Autograph letter signed : Temple [London], to Chase Price, 1754 Feb. 21.

Written when Cowper was studying for the bar, this letter concerns his relationship with his cousin, Theadora, with whom he fell in love in 1752. He writes "that it is not so wonderfull that I should have won the Affections of a Virtuous Woman, who saw that my Behaviour, various as it was, had no Mixture of Affectation in it." Of Price's own amorous pursuits, Cowper advises him "to wait 'till you are deeply smitten before you accost her as a Lover; your Reformation must be the Effect of your Regard for her, and of your very sincere Regard for her, otherwise it can never last. . . . You must Amend, or Despair of finding in Honest Matrimony a sure Contentment. . . . Neither the Single nor the Marry'd State afford any sure Contentment But to the Virtuous." Cowper goes on to add that "A Vicious man in the Single State may perhaps find his Existence at the latter end of his Days barely tolerable, while he is young it may possibly be Agreeable rather than not, but this is very Hazardous: In the marry'd State his Case is Desperate, whether Young or Old he must be miserable. -- For Vicious please read Libertine and you may apply all I have said to Yourself." Commenting, in a postscript, on the current state of his relationship with Theadora, he tells Price that "All is Comfortable & Happy between us at present and I doubt not will continue so for ever. Indeed we had neither of us any great reason to be Dissatisfied, & perhaps Quarrel'd merely for the sake of the Reconciliation--which you may be sure made Ample Amends. Adieu!" According to King and Ryskamp, Price was "one of the most ribald and celebrated wits of his time."