Search -
Cowper's Milton [the Poetical Works, With Life, Notes and Tr. by W. Cowper. Ed. by W. Hayley].
Cowper's Milton - the Poetical Works, With Life, Notes and Tr. by W. Cowper. Ed. by W. Hayley Author:John Milton General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1810 Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million book... more »s for free. Excerpt: But the distress of heart, which he felt in contemplating the shattered state of his venerable companion, Mrs. Unwin, and his own declining health precluded him most severely from advancing in this, and other literary intentions. To every reader, who has proper compassion, and respect, for the calamities of afflicted genius, the following account, which Cowper gave me of his fruitless endeavour to proceed in his work, must be interesting, in no common degree. " Westm, Oct. 2, 1792. " Yesterday was a day of assigna- timi with myself, the day, of which I said, some days before it came, when that day comes, I will begin my dissertations. Accordingly when it came, I prepared to do so, filled a letter-case with fresh paper, furnished myse/f with a pretty good pen, and replenished my ink-bottle; but, partly from one cause, and partly from another, chiejly however from distress and dejection, after writmg and obliterating about six lines, in the composition of which I spent near an hour, I was obliged to relinquish the attempt. An attempt so unsuccessful could have no other effect than to dishearten me, and it has had that effect to such a degree, that I know not, when I shall find courage to make anathcr." In a subsequent letter of the same month he says: -- " The consciousness, that there is much to do, and nothing done, is a burthen, I am not able to bear. Milton especially is my grievance ; and I might almost as well be haunted by his ghost, as goaded with continual reproaches for neglecting him. I will therefore begin : I will do my best; and if, after all, that best prove good for nothing, I will ev...« less