quid non imminuit dies?" It has worn out the graces of our former intimacy, and the sinecure he promised me must fill a happier pocket than mine. Pray tell Mrs. Hill my Mimulus ringens, my flower fence, my wild olive, and silk cotton are all well and thriving. As to the rest, the day of their sowing was the day of their burial, and there they lie to this hour. If she is fond of carnations, I have some very good ones, and if she chooses any, and my layers succeed, I will send her some at the proper season, but they are stage flowers, and must be framed in winter. Yours affectionately, WILLIAM COWPER It is impossible to say too much in praise of the mackerel. 17 Olney, March 4th, 1783 Received of Mr. Hill the fine cod, with oysters. MY DEAR FRIEND, Having made this acknowledgment, I shall not find much time to add to it. The post sets out soon after breakfast, and it is now half-past ten. You have relieved me from a good deal of anxiety by sending Elliott's medicines. I have been obliged to give my left eye a roasted apple every night lately, but the arrival of these more efficacious remedies will, I hope, make the troublesome application unnecessary. I am reconciled to the peace and despair of my country. The former would have been impossible had not the latter been unavoidable. A change of Ministry affords no hope. Where is the minister that can discharge our debt, eradicate corruption, and bind our generals to their duty? Till these ends are accomplished, whether we have peace or war, we are alike undone; more speedily perhaps by war, but by peace, by disadvantageous peace, as surely. How are we fallen since the year 60! The Governor of the Earth knows why, and in time the inhabitants of it shall know too. A strolling player begged of me yesterday. He was once an assistant to Mr. Hobson of Clifford's Inn, and served a regular clerkship to an attorney. The hero's name is Trotter. If you know such a man as Hobson and have at any time occasion to converse with him, you may tell him that poor Tom is starving, with a wife, g five children, and a sixth just going to make his entrance upon the stage. Had we not relieved him he and his family must have eaten snowballs or have fasted. Received of Mr. Hill the sum of Thirty pounds by Draft upon Messrs. Child and Co. £30 Os. Od. WILLIAM COWPER MY DEAR FRIEND, I received the books, have read, and returned them by this morning's diligence. I found the author, for so well informed a man, the dullest writer I remembered having encountered. Perhaps the fault may be in the country he visited; if so, it was hardly worth while to seek it. His journey through Spain amused me most; which makes me think that had he directed his course a different way, I should have been better pleased with his recital. This piece of wisdom at least he has taught me, that while there are villages and hamlets to be seen in England, which I have never yet made an acquaintance with, it will be by no means advisable to run to Sicily in quest of villages and hamlets. I made Lady Austen laugh at your remark upon settlements. She is charmed that whatever affairs of hers may hereafter stand in need of a lawyer will be placed in the hands of one who understands the ladies so well, and begs me to make you her compliments upon the occasion. Alas poor King! and alas poor country! Questions that can never be decided, because upon subjects equally interesting to both parties, will prove but indifferent sport for a nation that has so much need of concord. Human affairs are a tragedy seen on one side, and a comedy on the other.* It is tragical to see a great nation sinking into ruin, but when we consider the gravity with which its managers affect to mean one thing when in reality they mean another, the subject becomes almost ridiculous. For I take it pro concesso that the good of the country is but little in the contemplation of either party. But surely, of all follies, that of an English monarch who at this time of day has need to be taught the true limits of his prerogative and the danger of exceeding them, is *It is curious to find Cowper, the least like Horace Walpole of all men, making quite independently the most quoted of all Walpole's remarks. the greatest. It is so unaccountable that nothing but the old adage, “Quos Jupiter vult perdere, dementat prius," is sufficient to explain it. My affectionate respects to Mrs. Hill. I will trouble her no further upon the subject of books, till I see one advertised with a title that awakens all my curiosity to a degree not to be resisted. Yours, my dear friend, 19 WILLIAM COWPER Olney, May 24th, 1784 Received of Mr. Hill the sum of Thirty pounds by Draft on Child & Co. £30 Os. Od. WILLIAM COWPER MY DEAR FRIEND, I pity the man of business that has to do with me. He may account himself happy indeed if he understands me, who upon all such occasions have but a very imperfect understanding of myself. Pour comble de malheur, my paper is so greasy that I am obliged to paint my letters. There is no suit in question, for there is nothing in litigation between the parties, at least at present. The matter is this. Immediately after her father's death, Lady Austen went to France. Before she set off, the Ryder who is now the acting man presented her with a letter of attorney, which he designed