He found it easy indeed to translate the Latin and Italian poems of his great master; but the labour of annotation was irksome to him. The attempt proved abortive: but out of it grew Cowper's acquaintance with Hayley. That amiable man and (in his own day) popular poet was himself engaged by another publisher, to superintend an edition of Milton. He wrote to Cowper to disclaim all idea of rivalry with him; and this graceful introduction of himself speedily led to a strong mutual regard and attachment.

The autumn of 1791 was the last season of hilarity for Cowper. Lady Hesketh was staying at the Lodge, and at Weston House was Miss Stapleton (the 'Catharina' of his song), soon to become Mrs. George Courtenay. But all gladness of heart fled when, in the month of December, Mrs. Unwin was seized with paralysis. It is true that the attack was a slight one, nor did it last long: and in May, 1792, Weston was enlivened by a visit from Hayley. He had not been there many days, when Mrs. Unwin was prostrated by another and more serious seizure of the same nature. From this also she rallied sufficiently to be able to accompany Cowper on the return-visit to Hayley, at Eartham, near Chichester. Here they remained six weeks, enjoying the society of their accomplished host, and of several of his literary friends, whom he invited to meet the hero of his worship. They returned to Weston in September, and from that time Mrs. Unwin declined rapidly into a state of second childishness. Now it was, that Cowper began to repay in kind the affectionate tendance which he had so constantly received at her hands. He watched over her with the tenderness of a woman; he laid himself out to indulge her every whim, and to anticipate all her real needs; he was the only person of those about her, who made no complaints of the querulous and exacting temper of the poor invalid.

The anxiety and fatigue arising from such close attendance on Mrs. Unwin soon began to tell upon the sympathetic nature of Cowper himself; and he sank into that pitiable

condition of mind, from which it was ordained that he should never fully emerge. There were times indeed when the cloud lifted, and he was able to enjoy communion with friends, and to throw off occasional verses during his lucid intervals. He received visits in the course of 1793 from Lady Hesketh, J. Johnson, Rose, and Lawrence (who took his portrait); and in the autumn of the same year he wrote those affecting stanzas 'To Mary,' of which Hayley says, 'I question if any language on earth can exhibit a specimen of verse more exquisitely tender.' Yet all this while he was sinking into lower and lower depths. There was a new element of superstition in his delusions, too humiliating to be dwelt on. At length came the tardy recognition of his literary claims, in the form of a pension from the Crown of £300 a year (July 5, 1794); but Cowper was too far gone to appreciate it, or even to be sensible of the fact.

At this juncture Dr. Willis, the physician who had been of so much service to King George III, was consulted on behalf of the sufferer. Change of scene was all that could be prescribed. Cowper's affectionate kinsman Johnson accordingly conveyed him, with his now helpless fellow-sufferer Mrs. Unwin, into Norfolk, in July, 1795-first to North Tuddenham; then to Mundesley, on the coast, near Cromer; next to Dunham Lodge, near Swaffham; then, in the summer of 1796, to Mundesley again; and finally, in October of that year, to East Dereham. Here the Angel of Death brought to Mary Unwin ‘a kind release from her imperfect state.' She died December 17, 1796, at the age of seventytwo. It may be doubted whether Cowper was in a condition to realise the fact of this separation: in a y case he never mentioned her name again. At various intervals, he was enabled to apply himself to the revision of his Homer, and took pleasure in hearing his own poems and other books read to him. But for the most part, the cloud lay dark and chill upon his spirit. His last original piece was written on December 20, 1799. He called it 'The Castaway.' There is in it nothing to horrify the reader, as the title might

suggest; but much to engender sacred pity.' It is not the appalling shriek of the tortured soul, still struggling fiercely with the powers of darkness; it is rather the plaintive wail of one who has from sheer exhaustion given up the contest, and resigned himself to an uncontrollable destiny.

At length, through God's great mercy, the physical health which had continued unimpaired throughout the mental conflict, gave signs of failure. In February, 1800, dropsy appeared in the feet and ankles. A few weeks longer, and the poor shattered vessel, so long buffeted by tempestuous billows on the sea of life, drifted into the peaceful haven of rest. On the 25th of April, 1800, and in his sixty-ninth year, William Cowper died. And if strong men, pilgrims to the church of Dereham, have dropped tears of brotherly sympathy while standing before the tomb raised by the loving hands of Harriet Hesketh, in the Chapel of St. Edmund, have not the angels rejoiced?

Hayley's 'Life of Cowper' appeared first in 1803. In 1816 Cowper's own account of his early life was printed; and in 1823 his Private Correspondence' was published by John Johnson, LL.D. Southey's 'Life and Letters of Cowper' appeared in 1835-7, a few months after a similar collection by the Rev. T. S. Grimshaw. There are useful memoirs by John Bruce in the Aldine edition, 1863, and by Canon Benham in the Globe edition, 1870. The latest and fullest biography is by Mr. Thomas Wright, Principal of Cowper School, Olney (1892). Among the new matter presented by Mr. Wright are details of the strange influence exercised over Cowper in his later years by a poor schoolmaster named Samuel Teedon, who lived at Olney. Teedon, who considered himself to be an especial favourite of Heaven, had visions, and was always ready to interpret Cowper's dreams. The two men were in constant intercourse from 1791 to 1794, and though Teedon was undoubtedly genuine in his beliefs, he must have exercised a morbid influence over the poet. Mr.

Wright assigns great importance to a dream Cowper had in Feb. 1773, 'before the recollection of which,' the poet afterwards wrote, 'all consolation vanishes.... A soul once slain lives no more.' Another point now brought out is the undertaking by Cowper at different times of the charge of two children, a boy named Richard Coleman, and a girl named Hannah Willson, both of whom occasioned him much trouble. Other works which may be consulted are Mr. Leslie Stephen's article in the 'Dictionary of National Biography'; Mr. Goldwin Smith's volume in the English Men of Letters' series; Mrs. Oliphant's 'Literary History of England'; the Rev. Josiah Bull's Life of Newton' and articles in the 'Sunday at Home' for 1866; and Ste. Beuve's 'Causeries du Lundi,' vol. xi.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

1731. Cowper born at Great Berkhampstead, Herts, November 26.

1737. He loses his mother, February 13; and is then sent to school at Market Street.

1739. War declared against Spain, October 19.

1741. Retirement of Sir R. Walpole. Cowper enters Westminster School.

1743. Victory of Dettingen, June 16.

1744. War declared against France, March 31. Alex. Pope died, aet. 56, May 30.

1745. Battle of Fontenoy, April 30. The Young Pretender lands in Scotland, July 25; wins the battle.of Prestonpans, September 21.

1746. Charles Edward's Rebellion crushed by his defeat at Culloden, April 16.

1748. The War of the Austrian Succession ended by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, October 7. James Thomson died, aet. 48, August 27. Cowper is entered at the Middle Temple, April 29.

1751. Arcot taken from the French by Clive, August 31. 1753 or 1754. Cowper's first attack of despondency.

1754. Henry Fielding died, aet. 47, October. Cowper called to the Bar, June 14.

1756. War declared against France, May 18. Minorca taken from the English, June 28. Cowper loses his father, August 3.