359 • 337 Could I, from heaven inspired, as sure presage Cowper had sinned with some excuse Dear Anna-between friend and friend 503 476 A needle, small as small can be And is this all? Can Reason do no more. 171 20 472 474 A nightingale, that all day long 170 336 Dear President, whose art sublime 391 286 A noble theme demands a noble verse A peasant to his lord paid yearly court A poet's cat, sedate and grave. As birds their infant brood protect A Spartan 'scaping from the fight As yet a stranger to the gentle fires At length, myfriend, the far-sent letterscome Austen! accept a grateful verse from me Beneath the edge or near the stream 443 431 499 Did not my Muse (what can she less?). Eldest born of powers divine 36 4 502 4 5 15 495 391 • 500 499 466 172 Far from the world, O Lord, I flee 37 30 Far happier are the dead, methinks, than they 501 Farewell, false hearts! whose best affec- Farewell! endued with all that could Fierce passions discompose the mind Fond youth! who dream'st that hoarded • 352 359 29 504 arose. . Thrive, gentle plant! and weave a bower 389 168 Wilds horrid and dark with o'ershadowing trees William was once a bashful youth With no rich viands overcharged, I send 441 502 • 327 87 428 • 3 Thy country, Wilberforce, with just disdain 384 28 438 170 403 'Tis morning; and the sun with ruddy orb 247 34 'Tis not that I design to rob 9 To Babylon's proud waters brought. 2 To be remembered thus is Fame 394 To grass, or leaf, or fruit, or wall. 479 With two spurs, or one, and no great mat- 480 3 30 406 28 506 •. 49 PREFACE. THE works which have formed the materials for this volume are the following, named in the order of their publication: : 1. Olney Hymns: 1779. (See Memoir, p. xxxvii.) 2. Poems by William Cowper: 1782. (See p. 45.) 3. The Task, with three other pieces, by the same: 1785. (See p. 181.) 4. The above volumes were published distinctly, No. 3 offering no indication that the author had appeared in print before. But always afterwards Nos. 2 and 3 were issued together, and numbered "Cowper's Poems, Vols. i. and ii.” New editions were published in 1786, 1787, 1788, 1793, 1794, 1798 (two editions in this year, very different in form and appearance), and 1800. The foregoing were all that were printed in the author's lifetime. The various editions contained fresh poems from time to time. 5. Poems translated from the French of Madame de la Mothe Guyon by the late William Cowper, Esq., Author of "The Task," to which are added some Original Poems of Mr. Cowper, not inserted in his Works. Newport-Pagnel, 1801. 6. The Life and Letters of William Cowper, Esq., with Remarks on Epistolary Writers. By William Hayley, Esq. : 4 vols. 1803. This work contained many additional poems which had been sent to friends, but not published by the author among his works. These will be found, with others, in pp. 327-402. A brief notice of each poem is given in the Notes at the end. During Cowper's later life, beginning with 1791, Hayley was intimately connected with him and his friends. It was a priceless boon to give Cowper's Letters to the public; two brother poets have pronounced him "the best letter-writer in the English language."" "Hayley's work therefore was highly interesting, but it had many serious faults. Not only is its style windy and tiresome, but the writer was so anxious not to give offence to any one, that in dealing with the more painful passages of Cowper's life, he contrives to leave us in utter uncertainty of what the facts were, and invariably assures us that if we knew everything we should see that everybody concerned acted in the most exemplary manner possible. With the same end in view he has made large omissions from the letters, without giving any indication of having done so. The originals of many of the letters which he printed are in the Manuscript Room of the British Museum (Addl. MSS. 24,154 and 21,556), and the omitted passages are mostly crossed with pencil-marks, I presume by his hand. The few passages not so crossed were probably struck out in the proofs. All these letters I have carefully compared with the printed copies. Hayley's knowledge of Cowper, moreover, was confined to his later life. In the earlier part of the biography he has made several mistakes, and to one of the most interesting portions of Cowper's life, his only love affair, he makes no allusion. The references to Hayley's work in the present volume are to the edition of 1812. * Southey in Life, p. 1, and Alex. Smith in "Encyclopædia Britannica." b |