should invest him with plenary powers to manage all her affairs in her absence. Not liking the man and having suspicions of his character, she refused to sign it, an affront which he has resented with no small degree of malignancy ever since. Accordingly, as often as the final settlement of the account is mentioned, he threatens her that it shall be done in Chancery. The sound of that word alarms a lady who has already waited ten years for her fortune, and would be sorry to wait ten more. I had not skill enough to warrant me in giving an answer to her fears. My question therefore to you was, or meant to be, this. Can Ryder throw the business into Chancery in order to get the accounts referred to a Master, without her consent, merely with a view to keep her out of possession as long as possible? If it be possible for him to play off such a manœuvre, is it not also possible to prevent it, and by what means can that be done? I did not know, for my own part, whether he might not obtain such a reference upon petition, though there were no suit depending, but you can resolve me. If he cannot, then he only holds this language with a design to distress and intimidate. Lady Austen is at present at Bath, but I shall communicate your answer to her as soon as I receive it. You have had a pleasant trip this delightful season, but indeed a very short one. You seem to emerge for a few moments out of the tide of business, which immediately absorbs you again, like a fish that takes a frisk into the air in a fine evening, and relapses into its element in an instant. Fare you well. My best respects wait on Mrs. Hill, and I am your truly affectionate WILLIAM COWPER 20 September 11th, 1784 * MY DEAR FRIend, Lady Austen having been obliged to go to Bath was at that place when I received your last. She has since resolved to make it her abode, and return no more to Olney. I have, however, by her particular desire, sent her your address, and when she has need of your assistance you will hear from her. I am sorry that we are to see no more of your good old friend Mr. Small. He wrote me word some time ago that his nephew had taken his affairs into his own hands, and that he should therefore have no future calls to Clifton. He enclosed some seed of the rhubarb plant, which I attempted to raise in vain. This fine September is making us amends for a most wintry June, July, and August. Several times in the course of this week my thermometer has been at 79 and 80, a degree of heat uncommon at this late season. If the harvest on your side of the county † has fared as well as on ours, your farmers have no reason to complain. The weight of the crops, of the wheat especially, is prodigiously beyond what is usual, and not a grain of it grown. It is to be hoped, therefore, that in the course of the winter the poor will be able to afford the expense of bread, though at present the price of it is not fallen. No man is less skilled in market mystery than I, but to a person as ignorant as myself it seems as if nothing but the most iniquitous management could contrive to plague a country with the effects of a dearth when it is in fact overloaded with abundance. think if the Emperor reigned here bread would be cheaper. I I have never seen Dr. Cotton's book concerning which your sisters questioned me, nor till you mentioned it did I know that he had published anything newer than his Visions. I have no doubt that it is so far worthy of him as to be pious and sensible, and I believe that no man living is better qualified to write on such The last paragraph of this letter has been already printed. † Sic, but query "country?" subjects as his title seems to announce. Some years have passed since I heard from him, and considering his great age it is probable that I shall hear from him no more, but I shall always respect him. He is truly a philosopher according to my judgment of the character, every tittle of his knowledge in natural subjects being connected in his mind with the firm belief of an omnipotent agent. My respects attend Mrs. Hill, your mother and your sisters. WILLIAM COWPER MY DEAR FRIEND, 21 Weston Underwood, near Olney, December 21st, 1786 "Ecce iterum Crispinus!" and upon the same errand. Carpenters, masons, and smiths are expensive servants. Mrs. Unwin expected money that she will not receive, and my dependence is upon you. You have more than once helped me out at a plunge, and will I doubt not now. Nothing less than an order for the remaining arrears of my annual revenue will satisfy my occasions, and you will much oblige me by favouring me with such an order immediately, for I never incur debts to anybody but yourself. My best respects attend Mrs. Hill. Yours affectionately, 22 WILLIAM COWPER January 1st, 1787 Received of Joseph Hill, Esq., the sum of Thirty pounds by Draft on Child & Co. by £30 Os. Od. WILLIAM COWPER Weston Underwood, nr. Olney, Bucks MY DEAR FRIEND, Your letter dated the 23rd December did not reach me till this day, the 1st January, having been a whole week on its travels no mortal knows whither, owing to a direction rather too laconic. It reached me at last by the cross post from Stratford. I thank you heartily for the contents and for your friendly offer in the close of it, but hope to have no occasion to encroach any further on your |