at table; the ordinary came to nine shillings, but I suppose a guinea apiece would not have defrayed the expenses. The town makes good the rest; they made a point of accommodating my lords and gentlemen very handsomely."

To Newton, ever since he had become acquainted with him, Lord Dartmouth had been extremely kind. It was not the friendship of a great lord to an inferior, but of one Christian man to another. Newton reckoned his various interviews with "the good earl" among the greatest pleasures of his life, and we may picture, if we like, those two exceilent men sitting under Newton's "favourite great tree" in the vicarage garden, and conversing, "not concerning the comparatively petty affairs of human government, but of things pertaining to the kingdom of God." To his old schoolfellow, Cowper, Lord Dartmouth also paid a visit. Among the subjects conversed upon were the South Sea Voyages of Captain Cook, which were just then engaging public attention, and Lord Dartmouth promised to lend the poet the books of both Cook and Forster (Cook's companion). We also learn that Cowper showed his noble visitor his garden, pointing out to him, among other things, his "Broallia, a new flower in this country," which he had raised from a few seeds given him the previous year. Cowper and Mrs. Unwin considered it the most elegant flower they had seen, and Lord Dartmouth, says Cowper, "did it the honour to think with us."

Doubtless the browallia, a stove plant from Peru, named after John Browallins, Bishop of Aboa.

Cowper thus alludes to his lordship in “Truth”:—

"We boast some rich ones whom the gospel sways,

And one who wears a coronet and prays;

Like gleanings of an olive-tree they show

Here and there one upon the topmost bough."

With Mr. Wright, Lord Dartmouth's steward, "the truly respectable servant of a most valuable master,' Cowper was also intimate, and his letters contain many allusions to him.

60. The Fire at Olney.-October, 1777

In October (1777) a dreadful fire, broke out in Olney. Seven or eight houses were quickly in flames, and, had not the wind suddenly changed, half of the town must have been destroyed. This event influenced the lives of both Cowper and Newton, for but for it the latter might have continued long to live in Olney. The case was as follows: The part of the loss which had not been covered by insurance was estimated at £450, and this fell wholly upon the poor. The town and neighbourhood immediately contributed £250. Lord Dartmouth sent £30. "The plan was to pay twelve shillings in the pound upon buildings, and sixteen upon goods, and to make up the full loss to the poorer sufferers." Mr. Newton promised £60, which he believed he could obtain from those sources of private benevolence that were always open to him; but in the end, having exerted himself to the utmost, he obtained £200. "Such instances of benevolence," says

his biographer, Mr. Cecil, "with the constant assistance he afforded the poor by the help of Mr. Thornton, naturally led him to expect that he should have so much influence as to restrain gross licentiousness on particular occasions."

At the meeting of the committee for the fire Newton recommended, amongst other things, "the discontinuance of a foolish custom, almost peculiar to this town, of illuminating their houses on the 5th of November," and likewise preventing bonfires and firing guns, which, seeing that most of the houses were thatched, was a very sensible proposal. Newton's motion was approved by all present; and, imagining it to be the general desire of the people, he gave notice of it at church. But when the day came there was great opposition. Says Newton, "Many put up candles who had not done so in former years; and some who had, doubled their number. This gave encouragement to the sons of Belial, and when night came on there was much riot and confusion. A wild lawless mob paraded the streets, breaking windows, and extorting money from one end of the town to the other." The vicarage was expressly threatened. Newton himself was determined to brave it, but upon a friend's bringing word, about ten in the evening, that forty or fifty of them, full of fury and liquor, were just coming to beset the house, Mrs. Newton was so terrified, and her head was so much affected, that her husband, though he was ashamed to do it, was obliged to send out money, and beg peace. So the house was saved, but the whole affair occasioned Newton very great grief. He afterwards told Mr. Cecil that he believed he should never have left Olney

had not so incorrigible a spirit prevailed in a parish which he had so long laboured to reform."

61. The Death of Sir Thomas Hesketh.April, 1778.

In the spring of 1778 a small legacy came to Cowper from a rather unexpected quarter. But it was the kindness of his late friend (Sir Thomas Hesketh) in remembering him rather than the money itself that gave pleasure. "Poor Sir Thomas!" he says, "I knew that I had a place in his affections, and from his own information, many years ago, a place in his will; but little thought that after the lapse of so many years I should still retain it. His remembrance of me, after so long a season of separation, has done me much honour, and leaves me the more reason to regret his decease." After the death of her husband, which had happened abroad, Lady Hesketh returned to England, but for some years there was no communication between her and her cousin. Among her gifts to Cowper after the renewal of her acquaintance with him was a cameo of her late husband, and Cowper was happy to have it as a "copy of one whom we both knew and loved."

Sir Thomas was succeeded in the title by his brother Robert, from whom is descended the present head of the family, Sir Thomas George Fermor Fermor-Hesketh (7th baronet), to the wife of whom, Lady Flora Hesketh, the author has had the honour of dedicating the present volume.

62. Thurlow made Lord Chancellor.

In June, 1778, was fulfilled Cowper's prophecy concerning Thurlow, who in that month succeeded Earl Bathurst as Lord Chancellor of England. One of his first acts on assuming the dignity was to appoint Cowper's friend Hill as his secretary, and Mr. Unwin and others were in hopes something would be done for Cowper-in hopes that the promise of long previously, though it was spoken half in jest, would be fulfilled also. Unwin's advice, however, that he should write to Thurlow, Cowper found himself unwilling to follow. "I know the man," he says in reply, "and his disposition well; he is very liberal in his way of thinking, generous and discerning. He is well aware of the tricks that are played upon such occasions; and after fifteen years interruption of all intercourse between us, would translate my letter into this language-pray remember the poor. This would disgust him, because he would think our former intimacy disgraced by such an oblique application. He has not forgotten me; and if he had there are those about him who cannot come into his presence without reminding him of me; and he is also perfectly acquainted with my circumstances. It would perhaps give him pleasure to surprise me with a benefit; and if he means me such a favour, I should disappoint him by asking it." About this time Cowper wrote the lines on Thurlow's promotion.