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Engraved by Caroline Watson Engraver to her Majesty, 1805.

Published. Jan1.1806. by J.Johnson, St Paul's Church Yard London.

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"Observatur oculis ille vir, quo neminem ætas nostra graviorem, sanctiorem,
subtiliorem denique tulit: quem ego quum ex admiratione diligere cœpissem, quod eve-
nire contrà solet, magis admiratus sum, postquam penitus inspexi. Inspexi enim peni
tus: nihil a me ille secretum, non joculare, non serium, non triste, non lætum.”
Plinii Epist. Lib. 4, Ep 17.

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FOR J. JOHNSON, ST. PAUL'S CHURCH-YARD, LONDON.

1806.
VIW

AN

INTRODUCTORY LETTER

TO THE

RIGHT HONOURABLE

EARL COWPE R.

YOUR family, my Lord, our country itself, and the whole literary world, sustained such a loss in the death of that amiable man, and enchanting author, who forms the subject of these Volumes, as inspired the friends of genius and virtue with universal concern. It soon became a general wish, that some authentic, and copious, memorial of a character so highly interesting should

a

be produced with all becoming dispatch; not only to render due honour to the dead, but to alleviate the regret of a nation taking a just, and liberal pride in the reputation of a poet, who had obtained, and deserved, her applause, her esteem, her affection. If this laudable wish, was very sensibly felt by the publick at large, it glowed with peculiar warmth and eagerness in the bosom of the few, who had been so fortunate as to enjoy an intimacy with Cowper in some unclouded periods of his life, and who knew from such an intimacy, that a lively sweetness, and sanctity of spirit, were as truly the characteristics of his social enjoyments, as they are allowed to constitute a principal charm in his poetical productions. It has justly been regarded as a signal blessing, to have possessed the perfect esteem, and confidence, of such a man; and not long after his decease, one of his particular friends presumed to suggest

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