physician who was called to attend him, asking him "how he felt?" "Feel!" said Cowper, "I feel unutterable despair!" To the consolations of religion he refused to listen; and when, on one occasion, Mr. Johnson spoke to him of a "merciful Redeemer, who had prepared unspeakable happiness for all his children,-and therefore for him," Cowper, with passionate entreaties, begged him to desist from any further observations of a similar kind. A few days after this sad scene, the attendant offering him a cordial, he rejected it, saying, "What can it signify;" and these were the last words he was heard to utter. He died on the following morning, the 25th of April, 1800. No one, it would seem, can read Southey's Biography of this blameless and suffering man of genius, without strong feelings of regret that he did not, earlier in life, resort to literature as a serious employment. Full and congenial occupation was absolutely indispensible, not merely, as in ordinary cases, to his enjoyment of life, but to his exemption from the most cruel disease; and to any other pursuits than those of literature, his wretched nervous system rendered him utterly incompetent. What Goethe says of Hamlet, may, with some modification, apply to Cowper. Any of the common avocations, and any of the onerous and vexatious duties of life, were to him as "an oak tree planted in a costly jar, which should have borne only pleasant flowers in its bosom; the roots expand, the jar is shivered." It is scarcely probable that any combination of circumstances could have availed, wholly to avert the malady which poisoned his existence. His whole system, both of mind and body was so peculiar in its organization,—so admirable in some of its parts, and so feeble and defective in others,-that too much, or too little, or any uncongenial action was sure to disturb or destroy its balance. But literature, though tried late, proved to be infinitely the best remedy to soothe and regu late this diseased action; and had Cowper found at Hun ingdon, the employment and the society, which he at last, after the departure of Mr. Newton, found at Olney and Weston, he might, perchance, have eacaped many years of woe. THE TASK. BOOK I. THE SOFA. ARGUMENT OF THE FIRST BOOK. Historical deduction of seats, from the Stool to the SofaA Schoolboy's ramble-A walk in the country-The scene described-Rural sounds as well as sights delightful-Another walk-Mistake concerning the charms of solitude corrected-Colonnades cominended-Alcove, and the view from it-The wilderness-The groveThe thresher-The necessity and benefit of exerciseThe works of nature superior to, and in some instances inimitable by, art-The wearisomeness of what is commonly called a life of pleasure-Change of scene sometimes expedient-A common described, and the character of crazy Kate introduced-Gipsies--The blessings of civilized life-That state most favourable to virtueThe South Sea Islanders compassionate, but chiefly Omai-His present state of mind supposed-Civilized life friendly to virtue, but not great cities-Great cities, and London in particular, allowed their due praise, but censured-Fête champêtre-The book concludes witha reflection on the fatal effects of dissipation and effeminacy upon our public measures. I SING the Sofa. I, who lately sang Th' occasion-for the fair commands the song. And sway'd the sceptre of his infant realms: Improv'd the simple plan; made three legs four, Gave them a twisted form vermicular, Induc'd a splendid cover, green and blue, With nature's varnish; sever'd into stripes, Anxious in vain to find the distant floor. These for the rich; the rest, whom fate had plac'd In modest mediocrity, content With base materials, sat on well-tann'd hides, Obdurate and unyielding, glassy smooth, With here and there a tuft of crimson yarn, Or scarlet crewel, in the cushion fix'd, If cushion might be call'd, what harder seem'd Than the firm oak, of which the frame was form'd. |