Page 329. To Sir F. Reynolds. (PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.) The author intended to place this in his first volume, but its prediction being falsified by the miscarriage of the royal cause in America, he threw it aside. "It was produced," he says, "by the successes we met with about three years ago. But, unhappily, the ardour I felt upon the occasion, disdaining to be confined within the bounds of fact, pushed me upon uniting the prophetical with the poetical character, and defeated its own purpose." "Iberia is Spain.

Page 330 Impromptu. (GENI. Mag., 1781. Said there to be "by a gentleman.") Sent in a letter to Newton.

On a Review. Also sent to Newton, and first published in Cowper's Letters. The Review here referred to was the Monthly; the article was written by a Mr. Badcock.

On Madan's Answer. In a letter to Newton, May 13, 1781. A great portion of the third volume of Madan's book is occupied with replying to Newton's comments.

Antithelyphthora. See Memoir, p. xliii.

Page 335. Love abused. (HAYLEY, V. 261.) The thought was, of course, suggested by Thelyphthora.

were

In seditionem horrendam. (H. i. 250.) Cowper had read in the newspaper the foolish suggestion that the Gordon riots really planned by France, and set on foot with French bribes. It is a pity he gave another thought to such an absurd surmise. But the wickedness of the plot so horrified him that he wrote these verses. He always wrote verses, he says, when violently moved, because his prose was apt, under such circumstances, to be ". verbose, inflated, and disgusting."

Page 336. A Card. Vestris, as we have elsewhere said, was a celebrated dancer of the time. The present poem was written when he took leave of the stage in favour of his son, being unable to perform as heretofore. The lines were sent to Unwin, Feb. 27, 1781.

On the High Price, &c. Sent in a letter to Newton. The cocoa-nuts were naught indeed: they contained nothing but a putrid liquor, with a round white lump, which in taste and substance much resembled tallow, and was of the size of a small walnut."

Page 337. (HAYLEY, ii. 3.) Written soon after the acquaintance with Lady Austen began. See Memoir, p. 1.

Page 338. Silver-End," a part of Olney adjoining Cowper's residence.

Sancerre," Lady Austen's residence in

France.

Page 339. The Flatting Mill. (JOHNSON'S COWPER, 1815.) Written in Dec. 1781, and intended for the first volume of poems, but omitted by Newton's advice.

Page 340. (JOHNSON'S COWPER.) Enclosed in a letter.

The simile which Cowper has here latinised was by the Curate of Olney, as Cowper tells Unwin in the letter which contained it.

Page 341. The note from Cowper, at the bottom of the page, is addressed to Unwin. The original copy is in the British Museum. The Latin verses were by Dr. Vincent, who succeeded Lloyd, and was afterwards head-master.

Page 342. This poem also was intended for the first volume, but Johnson did not like it. "I shall not bumble him for finding fault with it," said Cowper (Dec. 31, 1781), "though I have a better opinion of it myself." (First pubblished by Bull, with the translations from Madame Guyon. Hayley printed another version, differing in many places from the present; and among the Unwin MSS. in the Brit. Mus. is a third. It shows how much labour the Poet bestowed on his work.)

Page 343, col. 2. "Tattlers." Prov. xvi. 28. "Hand-in-Hand insurance plates." The "Hand-in-Hand," which still issues these plates, is the oldest of the insurance companies, dating. from 1696.

Page 344. "The Chymist's Golden Dream," Alchemy.

Page 345. To Lady Austen. (HAYLEY, ii. 18.) The benevolent plans of Lady Austen to dispel Cowper's melancholy led her to present him with a small printing-press. During a flood which prevented intercourse between Clifton and Olney, he wrote these lines, printed them himself, and sent them to her.

Page 346. The Colubriad. (HAYLEY ii. 49.) "Colubriad" is from "coluber," a snake. The circumstance is described in a letter to Unwin, Aug. 3, 1782. Count de Grasse was the French admiral defeated by Lord Rodney, in April 1782. The present comparison was no doubt suggested by the caricatures of him which were in circulation at this time.

Page 347. The young lady to whom the cockscombs were sent was, according to Mr. Bruce, Miss Green, Lady Austen's niece. Except in the Aldine edition, these verses have not been printed before. Their appearance in the present edition is explained in the Preface, p. xix. There are a few variations between our copy and the Aldine.

The Songs (HAYLEY, ii. 51) were written for Lady Austen to sing to airs which she was accustomed to play on the harpsichord.

