Original (English)

INTRODUCTION. After the publication of his “Table Talk” and other poems in March, 1782, William Cowper, in his quiet retirement at Olney, under Mrs. Unwin’s care, found a new friend in Lady Austen.  She was a baronet’s widow who had a sister married to a clergyman near Olney, with whom Cowper was slightly acquainted.  In the summer of 1781, when his first volume was being printed, Cowper met Lady Austen and her sister in the street at Olney, and persuaded Mrs. Unwin to invite them to t