Chapter 97

[777]The Saviour.

[778]Attributed to Correggio, after contemplating the works of Raphael.

[779]Alluding to the monument of Lord Chatham, in Westminster Abbey.

[780]Brown, in Cowper's time, was the great designer in the art of laying out grounds for the nobility and gentry.

[781]"January 6, 1804."Among our dear Cowper's papers, I found the following memorandum:YARDLEY OAK IN GIRTH, FEET 22, INCHES 6½.THE OAK AT YARDLEY LODGE, FEET 28, INCHES 5.As to Yardley Oak, it stands in Yardley Chase, where the Earls of Northampton have a fine seat. It was a favourite walk of our dear Cowper, and he once carried me to see that oak. I believe it is five miles at least from Weston Lodge. It is indeed a noble tree, perfectly sound, and stands in an open part of the Chase, with only one or two others near it, so as to be seen to advantage."With respect to the oak at Yardley Lodge, that is quite in decay—a pollard, and almost hollow. I took an excrescence from it in the year 1791, and, if I mistake not, Cowper told me it is said to have been an oak in the time of the Conqueror. This latter oak is on the road to the former, but not above half so far from Weston Lodge, being only just beyond Killick and Dinglederry. This is all I can tell you about the oaks. They were old acquaintance and great favourites of the bard. How rejoiced I am to hear that he has immortalized one of them in blank verse! Where could those one hundred and sixty-one lines lie hid? Till this very day I never heard of their existence, nor suspected it."

[781]

"January 6, 1804.

"Among our dear Cowper's papers, I found the following memorandum:

YARDLEY OAK IN GIRTH, FEET 22, INCHES 6½.THE OAK AT YARDLEY LODGE, FEET 28, INCHES 5.

As to Yardley Oak, it stands in Yardley Chase, where the Earls of Northampton have a fine seat. It was a favourite walk of our dear Cowper, and he once carried me to see that oak. I believe it is five miles at least from Weston Lodge. It is indeed a noble tree, perfectly sound, and stands in an open part of the Chase, with only one or two others near it, so as to be seen to advantage.

"With respect to the oak at Yardley Lodge, that is quite in decay—a pollard, and almost hollow. I took an excrescence from it in the year 1791, and, if I mistake not, Cowper told me it is said to have been an oak in the time of the Conqueror. This latter oak is on the road to the former, but not above half so far from Weston Lodge, being only just beyond Killick and Dinglederry. This is all I can tell you about the oaks. They were old acquaintance and great favourites of the bard. How rejoiced I am to hear that he has immortalized one of them in blank verse! Where could those one hundred and sixty-one lines lie hid? Till this very day I never heard of their existence, nor suspected it."

[782]The late Samuel Whitbread, Esq., was an enthusiastic admirer of the poetry of Cowper, and solicitous to obtain a relic of the Yardley oak. Mr. Bull, of Newport Pagnel, promised to send a specimen, but some little delay having occurred, Mr. Whitbread addressed to him the following verses, which, emanating from such a man, and not having met the public eye, will, we are persuaded, be considered as a literary curiosity, and of no mean merit."Send me the precious bit of oak,Which your own hand so fondly tookFrom off the consecrated tree,A relic dear to you and me.To many 'twould a bauble proveNot worth the keeping.—Those who loveThe teeming grand poetic mind,Which God thought fit in chains to bind,Of dreadful, dark despairing gloom;Yet left within such ample room,For coruscations strong and bright:Such beams of everlasting light,As make men envy, love, and dread,The structure of that wondrous head,Must prize a bit of Judith's stem,That brought to light that precious gem—The fragment: which in verse sublimeRecords her honours to all time."

"Send me the precious bit of oak,Which your own hand so fondly tookFrom off the consecrated tree,A relic dear to you and me.To many 'twould a bauble proveNot worth the keeping.—Those who loveThe teeming grand poetic mind,Which God thought fit in chains to bind,Of dreadful, dark despairing gloom;Yet left within such ample room,For coruscations strong and bright:Such beams of everlasting light,As make men envy, love, and dread,The structure of that wondrous head,Must prize a bit of Judith's stem,That brought to light that precious gem—The fragment: which in verse sublimeRecords her honours to all time."

[783]These lines were written prophetically, and previously to the event.

