continued to reside there. But her stepson and she, though friendly, were not intimate, and he never visited her, though they occasionally corresponded. She died not very long afterwards. His brother John was now at Cambridge, studying for holy orders.
The profession of a barrister is generally more honourable than lucrative for the first few years. It certainly was so in Cowper's case, for it is doubtful whether he ever had a brief.[1] He moved from the Middle to the Inner Temple, and bought chambers there for £250. The little money which he had was fast diminishing, and his father's death warned him that this was a matter which would have to be attended to without loss of time. One or two of his letters exist, written at this time; he speaks lightly on the matter,[2] but one may say with tolerable certainty that a very anxious heart lay beneath the jesting manner, and that the anxiety increased every day. Though this may not have been the cause of the melancholy which soon after appeared, the forced hilarity is painful enough when one knows what followed. He was made a Commissioner of Bankrupts about this time through family influence, which brought him £60 a year.
He was now a member of the Nonsense Club,[3] consisting of some old "Westminsters," among them Robert Lloyd and Gorman. The leading member was Bonnell Thornton, another old Westminster boy, but much Cowper's senior, He had already made several essays in authorship, before he started, in company with Colman, the Connoisseur. The first number was published January 31, 1754, and it was continued weekly, until September 30, 1756. Cowper contributed a few papers to the last volume. The following were his.[4] I take the titles from the table of contents to the volumes.
No. 111.—Letter, containing the character of the delicate Billy Suckling.
No. 115.—Letter from Christopher Ironside, an old Bachelor, complaining of the indignities received by him from the ladies.
No. 119.—Of keeping a secret.—Characters of faithless confidantes.
No. 134.— Letter from Mr. Village, giving an account of the present state of Country Churches, their Clergy, and their Congregations.
No. 138.—On Conversation. The chief pests of Society pointed out. Those who converse irrationally, considered as imitating the language of different animals.
- ↑ A letter to Hill, dated October 10, 1767, after asking a law question, contains the following: "You are a better counsellor than I was, but I think you have much such a client in me as I had in Dick Harcourt."
- ↑ "This provokes me, that a covetous dog who will work by candlelight in the morning, to get what he does not want, shall be praised for his thriftiness, while a gentleman shall be abused for submitting to his wants, rather than work like an ass to relieve them. . . There are some sensible folks, who, having great estates, have wisdom enough to spend them properly; there are others, who are not less wise, perhaps, as knowing how to shift without 'em. . . This is a strange epistle, nor can I imagine how the devil I came to write it."—Letter to Rowley, September 2, 1762.
- ↑ The Nonsense Club originated the "Exhibition of Sign Painters," a piece of drollery which, without giving offence, made much fun of the newly-opened Royal Academy. It consisted of a number of daubs, with humorous descriptions in the catalogue, and was very successful.
- ↑ The evidence of their authorship is as follows: Southey says they are "all attributed to the same author in the concluding pages of the volume." (Life, vol. i. p. 325.) But this is a mistake, for the words at the end of the volume are, "From a friend, a gentleman of the Temple, we
