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

by William Cowper

[247] He alludes to the new mode of franking.

[248] We subjoin the following note of Hayley on this subject: "Having enjoyed in the year 1772 the pleasure of conversing with this illustrious seaman, on board his own ship the Resolution, I cannot pass the present letter without observing, that I am persuaded my friend Cowper utterly misapprehended the behaviour of Captain Cook in the affair alluded to. From the little personal acquaintance which I had myself with this humane and truly Christian navigator, and from the whole tenor of his life, I cannot believe it possible for him to have acted, under any circumstances, with such impious arrogance as might appear offensive in the eyes of the Almighty."

[249] Tirocinium. See Poems.

[250] Private correspondence.

[251] Private correspondence.

[252] Tirocinium.

[253] See p. 145.

[254] See Life and Writings of Edward Gibbon, p. 30, prefixed to his "Decline and Fall," &c.

[255] See Pope's Letters.

[256] Private correspondence.