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Our Mary must be able to walk alone, to cut her own food, and to feed herself, and to wear her own shoes, for at present she wears mine. All these things considered, my friend and brother, you will see the expediency of waiting a little before we set off to Eartham. We mean, indeed, before that day arrives, to make a trial of her strength; how far she may be able to bear the motion of a carriage, a motion that she has not felt these seven years. I grieve that we are thus circumstanced, and that we cannot gratify ourselves in a delightful and innocent project, without all these precautions; but when we have leaf-gold to handle, we must do it tenderly."

The day was at length fixed for this long intended journey; and the following letter to Mr. Hayley, written a day or two previously, describes Cowper's feelings respecting it :

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"You will wonder at the word desperate in the second line, and at the if in the third; but could you have any conception of the fears I have had to bustle with, of the dejection of spirits that I have suffered concerning this journey, you would wonder much that I still courageously persevere in my resolution to undertake it. Fortunately for my intention, it happens that as the day approaches my terrors abate; for had they continued to be what they were a week ago, I must, after all, have disappointed you; and was actually once, on the verge of doing it. I have told you something of my nocturnal experiences, and assure you now, that they were hardly ever more terrific than on this occasion. Prayer has, however, opened my passage at last, and obtained for

me a degree of confidence, that I trust will prove a comfortable viaticum to me all the way. The terrors that I have spoken of would appear ridiculous to most, but to you they will not, for you are a reasonable creature, and know well that to whatever cause it be owing (whether to constitution or to God's express appointment) I am hunted by spiritual hounds in the night season. I cannot help it. You will pity me, and wish it were otherwise; and though you may think there is much of the imaginary in it, will not deem it, for that reason, an evil less to be lamented. So much for fears and distresses. Soon I hope they will all have a joyful termination, and I and my Mary be skipping with delight at Eartham."

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The protracted indisposition of Mrs. Unwin, and the preparation which Cowper thought it necessary to make for his journey, had entirely diverted his mind from his literary undertaking. To Mr. Hayley, on this point, he thus writes: "I know not how you proceed in your Life of Milton, but I suppse not very rapidly, for while you were here, and since you left us, you have had no other theme but me. As for myself, except my letters and the nuptial song I sent you in my last, I have literally done nothing, since I saw you. Nothing, I mean, in the writing way, though a great deal in another; that is to say, in attending my poor Mary, and endeavouring to nurse her up for a journey to Eartham. In this I have hitherto succeeded tolerably well, and I had rather carry this point completely than be the most famous editor of Milton the world has ever seen, or shall see. As to this affair, I know not what will become of it. I wrote to Johnson a week since to tell him, that the interruption of Mrs. Unwin's illness still continuing, and being likely to continue, I knew not when I should be able to proceed. The translations I said were finished, except the revisal of a part. I hope, or rather

wish, that at Eartham I may recover that habit of study which, inveterate as it once seemed, I now seem to have lost lost to such a degree, that it is even painful for me to think of what it will cost me to acquire it again."

About this time, at the request of a much esteemed relative, Cowper sat to Abbot, the painter, for his portrait; and the following playful manner in which he adverts to the circumstance, exhibits the peculiarity of his case, and shews, that though he was almost invariably suffering under the influence of deep depression, he frequently wrote to his correspondents, in a strain the most sprightly and cheerful:- How do you imagine I have been occupied these last ten days? In sitting, not on cockatrice eggs, nor yet to gratify a mere idle humour, nor because I was too sick to move, but because my cousin Johnson has an aunt who has a longing desire of my picture, and because he would, therefore, bring a painter from London to draw it. For this purpose I have been sitting, as I say, these ten days; and am heartily glad that my sitting time is over. The likeness is so strong, that when my friends enter the room where the picture is, they start, astonished to see me where they know I am not.”

"Abbot is painting me so true,
That (trust me) you would stare
And hardly know, at the first view,
If I were here, or there."

Miserable man that you are, to be at Brighton, instead of being here, to contemplate this prodigy of art, which, therefore, you can never see, for it goes to London next Monday, to be suspended awhile at Abbot's, and then proceeds into Norfolk, where it will be suspended for ever."

CHAPTER XVI.

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Journey to Eartham - Incidents of it-Safe arrival Description of its beauties -Employment there-Reply to a letter from Mr. Hurdis, on the death of his sister-State of Cowper's mind at Eartham - His great attention to Mrs. Unwin - Return to Weston - Interview with General Cowper-Safe arrival at their beloved retreat Violence of his depressive malady — Regrets the loss of his studious habit-Ineffectual efforts to obtain it-Warmth of his affection for Mr. Hayley-Dread of January - Prepares for a second edition of Homer - Commences writing notes upon itLabour it occasioned him - His close application Continuance of his depression - Judicious consolatory advice he gives to his friends-Letter to Rev. J. Johnson on his taking orders-Pleasure it afforded him to find that his relative entered upon the work with suitable feelings - Reply to Mr. Hayley respecting a joint literary undertaking.

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COWPER and Mrs. Unwin set out for Eartham in the beginning of August, 1792. It pleased God to conduct them thither in safety; and though considerably fatigued with their journey, they were much less so than they had anticipated. Cowper's letters to his friends after his arrival, describe his feelings on the occasion, in a manner the most pleasing:-" Here we are, at Eartham, in the most elegant mansion that I have ever inhabited, and surrounded by the most beautiful pleasure grounds that I have ever seen; but which, dissipated as my powers of thought are at present, I will not undertake to describe. It shall

suffice me to say that they occupy three sides of a hill, which in Buckinghamshire might well pass for a mountain, and from the summit of which is beheld a most magnificent landscape, bounded by the sea, and in one part by the Isle of Wight, which may also be seen plainly from the window of the library, in which I am writing. It pleased God to carry us both through the journey with far less difficulty and inconvenience than I expected; I began it indeed with a thousand fears, and when we arrived the first evening at Barnet, found myself oppressed in spirit to a degree that could hardly be exceeded. I saw Mrs. Unwin weary, as well she might be, and heard such noises, both within the house and without, that I concluded she would get no rest. But I was mercifully disappointed. She rested, though not well, yet sufficiently. Here we found our friend Rose, who had walked from his house. in Chancery-lane, to meet us, and to greet us with his best wishes. At Kingston, where we dined, the second day, I found my old and much valued friend, General Cowper, whom I had not seen for thirty years, and but for this journey should never have seen again: when we arrived at Ripley, where we slept the second night, we were both in a better condition of body and of mind, than on the day preceding. Here we found a quiet inn, that housed, as it happened, that night, no company but ourselves; we slept well and rose perfectly refreshed, and except some terrors that I felt at passing over the Sussex Hills at moonlight, met with little to complain of, till we arrived about ten o'clock, at Eartham. Here we are as happy as it is in the power of earthly good to make us. It is almost a paradise in which we dwell; and our reception has been the kindest that it was possible for friendship and hospitality to contrive."

While at Eartham, Cowper and Mr. Hayley employed

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