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friends that I had an arduous enterprise in hand, if afterwards I must have told them that I had dropped it." Few men, however, would have been better warranted by experience in relying upon their own perseverance. Tully's rule, 'Nulla

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PROM PROFILE IN THE POSSESSION Or Sin THOMAS HECKKTH, BART.

2 To Mr. Hill, Dec, 24, 1785.

dies sine lined,' ," said he, "will make a volume in less time than one would suppose. I adhered to it so rigidly, (in composing the Task,) that though more than once I found three lines as many as I had time to compass, still I wrote; and finding occasionally, and as it might happen, a more fluent vein, the abundance of one day made me amends for the barrenness of another." He had worked at it sometimes an hour a day, sometimes half a one, and sometimes two hours*. But his translation was performed by piece-work; he set himself forty lines for his daily task, and never excused himself from that task when it was possible to perform it. "Equally sedulous," said he, "I am in the matter of transcribing, so that between both, my morning and evening are must part completely engaged."

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Of all books which are used in schools, the Iliad and Odyssey are those which are read with most pleasure, and consequently make the deepest impression upon a boy's imagination; and this is less because the boy does not begin to read them consecutively till they have become easy to him, and he is of an age to enter into their spirit; than because of their intrinsic interest, the perfect beauty of their style, and the charm of truth and nature in which they incomparably excel all other poems of their kind. 'John," says Cowper, in a playful message' to one of his friend Unwin's sons, John, once the Little, but now almost the Great, and promising to be altogether such in time, make yourself master of the Iliad and of the Odyssey as soon as you can; and then you will be master of the two finest poems that ever were composed by man, and composed in the finest language that ever man uttered. All languages of which I know any thing, are gibberish compared with Greek."

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It has already been mentioned that Cowper went through both the Homeric Poems at Westminster, with a chosen companion, who was as capable as himself of enjoying them; and 3 To Mr. Newton, Nov. 27, 1784. 4 Oct. 30, 1784. 5 Twice the length of an ordinary imposition at Westminster, with the additional difference of translating into blank verse instead of literal prose. of my readers will call to mind, as I do, the look, and the tone of voice, and the movement of the head with which Dr. Vincent used to pronounce his ordinary morning sentence of "twenty lines of Homer, and not go to breakfast." • To Mr. Unwin, Oct. 22, 1785. 7 June 12, 1785. 8 P. 74.

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that he had read them critically in the Temple, comparing them with Pope's translation as he proceeded. His love and admiration of the original had increased in proportion to his distaste of a version which so thoroughly disguises it; and it was the vivid remembrance of those feelings, quickened by the continual pleasure which he found in perusing the Iliad, that induced him to undertake the arduous task of translating it himself. The distrust which he felt at first of his own perseverance, gave way when he approached the end of the Iliad. "I shall assuredly proceed," said he, "because the farther I go, the more I find myself justified in the undertaking; and in due time, if I live, I shall assuredly publish. In the whole I shall have composed above forty thousand verses, about which forty thousand verses I shall have taken great pains, on no occasion suffering a slovenly line to escape me. I leave you to guess, therefore, whether, such a labour once achieved, I shall not determine to turn it to some account, and to give myself profit if I can, if not at least some credit, for my reward"." Accordingly he took measures for making his intention known among his friends, and preparing the public for it.

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This resolution he announced to Lady Hesketh. though," said he, "I do not suspect that a secret to you, my cousin, is any burthen, yet having maturely considered that point since I wrote my last, I feel myself altogether disposed to release you from the injunction, to that effect, under which I laid you. I have now made such a progress in my translation, that I need neither fear I shall stop short of the end, nor that any other rider of Pegasus should overtake me. Therefore, if at any time it should fall fairly in your way, or you should feel yourself invited to say I am so occupied, you have my poetship's free permission 10.3 He did not like the booksellers well enough, he said, to make them a present of such a labour, and he intended to publish by subscription. His cousin had offered him pecuniary assistance for his next publication, whatever it might be; he asked her on this occasion for her vote and interest, if she pleased, but nothing more. In communicating his purpose to Mr. Newton", he related 9 To Mr. Unwin, Oct. 22, 1785. 10 Hayley, vol. ii. p. 143. The letter is without a date. 11 Dec. 3, 1785.

