continued to reside there. But her stepson and she, though friendly, were not intimate, and he never visited her, though they occasionally corresponded. She died not very long afterwards. His brother John was now at Cambridge, studying for holy orders.

The profession of a barrister is generally more honourable than lucrative for the first few years. It certainly was so in Cowper's case, for it is doubtful whether he ever had a brief.* He moved from the Middle to the Inner Temple, and bought chambers there for £250. The little money which he had was fast diminishing, and his father's death warned him that this was a matter which would have to be attended to without loss of time. One or two of his letters exist, written at this time; he speaks lightly on the matter,† but one may say with tolerable certainty that a very anxious heart lay beneath the jesting manner, and that the anxiety increased every day. Though this may not have been the cause of the melancholy which soon after appeared, the forced hilarity is painful enough when one knows what followed. He was made a Commissioner of Bankrupts about this time through family influence, which brought him £60 a year.

He was now a member of the Nonsense Club, consisting of some old "Westminsters," among them Robert Lloyd and Colman. The leading member was Bonnell Thornton, another old Westminster boy, but much Cowper's senior. He had already made several essays in authorship, before he started, in company with Colman, the Connoisseur. The first number was published January 31, 1754, and it was continued weekly, until September 30, 1756. Cowper contributed a few papers to the last volume. The following were his. § I take the titles from the

table of contents to the volumes.

No. 111.-Letter, containing the character of the delicate Billy Suckling.

No. 115.-Letter from Christopher Ironside, an old Bachelor, complaining of the indignities received by him from the ladies.

No. 119. Of keeping a secret.-Characters of faithless confidantes.

No. 134.-Letter from Mr. Village, giving an account of the present state of Country Churches, their Clergy, and their Congregations.

No. 138.-On Conversation. The chief pests of Society pointed out. Those who converse irrationally, considered as imitating the language of different animals.

* A letter to Hill, dated October 10, 1767, after asking a law question, contains the following: "You are a better counsellor than I was, but I think you have much such a client in me as I had in Dick Harcourt.

"This provokes me, that a covetous dog who will work by candlelight in the morning, to get what he does not want, shall be praised for his thriftiness, while a gentleman shall be abused for submitting to his wants, rather than work like an ass to relieve them. . . There are some sensible folks, who, having great estates, have wisdom enough to spend them properly; there are others, who are not less wise, perhaps, as knowing how to shift without 'em... This is a strange epistle, nor can I imagine how the devil I came to write it."-Letter to Rowley, September 2, 1762.

The Nonsense Club originated the "Exhibition of Sign Painters," a piece of drollery which, without giving offence, made much fun of the newly-opened Royal Academy. It consisted of a number of daubs, with humorous descriptions in the catalogue, and was very successful.

§ The evidence of their authorship is as follows: Southey says they are "all attributed to the same author in the concluding pages of the volume." (Life, vol. i. p. 325.) But this is a mistake, for the words at the end of the volume are, "From a friend, a gentleman of the Temple, we

More than this, he "produced several half-penny ballads, two or three of which had the honour to become popular. It is unfortunate that they are lost, for halfpenny ballads by the Author of "John Gilpin" would certainly have been worth preserving. He also contributed a few papers to the St. James's Chronicle, of which Thornton and Colman were part proprietors. He kept up his classical studies also, especially that of Homer, and translated two books of Voltaire's "Henriade," said to have been published in a magazine in 1759. The humorous ode given at p. 21 of this volume was printed in the St. James's Chronicle. It was not signed with his name, and there is no direct evidence to prove that it was his; but as Southey thought it to be so, all succeeding editions have included it. (See note on it.)

But by the time that ode was published, a dreadful calamity had fallen upon Cowper. He had gone mad. We have seen already that he had had melancholy

fits at school. The opening lines of his Epistle to Lloyd (p. 9), written in 1754, show that these fits had taken an intenser form, and, as we have said, his fears of poverty probably made matters worse. An event which happened in 1763, which for the moment filled him with joy, brought the catastrophe. The Clerk of the Journals of the House of Lords died, and the gentleman who held the two offices of Reading Clerk and Clerk of Committees resigned at the same time. The right of presentation to all the appointments belonged to Major Cowper, who immediately offered the two most lucrative of them to his cousin. The offer was no sooner accepted, than Cowper began to reproach himself with having wished for the former holder's death, and therefore being a murderer. First one fancy, then another. After a week he begged his cousin to give the more lucrative places to a friend, a Mr. Arnold, and the poorest, the Clerkship of the Journals, to himself. With a little demur (for in the eyes of the world, which did not know the circumstances, there would be some suspicion of bribery) the Major consented to this, and for a week or two there was calm.

