the pen of Hayley. The poet, as we may see from the following lines from the end of "The Task," had once hoped that he might be buried in Olney or his beloved Weston : "So glide my life away! and so at last, Beneath the turf that I have often trod." 66 Cowper," says Hayley, was of a middle stature, rather strong than delicate in the form of his limbs; the colour of his hair was of a light brown, that of his eyes a bluish gray, and his complexion was ruddy." According to persons in Olney who remembered him, he always walked with his head slightly bowed, as if in thought, but was by no means sorrowful-looking. He was unobtrusive and retiring, and to avoid persons chancing to come towards him in his walks would go out of his way, turn down a lane, for instance, or cross a field. Among the relics of Cowper still preserved are:-His flytable and silver stock-buckle, in the possession of Mrs. Welton of Olney; his profile (see p. 10) and a chair (Mr. Hollingstead, Olney); his Bible and one of his muslin caps (Rev. J. Barham Johnson, Norwich); his shoe-buckles and coffee-pot (Mrs. Higgins, Turvey Abbey); his watch, and the desk given to him by Theodora (Canon W. Cowper Johnson, Northwold, Norfolk); the MS. of "Yardley Oak" (Mr. W. H. Collingridge, of the City Press, London); and his snuff-box, with picture of Peasant's Nest and hares on the lid (C. A. Godfrey, Esq., 41 Devonshire Place, Portland Place, W.). PRINCIPAL WORKS OF COWPer. POEMS. 1. Early poems (published posthumously). 2. The Olney Hymns (the sixty-eight by Cowper were distinguished by a C), 1779. 3. His first volume of poems, 1782. 4. His second volume of poems, which contained "The Task," &c., 1785. 5. About sixteen short poems added in subsequent editions. 6. Posthumous poems of middle and later life. 7. Translations from Madame de la Mothe Guyon (published in 1801); Milton (published in 1808); Vincent Bourne ; the Latin Classics; and the Latin of Owen. Translations of Greek and English verses. 8. Translation of Homer.* [PROSE WRITINGS. I. His Letters. Some were published by Hayley in 1803; others by Cowper's kinsman, John Johnson, in 1814. Grimshawe's Cowper was published in February 1835, Southey's in October 1835. As soon as the copyright in the Private Correspondence ceased, which Southey was debarred from printing, it was placed at the end of his edition as a supplement. 2. Memoir of the Early Life of William Cowper. A painful narrative, written at Huntingdon when he was in a state of despondency, meant only for the private reading of his friends. It was not published till 1816. 3. Adelphi. A sketch of the life and character of his brother John. Not published until 1816. 4. He also contributed a few papers to the second volume of The Connoisseur, a weekly periodical, published in 1756. VII. THE REV. JOHN NEWTON.1 So valuable are some of Newton's hymns, from their deep knowledge of the human heart, their experience of our wants, and their application to our need, that probably no hymns have ever been written which have given greater help to depressed and anxious minds."-J. C. COLQUHOUN, W. Wilberforce: His Friends and Times. "In speaking of his characteristics as a letter-writer,2 we have to notice mainly his intense earnestness. . . . They are often affectionate addresses, rather than vivid, various, and life-reflecting letters. But he could be witty and graphic. Many of his letters to Mr. Bull ('My dear Taureau') abound in playfulness, while his letters to Dr. Haweis are as graphic as anything in Scott."-C. MITCHELL CHARLES. I. THE FIRST THIRTY-NINE YEARS (1725-1764). JOHN NEWTON was born in London on the 24th of July 1725. His father, a stern and severe, but at the same time a sensible and moral man, was captain of a ship in the Mediterranean trade. Like Cowper, Newton at a very early age lost his mother (he was only seven when she died), a kind and affectionate woman, who made it the chief business of her life to instruct him, stored his memory with Bible truths, and "often commended him with prayers and tears to God." Abandoned as he became in early manhood, he never entirely forgot the lessons she had striven to inculcate, and, indeed, "afterwards considered his own case as affording much encouragement to parents to be diligent and persevering in the religious instruction of their children." From his eighth to his tenth year he was at a boarding school at Stratford, in Essex, where he was severely and improperly treated, but whilst there made considerable progress in Latin. 