TO SAMUEL ROSE, ESQ.
Weston, Sept. 24, 1789.
My dear Friend,—You left us exactly at the wrong time: had you stayed till now, you would have had the pleasure of hearing even my cousin say—"I am cold,"—and the still greater pleasure of being warm yourself; for I have had a fire in the study ever since you went. It is the fault of our summers that they are hardly ever warm or cold enough. Were they warmer we should not want a fire, and were they colder we should have one.
I have twice seen and conversed with Mr. J——; he is witty, intelligent, and agreeable beyond the common measure of men who are so. But it is the constant effect of a spirit of party to make those hateful to each other who are truly amiable in themselves.
Beau sends his love; he was melancholy the whole day after your departure.
W. C.
The power of poetry to embellish the most simple incident is pleasingly evinced in the following letter, by the Homeric muse of Cowper.