I was honoured by Lady Austen, I was irresistibly led to express an anxious desire for the sight of a Letter written by Cowper in a situation that must have called forth all the finest powers of his eloquence as a monitor and a friend. The lady confirmed me in my opinion that a more admirable letter could not be written; and had it existed at that time, I am persuaded from her noble frankness and zeal for the honour of the departed poet, she would have given me a copy; but she ingenuously confessed, that in a moment of natural mortification, she burnt this very tender, yet resolute letter. I mention the circumstance, because a literary correspondent, whom I have great reason to esteem, has recently expressed to me a wish (which may perhaps be general) that I could introduce into this compilation the letter in question. Had it been confided to my care, I am persuaded I should have thought it very proper for publication, as it displayed both the tenderness and the magnanimity of Cowper, nor could I have deemed it a want of delicacy towards the memory of Lady Austen, to exhibit a proof, that animated by the warmest admiration of the great poet, whose fancy she could so successfully call forth, she was willing to devote her life and fortune to his service and protection. The sentiment is

to be regarded as honorable to the lady; it is still more honorable to the poet, that with such feelings, as rendered him perfectly sensible of all Lady Austen's fascinating powers, he could return her tenderness with innocent gallantry, and yet resolutely preclude himself from her society when he could no longer enjoy it without appearing deficient in gratitude towards the compassionate and generous guardian of his sequestered life. No person can justly blame Mrs. Unwin for feeling apprehensive that Cowper's intimacy with a lady of such extraordinary talents, might lead him into perplexities, of which he was by no

means aware.

This remark was suggested by a few elegant and tender verses, addressed by the poet to Lady Austen, and shown to me by that lady.

Those who were acquainted with the unsuspecting innocence, and sportive gaiety of Cowper, would readily allow, if they had seen the verses to which I allude, that they are such as he might have addrest to a real sister; but a lady only called by that endearing name, may be easily pardoned, if she was induced by them to hope, that they might possibly be a prelude to a still dearer alliance. To me they appeared expressive of that peculiarity in his character, a gay and tender gallantry, perfectly distinct

from amorous attachment. If the lady, who was the subject of the verses, had given them to me with a permission to print them, I should have thought the poet himself might have approved of their appearance, accompanied with such a commentary.

In the whole course of this work I have endeavoured to recollect, on every doubtful occasion, the feelings of Cowper, and made it a rule to reject whatever my perfect intimacy with those feelings could lead me to suppose the spirit of the departed poet might wish me to lay aside as unfit for publication. I consider an editor as guilty of the basest injury to the dead, who admits into the posthumous volumes of an author, whom he professes to love and admire, any composition which his own conscience informs him that author, if he could speak from the tomb, would direct him to suppress. On this principle I have declined to print some Letters which entered more than I think the public ought to enter, into the history of a trifling feminine discord, that disturbed the perfect harmony of the happy trio at Olney, when Lady Austen, and Mrs. Unwin were the united inspirers of the poet. Yet as the brief and true account which I gave of their separation, has been thought to cast a shade of censure on the temper of Mrs. Unwin, which I was far

from intending, in justice to the memory of that exemplary and sublime female friend, I here introduce a passage from a Letter of Cowper to the Revd. William Unwin, honorable to both the ladies in question, as it describes them in a moment of generous reconciliation.

"I enclose a Letter from Lady Austen, which "I beg you to return me in your next.We are "reconciled. She seized the first opportunity to "embrace your Mother with tears of the tenderest "affection, and I of course am satisfied. We were "all a little awkward at first, but now are as easy as "ever".

This Letter happens to have no date, but the expressions I have cited from it are sufficient to prove that Mrs. Unwin, instead of having shewn an envious infirmity of temper on this occasion, must have conducted herself with a delicate liberality of mind.

If Cowper was painfully perplexed at this season by an abundance of tender attention in a female associate, we may perceive from the following Letter that he felt pain also, but of a very different nature, from the unmerited coldness and incivility of two

men, who were among the favorite companions of his early life.

LETTER XXXVIII.

To the Revd. WILLIAM UNWIN,

MY DEAR WILLIAM,

Nov. 10, 1783.

I have lost, and wasted, al

most all my writing time, in making an alteration in the verses I either inclose, or subjoin, for I know not which will be the case at present. If prose comes readily, I shall transcribe them on another sheet, otherwise, on this. You will understand, before you have read many of them, that they are not for the press. I lay you under no other injunctions. The unkind behaviour of our acquaintance, though it is possible, that in some instances, it may not much affect our happiness, nor engage many of our thoughts, will sometimes obtrude itself upon us with a degree of importunity, not easily resisted, and then perhaps, though almost insensible of it before, we feel more than the occasion will justify. In such a moment it was, that I conceived this poem, and gave loose to a