Page 37. H. xlvi. was written at Dr. Cotton's, whilst he was recovering from his first attack. H. xlvii. was written when he was on the point of leaving Dr. Cotton's, and forming the resolution not to return to London. Page 49. On TABLE TALK, see Memoir, p. xlvi. It was begun at the end of 1780. Though not first written, it was placed first, because it had less of religion than the rest of the larger poems, and he wished not to discourage readers by beginning too seriously. "I am merry," he writes, "that I may decoy people into my company; and grave, that they may be the better for it." 1 6. There was a very old but erroneous idea that lightning will not strike laurel. The Emperor Tiberius used to wear a wreath of it when a thunderstorm threatened. Byron cleverly throws a symbolical meaning into this notion : For the true laurel-wreath which glory weaves Childe Harold, iv. 41. 13-46. These lines were added by the author after the MS. had been sent to the printer. 1. 29. The author is writing generally, but probably he has Frederick the Great in his mind especially. Page 50, 165-82. Intended as a description of George III. 183. See Macaulay's Essays, i. 279-281. Page 51, 193. Quevedo de Villagas died at Madrid in 1635, aged 65. His "Visions of Hell" have been translated into English. 7110. A quit-rent was the nominal rent (it might be a handful of corn, or a peppercorn, or a flower) by the payment of which the tenant of an old manor was able to go quiet and free. The satire of this and the following lines will be abundantly illustrated by the Poetical pages of any old magazine. Page 52, 182. Francis, third and last Duke of Bridgewater, is called the father of British internal navigation. He was living quietly at a retired country house at Worsley, near Manchester, when his attention was called to the difficulties of transporting the coal of which the surrounding soil was full. He met with James Brindley, who undertook to make a canal to Manchester, and with great engineering skill, backed by brave support from the Duke, he accomplished the design in 1760. Six years later, Brindley began the "Grand Trunk Canal" from the Trent to the Mersey, and before his death in 1772 drew the plan for the Oxfordshire Canal, connecting the Trent with the Thames. (Mahon's History, ch. xli.) Page 53, 192. "When admirals," &c. Probably referring to Admiral Keppel. For an Page 53, 237. "Frisk, a frolic-an act of wanton gaiety." (Johnson.) Compare these lines with the events nine years later. 7318. The Gordon riots of 1780. Mahon, vi. 23. / 339. Chatham died May 11, 1778. Page 56, 361. "Subserviency," obedience to God's will. The unfavourable meaning which we now almost invariably give this word is not found in Johnson's Dictionary. 7362. This alludes to the "Armed Neutrality" of 1780, an alliance between Russia, Sweden, and Denmark (afterwards joined by Prussia and Holland), to maintain, in opposition to the principles of British maritime law and the decisions of her Admiralty courts, that neutral ships make free goods. England thus stood at bay against all the nations of Europe as well as against her insurgent colonies in America. But the combination wrought her but slight injury. See Lord Stanhope's History of England, chaps. lxii. and lxiii. 384. John Brown, D.D., Vicar of Newcastle-on-Tyne, a voluminous writer, popular in his time, but now forgotten. The work here referred to, "An Estimate of the Manners and Principles of the Time," made a vast sensation when it appeared, and went through many editions. He depicts England as sunk into a hopeless condition, and at the point of utter ruin as a nation. The rest of George the Second's reign, from the very year of this publication, is a chronicle of glorious victories both by land and sea, planned and executed by the genius of Chatham. See Macaulay's Essays, i. 307. Page 58,500. "The graceful name," i.e. Vates. Page 59, 509. Southey says that this was the custom still at Westminster School in his time. But I believe it is so no longer. The head-master was sub-almoner to the Queen, and used to present the good boys with Maundy money. 7 519: Morris-dance," a corruption of "Moorish dance,' a fantastic performance, accompanied with the sound of bells and waving of ribbons. " 7527. The following description is taken from Northouck's History of London (1773):-"The dial of the clock projects over the street at the extremity of a beam; and over it by a kind of whimsical conceit, calculated only for the amusement of countrymen and children, is an Ionic porch, containing the figures of two savages, carved and painted, as big as life, which with knotted clubs alternately strike the hours and quarters on two bells hung between them." The church was rebuilt in 1831, and the figures LL 2 were not restored. They now ornament a house near the Regent's Park. "Pounce," to seize with the The expression, pounce Page 59, Z 553. pounces or talons. upon," is quite modern. 