the "fine passion-tree in a green tub" which the poet had so long destined" to her parlour chimney," and every morning when she opened her eyes they alighted "on Phaëton kneeling to Apollo, and imploring his father to grant him the conduct of his chariot "-the subject of the furniture of the "superb " bed which had been procured for her use by Maurice Smith.

As Lady Hesketh was furnished with a carriage and horses, it was no longer necessary for Cowper to take air and exercise on foot. He was able, even, to ride as far as Gayhurst and see his friends, the Wrightes; northwards he pressed as far as "Bozeat Turnpike," and more than once he visited his friend Bull at Newport Pagnell.

Writing to her sister Theodora about this time, Lady Hesketh gives a most pleasant picture of herself, the poet, and Mrs. Unwin, in one of the rooms which she occupied at the vicarage. "It proving a wet evening," she says, "we had no temptation to walk, but continued sitting comfortably round one diningtable without stirring till after supper. Our friend delights in a large table and a large chair; there are two of the latter comforts in my parlour. I am sorry to say that he and I always spread ourselves out in them, leaving poor Mrs. Unwin to find all the comfort she can in a small one, half as high again as ours, and considerably harder than marble. However, she protests it is what she likes, that she prefers a high chair to a low one, and a hard to a soft one; and I hope she is sincere; indeed, I am persuaded she is. Her constant employment is knitting stockings, which she does. with the finest needles I ever saw, and very nice they

are (the stockings I mean). Our cousin has not for many years worn any other than those of her manufacShe knits silk, cotton, and worsted. She sits knitting on one side of the table in her spectacles, and he on the other reading to her (when he is not employed in writing) in his. In winter, his morning studies are always carried on in a room by himself; but as his evenings are spent in the winter in transcribing, he usually, I find, does this vis-à-vis Mrs. Unwin." Lady Hesketh then goes on to speak of the summer-house-his boudoir. "This is in the garden; it has a door and a window; just holds a small table with a desk and two chairs; but though there are two chairs, and two persons might be contained therein, it would be with a degree of difficulty, for this cause-as I make a point of not disturbing a poet in his retreat, I go not there." Lady Hesketh's visit, in short, did Cowper a world of good. She was a cheerful, kindhearted, and sensible woman. She delighted in a bit of humour or a droll story as much as Cowper himself, and had the satisfaction of making him laugh very many times, "and particularly when she related Mr. Jekyll's story of the Gloucestershire attorneys whatever that may have been. In respect to his religious views, she naturally was convinced that it was impossible that a person of his innocence and purity of character should be singled out by the Almighty as an object of His especial aversion. She did not believe that he was in a state of sin beyond redemption, and she told him so. Her conversation, moreover, so far influenced him, that one day he recommenced the practice of saying grace at dinner.

124.

"The Unwarrantable Interference of Newton."

Now occurred what some writers have been pleased to style" the unwarrantable interference of Newton." The people of Olney were of old very much addicted to gossiping-a complaint which, strange as it may appear, was not confined to the softer sex. Cowper even puts it stronger, and says that he never knew a lie hatched at Olney that waited long for a bearer. The Olney people saw the erstwhile retiring Cowper step into the carriage of Lady Hesketh, they heard of him among the Throckmortons at Weston, they knew he was visited by the Wrightes, the Chesters, and other people of position and fashion; whereupon, with that insight which was so conspicuous a feature in their character, they arrived at the conclusion that the once guileless and gentle poet was a confirmed pleasureseeker, if not an out-and-out debauchee. Every time Lady Hesketh's carriage rolled away with him it took him to some scene of dissipation! And they not only thought so and said so in Olney, but one of them when visiting in London, took the trouble to pour the dreadful tidings into the ear of Newton, who, shocked at what he heard, then and there wrote a letter of remonstrance to his old friend-a letter which would not have been at all out of place had it been couched in more appropriate language. As it was it very much hurt the feelings both of Mrs. Unwin and Cowper, for they felt that it was extremely unkind of Mr. Newton not to have made proper inquiry. In reference to this

letter Cowper tells Unwin (September 24, 1786): "The purport of it is a direct accusation of me, and of her an accusation implied, that we have both deviated into forbidden paths, and lead a life unbecoming the Gospel," and further on the poet expresses his wonder that Newton should have listened to a tale-bearer with so much credulity. "If he had heard only the truth, or had believed no more than the truth, he would not, I think, have found either me censurable or your mother."

On September 30, 1786, Cowper wrote Newton a reply. After some strictures on the wagging tongues of Olney he observes: "We visit, indeed, at Mr. Throckmorton's, and at Gayhurst; rarely, however, at Gayhurst, on account of the greater distance : more frequently, though not very frequently, at Weston, both because it is nearer, and because our business in the house that is making ready for us often calls us that way. The rest of our journeys are to Bozeat turnpike and back again; or perhaps to the cabinet-maker's at Newport. As Othello says:

'The very head and front of my offending
Hath this extent, no more.'

What good we can get or can do in these visits is another question, which they, I am sure, are not at all qualified to solve. Of this we are both sure, that under the guidance of Providence we have formed these connections; that we should have hurt the Christian cause, rather than have served it, by a prudish abstinence from them; and that St. Paul himself, conducted to them as

f

we have been, would have found it expedient to have done as we have done."

Another report that the Olney people set rolling was that Cowper had turned Papist. As aforetime, however, the breach between the two friends did not long continue. All the facts of the case at length reached Newton's ears, and we may be sure that he was as rejoiced to learn that the report was untrue as he had before been grieved to hear it. The Evangelical Dr. Johnson, as Newton has been styled, was sometimes hasty and rough in his manner, but his intentions were always good, his heart was always warm. Cowper, on his part, only too readily forgave and forgot, and the "duetto" at Weston, and the "trio" in Colman's buildings, very soon found themselves on the same amicable terms as before.

125. Cowper Removes to Weston.

One evening in May Cowper had learnt that a commodious house at Weston belonging to the Throckmortons was empty, and he mentioned to Lady Hesketh what a capital abode it would make for her. “The environs are most beautiful, and the village itself one of the prettiest I ever saw. Add to this, you would step immediately into Mr. Throckmorton's pleasureground, where you would not soil your slipper even in winter."

When Lady Hesketh got to Olney she asked the poet how he would like to live in this charmingly situated house himself. The idea was an excellent one, for, besides being in a beautiful neighbourhood, he