ill 



COWPER, EDWARD. 



OUTER, WILLIAM. 



411 



1804, tod entered ths diplomatic service at an early ago. ID 1824 ha 

 became an attach^ at Vienna, and wat consecutively secretary of 

 legation at Stutganlt and secretary of the embassy at Constantinople. 

 In 1848 he was sent a* minister-plenipotentiary to Switzerland, and 

 afterwards to Frankfurt ; and in 1*51. during the anxioua crisU of the 

 re atttUmont of Germany into tranquillity, he acted ai minuter to 

 the Oermaiiie Confederation. In 1852 he succeeded the Marquis of 

 Nonnanby a* ambassador to the court of the Tuileriea. His name 

 will hereafter be beat remembered by having represented England, in 

 conjunction with Lord Clarendon, at the Congress of Parii in March 

 1854, previous to the proclamation of peace. 

 COMTEK, EDWARD, wa< born in 1790. Little or nothing has yet 



life 



' ' " 



in cylinder-printing that Mr. Applegath was induced to build the 

 extensive printing-office in Duke-street, adjoining to Stamford-street, 

 London, now occupied by Messrs. Clowes, and he was a partner with 

 Mr. Applegath in that establishment. They were also connected in 

 making machines for calico-printing, and in the construction of new 

 machinery for printing the ' Times,' of which, in conjunction with 

 Mr. Applegath, he published a description. In fact, some of the moat 

 important improvement* in machine-printing were of his invention, 

 j-uch especially as the giving a diagonal action to the rollese on the 

 self-acting inking-Ublos. In the Great Kxhibitiou of 1851 he exhibited 

 a model made by T. B. Winter, a student in King's College, London, 

 of the printing-machine now in general use; and by such machines the 

 catalogues of the Great Exhibition were printed. He had for many 

 yean an engagement at the large blacking-factory of Messrs. Day 

 and Martin, in printing their labels in such a manner as to defy 

 imitation. He also furnished some contributions to the ' Penny 



1 :; : - - 



Mr. Cowper, during some of the later years of his life, was professor 

 of mechanics and manufacturing arte at King's College, and it is as a 

 lecturer that ha was beat known to the public. His process of imparting 

 knowledge consisted not only in giving descriptions and illustrating 

 them by models, but in exhibiting the machines themselves, and showing 

 them at work. His manner of lecturing was simple and popular, and 

 b* had always a full attendance. His knowledge of machinery, of 

 mechanical construction, and the mechanic arts, embraced tbe most 

 minute ai well as tbe largest objects. He wrote an elaborate article on 

 a ' Button ; ' and be delivered lectures on tbe mechanical structure of 

 tbe Crystal Palace of 1851. He was much respected for his urbanity, 

 and for bis readiness in making communications from his large stores 

 of information to tbe humblest individuals as well as to persons of 

 higher station. He died at his residence, Kensington, London, October 

 17, 1852. 



COWI'ER, WILLIAM, was born on the 15th of November (old style) 

 1731, at Great Berkbampetoad in Hertfordshire, of which place his 

 father, the Rev. John CVjwper, was rector. He was first placed, when 

 be was bat six years old, at a school kept by Dr. Pitman, at Market- 

 street, in Hertfordshire. The cruelty of an elder boy rendered tbe 

 two years which be spent here two years of misery. He was next 

 placed in the house of an oculist, apprehensions being then entertained 

 that be would lose his sight ; and under the care of this oculist two 

 more yean of his boyhood were passed. At the age of ten he was 

 seat to \Veatminrter School, where be stayed till he was eighteen ; 

 applying daring these eight yean with diligence to hi* studies, and 



1 leaving Westminster, Cowper was articled for three yean to a 

 , In whose office be bad for a fellow-clerk the future Lord 

 Tborlow. I hiring these three yean however be gained no great stock 

 of lofal knowledge, and when they were expired he took up his abode 

 in chamber, in tbe Middle Temple. In 1754 be was called to the bar, 

 and in 1759 be was appointed a commissioner of bankrupt*. One 

 reason, and doubtleet a principal reason, why tbe law bad been fixed 

 upon as Cowper's profession, was tbe existence of a certain amount of 

 Hfl patronage in tbe bands of some of his relations. Having a small 

 liefiliiiiinj, and looking forward to the exercise in his favour of this 

 influence, be oared not for those objects to which application wouM 

 Vend, any more than be liked tbe subject to which he was to apply ; 

 d aoaordlagly be neglected tbe study of law. While residing in the 

 Tempi* be mad* love to his cousin, Theodora Cowper, the sister of 

 hie imnepauuenl, Lady Heaketh, and dallied with literature. He was 

 member of a *Ub called tbe ' Nonsense Club,' consisting entirely of 

 Westminster men, among whom were Bonnet! Thornton, Col man, and 

 Uuyd ; sod be contributed a few papers to the ' Connoisseur,' of which 

 Thornton and Colman were the joint projectors and writers. 



Hi* resadeao* in tbe Temple extended through eleven yean. In 

 176, tbe last year of that reeldeooa, tbe offices of dork of the journals, 

 reading clrk, and clerk of tbe oommitten in tbe House of Lords, all 

 which omoce were at tbe disposal of a cousin of Cowper**, became 

 vacant about the sam* time. Tbe two last were conferred on Cowper. 

