.all sorts. as to intend me. There is nothing in which I am so deficient as repositories for letters, papers, and litter of Your last present has helped me somewhat, but not with respect to such things as require lock and key, which are numerous. A box, therefore, so secured will be to me an invaluable acquisition. And, since you leave me to my option, what shall be the size thereof, I of course prefer a folio. On the back of the book-seeming box, some artist, expert in those matters, may inscribe these words: Collectanea curiosa, the English of which is, a collection of curiosities. A title which I prefer to all others, because, if I live, I shall take care that the box shall merit it, and because it will operate as an incentive to open that which being locked cannot be opened; for in these cases the greater the baulk the more wit is discovered by the ingenious contriver of it-viz., myself." 164. "The Four Ages."-May, 1791. Mr. Canniford, the curate for whom Cowper had discovered in himself such an aversion, had been succeeded by the Rev. John Buchanan, a gentleman considerably more agreeable than his predecessor had been objectionable, and one who was as much respected by the Throckmortons as by Cowper. There was always a place laid for him at dinner at the Hall. Mr. Buchanan, who lived only a few doors from the Lodge, at the house in Weston, now an inn under the title of "Cowper's Oak," made the observation that no poet ancient or modern had expressly treated on the four divisions of human life, infancy-youth, manhood, and old age, suggesting at the same time that it was a suitable subject for a poem. Pleased with the idea, the poet requested him to draw out his thoughts at length, and on Mr. Buchanan's compliance, wrote to him as follows: "My dear sir, you have sent me a beautiful poem, wanting nothing but metre. I would to Heaven you would give it that requisite yourself; for he who could make the sketch cannot but be well qualified to finish. But if But if you will not, I will, provided always, nevertheless, that God gives me ability, for it will require no common share to do justice to your conceptions." Accordingly in May (1791) he began upon the theme, hoping to produce a work of about the same length as the "Task." But of this intended poem only thirty-eight lines were written; it was laid aside for the lines on Yardley Oak, which in its turn was sacrificed to the notes on Milton. "The Four Ages" begins very promisingly, and it is a thousand pities the poet did not keep on with it. It is interesting to note that a poem on the Four Ages of Man has since been written by M. Werthmuller, a citizen of Zurich. This performance gave rise to another German poem on the Four Ages of Woman, by M. Zacharie, professor of poetry at Brunswick. Many other people proposed subjects for Cowper's pen; so numerous were these suggestions, indeed, that he was at length provoked to say (in an unpublished letter of March 30, 1792): "I had need have two heads like Parnassus itself to execute all of this sort that has been recommended to me." 165. Publication of Homer.-July 1, 1791. Having finished Homer, Cowper set to work to translate that parody on the Iliad the Batrachomyomachia (the War of the Frogs and Mice)-a Greek poem, commonly, though erroneously ascribed to Homer. Cowper did not tell any of his friends except Mr. Johnson that this piece was to accompany his translation of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Says he (May 23, 1791): "I had more reasons than one for this mysterious management; that is to say, I had two. In the first place, I wished to surprise my readers agreeably; and secondly, I wished to allow none of my friends an opportunity to object to the measure, who might think. it perhaps a measure more bountiful than prudent. But I have had my sufficient reward, though not a pecuniary one. It is a poem of much humour, and accordingly I found the translation of it very amusing. It struck me, too, that I must either make it part of the present publication, or never publish it at all; it would have been so terribly out of its place in any other volume." Meantime Cowper's subscription lists, thanks to the exertions of Mr. Johnson, Mr. Rose, Lady Hesketh, Mr. Bagot, and various other friends, were exhibiting a goodly array of names, and the poet had hopes that after five years" ploughing and sowing on the plains of Troy," once fruitful to his predecessor Pope, some harvest would arise for him also. The University of Cambridge, which had been worked by Johnny, supplied a very respectable number of names. Not so the University of Oxford. When applied to by a friend of Mr. Throckmorton's, the answer was that they subscribed to nothing. Which treatment raised the ire of the poet sufficiently to cause him to write :— "Could Homer come himself, distress'd and poor, And tune his harp at Rhedicina's door, The rich old vixen would exclaim (I fear), By the 6th of March the publisher had printed as far as the fourth Odyssey, and Cowper expected that he and the swallows would appear together. The swallows, however, appeared first. May and June went by, but at length, on the, to him, memorable Ist of July the work came out-in the shape of two quarto volumes the Iliad, being inscribed to his young kinsman, Earl Cowper, and the Odyssey, as already stated, to Lady Spencer. "Now," the poet wrote to Johnson, 66 you may rest. Now I can give you joy of the period of all your labours in my service "-referring, of course, to Johnson's exertions as a transcriber. On the whole, the work was well received, and sufficient proofs reached Cowper from various quarters. that he had not "ploughed the fields of Troy in vain." "I have," says he, "every reason to be satisfied." Pecuniarily it was certainly a success. Johnson paid all expenses, and gave the poet a thousand pounds, at the same time allowing him to retain the copyright. Beyond this, not much can be said in favour of the work upon which Cowper had spent so much time. Very few people of recent years have tackled it, and still fewer have praised it, though amongst the few may be instanced such respectable critics as Croker and Samuel Rogers. The truth is, it is dull reading, though the same must be said, I suppose, of all the other blank verse translations of Homer. If a person unacquainted with Greek wants to read the Iliad or the Odyssey he goes to Pope. With all its faults there is no doubt that Pope's is at once the most vivid, the most musical, the most readable translation. It is so good that nobody wants a better-that is to say for general reading. Pope is to Cowper, Lord Derby, and the other blank verse translators what the Authorized Version of the Bible is to the Revised Version. Less correct, but more inviting. Pope we read, Cowper, Lord Derby, and others we merely refer to. I do not, of course, include the recent translators, such as Messrs. Butcher and Lang, among these "others." Translating Homer, however, and apart from its pecuniary success, was very useful to Cowper. He says: "A thousand times have I been glad of it; for a thousand times it has served at least to divert my attention, in some degree, from such terrible tempests as I believe have seldom been permitted to beat upon a human mind. Let my friends, therefore, who wish me some little measure of tranquillity in the performance of the most turbulent voyage that ever Christian mariner made, be contented, that, having Homer's mountains and forests to windward, I escape, under their shelter, from the force of many a gust that would almost overset me; especially when they consider that, not by choice, but by necessity, I make them my refuge." Of the immortal Homer himself, Cowper, an enthusiastic admirer, has said some very sensible things, |