At

But very soon came another obstacle. A powerful party in the Lords contested the Major's right to nominate. An inquiry was begun, and the new clerk was told that he must give evidence of qualification at the bar of the House. this news he broke down again, not immediately, for he tried and tried again for more than half a year to prepare for examination, but all was of no use. Each day his terrors increased; a visit to Margate checked them, for a letter exists written

received Nos. 111, 115, and 119." The other two are not referred to. They, with No. 119, are given as Cowper's by Hayley, whose authority in this matter is conclusive. He says, "During Cowper's visit to Eartham, he kindly pointed out to me three of his papers in the last volume of the Connoisseur. I inscribed them with his name at the time, and find other numbers of that work ascribed to him, but the three following I print as his, on his own explicit authority." (Vol. iv. p. 384.) No. 119 is also mentioned by Cowper himself, in one of his letters, as having been written by him. He says that the writing of it had a good effect upon him: "I have never broken a secret since."

* Letter to Newton, Dec. 4, 1781.

to his cousin Harriet, now become Lady Hesketh, in which he is fairly cheerful. But on his return the evil spirit returned once more. His cousin came to the Temple to see him, but he would not speak to her nor look at her. He has written down a long account of these days in his autobiography, but one's memory recoils from it,— from the attempts upon his life with laudanum and knife and cord. The last time his purpose hardly failed. On that occasion he so far recovered from his dream as to be conscience-stricken; but this brought no relief, nothing but the conviction that he was damned beyond hope.

God knows whether any human means could have drawn him forth out of this horrible pit; but we who behold in Christ the healer of all infirmities, the caster-forth of devils, must believe that to have followed His steps by telling of the infinite love of God to His creatures might have brought the blessing of health. But no such message reached poor Cowper. His cousin Martin Madan, chaplain of the Lock Hospital, and a strong Calvinist, came to visit him. He spoke of the efficacy of Christ's blood for justification; and the poor sufferer, as he says, began to feel his heart burn within him, and the tears which he had just before declared impossible flowed freely, as hope sprung up in his heart. But when Madan began with his restrictions, the necessity of certain feelings, the hopelessness of the case in which they were absent, this hope was again thrown away. All the confusions and fancies of vague thoughts and opinions tossed and surged around him, and that faith in God's everlasting love which might have guided him safely was not there. He was at the mercy of every wind of vain doctrine. Every text of the Bible, and every religious word, was turned into fresh proof that the mouth of hell was opened upon him, and he wrote the awful sapphics which are given at p. 23. His relatives, rightly judging that there was no other resource left to them, placed him in a lunatic asylum at St. Alban's. This was on December 7, 1763.

The proprietor of this asylum, Dr. Nathanael Cotton, possessed a high name for his professional skill, and was also a man of great moral worth.* He had also won considerable popularity as a writer of verse. His "Visions" passed through many editions; and though they are no longer read, they contain a good deal of sound sense and practical benevolence. He died in 1788. Under his judicious care Cowper slowly recovered. The physician saw this before the patient, and summoned his brother. The first meeting was a disappointment, for Cowper put on a stiff reserve, but he recovered himself, and improved daily. He was now filled with religious fervour; he had received from his heavenly Father, he said, the full assurance of faith, and out of his stony heart had been raised up a child unto Abraham. It was a good and righteous conviction, but it did not go far enough. It made its foundation upon his own feelings, and not upon God's love. His is not the only case where such ecstasy breaks down. In some it is followed by desperate plunges into sin again; in this, despair again after a *Notice of his life in Anderson's "Poets," vol. xi. p. 1105.

while supervened.

Yet transient feelings of such joy are feelings to be thankful for, when we regard them as God's testimony of a love which is not transient, of an eternal mercy and loving-kindness. *

Immediately after his recovery he wrote the hymn at p. 37 :

"How blessed thy creature is, O God."

What a contrast to the production which he had last written, "Hatred and Vengeance"!

Though his recovery took place within three or four months after he was sent to Dr. Cotton's, Cowper continued there for a year, apparently dreading a relapse, and unequal to the task of facing the rough world. But he was very poor, and already owed Dr. Cotton money, and so determined to remove to some quiet home. The hymn at p. 37

"Far from the world, O Lord, I flee "

was written while thinking over this matter. London he would see no more, and he threw up his Commissionership of Bankrupts, and with it nearly all his income -to wit, £60 a year. His relations, feeling that this was unavoidable, subscribed together to make him an annual allowance.