 Hi* patrimony wa* by this tiro* well nigh spent, and the gift was 

 therefore so far acceptable. But tbe dutie. attached to the office* of 

 reading clerk tad clerk of tbe committee* were duties which required 

 that be sbonld frequently appear before tbe House of Lords ; and to 

 him, who suffered from extreme nervousoow, a public exhibition of 



any kind was, as he himself expresses it, "mortal poison." II. 

 therefore, almost immediately after having accepted them, resigned 

 these offices, and took that of clerk of the journals. But here again, 

 his cousin's right of nomination having been questioned, Cowper 

 was unexpectedly required to submit himself to an examination at 

 the bar of the house before being allowed to take the office, Thus 

 the evil from which he seemed to have escaped again met him. " A 

 thunderbolt," he writes in his memoir of himself, " would have been 

 as welcome to me as this intelligence. ... To require my attendance 

 at tbe bar of the house, that I might there publicly entitle my-clf to 

 the office, was in effect to exclude me from it In the meantime the 

 interest of my friend, the honour of his choice, my own reputation, iui< I 

 circumstances, all urged me forward all pressed me to undertake that 

 which I saw to be impracticable." Unceasing was the anguish which 

 he now suffered. He even looked forward anxiously to the coming 

 of insanity, a constitutional tendency to which had manifested itself 

 some years before, that he might have a reason for throwing up tbe 

 office ; and when the dreaded day drew near, and he found himself 

 still in possession of his senses, he determined on the commission of 

 -ui'-i 1'-. Hi* many attempts to destroy himself all failed of success, 

 owing, as he is pleased to explain it in his memoir, to direct inter- 

 positions of Providence, Tbe office was ultimately resigned on tbe 

 very day appointed for the examination, and shortly afterwards he 

 became insane. He was immediately placed under the care of Dr. 

 Cotton at St. Allan's, with whom he stayed until bis recovery, which 

 took place about eighteen months after, in June 1765. 



The form which Cowper's insanity assumed was that of religious 

 dull! -ion. A belief that he had been irrevocably cut off from a state 

 of grace in this world, and of salvation in the next, was that which 

 preyed upon his mind previous to the coming of the shock, and was 

 predominant while it lasted. In the three subsequent periods of his 

 life during which madness returned to him, from 1773 to 1776, for 

 about six months in 1787, and during the six years preceding bin 

 death, its form was the same, 



On Cowper's recovery in 1705, he took up his residence in Hunting- 

 don, solely that be might be within reach of a younger brother who 

 was then at Cambridge. Here he became acquainted with the family 

 of the Rev. Mr. Unwin, the beneficial influence exercised by whom 

 on Cowper's subsequent life is well known. Finding that his spirits 

 were sinking in the solitude in which he lived, and also that his scanty 

 means were not sufficient to maintain a separate establishment, ho 

 became a boarder in Mr. Unwin' s house. On Mr. Unwin's death in 

 1767, Cowper and Mrs. Unwin removed to Olney in Buckinghamshire, 

 attracted thither by their esteem for Mr. Newton, who wan then curate 

 of the place. Mr. Newton, a man greatly to be respected for his un- 

 questioned piety and moral worth, held strong views on the subject 

 of religious duties ; and having early acquired a powerful influence 

 over Cowper, led him to engage his thoughts continually on religious 

 subjects. Mr. Newton was a prominent member of that section of 

 clergymen known as ' evangelical,' and his zeal had been powerfully 

 stimulated by the religious movement which, originating with Wesley 

 and \\ liitclieM, had deeply penetrated thn evangelical body in the 

 Church. It is probable that Cowper, with his constitutional nervous- 

 nes* and predisposition to mental derangement, did not derive un- 

 mixed good from the excitement of frequent prayer-meetings and an 

 unremitting attention to religious subject*. Mr. Newton had formed 

 a plan of publishing a volume of hymns, and prevailed on Cowper to 

 assist in composing them. They were afterwards published in 1776, 

 under the title of ' Olney Hymns ; ' but Cowper, before he had pro- 

 ceeded far in their composition, was visited with his second attack of 

 marines*, which lasted nearly four years. 



In 1776, after Cowper's recovery, Mr. Newton removed from Olney. 

 By Mrs. Unwin's advice Cowper was now induced to commence a poem, 

 taking, upon her suggestion, the Progress of Error for his subject ; 

 and he immediately went on to write threo more moral satires, 01 

 ' Truth,' ' Table Talk,' and ' Expostulation.' These, together with 

 the poems entitled ' Error,' ' Hope,' ' Charity,' ' Conversation, 1 ami 

 ' Retirement,' and some smaller pieces, were formed into a volume, 

 which was published in 1782. He published a second volume in 1785, 

 containing the 'Task' and 'Tirocinium,' the former of which poems 

 had been commenced on the suggestion of another female friend, 

 Lady Austen. It is to the same lady that we are indebted for thu 

 'History of John Uilpin.' Ho had begun in 1784, so soon ai tho 

 ' Task ' and ' Tirocinium ' bad been written, his translation of Homer, 

 which occupied him for the next six years. The translation was pub- 

 lished in 1791. During ita progress he had changed his place of 

 residence from Olney to the neighbouring village of Weston, on the 

 recommendation of bis cousin, Lady Hesketh, with whom he had 

 recently renewed a correspondence which hod been long suspended, 

 an'! whose attentions contributed much to the comfort of bin later 

 years. Almost immediately after the translation of Homer was com- 

 pleted he undertook to superintend a new edition of Milton's Works, 

 and to furnish translations of the Latin and Italian poems. In U'.'J 

 he paid a visit to Hayley at Eartham, in Sussex, not having made a 

 journey for twenty years before. Symptoms of his constitutional 

 malady had occasionally shown themselves during the eight or ten 

 preceding years ; and in the beginning of 1794 he was again afflicted 

 with madness. A change of scene being judged desirable, he was 



