorable depression.

The period having arrived for commencing his education, he was sent to a reputable school at Market-street, in Bedfordshire, under the care of Dr. Pitman, and it is probable that he was removed from it in consequence of an ocular complaint. From a circumstance which he relates of himself at that period, in a letter written in 1792, he seems to have been in danger of resembling Milton in the misfortune of blindness, as he resembled him, more happily, in the fervency of a devout and poetical spirit.

"I have been all my life," says Cowper, "subject to inflammations of the eye, and in my boyish days had specks on both, that threatened to cover them. My father, alarmed for the consequences, sent me to a female oculist of great renown at that time, in whose house I abode two years, but to no good purpose. From her I went to Westminster school, where, at the age of fourteen, the small-pox seized me, and proved the better oculist of the two, for it delivered me from them all: not however from great liableness to inflammation, to which I am in a degree still subject, though much less than formerly, since I have been constant in the use of a hot foot-bath every night, the last thing before going to rest."

It appears a strange process in education, to send a tender child, from a long residence in the house of a female oculist, immediately into all the hardships attendant on a public school. But the mother of Cowper was dead, and fathers, however excellent, are, in general, utterly incompetent to the management of their young and tender offspring. The little Cowper was sent to his first school in the year of his mother's death, and how ill-suited the scene was to his peculiar character is evident from the description of his sensations in that season of life, which is often, very erroneously, extolled as the happiest period of human existence. He has been frequently heard to lament the persecution he suffered in his childish years, from the cruelty of his schoolfellows, in the two scenes of his education. His own forcible expressions represented him at Westminster as not daring to raise his eye above the shoe-buckle of the elder boys, who were too apt to tyrannize over his gentle spirit. The acuteness of his feelings in his childhood, rendered those important years (which might have produced, under tender cultivation, a series of lively enjoyments) mournful periods of increasing timidity and depression. In the most cheerful hours of his advanced life, he could never advert to this season without shuddering at the recollection of its wretchedness. Yet to this perhaps the world is indebted for the pathetic and moral eloquence of those forcible admonitions to parents, which give interest and beauty to his admirable poem on public schools. Poets may be said to realize, in some measure, the poetical idea of the nightingale's singing with a thorn at her breast, as their most exquisite songs have often originated in the acuteness of their personal sufferings. Of this obvious truth, the poem just mentioned is a very memorable example; and, if any readers have thought the poet too severe in his strictures on that system of education, to which we owe some of the most accomplished characters that ever gave celebrity to a civilized nation, such readers will be candidly reconciled to that moral severity of reproof, in recollecting that it flowed from severe personal experience, united to the purest spirit of philanthropy and patriotism.

The relative merits of public and private education is a question that has long agitated the world. Each has its partizans, its advantages, and defects; and, like all general principles, its application must greatly depend on the circumstances of rank, future destination, and the peculiarities of character and temper. For the full development of the powers and faculties of the mind—for the acquisition of the various qualifications that fit men to sustain with brilliancy and distinction the duties of active life, whether in the cabinet, the senate, or the forum—for scenes of busy enterprize, where knowledge of the world and the growth of manly spirit seem indispensable; in all such cases, we are disposed to believe, that the palm must be assigned to public education.

But, on the other hand, if we reflect that brilliancy is oftentimes a flame which consumes its object, that knowledge of the world is, for the most part, but a knowledge of the evil that is in the world; and that early habits of extravagance and vice, which are ruinous in their results, are not unfrequently contracted at public schools; if to these facts we add that man is a candidate for immortality, and that "life" (as Sir William Temple observes) "is but the parenthesis of eternity," it then becomes a question of solemn import, whether integrity and principle do not find a soil more congenial for their growth in the shade and retirement of private education? The one is an advancement for time, the other for eternity. The former affords facilities for making men great, but often at the expense of happiness and conscience. The latter diminishes the temptations to vice, and, while it affords a field for useful and honourable exertion, augments the means of being wise and holy.

We leave the reader to decide the great problem for himself. That he may be enabled to form a right estimate, we would urge him to suffer time and eternity to pass in solemn and deliberate review before him.

That the public school was a scene by no means adapted to the sensitive mind of Cowper is evident. Nor can we avoid cherishing the apprehension that his spirit, naturally morbid, experienced a fatal inroad from that period. He nevertheless acquired the reputation of scholarship, with the advantage of being known and esteemed by some of the aspiring characters of his own age, who subsequently became distinguished in the great arena of public life.

With these acquisitions, he left Westminster at the age of eighteen, in 1749; and, as if destiny had determined that all his early situations in life should be peculiarly irksome to his delicate feelings, and tend rather to promote than to counteract his constitutional tendency to melancholy, he was removed from a public school to the office of an attorney. He resided three years in the house of a Mr. Chapman, to whom he was engaged by articles for that time. Here he was placed for the study of a profession which nature seemed resolved that he never should practise.

The law is a kind of soldiership, and, like the profession of arms, it may be said to require for the constitution of its heroes,

"A frame of adamant, a soul of fire."

The soul of Cowper had indeed its fire, but fire so refined and ethereal, that it could not be expected to shine in the gross atmosphere of worldly contention. Perhaps there never existed a mortal, who, possessing, with a good person, intellectual powers naturally strong and highly cultivated, was so utterly unfit to encounter the bustle and perplexities of public life. But the extreme modesty and shyness of his nature, which disqualified him for scenes of business and ambition, endeared him inexpressibly to those who had opportunities to enjoy his society, and discernment to appreciate the ripening excellences of his character.

