it into permanent and successful exertion. Such was the genius of Cowper; and he therefore considered the chearful and animating society of his new accomplished friend, as a blessing conferred on him by the signal favour of providence. I have reserved the following Letters, although of an earlier date than some of their predecessors, because they speak of Lady Austen, and could not therefore appear to advantage till the course of my narrative had rendered the reader acquainted with that interesting lady. In speaking of Cowper's first volume, and the circumstances of it's publication, I had occasion to proceed beyond the period when his friendship with Lady Austen commenced. In my first date of that very important event I have discovered, and corrected, a little mistake which probably arose from a slight failure in the recollection of that lady, when she favoured me with the particulars of her intercourse with the poet, whom she so happily inspired. Their acquaintance was said (in the first edition of this book) to have arisen in September 1781, but the following Letters clearly prove that Cowper had been enlivened by the socie of this animating friend, at an earlier period,

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LETTER I.

To the Revd. WILLIAM UNWIN.

MY DEAR FRIEND,

July 29, 1781.

Having given the case you

laid before me in your last all due consideration, I proceed to answer it, and in order to clear my way, shall, in the first place, set down my sense of those passages in scripture, which, on a hasty perusal, seem to clash with the opinion I am going to give-" If a man smite one cheek, turn the other"-" If he take thy cloak, let him take thy coat also."-That is, I suppose, rather than on a vindictive principle, avail yourself of that remedy the law allows you, in the way of retaliation, for that was the subject immediately under the discussion of the speaker. Nothing is .so contrary to the genius of the Gospel, as the gratification of resentment and revenge, but I cannot easily persuade myself to think, that the Author of that dispensation could possibly advise his followers to consult their own peace at the expence of the peace of society, or inculcate an universal abstinence from the use of law

ul remedies, to the encouragement of injury and

pression.

St. Paul again seems to condemn the practise of going to law, Why do ye not rather suffer wrong,

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&c." but if we look again we shall find, that a litigious temper had obtained, and was prevalent among the professors of the day. This he condemned, and with good reason; it was unseemly to the last degree, that the disciples of the Prince of Peace should worry and vex each other with injurious treatment, and unnecesary disputes, to the scandal of their religion in the eyes of the Heathen. But surely he did not mean, any more than his Master, in the place above alluded to, that the most harmless members of society should receive no advantage of its laws, or should be the only persons in the world who should derive no benefit from those institutions, without which society cannot subsist. Neither of them could mean to throw down the pale of property, and to lay the Christian part of the world open, throughout all ages, to the incursions of unlimited violence and wrong.

By this time you are sufficiently aware that I think you have an indisputable right to recover at law, what is so dishonestly withheld from you. The fellow, I suppose, has discernment enough to see a dif ference between you, and the generality of the clerg, and cunning enough to conceive the purpose of tun

ing your meekness and forbearance to good account, and of coining them into hard cash, which he means to put in his pocket. But I would disappoint him, and shew him, that though a Christian is not to be quarrelsome, he is not to be crushed-and that, though he is but a worm before God, he is not such a worm, as every selfish unprincipled wretch may tread upon at his pleasure.

I lately heard a story from a lady, who spent many years of her life in France, somewhat to the present purpose. An Abbè, universally esteemed for his piety, and especially for the meekness of his manners, had yet undesignedly given some offence to a shabby fellow in his parish. The man, concluding he might do as he pleased with so forgiving and gentle a character, struck him on one cheek, and bade him. turn the other. The good man did so, and when he had received the two slaps, which he thought himself obliged to submit to, turned again, and beat him soundly. I do not wish to see you follow the French gentleman's example, but I believe nobody, that has heard the story, condemns him much for the spirit he shewed upon the occasion.

I had the relation from Lady Austen, sister to Mrs. Jones, wife of the minister at Clifton. She is a

most agreeable woman, and has fallen in love with your mother and me; insomuch, that I do not know but she may settle at Olney. Yesterday se'nnight we all dined together in the Spinnie-a most delightful retirement, belonging to Mrs. Throckmorton of Weston. Lady Austen's lacquey, and a lad that waits on me in the garden, drove a wheelbarrow full of eatables and drinkables to the scene of our Fête champêtre. A board, laid over the top of the wheelbarrow, served us for a table; our dining room was a root house, lined with moss and ivy. At six o'clock, the servants, who had dined under the great elm upon the ground, at a little distance, boiled the kettle, and the said wheelbarrow served us for a tea-table. We then took a walk into the wilderness, about half a mile off, and were at home again a little after eight, having spent the day together from noon till evening, without one cross occurrence, or the least weariness of each other. An happiness few parties of pleasure can boast of,

Yours, with our joint love,

W. C