Page 348. (H. ii. 53. The original MS. of the poem, and the Latin translation which follows it, are in the Brit. Mus.) Written for the same purpose as the preceding. Cowper did not like the metre which the air compelled him to use; but, by common consent, he has

produced one of the noblest songs in the language. The sad event occurred on the 12th of August, 1782. The editor has heard his grandfather, who was one of the witnesses, describe it. It is well described by Lord Stanhope, ch. lxvi.

Page 349 This humorous piece was discovered by Hayley, rolled up with the MSS. of the other songs written at Lady Austen's request, as if the author wished to lay aside, but not to destroy, the memories of their friendship. Written 1783. Clifton Reynes was about a mile from Olney, the residence of Mr. Jones, Lady Austen's brother-in-law.

Page 351. In Brevitatem, &c., with Translation. (HAYLEY, ii. 157.) Enclosed in a letter to Newton, Jan. 24, 1784, prefaced by the following jingle :

"The late Dr. Jortin

Had the good fortune
To write these verses
Upon tombs and hearses;
Which I, being jinglish,
Have done into English."

Page 352. The circumstances which produced this effusion are recorded in the Memoir, p. xlix. The verses were sent to Unwin, November 10, 1783, with no other injunction than that he was not to print them. Hayley printed the latter portion (from the top of p. 353). After the death of Thurlow (Colman had died in 1794), there was no reason for suppressing the remainder.

Page 354. (BULL.) This lady was a Mrs. Billacoys.

Page 355. To the Immortal, &c. (PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.) Sent in a letter to Unwin, April 25, 1784.

To a Lady. Printed here for the first time. Of great interest, as being the verses which led Lady Austen to think that Cowper loved her. See Memoir, p. liv.

Page 356. The poem at the top is here placed for the first time among Cowper's Poems. It appeared in the Record newspaper of Feb. 20, 1867, and was sent by a correspondent who copied it from the poet's MS.

In 1784 Newton published his Apologia, a defence of his position as a clergyman of the Established Church. A reply soon followed, entitled An Apology for Protestant Dissenters. This was noticed in the Monthly Review, in which the critic said :--" In reply to Mr. Newton's fourth argument, in which he pleads, in the usual cant of these Reformers," &c. Monthly Review was then read at Olney, passing from hand to hand in a small circle of friends. Cowper being of the number, he marked his disapprobation of the sentiment, and his regard for Newton, by writing these lines on the offensive page.

The

Epitaph on Johnson (H. ii. 275), written

January 15, 1785, just a month after the philosopher's death. Sent to Unwin.

He

On the Author, &c. There is a long letter of Cowper to Newton, speaking of this writer with mingled indignation and contempt. had asserted that "Virgil never wrote a line worth reading," whereupon Cowper compares "the unfortunate man to Erostratus (the incendiary of the Temple of Ephesus), and to Empedocles, who threw himself down the crater of Etna, both ready to do anything to get talked about.

Page 357. (H. iii. 17.) Miss C was Miss Creuzé. The name is given in full in the original MS. now in the British Museum. It was written at Unwin's request. In the letter containing it, Cowper says, "It is serious, but epigrammatic, like a bishop at a ball.'

Gratitude. (H. ii.) See Memoir, p. lxiv.

Page 358. (POEMS, 1803.) Written to Unwin, Dec. 1779, in reference to his complaint of the disagreeableness of collecting his dues.

Page 359. The Sonnet to Henry Cowper (his first cousin) was sent by the author anonymously to the Gentleman's Magazine with a view to getting the unbiassed opinions of his relatives upon it. The ruse was successful, for the General copied and sent the lines to Cowper, saying that he thought them good. H. C. was reading-clerk to the House of Lords.

"

Page 360. (GENT. MAG. 1788.) Mrs. Montague (1720-1800) was the author of "Dialogues of the Dead" and the "Defence of Shakspeare. The Blue Stocking Club met at her house in Leicester Square. Cowper knew her through Lady Hesketh, of whom she was an intimate friend.

Page 361. This and the two following poems were written in 1788. The agitation on the slave trade was now in full force. Cowper, in his poem Charity, had written on the righteous side. His relatives now begged him to write a poem on the subject. He declined this, but wrote the following ballads, with a view to "The getting them sung to popular airs. Morning Dream," for example, was intended to None be sung to the tune of "Tweedside." of these were published until 1803, after the poet's death.

Page 363. (POEMS, 1808.) The mischievous bull was Mr. Throckmorton's, and had, of course, been dwelling in Weston Park.

Page 364. (POEMS, 1808.) Annus Mirabilis was written in March of the year spoken of.