66 Page 60, 559. This is borrowed from Dryden's Epigram on Milton, Globe Edition, p. 652. 566. The ancients believed that, during the seven days before, and the seven after the shortest day, the halcyon, or kingfisher, was breeding on the waters, and that during that time there was always calm at sea. 7603. The thyrsus was a staff bound round with ivy and vine leaves, supposed to be borne by Bacchus. Page 62, 1670. See Memoir, p. xxv. Page 63, 716. This thought was suggested to him by reading Johnson's "Lives of the Poets." He says in a letter that it was a melancholy reflection, forced upon him by that work, that nearly all poets were wicked men. 1760. Sternhold and Hopkins, authors of the "Old Version" of the Psalms, middle of 16th century. Page 64. THE PROGRESS OF ERROR was the first written of this series of Poems. See Memoir, p. xlv. Its versification is harsh, but it is full of pithy sayings. Page 66,194." Tumbrel, a dung-cart." (Johnson.) / 121. Monmouth Street, in St. Giles', was chiefly occupied by old clothes shops. 124. All the commentators have taken “Occiduus to be a punning nickname for Wesley. If this is so, it must have been Charles. The proceedings here satirized seem altogether at variance with what we know of John Wesley. But Charles was cheerful and joyous in his habits, and his musical talents were very great. It is, therefore, most likely that it is really he who is the subject of this satire, though I have failed to find any direct evidence of it. Mr. Bruce had seen a copy of the poems, belonging to Mr. Gough, annotated by some neighbours of Cowper, in which it was stated that "Occiduus' was a clergyman near Olney. A letter of Cowper to Newton, dated Sept. 9, 1781, speaks of this matter further, but without enlightening us as to the name. Page 67, 156. Is. lviii. 13, lvi. 2, 6. Page 70, 1332. "Quarry, game flown at by a hawk. (Johnson.) i 336. Lord Chesterfield, who is referred to here under the name of "Petronius," resigned the office of Secretary of State in 1748. Three years after he proposed and carried the Reform of the Calendar. This was his last public work he became deaf, and retired into private life. During this time he wrote his Letters to his Son," Philip, born illegitimately in 1732. The latter, however, died in 1768, leaving his father to languish cheerlessly for five years longer. On the old man's death, Philip Stanhope's widow published the whole correspondence. "It had appeared, on the death of Chesterfield's son, that he had secretly married without his father's consent, or even knowledge; and the widow, upon Chesterfield's own demise, published for profit the whole correspondence of the Earl with her late husband;-a correspondence written in the closest confidence and unreserve, and without the slightest idea of ever meeting the public eye. It is, however, by these Letters that Chesterfield's character, as an author, must stand or fall. Viewed as composition, they appear almost unrivalled as models for a serious epistolary style, clear, elegant, and terse, never straining at effect, and yet never hurried into carelessness. While constantly urging the same topics, so great is their variety of argument and illustration that, in one sense, they appear always different, in another sense, always the same. They have already incurred strong reprehension on two separate grounds: first because some of their maxims are repugnant to good morals; and secondly, as insisting too much on manners and graces, instead of more solid acquirements. On the first charge I have no defence to offer; but the second is certainly erroneous, and arises only from the idea and expectation of finding a general system of education in letters that were intended solely for the improvement of one man. Young Stanhope was sufficiently inclined to study, and imbued with knowledge; the difficulty lay in his awkward address and indifference to pleasing. It is against these faults, therefore, and these faults only, that Chesterfield points his battery of eloquence. Had he found his son, on the contrary, a graceful but superficial trifler, his Letters would no doubt have urged, with equal zeal, how vain are all accomplishments when not supported by sterling information. In one word, he intended to write for Mr. Philip Stanhope, and not for any other person. And yet even after this great deduction from general utility, it was still the opinion of a most eminent man, no friend of Chesterfield, and no proficient in the graces-the opinion of Dr. Johnson-Take out the immorality, and the book should be put into the hands of every young gentleman." (Lord Stanhope, iii. p. 360.) Page 71, 373. This couplet originally stood, "With memorandum book to minute down The several posts, and