(back to top)

Cozens was in the entourage that the fabulously wealthy William Beckford took to Italy in 1782.

Cozens' poetic view of the Roman Campagna suited his patron's impression: "My steps . . . were guided to desert Hills that lift themselves up above vast wastes with here and there a shepherd's hut or neglected Sepulcher.  In such scenes have I mused away whole hours by the evening light, and the moss has often drank my tears."