66

Mrs. Throckmorton solicited it when Lady Hesketh was gone, and she was his "lady of the ink-bottle for the rest of the winter." Mr. George Throckmorton, when he was visiting his brother, was then the most active amanuensis; and when the family were absent the chaplain offered his service. Such assistance was needed, both as it saved his time, and spared his sight; for though he had once said, one might almost suppose that reading Homer were the best ophthalmic in the world," the inflammation of the eyes, to which he had always been occasionally subject, compelled him sometimes to refrain from using them. But when this disease was removed, he was so busy a man, "that could I write," said he, "with both hands, and with both at the same time, verse with one, and prose with the other, I should not even so be able to despatch both my poetry and my arrears of correspondence faster than I have need. The only opportunities that I can find for conversing with distant friends, are in the early hour (and that sometimes reduced to half a one) before breakfast 42,"

In the winter of 1787 Mrs. Unwin providentially escaped death, and such a death as must have given Cowper a shock which would probably have completely overthrown his intellect. "This morning," he writes to Lady Hesketh, "had very near been a tragical one to me, beyond all that have ever risen upon me. Mrs. Unwin rose as usual at seven o'clock. At eight she came to me and showed me her bed-gown, with a great piece burnt out of it. Having lighted her fire, which she always lights herself, she placed the 42 To Mr. Newton, June 5, 1788.

candle upon the hearth. In a few moments it occurred to her, that if it continued there it might possibly set fire to her clothes, therefore she put it out. But in fact, though she had not the least suspicion of it, her clothes were on fire at that very time. She found herself uncommonly annoyed by smoke, such as brought the water into her eyes. Supposing that some of the billets might be too forward, she disposed them differently; but finding the smoke increase, and grow more troublesome, (for by this time the room was filled with it,) she cast her eye downward, and perceived not only her bed-gown, but her petticoat on fire. She had the presence of mind to gather them in her hand, and plunge them immediately into the basin, by which means the general conflagration of her person, which must probably have ensued in a few moments, was effectually prevented. Thus was that which I have often heard from the pulpit, and have often had occasion myself to observe, most clearly illustrated; that secure as we may sometimes seem to ourselves, we are in reality never so safe as to have no need of a superintending Providence. Danger can never be at a distance from creatures who dwell in houses of clay. Therefore take care of thyself, gentle Yahoo! and may a more vigilant than thou care for thee 43 !' "

Farther particulars of this providential escape were mentioned in his relation of it to Mr. Newton,.. that Mrs. Unwin was kneeling, and had addressed herself to her devotions, when the thought struck her that the candle being short there might be some danger. The hole burnt in her clothes was as large as the sheet of 43 Dec. 24, 1787.

paper on which he was writing. "It is not," said he, "possible, perhaps, that so tragical a death should overtake a person actually engaged in prayer; for her escape seems almost a miracle. Her presence of mind by which she was enabled, without calling for help, or waiting for it, to gather up her clothes, and plunge them, burning as they were, in water, seems as wonderful a part of the occurrence as any. The very report of fire, though distant, has rendered hundreds torpid and incapable of self-succour; how much more was such a disability to be expected, when the fire had not seized a neighbour's house, nor begun its devastations in our own, but was actually consuming the apparel that she wore, and seemed in possession of her person. Thus," he said, " Providence had interposed to preserve him from the heaviest affliction that he could now suffer." And asking, in a subsequent letter, what would become of him in case he were to lose her, he added, "I have one comfort, and only one: bereft of that, I should have nothing left to lean on; for my spiritual props have long since been struck from under

This was said in one of those darker moods which seem to have come over him when he wrote to Mr. Newton, and to have made the act of writing to him an irksome duty, which he was always willing to put off. In one of his letters he says, "Mrs. Newton and you are both kind and just in believing that I do not love you less when I am long silent. Perhaps a friend of mine, who wishes me to have him always in my thoughts, is never so effectually possessed of the 44 To Mr. Newton, Oct. 15, 1791.

accomplishment of that wish, as when I have been long his debtor; for then I think of him not only every day, but day and night, and all day long. But I confess at the same time, that my thoughts of you will be more pleasant to myself when I shall have exonerated my conscience by giving you the letter so long your due. Therefore, here it comes;-little worth your having; but payment, such as it is, that you have a right to expect, and that is essential to my own tranquillity."

That Cowper and Mr. Newton had a true regard for each other is certain, ..a regard heightened on the one side by a feeling of gratitude, and on the other by that of commiseration. While their intercourse was colloquial there was a warmth of affection in this regard, for Mr. Newton was a man of lively and vigorous intellect, with whom Cowper could converse upon those equal terms by which conversation is rendered easy and delightful. But the next door neighbour and familiar friend was not like the same person as the spiritual director who from a distance watched jealously over the conduct of his friend, and administered exhortation or reproof as he thought meet. It has been seen that his interference was sometimes both unwarrantable and unwise. But if his letters in their general complexion were like those which he addressed to other persons, and which are printed among his works, they were not such as Cowper could have had any pleasure in receiving, .. not such as he requested his friend Unwin to write, .. for Mr. Newton sermonized in his epistles. There is nothing epistolary about them except the beginning and the end.

On Cowper's part, therefore, the correspondence ceased to be pleasurable when time lessened the old feeling of familiarity; and at length so often as he performed it as a duty the cloud came over him. A Romanist who has any great sin to confess, or rummages his conscience for small ones to make up a passable account, enters the confessional with the satisfaction of knowing that at greater or less price of penance he shall obtain a discharge in full. But even to the legitimate influence which Mr. Newton might have exercised, Cowper turned a deaf ear. He had been encouraged to believe that there was nothing illusive in the raptures of his first recovery; and they who had confirmed him in that belief argued in vain against his illusions now when they were of an opposite character: .. such are the perilous consequences of religious enthusiasm. These dark imaginations however were far from having entire possession of him at this time. He was happy in his employment, in his change of abode, in the society of his excellent neighbours at Weston Hall, in the renewed intercourse with his relations, in the growth of his reputation, and the consciousness of the consideration which it had given him in their eyes and with the public, above all in the expectation of Lady Hesketh's annual return. That pleasure was postponed in consequence of her father's gradual decline; a circumstance alluded to in the following poem, which is here printed from the original 45, as sent to Lady Hesketh.

45 The copy from which it was published after his death had been greatly altered.