Reserved as he was, to an extraordinary and painful degree, his heart and mind were yet admirably fashioned by nature for all the refined intercourse and confidential enjoyment both of friendship and love: but, though apparently formed to possess and to communicate an extraordinary portion of moral felicity, the incidents of his life were such, that, conspiring with the peculiarities of his nature, they rendered him, at different times, the victim of sorrow. The variety and depth of his sufferings in early life, from extreme tenderness of feeling, are very forcibly displayed in the following verses, which formed part of a letter to one of his female relatives, at the time they were composed. The letter has perished, and the verses owe their preservation to the affectionate memory of the lady to whom they were addressed.

Doom'd, as I am, in solitude to waste
The present moments, and regret the past;
Depriv'd of every joy I valued most,
My friend torn from me, and my mistress lost;
Call not this gloom I wear, this anxious mien,
The dull effect of humour or of spleen!
Still, still, I mourn, with each returning day,
Him[4] snatch'd by fate in early youth away;
And her[5]—thro' tedious years of doubt and pain,
Fix'd in her choice, and faithful—but in vain!
O prone to pity, generous, and sincere,
Whose eye ne'er yet refus'd the wretch a tear;
Whose heart the real claim of friendship knows,
Nor thinks a lover's are but fancied woes;
See me—ere yet my destin'd course half done,
Cast forth a wand'rer on a world unknown!
See me neglected on the world's rude coast,
Each dear companion of my voyage lost!
Nor ask why clouds of sorrow shade my brow,
And ready tears wait only leave to flow!
Why all that soothes a heart from anguish free,
All that delights the happy—palls with me!

Having concluded the term of his engagement with the solicitor, he settled himself in chambers in the Inner Temple, as a regular student of law; but, although he resided there till the age of thirty-three, he rambled (according to his own colloquial account of his early years) from the thorny road of his austere patroness, Jurisprudence, into the primrose paths of literature and poetry. During this period, he contributed two of the Satires in Duncombe's Horace, which are worthy of his pen, and indications of his rising genius. He also cultivated the friendship of some literary characters, who had been his schoolfellows at Westminster, particularly Colman, Bonnell Thornton, and Lloyd. Of these early associates of Cowper, it may be interesting to learn a brief history. Few men could have entered upon life with brighter prospects than Colman. His father was Envoy at the Court of Florence, and his mother was sister to the Countess of Bath. Possessed of talents that qualified him for exertion, with a classical taste perceptible in his translation of Horace's Art of Poetry, and of the works of Terence, he relinquished the bar, to which he had been called, and became principally known for his devotedness to theatrical pursuits. His private life was not consistent with the rules of morality; and he closed his days, after a protracted malady, by dying in a Lunatic Asylum in Paddington, in the year 1794.

To Bonnell Thornton, jointly with Colman, we owe the Connoisseur, to which Cowper contributed a few numbers. Thornton also united with Colman and Warner in a translation of Plautus. But his talents, instead of being profitably employed, were chiefly marked by a predilection for humour, in the exercise of which he was not very discreet; for the venerated muse of Gray did not escape his ridicule, and the celebrated Ode to St. Cecilia was made the occasion of a public burlesque performance, the relation of which would not accord with the design of this undertaking. He who aims at nothing better than to amuse and divert, and to excite a laugh at the expense of both taste and judgment, proposes to himself no very exalted object. Thornton died in the year 1770, aged forty-seven.

Lloyd was formerly usher at Westminster School, but feeling the irksomeness of the situation, resigned it, and commenced author. His Poems have been repeatedly re-published. His life presented a scene of thoughtless extravagance and dissipation. Overwhelmed with debt, and pursued by his creditors, he was at length confined in the Fleet Prison, where he expired, the victim of his excesses, at the early age of thirty-one years.

We record these facts,—1st. That we may adore that mercy which, by a timely interposition, rescued the future author of the Task from such impending ruin:—2ndly, To show that scenes of gaiety and dissipation, however enlivened by flashes of wit, and distinguished by literary superiority, are perilous to character, health, and fortune; and that the talents, which, if beneficially employed, might have led to happiness and honour, when perverted to unworthy ends, often lead prematurely to the grave, or render the past painful in the retrospect, and the future the subject of fearful anticipation and alarm.

Happily, Cowper escaped from this vortex of misery and ruin. His juvenile poems discover a contemplative spirit, and a mind early impressed with sentiments of piety. In proof of this assertion, we select a few stanzas from an ode written, when he was very young, on reading Sir Charles Grandison.

To rescue from the tyrant's sword
The oppress'd;—unseen, and unimplor'd,
To cheer the face of woe;
From lawless insult to defend
An orphan's right—a fallen friend,
And a forgiven foe:

These, these, distinguish from the crowd,
And these alone, the great and good,
The guardians of mankind.
Whose bosoms with these virtues heave,
Oh! with what matchless speed, they leave
The multitude behind!

Then ask ye from what cause on earth
Virtues like these derive their birth?
Derived from Heaven alone,
Full on that favour'd breast they shine,
Where faith and resignation join
To call the blessing down.

Such is that heart:—but while the Muse
Thy theme, O Richardson, pursues,
Her feebler spirits faint:
She cannot reach, and would not wrong,
That subject for an angel's song,
The hero, and the saint.

His early turn to moralize on the slightest occasion will appear from the following verses, which he wrote at the age of eighteen; and in which those who love to trace the rise and progress of genius will, I think, be pleased to remark the very promising seeds of those peculiar powers, which unfolded themselves in the richest maturity at a remoter period, and rendered that beautiful and sublime poem, The Task, the most instructive and interesting of modern compositions. Young as the poet was when he produced the following lines, we may observe that he had probably been four years in the habit of writing English verse, as he has said in one of his letters, that he began his poetical career at the age of fourteen, by translating an elegy of Tibullus. I have reason to believe that he wrote many poems in his early life; and the singular merit of this juvenile composition is sufficient to make the friends of genius regret that an excess of diffidence prevented him from preserving the poetry of his youth.