name and called them Mr. and Mrs. Frog.

Cowper's "Task" went to its publisher and printing was begun,
when suddenly "John Gilpin," after a long sleep in the Public
Advertiser, rode triumphant through the town. A favourite
actor of the day was giving recitations at Freemason's Hall.
A man of letters, Richard Sharp, who had read and liked "John
Gilpin," pointed out to the actor how well it would suit his
purpose. The actor was John Henderson, whose Hamlet, Shylock,
Richard III., and Falstaff were the most popular of his day.
He died suddenly in 1785, at the age of thirty-eight, and it
was thus in the last year of his life that his power of
recitation drew "John Gilpin" from obscurity and made it the
nine days' wonder of the town. Pictures of John Gilpin
abounded in all forms. He figured on pocket-handkerchiefs.
When the publisher asked for a few more pages to his volume of
"The Task," Cowper gave him as makeweights an "Epistle to
Joseph Hill," his "Tirocinium," and, a little doubtfully,
"John Gilpin." So the book was published in June, 1785; was
sought by many because it was by the author of "John Gilpin,"
and at once won recognition. The preceding volume had not made
Cowper famous. "The Task" at once gave him his place among
the poets.

Cowper's "Task" is to this day, except Wordsworth's
"Excursion," the best purely didactic poem in the English
language. The "Sofa" stands only as a point of departure:--it
suits a gouty limb; but as the poet is not gouty, he is up and
off. He is off for a walk with Mrs. Unwin in the country
about Olney. He dwells on the rural sights and rural sounds,