Private Correspondence of William Cowper, Esq: With Several of His Most Intimate Friends, Volume 1 |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 15 | |
| 23 | |
| 25 | |
| 53 | |
| 58 | |
| 64 | |
| 73 | |
| 82 | |
| 91 | |
| 97 | |
| 111 | |
| 118 | |
| 128 | |
| 136 | |
| 142 | |
| 146 | |
| 150 | |
| 153 | |
| 159 | |
| 166 | |
| 172 | |
| 269 | |
| 283 | |
| 297 | |
| 303 | |
| 308 | |
| 310 | |
| 311 | |
| 323 | |
| 325 | |
| 337 | |
| 348 | |
| 356 | |
| 362 | |
| 369 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
admire affectionate afford agreeable amusement Caledonian mountains called comfort consequence Cowper DEAR FRIEND dear Madam dear Sir dirty country doubt England expected favour feel finished France French furnish give glad hand happy haps honour hope ject JOHN NEWTON Johnson JOSEPH HILL King King of France lady lately laugh least less letter liberty live Lord Thurlow matter mean ment mind ness never Nineveh obliged occasion Olney once opinion oysters Paul Whitehead peace perhaps piece pleased pleasure poet political portunity possible present racter reason receive recollect rejoice remember respect Retirement Scott seems sensible sent spirits suppose taste tell thank thing thought tion treach verse volume W. C. MY DEAR W. C. TO JOSEPH walk Wargrave WILLIAM BULL WILLIAM COWPER WILLIAM UNWIN wish write
Popular passages
Page 292 - Thy arts of building from the bee receive; Learn of the mole to plough, the worm to weave; Learn of the little nautilus to sail, Spread the thin oar, and catch the driving gale.
Page 61 - Indeed I wonder that a sportive thought should ever knock at the door of my intellects, and still more that it should gain admittance. It is as if harlequin should intrude himself into the gloomy chamber where a corpse is deposited in state. His antic gesticulations would be unseasonable at any rate, but more especially so if they should distort the features of the mournful attendants into laughter. But the mind long wearied with the sameness of a dull, dreary prospect, will gladly fix its eyes on...
Page 32 - Thursday society, and was an Eton man, which lowered him prodigiously in our esteem. I once thought Swift's letters the best that could be written ; but I like Gray's better. His humour or his wit, or whatever it is to be called, is never ill-natured or offensive ; and yet, I think, equally poignant with the Dean's.
Page 58 - as I frequently spend, are but a miserable prelude to the succeeding day, and indispose me above all things to the business of writing ; yet with a pen in my hand, if I am able to write at all, I find myself gradually relieved ; and as I am glad of any employment that may serve to engage my attention, so especially 1 am pleased with an opportunity of conversing with you, though it be but upon paper.
Page 324 - It is not possible to conceive a more engaging and agreeable character than the gentleman's, or a more consummate assemblage of all that is called goodnature, complaisance, and innocent cheerfulness than is to be seen in the lady. They have lately received many gross affronts from the people of the place, on account of their religion. We thought it therefore the more necessary to treat them with respect.
Page iii - Private Correspondence of William Cowper, Esq. with several of his most Intimate Friends. Now first published from the originals in the possession of his kinsman, John Johnson, LL.D. Rector of Yaxham with Welborne in Norfolk. In Two Volumes. London: Printed for Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street, and Simpkin and Marshall, Stationers
Page 124 - Could they change situations, the fine gentleman would find his ceilings were too low, and that his casements admitted too much wind ; that he had no cellar for his wine, and no wine to put in his cellar. These, with a thousand other mortifying deficiencies, would shatter his romantic project into innumerable fragments in a moment.
Page 48 - I cannot look at it without being shocked. As I walked in the garden this evening, I saw the smoke issue from the study chimney, and said to myself, That used to be a sign that Mr. Newton was there ; but it is so no longer.
Page xiii - ... former, possessing as much beauty with more piety and pathos. To an air of inimitable ease and carelessness, they unite a high degree of correctness, such as could result only from the clearest intellect, combined with the most finished taste.
Page 307 - The new year is already old in my account. I am not, indeed, sufficiently second-sighted to be able to boast by anticipation an acquaintance with the events of it yet unborn, but rest convinced that, be they what they may, not one of them comes a messenger of good to me. If even death itself should be of the number, he is no friend of mine. It is an alleviation of the woes even of an unenlightened man, that he can wish for death, and indulge a hope, at least, that in death he shall find deliverance.