There are other impediments which I could not comprise within the bounds of a sonnet. My poor Mary's infirm condition makes it impossible for me, at present, to engage in a work such as you propose. My thoughts are not sufficiently free, nor have I, nor can I, by any means, find opportunity; added to it comes a difficulty which, though you are not at all aware of it, presents itself to me under a most forbidding appearance. Can you guess it? No, not you; neither perhaps will you be able to imagine that such a difficulty can possibly subsist. If your hair begins to bristle, stroke it down again, for there is no need why it should erect itself. It concerns me, not you. I know myself too well not to | know that I am nobody in verse, unless in a corner, and alone, and unconnected in my operations. This is not owing to want of love for you, my brother, or the most consummate confidence in you; for I have both in a degree that has not been exceeded in the experience of any friend you have, or ever had. But I am so made up-I will not enter into a metaphysical analysis of my strange composition, in order to detect the true cause of this evil; but on a general view of the matter, I suspect that it proceeds from that shyness which has been my effectual and almost fatal hindrance on many other important occasions, and which I should feel, I well know, on this, to a degree that would perfectly cripple me. No! I shall neither do, nor attempt anything of consequence more, unless my poor Mary get better; nor even then, unless it should please God to give me another nature, in concert with any man-I could not, even with my own father or brother, were they now alive. Small game must serve me at present, and till I have done with Homer and Milton, a sonnet, or some such matter, must content me. utmost that I aspire to, and Heaven knows with how feeble a hope, is to write at some better opportunity, and when my hands are free," The Four Ages." Thus I have opened my heart unto thee.* W. C. TO WILLIAM HAYLEY, ESQ. The Weston, July 7, 1793. My dearest Hayley,-If the excessive heat of this day, which forbids me to do anything else, will permit me to scribble to you, I shall rejoice. To do this is a pleasure to me at all times, but to do it now, a double one; because I am in haste to tell you how much I am delighted with your projected quadruple alliance, and to assure you, that if it please God to afford me health, spirits, ability, and leisure, I will not fail to devote them all to * What the proposed literary partnership was, which Hayley suggested, we know not; it is evident that it was not the poem of The Four Ages," which forms the subJect of the following letter, and in which Cowper acquiesced. the production of my quota of "The Four Ages."* You are very kind to humor me as you do. and had need be a little touched yourself with all my oddities, that you may know how to administer to mine. All whom I love do so, and I believe it to be impossible to love heartily those who do not. People must not do me good in their way, but in my own, and then they do me good indeed. My pride, my ambition, and my friendship for you, and the interest I take in my own dear self, will all be consulted and gratified by an arm-in-arm appearance with you in public; and I shall work with more zeal and assiduity at Homer, and, when Homer is finished at Milton, with the prospect of such a coalition before me. But what shall I do with a multitude of small pieces, from which I intended to select the best, and adding them to "The Four Ages," to have made a volume? Will there be room for them upon your plan? I have re-touched them, and will re-touch them again. Some of them will suggest pretty devices to designer and, in short, I have a desire not to lose them. I am at this moment, with all the imprudence natural to poets, expending nobody knows what, in embellishing my premises, or rather the premises of my neighbor Courtenay, which is more poetical still. I have built one summer-house already, with the boards of my old study, and am building another, spick and span, as they say. I have also a stone-cutter now at work, setting a bust of my dear old Grecian on a pedestal; and besides all this I meditate still more that is to be done in the autumn. Your project therefore is most opportune, as any project must needs be that has so direct a tendency to put money into the pocket of one so likely to want it. Ah brother poet! send me of your shade, My poor Mary is as well as the heat will allow her to be: and whether it be cold or sultry, is always affectionately mindful of you and yours. W. Č. friend and brother-in-law, the Rev. Dr. John It is due to the memory of my reverend ever-watchful and affectionate kindness for son, to state that Cowper was indebted to his what he here calls his "dear old Grecian.” * Hayley made a second proposition to unite with Coaper in the projected poem of "The Four Ages" and to embellish the work with appropriate designs. We be lieve that Lawrence and Flaxman were the persons to whom Hayley refers. We cannot sufficiently regret the failure of this plan, which would have enriched literature and art with so happy a specimen of poetical and prefession talent. But the period was unhappily approache ing which was to suspend the fine powers of Cowper's mind, and to shroud them in the veil of darkness. engage the aid of two distinguished artists, who were to not much better than his verse, for I have consulted him in one passage of some difficulty, and find him giving a sense of his own, not at all warranted by the words of Homer. Pope sometimes does this, and sometimes omits the difficult part entirely. I can boast of having done neither, though