On August 3, 1782, he writes to Unwin: "Mr. Bull, a dissenting minister of Newport, a learned, ingenious, good-natured, pious friend of ours, has put into my hands three volumes of French poetry composed by Madame Guyon ;-a quietist, say you, and a fanatic, I will have nothing to do with her. It is very well, you are welcome to have nothing to do with her, but in the meantime her verse is the only French verse I ever read that I found agreeable: there is a neatness in it equal to that which we applaud with so much reason in the compositions of Prior. . . . Mr. Bull is her passionate admirer, rode twenty miles to see her picture in the house of a stranger, which stranger politely insisted on his acceptance of it and it now hangs over his parlour chimney. It is a striking portrait, too characteristic not to be a strong resemblance, and were it accompanied with a glory instead of being dressed in a nun's hood might pass for the face of an angel.” In another letter (undated, Wright, ii. 19) he writes that "the strain of simple and unaffected piety in the original is sweet beyond expression," and on August 3, 1783, he wrote a letter to Bull, quoted by Bull in his Preface, in which he says: "I have but little leisure, strange as it may seem that little I devoted for a month after your departure to the translation of Madame Guyon. I have made fair copies of all the pieces I have produced upon this last occasion, and will put them into your hands when we meet. They are yours, to serve you as you please; you may take and leave as you like, for my purpose is already served. They have amused me, and I have no further demands upon them." Jeanne Marie Guyon, daughter of Claude Bouvier de la Motte, was born in 1648, married Jacques Guyon in 1664, and died in 1717. After her husband's death in 1676 she felt herself called to a special religious mission. She obtained the friendship of Madame de Maintenon, and of Fénelon, but her doctrines were condemned, and she was imprisoned in the Bastille in 1695, where she remained, except for a short period of release, till 1702, and where she wrote her religious poems. The rest of her life was spent in a retirement devoted to religious exercises. Among the Ash MSS. are copies in the poet's handwriting of all the translations from Madame Guyon, except "The Acquiescence of Pure Love" on p. 529, and the short piece, "Living Water" on p. 523. They vary, in some cases very considerably, from the text printed by Bull. But, though their versions are sometimes preferable to the printed text, there is no evidence that Cowper ever returned to the work of translating Madame Guyon after he had once handed over his fair copies to Bull. Indeed if he had made any further revision, Bull would have been the first to know it, and, as we have seen, Bull says he never revised the translation. It must therefore be assumed that the MSS. in the possession of Mr. Ash give us the translations as they stood before the poet made the fair copy of which he speaks in the letter of August 3, 1783. And this conclusion is confirmed by the fact that the MSS. exhibit frequent erasures, and the version erased is not that printed by Bull, while the correction 738 See where the Thames, the purest stream 16 665 Seest thou yon mountain laden with deep snow 640 528 Self-love and Truth Incompatible 531 720 She came-she has gone-we have met Part I. Simple Trust 548 721 Sin enslaved me many years 70 Sin has undone our wretched race 48 Since life in sorrow must be spent Sing, Muse (if such a theme, so dark, so long) 106 675,9 Sir, when I flew to seize the bird 500 Sleep at last has fled these eyes Snail, The 611 So I have seen the maids in vain So then the vandals of our isle Song Song 435 Song on Peace 434 Sors adversa gerit stimulum 428 Soul that loves God finds Him everywhere 525 Source of love, and light of day 528 Source of love, my brighter sun 548 Spaniel, On a 499 Sparrows self-domesticated 604 Still, still without ceasing Strada's Nightingale 606 Sun, stay thy course, this moment, stay. Suns that set and Moons that wane 616 Tale, A. 547 721 15 90 676-8 645 Task 247~ 496 Tears flow and cease not Testimony of Divine Adoption That ocean you of late surveyed Tale, founded on a fact which happened in January, 1779 Tears of a painter, The. Thankless for favours from on high The Bard, if e'er he feel at all The billows swell, the winds are high The fountain in its source The genius of the Augustan age The rose had been washed, just washed in a shower Another 650 They mock my toil, the nymphs and amorous swains 598 Thief, On a . 653 Think, Delia, with what cruel haste 15 665, 70 This cap, that so stately appears 443 706 This is the feast of heavenly wine 51 Thornton, In memory of Thou hast no lightnings, O Thou Just Thou magic lyre, whose fascinating sound 7 669 Though nature weigh our talents, and dispense Though once a puppy 492 Thracian, The 600 726 Thracian parents, at his birth Thrive, gentle plant Throckmorton, Mrs. 473.393 Thus Italy was moved-nor did the chief Thus says the prophet of the Turk. 225 687 Thy country, Wilberforce, with just disdain Thy nausea is the Christian's heat. Time, never wandering from his annual round 725 Time-piece, The Time was when I was free as air 'Tis folly all, let me not more be told 511 716-8 'Tis morning and the sun with ruddy orb 320 693, 4 'Tis my happiness below 57 'Tis not that I design to rob. 669 To Babylon's proud waters brought To be remembered thus is fame 501 To grass, or leaf, or fruit or wall 611 To Jesus, the Crown of my Hope To lay the soul that loves him low 534 To purify their wine some people bleed . 459 To tell the Saviour all thy wants 65 To those who know the Lord I speak 55 To watch the storms and hear the sky 429 Toll for the brave. 432 Tomb of Mr. Hamilton, Inscription for 453 Too many, Lord, abuse Thy grace 74 Traveller, regret me not 649 Tres trea, sed longe distantia, sæcula vates 660 Trial of Admiral Keppel, On the 412 Triumph of Heavenly Love desired Trust me, the meed of praise, dealt thriftily 'Twas a long journey lay before us 517 7 120 617 679, 80 727 'Twas in the glad season of spring 456 Two neighbours furiously disputed 607 Two nymphs both nearly of an age 478 Two omens seem propitious. Two poets (poets, by report) Two powdered cockscombs wait at your command Ugly Fellow, On an 653 Unwin, I should but ill repay 244 689 Unwin, To Mrs. 494 |