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in what manner he had imperceptibly, as it were, engaged in so arduous an undertaking. "Employment, and with the pen," said he, "is, through habit, become essential to my well-being; and to produce always original poems, especially of considerable length, is not so easy. For some weeks after I had finished the Task, and sent away the last sheet corrected, I was through necessity idle, and suffered not a little in my spirits for being so. One day, being in such distress of mind as was hardly supportable, I took up the Iliad; and merely to divert attention, and with no more preconception 12 of what I was then entering upon, than I have at this moment of what I shall be doing this day twenty years hence, translated the twelve first lines of it. The same necessity pressing me again, I had recourse to the same expedient, and translated more. Every day bringing its occasion for employment with it, every day consequently added something to the work; till at last I began to reflect thus:-The Iliad and the Odyssey together consist of about forty thousand verses. To translate these forty thousand verses will furnish me with occupation for a considerable time. I have already made some progress, and I find it a most agreeable amusement. Homer, in point of purity, is a most blameless writer; and, though he was not an enlightened man, has interspersed many great and valuable truths throughout both his poems. In short, he is in all respects a most venerable old gentleman, by an acquaintance with whom no man can disgrace himself. The literati are all agreed to a man, that, although Pope has given us two pretty poems under Homer's titles, there is not to be found in them the least portion of Homer's spirit, nor the least resemblance of his manner. I will try, therefore, whether I cannot copy him somewhat more happily myself. I have at least the advantage of Pope's faults and failings, which, like so many buoys upon a dangerous coast, will serve me to steer by, and will make my chance for success more probable. These, and many other considerations, but especially a mind that abhorred a vacuum as its chief bane, impelled me so effectually to the work, that ere long I mean to publish proposals for a subscription to it, having advanced so far as to be warranted in doing

12 This shows, what indeed might be inferred from other circumstances, that Hayley was mistaken (vol. i. 265,) in ascribing to Lady Austen the suggestion of this work.

so. I have connexions, and no few such, by means of which I have the utmost reason to expect that a brisk circulation may be procured; and if it should prove a profitable enterprise, the profit will not accrue to a man who may be said not to want it. It is a business such as it will not, indeed, lie much in your way to promote; but, among your numerous connexions, it is possible that you may know some who would sufficiently interest themselves in such a work to be not unwilling to subscribe to it. I do not mean-far be it from me -to put you upon making hazardous applications, where you might possibly incur a refusal, that would give you though but a moment's pain. You know best your own opportunities and powers in such a cause. If you can do but little, I shall esteem it much; and if you can do nothing, I am sure that it will not be for want of a will."

Cowper availed himself of the Gentleman's Magazine to produce upon the readers of that always respectable journal an impression favourable for his design. Addressing a letter to the immortal Mr. Urban, he began by saying that a lady of fine understanding and taste, and conversant with our best writers, had recently perused Pope's Homer, which she had not looked into for many years before; and on finishing the perusal, she had asked his opinion of it, expressing at the same time no small degree of disappointment, and some suspicion that prejudice had operated not a little in favour of the original. "For my own part," said he, "I have ever been among the warmest admirers of the Grecian, whose works, in my mind, in point of variety and sublimity of conception, ana dignity of expression, remain to this day unrivalled. I accordingly felt myself a little piqued at her insinuation; and having, some years since, made an accurate comparison of Pope with Homer, throughout both his poems, I with the more confidence addressed myself to the task of his vindication: and not doubting that most English readers must of necessity have conceived of him infinitely below his worth, I beg leave, through the medium of your Magazine, to give my sentiments upon the subject a more extensive circulation than they can otherwise have. I feel a double pleasure in doing it.

sider it not only as an opportunity to assert the honour of my favourite bard, but the good sense and justice of their suffrages also who have crowned him with such abundant applause as my female friend finds it difficult to account for."

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