family, whose religious sentiments peculiarly corresponded with the predominant impressions of his mind. The Unwins, much to his satisfaction, agreed to receive him as a boarder in their house. His routine of life in this devout circle is best described

by himself. "We breakfast," he says, in one of his letters, "commonly between eight and nine; till "eleven we read either the Scriptures or the ser"mons of some faithful preacher of those holy

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mysteries. At eleven we attend Divine service, "which is performed here twice every day; and "from twelve to three we separate and amuse our"selves as we please. During that interval, I either "read in my own apartment, or walk, or ride, or "work in the garden. We seldom sit an hour after "dinner, but, if the weather permits, adjourn to "the garden, where, with Mrs. Unwin and her son, "I have generally the pleasure of religious conver"sation. If it rains, or is too windy for walking, "we either converse within doors, or sing some "hymns of Martin's' collection; and, by the help "of Mrs. Unwin's harpsichord, make up a tolerable "concert, in which our hearts, I hope, are the most "musical performers. After tea, we sally forth to "walk in good earnest, and we generally travel four "miles before we see home again. At night, we "read and converse as before till supper, and com"monly finish the evening with hymns or a sermon." After the death of Mr. Unwin, senior, in 1767, he accompanied Mrs. Unwin and her daughter to a new

1 Martin Madan, a cousin of the poet.

residence, which they chose at Olney, in Buckinghamshire. Here he formed an intimate friendship with Mr. Newton, then curate of Olney, with whom he voluntarily associated himself in the duty of visiting the cottages of the poor, and comforting their distresses. Mr. Newton and he were joint almoners in the secret donations of the wealthy and charitable Mr. Thornton, who transmitted 200/. a year for the poor of Olney. At Mr. Newton's request he wrote some hymns, which were published in a collection, long before he was known as a poet.

His tremendous malady unhappily returned in 1773, attended with severe paroxysms of religious despondency, and his faculties were again eclipsed for about five years. During that period Mrs. Unwin watched over him with a patience and tenderness truly maternal. After his second recovery, some of his amusements, such as taming hares, and making bird-cages, would seem to indicate no great confidence in the capacity of his mind for mental employment. But he still continued to be a cursory reader; he betook himself also to drawing landscapes; and, what might have been still less expected at fifty years of age, began in earnest to cultivate his poetical talents. These had lain, if not dormant, at least so slightly employed, as to make his poetical progress, in the former part of his life, scarcely capable of being traced'. He spent,

At the age of eighteen, he wrote some tolerable verses on the heel of a shoe; a subject which is not uncharacteristic of his disposition to moralize on whimsical subjects.

however, the winter of 1780-1 in preparing his first volume of poems for the press, consisting of "Table Talk," "Hope," "The Progress of Error,"

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Charity," &c. and it was published in 1782. Its reception was not equal to its merit, though his modest expectations were not upon the whole disappointed; and he had the satisfaction of ranking Dr. Johnson and Benjamin Franklin among his zealous admirers. The volume was certainly good fruit under a rough rind, conveying manly thoughts, but in a tone of enthusiasm which is often harsh and forbidding..

In the same year that he published his first volume, an elegant and accomplished visitant came to Olney, with whom Cowper formed an acquaintance, that was for some time very delightful to him. This was the widow of Sir Robert Austen. She had wit, gaiety, agreeable manners, and elegant taste. While she enlivened Cowper's unequal spirits by her conversation, she was also the task-mistress of his Muse. He began his great original poem at her suggestion, and was exhorted by her to undertake the translation of Homer. So much cheerfulness seems to have beamed upon his sequestered life from the influence of her society, that he gave her the endearing appellation of Sister Anne; and ascribed the arrival of so pleasing a friend to the direct interposition of Heaven. But his devout old friend, Mrs. Unwin, saw nothing very providential, in the ascendancy of a female, so much more fascinating than herself, over Cowper's mind; and, appealing to

his gratitude for her past services, she gave him his choice of either renouncing Lady Austen's acquaintance, or her own. Cowper decided upon adhering to the friend who had watched over him in his deepest afflictions; and sent Lady Austen a valedictory letter, couched in terms of regret and regard, but which necessarily put an end to their acquaintance. Whether in making this decision he sacrificed a passion, or only a friendship for Lady Austen, it must be impossible to tell; but it has been said, though not by Mr. Hayley, that the remembrance of a deep and devoted attachment of his youth, was never effaced by any succeeding impression of the same nature; and that his fondness for Lady Austen was as platonic as for Mary Unwin. The sacrifice, however, cost him much pain; and is, perhaps, as much to be admired as regretted.

Fortunately, the jealousy of Mrs. Unwin did not extend to his cousin, Lady Hesketh. His letters to that lady give the most pleasing view of Cowper's mind, exhibiting all the warmth of his heart as a kinsman, and his simple and unstudied elegance as a correspondent. His intercourse with this relation, after a separation of nearly thirty years, was revived by her writing to congratulate him on the appearance of his "Task," in 1784. Two years after, Lady Hesketh paid him a visit at Olney; and settling at Weston, in the immediate neighbourhood, provided a house for him and Mrs. Unwin there, which was more commodious than their former habitation. She also brought her carriage and horses with her, and

thus induced him to survey the country in a wider range than he had been hitherto accustomed to take, as well as to mix a little more with its inhabitants. As soon as the "Task" had been sent to the press, he began the "Tirocinium," a poem on the subject of education, the purport of which was (in his own words) to censure the want of discipline, and the inattention to morals, which prevail in public schools; and to recommend private education as preferable on all accounts. In the same year, 1784, he commenced his translation of Homer, which was brought to a conclusion, and published by subscription in 1791. The first edition of Homer was scarcely out of his hands, when he embraced a proposal from a bookseller to be the editor of Milton's poetry, and to furnish a version of his Italian and Latin poems, together with a critical commentary on his whole works. Capable as he was of guiding the reader's attention to the higher beauties of Milton, his habits and recluse situation made him peculiarly unfit for the more minute functions of an editor. In the progress of the work, he seems to have been constantly drawn away, by the anxious correction of his great translation; insomuch, that his second edition of Homer was rather a new work than a revisal of the old, The subsequent history of his life may make us thankful, that the powers of his mind were spared, to accomplish so great an undertaking. Their decline was fast approaching. In 1792 Mr. Hayley paid him a visit