11 MARCH 1893, Page 17

THE ORIGIN OP A STORY.

[To THE ErnToIi OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Slit,—In the Spectator of February 18th, you alluded to the Mormon elder whose notion of fulfilling a well-known in- junction was that he should first turn the other cheek to the man who had struck him, and then "give him Hell." The same story is told by Cowper in a letter to the Rev. W. Unwin, under date of July 29th, 1781; but Cowper relates it of a French Abbo, and says that he had it from Lady Austen ; and of course the Americanism is subdued into "he turned again, and beat him soundly." The letter is interesting in that Cowper makes this story the occasion of his first mention of Lady Austen to his friend Unwin.—I am, Sir, &c.,

Didsbury, Manchester, February 25th. HENRY T. HOOPER.