very sensible man." The Rev. Isaac Nicholson, another resident clergyman, "very poor, but very good and very happy," also gained his heart. "He reads prayers here twice every day, all the year round; and travels on foot to serve two churches (Papworth St. Agnes and Yelling) every Sunday through the year; his journey out and home again being sixteen miles. I supped with him last night. He gave me bread and cheese, and a black jug of ale of his own brewing, and doubtless brewed by his own hands." Subsequently Mr. Nicholson held the vicariat of Leighton Bromswold (Hunts) and the curacy of Alconbury, where he died and was buried.

As regards the custom at Huntingdon of reading the prayers every day, it must be mentioned that this was done in compliance with the terms of a bequest of £70 per annum, left by one George Sayer for that purpose.

Being an early riser and an early walker, Cowper made the acquaintance of another early riser and early walker, a total abstainer and a vegetarian—a thin, tall old man-as good as he was thin, who was to be met with every morning of his life at six o'clock "at a fountain of very fine water, about a mile from the town, which is reckoned extremely like the Bristol water. His great piety can be equalled by nothing but. his great regularity, for he is the most perfect timepiece in the world.”

Cowper and his brother met every week, taking it in turns to make the journey—that is to say, one week John visited Huntingdon, and the next Cowper visited Cambridge-sometimes getting a lift in a neighbour's

chaise, but generally he rode. Horse exercise till this time he had not been much used to, but he found it very beneficial to him, and soon became quite proud of his skill in it. "I am become," says he, "a professed horseman, and do hereby assume to myself the style and title of the Knight of the Bloody Spur. It has cost me much to bring this point to bear; but I think I have at last accomplished it." Of his experiences in learning the art of horsemanship he afterwards, in his famous ballad of "John Gilpin," made excellent use, for we can scarcely doubt that he had the man William Cowper in mind when he wrote :—

"His horse, who never in that sort

Had handled been before,

What thing upon his back had got
Did wonder more and more."

As a horseman, indeed, he never distinguished himself. "What Nature expressly designed me for," he says, "I have never been able to conjecture. I am sure, however, that she did not design me for a horseman, and that if all men were of my mind, there would be an end of all jockeyship for ever." This was to Unwin in May, 1781, and in the same letter he makes the observation that he would consider it no great treat to have a beast under him, whose walk would seem tedious, whose trot would jumble him, and whose gallop might throw him into a ditch. Elsewhere he speaks still more plainly, and says that he "always hated riding." Had Cowper been a better horseman, I do not think we should ever have had a "John Gilpin."

33. The Unwins.

One day, Cowper having just come out of church after morning prayers, as he was taking a solitary walk under a row of trees, was accosted by a young man of the name of Unwin, who we are told would have made advances of friendship before, only he understood that the stranger rather declined society than sought it. The two speedily became very pleased with each other, and Cowper invited his new friend to take tea with him. "I found him," says Cowper, one whose notions of religion were spiritual and lively; one whom the Lord had been training from his infancy to the service of the temple. We opened our hearts to each other at the first interview; and when we parted I immediately retired to my chamber and prayed the Lord, who had been the author, to be the guardian, of our friendship; to give it fervency and perpetuity even unto death". -prayers which in this case were most literally answered. Thus began Cowper's first interview with William Cawthorne Unwin, who was to be regarded not merely as a friend, but as

"A friend

Whose worth deserves the warmest lay
That ever friendship penned."

Concerning Morley Unwin, the father, a man rather advanced in years, a few facts have recently been brought to light. Formerly master of the Free School, and lecturer to the two churches in Huntingdon, he was at this time rector of Grimston, near Kings Lynn, in Norfolk, at which place he resided apparently from 1742 to 1748,