[540] This enigma is explained in a subsequent letter.
[541] Private correspondence.
[542] The Dutch minister here mentioned, was Mr. Van Lier, who recorded the remarkable account of the great spiritual change produced in his mind, by reading the works of Mr. Newton. The letters were written in Latin, and translated by Cowper, at the request of his clerical friend.
[543] Professor Martyn lived to an advanced old age, endeared to his family, respected and esteemed by the public, and supported in his last momenta by the consolations and hopes of the gospel.
[544] At Chillington, Bucks.
[545] Dr. Lewis Bagot, previously Bishop of Norwich.
[546] The distinctions of rank were abolished during the French Revolution, and the title of citizen considered to be the only legal and honourable appellation.
[547] Private correspondence.
[548] This title was not long merited.
[549] Dr. Donne, Dean of St. Paul's, and Chaplain to King James the First, belonged to that class of writers, whom Johnson, in his Life of Cowley, describes as metaphysical poets. Their great object seemed to be to display their wit and learning, and to astonish by what was brilliant, rather than to please by what was natural and simple. Notwithstanding this defect, the poetry of Donne, though harsh and unmusical, abounds in powerful thoughts, and discovers a considerable share of learning. His divinity was drawn from the pure fountain of Revelation, of which he drank copiously and freely. Of his fervent zeal and piety, many instances are recorded in that inimitable piece of biography, Izaak Walton's Lives. We subjoin a specimen of his poetry, composed during a severe fit of sickness, and which, on his recovery, was set to music, and used to be often sung to the organ by the choristers of St. Paul's, in his own hearing.