a day with his venerable kinsman, General Cowper.

Cowper's sentiments on the Established Church, as expressed in a letter to Mr. Hill, in December, 1792, were extremely liberal:

"As to the reformation of the church, I want none, unless by a better provision for the inferior clergy; and if that could be brought about by emaciating a little some of our too corpulent dignitaries, I should be well contented. The dissenters, I think, Catholics and others, have all a right to the privilege of all other Englishmen, because to deprive them is persecution; and persecution on any account, but especially on a religious one, is an abomination. But after all, valeat respublica, I love my Country, I love my King, and I wish peace and prosperity to Old England."

In June, 1793, he contemplated writing a Poem, entitled, the Four Ages, but he only completed a fragment. This work, he then observed, is the utmost that he aspired to, but he adds, "Heaven knows with how feeble a hope."

Cowper's letters about September in that year contain notices of the late Sir Thomas Lawrence, which are of some interest. To Mr. Johnson he says, "Here you will meet Mr. Rose, who comes on the 8th, and brings with him Mr. Lawrence, the painter, you may guess for what purpose." On the 5th of October he told Mr. Hayley, “On Tuesday we expect company. Mr. Rose and

Lawrence the painter. Yet once more is my patience to be exercised, and once more I am made to wish that my face had been movable, to put on and take off at pleasure, so as to be portable in a bandbox, and sent to the artist." To Mr. Rose he remarked in November following, "My hope was, that the fine frost would bring you, and the amiable painter with you. If, however, you are prevented by the business of your respective professions, you are well prevented, and I will endeavour to be patient. When the latter was here, he mentioned one day the subject of Diomede's horses, driven under the axle of his chariot by the thunderbolt which fell at their feet, as a subject for his pencil. It is certainly a noble one, and therefore worthy of his study and attention. It occurred to me at the moment, but I know not what it was that made me forget it again the next moment, that the horses of Achilles flying over the foss, with Patroclus and Automedon in the chariot, would be a good companion for it. Should you happen to recollect this, when you next see him, you may submit it if you please, to his consideration. I stumbled yesterday on another subject, which reminded me of the said excellent artist, as likely to afford a fine opportunity to the expression that he could give it. It is found in the shooting match in the twentythird book of the Iliad, between Meriones and Teucer. The former cuts the string with which the dove is tied to the mast-head, and sets her at

liberty; the latter standing at his side, in all the eagerness of emulation, points an arrow at the mark with his right hand, while with his left he snatches the bow from his competitor. He is a fine poetical figure, but Mr. Lawrence himself must judge whether or not he promises as well for the canvas."

In November Hayley paid a second visit to Weston. He found Cowper apparently well, and enlivened by the society of Mr. Johnson and Mr. Rose. The latter arrived from Althorpe, the seat of Lord Spencer, and was charged to invite him to meet Gibbon at that place. He, however, declined the proffered civility, notwithstanding the earnest entreaties of his friends that he would accept it. Upon this occasion Hayley perceived the approach of the storm which finally wrecked his intellect: "He possessed, he says, completely at this period all the admirable faculties of his mind, and all his native tenderness of heart; but there was something indescribable in his appearance, which led me to apprehend, that without some signal event in his favour to re-animate his spirits, they would gradually sink into hopeless dejection. The state of his aged infirm companion afforded additional ground for increasing solicitude. Her cheerful and beneficent spirit could hardly resist her own accumulated maladies, so far as to preserve ability sufficient to watch over the tender health of him, whom she had watched and guarded so long. Imbecility of

body and mind must gradually render this tender and heroic woman unfit for the charge which she had so laudably sustained. The signs of such imbecility were beginning to be painfully visible; nor can nature present a spectacle more truly pitiable than imbecility in such a shape, eagerly grasping for dominion, which it knows not either how to retain, or how to relinquish."

In January, 1794, Cowper told a friend, "I have just ability enough to transcribe, which is all that I have to do at present: God knows that I write, at this moment, under the pressure of sadness not to be described."

At that time his correspondence with his friends ceased, and he again became a victim to hypochondriasis, to an extent which was truly deplorable his condition may be judged of by the account which Mr. Greathead gave of him in April in that year to Hayley :

"Lady Hesketh's correspondence acquainted you with the melancholy relapse of our dear friend at Weston; but I am uncertain whether you know, that in the last fortnight he has refused food of every kind, except now and then a very small piece of toasted bread, dipped generally in water, sometimes mixed with a little wine. This her ladyship informs me, was the case till last Saturday, since when, he has eat a little at each family meal. He persists in refusing such medicines as are indispensable to his state of body. In such circumstances, his

long continuance in life cannot be expected. How devoutly to be wished is the alleviation of his danger and distress. You, dear Sir, who know so well the worth of our beloved and admired friend, sympathize with his affliction, and deprecate his loss doubtless in no ordinary degree; you have already most effectually expressed and proved the warmth of your friendship. I cannot think that any thing but your society would have been sufficient, during the infirmity under which his mind has long been oppressed, to have supported him against the shock of Mrs. Unwin's paralytic attack. I am certain that nothing else could have prevailed upon him to undertake the journey to Eartham. You have succeeded where his other friends knew they could not, and where they apprehended no one could. How natural, therefore, nay, how reasonable, is it for them to look to you, as most likely to be instrumental, under the blessing of God, for relief in the present distressing and alarming crisis! It is, indeed, scarcely attemptable to ask any person to take such a journey, and involve himself in so melancholy a scene, with an uncertainty of the desired success: increased as the apparent difficulty is, by dear Mr. Cowper's aversion to all company, and by poor Mrs. Unwin's mental and bodily infirmities. On these accounts Lady Hesketh dares not ask it of you, rejoiced as she would be at your arrival. Am not I, dear Sir, a very presumptuous person, who, in the face of