[784]The late Lord Erskine was a frequent reciter of passages from Cowper's poems. The Editor is indebted to E. H. Barker, Esq. of Thetford, for the following anecdote which was communicated to him by Joseph Jekyll, Esq., the eminent counsellor.Mr. Jekyll was dining with Lord Oxford, and among the company were Dr. Parr, Horne Tooke, Lord Erskine, and Mr. W. Scott, (brother to Lady Oxford.) Lord Erskine recited, in his admirable manner, the verses of Cowper about theCaptive, without saying whose they were: Dr. Parr expressed great admiration of the verses, and said that he had never heard of them or seen them before; he inquired whose they were? H. Tooke said, "Why, Cowper's." Dr. Parr said he had never read Cowper's poems. "Not read Cowper's poems!" said Horne Tooke, "and you never will, I suppose, Dr. Parr, till they are turned into Greek?" When the company went into the drawing-room, Lady Oxford presented Dr. Parr with a small edition of Cowper's Poems, and Mr. Jekyll was desired by her ladyship to write in the book, "From the Countess of Oxford to Dr. Parr." Horne Tooke wrote also underneath, "Who never read the book," and signed his name to it: all present signed their names and added some remark, and among the rest W. Scott. At the sale of Dr. Parr's books, this volume fetched about five pounds, being considered valuable and curious, as the W. Scott signed was supposed to have beenSirW. Scott (since Lord Stowell.) Lord Stowell afterwards took great pains to contradict the report.

Mr. Jekyll was dining with Lord Oxford, and among the company were Dr. Parr, Horne Tooke, Lord Erskine, and Mr. W. Scott, (brother to Lady Oxford.) Lord Erskine recited, in his admirable manner, the verses of Cowper about theCaptive, without saying whose they were: Dr. Parr expressed great admiration of the verses, and said that he had never heard of them or seen them before; he inquired whose they were? H. Tooke said, "Why, Cowper's." Dr. Parr said he had never read Cowper's poems. "Not read Cowper's poems!" said Horne Tooke, "and you never will, I suppose, Dr. Parr, till they are turned into Greek?" When the company went into the drawing-room, Lady Oxford presented Dr. Parr with a small edition of Cowper's Poems, and Mr. Jekyll was desired by her ladyship to write in the book, "From the Countess of Oxford to Dr. Parr." Horne Tooke wrote also underneath, "Who never read the book," and signed his name to it: all present signed their names and added some remark, and among the rest W. Scott. At the sale of Dr. Parr's books, this volume fetched about five pounds, being considered valuable and curious, as the W. Scott signed was supposed to have beenSirW. Scott (since Lord Stowell.) Lord Stowell afterwards took great pains to contradict the report.

[785]THE WISH."Ye verdant hills, ye soft umbrageous vales,Fann'd by light Zephyr's health-inspiring gales;Ye woods, whose boughs in rich luxuriance wave;Ye sparkling rivulets, whose waters laveThose meads, where erst, at morning's dewy prime,(Reckless of shoals beneath the stream of Time,)My vagrant feet your flowery margin press'd,Whilst Heaven gave back the sunshine in my breast:—O, would the powers that rule my wayward lotRestore me to the lone paternal cot!There, far from folly, fraud's ensnaring wiles,The world's dark frown, or still more dangerous smiles,Let peaceful duties peaceful hours engage;Till, winding gently down the slope of age,Tranquil I mark life's swift-declining dayFling deeper shades athwart my lessening way;And pleased, at last put off this mortal coil,Again to mingle with its kindred soilBeneath the grassy turf, or silent stone;Unseen the path I trod, my resting-place unknown."T. Ostler.

[785]THE WISH.

"Ye verdant hills, ye soft umbrageous vales,Fann'd by light Zephyr's health-inspiring gales;Ye woods, whose boughs in rich luxuriance wave;Ye sparkling rivulets, whose waters laveThose meads, where erst, at morning's dewy prime,(Reckless of shoals beneath the stream of Time,)My vagrant feet your flowery margin press'd,Whilst Heaven gave back the sunshine in my breast:—O, would the powers that rule my wayward lotRestore me to the lone paternal cot!There, far from folly, fraud's ensnaring wiles,The world's dark frown, or still more dangerous smiles,Let peaceful duties peaceful hours engage;Till, winding gently down the slope of age,Tranquil I mark life's swift-declining dayFling deeper shades athwart my lessening way;And pleased, at last put off this mortal coil,Again to mingle with its kindred soilBeneath the grassy turf, or silent stone;Unseen the path I trod, my resting-place unknown."

