FLETCHER’S long seclusion from public life is well described in two lines of the poet Thompson:

“Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,

Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven.”

The four and a-half years, during which he was away from Madeley, were spent in great weakness, but not in idleness. To say nothing of the works he published, while he remained in England, namely, his “Answer to the Rev. Mr. Toplady’s ‘Vindication of the Divine Decrees;’” his “Vindication of the Rev. Mr. Wesley’s ‘Calm Address to our American Colonies;’” his “American Patriotism;” his “Doctrines of Grace and Justice;” and his “Plan of Reconciliation;” he was employed, whilst in Switzerland, upon two of the most remarkable productions of his fertile genius.

The first was a poem, in the French language, and was published in Geneva, with the title “La Louange;”—a paraphrastic expansion of Psalm cxlviii. The work was conceived in England, but was written in Switzerland. Fletcher says he “was favoured with the critical remarks of many persons distinguished for their learning, taste, and the works with which they had enriched the Church, and the Republic of Letters. At the end of certain Cantos, are Notes, or small Dissertations, serving to explain, or illustrate, some of the truths inserted in the body of the work.” According to the custom of the country and the age, before the book could be published, it had to be submitted to an official appointed to read manuscripts, previous to their being printed; and the following was the approbation given to Fletcher’s Poem:—

“I have read this work, which, in my judgment, everywhere breathes Piety, Faith, and Christian Charity.

“De Bons, Censeur.”

After his return to England, Fletcher enlarged the work, and, in 1785, published an edition, still in the French language, with the title:—“La Grace et la Nature, Poëme—Seconde Edition plus compléte. A Londre. De l’Imprimerie de R. Hindmarsh, Clerkenwell Close; Chez T. Longman, dans Paternoster Row; à Dublin Chez J. Charrnier, dans Kapel Street; et près du Pont de fer, in Shropshire, 1785,” 8vo 442 pp. By permission, the book was dedicated, “A la Reine de la Grande Bretagne.” The dedication, dated “à Madeley près de Coalbrook-dale, dans la Comté de Salop, le 6 de Sept. 1784,” was characteristic, and as follows:—

“Madam,—The parish, which, in the centre of your kingdom, produced an iron bridge,[[496]] being always fruitful in singularities, has now produced a French poem: His Majesty gave a favourable reception to the model of our bridge, and will Your Majesty refuse the dedication of our poem? The solidity of an iron bridge sustained by two rocks renders useless the support of a Royal hand; but a work on devotion has not the same solidity.

“A French Poem in England will always require support; but, if the subject be religious, a powerful protection becomes doubly necessary; and where can I find, among mortals, a more firm security than your august name? Your court, Madam, admits the French language; your generous heart cherishes moral virtues; your exalted mind is pleased to encourage the cultivation of the fine Arts, among which poetry occupies the first rank. And, if a Queen of England permitted Voltaire to dedicate to her the praises of a French Monarch,[[497]] your piety, Madam, will not refuse those of the King of kings, celebrated in a poem, which has for its argument the divine song of a Sovereign, and the third Canto of which regards Kings and Princes.