Feel less the journey's roughness, and its length, Such fellowship in literary labour, for the noblest of purposes, must be delightful indeed, if attended with success, and, at all events, it is entitled to respect: yet it may be doubted if the intense zeal with which Cowper embarked in this fascinating pursuit, had not a dangerous tendency to undermine his very delicate.ealth. Such an apprehension naturally arises from a recollection of what medical writers of great ability have said on the awful subject of mental derangment. Whenever the slightest tendency to that misfortune appears, it seems expedient to guard a tender spirit from the attractions of Piety herself. So fearfully and wonderfully are we made, that man, in all conditions, ought, perhaps, to pray that he never may be led to think of his Creator and of his Redeemer either too little or too much. But if the charitable and religious zeal of the Poet led him into any excesses of devotion, injurious to the extreme delicacy of his nervous system, he is only the more entitled to admiration and to pity: indeed, his genius, his virtues, and his misfortunes were calculated to excite those tender and temperate passions in their purest state, and to the highest degree. It may be questioned if any mortal could be more sincerely beloved and revered than Cowper was by those who were best acquainted with his private hours. The season was now arrived when the firm friendship of Mrs. Unwin was put to the severest of trials, and when her conduct was such as to deserve those rare rewards of grateful attention and tenderness, which, when she herself became the victim of age and infirmity, she received from that exemplary being, who considered himself indebted to her friendly vigilance for his life, and who never forgot an obligation when his mind was itself. In 1773 he sunk into such paroxysms of religious despondency, that he required an attendant of the most gentle, vigilant, and inflexible spirit. Such an attendant he found in that faithful guardian whom he had professed to love as a mother, and who watched over him, during this long fit of depressive malady, extended through several years, with that perfect mixture of tenderness and fortitude which constitutes the inestimable influence of maternal protection. I wish to pass rapidly overthis calamitous period, and shall only observe, that nothing could surpass the sufferings of the patient, or the care of the nurse. That meritorious care received from Heaven the most delightful of rewards, in seeing the pure and powerful mind, to whose restoration it had contributed so much, not only gradually restored to the common enjoyments of life, successively endowed with new and marvellous funds of diversified talents, and courageous application. The spirit of Cowper emerged, by slow degrees, from its very deep dejection; and before his mind was sufficiently recovered to employ itself on literary composition, it sought, and found, much salutary amusement in educating a little group of tame Hares. On his expressing a wish to divert himself by rearing a single Leveret, the good-nature of his neighbours supplied him with three. The variety of their disposition became a source of great entertainment to his compassionate and contemplative spirit. One of the trio he has celebrated in the Task: and a very animated minute account of this singular family humanized, and described most ad mirably by himself, in prose, appeared first in the Gentleman's Magazine, and has been recently inserted in the second volume of his Poems. These interesting animals had not only the honour of being cherished and celebrated by a poet, but the pencil has also contributed to their renown; and their portraits, engraved from a drawing presented to Cowper by a friend unknown, may serve as a little embellishment to this life of their singularly tender and benevolent protector. His three tame Hares, Mrs. Unwin, and Mr. Newton, were, for a considerable time, the only companions of Cowper; but as Mr. Newton was removed to a distance from his afflicted friend, by preferment in London, to which he was presented by that liberal encourager of active piety, Mr. Thornton, the friendly Divine, before he left Olney, 1780, humanely triumphed over the strong reluctance of Cowper to see a stranger, and kindly introduced him to the regard and good offices of the Rev. Mr. Bull, of Newport-Pagnell, who, from that time, considering it as a duty to visit the invalid once a fortnight, acquired, by degrees, his cordial and confidential esteem. The affectionate temper of Cowper inclined him particularly to exert his talents, at the request of his friends, even in seasons when such exertion could hardly have been made without a painful degree of self-command. At the suggestion of Mr. Newton we have seen him writing a series of hymns: at the request of Mr. Bull he translated several spiritual songs from the mystical poetry of Madam de la Mothe Guyon, the tender and fanciful enthusiast of France, whose talents and misfortunes drew upon her a long series of persecution from many acrimonious bigots, and secured to her the friendship of the mild and indulgent Fenelon ! We shall perceive, as we advance, that the greater works of Cowper were also written at the express desire of persons whom he particularly regarded; and it may be remarked, to the honour of friendship, that he considered its influence as the happiest inspiration; or, to use his own expressive words, The Poet's lyre, to fix his fame, The poetry of Cowper is itself an admirable illustration of this maxim; and perhaps the maxim may point to the prime source of that uncommon force and felicity with which this most feeling poet commands the affection of his reader. In delineating the life of an author, it seems the duty of biography to indicate the degree of influence which the warmth of his heart produced on the fertility of his mind. But those mingled flames of friendship and poetry which were to burst forth with the most powerful effect in the compositions of Cowper, were not yet kindled. His depressive malady had suspended the exercise of his genius for several years, and precluded him from renewing his correspondence with the relation whom he so cordially regarded, in Hertfordshire, except by the brief letters on pecuniary concerns, in 1779. But in the spring of the following year, a letter to Mr. Hill abundantly proves that he had regained the free exercise of his talents, both serious and sportive. LETTER XXIII. To JOSEPH HILL, Esq. MY DEAR FRIEND, Olney, May 6, 1780. I am much obliged to you for your speedy answer to my queries. I know less of the law than a country attorney, yet some times I think I have almost as much business. My former connection with the profession has got wind, and though I eranestly profess, and protest, and proclaim it abroad, that I know nothing of the matter, they cannot be persuaded to believe that a head once endued with a legal perriwig can ever be deficient in those natural endowments it is supposed to cover. I have had the good fortune to be once or twice in the right, which added to the cheapness of a gratuitous counsel, has advanced my credit to a degree Inever expected to attain in the capacity of a Lawyer. Indeed, if two of the wisest in the science of jurisprudence may give opposite opinions upon the same point, which does not unfrequently happen, it seems to be a matter of indifference whether a man answers by rule or at a venture. He that stumbles upon the right side of the question is just as useful to his client as he that arrives at the same end by regular approaches, and is conducted to the mark he aims at by the greatest authorities. 律 * * These violent attacks of a distemper, so fatal, are very alarming to all who esteem and respect the Chancellor as he deserves. A life of confinement, and of anxious attention to important objects, where the habit is bilious to such a terrible degree, threatens to be but a short one; and I wish he may not be made a text for men of reflection to moralize upon, affording a conspi |