Note 54 — DIALOGUE II. ON RETIREMENT.

Whether it were owing to his other occupations, or that he had no great confidence in the success of this attempt, these Essays, which were to give entire satisfaction to his court-friend in the affair of his retirement, went on very slowly. They were even left imperfect at his death, “a little before which (says Dr. Sprat) he communicated to me his resolution, to have dedicated them all to my Lord St. Albans, as a testimony of his entire respects to him; and a kind of apology for having left human affairs in the strength of his age, while he might have been serviceable to his country.”——However, if this apology had not the intended effect, it had a much better. Lords and wits may decide of the qualities of Mr. Cowley’s head as they please; but, so long as these Essays remain, they will oblige all honest men to love the language of his heart.