MISCELLANEOUS. For the Christian Observer. ESSAYS ON THE TASK. No. II. If we investigate the sources whence the popularity of the Task has arisen, think we must attribute it chiefly to the author's minute and correct delineation of those domestic scenes and private feelings with which every one is familiar, and of which the opening of this book affords so exquisite a specimen. Those who reside at a distance from the metropolis will not think that it coufers undue importance on an event which seldom fails to produce a considerable sensation in a retired family-the arrival of the post, and the opening of the newspaper. Newspapers in other countries seem to belong to the government, and are considered as the means of conveying its sentiments to the people at large. But here the people claim a property in them, and by them usually intimate with sufficient plainness the opinions they entertain of public men and public measures. There is an interest excited in the minds of the people by these discussions which renders newspapers a luxury to all classes, while the general information which they diffuse produces a very considerable effect upon the national character. Widely as these vehicles of intelligence have been circulated, and coming home as they do to the bosoms and business of so many, we have here, I believe, the first poetical description of the interest which they excite: and it appears to have given so much "con amore," that I suspect we owe it entirely to the pleasure which Cooper himself derived from this "four paged folio." "I read Johnson's prefaces every night, except when the newspaper calls me off. At a time like the present, what author can stand in competition with a newspaper-or who that has a spark of patriotism, does not point all his attention to the present crisis?" (Hayley's Life, vol. II. p. 182.) "I will not apologize for my politics, or suspect them of error, merely because they are taken up from the newspapers. I take it for granted, that those reporters of the wisdom of our representatives are tolerably correct and faithful. Were they not, and were they guilty of frequent and gross misrepresentation, assuredly they would be chastised by the rod of parliamentary criticism. Could I be present at the debates, I should indeed have a better opinion of my documents. But if the House of Commons be the best school of British politics, which I think an undeniable assertion, then he that reads what passes there has opportunities of information, inferior only to those who hear for themselves, and can be present upon the spot." (Vol. II. p. 178.) The passage descriptive of the pleasure which results from a view of the world at a safe distance contains many beauties. Its principal features may be traced to the opening of the second book of Lucretius, which has been quoted in a former essay; while it has again in its turn suggested the train of ideas in a similar description of retirement, by a worthy disciple of Cowper's school. "Sauve magno mari, turbantibus æquora ventis E terra ingentem altenus spectare la In "The Sabbath," the retired man * Never longs to read the saddening tale Of endless wars, and seldom does he hear The tale of woe: and ere it reaches him, Ramour, so loud when new, has died away Into a whisper, on the memory borne around Is waveless calm, the sudden tremulous swell That gently heaves the ship, tells, as it rolls, Of earthquakes dread, and cities over. thrown." Second Edit. pp. 57, 58. ""Tis pleasant thro' the loop-holes of retreat To peep at such a world; to see the stir Of the great Babel, and not feel the crowd; To hear the roar she sends thro' all her gates At a safe distance, where the dying sound Falls a soft murmur on th' uninjur'd car. I seem advanced To some secure and more than mortal It has been already remarked, that during the winter of 1782, Cooke's Voyages were produced each evening in the family circle, when "the poet's or the historian's page, by one made vocal for the amusement of the rest............ be. guiled the night." And here we have it in our power to compare his poetical and his prose descriptions of the manner in which he was affected by these interesting narratives. I tread his deck, Ascend his top-mast, thro' his piercing eyes Discover countries, with a kindred heart the Voyages which I received, and began to read last night. My imagination is so captivated upon these occasions, that I seem to partake with the navigators in all the dananchor; my main-sail is rent into gers they encountered. I lose my shreds; I kill a shark, and by signs converse with a Patagonian, and all this without moving from the fireside. The principal fruits of these circuits which have been made round the globe seem likely to be the amusement of those that staid at home." (Vol. II. p. 127.) The address to Winter affords me an opportunity of directing the reader's attention to the boldness of Cowper's poetical personifications. The classical poets of antiquity regarded this as one of the highest embellishments of which heroic poetry was susceptible.Homer's Discord, Virgil's Fame, known to require a more distinct and Ovid's Famine, are too well examination, that Cowper yields to notice; but it will be found, on none in the judgment which he isplays in the equipment of those ideal personages which adorn his pages. What can be more expres sive than his description of the Almighty cutting off the supplies of human food. "He calls for famine-" noticing in a former essay, has all This passage, which I deferred the boldness of oriental imagery. "Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go and say unto thee, Here we are?" (Job xxxviii. 