56. Cowper's fondness for Fish.

Cowper calls himself "the most ichthyophagous of Protestants," and his letters bear out the assertion. There is scarce a letter in this period in which he is not either asking for or acknowledging the receipt of fish, and the taste for it did not decline as he grew older. Mackerel, plaice, turbot, lobster, salmon, halibut, skate, all came alike to him. "One to whom fish

is so welcome," he says to one of his London friends, "can have no great occasion to distinguish the sorts. In general, therefore, whatever fish are likely to think a jaunt into the country agreeable, will be sure to find me ready to receive them." In May, 1776, he has to thank Hill for a very fine mackerel ; on the 12th of November "for a barrel of very good oysters; on the 5th of January "for a tub of very fine spiced salmon." The last cost Cowper and Mrs. Unwin some debate," and a wager into the bargain, one asserting it to be a sturgeon, and the other what it proved to be. But the lady was in the right, as she should be upon all such occasions."

Cowper's other friends, when they discovered his partiality for this article of diet, also, by and by, sent him presents of a like nature, particularly Unwin and Newton, after the latter had removed to London. In return for these Cowper was proud to despatch melons, cucumbers, and other garden produce of his own growing. Three parcels of herrings, for example, in October, 1777, were replied to by a "crimson cantalupe," a melon which, "with the fellow to it, grew

upon one joint." In 1778 Cowper took to rearing pine-apples. "I made," he tells Unwin, "Mr. Wrighte's gardener a present of fifty sorts of stove plant seeds; in return he has presented me with six fruiting pines, which I have put into a bark bed, where they thrive at present as well as I could wish. If they produce good fruit you will stand some little chance to partake of them." By and by he furnishes himself with glass from Bedford to make a frame for his pines, in which he takes so much interest as to allow them to give origin to a poem, "The Pine-apple and the Bee." Moreover, he enters on the design not only to glaze pine-apple frames, but also to mend the kitchen. windows, and he commissions Unwin to buy him "a glazier's diamond pencil."

Several of Cowper's minor pieces relate to fish. There is the one "To the Immortal Memory of the Halibut," on which he dined April 26, 1784. Then there are the lines "On the High Price of Fish," beginning:

"Cocoa-nut nought,

Fish too dear."

In the letter to Hill, October 2, 1779, which contains the poem of "The Pine-apple and the Bee,' Cowper says: "You have heard that when Arion performed upon the harp the fish followed him. I really have no design to fiddle you out of more fish; but if you should esteem my verses worthy of such a price, though I shall never be so renowned as he was, I shall think myself equally indebted to the Muse that helps me."

Later on he begs that Unwin would get himself

made Bishop of Chichester as soon as possible, in order that "we may have to thank you for every kind of fish the British coast produces."

57. Cowper thinks of turning Tutor, and endeavours to get Pupils.-July, 1776.

Although at much less expense than formerly, Cowper could not make his income cover his expenditure. Consequently we find him several times. requesting Hill to sell more of his stock. Living on one's principal, however, cannot, as Cowper very well knew, last for ever, so he formed a design of doing something to increase his income, which was none other than that of "taking two, three, or four boys" under his care, to instruct them in the Greek and Latin languages. With a view to this he wrote to Hill, in the hope that, as the latter had an extensive acquaintance, he might be able to serve him. "I should pursue," he says, "with some few exceptions, the Westminster method of instruction, being that which I am best acquainted with myself, and the best upon the whole that I have had an opportunity of observing. They would lodge and board under our roof, and be in all respects accommodated and attended in a manner that would well warrant the demand of a hundred guineas per annum.

"You have often wished me an employment, and I know none but this for which I am qualified. If I can engage in it it will probably be serviceable to me in more respects than one; but as it will afford me some

sort of an establishment, at least for a time, it cannot but be desirable to one in my circumstances. If you are acquainted, therefore, with any person who has a son or sons between eight and ten years of age, for whom he would wish to find a tutor who will not make a property of them, nor neglect any means in his power to inform them thoroughly in what he undertakes to teach, you will oblige me by recommending me. Doubtless there are many such; and it is not an easy matter to find a family where the two grand points of education, literature and sobriety, would be more closely attended to than in this."

Cowper's endeavours, however, were unsuccessful, and a month later (August 1st) he says to Hill: “ If it were to rain pupils, perhaps I might catch a tub full; but till it does, the fruitlessness of my inquiries makes me think I must keep my Greek and Latin to myself."

5. Cowper makes his Will-May, 1777

On the 20th of May, 17, Couper made his will, and, is might be expected, he left the little he had to the two friends to whom he was most indebted—namely, his beloved companion, Mrs. Unwin, and his conscientious "chancellor of the exchequer Joseph Hill This interesting document, which Souther Escovered in the Register of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, runs

$1, We Cowper, of Olney, the county of Racks do make this my last W and Testament. I give to Mrs. Mary Unwin the sum of three hundred

pounds, or whatever sum shall be standing in my name in the books of the Bank of England at the time of my decease. I give to Mr. Joseph Hill, of Great Queen Street, whatever money of mine he may have in his hands, arising from the bond of my Chambers in the Temple, or may be due for the same at the time of my decease and my desire is, that such money as he may have received on my account in the way of contribution, and not remitted to me, may be returned to those who gave it, with the best acknowledgments I have it in my power to render them for their kindness. I have written this with my own hand, and the contents may sufficiently prove that I am in my senses."

Then follow the date and his signature.

Throwing light, as it does, on the financial state of the poet, this document is rather interesting, but its provisions, of course, by the lapse of time, and the death of the principal legatee, were nullified.

59. Lord Dartmouth at Olney.—June, 1777

On the 9th of June (1777) Olney was informed, by the ringing of bells and other unmistakable signs, that Lord Dartmouth had come to the town. The visit was one of business. Says Newton, "I dined with Lord Dartmouth, Lord Verney, and about ten gentlemen of the county, at the 'Swan,' on Monday, upon a committee to inspect and report the ruinous state of our bridge. We had such a sumptuous dinner as I suppose was never seen at Olney before. We had a man cook, and a bill of fare from London.

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