31. True friendship has in short a grace That proves it heav'n-descended: Man's love of woman not so pure, To last 'till life is ended. XXXI. VARIATIONS. -The noblest friendship ever shown Have not (it seems) discern'd it. Or may my friend deceive me! This sprightly little poem contains the essence of all, that has been said on this interesting subject by the best writers of different countries. It is pleasing to reflect, that a man, who entertained such refined ideas of friendship, and expressed them so happily, was singularly fortunate in this very important article of human life. Indeed he was fortunate in this respect to such a degree, that providence seems to have supplied him most unexpectedly, at different periods of his troubled existence, with exactly such friends, as the peculiar exigencies of his situation required. The truth of this remark is exemplified in the seasonable assistance, that his tender spirits derived from the kindness of Mrs. Unwin, at Huntingdon, of Lady Austen and Lady Hesketh, at Olney, and of his young kinsman, in Norfolk, who will soon attract the notice, and obtain the esteem of my reader, as the affectionate superintendant of Cowper's declining days. To the honour of human nature and of the present times, it will appear, that a sequestered poet, pre-eminent in genius and calamity, was beloved and assisted by his friends of both sexes, with a purity of zeal, and an inexhaustible ardour of affection, more resembling the friendship of the heroic ages, than the precarious attachments of the modern world. END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. INDE X. LIFE OF COWPER, PART THE SECOND. The origin of Cowper's acquaintance with Lady Austen, His poetical epistle to that Lady, Letter. 1781. ..... July 29.. 9 3 To the same. On some verses of Lowth's; on the origin of his correspondence with Lady Austen, ...... Fed. 9.. 17 A billet and verses from Cowper to Lady Austen, 4 To the Revd. W. Unwin. Observations on religious characters, 22 on his Let- .... Three songs written for Lady Austen's harpsichord, • Page: .... 54 The origin of the pleasant poem of John Gilpin,.................. 60 12 To the Revd. W. Unwin. John Gilpin's feats,.... Nov. 4.. 62 13 To the same. On a charitable donation to the poor of Olney, . 1783. 15 To the same. Mr.'s charity and benevolence, Jan. 19..71 21 To the same. On simplicity in preaching, ...... May 5..81 22 To the Revd. W. Unwin. On a sermon of Paley's, May 12.83 23 To Joseph Hill, Esq. Loss of friends a tax on long life, 26 To the Revd. J. Newton. On his ecclesiastical history; 27 To the same. On religious zeal, Letter. Page. 31 To the same. Madame Guion's poems, ........ Sept. 7..107 32 To the Revd. J. Newton. On his recovery from a fever; story of a clerk in a public office,•••••••••• Sept. 8..109 33 To the same. Description of a visit to Mr.- -Sept. 23.112 34 To the Revd. W. Unwin. Philosophers happy; air-balloons, 35 To the Revd. J. Newton. Tendency of the gospel to pro- mote the happiness of mankind, 36 To the same. On the American Loyalists, ....Oct. ..124 37 To J. Hill, Esq. Comforts of a winter evening, Oct. 20.127 Its progress related in passages from Letters to Mr. Bull, ..131 A sudden end of the poet's intercourse with Lady Austen,..134 38 To the Revd. W. Unwin. Reflections on the unkind be- 40 To the same. Account of Mr. and Mrs. Throckmorton, 147 1784. 42 To the Revd. J. Newton. Departure of the old year,Jan. 18.155 43 To the Revd. W. Unwin. State of departed spirits, Jan...157 45 To the same. Title and motto for a work of Mr Newton's |