where the chain broke down." He saw the oversight of making "down" rhyme to itself in correcting the proof. "This," he said, is not only down, but down derry-down.' Page 72, 441. Wheels were greased with tar in Cowper's time. Coachmen used to carry it with them. 7 490. Another attack on his cousin, Madan, whom he had already vituperated in Antithelyphthora. See Memoir, p. xliii. Page 73,485. Antony von Leuwenhoek, born at Delft, 1632, and died there, 1723. Remarkable for his skill with the microscope, which made him also a good physiologist; and some of his discoveries were of great importance. His works occupy four 4to. vols. Page 74,526. Pygmalion, a celebrated statuary of Cyprus, chiselled a statue of such exquisite beauty that he fell in love with it, and Venus, at his earnest request, endowed it with life. He married it, and became the father of Paphus, the founder of the city of that name in Cyprus. Page 76. fear that this poem would give offence to "unenlightened readers" which induced him to ask Newton to write his Preface. TRUTH. It was the Author's Page 78, 183. Adust," burnt, scorched. 7 119. Spencer Cowper, son of the Lord Chancellor, Dean of Durham 1745-1774. The poet says he errs as to the fact. And the second, I am told, is not at all a description of the olive. Its small clustering berries grow sessile along the branches. The line is a mistaken gloss on Isaiah xxiv. 13. Page 83, 1378. "And one who," &c. The Earl of Dartmouth, the patron of Olney, and a fast friend of Newton. Page 87. On EXPOSTULATION, see Memoir, p. xliv. Page 88, 133. Page 91, 190. Page 92, 1 246. Peeled," plundered. So in Milton, "Paradise Regained." Jer. ix. 1. Page 93, 1283. Cowper, though professedly a Whig, always regarded the Americans as rebels, and believed that George III. was right in his persistent endeavours to conquer them. 7 292. Various naval engagements were fought in 1780, with great bravery, but indeSuch were Rodney's in the West Indies, April 17; Parker's, off the Dogger Bank; and Graves', with the French, in the Chesapeake. See Lord Stanhope's Hist., chaps. lxii. lxiii. cisive results. Second stall," because the first was the Bishop's. There is an uninteresting pamphlet by him in the British Museum, and a volume of good Sermons on Church Festivals, the following extract from which will show that he was no Calvinist : "That predestination to eternal life is the arbitrary choice of a despotic Power determined by no rule, but that of an uncontrollable will, and independent of any preceding merit or worth in the persons so predestined, is a doctrine unworthy of God, and destructive of all moral goodness." / 131. This description is a description, to the minutest detail, of the two prominent figures in Hogarth's "Morning." Page 80, 201. Geta is a laughter-moving servant in Terence's two plays Adelphi and Phormio. Page 82,311. This was in Feb. 1778. "Nobles disguised themselves as tavern-waiters to obtain sight of him: the loveliest of France would lay their hair beneath his feet. His chariot is the nucleus of a comet whose train filled whole streets they crown him in the theatre, with immortal vivats; finally stifle him under roses, for old Richelieu recommended opium in such state of the nerves, and the excessive patriarch took too much." (Carlyle's French Revolution.) Page 83, 358. Dr. Richard Conyers, Rector of St. Paul's, Deptford, was the brotherin-law of Thornton, and was the means of introducing Newton to Cowper. (Memoir, p. xxxvi.) It is needless to add that he was a zealous evangelical preacher. Il 364 and 379- In these two lines the poet has broken through one of his own canons, and, venturing out of England, has tried to describe what he has never seen. In the first line 7 293 On the violence of the political strifes of that time, see the opening of ch. lxi. of Lord Stanhope. Mean, shabby, pitiful, and unwarrantable," were epithets used by one speaker in the House of Lords. 7309. The National Debt was nearly doubled during the American War. In 1775 it was £124,000,000; in 1783, £238,000,000. But it is now £740,000,000. Page 95, 374. "Trucked," trafficked away. 7376. The Test Act was passed in 1673, with a view of excluding Papists from power. Under its provisions, al persons holding any position of trust, civil or military, or admitted of the Royal Household, were to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, according to the usage of the Church of England, declaring at the same time that they had no belief in Transubstantiation. One therefore meets in the newspapers of that day with notices like this: Yesterday his Royal Highness Prince Frederick received the Communion, having been appointed Ranger of Richmond Park. The Act was repealed in 1828. The bishop here referred to is Warburton (Gloucester 1760-1779); and the works, Essays "On the Alliance