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OFFICE, BREAM'S BUILDINGS, CHANCERY LANE, E.C.
BY JOHN C. FRANCIS.

LIBRARIES

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LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1904.

CONTENTS. - No. 27.

NOTES:-Letters of Cowper, 1-Cobden Bibliography, 3Black Dog Alley, Westminster, 5-Descendants of Mary, Queen of Scots, 6- Cardinal Giudiccioni - 'The Most Impudent Man Living'-"The beatific vision," 7.

QUERIES:-"Go anywhere and do anything" - Swett Family-Croquet or Tricquet-Paisley Annual Miscellany '-King of Sweden on the Balance of Power-"Birds of a feather"-'The Gospel of God's Anointed '-Quotation in Ruskin, 8-German-English Dictionary-Beer sold without a Licence-Owl and Athenian Admiral-Blackett Family-St. Helena Medal - Runeberg, Finnish PoetBennett of Lincoln -" Kolliwest-Female Incendiary, 9 -Lancashire Toast, 10.

REPLIES:- First Wife of Warren Hastings, 10- Biblio

graphy of Publishing, 11-Ramie, 12--Well-known Epi

taph-"Alias" in the Sixteenth Century-White Turbary -France and Civilization-Bunney, 13-"There's not a

crime"-Cold Harbour-Flaying Alive, 14-Kentish Custom on Easter Day-The Lobishome, 15 - TituladoesTrial of Queen Caroline - Phœbe Hessel, the Stepney Amazon-"The better the day," 16-Tea as a Meal-Potts Family-Our Oldest Military Officer-Mother Shipton, 17 -Hertford Borough Seal-Dryden Portraits-Poems on

Shakespeare-Dictionary of English Dialect SynonymsLegend of Constance-Audyn Family, 18-Paste-Mayor's Seal for Confirmation-Tynte Book-plate, 19.

your return, you will value the faithful transcript of a heart that loves and esteems you. If my life is prolonged, it will serve as a testimony that I am ever mindful of you, and with the greatest truth, and most tender affection, my dear Maria's* faithful friend, as well as affectionate mother, "J. MADAN."

On pp. 182-3 we read :

"(The following was written by Mrs. Cowper, on a loose bit of paper, in Mrs. Madan's MS. book, from which all in this book, so far, has been copied.)"

"The angel writer of this precious manuscript is (as she has in the former part mentioned concerning a pious man) 'translated to that kingdom, where, after a most exemplary life, she, by an easy transition from what she has been on earth, shines forth, I doubt not, as an angel of light. She entered into glory this year 1781, Dect 7th. Her honoured remains now rest in St. George's Burying ground, Mount Street, Grosvenor Square. The following significant and valuable text I added under her name, etc., upon her gravestone. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season,' Job v. 26.

"How am I indebted to God for such a parent, What thanks I owe for his vouchsafement of her so long! He hath now taken her into his rest, and given her that glorious inheritance purchased for believers, by the Redeemer of the world. Praised be His Name! And how can I sufficiently acknow

NOTES ON BOOKS: -Thomas's 'Swimming'- ' Printers' ledge the Lord's goodness, for the consolations she Pie'-Henderson's Life of Burns.

Notices to Correspondents.

Notes.

LETTERS OF WILLIAM COWPER.

THE following letters are copied from quarto manuscript books long in the possession of Charlotte, younger daughter of Joseph Stephen Pratt, LL.B. of Trinity Hall, 1805, collated to the fourth stall of Peterborough Cathedral, 28 March, 1808, who died 3 April, 1838, aet. 77. She married, 5 October, 1813, in the parish church of South Collingham, Notts, my uncle Joseph Mayor, Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, who held the rectory of South Collingham to his death, 19 April, 1860. His widow died 21 October,

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has been permitted to leave me, in her inimitably pious manuscripts! O rich bequest! My soul, thou art largely and liberally supplied with spiritual food, pray that it may be duly sanctified, leading thee on in the paths of righteousness, till thou arrive at the gate of glory, and meet with her again."

I am happy to add that Mrs. Cowper, following in her mother's steps, bequeathed to her family at least five quarto note-books in her own hand, full of letters from John Newton, Cowper, the Countess of Huntingdon, &c., poems by her "Sister Maitland." They

have been honoured in the third and fourth

generation of owners, by careful and loving perusal, and three of the five have been placed in my hands. The first instalment of Cowper letters is valuable as being written from Huntingdon, and addressed to Martin Madan

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In pp. 147-53 is a copy of the letter written to Lady Hesketh, 12 July, 1765 (Wright's edition, i. 33-5). On collation with Wright's text I find (Wright, ght, p. 33, four lines from beginning) "all that pleasure I proposed,' where Wright has which I proposed"; Wright, p. 34, 1. 9, "closed the conference, MS. "closed up the conference"; Wright, p. 34, 1. 10, “two considerations," MS. "three considerations"; Wright, p. 34, 1. 13, "the three cardinal articles," MS. "these cardinal articles"; p. 34, 1. 8 from foot, "Testaments,"

"As so many months, my dear Maria, are to pass, before I can hope to converse with you, I have a -sudden thought, very pleasing to me, to throw together my thoughts, and those of others, as they occur, on any interesting and important subject, without formality or disguise: and I am persuaded, should it please God to take me into eternity before

* Note in later hand: "Her daughter Mrs. Cowper [Maria Frances Cecilia Cowper]."

