at least of indifference, and I am curious to know which way even you will turn yourself to get rid of it. My dear Sephus, if you and Mrs. Hill would come and spend part of your holidays with us, or the whole, either this year or the next, I would convince you in person with how much simplicity and sincerity I give you the invitation now; for I know nothing that would give me greater pleasure than to see you; but whatever you do, never pass me more. With my best respects to Mrs. Hill, I am ever yours, 30 WILLIAM COWPER MY DEAR FRIEND, Weston Underwood, September 4th, 1790 Felicitate me on an event in which I know you have interested yourself much and long. My Homer is finished, goes to London on Wednesday, and in a few days will be in the press. It will not be long before I shall make my bargain with Johnson for the copy, and then once in my life I shall have money with which to purchase stock instead of selling it, shall even purchase more than I have sold out these many years. Necessities that have no other cure oblige me at present to apply to you for the sale of another hundred, and that as soon as possible. You will oblige me much if you will issue your directions to your agents in town accordingly. The letter of attorney that I executed lately in the Archdeacon's business will I presume empower them to obey you. I had a letter the other day from Lady Hesketh full of the beauties of Wargrave and of the hospitable and kind reception she found there. May you and Mrs. Hill have long life and long health to enjoy them! The week after next we expect to see my cousin at Weston; she comes to spend the autumn with us and I hope a good part of the winter. If your sisters are with you I beg you will present my affectionate remembrances to them, and tell them I have a sincere pleasure in thinking that my labour of five years will soon be spread before them. With my best compliments to Mrs. Hill, I remain, my dear friend, WILLIAM COWPER 31 September 30th, 1790 Received of Joseph Hill, Esq., the sum of Seventeen pounds twelve shillings and sixpence by draft on Child & Co. by me, WILLIAM COWPER £17 12s. 6d. MY DEAR FRIEND, Many thanks for the remittance above specified, and for the treatise on planting which my cousin delivered to me this morning as a gift from you. An acceptable one as well because you are the donor as for the sake of the subject; not that I plant much myself, for an obvious reason, but because I am everything in theory that I have an opportunity to be, and shall therefore find pleasure in studying it, and because I have a good neighbour in Mr. Throckmorton who delights much both in his garden and plantations, and will consequently be glad of the information he may collect from it. My cousin arrived yesterday evening in perfect health and spirits; her best compliments attend yourself and Mrs. Hill, and she bids me tell you beside how sorry she was that she could not possibly accept your kind invitation. I began to be out of patience that she stayed so long at Lady Fane's, for twice she postponed her coming, but her arrival at last has made amends for all. The world rings with the gaieties of your neighbourhood, to which ours is a perfect contrast. Here we have no company but each other's, and all the little noise we hear is made by ourselves. With my best respects to Mrs. Hill, MY DEAR FRIEND, Weston, December 11th, 1790 Presuming that by this time there are means of supply in my budget, I beg the remittance of £50 by a draft as usual. I see you in the papers appointed Clerk of the Peace for your county. I know neither the quantum of emolument nor the business of your office, but you do, and since you deemed it worth your having, I heartily give you the joy of it. You have heard, I presume, that I am in the press; the intelligence is true. It groans every day with my labours, and will continue groaning for some months to come. I expect to be born in April. This moment I receive a sheet, part of the last half of the 8th Iliad, and am, if possible, now more occupied than ever, retouching for the last time before it meets the public eye my long translation. I flatter myself that I have not bestowed such unremitting study on it in vain, but that in the end these two great volumes will do me credit, and then I know you will rejoice with me. Lady Hesketh is in the best health and spirits, and presents her best compliments to yourself and Mrs. Hill, in which she is most sincerely joined by 33 Yours ever, WILLIAM COWPER MY DEAR FRIEND, Weston Underwood, April 6th, 1791 Many thanks for your early information. I send you as speedily a short line in return, merely to assure you that I did not boast of more philosophical fortitude than I really possess, but am as easy and as well contented with my lean purse as ever. I have heard vulgar people say "no butter will stick upon my bread," an adage which, when I review the past, vulgar as it is, I feel myself ready to adopt; but I will not at present adopt it, in hopes that Homer may yet butter a crust or two for me before I die. With my love to Mrs. Hill and your sisters, I remain ever yours, WILLIAM COWPER My intelligence was not from Lady H., but from General Cowper. 34 MY DEAR FRIEND, Weston, July 12th, 1791 I learned from a paper of yours enclosed in a letter from Lady Hesketh (and had indeed learnt it before from Mr. Rose) how much I am obliged to you for your friendly interference in this bargain-making business with Johnson. He stands so fair in the opinion of some who have known him longer than I, not only as an honest bookseller, but as a liberal one, that I did well hope for such an offer from him as would save both me and my friends all trouble. But his first offer was such as, considering what he has done in other instances, I hardly know how to account for. At least if it be true, as I have good reason to believe it is, that he gave Dr. Darwin eight hundred pounds for his "Loves of the Plants," then it seems strange that he should propose to get my Homer for nothing; for to pay me for the copyright with my own money will certainly bear no other interpretation. His second offer, however, has made me amends, and I am well content with it. The last was an anxious week with me, not only for the pecuniary interest that I had at stake, but because I was desirous also to obtain such terms as might not disgrace me in the ears of the curious who shall hereafter inquire what I gained by my labours. It was irksome to me likewise to feel myself on the edge of a quarrel with a man who has not corresponded with me merely as a trader in my commodity, but familiarly and almost as a friend. These weighty considerations, added to the still more weighty cares that I felt for the success of my work with the public, were almost too much for me. I have great cause therefore to be thankful both to you and to the Rose, who have relieved me from so great a part of my burden, and have brought this affair to an issue honourable, and therefore perfectly satisfactory, to me. I have nothing to do now but to wait as quietly as I can for the opinion of my readers, and have the better hope of success, being conscious of having neglected nothing that might ensure it. With my best compliments to Mrs. Hill, I remain, my dear friend, WILLIAM COWPER 35 Weston Underwood, July 15th, 1792 Received of Joseph Hill, Esq., the sum of Thirty pounds by Draft on Child & Co. WILLIAM COWPER £30 Os. Od. MY DEAR FRIEND, The earliest opportunity that I can take to thank you for the above happens to be a very short one. I am just going to electrify Mrs. Unwin, which done, I must take a short walk and dine. Stock is at a high price, and there seems to be a glorious golden opportunity for selling out my remaining hundred. Once again I exhort you to this measure, and to appropriate the produce to payment of my arrears to yourself of such long standing. The high price that it bears has been likewise a reason with me to leave in Johnson's hands the money he owes me, for which he agrees to give me five per cent. I wait with trembling ears for the news from Paris. The crisis is terrible, and the upshot most important. As a well-wisher to mankind, I cannot but wish the affairs of that miserably distracted country settled, and am happy in the hope that it will not be in the power of any malcontents fatally to disturb our own. I signed an Address the other day from this county, which is all the little that poor I can do toward prolonging our tranquillity. Mrs. Unwin recovers very gradually, and sends her compliments. Mine join them to yourself and Mrs. Hill, and I am most sincerely yours, WILLIAM COWPER |