he said, "for the poor natives of those distant countries that our national expenses cannot be supplied by cargoes of yams and bananas. Curiosity, therefore, being once satisfied, they may possibly be permitted for the future to enjoy their riches of this kind in peace31" But he asked his friend, if he could procure them, to send him at his leisure, Baker on the Microscope, and Vincent Bourne's Poems.

So little had Cowper as yet recovered his inclination for letter-writing, that he to whom every trifling circumstance afterwards afforded subject for graceful narrative, seems at this time not to have mentioned to his then only correspondent a fire which, if the wind, which when it broke out was northerly, right up the street, had not changed, seemed as if it must have destroyed almost half the town. Seven or eight houses were presently in flames; the wind then directed the fire backward to a few out-buildings, and thus providentially averted the destruction that was looked for, almost all the houses being thatched, and the season uncommonly dry. This event, in its incidental consequences, produced an effect upon Mr. Newton which in no slight degree influenced his subsequent life and thereby influenced Cowper's. That part of the loss which had not been covered by insurance was estimated at 4507. and this fell wholly upon the poor, or upon those who were reduced by it to the poverty against which they had been struggling. It is to the credit of the neighbourhood that 2301. was immediately contributed toward their relief, at and about home. Lord Dartmouth sent 301. "The plan was to pay twelve shillings in the pound upon buildings, and sixteen upon goods, and to make up the full loss to the poorer sufferers." Mr. Newton, from those sources of private beneficence which were always opened upon his application, promised 607.; he obtained 2001. Such instances of benevolence," says Mr. Cecil 32, "with the constant assistance he afforded the poor by the help of Mr. Thornton, naturally led him to expect that he should have so much influence as to restrain gross licentiousness on particular occasions: but to use Sixteen at table; the ordinary came to nine shillings, but I suppose a guinea a piece would not have defrayed the expense. The town makes good the rest; they made a point of accommodating my lords and gentlemen very handsomely. All was very decent and sociable, but nothing remarkable occurred, and I was well pleased when it was over." 32 Life of Newton.

31 July 13, 1777.

his own expression, he had lived to bury the old crop, on which any dependence could be placed." "

Mr. Newton, dwelling in his next sermon upon the good Providence which in the midst of judgement had remembered mercy, told the people that he believed prayer had contributed more to stopping the fire than water. "I hope," said he to Mr. Thornton, 33, "it will not soon be forgotten by some: but alas, too many are hardened and daring; and were it not that there is a few of the Lord's people dispersed up and down the town, who sigh and mourn for the abominations that abound, I should expect the whole would soon be laid in ashes. The people of Sodom scorned Lot; but their safety wholly depended upon his residence among them. And so it probably was with Noah. But when Noah and Lot were gone, vengeance took place. The people of the world little think how much they owe their preservation to those whom they despise. Believers are indeed the salt of the places where they live. By their example and influence they give some check to the spreading corruption of morals, and by their prayers they prevail that wrath is not poured forth to the uttermost. This consideration encourages one to hope likewise on a national account. The Lord has a remnant in it, for the sake of which mercy shall be afforded, though apparently things seem ripening apace for destruction. When a nation is decaying, like an oak that casts its leaves, the Lord's people are like sap in the root, the life and substance which give hope that the tree may revive again3⁄4"

A few months before, he had compared Olney to Jeremiah's two baskets of figs; one basket of good figs, very good; the other of evil figs, very evil, that could not be eaten. "Wickedness," said he," is grown to a dreadful height; but the greater part of my serious people are precious humble souls, and well disposed to make a minister happy." He had now reason to know that the evil figs filled the far larger basket; for at the very time when he was exerting himself to the utmost in behalf of the sufferers by the fire, he had a most unexpected and mortifying proof of popular ingratitude and violence. The circumstances are related by him in a letter to Mr. Thornton. "When I met the committee for the fire, I recommended,

This

amongst other means of preventing fire in future, the discontinuance of a foolish custom, almost peculiar to this town, of illuminating their houses on the 5th of November, and likewise preventing bonfires and firing guns in the town. As most of the houses are thatched, I have been yearly apprehensive of mischief. There were about twenty-five persons present, as I thought, of all sorts and parties amongst us. My motion was approved of by every one, and I was desired to give notice of it at church, and I really understood it to be the general sense of the town. But when the day came, there was great opposition. Not only some of the worldly and wicked, but I am sorry to say, the Baptists in a body set themselves against it. Many put up candles who had not done so in former years; and some who had, doubled their number. gave encouragement to the sons of Belial, and when night came on there was much riot and confusion. A wild and lawless mob paraded the streets, breaking windows, and extorting money from one end of the town to the other. My house was expressly threatened. I committed it to the Lord, and seemed in my own mind determined to see what they would do. I still believe, that if they had come, and I had gone out to speak with them, might have had so much influence with some of them at least, as to have saved my windows. But upon a friend's bringing word, about ten in the evening, that forty or fifty of them, full of fury and liquor, were just coming to beset us, Mrs. Newton was so terrified, and her head so much affected, as it always is upon any alarm, that I was forced to send an embassy and beg peace. A soft mes

