on a hundred little occasions that occur every day in Mrs. Unwin's present state of infirmity; and I see no probability that I shall be less occupied in the same indispensable duties for a long time to come. The time fixed in your proposals for publication meanwhile steals on; and I have lately felt my engagement for Milton bear upon my spirits with a pressure which, added to the pressure of some other private concerns, is almost more than they are equal to. Tell me if you expect to be punctual to your assignation with the public, and that the artists will be ready with their part of the business so soon as the spring of 94? I cannot bear to be waited for, neither shall I be able to perform my part of the work with any success if I am hunted; and I ask this question thus early lest my own distress should increase, and should ultimately prove a distress to you. My translations are finished, and when I have finished also the revisal of them, will be, I believe, tolerably well executed. They shall be heartily at your service, if by this unhappy interception my time should be so shortened as to forbid my doing more.

Your speedy answer will oblige yours affectionately, WM. COWPER.

"There is one Richard Coleman in the world, whom I have educated from an infant, and who is utterly good for nothing; but he is at present in great trouble, the fruit of his own folly. I send

him, by this post, an order upon you for eight guineas."

As a convincing proof of the influence which Hayley possessed over his mind, he alone, of all his friends, was able to persuade him to leave Weston, and visit him at Eartham, in Sussex. This journey, which took place in July, 1792, was the first which he had made for twenty years. Whilst under Hayley's roof their mornings were spent in revising Cowper's translation of Milton's Latin and Italian Poems, and after dinner they amused themselves with forming a metrical version of Andreini's Adamo; but their chief occupation was in contributing to Mrs. Unwin's comfort. Writing from Eartham to Lady Hesketh, Cowper observed:

"I am, without the least dissimulation, in good health; my spirits are about as good as you have ever seen them; and if increase of appetite and a double portion of sleep be advantageous, such are the advantages that I have received from this migration. As to that gloominess of mind which I have had these twenty years, it cleaves to me even here; and could I be translated to Paradise, unless I left my body behind me, would cleave to me even there also. It is my companion for life, and nothing will ever divorce us."

After spending about six weeks with Hayley he returned to Weston, having on the road passed 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 canvass.'

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