"My imagination tells me," says Cowper to Unwin, "(for I know you interest yourself in the success of my productions) that your heart fluttered when you approached his door, and that it felt itself discharged of a burthen when you came out again." The "Advertisement," or preface, accounting for _The Task_, is worth reprinting. It runs: "The hiſtory of the following production is briefly this. A lady, fond of blank verſe, demanded a poem of that kind from the author, and gave him the SOFA for a ſubject. He obeyed; and having much leiſure, connected another ſubject with it; and purſuing the train of thought to which his ſituation and turn of mind led him, brought forth at length, inſtead of the trifle which he at firſt intended, a ſerious affair--a Volume." The lady, who was Cowper's friend, Lady Austin, was also responsible for _John Gilpin_, for it was from her that the poet first heard the tale. It is said that he wrote the outline that night and sent it to _The Public Advertiser_, anonymously, the next morning; but, in fact, it appeared in November, 1782. It had a great success in the newspapers, and in pamphlet form, and Henderson, the actor, gave it further vogue by his recitations. "I have not been without thoughts of adding 'John Gilpin' at the tail of all," wrote Cowper, while _The Task_ was in press. "He has made a good deal of noise in the world; and perhaps it may not be amiss to show, that though I write generally with a serious intention, I know how to be occasionally merry."