TRANSLATIONS FROM THE LATIN CLASSICS The Fifth Satire of the First Book of Horace LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. WINTER. PAGE Frontispiece 2. COWPER'S HORSE AND DOG. From an oil painting by Margarson in the possession of the Rev. Canon Cowper Johnson 3. A SEAL. Facing p. xiv of Introduction xcii 4. OLNEY. From an engraving by Finden after a drawing by J. D. Harding 33 5. COWPER. From the portrait in oils by Lemuel Abbott in the possession of the Rev. Canon Cowper Johnson 85 6. COWPER'S HOUSE AT OLNEY. From an engraving by Goodall after a drawing by W. Harvey 120 7. LADY AUSTEN. From an engraving by H. Robinson after a drawing by W. Harvey of the original portrait by George Romney 198 8. LORD THURLOW. From an engraving by Dickenson after the portrait by George Romney 220 9. COWPER. From the crayon portrait by George Romney in the possession of B. Vaughan Johnson, Esq. 10. THE ELMS. From a drawing by John Greig, engraved in Cowper Illustrated by a Series of Views, 1803 11. THE WEATHER HOUSE, THE PEASANT'S NEST, AND COWPER'S 12. SIR JOHN THROCKMORTON, BART. From the original portrait by xxix 247 253 254 255 256 14. THE RUSTIC BRIDGE (see The Sofa, line 267). From a drawing by J. Storer, engraved in Cowper Illustrated by a Series of Views, 1803 PAGE 267 15. EVENING. From a design by William Blake in the possession of B. Vaughan Johnson, Esq. 308 16. THE VALLEY OF THE OUSE AT OLNEY. From an engraving by Goodall after a drawing by W. Harvey . 340 17. Maria, WIFE OF SIR JOHN THROCKMORTon, Bart. From the original portrait by Downman in the possession of B. Vaughan Johnson, Esq. 393 18. COWPER'S MOTHER. From the original portrait by D. Heins 407 438 20. LADY HESKETH. From an engraving by H. Robinson after a drawing by W. Harvey of the original painting by F. Cotes 443 21. WARREN HASTINGS. From the painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence in the National Portrait Gallery 22. WILLIAM HAYLEY. 489 From an engraving by H. Robinson after a drawing by W. Harvey of the original portrait by Romney 490 23. MRS. BODHAM. From the original portrait by Abbott in the possession of W. Mowbray Donne, Esq. 494 24. MRS. UNWIN. From an engraving by H. Robinson after a drawing by W. Harvey of the original painting by Devis 503 25. COWPER. From the engraving by Finden after the portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence 552 26. COWPER'S HOUSE AT WESTON. From an engraving by Goodall after a drawing by W. Harvey 600 27. COWPER. From a miniature by William Blake after the portrait by George Romney, in the possession of the Rev. Canon Cowper Johnson 663 INTRODUCTION T is now more than a hundred years since Cowper died. A century is already a long lease of poetic fame, and it may very well be that there will be found those who will dispute his right to its renewal. Very few poets manage to remain in possession so long. For all but those who make a special study of our own poetic history, Beattie is gone, and Warton, and Mason; and men of greater fame than they-men once so popular as Butler, as Young, as Churchill,-who will now ask the great public to read any of these? And who was Cowper, it will be said, that he is to be one of the rare exceptions to the generally inexorable rule? His wit-indeed, his purely intellectual capacity altogether—was far below that of some of these whom ultimate fame has already rejected. He, more than any of them, was the poet, not of the world, but of a particular sect, and one that has largely passed away. He lived in a dull and obscure country town, among old maids and dissenting clergymen, and knew nothing of the commanding minds of his day. And, it will be added, what originality he had was caught up by greater men, and is superseded by their works. It was against Cowper's final fame that he had Newton and Mrs. Unwin for the companions of his life: it may be thought to be fatal to it that he had Wordsworth for the heir of his poetic inheritance. After Yet the truth is still that he has not been superseded. all that has been done by others, he remains himself a unique personality, a poetic presence not to be put by. The peculiar impression which he made in his own day on those who understand poetry, he still makes. We may not be able to feel it now with that freshness of contemporary enthusiasm which made even Burns break out, "Is not the 'Task' a glorious poem?"-but it is still there. Time has not effaced it. Larger and brighter luminaries have appeared in the poetical heavens since Cowper first shone there: the places of some of them are not far from his; but not one is near enough to make his smaller light invisible. Johnson said that no man could be written down except by himself; and that is true in more ways than he meant. Not only is no man written down by his detractors, but, if he have any real vital |