164 MINOR POEMS. some of the most sportive in the whole collection of his epistles are those addressed to this dear friend and to Mrs. Newton. And although his friendship with Mr. Unwin was formed some years the earliest, yet neither Mr. Unwin, nor any other friend on earth, ever knew so much of Cowper's spiritual conflicts and distresses as Newton, nor did ever any other being sympathize so deeply and intelligently with him, in the endurance of such tremendous gloom. And Newton's letters to Cowper must have been full of affectionate encouragement, instruction, and support, and because mainly occupied with the subject of religion, therefore the more acceptable, although Southey complains that Newton sermonized in his epistles, and that therefore"they were not such as Cowper could have had any pleasure in receiving." If the sermonizing was such as is contained in the "Cardiphonia," Cowper would have delighted in it, and beyond question was greatly benefited and comforted. But none of the letters which Cowper ever received from any of his correspondents could be compared with his own for the perfection of all the graces that combine to render them instructive and charming. No man that ever wrote English could write letters so beautifully as Cowper. One of his biographers has said, though along with much praise of the superior excellence of Cowper's letters above all others, that they are not dis MINOR POEMS. 165 tinguished for superiority of thought or diction;— a most unfortunate criticism, since they are distinguished for these very qualities, above all other epistolary collections in the language. The diction with its ornaments is as pure and sweet, as artless and simple, as natural and idiomatic as a field of fresh grass intermingled with strawberry blossoms or set with daisies, the most unassuming and yet the loveliest of flowers for such a combination. And the thought is often so profound, that if it were not for the charming simplicity and artlessness of the style and language, the mind would be arrested in admiration of its originality and power. The reader is absolutely deceived by that simplicity into the impression that such thought is as easy as the language; and, indeed, such a style both of thought and language marks the highest genius, and while it seems easy, is proved difficult by its very rareness in English literature. The study of Cowper's prose as well as his poetry would be one of the best disciplinary processes for the acquisition of a habit of ease and purity, and at the same time strength and point, in the use of the English tongue. TIREMENT," AND OTHER PIECES.-PUBLICATION OF HIS FIRST VOLUME.-SECRET OF ITS ATTRACTIVENESS OF THOUGHT AND IT was thus that by degrees, step after step, Cowper was led to the composition of the poem entitled "The Progress of Error," which he announced in a letter to Newton, with the following remarks, in the month of December: "At this season of the year, and in this gloomy uncomfortable climate, it is no easy matter for the owner of a mind like mine to divert it from sad subjects, and fix it upon such as may administer to its amusement. Poetry, above all things, is useful to me in this respect. While I am held in pursuit of pretty images, or a pretty way of expressing them, I forget every thing that is irksome, and, like a boy that plays truant, determine to avail myself of the present opportunity to be amused, and to put by the disagreeable recollection that I must, after all, go home and be whipped again." TABLE TALK. 167 In this way it was that he finished his "Table Talk," which in 1781 he sent to Mr. Newton, with a characteristic letter, in which he described his difficult dilemma between weeping and laughing, and said he was merry to decoy people into his company, and grave that they might be the better for it. But he was inclined to suspect that if his Muse were to go forth clad in Quaker color, without a bit of ribbon to enliven her appearance, she might walk from one end of London to the other, as little noticed as if she were one of the sisterhood indeed. A few days afterward he announced to Newton the poem of "Expostulation ;" and a week or two after that, asked his advice and help by way of a preface, in the publication of a volume. When he first made the collection of pieces of which it was composed, he had not the smallest expectation of publishing. He told his friend Hill that the volume was principally produced in the winter, when he could not be employed out of doors. "When I can find no other occupation," said he, "I think; and when I think, I am very apt to do it in rhyme. Hence it comes to pass that the season of the year which generally pinches off the flowers of poetry, unfolds mine, such as they are, and crowns me with a winter garland. In this respect, therefore, I and my cotemporary bards are by no means upon a par. They write when the delightful influences of fine 168 COWPER'S FIRST VOLUME. weather, fine prospects, and a brisk motion of the animal spirits make poetry almost the language of nature; and I, when icicles depend from all the leaves of the Parnassian laurel, and when a reasonable man would as little expect to succeed in verse as to hear a black-bird whistle." The volume, thus prepared, was published in 1782, when Cowper was fifty years of age. It was the first-fruits of his sorrows, his piety, his genius, of which his compositions among the "Olney Hymns," not then given to the public, had been the earnest and the promise. It consisted of eight separate poems, the first of which was "Table Talk," and the last "Retirement ;" all of a character so harmonious, and in the same meter, melody, and style, that the collection possessed a unity almost as perfect as "The Task" This admirable volume was the opening of a new and original vein in English poetical literature; but with all its excellences, though it found many admirers, was by no means immediately popular. The volume grew by delay of publication, no small portion of it having been composed and added while the first part was in the press. This was the case with the poems of "Hope," "Conversation," and the whole of the last piece, entitled "Retirement." The whole of the volume was "finished, polished, touched, and retouched, with the utmost care." This is Cowper's own declaration respecting |