Note 2 — Front matter
Reading edition
Cowper, that excellent man and poet, and close observer of nature, writes as follows to his friend, on the 11th of March, 1792:—
"TO JOHN JOHNSON, ESQ.
"You talk of primroses that you pulled on Candlemas Day, but what think you of me, who heard a nightingale on New Year's Day? Perhaps I am the only man in England who can boast of such good fortune. Good indeed! for if was at all an omen, it could not be an unfavourable one. The winter, however, is now making himself amends, and seems the more peevish for having been encroached on at so undue a season. Nothing less than a large slice out of the spring will satisfy him."
He adds the following lines on the occasion:—
"TO THE NIGHTINGALE, WHICH THE AUTHOR HEARD SING ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1792.
"Whence is it that amazed I hear From yonder wither'd spray, This foremost morn of all the year, The melody of May? "And why, since thousands would be proud Of such a favour shown, Am I selected from the crowd, To witness it alone? "Sing'st thou, sweet Philomel, to me, For that I also long Have practised in the groves like thee, Though not like thee in song? "Or, sing'st thou rather under force Of some divine command, Commissioned to presage a course Of happier days at hand? "Thrice welcome then! for many a long And joyless year have I, As thou to-day, put forth my song Beneath a wintry sky. "But thee no wintry skies can harm, Who only need'st to sing To make e'en January charm, And every season spring.
R.B."