A Dark and a Bright Side

   In my previous reading of Cowper's letters, I seem to have overlooked this interesting quotation:


   "Every scene of life has two sides, a dark and a bright one; and the mind that has an equal mixture of melancholy and vivacity is best of all qualified for the contemplation of either: it can be lively without levity, and pensive without dejection."

~ William Cowper, in a letter to Mr. Unwin

 concerning Cowper's neighbor, William Bull