T. Ostler.

[786]The reasons which he assigns, in justification of this opinion, are thus specified."Let no pious ear be offended if I advance, in opposition to many authorities, that poetical devotion cannot often please. The doctrines of religion may indeed be defended in a didactic poem; and he who has the happy power of arguing in verse will not lose it because his subject is sacred. A poet may describe the beauty and the grandeur of nature, the flowers of the spring, and the harvests of autumn, the vicissitudes of the tide, and the revolutions of the sky, and praise the Maker for his works, in lines which no reader shall lay aside. The subject of the disputation is not piety, but the motives to piety; that of the description is not God, but the works of God."Contemplative piety, or the intercourse between God and the human soul, cannot be poetical. Man, admitted to implore the mercy of his Creator, and plead the merits of his Redeemer, is already in a higher state than poetry can confer."The essence of poetry is invention; such invention as, by producing something unexpected, surprises and delights. The topics of devotion are few, and being few are universally known; but, few as they are, they can be made no more; they can receive no grace from novelty of sentiment, and very little from novelty of expression."Poetry pleases by exhibiting an idea more grateful to the mind than things themselves afford. This effect proceeds from the display of those parts of nature which attract, and the concealment of those which repel the imagination. But Religion must be shown as it is: suppression and addition equally corrupt it; and such as it is, it is known already."From poetry the reader justly expects, and from good poetry always obtains, the enlargement of his comprehension and elevation of his fancy; but this is rarely to be hoped by Christians from metrical devotion. Whatever is great, desirable, or tremendous, is comprised in the name of the Supreme Being. Omnipotence cannot be exalted; Infinity cannot be amplified; Perfection cannot be improved."The employments of pious meditation are Faith, Thanksgiving, Repentance, and Supplication. Faith invariably uniform, cannot be invested by fancy with decorations. Thanksgiving, the most joyful of all holy effusions, yet addressed to a Being without passions, is confined to a few modes, and is to be felt, rather than expressed. Repentance, trembling in the presence of the Judge, is not at leisure for cadences and epithets. Supplication of man to man may diffuse itself through many topics of persuasion; but supplication to God can only cry for mercy."Of sentiments purely religious it will be found that the most simple expression is the most sublime. Poetry loses its lustre and its power, because it is applied to the decoration of something more excellent than itself. All that pious verse can do is to help the memory and delight the ear, and for these purposes it may be very useful; but it supplies nothing to the mind. The ideas of Christian theology are too simple for eloquence, too sacred for fiction, and too majestic for ornament; to recommend them by tropes and figures, is to magnify by a concave mirror the sidereal hemisphere."—See Life of Waller.These remarks seem to be founded on very erroneous principles; but having already offered our sentiments, we forbear any further comment, except to state that we profess to belong to the school of Cowper; that we participate in the expression of his regret,"Pity that Religion has so seldom foundA skilful guide into poetic ground:"and that we cordially share in his conviction,"The flowers would spring where'er she deign'd to stray,And every Muse attend her on her way."Table Talk.

[786]The reasons which he assigns, in justification of this opinion, are thus specified.

"Let no pious ear be offended if I advance, in opposition to many authorities, that poetical devotion cannot often please. The doctrines of religion may indeed be defended in a didactic poem; and he who has the happy power of arguing in verse will not lose it because his subject is sacred. A poet may describe the beauty and the grandeur of nature, the flowers of the spring, and the harvests of autumn, the vicissitudes of the tide, and the revolutions of the sky, and praise the Maker for his works, in lines which no reader shall lay aside. The subject of the disputation is not piety, but the motives to piety; that of the description is not God, but the works of God.

"Contemplative piety, or the intercourse between God and the human soul, cannot be poetical. Man, admitted to implore the mercy of his Creator, and plead the merits of his Redeemer, is already in a higher state than poetry can confer.

"The essence of poetry is invention; such invention as, by producing something unexpected, surprises and delights. The topics of devotion are few, and being few are universally known; but, few as they are, they can be made no more; they can receive no grace from novelty of sentiment, and very little from novelty of expression.

"Poetry pleases by exhibiting an idea more grateful to the mind than things themselves afford. This effect proceeds from the display of those parts of nature which attract, and the concealment of those which repel the imagination. But Religion must be shown as it is: suppression and addition equally corrupt it; and such as it is, it is known already.