His brother was now Fellow of St. Benet's College, Cambridge, and he wished to find lodgings near him. But none suitable could be found nearer than Huntingdon, and hither he moved in June 1765, accompanied by a lad who had waited on him at Dr. Cotton's. With this exception he was entirely surrounded by strangers; but the quiet tranquil town suited him well. it the most agreeable neighbourhood I ever saw," he wrote. and evening prayers daily in the church, which he always the Ouse for him to bathe in, and many pleasant walks. used to send him books and newspapers. The Rector, Mr. Mr. Nicholson, called upon him, and he liked them both. Then the brothers met every week, at Cambridge and Huntingdon alternately, and this caused him to become a horseman.

"I do really think There were morning attended; there was Some of the residents Hodgson, and Curate,

Soon after his arrival he was visited by an old London friend, whose name has hitherto not been mentioned, but who always held one of the foremost places in his affection, Joseph Hill. Nothing is known of his early life, except that he had been an old Westminster boy, and also one of the members of the Nonsense Club. He was an attorney, living in George Street, Westminster. Cowper had introduced him to Thurlow, who, on his appointment to the Chancellorship afterwards, made him his secretary. He had kindly managed Cowper's

Maurice's "Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament," pp. 33, 34.

"Another acquaintance I have lately made is with a Mr. Nicholson, a north-country divine, very poor, but very good and very happy. He reads prayers here twice a day all the year round, and travels on foot to serve two churches every Sunday; his journey out and home again being sixteen miles. I supped with him last night. He gave me bread and cheese, and a black jug of ale brewed with his own hands."-To Lady Hesketh, September 14, 1765.

affairs during his illness, and now gratuitously made himself his general agent in town, disposing of his rooms in the Temple, arranging his money matters, and receiving the bounty of his kinsmen. With him and with Lady Hesketh Cowper now began that regular correspondence which has won for him the praise of being "the best letter writer in the English language." His letters to Hill are playful, and relate mostly to his finances; those to Lady Hesketh are entirely of a religious character. He is still enraptured with his own religious condition, and hints that he would fain see her even as himself. It is evident that though no one could have had a higher regard for him, she had little sympathy with his religious fervour. We note in passing that she sent him "Hervey's Meditations," and that he was delighted with it. Besides these, he opened correspondence next year with Major Cowper and his wife. The latter, it will be remembered, was also his first cousin, sister to Martin Madan, and therefore, in Cowper's present state of feeling, a peculiarly acceptable correspondent. Several of his letters to her are a discussion of the question of mutual recognition in heaven, he holding the affirmative against her negative. From one of them we learn that he had formed an idea of taking orders. Fortunately he abandoned it. Meanwhile his finances became embarrassed. The following extract from a letter, written less than a fortnight after he got to Huntingdon, is amusing, but very much to the purpose. It is addressed to Hill.

"DEAR JOE,-Whatever you may think of the matter, it is no such easy thing to keep house for two people. A man cannot always live upon sheeps' heads, and liver and lights, like the lions in the Tower; and a joint of meat, in so small a family, is an endless encumbrance. My butcher's bill for last week amounted to four shillings and tenpence. I set off with a leg of lamb, and was forced to give part of it away to a washerwoman. Then I made an experiment upon a sheep's heart, and that was too little. Next I put three pounds of beef into a pie, and this had like to have been too much, for it lasted three days, though my landlord was admitted to a share in it. Then as to small-beer, I am puzzled to pieces about it. I have bought as much for a shilling as will serve us at least a month, and it is grown sour already. In short, I never knew how to pity poor housekeepers before; but now I cease to wonder at that politic cast which their occupation usually gives to their countenance, for it is really a matter full of perplexity." *

66

This prepares us for the announcement by and by that he has contrived, by the help of good management and a clear notion of economical affairs, to spend the income of a twelvemonth" between June and September. His relatives wrote to scold him for what they considered extravagance, and a few months later Colonel (late Major) Cowper threatened to give him nothing more. While this correspondence was going on, he received an anonymous letter, telling him that if the threatened withdrawal should take place, he had one who loved and admired him, who would supply the deficiency. He thought that Lady Hesketh was the writer, but it is more likely, as will be seen hereafter, that it was her sister, Cowper's former love. His anxiety was naturally returning. Besides, Huntingdon shows to less advantage in the decline of the year than in June, and his outdoor pursuits were becoming circumscribed. But at this critical moment a happy accident came to his relief. His daily attendance at church, his solitariness, his

* July 3, 1765.