Letter from William Cowper, Weston Underwood, to William Hayley, 1792 March 17 : autograph manuscript signed.

Responding with thanks to a letter from Hayley, the receipt of which had been delayed several weeks; apologizing and explaining that the blame for this lies elsewhere: "Thanks to my Bookseller [Joseph Johnson] who neglected to send it sooner, and by his unreasonable delay has put my nerves and spirits to a trial, not the first of the kind that they have sustained from Him, but certainly the severest;" describing his reactions to a newspaper account that pitted Cowper against Hayley, as both were currently working on biographies of Milton: "my first sensations were not unpleasant, for I felt myself not a little flatter'd by the supposed competition between us. But sensations of a very different kind succeeded, and such as were nearly akin to the most dispiriting despondence. I never thought myself very well qualified for my present enterprize, for though I have all my life been at times occupied in reading and admiring Milton, I had not once look'd into him with the eyes of a Commentator ; nor did I, nor had I any reason to judge myself in any measure equal to yourself either in point of Learning or other ability for such an employment. Guess then how I must feel myself relieved by the information you give me that we are to act each in a distinct province, and that I shall have no disgrace to fear on this occasion save from myself only. - He who knows the hearts of all, knows that in thus speaking and in thus describing my feelings in this instance, I have spoken nothing but the truth;" praising Milton as "perhaps the chief of all who have ever done honour to our country, and whose very name I reverence;" saying that his project is different in that it does not focus on Milton's life or character and he envisions that "we will cope with each other in nothing but that affection which you avow for me, unworthy of it as I am, and which your character and writings and especially your kind letter have begotten in my heart for you;" thanking Hayley for his subscription and his sonnet; adding "May I always so write and so act as to continue in your good opinion, and send me now and then a line to tell me that I still possess it;" adding in a postscript "Every remark of yours on Milton will be highly valued by me."