2

HISTORY OP ENGLAND.

CHAP.

XXV.

1699 .

eye than William Cowper. In the art of conciliating anaudience, Cowper was preeminent. His graceful andengaging eloquence cast a spell on juries; and the Com-mons , even in those stormy moments when no other de-fender of the administration could obtain a hearing,would always listen to him. He represented Hertford, aborough in which his family had considerable influence:but there was a strong Tory minority among the elec-tors ; and he had not won his seat without a hard fight,which had left behind it many bitter recollections. Hisyounger brother Spencer, a man of parts and learning,was fast rising into practice as a barrister on the HomeCircuit.

At Hertford resided an opulent Quaker family namedStout. A pretty young woman of this family had latelysunk into a melancholy of a kind not very unusual ingirls of strong sensibility and lively imagination who aresubject to the restraints of austere religious societies. Herdress, her looks, her gestures, indicated the disturbanceof her mind. She sometimes hinted her dislike of the sectto which she belonged. She complained that a cantingwaterman who was one of the brotherhood had held forthagainst her at a meeting. She threatened to go beyondsea, to throw herself out of window, to drown herself.To two or three of her associates she owned that she wasin love; and on one occasion she plainly said that theman whom she loved was one whom she never couldmarry. In fact, the object of her fondness was Spencer