119. Fuseli and Maty.

Among those to whom Cowper made known what he was engaged upon was his old friend the General, who, no sooner than he had received the information, intimated his desire to see a specimen of the work. Cowper sent him the "Interview between Priam and Achilles." When the MS. came back, there was enclosed in the same cover some notes upon it by an unknown critic, who subsequently turned out to be Fuseli, the painter and art-critic. Both the General and Johnson strongly urged Cowper to submit the whole of his MS., bit by bit, to the same hand.

Henry Fuseli, or more properly Johann Heinrich Füssli, was born at Zurich in 1742. For eight years he had been studying in Italy, and had only just come to settle in England. Upon perusal of the criticisms Cowper discovered that the learning and ability of their author, whose name he did not yet know, had not at all been overrated, and willingly consented to submit to him the whole of his MS. Says Cowper: "He is in truth a very clever fellow, perfectly a stranger to me, and one who, I promise you, will not spare for severity of animadversion where he shall find occasion."

Writing in January (1786), Lady Hesketh mentioned that Dr. Maty of the British Museum, who had read the "Task," intended to review it, and that he had asked permission to allude to the newly-commenced translation of Homer. This incident gave Cowper pleasure, for, says he, "I have authentic intelligence

of his being a critical character, in all its forms, acute, sour, and blunt, and so incorruptible withal, and so unsusceptible of bias from undue motives, that, as my correspondent informs me, he would not praise his own mother did he not think she deserved it."

Lady Hesketh next expressed the desire that a book of the new Homer should be submitted to Maty's criticism, and Cowper, at all times willing to oblige his cousin, gave consent. With Fuseli, who at first teased sadly with his numerous criticisms, Cowper by and by got on admirably. The Swiss had scarcely his equal in "an accurate and familiar acquaintance with the original"; moreover, "foreigner as he is," says the poet, "he has an exquisite taste in English verse. The man is all fire, and an enthusiast in the highest degree on the subject of Homer, and has given me more than once a jog when I have been inclined to nap with my author.

By his assistance I have improved many passages, supplied many oversights, and corrected many mistakes, such as will of course escape the most diligent and attentive labourer in such a work. I ought to add, because it affords the best assurance of his zeal and fidelity, that he does not toil for hire, nor will accept of any premium, but has entered on this business merely for his amusement."

But though Cowper got on so well with Fuseli, who, though "the most caustic of men," was greatly pleased with the translation, it was otherwise with Maty, who, on the contrary, declared against it. The animadversions of Maty gave the poet much pain, and put him into one of his most melancholy moods.

"In

part," says Cowper, "they appeared to me unjust, and in part ill-natured, and yet, the man himself being an oracle in everybody's account, I apprehended that he had done me much mischief. Why he says that the translation is far from exact is best known to himself. For I know it to be as exact as is compatible with poetry; and prose translations of Homer are not wanted the world has one already." This was on May the 8th (1786).

In an unpublished letter, dated March 13, 1793, Cowper comments on the affair as follows: "Maty was much offended that I refused to submit my copy to his revisal, and abused my specimen for it shamefully." As an antidote, however, to the venom of Maty came a most appreciative letter from Colman. On the whole, the translator of Terence admired Cowper's work exceedingly, and considered that it breathed the spirit and conveyed the manner of the original.

120. Preparations for the Arrival of Lady Hesketh.-Spring, 1786.

Early in February Lady Hesketh had delighted her cousin by promising to visit Olney in the ensuing summer. Delighted, however, but feebly expresses the state of his feelings he was in the greatest ecstasies. "I shall see you again," he says; "I shall hear your voice; we shall take walks together; I will show you my prospects, the hovel, the alcove, the Ouse and its banks, everything that I have described. I anticipate:

the pleasure of those days not very far distant, and feel a part of it at this moment. Talk not of an inn! Mention it not for your life! We have never had so many visitors but we could easily accommodate them all; though we have received Unwin, and his wife, and his sister, and his son all at once."

Two days after he writes: "We talk of nobody but you. What we will do with you when we get you, where you shall walk, where you shall sleep-in short, everything that bears the remotest relation to your well-being at Olney, occupies all our talking time which is all that I do not spend at Troy."

to

Lady Hesketh, however, would not consent Orchard Side, consequently Cowper and Mrs. Unwin were requested to look out for apartments for her.

On February 19th Cowper hastened to say that the required apartments, "just such as we could wish," had been secured. "The house in which you will find them is within thirty yards of our own, and opposite to it. The whole affair is thus commodiously adjusted; and now I have nothing to do but to wish for June; and June, my cousin, was never so wished for since June was made. I shall have a thousand things to hear, and a thousand to say, and they will all rush into my mind together, till it will be so crowded with things impatient to be said, that for some time I shall say nothing."

For some reason or other, however, the house in question was after all not available, so Cowper and Mrs. Unwin had to go hunting again. At the end of March they imagined once more that they were suited, the proposed rooms being in the house of a lace-buyer, near the church, and on the 29th Cowper furnished his

cousin with full particulars. But this arrangement was no more capable of being carried out than the other, and Lady Hesketh suggested putting the visit off for a month. Cowper, however, would not hear of it. "My cousin," says he, "I will not wait till August, neither can Mrs. Unwin wait till August; I insist, and she entreats, that you come at the time appointed. . . Difficulties will perhaps vanish at your appearance; fifty points may be adjusted when you are on the spot, not one of which can be touched without you. Of this be sure, that by some means or other you shall have a place at Olney." To work, accordingly, Cowper went again, and this time his good angel conducted him to the house of a Jack-of-all-trades, named Maurice Smith. The question was whether Mr. Smith knew anybody who would let lodgings, ready furnished, to a lady with three servants. "Maurice's wife calls out (she is a Quaker), 'Why dost thee not take the vicarage?'" The vicarage, be it observed, was now in part tenanted by a bachelor curate, Mr. Postlethwaite, who had succeeded Mr. Scott. Continued Cowper, "I replied,

There is no furniture.' 'Pshaw!' quoth Maurice's wife; 'we will furnish it for thee, and at the lowest rate-from a bed to a platter, we will find all.' And what do you intend now?' said I to Mrs. Unwin. "Why, now,' quoth she, 'I am going to the curate to hear what he says.' So away she goes, and in about twenty minutes returns.- Well, now it is all settled. Lady Hesketh is to have all the vicarage, except two rooms, at the rate of ten guineas a year; and Maurice will furnish it for five guineas from June to November inclusive.' . . . Come, then,” he concludes his letter,