it has cost me infinite pains to exempt myself from the necessity. With that amiable solicitude which formed so prominent a feature in his character, and which was always seeking how to please and to confer a favor, he had contrived to procure an antique bust of Homer, to gratify Cowper's partiality for his favorite bard. No present could possibly have been more acceptable or appropriate. We cannot avoid remarking, on this occasion, that, to anticipate a want and to I have seen a translation by Hobbes, which supply it, to know how to minister to the I prefer for its greater clumsiness. Many gratification of another, and to enhance the years have passed since I saw it, but it made gift by the grace of bestowing it, is one of me laugh immoderately. Poetry that is not the great arts of social and domestic life. It good can only make amends for that defiis not the amount, nor the intrinsic value of ciency by being ridiculous; and, because the the favor, for the power of giving must in that translation of Hobbes has at least this recomcase be restricted to the few. To give royally mendation, I shall be obliged to you, should requires not only an enlarged heart, but ample it happen to fall in your way, if you would and enlarged means. t is the appropriate-be so kind as to procure it for me. The only ness of the time and the occasion, the grace of the manner, and the unobtrusiveness of its character, that constitutes the value of the gift and endears the giver. Cowper recorded his gratitude by the following poetical tribute, which has always been justly admired Kinsman belov'd, and as a son by me! The grief is this, that sunk in Homer's mine, TO THOMAS PARK, ESQ. W. U., July 15, 1793. Dear Sir,-Within these few days I have received, by favor of Miss Knapps, your acceptable present of Chapman's translation of the Iliad. I know not whether the book be a rarity, but a curiosity it certainly is. I have as yet seen but little of it; enough, however, to make me wonder that any man, with so little taste for Homer, or apprehension of his manner, should think it worth while to undertake the laborious task of translating him: the hope of pecuniary advantage may perhaps account for it.* His information I fear, was Chapman's version is thus described by Warton: he "frequently retrenches or impoverishes what he could not feel and express," and yet is not always without strength and spirit." By Anton, in his Philosophical Satires, published in 1616, he is characterised as Greeke-thund'ring Chapman, beaten to the age, With a deepe furie and a sudden rage." The testimony of Bishop Percy is flattering. Had Chapman," he observes, "translated the Iliad into blank verse, it had been one of our chief classic performances." edition of it I ever saw (and perhaps there never was another*), was a very thick 12mo., both print and paper bad; a sort of book that would be sought in vain, perhaps, anywhere but on a stall. When you saw Lady Hesketh, you saw the relation of mine with whom I have been more intimate, even from childhood, than any other. She has seen much of the world, understands it well, and, having great natural vivacity, is of course one of the most agreeable companions. I have now arrived almost at a close of my labors on the Iliad, and have left nothing behind me, I believe, which I shall wish to alter on any future occasion. In about a fortnight or three weeks I shall begin to do the same for the Odyssey, and hope to be able to perform it while the Iliad is in printing. Then Milton will demand all my attention, and when I shall find opportunity either to revise your MSS., or to write a poem of my own, which I have in contemplation, I can hardly say. Certainly not till both these tasks are accomplished. I remain, dear sir, With many thanks for your kind present, TO MRS. CHARLOTTE SMITH. Weston, July 25, 1793. My dear Madam,-Many reasons concurred to make me impatient for the arrival of your most acceptable present, and among them was the fear lest you should perhaps suspect me of tardiness in acknowledging so great a favor; a fear, that, as often as it prevailed, distressed me exceedingly. At length I have received it, and my little bookseller assures * Cowper is mistaken in this supposition. Wood, in his Athene, records an edition of the Iliad in 1675; and of the Odyssey in 1667, and there was a re-impression of both in 166. me, that he sent it the very day he got it; by some mistake, however, the wagon brought it instead of the coach, which occasioned the delay.. It came this morning, about an hour ago; consequently I have not had time to peruse the poem, though you may be sure I have found enough for the perusal of the dedication. I have, in fact, given it three readings, and in each have found increasing pleasure. I am a whimsical creature: when I write for the public, I write of course with a desire to please; in other words, to acquire fame, and I labor accordingly, but when I find that I have succeeded, feel myself alarmed, and ready to shrink from the acquisition. This I have felt more than once; and when I saw my name at the head of your dedication, I felt it again; but the consummate delicacy of your praise soon convinced me that I might spare my blushes, and that the demand was less upon my modesty than my gratitude. Of that be assured, dear madam, and of the truest esteem and respect of your most obliged and affectionate humble servant, W. C. P.S. I should have been much grieved to have let slip this opportunity of thanking you for your charming sonnets, and my two most agreeable old friends, Monimia and Orlando.