he never loses sight of his grand object, Cowper's poems are
not mere sermons in verse. He not only passes without an effort 'from
grave to gay, from lively to severe,' but he blends them together with
most happy effect. Gifted with a rare sense of humour, with exquisite
taste, and with a true appreciation of the beautiful both in nature and
art, he enlists all these in the service of religion. While the reader
is amused with his wit and charmed with his descriptions, he is
instructed, proselytised, won over to Evangelicalism almost without
knowing it. 'My sole drift,' wrote Cowper in 1781, a little before the
publication of his first volume,[816] 'is to be useful; a point at
which, however, I know I should in vain aim, unless I could be likewise
entertaining. I have, therefore, fixed these two strings to my bow; and
by the help of both have done my best to send my arrow to the mark. My
readers will hardly have begun to laugh before they will be called upon
to correct that levity and peruse me with a more serious air. I cast a
sidelong glance at the good-liking of the world at large, more for the
sake of their advantage and instruction than their praise. They are
children; if we give them physic we must sweeten the rim of the cup with
honey,' &c. To this principle he faithfully adhered in all his original
poems. He felt the difficulty of the task which he had proposed to
himself. He knew that he would have to break through a thick, hard crust
of prejudice before he could reach his readers' hearts. He saw the
necessity of peculiar delicacy of treatment, lest he should repel those
whom he desired to attract. And nothing marks more strongly the high
estimate which Cowper formed of Newton's tact and good judgment than the
fact that the poet asked his friend to write the preface to his first
volume. When he made this request he was fully aware that any
injudiciousness, any want of tact, would be fatal to his object. But he
applied to Newton expressly because he thought him the only friend who
would not betray him by any such mistakes.

It is from the nature of the case difficult to estimate the services
which Cowper's poetry rendered to the cause which lay nearest to the
poet's heart. Poems do not make converts in the sense that sermons do;
nevertheless, it is doing no injustice to the preaching power of the
Evangelical school to assert that Cowper's poetry left a deeper mark
upon the Church than any sermons did. Through thi