Page:The poetical works of William Cowper (IA poeticalworksof00cowp).pdf/70

lxii In the spring of this year Lady Hesketh wrote, proposing to visit him in June. His delight knew no bounds; he could talk, write, think of nothing else: "June," he said, "was never so wished for before since June was made." And at the same time he received an anonymous letter, beseeching him not to overstrain his powers, nor be distressed if Homer did not sell to his expectations, and announcing the intention of sending him £50 a year. He poured out his feelings in a letter to Lady Hesketh. He had spent hours and hours examining the handwriting. First he thought it hers; then he was confident, from the method of underscoring, and the forms of the letters, that it was her father's disguised. The writer has never been made known. Lady Hesketh knew, and she seems to have told him that it was neither she nor her father. He responded gratefully and touchingly, and added that he would not attempt further to penetrate the secret. Though he made pretence to talk of his benefactor as he, he must have felt sure, as every one else must, that it was Theodora, faithful to her young love. All this will explain the following extract from a letter to Unwin, dated "Olney, July 10, 1786:"—

"Within this twelvemonth my income has received an addition of a clear £100 per annum. For a considerable part of it I am indebted to my dear cousin now on the other side of the Orchard. At Florence she obtained me ^"20 a year from Lord Cowper; since he came home she has recommended me with such good effect to his notice that he has added twenty more; twenty she has added herself, and ten she has procured me from the William of my name whom you saw at Hertingfordbury. From my anonymous friend who insists on not being known or guessed at, and never shall by me, I have an annuity of £50. All these sums have accrued within this year, except the first, making together, as you perceive, an exact century of pounds annually poured into the replenished purse of your once poor poet of Olney."

The "dear cousin" is, of course, Lady Hesketh. She had come in June, according to appointment, and taken lodgings at the vicarage, now occupied by a bachelor, who only wanted two rooms. The first meeting was too much for Cowper, and he fell into an alarming fit of melancholy. But it did not last, and they were soon all happy together. She was pleased with Mrs. Unwin, and it is to this period that her letters to her sister belong. He wrote to Hill that he was happier than he had ever been since he had come to Olney. He even wrote cheerfully to Newton, once or twice; but as time went on his brighter hopes fade!, and he again spoke of himself as vainly seeking communion with lie had hoped, he said, that he was coming out of the Red Sea, and was preparing to sing the song of Moses, but the comfort had once more been wrested from him. Still he was hopeful that it might yet come, and embraced every promise of it with alacrity. Especially he took hold of a thought which Lady Hesketh's Liveliness inspired,—Olney was dull! The floods and the mud kept him