"From poetry the reader justly expects, and from good poetry always obtains, the enlargement of his comprehension and elevation of his fancy; but this is rarely to be hoped by Christians from metrical devotion. Whatever is great, desirable, or tremendous, is comprised in the name of the Supreme Being. Omnipotence cannot be exalted; Infinity cannot be amplified; Perfection cannot be improved.

"The employments of pious meditation are Faith, Thanksgiving, Repentance, and Supplication. Faith invariably uniform, cannot be invested by fancy with decorations. Thanksgiving, the most joyful of all holy effusions, yet addressed to a Being without passions, is confined to a few modes, and is to be felt, rather than expressed. Repentance, trembling in the presence of the Judge, is not at leisure for cadences and epithets. Supplication of man to man may diffuse itself through many topics of persuasion; but supplication to God can only cry for mercy.

"Of sentiments purely religious it will be found that the most simple expression is the most sublime. Poetry loses its lustre and its power, because it is applied to the decoration of something more excellent than itself. All that pious verse can do is to help the memory and delight the ear, and for these purposes it may be very useful; but it supplies nothing to the mind. The ideas of Christian theology are too simple for eloquence, too sacred for fiction, and too majestic for ornament; to recommend them by tropes and figures, is to magnify by a concave mirror the sidereal hemisphere."—See Life of Waller.

These remarks seem to be founded on very erroneous principles; but having already offered our sentiments, we forbear any further comment, except to state that we profess to belong to the school of Cowper; that we participate in the expression of his regret,

"Pity that Religion has so seldom foundA skilful guide into poetic ground:"

and that we cordially share in his conviction,

"The flowers would spring where'er she deign'd to stray,And every Muse attend her on her way."

Table Talk.

[787]See the "Inferno" of Dante, where this motto is inscribed over the entrance into the abodes of woe.

[788]Job xxvi. 14.

[789]See page 451.

[790]Letter to Newton, May 20, 1786.

[791]Paradise Lost, book iii.

[792]See p. 446.

[793]Letter to Newton, Aug. 6, 1785.

[794]Letter to Newton, May 20, 1786.

[795]See page 448.

[796]Letter to Mr. Newton.

[797]Grant's (now Lord Glenelg) prize poem on "Restoration of Learning in the East."

[798]Eclectic Review. This criticism it has been ascertained is from the pen of Mr. James Montgomery; and the desire inseparably to connect what is so just and able with the works of Cowper has been the inducement, notwithstanding its length, to introduce it here.

[799]Montgomery's Essay on Cowper's Poems.

[800]Vide Josh. v. 14.

[801]Which may be found at Doctor's Commons.

[802]Alluding to the grant of Magna Charta, which was extorted from King John by the barons at Runnymede near Windsor.

[803]The Moravian missionaries in Greenland.—See Krantz.

[804]Bruyère.

[805]See Poems.

[806]John Courtney Throckmorton, Esq. of Weston Underwood.

[807]Omai.

[808]Alluding to the calamities in Jamaica.

[809]August 18, 1783.

[810]Alluding to the fog that covered both Europe and Asia during the whole summer of 1783.

[811]Benet College, Cambridge.

[812]Miraturque novos fructus et non sua poma.—Virg.

[813]Mignonette.

[814]The author hopes that he shall not be censured for unnecessary warmth upon so interesting a subject. He is aware that it is become almost fashionable to stigmatize such sentiments as no better than empty declamation; but it is an ill symptom, and peculiar to modern times.

[815]See Hume.

[816]The Guelder Rose.

[817]Nebaioth and Kedar, the sons of Ishmael, and progenitors of the Arabs, in the prophetic scripture here alluded to, may be reasonably considered as representatives of the Gentiles at large.

[818]See 2 Chron. xxvi. 19.

[819]The author begs leave to explain.—Sensible that, without such knowledge, neither the ancient poets nor historians can be tasted, or indeed understood, he does not mean to censure the pains that are taken to instruct a schoolboy in the religion of the heathen, but merely that neglect of Christian culture which leaves him shamefully ignorant of his own.

[820]Alluding to the poem by Mr. Hayley, which accompanied these lines.

[821]It may be proper to inform the reader, that this piece has already appeared in print, having found its way, though with some unnecessary additions by an unknown hand, into theLeeds Journal, without the author's privity.

