'
[1081] Cowper wrote of Thurlow:--'I know well the Chancellor's
benevolence of heart, and how much he is misunderstood by the world.
When he was young he would do the kindest things, and at an expense to
himself which at that time he could ill afford, and he would do them too
in the most secret manner.' Southey's _Cowper_, vii. 128. Yet Thurlow
did not keep his promise made to Cowper when they were fellow-clerks in
an attorney's office. 'Thurlow, I am nobody, and shall be always nobody,
and you will be chancellor. You shall provide for me when you are.' He
smiled, and replied, 'I surely will.' _Ib._ i. 41. When Cowper sent him
the first volume of his poems, 'he thought it not worth his while,' the
poet writes, 'to return me any answer, or to take the least notice of my
present.' _Ib._ xv. 176. Mr. (afterwards Sir) W. Jones, in two letters
to Burke, speaks of Thurlow as the [Greek: thaerion] (beast). 'I heard
last night, with surprise and affliction,' he wrote on Feb. 15,
1783,'that the [Greek: thaerion] was to continue in office. Now I can
assure you from my own positive knowledge (and I know him well), that
although he hates _our_ species in general, yet his particular hatred is
directed against none more virulently than against Lord North, and the
friends of the late excellent Marquis.
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