Page 365. Hymn. (JOHNSON.) He had been applied to, some little time before, by Mr. Bull to write a hymn of this character, but the application reached him in one of his melancholy hours, and he declared it to be impossible. Next year, however, the curate of

Olney, Mr. Bean, made another application, and was successful, for this was the result.

Stanzas, &c. (BULL, and POEMS, 1803.) The origin of this poem, and of the five which follow, forms one of the most amusing episodes in the poet's life. He thus describes it in a letter to Lady Hesketh :

On Monday morning last, Sam brought me word that there was a man in the kitchen who desired to speak with me. I ordered him in. A plain, decent, elderly figure made its appearance, and, being desired to sit, spoke as follows: Sir, I am clerk of the parish of AllSaints, in Northampton, brother of Mr. Cox, the upholsterer. It is customary for the person in my office to annex to a bill of mortality, which he publishes at Christmas, a copy of verses. You will do me a great favour, sir, if would you furnish me with one.' To this I replied, 'Mr. Cox, you have several men of genius in your town; why have you not applied to some of them? There is a namesake of yours in particular-Cox, the statuary, who, everybody knows, is a first-rate maker of verses. He surely is the man of all the world for your purpose." 'Alas! sir, I have heretofore borrowed help from him; but he is a gentleman of so much reading that the people of our town cannot understand him.' I confess to you, my dear, I felt all the force of the compliment implied in this speech, and was almost ready to answer, 'Perhaps, my good friend, they may find me unintelligible too, for the same reason.' But on asking him whether he had walked over to Weston on purpose to implore the assistance of my muse, and on his replying in the affirmative, I felt my mortified vanity a little consoled, and pitying the poor man's distress, which appeared to be considerable, promised to supply him. The waggon has accordingly gone this day to Northampton loaded in part with my effusions in the mortuary style."

66

It will be noticed that there is no poem for 1791. The old clerk died, and Cowper hoped that this would put himself I out of office." After a year's interval, however, the new clerk came to beseech a continuance.

Page 370. Impromptu. (HAYLEY, iii. 21.) In a humorous letter to Unwin. He begins by saying that he has been trying again and again to find something to write about, and then goes off into these lines.

The Lines on the Queen's Visit to London, to see the illuminations, after the king's recovery, were written at the request of Lady Hesketh, and presented to the Princess Augusta, m the expectation that they would be shown to her Majesty; but Cowper never heard any more of them.

Page 371. (JOHNSON, iii.) This cir

cumstance is narrated in the Gentleman's Magazine for April 1789, but contradicted in the following month. However, it is admitted that the subject concerned did throw

an unsuccessful bird on the fire, but it escaped "by its natural, unconfined agility." He soon afterwards drank himself into a fatal fever.

66

Page 372. Lines, &c. (HAYLEY, iii. 188.) In a letter to Rose. 'My cousin and I diverted ourselves by imagining the manner in which Homer would have described the scene."

Page 373. To Mrs. T. (H. iii. 203.) The

Ode of Horace was found in one of the Roman libraries in 1788. Cowper asked Mrs. T. to copy it into the fly-leaf of his Horace, and her execution of the task procured her this compliment, which he wrote in a blank page of the same book.

Page 374. (PRIV. CORRESPONDENCE.) Mrs. King, wife of the rector of Pertenhall, introduced herself to him on the ground of being a friend of his brother. He gladly opened correspondence with her, and it was warm and constant on both sides. They never met.

Stanzas on the late, &c. (HAYLEY, iv. 264.) The coffin of Milton, buried at Cripplegate Church, was opened, and a pamphlet published, describing the appearance of the body.

Page 375. On Thornton, see Memoir, p.

XXXVI. note.

Fage 378. On the Refusal, &c. occurs in a letter to Mrs. Throckmorton. Some friend of Mr. Throckmorton's had made the application, and Cowper felt the refusal keenly.. "It seems not a little extraci dinary that persons so nobly patronised themselves on the score of literature should resolve to give no encouragement to it. in return. Should I find a fair opportunity to thank them hereafter, I will not neglect it. The retired Cat. (HAYLEY, iii. 72.)

Page 380. Yardley Oak (H. iv. 423) was in Yardley Chase, near Olney. A memorandum in Cowper's handwriting says, "Yardley Oak is 22 feet 6 inches in girth." It is said to have been planted by Judith, daughter of William the Conqueror, and wife of Earl Waltheof.

Page 384 The Lines written for Insertion &c., were altered more than once. The original form was

"In vain to live from age to age

We modern bards endeavour;
But write in Patty's book one page,
You gain your point for ever."

The final version was due to the suggestion of Lady Hesketh.