between Church and State," and "The Necessity and Equity of a Test Law." After 7390. At the first printing of these Poems, the following passage followed / 389. the edition was printed off, the author came to the conclusion that it was objectionable, and finding Newton agreeing with him, had the leaf cancelled, and substituted lines 390-413 for the omitted passage. I have a copy of the first edition lying before me, with the cancel perfectly visible. A few copies are in existence, containing both the cancelled leaf and that substituted for it. Here is the passage. Few will doubt that the second thoughts were best, though there are modern editions in which the passage is reprehensibly retained, without a word about the author's omission of it : Hast thou admitted with a blind, fond trust, Their souls to heav'n and cursed them as they went? The lie that claps a lock on mercy's plan, Is deitied and sits omniscient there; The lie that knows no kindred, owns no friend And thrusts the truth with scorn and anger by ; Page 96, 423. Jude, verse 7. Page 97, 480. The absurdity of the idea that the Latin element in our tongue comes from the Roman occupation of Britain needs no comment. Cowper knew almost nothing of history. He seems, further on, to think that Woden and Thor were British deities. 7517. "Which may be found at Doctors' Commons," Cowper adds in a note. Page 98, 550. Alluding to the reign of Charles II. See Macaulay's Hist. ch. iii.. "State of the Navy." Z 574. Prince Charles's march to Derby. 7 598. "That immortal plain," namely, Runnymede. The barons there surpassed Phoebus, because he found only a laurel instead of the nymph Daphne; they gained both the laurel of victory, and the liberty which was the subject of the warfare. Page 101, 694. See note on p. 56, 7 362. Page 103, 46. "Tilth," tillage, husbandry (Shakspeare and others). Page 106, 205. On Dr. Cotton, see Memoir, p. xxx. He died in extreme old age, in 1788. Page 110, 459. Cowper has this note: "The Moravian Missionaries in Greenland. Vide Krantz." The work thus referred to is the English translation, by La Trobe, of David Krantz's "History of the Moravian Brethren," published in 1780. A copy of this work lies before us; and we extract from it the passage referred to: "The second mission was undertaken on the 19th of January, 1733, to Greenland. The brethren, Christian David, Matthew Stach, and Christian Stach, having met with many friends and patrons at Copenhagen, set sail on the 10th of April. Soon after their arrival, on the 20th of May, they built a house not far from the Colony of Godhaab. They endeavoured to learn the language, and to enter into a useful intercourse with the heathen, but met with many difficulties; among which, that which seemed the most distressing was, that almost all the Greenlanders of that district had been carried off by the small-pox. In the year 1734 they received two assistants, and agreed with one another that they would faithfully hold out, in hunger and distress, by hard and hazardous labour, amidst contempt on all sides, in danger of life among the incensed savages, by a supposed desertion of their friends at Copenhagen, by an apparent unfruitfulness, nay, impossibility of access to the hearts of the heathen, and in many other hardships and difficulties attending the mission in the first years. They had, indeed, the joy of baptizing, in the year 1739, the firstfruits, Samuel Kajarnak, and family; but he was soon obliged to flee from murderers. Yet he returned again in the year 1740, and drew many Greenlanders after him, to whom he, on his flight, had preached the gospel. A great awakening arose, soon after, among the Greenlanders; and in a few years the congregation of the baptized, regulated so orderly as could hardly have been thought possible among savages, increased to such a degree that they were obliged to think of a second congregation from among the heathen, which in 1758 was begun at Fishers' Bay, and which is yet flourishing." The whole history of this mission, as well as that of the same body to the West Indies, is one of the most self-denying and beautiful on record. It was this which made Greenland a Christian country. Page 112, 554. “ Leuconomus,” George Whitefield. Born at Gloucester, Dec. 1714; educated at Oxford; ordained 1736, and immediately became famous as a preacher. He could be heard, it is said, at a mile distance (Eng. Cyclopædia). Was a most intimate friend of the Wesleys, both at Oxford and afterwards, until he quarrelled with them on the question of predestination, Whitefield taking Calvinistic views. The personal breach soon healed, but from that time they never worked in concert again. He died at Boston, in America, Dec. 1770. Page 116, 754. The last lines, in all proba2 bility, refer to Newton. Page 117. CHARITY may be said to complete the series of "Christian Poems.' It was written in a fortnight, and completed on the 12th of July, 1781. 