66

MS. "Testament"; p. 35, 1.2, "that which," MS. what"; p. 35, 1. 4, "in having." MS. "for having"; p. 35, 1. 5, "heart," MS. "mind." After "word of God," p. 35, 1. 13, the manuscript supplies much that has been omitted in printed texts. Add :

"How often have I wished, either that I could believe it in such a manner as to make it the animating principle of all my conduct, or that I could clearly and roundly get rid of it all, even to the last scruple and the least bias in its favour. But as I despaired of ever compassing the former, so the severe strokes that I felt upon my conscience, at particular intervals, when I reflected ever so slightly on the arguments it is built upon, have given me very sensible proofs, that I never should compass the latter. Three and thirty years of my life did I spend in this manner, balancing between faith and infidelity, and leaving the upshot of all, and the final destination of a being built for eternity, to be cleared up at the universal judgment, which yet, I hoped would never happen. What a terrible reference of my everlasting interests, to a period decisive, and without appeal! and at which every stain of unpardoned guilt must be pronounced a stain forever. In this dreadful condition, while I was grow ing every day more insensible to my duty, tho' at the same time not less convinced of the truth of the Gospel, it pleased my all-merciful Maker to visit me with chastisement, which I will be ever thank

ful; and when the hour of discipline was past, and the scourge had done its work, he was likewise pleased to visit me with such clear apprehensions of

the truth of his divine revelation, and such delight

6

ful assurances that all should be forgiven, and forgot, if I would but return to Him, as I trust will never forsake me. Nor let this appear strange to you, my dear Cousin, as it does to many, that my faith should be increased without any additional arguments to persuade me. It is called enthusiasm by many, but they forget this passage in St. Paul,* We are saved by grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. The arguments indeed in favour of this glorious cause, are more than sufficient to prove the truth of it to any man; but the heart is so often engaged to vote on the other side, that they fail to produce conviction, till it pleases God to strike upon the rock, and melt it into a sense of its own corruption, and the necessity there is for an atonement. My dear Cousin, may these everlasting truths-"

Printed text begins again, "May this everlasting truth." P. 35, 1. 14, "comfort," MS. "happiness"; 1. 18, "that you can," MS. " you should." The postscript is omitted in the MS.

Pp. 145–7 :

Copy of a letter from W. C. soon after his removal from Dr. Cotton's at St. Alban's to Huntingdon. He was 7 months very ill at Dr. C.'s and 12, after his recovery, till he went to Huntingdon.

To M. M[adan].

Huntingdon, June 24, 1765.

MY DEAR MARTIN, -I have long had a desire to write to you, indeed ever since it pleased God to restore to me the perfect health both of my mind and body, and have with difficulty prevailed upon

* Ephesians ii. 8.

myself to defer it, till I had left St. Alban's. I have suppressed my impatience to do it hitherto, in the full persuasion that a letter from me in a state of enlargement. would be more acceptable to

you, than anything I could send from that suspected quarter. Blessed be God! I am indeed enlarged, and you, who know so well, the spiritual, as well as the ordinary import of that word, will easily apprehend how much I mean to crowd into it.

Martin, I have never forgot, nor ever shall forget, the instruction you gave me, at our interview in my chambers. It was the first lesson of the kind I had ever heard with attention, perhaps I may say, the first I ever heard at all. And notwithstanding the terrible disorder of mind I fell into soon after, not all the thousand deliriums that afflicted me, have been able to efface it. My Heavenly Father intended it should be to me an earnest of his love,

which is the reason I have not lost it: but, by his blessing upon it, it has been a key to me, together the assistance of his grace, to right understanding of the Scriptures ever since. I bless his holy name for every sigh, and every groan, and and his hands make whole: they heal the wounds which he himself hath made for our chastisement, and those deeper wounds which by our sins we have

every tear I have shed in my illness. He woundeth

inflicted upon ourselves.

You remember the poor wretch whose illness so much resembled mine, and you remember too, how he was seen "cloathed, and in his right mind, and

sitting at the feet of Jesus."† I thank God I resemble him in my recovery, and in the_blessed effects of it, as well as in my distemper. Pray for me, Martin, that I ever may, and believe me that

I suppress much, lest I should alarm even you, by

the warmth of my expressions; but you might read it in my eyes. Give my love to all your family, and to your mother. Yours, Martin, very thankfully, and very affectionately,

Pp. 153-7:

