It is now incumbent on me to relate the confequences of a vifit, fo fondly expected by the Poet, and happily productive of a change in his local fituation. It does not always happen, when the heart and fancy have indulged themfelves, with fuch fervency, in a profpect of delight, from the renewed fociety of a long abfent friend, it does not always happen, that the pleasure, on its arrival, proves exactly what it promised to be on its approach. But in the prefent cafe, to the honour of the two friends concerned, the delightful vision was followed by a reality of delight. Cowper was truly happy in receiving, and fettling his beloved, though long unfeen, relation, as his neighbour; fhe was comfortably lodged in the Vicarage of Olney, a manfion fo near to his refidence, and fo commodious from the private communication between their two houses, that the long feparated, and most seasonably re-united friends, here enjoyed all the easy intercourfe of a domestic union. Cowper derived from this fortunate event not only the advantage of daily converfation with another cultivated mind, in affectionate unifon with his own, but, as his new neighbour had brought her carriage and horfes to Olney, he was gradually tempted to furvey, in a wider range, the face of a country, that he loved, and to mix a little more with its moft worthy inhabitants. His life had been fo retired at Olney, that he had not even extended his excurfions to the neighbouring town of Newport-Pagnell, in the courfe of many years; but the convenience of a carriage induced him, in Auguft, to visit Mr. Bull, who refided there-the friend to whofe affiduous attention he had felt himself much obliged in a season of mental depreffion. A few letters of Cowper to this gentleman are fo expreffive of cordial esteem, and so agreeably illuftrate the character of each, that I fhall take this opportunity of making a fhort felection from the private papers, of which the kindness of the perfon, te whom they are addreffed, has enabled me to avail myfelf. When Cowper published the first volume of his poems, Mr. Bull wrote to him on the occafion: The anfwer of the Poet, March 24, 1782, I referve for a future part of my work. A fubfequent letter, dated October 27th, in the fame year, opens with this lively paragraph: "Mon amiable and très cher Ami, "It is not in the power of chaifes or chariots, to carry you, where my affections will not follow you; if I heard, that you were gone to finish your days in the Moon, I fhould not love you the lefs; but fhould contemplate the place of your abode, as often as it appeared in the heavens, and fay, Farewel, my friend, forever! Loft, but not forgotten! Live happy in thy lantern, and fmoke the remainder of thy pipes in peace! Thou art rid of earth, at least of all its cares, and fo far can I rejoice in thy removal; and as to the cares, that are to be found in the Moon, I am refolved to fuppofe them lighter than those below-heavier they can hardly be.” The letter clofes with a fentence that afcertains the date of thofe tranflations from the poetry of Madame Guion, which I have already mentioned, as executed at the request of Mr. Bull. "Madame Guion is finished, but not quite transcribed." In a fubfequent letter he fpeaks of these, and of other poems. I transcribe the paffage, and a preceding paragraph, in which he expatiates on thunder ftorms with the feelings of a Poet, and with his ufual felicity of expreffion." I was always an admirer of thunder ftorms, even before I knew whofe voice I heard in them; but especially an admirer of thunder rolling over the great waters. There is fomething fingularly majestic in the found of it at fea, where the eye and the ear have uninterrupted opportunity of obfervation, and the concavity above being made spacious, reflects it with more advantage. I have confequently envied you your fituation, and the enjoyment of thofe refreshing breezes, that belong to it. We have indeed been regaled with fome of these bursts of etherial mufic. The peals have been as loud by the report of a gentleman, who lived many years in the Weft-Indies, as were ever heard in those islands, and the flashes as fplendid; but when the thunder preaches, an horizon bounded by the ocean is the only founding board." "I have had but little leifure, ftrange as it may feem, and that little I devoted for a month after your departure, to Madame Guion. I have made fair copies of all the pieces I have produced on this laft occafion, and will put them into your hands, when we meet. They are yours, to serve you as you please; you may take and leave as you like, for my purpose is already served; they have amufed me, and I have no further demand upon them: The lines upon Friendship, however, which were not fufficiently of a piece with the others, will not now be wanted. I have fome other little things, which I will communicate, when time shall serve; but I cannot now transcribe them." What the Author here modeftly calls "the lines on Friendship," I regard as one of the moft admirable among his minor poems. Mr. Bull, who has been induced to print the translations from Madame Guion, by an apprehenfion of their being furreptitiously and inaccurately published, has inserted thefe ftanzas on Friendship, in the little volume that he has recently imparted to the public, from the prefs of Newport-Pagnell; but as the Poem is fingularly beautiful, and feems to have been re-touched by its Author, with an attention propor tioned to its merit, I fhall introduce it here in a corrected state, and notice such variations as I find in the two copies before me. ON FRIENDSHIP. Amicitia nifi inter bonos effe non poteft. CICERO 1. WHAT virtue can we name, or grace, And dulness of discretion. III. Some will pronounce me too fevere, IV. Youth, unadmonish'd by a guide, For who, but learns, with riper years, V. But here again a danger lies; And taking trash for treasure, A mere Utopian pleasure. IV. V. III. VARIATIONS. -No knave, but boldly will pretend A real and a found one; And dream, that he has found one, 1. Candid, and generous, and just, 2. Boys care but little, whom they trust: -2. Left, having mifemploy'd our eyes, 5. Friendship a false ideal good. |