3.28.281
16800

CONTENTS.

VOL. VII.

1791.

Page

To John Johnson, Esq. Feb. 27. Thanks for subscrip-

tions from Cambridge

To Mrs. King. March 2. Excuses. Homer. Cambridge
subscription owing to his cousin Johnson

To Joseph Hill, Esq. March 6. Homer soon to be pub-
lished

To the Rev. James Hurdis. March 6. Praising his Village
Curate. Declining an invitation, and giving one
To Joseph Hill, Esq. March 10. French and English
prints on the same subject from the Iliad, exemplifying
the difference between his translation and Pope's

To Clotworthy Rowley, Esq.

voted to his correspondents.

contested election

March 14. Mondays de-

Mr. Rowley engaged in a

To the Rev. Walter Bagot. March 18. Dr. Johnson's
taste for poetry. An expression of religious hope
To John Johnson, Esq. March 19. Elizabeth Bentley.
Uneducated poets. Mrs. Leapor.

To Samuel Rose, Esq. March 24. Glad that Rose has
to plead business as his apology for silence

To Lady Hesketh. March 25. Horace Walpole. Alarm

1

2

9

11

12

Page

13

from a drunken party in the night. Remarks on a reli-
gious book

To Mrs. Throckmorton. April 1. Epigram on the ill suc-

cess of his subscription at Oxford. Mr. Throckmorton's

pamphlet

To John Johnson, Esq. April 6. Cambridge. Pressing
him not to delay his visit
To Samuel Rose, Esq. April 29. Oxford.
gress of the printers

15

17

Slow pro-

18

To the Rev. Walter Bagot. May 2. A Monday letter.

Cowper a physiognomist, but not by rule. Milton's Latin

poems

To the Rev. Mr. Buchanan. May 11. Promising to un-

dertake a poem on the Four Ages, upon Mr. Buchanan's

suggestion and design

To Lady Hesketh. May 18. Cowper's apparent prefer- ́

ence of his first volume to his second

To John Johnson, Esq. May 23. Reasons for having

kept secret his translation of the Battle of the Frogs and

Mice. A cold May

To Mrs. King. May 26. Uneasy at her long silence.

His release from the press at hand. Her promised visit

not prudently to be delayed

To Lady Hesketh. May 27. No just reason why the

printer should be hanged for his delay. Cowper a con-

tented subject, who did not choose to be made otherwise

by reading the Rights of Man

To John Johnson, Esq. June 1.

To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. June 13. Homer to be pub

lished at the worst season.

23

25

26

Page

To Dr. James Cogswell. June 15. Thanks for a present
of books from New York, others sent in acknowledge-

ment.

To Lady Hesketh. June 23. Account of his guests from
Norfolk, and their intention of taking a house near him.
The Four Ages

To the same.

June 26. Money-matters. Mr. Johnson.

Improvements at Weston. Instance of his own skill in

physiognomy

To the same. June 28. Anxiety concerning Mrs. Un-

win's health. Mr. and Mrs. Bodham expected

To Mrs. Bodham. July 7. A letter forgotten. Apolo-

gies needless. Her goodness in consenting to the pro-

posed settlement of her nephew at Weston

To Lady Hesketh. July 11. Bargain with Mr. Johnson

for his Homer. French politics. His cousin's intention

of settling at Weston frustrated

To the Rev. William Bull. July 27. Birmingham riots.

A wager to be determined in the next world ..

To the Rev. Walter Bagot. Aug. 2. Visit from Lady

Bagot

45

46

To Mrs. King. Aug. 4. Cowper of a house more than

commonly subject to melancholy. Invitation repeated. 48

To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. Aug. 9. His study exposed to

visitors. A subject for a poem properly rejected. Thanks

for comparing his translation with Pope's, and with the

original.

49

To John Johnson, Esq. Aug. 9. Good reports of his
translation. Other work proposed to him

To Lady Hesketh. Aug. 30. Arrangements for her coming.

Success of his Homer. Correspondence concerning it

with Thurlow

52

52

To Samuel Rose, Esq. Sept. 14. Expected revisal of

Homer. Engaged to edite Milton

55

To the Rev. Walter Bagot. Sept. 21. Homer. Question
concerning an allusion in one of Milton's Latin Poems

To Mrs. King. Oct. 21. Women better than men in all

the most important points

Page

56

58

Reproach for not

Milton

To Clotworthy Rowley, Esq. Oct. 22.

visiting him. Mention of an old friend.

To the Rev. Walter Bagot. Oct. 25. Pleasures received

from his visit. Poem by Lord Bagot

Miscellaneous

To John Johnson, Esq. Oct. 31.

To Joseph Hill, Esq. Nov. 14.

Translation of Milton's' Latin poem

Compound epithets.

To the Rev. Walter Bagot. Dec. 5. Remarks on Homer

To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. Dec. 10. His task with Milton

Offer of Hurdis to be his advocate

an agreeable one.

72

To the Rev. John Newton. Jan. 1. Mrs. Unwin's illness 70
To Mrs. King. Jan. 26. On the same subject. A suf
fering courage more meritorious than an active one
To the Rev. Walter Bagot. Feb. 14. A line in Homer
accidentally omitted. Limits of a Commentator's pro-
vince. Correspondence with Thurlow . .

To Lord Thurlow.

Wondering at his preference

73

of rhyme, and replying to some strictures on the Homer 75

Lord Thurlow to William Cowper, Esq.

On the

knowledging that Homer may be better translated in

blank verse than in rhyme

82

Page

To Lord Thurlow.

84

86

Closing the correspondence. 83

To the Rev. John Newton. Feb. 20. Amended copy of

his lines for Miss Patty More's album. Speculations

on the settlements at Botany Bay and Sierra Leone

To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. Feb. 21. Thanks for his stric-

tures on the Homer. Plan of the commentary on Milton

not yet settled

To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. March 2. Strictures alluded

to. Proposed dedication of Hurdis's Sir Thomas More

accepted. The Throckmortons about to remove from

Weston

To the Rev. John Newton. March 4. Altered copy of
the album verses. Mr. Courtenay, Sir John Throck-
morton's brother, about to reside at the Hall. Reflec-

tions on the changes of life

To Mrs. King. March 8. Her imprudence blamed, in

going to church on Christmas Day, before she was well

recovered from a sharp fit of rheumatism. Verses on

the theft of a pen from the Prince of Wales's inkstand

To John Johnson, Esq. March 11. A nightingale heard

on New-year's Day. Lady Hesketh gone. Mr. Rose

expected

To the Rev. John Newton. March 18. He and Mrs. Un-

win contented with their dual state, though happy when

those whom they love were with them. Character of

an old servant. Political remarks

To the Rev. Mr. Hurdis. March 23. On his tragedy of

Sir Thomas More, and his Cursory Remarks

To Lady Hesketh. March 25. Commencement of his

intercourse with Hayley. Letter from Mr. Park

To Samuel Rose, Esq. March 30. Favourable opinion
of Mr. Park's poetry.

To the same. April 5. Sense of obligations. A secret

enemy suspected .

87

89