Thou hast achiev'd a part; hast gain'd the ear Hope smiles, joy springs, and tho' cold caution pause And weave delay, the better hour is near, That shall remunerate thy toils severe By peace for Afric, fenc'd with British laws. Enjoy what thou hast won, esteem and love LETTER XX. To Lady HESKEth. MY DEAREST COZ. The Lodge, May 5, 1792. A January Storm. I rejoice, as thou reasonably supposest me to do, in the matrimonial news communicated in your last. Not that it was altogether news to me, for twice I had received broad hints of it from Lady Frog. by letter, and several times vivá voce while she was here. But she enjoined me secrecy as well as you, and you know that all secrets are safe with me; safer far than the winds in the bags of Æolus. I know not in fact the lady whom it would give me more pleasure to call Mrs. Courtenay, than the lady in question; partly because I know her, but especially because I know her to be all that I can wish in a neighbour. I have often observed, that there is a regular alternation of good and evil in the lot of men, so that à favourable incident may be considered as the harbinger of an unfavourable one, and vice versa. Dr. Madan's experience witnesses to the truth of this observation. One day he gets a broken head, and the next a mitre to heal it. I rejoice that he has met with so effectual a cure, though my joy is not unmingled with concern; for till now I had some hope of seeing him, but since I live in the North, and his episcopal call is in the West, that is a gratification, I suppose, which I must no longer look for. My Sonnet, which I sent you, was printed in the Northampton Paper last week, and this week it produced me a complimentary one in the same Paper, which served to convince me at least by the matter of it, that my own was not published without occasion, and that it had answered its purpose. My correspondence with Hayley proceeds briskly, and is very affectionate on both sides. I expect him here in about a fortnight, and wish heartily, with Mrs. Unwin, that you would give him a meeting. I have promised him, indeed, that he shall find us alone, but you are one of the family. I wish much to print the following Lines in one of the daily papers. Lord S's vindication of the poor culprit in the affair of Cheit-sing, has confirmed me in the belief that he has been inju riously riously treated, and I think it an act merely of justice to take a little notice of him. To WARREN HASTINGS, Esqr. By an old School-fellow of his, at Westminster. Hastings! I knew thee young, and of a mind If thou wilt take the pains to send them to thy news-monger, I hope thou wilt do well. Adieu. LETTER XXI. TO JOHN JOHNSON, Esqr. MY DEAREST OF ALL JOHNNYS, 'W.C. May 20, 1792. I am not sorry that your ordination is postponed. A year's learning and wisdom, added to your present stock, will not be more than enough to satisfy the demands of your function. Neither am I sorry that you find it difficult to fix your thoughts thoughts to the serious point at all times. It proves at least, that you attempt and wish to do it; and these are good symptoms. Woe to those who enter on the ministry of the Gospel without having previously asked, at least from God, a mind and spirit suited to their occupation, and whose experience never differs from itself; because they are always alike vain, light, and inconsiderate. It is, therefore, matter of great joy to me to hear you complain of levity, and such it is to Mrs. Unwin. She is, I thank God, tolerably well, and loves you. As to the time of your journey hither, the sooner after June the better; till then we shall have company. I forget not my debts to your dear Sister, and your Aunt Balls. Greet them both with a Brother's kiss, and place it to my account. I will write to them when Milton, and a thousand other engagements will give me leave. Mr. Hayley is here on a visit. We have formed a friendship that I trust will last for life, and render us an edifying example to all future Poets. Adieu, lose no time in coming after the time mentioned. W. C. The reader is informed by the close of the last Letter, that I was at this time the guest of Cowper. Our meeting, so singularly produced, was a source of reciprocal delight; we looked cheerfully VOL. II. G forward forward to the unclouded enjoyment of many social and literary hours. My host, though now in his sixty-first year, appeared as happily exempt from all the infirmities of advanced life, as friendship could wish him to be; and his more elderly companion, not materially oppressed by the age of seventy-two, discovered a benevolent alertness of character that seemed to promise a continuance of their domestic comfort. Their reception of me was kindness itself:-I was enchanted to find that the manners and conversation of Cowper resembled his Poetry, charming by unaffected elegance, and the graces of a benevolent spirit. I looked with affectionate veneration and pleasure on the Lady, who, having devoted her life and fortune to the service of this tender and sublime genius, in watching over him with maternal vigilance through many years of the darkest calamity, appeared to be now enjoying a reward justly due to the noblest exertions of friendship, in contemplating the health and the renown of the Poet, whom she had the happiness to preserve. It seemed hardly possible to survey human nature in a more touching, and a more satisfactory point of view. Their tender attention to each other, their simple devout gratitude for the mercies which they had experienced together, and their constant, but unaffected, propensity to impress on the mind and heart of a new friend the deep sense, which they incessantly felt, of their mutual obliga |