Notable among Cowper's other friends were the Rev John Newton
(a former slave-trader who since his conversion had become a hellfire Evangelical preacher), Lady Austen
(who set him the writing task commemorated in the title...
Timeline
By August 1785: William Cowper published The Task, his meditative-didactic...
Writing climate item
By August 1785
William Cowper
published The Task, his meditative-didactic poem in six books. Writing it was a task set before him by his friend Lady Austen
.