sage, and a shilling to the captain of the mob, secured his protection, and we slept in safety. Alas, 'tell it not in Gath! I am ashamed of the story, and have only mentioned it to you. We have some who sigh and mourn for the evils that abound amongst us, but for want of leading men and magistrates, things are come to such a pass, as is indeed a scandal to a place that has been so long favoured with the light of the Gospel. We dwell among lions and firebrands, with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongues a sharp sword. And yet, through mercy, the worst of them, taken singly and sober, seem disposed to show me some respect; but in a body, and when influenced with drink, they are terrible creatures."

37 Psalm lvii. 4.

When Mr. Newton related this occurrence to his biographer, Mr. Cecil, he added, that he believed he should never have left Olney while he lived, had not so incorrigible a spirit prevailed in a parish which he had so long laboured to reform3. He removed to London about two years afterwards, when Mr. Thornton presented him to the rectory of the united parishes of St. Mary Woolnoth and St. Mary Woolchurch-Haw.

Before his departure he published the 'Olney Hymns,' by which Cowper may be said to have been first introduced to the public as a poet. After stating in his preface that the design had been undertaken partly in the hope that it might form a memorial of a true friendship, Mr. Newton says, "with this pleasing hope I entered upon my part, which would have been smaller than it is, and the book would have appeared much sooner, and in a very different form, if the wise, though mysterious Providence of God had not seen fit to cross my wishes. We had not proceeded far upon our proposed plan, before my dear friend was prevented, by a long and affecting indisposition, from affording me any farther assistance. My grief and disappointment were great: I hung my harp upon the willows, and for some time thought myself determined to proceed no farther without him. Yet my mind was afterwards led to resume the service. My progress in it, amidst a variety of other engagements, has been slow; yet, in a course of years, the Hymns amounted to a considerable number; and my deference to the judgement and desires of others has at length overcome the reluctance I long felt to see them in print, while I had so few of my friend's hymns to insert in the collection. Though it is possible a good judge of composition might be able to distinguish those which are his, I have thought it proper to prevent a misapplication by subjoining the letter C to each of them."

The Olney Hymns, though they met with some opposition in a quarter where it was little expected, obtained a considerable sale. Mr. Thornton took a thousand copies for distribution; but Cowper's influence would never have extended beyond the sphere in which those hymns circulated, and would

38 Mr. Cecil says, "But I must remark here, that this is no extraordinary fact, nor at all unaccountable. The Gospel, we are informed, is not merely เ a savour of life unto life,' but also of death unto death.' Those whom it does not soften, it is often found to harden.”

have been little there, if he himself had continued under the influence of Mr. Newton. Mr. Newton would not have thought of encouraging him to exercise his genius in any thing but devotional poetry; and he found it impossible to engage him again in that, because of the unhappy form which his hallucination had assumed. One whose intentions are so purely benevolent, and whose zeal so sincere, can hardly be induced to suspect that peradventure he may have been mistaken in his way of doing good, and that, with the best motives, he may have produced an injurious effect. Yet such a suspicion seems to have been almost forced upon him, by what he observed at Olney; and nothing can be more ingenuous than the manner in which he unbosoms himself to his friend and benefactor, Mr. Thornton.

"A young woman in this town is disordered in mind, so far as to be, I think, a proper subject for Bethlehem or St. Luke's. Her family is in the lowest state of poverty. Her father is a wicked man; her mother, I hope, has some little sense of spiritual things; her aunt, who lives with them, is a very gracious woman, but very infirm, and I believe has not been more than ten times out of her house since I have been at Olney. They were in much distress before, but the girl's distraction has greatly heightened it; and as only the aunt belongs to this parish, I think, if I had not contributed something to their support, they must have nearly been starved. The mother has been with me this morning; they have been under this affliction several months, and the girl grows worse. They can get no rest at night, nor manage her by day, though she takes up their whole time. I should be very glad if she could be got into one of the hospitals, and therefore thought I would take the liberty of mentioning it to you. I hope the poor girl is not without some concern about her soul; and, indeed, I believe a concern of this kind was the beginning of her disorder. I believe my name is up about the country for preaching people mad; for whether it is owing to the sedentary life the women live here, poring over their pillows for ten or twelve hours every day, and breathing confined air in their crowded little rooms, or whatever may be the immediate cause, I suppose we have near a dozen, in different degrees disordered in their heads, and most of them I believe truly gracious people. This has been no small trial to me, and I have felt sometimes as I