* TO THE REV. MR. GREATHEED. Weston, July 27, 1793. I was not without some expectation of a line from you, my dear sir, though you did not promise me one at your departure, and am happy not to have been disappointed: still happier to learn that you and Mrs. Greatheed are well, and so delightfully situated. Your kind offer to us of sharing with you the house which you at present inhabit, added to the short, but lively, description of the scenery that surrounds it, wants nothing to win our acceptance, should it please God to give Mrs. Unwin a little more strength, and should I ever be master of my time so as to be able to gratify myself with what would please me most. But many have claims upon us, and some who cannot absolutely be said to have any would yet complain and think themselves lighted, should we prefer rocks and caves to them. In short, we are called so many ways, *Mrs. Charlotte Smith is well known as an authoress, and particularly for her beautiful sonnets. She was formerly a great eulogist of the French Revolution, but the horrors which distinguished that political era led to a change in her sentiments which she publicly avowed in her Banished Man." There is a great plaintiveness of feeling in all her writings, arising from the unfortunate incidents of her chequered life. We remember this lady, with her family, formerly resident at Oxford, where she excited much interest by her talents and misfortunes. He that these numerous demands are likely to operate as a remora, and to keep us fixed at home. Here we can occasionally have the pleasure of yours and Mrs. Greatheed's company, and to have it here must I believe content us. Hayley in his last letter gives me reason to expect the pleasure of seeing him and his dear boy Tom, in the autumn. will use all his eloquence to draw us to Eartham again. My cousin Johnny, of Norfolk, holds me under promise to make my first trip thither, and the very same promise I have hastily made to visit Sir John and Lady Throckmorton, at Bucklands. How to reconcile such clashing promises, and give satisfaction to all, would puzzle me, had I nothing else to do; and therefore, as I say. the result will probably be, that we shall find ourselves obliged to go nowhere, since we cannot everywhere. TO WILLIAM HAYLEY, ESQ. Weston, July 27, 1793. I have been vexed with myself, my dearest brother, and with everything about me, not excepting even Homer himself, that I have been obliged so long to delay an answer to your last kind letter. If I listen any longer to calls another way, I shall hardly be able to tell you how happy we are in the hope of seeing you in the autumn, and before the autumn will have arrived. Thrice welcome will you and your dear boy be to us, and the longer you will afford us your company, the more welcome. I have set up the head of Homer on a famous fine pedestal, and a very majestic appearance he makes. I am now puzzled about a motto, and wish you to decide for me between two, one of which I have composed myself, a Greek one, as follows: Εικονα τις ταύτην ; κλυτον ανέρος συνομ' ολωλει The other is my own translation of a pas sage in the Odyssey, the original of which I have seen used as a motto to an engraved head of Homer many a time. The present edition of the lines stands thus: Him partially the muse And dearly loved, yet gave him good and ill: She quench'd his sight, and gave him strains divine. Tell me, by the way, (if you ever had any speculations on the subject,) what is it you suppose Homer to have meant in particular, when he ascribed his blindness to the muse, for that he speaks of himself under the name of Demodocus, in the eighth book, I believe is by all admitted. How could the old bard study himself blind, when books were either so few or none at all? And did he write his poems? If neither were the cause, as seems reasonable to imagine, how could he incur his blindness by such means as could be justly imputable to the muse? Would mere thinking blind him? I want to know: "Call up some spirit from the vasty deep!" I said to my Sam* "Sam, build me a shed in the garden, with anything that you can find, and make it rude and rough, like one of those at Eartham.”- "Yes, Sir," says Sam, and straightway laying his own noddle, and the carpenter's noddle together, has built me a thing fit for Stow Gardens. Is not this vexatious?—I threaten to inscribe it thus: Beware of building! I intended Rough logs and thatch, and thus it ended. But my Mary says, I shall break Sam's heart and the carpenter's too, and will not consent to it. Poor Mary sleeps but ill. How have you lived who cannot bear a sun beam? Adieu! My dearest Hayley, W. C. The following seasonable and edifying letter, addressed by Cowper to his beloved kinsman, on the occasion of his ordination, will be read with interest. TO THE REV. JOHN JOHNSON.† August 2, 1793. My dearest Johnny,-The bishop of Norwich has won my heart by his kind and liberal behavior to you; and, if I knew him, I would tell him so. I am glad that your auditors find your voice strong and your utterance distinct; glad, too, that your doctrine has hitherto made you no enemies. You have a gracious Master, who, it seems, will not suffer you to see war in the beginning. It will be a wonder, however, if you do not, sooner or later, find out that sore place in every heart, which can ill endure the touch of apostolic doctrine. Somebody will smart in his conscience, and you will hear of it. I say not this, my dear Johnny, to terrify, but to prepare you for that which is likely to happen, and which, troublesome as it may prove, is yet devoutly to be wished; for, in general, there is little good done by preachers till the world begins to abuse them. But understand me aright. *Samuel Roberts, his faithful servant. I do not mean that you should give them