[822]It was one of the whimsical speculations of this philosopher, that all fables which ascribe reason and speech to animals should be withheld from children, as being only vehicles of deception. But what child was ever deceived by them, or can be, against the evidence of his senses?

[823]Sir Robert Gunning's daughters.

[824]Two woods belonging to John Throckmorton, Esq.

[825]Garth.

[826]Composed for John Cox, parish clerk of Northampton.

[827]Pitchkettled, a favourite phrase at the time when this Epistle was written, expressive of being puzzled, or what in the Spectator's time would have been called bamboozled.

[828]An obscure part of Olney, adjoining to the residence of Cowper, which faced the market-place.

[829]Lady Austen's residence in France.

[830]Written on reading the following in the obituary of the Gentleman's Magazine for April, 1789.—"At Tottenham, John Ardesoif, Esq., a young man of large fortune, and in the splendour of his carriages and horses rivalled by few country gentlemen. His table was that of hospitality, where, it may be said, he sacrificed too much to conviviality; but, if he had his foibles he had his merits also, that far outweighed them. Mr. A. was very fond of cock-fighting, and had a favourite cock, upon which he had won many profitable matches. The last bet he laid upon this cock he lost; which so enraged him, that he had the bird tied to a spit and roasted alive before a large fire. The screams of the miserable animal were so affecting, that some gentlemen who were present attempted to interfere, which so enraged Mr. A., that he seized a poker, and with the most furious vehemence declared, that he would kill the first man who interposed; but, in the midst of his passionate asseverations, he fell down dead upon the spot. Such, we are assured, were the circumstances which attended the death of this great pillar of humanity."

[831]Cowper's partiality to animals is well known. Lady Hesketh, in one of her letters, states, "that he had, at one time, five rabbits, three hares, two guinea-pigs, a magpie, a jay, and a starling; besides two goldfinches, two canary birds, and two dogs. It is amazing how the three hares can find room to gambol and frolic (as they certainly do) in his small parlour;" and she adds, "I forgot to enumerate a squirrel, which he had at the same time, and which used to play with one of the hares continually. One evening, the cat giving one of the hares a sound box on the ear, the hare ran after her, and, having caught her, punished her by drumming on her back with her two feet as hard as drum-sticks, till the creature would have actually been killed, had not Mrs. Unwin rescued her."

[832]This tree had been known by the name ofJudithfor many ages. Perhaps it received that name on being planted by the Countess Judith, niece to the Conqueror, whom he gave in marriage to the English Earl Waltheof, with the counties of Northampton and Huntingdon as her dower.VideLetters, p. 301.

[833]Knee-timber is found in the crooked arms of oak, which, by reason of their distortion, are easily adjusted to the angle formed where the deck and the ship's sides meet.

[834]Hayley.

[835]Lady Throckmorton.

[836]This tale is founded on an article which appeared in the Buckinghamshire Herald, Saturday, June 1, 1793;—"Glasgow, May 23. In a block, or pulley, near the head of the mast of a gabert, now lying at the Broomielaw, there is a chaffinch's nest and four eggs. The nest was built while the vessel lay at Greenock, and was followed hither by both birds. Though the block is occasionally lowered for the inspection of the curious, the birds have not forsaken the nest. The cock, however, visits the nest but seldom, while the hen never leaves it, but when she descends to the hull for food."

[837]Nominally by Robert Heron, Esq., but supposed to have been written by John Pinkerton. 8vo. 1785.

[838]A village near Olney.

[839]Mrs. Unwin.

[840]The late Lady Austen

[841]The bones of Milton, who lies buried in Cripplegate church, were disinterred; a pamphlet by Le Neve was published at the time, giving an account of what appeared on opening his coffin.

