while supervened. Yet transient feelings of such joy are feelings to be thankful for, when we regard them as God's testimony of a love which is not transient, of an eternal mercy and loving-kindness.[1]
Immediately after his recovery he wrote the hymn at p. 37:
"How blessed thy creature is, O God."
What a contrast to the production which he had last written, "Hatred and Vengeance"!
Though his recovery took place within three or four months after he was sent to Dr. Cotton's, Cowper continued there for a year, apparently dreading a relapse, and unequal to the task of facing the rough world. But he was very poor, and already owed Dr. Cotton money, and so determined to remove to some quiet home. The hymn at p. 37—
"Far from the world, O Lord, I flee"—
was written while thinking over this matter. London he would see no more, and he threw up his Commissionership of Bankrupts, and with it nearly all his income—to wit, £60 a year. His relations, feeling that this was unavoidable, subscribed together to make him an annual allowance.
His brother was now Fellow of St. Benet's College, Cambridge, and he wished to find lodgings near him. But none suitable could be found nearer than Hun- tingdon, and hither he moved in June 1765, accompanied by a lad who had i waited on him at Dr. Cotton's. With this exception he was entirely surrounded by strangers ; but the quiet tranquil town suited him well. "I do really think it the most agreeable neighbourhood I ever saw," he wrote. There were morning and evening prayers daily in the church, which he always attended ; there was j the Ouse for him to bathe in, and many pleasant walks. Some of the residents used to send him books and newspapers. The Rector, Mr. Hodgson, and Curate, Mr. Nicholson, called upon him, and he liked them both.[2] Then the brothers met every week, at Cambridge and Huntingdon alternately, and this caused him to become a horseman.
Soon after his arrival he was visited by an old London friend, whose name has hitherto not been mentioned, but who always held one of the foremost places in his affection, Joseph Hill. Nothing is known of his early life, except that he had been an old Westminster boy, and also one of the members of the Nonsense Club. He was an attorney, living in George Street, Westminster. Cowper had introduced him to Thurlow, who, on his appointment to the Chancellorship afterwards, made him his secretary. He had kindly managed Cowper's
- ↑ Maurice's "Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament," pp. 33, 34.
- ↑ "Another acquaintance I have lately made is with a Mr. Nicholson, a north-country divine, very poor, but very good and very happy. He reads prayers here twice a day all the year round, and travels on foot to serve two churches every Sunday; his journey out and home again being sixteen miles. I supped with him last night. He gave me bread and cheese, and a black jug of ale brewed with his own hands."—To Lady Hesketh, September 14, 1765.
