ayed and sang, and they all called one
another by their Christian names, William, Mary (Mrs. Unwin), and Anna
(Lady Austen). In a poetical epistle to Lady Austen, written in
December, 1781, Cowper closes a reference to the strength of their
friendship with the evidence it gave,--

"That Solomon has wisely spoken,--
'A threefold cord is not soon broken.'"

One evening in the summer of 1782, when Cowper was low-spirited, Lady
Austen told him in lively fashion the story upon which he founded the
ballad of "John Gilpin." Its original hero is said to have been a Mr.
Bayer, who had a draper's shop in London, at the corner of Cheapside.
Cowper was so much tickled by it, that he lay awake part of the night
rhyming and laughing, and by the next evening the ballad was complete.
It was sent to Mrs. Unwin's son, who sent it to the Public Advertiser,
where for the next two or three years it lay buried in the "Poets'
Corner," and attracted no particular attention.

In the summer of 1783, when one of the three friends had been reading
blank verse aloud to the other two, Lady Austen, from her seat upon the
sofa, urged upon Cowper, as she had urged before, that blank verse was
to be preferred to the rhymed couplets in which his first book had been
written, and that he should write a poem in blank verse. "I will," he
said, "if you will give me a subject." "Oh," she answered, "you can
write upon anything. Write on this sofa." He playfully accepted that
as "the task" set him, and began his poem called "The Task," which was
finished in the summer of the next year, 1784. But before "The Task"
was finished, Mrs. Unwin's jealousy obliged Cowper to give up his new
friend--whom he had made a point of calling upon every morning at
eleven--and prevent her return to summer quarters in the vicarage.

Two miles from Olney was Weston Underwood with a park, to which its
owner gave Cowper the use of a key. In 1782 a younger brother, John
Throckmorton, came with his wife to live at Weston, and continued
Cowper's privilege. The Throckmortons were Roman Catholics, but in
May, 1784, Mr. Unwin was tempted by an invitation to see a balloon
ascent from their park. Their kindness as hosts won upon Cowper; they
sought and had his more intimate friendship, till in his correspondence
he playfully abused the first syllable of their name and called them
Mr. and Mrs. Frog.

Cowper's "Task" went to its publisher and printing was begun, when
s