[842]Forsitan et nostros ducat de marmore vultus,Nectens aut Paphia myrti aut Parnasside lauriFronde comas—At ego secura pace quiescam.Milton in Manso.[843]Cowper, no doubt, had in his memory the lines said to have been written by Shakspeare on his tomb:"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbearTo dig the dust inclosed here.Blest be the man that spares these stones,And curst be he that moves my bones."[844]I have heard about my wether mutton from various quarters. It was a blunder hardly pardonable in a man who has lived amid fields and meadows, grazed by sheep, almost these thirty years. I have accordingly satirized myself in two stanzas which I composed last night, while I lay awake, tormented with pain, and well dosed with laudanum. If you find them not very brilliant, therefore, you will know how to account for it.—Letter to Joseph Hill, Esq.dated April 15, 1792.[845]For Mrs. Greville's Ode, seeAnnual Register, vol. v. p. 202.[846]Sir William Russel, the favourite friend of the young poet.[847]See The Life of the Rev. John Newton, written by himself, in a series of letters addressed to the Rev. Mr. Haweis.[848]See "Life of Newton," prefixed to his works.[849]Life of Newton.[850]These lines are a translation from the following well-known passage of Propertius; Newton piously applying to the Creator what the poet addresses to the creature.Sic ego desertis possim bene vivere sylvis,Quo nulla humano sit via trita pede.Tu mihi curarum requies, in nocte vel atrâLumen, et in solis tu mihi turba locis.SeeLife of Newton.[851]Life of Newton.[852]Ibid.[853]Life of Newton.[854]Ibid.[855]Lord Dartmouth was the patron of the living of Olney and distinguished for his piety. It is due to this noble family to state, that in no instance has a vacancy in the living ever been filled up but in subserviency to the interests of true religion.[856]Cecil's Memoir of Newton.[857]Bishops Hall, Davenant, and Jeremy Taylor, are honourable exceptions.[858]See 9, 10, 11, 12, 13th Articles.[859]See the Homilies entitled "On the misery of man;" on "Justifying faith;" "Good works annexed to faith;" on "the death and passion of our Saviour Christ;" Homily for Whitsunday, &c.[860]Plato.[861]See Bishop of Durham's Charge, (Barrington,) 1792.[862]See "Watson's Tracts," vol. vi.[863]See Newton's "Cardiphonia." Letter to Rev. Mr. S.[864]Ibid.[865]Works done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, &c.[866]See also Article IX. of the church of England, on Original Sin.[867]"Cardiphonia." Letters to a Nobleman.[868]"Cardiphonia."[869]Ibid.[870]Page 34.[871]History of Music.[872]Le Laboureur a sa charruë,Le Charretier parmy le ruë,Et l'Artisan en sa boutique,Avecques un Pseaume ou Cantique,En son labour se soulager.Heureux qui orra le BergerEt la Bergere au bois estans,Fair que rochers et estangsApres eux chantent la hauteurDu sainct nom de Createur.Clement Marot.[873]This mode of adaptation may be seen in the "Godly and Spiritual Songs," &c. printed at Edinburgh in 1597, and reprinted there in 1801.—Park.[874]There is also a fragment of a comment on the Seven Penitential Psalms, in English verse, attributed to Dr. Alcock, Bishop of Ely, the founder of Jesus College, Cambridge.[875]Warton's censure is expressed in very strong language. "To the disgrace of sacred music, sacred poetry, and our established worship, these Psalms still continue to be sung in the Church of England." SeeHistory of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 461.[876]One edition imputes two hymns of Newton's to Cowper, by mistaking the numerical letter C for the initial of Cowper's name.[877]1 Sam. xxiii. 27.[878]Jonah i. 17.[879]Mark ix. 24.[880]Mark v. 34.[881]Judges vii. 9, and 20.[882]Verse 37.[883]Isaiah xxxi. 5.[884]Exod. xii. 13.[885]Lev. xii. 6.[886]Lev. xvi. 21.[887]Lev. xiv. 51-53.[888]Exod. x. 9.[889]Exod. xii. 12.[890]Isaiah liv. 2.[891]Luke xii. 50.[892]Exodus xvii. 11.[893]Psalm cxxx. 6.[894]Cant. v. 8.[895]Hebrews xii. 8.[896]Psalm cxix. 71.[897]Psalm lxix. 15.[898]Psalm xl. 17.[899]Ephes. vi. 16.[900]Joshua vii. 10, 11.[901]Isaiah xxxv. 7.[902]Matthew vi. 34.[903]Habakkuk iii. 17, 18.[904]Prov. iii. 17.[905]Matt. xi. 30.[906]Gen. xxi. 19.[907]1 Kings xvii. 14.[908]Isa. xxxiii. 16.[909]Romans iii. 31.[910]Judges vii. 2.[911]Exod. xxviii. 33.[912]Matthew xxvi. 33.[913]John vi. 29.[914]John xiii. 7.[915]Life of Fénélon.[916]Bossuet.[917]See Butler's Life of Fenelon.[918]See "Remains of Alexander Knox, Esq." vol. i. pp. 303, 304.[919]Exodus xxxii. 32.[920]Scott and Henry both agree in this interpretation, viz. a willingness to be treated as an Anathema, and to be cut off from all church communion and privileges, but not to be eternally lost.[921]I have translated only two of the three poetical compliments addressed to Leonora, as they appear to me far superior to what I have omitted.[922]No title is prefixed to this piece, but it appears to be a translation of one of the Επιγραμματα of Homer called Ο Καμινος, or The Furnace. Herodotus, or whoever was the author of the Life of Homer ascribed to him, observes, "certain potters, while they were busied in baking their ware, seeing Homer at a small distance, and having heard much said of his wisdom, called to him, and promised him a present of their commodity, and of such other things as they could afford, if he would sing to them, when he sang as follows."[923]Cowper afterwards altered this last stanza in the following manner:—The change both my heart and my fancy employs, I reflect on the frailty of man, and his joys; Short-lived as we are, yet our pleasures, we see, Have a still shorter date, and die sooner than we.[924]He was usher and under-master of Westminster near fifty years, and retired from his occupation when he was near seventy, with a handsome pension from the king.

