Cowper received the nomination.

He had longed for the office, sinfully as he afterwards fancied; it would exactly have suited him and made him comfortable for life.

But his mind had by this time succumbed to his malady.

His fancy conjured up visions of opposition to the appointment in the House of Lords; of hostility in the office where he had to study the Journals; of the terrors of an examination to be undergone before the frowning peers.

After hopelessly poring over the Journals for some months he became quite mad, and his madness took a suicidal form.