Cowper, it seems, declined his friend's proposal, and was by no means sanguine in his hopes of a remedy. The reasons he assigns are sufficient to deter the generality of mankind. Still there are men always raised up by the providence of God, in his own appointed time, endowed from above with qualifications necessary for great enterprises, with minds to conceive and hands to execute, distinguished by a perseverance that no toil can weary, and no opposition can divert from its purpose, because they are inwardly supported by the integrity of their motives and a deep conviction of the importance of their object; and because they see through the vista of time, however comparatively distant, and through those besetting difficulties which obstruct the progress of all good undertakings, the final accomplishment of all their labours. : Let no man despair of success in a righteous cause. Let him well conceive his plan and mature it let him gain all the aid that can be derived from the counsel of wise and reflecting minds; and, above all, let him implore the illuminating influences of that Holy Spirit, which can alone impart what all want, "the wisdom that is from above," which is "pure, peaceable, gentle, and full of good fruits;" let him be simple in his view, holy in his purpose, zealous, prudent, and persevering in its pursuit ; and we feel no hesitation in saying, that man will be "blessed in his deed." There are no difficulties, if his object be practicable, and the means be within his command, that he may not hope to conquer; no corrupt passions of men over which he may not finally triumph, because there is a Divine Power that can level the highest mountains and exalt the lowest valleys, and because it is recorded for our consolation and instruction: "And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, to go by day and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people."* With respect to the more immediate subject of Cowper's letter, so far as it is applicable to modern times, we must confess that we are sanguine in our hopes of improvement, founded on the increasing moral feeling of the times, and the Divine agency, now so visibly interposing in the affairs of men. Every abuse will progressively receive its appropriate and counteracting remedy. The Lord's day will be rescued from gross profanation. The revenue opposes the great difficulty, in diminishing the crime of drunkenness; and the Excise claims the respect and homage due to the cause of temperance. How just and forcible is the following portrait drawn by the Muse of Cowper! "The Excise is fattened with the rich result Of all this riot; and ten thousand casks, * Exodus, xiii. 21, 22. Drink, and be mad then; 'tis your country bids! The Task, Book iv. We know not to what event the following letter refers, as it is without any date to guide us. It may probably relate to the period of Lord George Gordon's riots. We insert it as we find it.* TO THE REV. WILLIAM UNWIN. Though we live in a nook, and the world is quite unconscious that there are any such beings in it as ourselves, yet we are not unconcerned about what passes in it. The present awful crisis, big with the fate of England, engages much of our attention. The action is probably over by this time, and though we know it not, the grand question is decided, whether the war shall roar in our once peaceful fields, or whether we shall still only hear of it at a distance. I can compare the nation to no similitude more apt, than that of an ancient castle, that had been for days assaulted by the battering ram. It was long before the stroke of that engine made any sensible impression, but the continual repetition Men who are of sufficient celebrity to entitle their letters to the honour of future publication would do well in never omitting to attach a date to them. The neglect of this precaution, on the part of the Rev. Legh Richmond, led to much perplexity. VOL. III. P at length communicated a slight tremor to the wall, the next, and the next, and the next blow increased it. Another shock puts the whole mass in motion, from the top to the foundation; it bends forward, and is every moment driven farther from the perpendicular; till at last the decisive blow is given, and down it comes. Every million that has been raised within the last century, has had an effect upon the constitution like that of a blow from the The imaforesaid ram upon the aforesaid wall. pulse becomes more and more important, and the impression it makes is continually augmented; unless therefore something extraordinary intervenes to prevent it-you will find the consequence at the end of my simile. Yours, W. C. The letter which we next insert, is curious and interesting, as it contains a critique on the works of Churchill, whose style Cowper's is supposed to resemble, in its nervous strength and pungency. He calls him "the great Churchill." One of his productions, not here mentioned, was entitled the Rosciad, containing strictures on the theatrical performers of that day, who trembled at his censures, or were elated by his praise. He has passed along the stream, and has ceased to be read, though once a popular writer. It is much to be lamented that his habits were irregular, his domestic duties violated, and his life at length shortened by intempe rance. The reader may form an estimate of his poetical pretensions from the judgment here passed upon them by Cowper. TO THE REV. WILLIAM UNWIN. My dear William-How apt we are to deceive ourselves where self is in question! You say I am in your debt, and I accounted you in mine: a mistake to which you must attribute my arrears, if indeed I owe you any, for I am not backward to write where the uppermost thought is welcome. I am obliged to you for all the books you have occasionally furnished me with: I did not indeed read many of Johnson's Classics-those of established reputation are so fresh in my memory, though many years have intervened since I made them my companions, that it was like reading what I read yesterday over again; and, as to the minor Classics, I did not think them worth reading at ; all I tasted most of them, and did not like them: it is a great thing to be indeed a poet, and does not happen to more than one man in a century. Churchill, the great Churchill, deserved the name of poet-I have read him twice, and some of his pieces three times over, and the last time with more pleasure than the first. The pitiful scribbler of his life seems to have undertaken that task, for which he was entirely unqualified, merely because it afforded him an opportunity to traduce him. He has inserted in it but one anecdote of consequence, for which he refers you to a novel, and introduces the story, with doubts |