[842]

Forsitan et nostros ducat de marmore vultus,Nectens aut Paphia myrti aut Parnasside lauriFronde comas—At ego secura pace quiescam.

Milton in Manso.

[843]Cowper, no doubt, had in his memory the lines said to have been written by Shakspeare on his tomb:"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbearTo dig the dust inclosed here.Blest be the man that spares these stones,And curst be he that moves my bones."

[843]Cowper, no doubt, had in his memory the lines said to have been written by Shakspeare on his tomb:

"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbearTo dig the dust inclosed here.Blest be the man that spares these stones,And curst be he that moves my bones."

[844]I have heard about my wether mutton from various quarters. It was a blunder hardly pardonable in a man who has lived amid fields and meadows, grazed by sheep, almost these thirty years. I have accordingly satirized myself in two stanzas which I composed last night, while I lay awake, tormented with pain, and well dosed with laudanum. If you find them not very brilliant, therefore, you will know how to account for it.—Letter to Joseph Hill, Esq.dated April 15, 1792.

[845]For Mrs. Greville's Ode, seeAnnual Register, vol. v. p. 202.

[846]Sir William Russel, the favourite friend of the young poet.

[847]See The Life of the Rev. John Newton, written by himself, in a series of letters addressed to the Rev. Mr. Haweis.

[848]See "Life of Newton," prefixed to his works.

[849]Life of Newton.

[850]These lines are a translation from the following well-known passage of Propertius; Newton piously applying to the Creator what the poet addresses to the creature.Sic ego desertis possim bene vivere sylvis,Quo nulla humano sit via trita pede.Tu mihi curarum requies, in nocte vel atrâLumen, et in solis tu mihi turba locis.SeeLife of Newton.

[850]These lines are a translation from the following well-known passage of Propertius; Newton piously applying to the Creator what the poet addresses to the creature.

Sic ego desertis possim bene vivere sylvis,Quo nulla humano sit via trita pede.Tu mihi curarum requies, in nocte vel atrâLumen, et in solis tu mihi turba locis.

SeeLife of Newton.

[851]Life of Newton.

[852]Ibid.

[853]Life of Newton.

[854]Ibid.

[855]Lord Dartmouth was the patron of the living of Olney and distinguished for his piety. It is due to this noble family to state, that in no instance has a vacancy in the living ever been filled up but in subserviency to the interests of true religion.

[856]Cecil's Memoir of Newton.

[857]Bishops Hall, Davenant, and Jeremy Taylor, are honourable exceptions.

[858]See 9, 10, 11, 12, 13th Articles.

[859]See the Homilies entitled "On the misery of man;" on "Justifying faith;" "Good works annexed to faith;" on "the death and passion of our Saviour Christ;" Homily for Whitsunday, &c.

[860]Plato.

[861]See Bishop of Durham's Charge, (Barrington,) 1792.

[862]See "Watson's Tracts," vol. vi.

[863]See Newton's "Cardiphonia." Letter to Rev. Mr. S.

[864]Ibid.

[865]Works done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, &c.

[866]See also Article IX. of the church of England, on Original Sin.

[867]"Cardiphonia." Letters to a Nobleman.

[868]"Cardiphonia."

[869]Ibid.

[870]Page 34.