unnecessary provocation, by scolding and railing at them, as some, more zealous than wise, are apt to do. That were to deserve their anger. No; there is no need of it. The self-abasing doctrines of the gospel will, of themselves, create you enemies; but remember this, for your comfort-they will also, in due time, transform them into friends, and make them love you, as if they were your own children. God give you many such; as, if you are faithful to his cause, I trust he will! Sir John and Lady Throckmorton have lately arrived in England, and are now at the Hall. They have brought me from Rome a set of engravings on Odyssey subjects, by Flaxman, whom you have heard Hayley celebrate. They are very fine, very much in the antique style, and a present from the Dowager Lady Spencer. Ever yours, TO LADY HESKETH. W. C. the force and accuracy of a person skilled in more languages than are spoken in the present day, as I doubt not that she is. I perfectly approve the theme she recommends to but am at present so totally absorbed in Homer, that all I do beside is ill done, being hurried over; and I would not execute ill å subject of her recommending. me, I shall watch the walnuts with more attention than they who eat them, which I do in some hope, though you do not expressly say so, that when their threshing time arrives, we shall see you here. I am now going to paper my new study, and in a short time it will be fit to inhabit. Lady Spencer has sent me a present from Rome, by the hands of Sir John Throckmorton, engravings of Odyssey subjects, after figures by Flaxman,f a statuary at present resident there, of high repute, and much a friend of Hayley's. Thou livest, my dear, I acknowledge, in a very fine country, but they have spoiled it by building London in it. Adieu, W. C. *Count Gravina, the Spanish Admiral. †These illustrations are executed in outline, and form one of the most beautiful and elegant specimens of professional art. That the allusion in the former part of the letter may be better understood, it is necessary to state, that Lady Hesketh had lent a manuscript poem of Cowper's to her friend Miss Fanshaw, with an injunction that she should neither show it nor take a copy. This promise was violated, and the reason assigned is expressed by the young lady in the following verses. What wonder if my wavering hand Had dared to disobey, Then take this tempting gift of thine, COWPER'S REPLY. To be remembered thus is fame, So Homer, in the memory stored Was once preserved-a richer hoard, We add the verses addressed to Count verse. My Rose, Gravina, blooms anew, You must not suppose me ignorant of what Flaxman has done, or that I have not seen it, or that I am not actually in possession of it, at least of the engravings which you mention. In fact, I have had them more than a fortnight. Lady Dowager Spencer, to whom I inscribed my Odyssey, and who was at Rome when Sir John Throckmorton was there, charged him with them as a present to me, and arriving here lately he executed his commission. Romney, I doubt not, is right in his judgment of them; he is an artist himself, and cannot easily be mistaken; and I take his opinion as an oracle, the rather because it coincides exactly with my own. The figures are highly classical, antique, and elegant; especially that of Penelope, who, whether she wakes or sleeps, must necessarily charm all beholders. Nor Your scheme of embellishing my Odyssey with these plates is a kind one, and the fruit of your benevolence to me; but Johnson, I fear, will hardly stake so much money as the cost would amount to, on a work, the fate of which is at present uncertain. could we adorn the Odyssey in this splendid manner, unless we had similar ornaments to bestow on the Iliad. Such, I presume, are not ready, and much time must elapse even if Flaxman should accede to the plan, before he could possibly prepare them. Happy indeed should I be to see a work of mine so nobly accompanied, but, should that good fortune ever attend me, it cannot take place till the third or fourth edition shall afford the occasion. This I regret, and I regret too that you will have seen them before I can have an opportunity to show them to you. Here is sixpence for you if you will abstain from the sight of them while you are in London. The sculptor?-nameless, though once dear te So I purpose it shall stand; and on the pedestal, when you come, in that form you will find it. The added line from the Odyssey is charming, but the assumption of sonship to Homer seems too daring; suppose it stood thus: TO WILLIAM HAYLEY, ESQ. Weston, Aug. 15, 1793. Instead of a pound or two, spending a mint Must serve me at least, I believe, with a hint, That building, and building, a man may be driven At last out of doors, and have no house to live in. Besides, my dearest brother, they have not only built for me what I did not want, but have ruined a notable tetrastic by doing so. I had written one which I designed for a hermitage, and it will by no means suit the fine and pompous affair which they have made instead of one. So that, as a poet, II am not sure that this would be clear of the am every way afflicted; made poorer than I need have been, and robbed of my verses: what case can be more deplorable?† *The rose had been washed, just washed in a shower, '&c. †The lines here alluded to are entitled, "Inscription for an Hermitage ;" and are as follow: This cabin, Mary, in my sight appears, Ως δε παις ω πατρι, και ούποτε λήσομαι αυτού. same objection, and it departs from the text still more. With my poor Mary's best love and our united wishes to see you here, I remain, my dearest brother, * A translation of Cowper's Greek verses on his bust of Homer. |