What  an  idea,  a  man  getting  fat  amid  the  flames  of
hell !  Cowper  all  his  life  was  healthy,  often  strong.
I  admire  his  g"enius,  too,  more  and  more  every  time
I  read  him  ;  it  was  so  simple,  strong,  rich,  and  above
all  so  healthy,  considering  his  morbid  constitution  and
horrid  delusions.
You  would  rejoice  to  learn  of  A.  Smith's  success.
Your  friend  William  Macfarlane  was  of  much  service
to  him  in  his  canvass  [for  the  Secretaryship].
\Qth  April,  1854. — And  so  the  old  lion  has  gasped
his  last !  How  grieved  would  all  of  us  have  been,  had
not  his  soul  gone  away  first !  And  still  at  best  it  is
a  sad  and  solemn  dispensation.
I  liked  your  remarks  on  him  exceedingly,  with  a
slight  exception  or  two.  The  Critic  folks  wrote  me
in  great  urgency  for  a  paper  on  him,  and  I  wrote
with  great  rapidity  a  rather  lengthy  memoir  for  their
first  number.  You  will  find  that  I  have  quoted  the
most  of  your  paper,  and  contested  one  point  or  so.
I  have  not  at  all  repeated  myself  in  it.
I  wonder  what  really  his  religious  views  latterly
were.  It  was  impossible  for  such  a  clear  and  power-
ful mind  as  his  to  rest  satisfied  with  the  miserable
pantheisms  and  Nature-worships  of  this  drivelling
day  ;  but  what  his  views  of  Christianity  were  seems
very  uncertain.