To Wilberforce. (H. iii. 275.) It had been rumoured about in the county that Cowper's views upon the slave trade were questionable. He refuted the charge by merely inserting the present sonnet in the Northampton Mercury, and took no further notice. The last two lines originally stood thus:

Then let them scoff-two prizes thou hast won, Freedom for captives, and thy God's- Well done!"" Dr. Austen (H. iii. 391), a friend of Hayley's, gave gratuitous assistance to Mrs. Unwin in her illness. He died in 1793, and Cowper wrote a very touching letter of sympathy to Hayley, in which he calls him "our good

Samaritan.

"

Page 385. Miss Sally Hurdis was sister of Rev. James Hurdis, a minor poet (and Professor of Poetry at Oxford), and one of Cowper's correspondents.

Concerning his friendship with Hayley, see Memoir, p. lxviii. Hayley, as seen by the Sonnet, had just visited him, and during his visit Mrs. Unwin's attack had taken place, and he had been most kind and useful in the emergency.

Page 386. (HAYLEY, iii. 406.) Mr. Courtenay was Sir John Throckmorton's brother, and succeeded him in the title.

(HAYLEY, iii. 399.) The lines to Dr. Darwin were written at Eartham in August, 1792. He was a warm friend of Hayley.

Page 387. On his approaching, &c. (HAYLEY, iii. 413. The opening of a letter to him.) The floods and flames refer to the dreadful nervous fits he had had concerning this journey, which are described in the letter.

(HAYLEY, iv. 23.) The Sonnet to Romney occupied three months in writing, so depressed were the poet's spirits.

To George Romney. This picture is now in the possession of Mr. H. R. Vaughan Johnson. It appeared in the Exhibition of Portraits in

1868, beside the portrait of his mother which his lines have made so famous.

Page 388. Epitaph on Fop (HAYLEY, iv. 2), written at Eartham, and sent to Mrs. Courtenay.

The two lines to Lady Hesketh (HAYLEY, iv. 39) are the heading of a letter, describing his condition. Without his nightly dose of twelve drops of laudanum, he says, he is devoured by melancholy.

Epitaph on Mr. Chester (HAYLEY, iv. 262). Page 389. On a Plant, &c. (JOHNSON, iii. 249.)

Page 390. The young friend (HAYLEY, iv. 67) was John Johnson.

Inscription, &c. (HAYLEY, iv. 264.) This was written for a rough house which he intended building, but his intention was frustrated by a much finer one being built, for which these lines would have been unfitting. See his humorous account in the note to the Epigrams at p. 397.

To Mrs. Unwin. When this exquisite sonnet (HAYLEY, ii.) was written, Mrs. Unwin was a sad wreck. Cowper describes, at the time of Hayley's visit, how they sit reading together, and adds, "Poor Mrs. Unwin, in the meantime, sits quiet in her corner, occasionally laughing at us both, and not seldom interrupting me with some remark, for which she is rewarded by me with Hush, hold your peace.'

To John Johnson, &c. (H. iv. 258.) Cowper had expressed a wish for a bust of Homer, and Johnson made several attempts to procure one, and at length succeeded. It still stands in the grounds at Weston, with Cowper's inscription. See p. 391.

Page 391. On a Portrait of Himself (HAYLEY iii. 410). Written July 15, 1792, shortly before starting for Eartham. The portrait was taken at the request of John Johnson, who wanted it for his aunt, Mrs. Bodham. By universal consent, it was pronounced an excellent likeness.

The Thanks for a Present, &c., was sent in a letter to Johnson, December 31, 1793. Copeman was a friend of Johnson.

The sonnet to Hayley (H. iv. 68) was in answer to a proposal that they should undertake a joint literary work. Cowper added, that he had other reasons for not entertaining the proposal. "I am nobody in verse, unless in a corner and alone, and unconnected in my operations." He afterwards, however, entertained a proposal that he and Hayley should complete "The Four Ages" between them, as a vehicle for illustrations by Flaxman and Lawrence. See his letter to Hayley of July 7, 1793. But the increased gloominess which fell on him, at the end of the year, put the whole plan out of possibility.

Page 393. (HAYLEY, iii. 160.)

Page 394. (HAYLEY, iv. 272.) Catharine Fanshawe was a co-heiress with two sisters, and was known among her friends for her talent for graceful pleasantry, both in prose and verse,

as well as for her skill in art. She was the authoress of the well-known riddle on the letter H

""Twas whispered in Heaven, 'twas muttered in Hell," &c.