35.) And the call is answered in a manof the being summoned, ner perfectly suited to the character "And the meagre fiend Blows mildew from between his shrivell'd lips, And taints the golden ear." In the same style, he has bestowed on Winter, as ruler of the "inverted year," a sceptre and a car superior to any thing which classic poetry has given him; and he appears in a costume so picturesque and appropriate, that we cannot help exclaiming, "Is winter hideous in a garb like this?" The description of a winter's evening spent in reading to ladies at their work, is a favourite in every family circle; but our interest in it is considerably heightened when we learn that it is an exact copy of what his own retired dwell ing exhibited during the period at which the Task was composed. "I see the winter approaching without much concern, though a passionate lover of fine weather and the pleasant scenes of summer; but the long evenings have their comforts too, and there is hardly to be found upon earth, I suppose, so snug a creature as an Englishman by his fireside in the winter. I mean, however, an Englishman who lives in the country; for in London it is not very easy to avoid intrusion. I have two ladies to read to, sometimes more, but never less-at present we are circumnavigating the globe." (p. 132.) From the enjoyments of his own fireside, he adverts with benevolent sympathy to the situation of less favoured men, doomed "to bear the brunt of the tempestuous night." A judicious writer will always individualize, as much as possible, his descriptions of human misery: he therefore withdraws his view from distant and unknown sufferers, and fixes it upon a single family, "poor, yet industrious, modest, quiet, neat;" and he dwells upon their persevering fortitude amid poverty and privations with such accuracy both of feeling and expression, that we may rest assured the portrait is from nature, and that some poor family at Olney furnished him with it. Indeed, we have an intimation to this effect, in the promise that relief should be afforded from the bounty of him who," when the distant poor need help, denies them uothing but his name." This name is not now unknown, and, by the pub lie voice, has long been associated with every action expressive of a liberal and beneficent mind. To eulogise such a man is unnecessary; and it would be presumptuous in a stranger to offer any acknowledgments to that family whose patronage of Newton and Buchauan, not to mention other valuable names, has conferred a lasting benefit on the Christian world. As a contrast to the foregoing picture, we are made acquainted with the occupations of those to whom a winter's evening is the season for plundering and petty thefts. The vices of the poor might be deemed a topic little suited to the dignity of poetry, had not Cowper and Crabbe taught us that they may be wrought into subjects not devoid of interest, and not unfavourable to the display of ingenuity. From the petty plunderer we are led by an obvious and natural transition to the country ale-house; and though this passage contains much of the mock heroic, it is expressed with such true feeling, that it is hardly perceptible. The mind, arrested by the truth of the picture, thinks not of examining the colours by which it is delineated. After assembling a group, such as every village affords, describing these occupations, and making us fancy that we almost hear their noise, he completes the scene by perching Discord on the sign post, and allotting to her the poetical occupation of balancing the fate of the combatants: her scales are indeed indecisive, and their poise eternal, for the argumentations of drunken clowns can never be supposed to terminate in decisive victory. On another occasion, Cowper has shewn how faithfully he could copy Hogarth's comic sketch; and here he has exhibited the counterpart of the drinking boors of the Flemish school of painting, which will not suffer by comparison with that passage alluded to above, upon which Hayley has passed such high encomiums. Although I must agree with our poet in lamenting the increasing depravity of the lower orders, (awfully increased since he wrote), I would not by any means ascribe it to the same causes; namely, the nonresidence of the land owners, the inactivity or partiality of the magistrates, and, above all, the deteriorating effects which a service in the militia is calculated to produce upon the morals of a country lad; but rather to the increased circulation of wealth, the enlargement of commerce, and the corresponding extension of manufactures; all of which, however desirable in themselves, must, in the present imperfect state of human nature, involve consequences which are, generally speaking, inimical to the morals of a community. Nor must we conceal the fact, that the operation of the poor laws, has, in the last few years, diminished much of that feeling among the peasantry for which the Olney poor family were so distinguished: "Choosing rather far A dry and independent crust, than to endure The rugged frowns and insolent rebukes Of knaves in office, partial in the work Of distribution." All