likewise the maid in the kitchen, and seemed upon the whole a most loving, kissing, kind-hearted gentleman. He is very young, genteel, and handsome. He has a pair of very good eyes in his head, which not being sufficient as it should seem for the many nice and difficult purposes of a senator, he has a third also, which he wore suspended by a riband from his buttonhole. The boys hallooed, the dogs barked, Puss scampered, the hero, with his long train of obsequious followers, withdrew. We made ourselves very merry with the adventure, and in a short time settled into our former tranquillity, never probably to be thus interrupted more. I thought myself, however, happy in being able to affirm truly that I had not that influence for which he sued, and for which, had I been possessed of it, with my present views of the dispute between the Crown and the Commons, I must have refused him, for he is on the side of the former. It is comfortable to be of no consequence in a world, where one cannot exercise any without disobliging somebody. The town, however, seems to be much at his service, and, if he be equally successful throughout the county, he will undoubtedly gain his election. Mr. Ashburner, perhaps, was a little mortified, because it was evident that I owed the honour of this visit to his misrepresentation of my importance. But had he thought proper to assure Mr. Grenville that I had three heads, I should not, I suppose, have been bound to produce them." The candidate in question, "our pretty plausible candidate," as Cowper elsewhere styles him, was William Wyndham Grenville, a partisan of Mr. Pitt. The other candidates were Mr. John Aubrey (Pittite) and Lord Verney (Foxite), whose most indefatigable supporter at this end of the county was Mr. Throckmorton, subsequently Cowper's friend. At that time Buckinghamshire and its boroughs returned as many as fourteen members to Parliament, the number for the county itself being two. The following was the result of the poll : W. W. Grenville (Pittite) ... ... ... consequently the first two were elected. titioned against Aubrey, but unsuccessfully. 2261 1740 Verney pe Writing to Newton on the 11th of March, Cowper says: "The election has made a great noise in the steeple, and some in the street; but at length we are quiet again. The Squire of Weston assisted in canvassing the town for Lord Verney, and met with several affronts, but was especially insulted by wrong-headed Nathan Sample; who, it seems, has much the same aversion to a Papist that some people have to a cat: rather an antipathy than a reasonable dislike." On the 26th of April Cowper gives us further information of the contest: "The candidates for this county have set an example of economy which other candidates would do well to follow, having come to an agreement on both sides to defray the expenses of their voters, but to open no houses for the entertainment of the rabble; a reform, however, which the rabble did not at all approve of, and testified their dislike of it by a riot. A stage was built, from which the orators had designed to harangue the electors. This became the first victim of their fury. Having very little curiosity to hear what gentlemen could say who would give them nothing better than words, they broke it in pieces, and threw the fragments upon the hustings. The sheriff, the members, the lawyers, the voters, were instantly put to flight. They rallied, but were again routed by a second assault like the former. They then proceeded. to break the windows of the inn to which they had fled; and a fear prevailing that at night they would fire the town, a proposal was made by the freeholders to face about, and endeavour to secure them. At that instant a rioter, dressed in a merry andrew's jacket, stepped forward and challenged the best man among them. Olney sent the hero to the field, who made him repent of his presumption: Mr. Ashburner was he. Seizing him by the throat, he shook him-he threw him to the earth, he made the hollowness of his skull resound by the application of his fists, and dragged him into custody without the least damage to his person. Animated by this example, the other freeholders followed it, and in five minutes twenty-eight out of thirty ragamuffins were safely lodged in gaol." 100. Cowper's "tender yet resolute letter to Lady Austen.-The Spring of 1784. We have seen how Cowper at Lady Austen's instance commenced the "Task," and we have seen too how he begrudged the time which he was compelled to give to that lady in detriment to the progress of the poem. But the fact now began to dawn upon his mind that Lady Austen was in love with him. The only wonder is that he did not perceive it before. Nobody can blame her for losing her heart to the poet. She saw only the bright and cheerful side of his character, and knew little or nothing of the canker of despair that gnawed continually at his heart. She certainly had reason, too, at times, for believing that the passion was returned. Cowper's attentions to her, his affectionate manner of addressing her, and above all a short poem that he sent her, seemed to point to one and the same thing. This poem, containing only twelve lines, was printed for the first time in 1870, in the Globe edition of Cowper. It is entitled, "To a lady who wore a lock of his hair set with diamonds," and contains the lines "The heart that beats beneath that breast Is William's, well I know; A nobler prize and richer far Than India could bestow." Hayley, who was not permitted to print the verses, makes the sapient remark: "Those who were acquainted with the unsuspecting innocence and sportive gaiety of Cowper would readily allow, if they had seen the verses to which I allude, that they are such as he might have addressed to a real sister; but a lady only called by that endearing name may be easily pardoned if she was induced by them to hope that they might possibly be a prelude to a still dearer alliance. To me they appeared expressive of that peculiarity in his character, a gay and tender gallantry perfectly distinct from amorous attachment." As soon as Cowper discovered in what light Lady Austen regarded him, he perceived that matters could no longer go on as they were. The thought of loveanything more than a brotherly and sisterly love-had never entered his mind, for since his dreadful derangement at the vicarage he had given up all thoughts of marriage (it should be remembered, too, that he was in his fifty-fourth year), and seeing himself called on to renounce either one lady or the other, he felt it to be his bounden duty to cling to Mrs. Unwin, to whose kindness he had been indebted for so many years. It has been said by some that Mrs. Unwin was jealous of Lady Austen. Very likely she was. When we consider how tenderly and patiently she had watched over Cowper in his dark and dreadful hours, how for so many years she had shared his joys and sorrows, and delighted in his companionship, we need not wonder if some feeling akin to jealousy stirred her when she perceived the danger of her place being taken by one. who, though more brilliant, could not possibly love him more. But Mrs. Unwin had no need to fear. Cowper's affection for her, his knowledge of her worth, his gratitude for past services, would not allow him to hesitate. He had hoped that it would be possible to enjoy the friendship of both ladies; but when he discovered that it was necessary to decide between one and the other, he bowed to the painful necessity, and wrote Lady Austen "a very tender yet resolute letter, in which he explained and lamented the circumstances that forced him to renounce her society." She in anger burnt the letter, and henceforth there was no more communication between them. The threefold cord |