There is a laughable mock ode of hers in Miss Berry's Journal, and an equally laughable letter with it, vol. ii. pp. 298-301.

The " stanzas which she had addressed to Lady Hesketh were produced under the following circumstances. Lady Hesketh had lent her a MS. poem of Cowper, on condition that she should neither show nor copy it. Miss Fanshawe kept her promise in the letter, but sent it back with the following stanzas:

"What wonder if my wavering hand
Had dared to disobey,

When Hesketh gave a harsh command,
And Cowper led astray?

Then take this tempting gift of thine,
By pen uncopied yet;

But, canst thou memory confine,
Or teach me to forget?

More lasting than the touch of art
Her characters remain,
When written by a feeling heart
On tablets of the brain."

The "Letter" was one which Miss Fanshawe wrote to Lady Hesketh, who sent Cow. per an extract from it-doubtless some pretty compliment on his "Stanzas."

Page 394. On Flaxman's Penelope. (HAYLEY, iv. 92.) Sent in a letter to H.

Page 395.

(HAYLEY, iv. 145.) The calm of passionate despair seems to reign over these exquisite verses. They were written shortly before leaving Weston for ever.

Page 396. On receiving, &c. (JOHNSON, iii. 265.)

Motto for a Clock. This was a clock sculptured by Bacon for King George III. It is now in the Presence Chamber at Windsor Castle. The translation is by Hayley.

In a time, &c. (HAYLEY, ii. 135.) Written July 7, 1793. Hayley was a man who sought much after shade; he "could not bear a sunbeam."

Page 397 (HAYLEY, iv. 77 and 99.) On his return from Eartham, Cowper said to his favourite domestic, "Sam, build me a shed in the garden, with anything you can find, and make it rude and rough, like one of those at Eartham." "Yes, sir," said Sam, and straightway, laying his own noddle with the village carpenter's, built a thing fit for Stowe Gardens. (Letter to Hayley, July 24, 1793.) The poet was going to put the first of the epigrams over the door, but that he feared to break Sam's heart, and the carpenter's too.'

Montes Glaciales. (H. iv. 367.)

Page 400. "I have heard of my wether mutton from many quarters," he writes; "I have accordingly satirized myself in two stanzas which I composed last night, while I lay awake, tormented with pain, and dosed with laudanum."

The Castaway. On this terrible but grand poem, see Memoir, p. lxxii.

Page 403. Jeanne Marie Bouvières de la Mothe was born in April, 1648, at Montargis, a town about 50 miles south of Paris, in the province of Orleanois. Little is known of her parents but that they were well-to-do people, and of pious life. They had both been married before, and each had a family; and one of her half-sisters, a nun in the Ursuline convent at Montargis, was the cause of her being placed for education in the same convent. Whilst there, the widowed English queen, Henrietta Maria, wished her to become maid of honour to her daughter; but her father refused the offer. She early formed the resolution of giving herself to God, and has recorded her endeavours to do so, her successes and failures, in her autobiography. In 1663 her father removed with his family to Paris, and the following year she was married to a rich gentleman of the court, M. Guyon, thirty-eight years old, she being but just sixteen. Her mother-in-law disliked her heartily, and lost no opportunity of insulting her; and her husband, though sometimes kind, was more often cold and harsh with her; but these sorrows did but decide her the more earnestly to seek rest in religion. The views which she ultimately took up, and found sufficient for her spiritual needs, were given to her by a Fransciscan (his name does not appear), who had spent five years in solitude, and to whom she now resorted for confession. On telling her self-dissatisfaction to him, he "remained silent for some time in meditation and prayer," and then said, "Your efforts have been unsuccessful because you have sought without, what you can only find within. Accustom yourself to seek God in your heart, and you will not fail to find Him." She says that these words darted into her soul like lightning, and she never lost sight of them. The poem entitled "Love and Gratitude" (p. 413) was written when the effect of them was still upon her. From the day of this speech, July 22, 1668, she always dated her conversion.

It would be out of the question here to give a detailed account of her views, or extracts from her prose writings. Cowper's beautiful translations of her verses will amply answer the purpose of showing what her theology was. Quietism is the name which was given to it. It might be summed up in the words, "Deus est summum bonum. Rest is to be found in the mind reposing itself upon the love of God." It belongs to the same class as S. Augustine's Confessions, or Thomas à Kempis's "Imitatio Christi," or Leighton's Commentary-not to name living writers.

Her increased fervour met with little favour from her husband. When she went to her private devotions, she complains, he would time her with his watch, and if she was more than half-an-hour at a time he would be vexed. Her only worldly joy was in her three children-two

M M