The Life and Letters of William Cowper, Esq: With Remarks on Epistolary Writers, Volume 4J. Johnson and Company, 1812 - 430 pages |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 10
Page 59
... painful both to you and me ; and now that I seem to have reached a proper time for doing it , the multiplicity of my literary bu- siness will hardly afford me leisure . Both you and I have this comfort when deprived of those we love at ...
... painful both to you and me ; and now that I seem to have reached a proper time for doing it , the multiplicity of my literary bu- siness will hardly afford me leisure . Both you and I have this comfort when deprived of those we love at ...
Page 105
... charge , which she had so laudably sustained . The signs of such imbeci- lity were beginning to be painfully visible ; nor can nature present a spectacle more truly pi- tiable than 105 Declining health of Cowper and Mrs Unwin.
... charge , which she had so laudably sustained . The signs of such imbeci- lity were beginning to be painfully visible ; nor can nature present a spectacle more truly pi- tiable than 105 Declining health of Cowper and Mrs Unwin.
Page 106
... painfully anxious for the alarming state of my two friends , and I was so unfortunate as to add to their compli- cated troubles some degree of inquietude for my health . A slight attack of an epidemical fever had rather hastened than ...
... painfully anxious for the alarming state of my two friends , and I was so unfortunate as to add to their compli- cated troubles some degree of inquietude for my health . A slight attack of an epidemical fever had rather hastened than ...
Page 126
... painful duty . The two last of Cowper's letters to me , that breathe a spirit of mental activity , and cheerful friendship , were written in the close of the year 1793 , and in the beginning of the next . They rose from an incident ...
... painful duty . The two last of Cowper's letters to me , that breathe a spirit of mental activity , and cheerful friendship , were written in the close of the year 1793 , and in the beginning of the next . They rose from an incident ...
Page 136
... painful occasion to observe , in this affecting visit to my suffering friend , that he seemed to shrink , at times , from every hu- man creature , except from the gentle voice of my son . This exception I attributed partly to the ...
... painful occasion to observe , in this affecting visit to my suffering friend , that he seemed to shrink , at times , from every hu- man creature , except from the gentle voice of my son . This exception I attributed partly to the ...
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Adieu admirable affectionate affliction appear bard blank verse brother charm cheerful choly Cowper dearest delight Dereham distress Eartham endeavour ev'ry excellence expressed eyes favorite feel friendship genius ginal give grace Greek hand happy haste heart Heaven Homer honor hope Hurdis Iliad infirmities JOHN JOHNSON John Throckmorton Johnny Johnson justly kind labour LADY HESKETH literary live Lord Thurlow Mary melan melancholy Milton mind morning nature never nihil North Tuddenham obliged occasion Odyssey once perhaps pleasure poem poet poetical poetry Pope powers praise present quæ quam quod racter reader reason received rejoice Romney Rose seems sight soon sorrow spirit suffer talents tell tender thee thine thing thou tibi tion translation truth Unwin verse vex'd W. C. LETTER W. C. Weston Whig WILLIAM COWPER WILLIAM HAYLEY wish write youth
Popular passages
Page 146 - Twas my distress that brought thee low, My Mary ! Thy needles, once a shining store, For my sake restless heretofore, Now rust disused, and shine no more ; My Mary...
Page 146 - Thy silver locks, once auburn bright, Are still more lovely in my sight Than golden beams of orient light, My Mary! For could I view nor them nor thee, What sight worth seeing could I see ? The sun would rise in vain for me, My Mary! Partakers of thy sad decline, Thy hands their little force resign; Yet gently prest, press gently mine, My Mary!
Page 230 - The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown ; No traveller ever reach'd that blest abode, Who found not thorns and briers in his road.
Page 425 - As in Dodona once thy kindred trees Oracular, I would not curious ask The future, best unknown, but at thy mouth Inquisitive, the less ambiguous past. By thee I might correct, erroneous oft, The clock of history, facts and events Timing more punctual, unrecorded facts Recovering, and misstated setting right...
Page 147 - But ah! by constant heed I know How oft the sadness that I show Transforms thy smiles to looks of woe, My Mary! And should my future lot be cast With much resemblance of the past, Thy worn-out heart will break at last — My Mary!
Page 230 - But he, who knew what human hearts would prove, How slow to learn the dictates of his love, That, hard by nature and of stubborn will, A life of ease would make them harder still, In pity to the souls his grace design'd To rescue from the ruins of mankind, Call'd for a cloud to darken all their years, And said, " Go, spend them in the vale of tears.
Page 168 - Adieu!" At length, his transient respite past, His comrades, who before Had heard his voice in every blast, Could catch the sound no more: For then, by toil subdued, he drank The stifling wave, and then he sank. No poet wept him: but the page Of narrative sincere...
Page 413 - In regions mild of calm and serene air, Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care.
Page 425 - Time made thee what thou wast, king of the woods ; And time hath made thee what thou art — a cave For owls to roost in.
Page 427 - Time was, when, settling on thy leaf, a fly Could shake thee to the root — and time has been When tempests could not.