a love for poetry and nature. Soon they were encouraging one another to hymn writing. The parish prayer meeting outgrew the home where it was held, so Newton requested permission in the spring of 1769 to hold it at Lord Darmouth's Great House. In honor of the occasion both he and Cowper wrote a hymn. Thereafter Newton wrote one hymn a week to expound and teach at the Great House. He wrote yet others for the lacemakers, a cottage industry in Olney. In 1779 Newton published Olney Hymns, of which 280 were his.
