was broken. Before long, Lady Austen, who had i health, was obliged to visit 3rstci. Cowner seas of her is at Bristol on the th of May, so site must have left Olney before that fare. In respect to the letter that caused the rippure. Hayley says, very sensibly, though in is usual fowery and infared strie: Had it been confided to my are I am persuaded I should have thought it very proper for publication, as it displayed both the tenderness and the magnanimity of Cowper; nor could I have teamed it 1 want of delicacy towards the memory of Lady Austen, to exhibit a proof that animated by the warmest admiration of the great poet, whose fincy she could so successfully call forth, she was willing to devote her life and fortune to his service and protection. The sentiment is to be regarded as honourable to the lady: it is still more honourable to the poet that with such feelings as rendered him perfectly sensible of all Lady Austen's fascinating powers, he could return her tenderness with innocent regard, and yet resciately preclude himself from her society when he could no longer enjoy it without compromising what he owed to the compassionate and generous guardian of his sequestered life." Lady Austen herself admitted in after years "that a more admirable letter could not be written." Some have judged Lady Austen severely, and have been of opinion that she was a "very artful woman.” If it is a crime for a pretty widow to try by all means in her power to bring about a union between herself and the man she loves, then I am afraid her ladyship stands condemned. If it is no crime, there is an end of the matter. Losing Cowper, however, was a fortunate thing for Lady Austen, for it is certain that she had it not in her to exercise the patience which companionship with a person of Cowper's state of mind rendered necessary-that patience which was so salient a feature in the character of Mrs. Unwin. As appears from the ledger of Mr. Grindon, Lady Austen was staying with her sister at Clifton again in August, 1786, and also in March, 1787. But Cowper and she were now strangers to each other. Although only two miles separated them, there was no communication between her and the poet. Lady Austen subsequently married an accomplished French gentleman named M. de Tardiff. She died in Paris in 1802. In the possession of Dr. Francis Grindon, of Olney, are several interesting relics of Lady Austen and her friends, to wit: (1) An exquisite clasp miniature of Lady Austen herself at the age of eighteen; (2) Her presentation dress of crimson satin brocade; (3) Her fan; (4) An interesting miniature of her second husband, Baron Tardiff-the clasp of a bracelet; (5) A small portrait of Miss Green, her niece. IOI. The Brothers Throckmorton.— The attention of the public was at this period being attracted by the invention of balloons, and numerous were the speculations indulged in as to the results that might be looked for. "Thanks to Mongolfier," says Cowper, "we shall fly at last." Again, on November 17, 1783, he writes to Newton : "Swift observes, when he is giving his reasons why the preacher is elevated always above his hearers, that, let the crowd be as great as it will below, there is always room enough overhead. If the French philosophers can carry their art of flying to the perfection they desire, the observation may be reversed, the crowd will be overhead, and they will have most room who stay below. I can assure you, however, upon my own experience, that this way of travelling is very delightful. I dreamt, a night or two since, that I drove myself through the upper regions in a balloon and pair with the greatest ease and security. Having finished the tour I intended, I made a short turn, and with one flourish of my whip descended; my horses prancing and curvetting with an infinite share of spirit, but without the least danger either to me or my vehicle. The time, we may suppose, is at hand, and seems to be prognosticated by my dream, when these airy excursions will be universal, when judges will fly the circuit and bishops their visitations; and when the tour of Europe will be performed with much greater speed, and with equal advantage, by all who travel merely for the sake of having it to say, that they have made it." To the same (December 15, 1783) Cowper writes another long letter on ballooning, in which he parodies the lines of Pope : To "Learn of the little Nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale." "Learn of the circle-making kite to fly, Spread the fan-tail, and wheel about the sky." Aeronautics at length became so much the mode that |