W. C.'s answer to M. Madan.

W. C.

MY DEAR MARTIN, -I am exceedingly obliged to you for the letter with which you was so kind to favour me. I know your continual employments, and how difficult it must be for you to find opportunities of writing, but when you happen to meet with one which you can bestow upon me, without prejudice to anybody else, you will contribute much to my happiness by making that use of it. I have more than once been witness to your indefatigable labour with those who receive not the Truth, and I flatter upon others, and upon myself too, for a Christian, with immoralities enough to stain me as black and sink me as deep, as ever sinner fell, were circumstances which might well drive me to that despair in which you saw me, when once it had pleased God to let loose my conscience upon me, and to make me sensible of my wickedness. Eight months did I continue in that terrible condition, expecting day and night when the thunderbolt should fall that was to be my last and final visitation from the Almighty. And whatever mixture of insanity there might be in these apprehensions (and doubtless there was much of that) still there was this mixture of reason in them, that I certainly apprehended no more, than my soundest judgment must acknowledge I had deserved. At the end of that period, it pleased God, at once, and as it were by a touch, to restore me to the use of my reason, and to accompany that blessing with two others of inestimable value, and which I trust in his great mercy he will not suffer me to forfeit hereafter, even faith in his dear Son, and a most intimate and comfortable assurance of complete forgiveness. Oh, who can express my joy at this happy time! that harmony and peace of heart, which a perfect reconciliation with our Heavenly Father alone

myself, you will not think a small share of your pains thrown away on one who, blessed be God! has already received it. A line from one whom I know to be a real Christian, in the sterling sense of that appellation, is of more value to me now, than all the eloquence of all the orators, that ever spoke. Indeed I have much to be thankful for, so much, that I am continually apt to suspect myself of ingratitude, and how is it possible for a human heart to be sufficiently grateful for the blessings I have received? Blessings which I have forfeited all possible pretentions to, as many times as I have hairs upon my head. A life of three and thirty years, spent without God in the world, passing † Luke viii. 35.

* Job v. 18.

Sinai: -- The time past suffices me, to have lived the life of the Gentiles; I can lay my hand on my heart, and say with the Apostle:† "the life I live, I live by the faith of the Son of God"; thought, word, and deed, devoted to his service, and may they be so for ever. I mention not this, in the spirit of boasting, God forbid! but that you, to gether with me, may give praise to the glory of his grace, who has interposed, by such wonderful means, for the salvation of so vile a sinner. Perhaps Í have many friends who pity me ruined in my profession, stript of my preferment, and banished from all my old acquaintance. They wonder I can sustain myself under these evils, and expect that I should die broken hearted; and if myself were all I had to trust to, so perhaps I might; nay, I believe, certainly should, but the disciples of Christ have bread to eat which the world knows not of.‡ The hope of Israel "fainteth not, neither is weary";S and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit, are effectual preservatives against worldly sorrow. I have lost indeed a good deal of that dung|| the Apostle speaks of, but the treasure hid in the field is an infinite compensation for such losses.

I hope to go through the commonplace

give, dissolved me into tears of joy, and the books, extract all that is new of Cowper's,

delightful sense of it still dwells with me!

I have thought myself happy often in the gratification of my wretched passions and affections, but I now felt how much I had been mistaken, and that I had disgraced the name of happiness by such a foolish misapplication of it, nor would I exchange one hour of my present comfort, for ten thousand years of the utmost felicity I ever enjoyed before. The book you recommend to me, I read at St. Alban's, and with great pleasure, and with great conviction. I plead guilty to the doctrine of original corruption, derived to me from my great progenitor, for in my heart I feel the evidences of it, that will not be disputed. I rejoice in the doctrine of imputed righteousness, for without it, how should I be justified? My own righteousness is a rag, a feeble, defective attempt, insufficient of itself to obtain the pardon of the least of my offences, much more my justification from them all. My dear Martin, 'tis pride that makes these truths unpalatable, but pride has no business in the heart of a Christian. I borrowed the book at St. Alban's but intend to buy it. I read there likewise Doddridge's Sermons on Regeneration, and his Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, and was highly delighted with them both. I love these subjects, next to the Word itself, they are my daily bread, and I beg you would mention to me any other books of that kind you think may be of use to me. always loved reading, but I never loved it so much, for these topics had no charms for me once, and now all others are insipid.

Yours, my dear Martin, with my affectionate respects to Mrs. M. July 19, 1765, Huntingdon. Pp. 160-1 :

I

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and calendar the rest.

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Speech in the House of Commons February 18, 1848 [on the Expenditure of the Country]. Manchester, A. Heywood [1848]. 12mo. 8135. a. 5. (2.)

National Defences. Letters of Lord Ellesmere and the Duke of Wellington, with the Speech of Richard Cobden at the Free Trade Meeting in Manchester. London, 1848. 8vo. 1398. f.

Financial Reform Tracts. No. 6. The National Budget for 1849, by Richard Cobden, Esq., in a Letter to Robertson Gladstone, Esq....with a report of the public meeting held in the Concert Hall, Liverpool, December 20, 1848. London: Standard of Freedom office. Svo, pp. 16.

1849.

Reform and Retrenchment. The Speeches of
Richard Cobden, T. M. Gibson, and J. Brigh
Esqs., in the Free Trade Hall, on Wednesday

* 1 Peter iv. 3.
+ Cf. John iv. 32.
|| Philippians iii. 8.

† Galatians ii. 20.
§ Isaiah xl. 28.

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