102 ; 
fomething more than their oily fmoothnefs 
to recommend them. 
We, therefore, pleas’d extol thy fong 
Though various, yet complete ; 
Rich in embellithment, yer frong 
efnd learn’d as itis {weet, 
I do not however mean to infinuate that 
either ‘of your Correfpondents, the Me- 
morialift, or the writer of the Retrofpect, 
is by any means infenfible to the folic ex- 
cellencies of Darwin’s poetry. Indeed 
they both of them have done ample jul- 
tice to the aftonifhing fecundity of his 
imagination, to the felicity of his allu- 
fions, the accuracy of his defcriptions, 
the extent and variety of his knowledge, 
and the vigor, ingenuity, and courage, 
with which his philofophical inveftigations 
afe conftantly conducted. 
Thename of Cowper, for very obvious 
reafons, fuggefts that.of Hayley, and I 
cannot refrain’ from taking this oppor- 
portunity of ftating my opinion that the 
fhort account given in your lJaft Retro- 
fpect of Domeltic Literature, concerning 
Hayley’s Life of Cowper, is not perfe@ly 
fair. Perhaps the writer of that article 
might have taken his account from the 
Edinburgh Revicw, and had not read the 
bock himfelf. Fo ftate the volumes of 
Mr. Hayley as bearing evident marks of 
book-making, is an infinuation that he 
was actuated by fome finifter motive in 
{weiling his work to the fize in which it 
appears. I confefs it feems to me al- 
moft impoffible for any one to have read 
thofe volumes, and not have felt that the 
fingle object of the biographer was to ex- 
hibit the mof accurate portrait poffible of 
his friend. And who is this friend?—the 
friend of human kind : a poet who drank 
deeply of the Pierian {pring ; an infpired 
bard whofe chafte and holy fong will con- 
tinue to delight, to charm, and to improve 
mankind fo long as virtue fhall be efteemed 
on earth, and tafte be cultivated among 
ren. ; é 
And by whom is this portrait of the 
biographer’s friend drawn? The artift 
and the fubjeét are one: the poet draws 
the picture of his own mind, not merely 
the outline is his—the light, the fhade, 
the colouring, the minuteft touches of the 
pencil, all are his own; and who has the 
temerity to fay, that there is one ftroke too 
much ? 
The biographer, it is true, appears 
but rarely in thefe volumes—he could 
not have given a more unqueftionable 
2 
Hayley’s Life of Cowper. 
[Sept. 1, 
evidence of his tafte and his judgment. 
The letters of Cowper, when that un- 
happy-man was free from the gloom which 
fo often depreffed him, are models of epif- 
tolary writing ;-the eafe and grace by 
which they are diftmeuifhed form, indeed, 
a ftriking contraft to the laboured and af- 
fected ttyle of Mr. Hayley, (for his 
fiyle is certainly laboured, and has all 
the: appearance ,of Being affected) ; and 
it'ig not fair to infer, becaufe he had the 
critical. jadgment and tafte to’ make a 
right preference, that he did it through 
lazinefs, ahd with a view of making Wis 
book in the eafieit manner. On the con- | 
trary, every page difplays fuch an- honeft 
warm-hearted affection on the part of the 
biographer, fuch a veneration, almoft 
rifing to idolatry, for his friend, that to 
fafpeét bim of thrinking from any labour 
or refearch which could have fhed frefh 
luftre on nis character, appears to me per- 
fe&tly unwarrantable. 
In attempting to vindicate Mr. Hayley 
from the charge of book-making, I am as 
far from intending him ‘any compliment 
for the fhare which ‘his own pen had in 
thefe volumes, as the writer of the ar- 
ticle to which I am alluding. I have 
already acceded to the objections againit 
his ftyle: I alfo think poorly of many of 
Mr. Hayley’s criticifms. Cowper wasa ~ 
very unequal writer; and many of thofe 
paflages which his biographer has adduced 
as of fuperior excellence, appear te me ex- 
tremely flat and vapid. But as this is not 
_the proper place to fupport my opinion, it- 
is not the proper place to prefs it. Mr. 
Hayley deals in fuperlatives by wholefale; 
every character who is introduced to us 
is complimented for rare talent, extenfive 
knowledge, or fuch fuper-excellent qua- 
lities of the heart; or head, as one does 
not often meet with. Compliments thus 
profufely lavithed, like the indifcriminate 
carefies of a coquette, are perfeétly value. 
lefs. There are alfo two ftriking defide- 
rata in the biography; we are not in- 
formed who was the objeét of that early 
unrequited paffion which, it feems very 
probable, gave the deep hue of melan- 
choly to Cowper’s whole life. There is 
only one reafon, except ignorance, and that 
ought to have been acknowledged if it exifts 
which can excufe this omiflion. The other 
defideratum is this: in one of his letters, 
I torget to whom it is addreffed, and have 
not the volume to refer to, Cowper, fpeak- 
ing of the diftrefs of mind under which he 
at that moment laboured, fays (if my 
memory 