23. Captain Cook was killed at Owhyee (Hawaii), Feb. 14, 1779, and the news was received in England with profound grief. Page 117, ll 51-64. There is confusion in Cowper's historical memory here. Cortez conquered Mexico in 1519-20, and therefore in the reign, not of Philip, but of Charles V. In the course of the war, the Mexican king, Montezuma, in trying to persuade his subjects to submit to the conquest which he saw to be inevitable, was mortally wounded by them, to the great chagrin of Cortez. In his last hours, we are told, "Cortez joined with Father Bartholomew in persuading him renounce his idolatry; but all their arguments were to no purpose, and he expired, after having conjured the general to avenge his death." Francis Pizarro, in 1531, achieved the conquest of Peru. By acts of treachery unparalleled even by Spaniards, he gained possession of the Inca, Atahualpa, and having led him to pay an enormous ransom, had him tried by Father Vincent for idolatry, avarice (!), and other offences. He was condemned to be burnt alive. The pious priest afterwards "undertook the Inca's conversion ; and his arguments were worthy of himself. He promised that if he would die a Christian, instead of being burned, he should be only strangled, which had the desired effect, and, to the eternal dishonour of all concerned in this iniquitous proceeding, he was baptized in the evening and strangled next morning." 166. Is. xiv. 10, II. 230. Is. lxvi. 3. 1253. Thornton. See Memoir, xxiii. note. Il 290-311. John Howard, born in London, 1726. After the earthquake at Lisbon, he determined, being a rich man, to go thither to help the sufferers, but was captured by a French privateer. The sights which he saw in the prison helped to shape his future career of philanthropy. A few years later he visited the town and country jails in England and Wales, and laid a report before the House of Commons. Afterwards (in 1777) he published his "Account of the State of Prisons," astonishing the world by the value of his researches, by his prodigious labour, hazard, and self-devotion. He was immediately felt to be not only one of the greatest, but one of the noblest characters of the age. In the same pious iabour he then visited the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Portugal. Dangers or disgust never turned him from his path: he visited Constantinople and Smyrna because they were plaguestricken, and he desired to know the state of the lazarettos. Pushing eastwards, he was seized with fever in the Crimea, and died at Cherson in 1790. Page 125, 432. 1 Cor. xiii. Page 126, 1499. Page 129. CONVERSATION was originally intended for the introduction to a second volume. "I am in the middle of an affair called Conversation,' which, as Table Talk' serves in the present volume by way of introductory fiddle, I design shall perform the same office in a second." (letter to Newton.) Page 130, 57- Vestris was an Italian stagedancer of wonderful skill. He took a farewell of the stage in 1781, and was succeeded by his son. Page 133, 198. Dares was one of the companions of Æneas, and Entellus a Sicilian. The fierce combat between these two pugilists is described in the Æneid, v. 362-472 Page 134, 243. Guy is supposed to have flourished in the reign of Æthelstan, and, besides many victories over dragons, he is said to have decided the fate of the kingdom by fighting an enormous Danish giant on Magdalen Hill, near Winchester. Page 135, 299. "Budge," i. e. wearing a fur robe to look like a philosopher. Cp. Comus, 1. 707. Page 136, 352. "Il n'est jamais plus difficile de bien parler que quand on a honte de se taire.' (Rochefoucauld.) 7358. There was an idea that the ancients had the art of making lamps which would burn for a thousand years, and placed them in sepulchres. Page 139, 505. Luke xxiv. 13-31. 'Exact, v. n., to practise extortion." (Johnson.) So in Ps. lxxx. 22. Page 140,590. "Fixed fee-simple," exclusive possession. Page 145, 824. Allusion to the profane orgies of Medmenham Abbey. A picture is still in existence in which the chief actor in these evil deeds, Sir F. Dashwood, is represented as adoring the Venus de Medici. See Mahon's Hist., ch. xxxvii. / 850. 1 Kings xviii. 21. Page 147. RETIREMENT. My view, in choosing this subject, is to direct to the proper use of the opportunities it affords for the cultivation of a man's best interests; to censure the vices and follies which people carry with them into their retreats, where they make no other use of their leisure than to gratify themselves with the indulgence of their favourite appetites, and to pay themselves, by a life of pleasure, for a life of business." (Letter to Newton.) Page 149, 106. In the first two editions formed this line ran, "Whatever is, seems |