these causes have been in combined and constant operation for a series of years; and though their bad effects may be increased, or rather, though their evil tendencies be not checked by what Cowper laments, yet it is to this quarter we must trace the evils under which the public continue to suffer. However, as much has been done and is doing to counteract these unhappy results, may we not hope, that future generations will either experience the efficiency of our Education Societies, our Savings Banks, and our Prison Reforms, or else will devise some more successful expedients? The transformation of a recruit is so happily described, that we might suppose the author to have been a constant attendant on drill, or had frequently witnessed the evolutions of the aukward squad. It is another striking proof of the minuteness of his attention to scenes and circumstances which escape the view of a common observer. "Man in society is like a flower Blown in its native bed: 'tis there alone His faculties, expanded in full bloom, Shine out; there only reach their proper Beneath one head, for purposes of war, Like flowers selected from the rest, and bound And bundled close to fill some crouded vase, Fades rapidly, and, by compression marred, Contracts defilement not to be endured.” This passage contains a just sentiment, which is illustrated by a most appropriate simile, and, taken all together, it will bear the closest critical investigation. What follows has not equal claim to approbation. Cowper's representations of the East India Company were, doubt, in point of fact, far from being founded; but in truth we cannot suppose that a sequestered individual like him, whose information was probably derived from a newspaper, or whose ideas of East India politics were formed from Burke's speeches, could be a competent judge of the views and policy of so great a trading com One of them, who styles himself ruris amator, has long since noticed the love of the country exhibited by the inhabitants of cities, who eagerly cultivate whatever will vegetate within their precincts. "Nempe inter varias nutritur sylva columuas; Laudaturque domus, longos quæ pros picit agros."-HOR. After enlarging upon these hints furnished by an author who seems a favourite, Cowper closes this book by another eulogium on the comforts and blessings of a retired country life. If any apology be required for the introduction of a topic so often dwelt upon, I must recur to his own words: "The whole has one tendency; to discountenance the modern enthusiasm after a London life, and to recommend rural ease and leisure, as friendly to the cause of piety and virtue." (Vol. II. p. 260.) The concluding lines recal our attention to Horace, who, contrasting his situation with that of one possessed of what man has always valuedwealth, says of himself; "Mihi parva rura, et Spiritum Graiæ tenuem Camœnæ Parca non mendax dedit, et malignum Spernere vulgus." Car, lib. ii. 16. (To be continued.) To the Editor of the Christian Observer, HAVING from my youth been educated in those principles of religion which, at the present day, are call. ed orthodox, in contradistinction to the system which is called evan gelical, my reading has been generally confined to such writings in divinity as may be said to have the orthodox stamp upon them. The works of Calvin, I need not say, have been no part of my study: and yet I own I never could believe that his massy volumes are all filled with the trash which some persons would wish us to think; for, if so, he would never, I imagine, have CHRIST, OBSERV, No. 205. acquired from any description of persons, the estimation in which his opinions are held by many. I procured a pamphlet the other day, entitled "Considerations on the probable Effects of the Opposition of the Orthodox Clergy to their Evangelical Brethren." I read this pamphlet without scruple, as it was said to be "by an orthodox Clergyman;" and orthodox it certainly is. Now having some curiosity to know the opinion which orthodox people had of the merits of Calvin, I was pleased to find somewhat of an answer in the following passage:-"It may be worth our while to consider, for a moment, who the person was that is supposed to have plunged the searchers after truth into these depths of heresy and delusion. To hear some persons talk, wę should be led to imagine that he was an ignorant fanatic, whose employment was to go about perverting the understandings of the multitude, and corrupting their morals. We can hardly discern here the man whom even ArchbishopLaud calls the wise and learned Calvin, whom the judicious Hooker styles incomparably the wisest man that the French Church - did enjoy, since it enjoyed him;" whom, moreover, ecclesiastical history records as the famous Calvin,' as the man whose extensive genius, flowing eloquence, immense learning, extraordinary penetration, indefatigable industry, and fervent piety, placed him at the head of the Reformers; as the man whose genius, learning, eloquence, and talents, rendered him respectable even in the eyes of his enemies;" as the man "who surpassed almost all the other doctors of his age, in laborious application, constancy of mind, force of eloquence, and extent of genius." "A vast induction of authorities, if it were necessary, might be quoted, to shew the opinion which has been generally held of Calvin's merits, even by those who differed E |