1 Founded on Newton's Narrative, his Life by the Rev. R. Cecil, and the Writings of Rev. Josiah Bull, M.A. 2 Extracts from several of Newton's letters are given in The Second Earl of Dartmouth." When in his twelfth year he was taken to sea, and continued to make voyages with his father until 1742. In the December of this year his father, not intending to go to sea again, was desirous of settling his son, and at length it was arranged that he should go out to Jamaica with a Liverpool merchant. In the meantime, being sent on business into Kent, Newton paid a visit to some relations of his mother, by whom he was very kindly treated, and upon making the acquaintance of their daughter, Mary Catlett, fell in love with her, almost at first sight. Speaking afterwards of this occurrence, Newton says, "I was impressed with an affection for her which never abated or lost its influence over me. None of the scenes of misery and wretchedness I afterwards experienced ever banished her for an hour together from my waking thoughts for the seven following years." Feeling that it would be intolerable to live. at such a distance from her as Jamaica, and that for four or five years, he determined not to go thither, and stayed in Kent three weeks, instead of three days, in the hope (which was realised) that the ship would sail without him. His father was greatly displeased; but as there was no help for it, the Jamaica scheme was given up, and Newton made a voyage to Venice. Soon after his return (1743), owing partly to his own imprudence, he had the ill-luck to be impressed, and sent on board the Harwich man-of-war. But his father, though unable to obtain his release, was fortunate enough to procure a recommendation to the captain, who took him on the quarter-deck as a midshipman. Thus a second time Newton had a capital chance of doing well; but by breaches of discipline and other imprudences he gradually lost all favour, and at length foolishly determined to desert the ship while she lay at Plymouth. He was discovered and brought back by a party of soldiers, put in irons, publicly whipped, and degraded to a level with the lowest sailor on board. The ship was bound for India, but at Madeira, at his own request, he was transferred to a ship bound for the Guinea coast. Here again he might have fared well, for he found that his new captain was a friend of his father; but we cannot wonder at his troubles, for he tells us that one reason why he rejoiced in the exchange of vessels was that he could then be as abandoned as he pleased without any control. When the ship was about to leave the coast he determined to remain in Africa; and, obtaining his discharge, was landed on one of the Plantanes, a group of islands near Sierra Leone, where he entered into the service of a slave-dealer. Being attacked by a severe fit of illness, he experienced the greatest cruelty from his master's wife, a black woman, who from the first had been strangely prejudiced against him. His bed was a mat, spread on a board; his pillow a log of wood. She lived in plenty herself, but hardly allowed the poor sufferer sufficient food to sustain life, and could scarcely be prevailed on to let him have a drop of water, though he was burning with fever. Even after his recovery Newton's sufferings were intense; often he had to go about half-starved and ill-clad, and was sometimes exposed for as many as thirty hours together to incessant rains. On this island he beguiled his wretchedness by studying a copy of Barrow's "Euclid," the only book that happened to have been brought on shore, making himself master of its contents by drawing his diagrams on the sand. "I remember," he says, "that on one of these memorable days to which I have referred I was busied in planting some limetrees. My master and mistress stopped to look at me. 'Who knows,' he said, 'but by the time these trees grow and bear, you may go home to England, obtain the command of a ship, and return to reap the fruit of your labours? We see strange things sometimes happen."" Curiously enough, what was intended as a sarcasm turned out to be a prediction. Newton did return, commander of a ship, to that very spot, and plucked some of the first limes from those very trees! While in this deplorable situation he wrote to his father, who at once instructed a captain of a vessel then about to sail from Liverpool to seek for and bring his son home. In the meantime, having found another and a better master, Newton had become reconciled to his situation; so when the captain, after great difficulty, found him, he was at first disinclined to go; then he thought of Mary Catlett, and "the hope of seeing her, and still greater hopes," caused him to consent to embark. |