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CHAPTER VI.

IN LODGINGS AT HUNTINGDON.

(1765-June 22nd-Nov. 11th.)

28. Benet College, Cambridge.

OWPER bade adieu to his "little physician

and took his leave of the Place of his Second Nativity, as he called St. Albans, on June 17, 1765, at four in the morning, and set out for Cambridge in order first to spend a few days with his brother, who was at that time curate of the neighbouring village of Foxton.

Benet, or Corpus Christi, John Cowper's college, dates back to the fourteenth century, and was founded by two guilds of townspeople, who at first had separate halls and worshipped in separate churches. In 1352 they united and erected a small college, which was named "The House of Scholars of Corpus Christi and Blessed Mary of Cambridge." For more than two hundred years the college had no chapel, the services being performed in the adjoining church of St. Benedict, and hence the name Benet College, by which the collegiate buildings were so long known. In 1823 the present imposing west front and new quadrangle were

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commenced, and about the same time the place resumed its old and correct title of Corpus Christi. The library contains one of the most valuable collections of manuscripts in the kingdom. Among the members of Corpus Christi have been Archbishops Parker and Tenison (the former of whom gave the library, and was in other ways a great benefactor of the college), Christopher Marlow, and John Fletcher (dramatists), Sir Nicholas Bacon, and the antiquary, Richard Gough.

The conversation between the brothers is recorded in the narrative entitled "Adelphi." Cowper's heart was full of the great consolations it had pleased God to visit him with, and it having become one of his chief concerns that his relations might be made partakers of the same mercy, he took the opportunity to express his convictions without reserve.

John, however, belonging to an entirely different school of thought, could by no means see eye to eye with his brother in the matter of religion.

"At first," says Cowper, "I found him ready enough to talk with me upon these subjects; sometimes he would dispute, but always without heat or animosity, and sometimes would endeavour to reconcile the difference of our sentiments by supposing that, at the bottom, we were both of a mind and meant the same thing." Neither, however, could persuade the other, so the matter had for the present to be left.

On Saturday, the 22nd, after a stay at Cambridge of four days, Cowper, accompanied by his brother, proceeded to Huntingdon, where he took up his abode in lodgings that had previously been secured for him.

29. Early Days at Huntingdon.

Cowper was now thirty-three years of age; in his profession he had not gone the right way to succeed, and consequently had not succeeded; his recent derangement, as far as could be seen, had unfitted him for all callings; that he would ever make his mark in the world, in any department whatever, seemed extremely improbable; his brother loved him dearly, but his other relations, though they supplied sufficient to make him comfortable, treated him in other respects with coolness. The melancholy fact to all eyes seemed to be that he was a failure, and had come to Huntingdon merely to vegetate. But if we had no so-called failures in life we should have few great poets. The poet's loss is our gain. Had Cowper led a busy, industrious life; had his career been what the world calls a successful one, we should have had no "Task," and very little of any other of his work that we now so much value.

The effects of his recent derangement were not by any means worn off, although in the general sense of the word he had recovered, and no sooner had John taken his leave, than finding himself surrounded by strangers, Cowper's spirits began to sink. "I felt," says he, "(such was the backsliding state of my heart) like a traveller in the midst of an inhospitable desert, without a friend to comfort, or a guide to direct him. I walked forth towards the close of the day, in this melancholy frame of mind, and having wandered about a mile from the town, I found my heart, at length, so powerfully drawn towards the Lord, that having gained a retired and secret nook in the corner of a field, I

kneeled down under a bank and poured forth my complaints before Him." After casting his burden on the Lord he at once experienced relief, feeling that wheresoever his lot might be cast the God of all Consolation would still be with him.

"The next day," says Cowper, "I went to church for the first time after my recovery. Throughout the whole service I had much to do to restrain my emotions, so fully did I see the beauty and the glory of the Lord. My heart was full of love to all the congregation, especially to those in whom I observed an air of sober attention. A grave and sober person sat in the pew with me; while he was singing the psalm I looked at him, and observing him intent on his holy employment, I could not help saying in my heart, with much emotion, 'Bless you, for praising Him whom my soul loveth !""

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In his first letter from Huntingdon, written on the Monday, to his friend Hill, Cowper thus speaks of his apartments and servant: "I have a lodging that puts me continually in mind of our summer excursions; we have had many worse, and except the size of it (which, however, is sufficient for a single man), but few better. I am not quite alone, having brought a servant with me from St. Albans, who is the very mirror of fidelity and affection for his master. And whereas the Turkish Spy says he kept no servant, because he would not have an enemy in his house, I hired mine, because I would have a friend. Men do not usually bestow these encomiums on their lackeys, nor do they usually deserve them; but I have had experience of mine, both in sickness and health, and never saw his fellow."

30. Huntingdon in Cowper's Days.

By this time Cowper had been able to look round him and find out what sort of a country he had got into. Situated near the Fen district, Huntingdon had a great name on account of its advantages for hunting and fishing, but Cowper had never been a huntsman, and at the present time, though most extraordinarily fond of fish, had no inclination for fishing. The river Ouse, however, was not wasted on him, for he admired its numberless quiet beauties, and three times a week bathed in its limpid waters. Henry of Huntingdon, the old historian, praised his native place for its handsomeness, and at the time its fifteen churches were standing, its priory, and its castle, the town was doubtless fair to look upon; and even in Cowper's day, when the number of churches had been reduced to two (All Saints' and St. John's), when the priory was destroyed, and nothing remained of the castle but its mounds, the place had still its attractions, and the longer Cowper lived in it the better he liked it.

The town consisted chiefly of one street, nearly a mile in length, and he describes it as one of the neatest towns of England. Its population was about 2,000, and as it was a considerable thoroughfare, and small vessels came up the river from Lynn, there was stir enough to make it lively. The present population is about 4,000, and that of the adjoining quaint old corporate town of Godmanchester a trifle over 2,000. The chief industry, as in the days of Cromwell-himself a native-was brewing, and the principal lion was Hinchingbrook House (formerly the seat of the Crom

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