[871]History of Music.

[872]Le Laboureur a sa charruë,Le Charretier parmy le ruë,Et l'Artisan en sa boutique,Avecques un Pseaume ou Cantique,En son labour se soulager.Heureux qui orra le BergerEt la Bergere au bois estans,Fair que rochers et estangsApres eux chantent la hauteurDu sainct nom de Createur.Clement Marot.

[872]

Le Laboureur a sa charruë,Le Charretier parmy le ruë,Et l'Artisan en sa boutique,Avecques un Pseaume ou Cantique,En son labour se soulager.Heureux qui orra le BergerEt la Bergere au bois estans,Fair que rochers et estangsApres eux chantent la hauteurDu sainct nom de Createur.

Clement Marot.

[873]This mode of adaptation may be seen in the "Godly and Spiritual Songs," &c. printed at Edinburgh in 1597, and reprinted there in 1801.—Park.

[874]There is also a fragment of a comment on the Seven Penitential Psalms, in English verse, attributed to Dr. Alcock, Bishop of Ely, the founder of Jesus College, Cambridge.

[875]Warton's censure is expressed in very strong language. "To the disgrace of sacred music, sacred poetry, and our established worship, these Psalms still continue to be sung in the Church of England." SeeHistory of English Poetry, vol. ii. p. 461.

[876]One edition imputes two hymns of Newton's to Cowper, by mistaking the numerical letter C for the initial of Cowper's name.

[877]1 Sam. xxiii. 27.

[878]Jonah i. 17.

[879]Mark ix. 24.

[880]Mark v. 34.

[881]Judges vii. 9, and 20.

[882]Verse 37.

[883]Isaiah xxxi. 5.

[884]Exod. xii. 13.

[885]Lev. xii. 6.

[886]Lev. xvi. 21.

[887]Lev. xiv. 51-53.

[888]Exod. x. 9.

[889]Exod. xii. 12.

[890]Isaiah liv. 2.

[891]Luke xii. 50.

[892]Exodus xvii. 11.

[893]Psalm cxxx. 6.

[894]Cant. v. 8.

[895]Hebrews xii. 8.

[896]Psalm cxix. 71.

[897]Psalm lxix. 15.

[898]Psalm xl. 17.

[899]Ephes. vi. 16.

[900]Joshua vii. 10, 11.

[901]Isaiah xxxv. 7.

[902]Matthew vi. 34.

[903]Habakkuk iii. 17, 18.

[904]Prov. iii. 17.

[905]Matt. xi. 30.

[906]Gen. xxi. 19.

[907]1 Kings xvii. 14.

[908]Isa. xxxiii. 16.

[909]Romans iii. 31.

[910]Judges vii. 2.

[911]Exod. xxviii. 33.

[912]Matthew xxvi. 33.

[913]John vi. 29.

[914]John xiii. 7.

[915]Life of Fénélon.

[916]Bossuet.

[917]See Butler's Life of Fenelon.

[918]See "Remains of Alexander Knox, Esq." vol. i. pp. 303, 304.

[919]Exodus xxxii. 32.

[920]Scott and Henry both agree in this interpretation, viz. a willingness to be treated as an Anathema, and to be cut off from all church communion and privileges, but not to be eternally lost.

[921]I have translated only two of the three poetical compliments addressed to Leonora, as they appear to me far superior to what I have omitted.

[922]No title is prefixed to this piece, but it appears to be a translation of one of the Επιγραμματα of Homer called Ο Καμινος, or The Furnace. Herodotus, or whoever was the author of the Life of Homer ascribed to him, observes, "certain potters, while they were busied in baking their ware, seeing Homer at a small distance, and having heard much said of his wisdom, called to him, and promised him a present of their commodity, and of such other things as they could afford, if he would sing to them, when he sang as follows."

[923]Cowper afterwards altered this last stanza in the following manner:—The change both my heart and my fancy employs, I reflect on the frailty of man, and his joys; Short-lived as we are, yet our pleasures, we see, Have a still shorter date, and die sooner than we.

[923]Cowper afterwards altered this last stanza in the following manner:—

The change both my heart and my fancy employs, I reflect on the frailty of man, and his joys; Short-lived as we are, yet our pleasures, we see, Have a still shorter date, and die sooner than we.

[924]He was usher and under-master of Westminster near fifty years, and retired from his occupation when he was near seventy, with a handsome pension from the king.

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