413 



COX, DAVID. 



COXE, WILLIAM. 



414 



removed first to North Tuddenharu in Norfolk, thence to Mundsley, 

 and afterwards to East Derebam ; and he succeeded in obtaining short 

 intervals of comparative tranquillity, during which he composed one 

 or two small pieces and revised his translation of Homer. Mrs. Unwin, 

 his faithful companion, died on the 17th of December 1796 ; and after 

 three dreary years, C'owper followed her to the grave on the 25th of 

 April 1800. He died in his sixty-ninth year. 



Cowper's merits have been summed up by Mr. Southey in the 

 words " the most popular poet of his generation, and the best of 

 English letter-writers." His letters are written in a genuine unaffected 

 English style, and are marked for the most part by a playfulness and 

 humour which effectually prevent the weary feeling that usually 

 attends a long continuous reading of epistolary correspondence. 

 Absence of affectation is again a chief characteristic of his poems. 

 They are free from all sickly sentimentality or mannerism in language. 

 As regards freedom from the first, the manliness of the poet presents 

 a striking contrast to the feminine character of the man ; while, with 

 reference to the second point, Cowper has the merit of having done 

 much towards that improvement in poetic diction which subsequently 

 received so great an impulse through the poems of Wordsworth. He 

 was an enthusiastic lover of nature ; and some of his descriptions of 

 natural objects are such as Wordsworth himself might be proud to 

 own. His poems contain also, aa it is not too strongly expressed by 

 t, " a number of pictures of domestic comfort and social refine- 

 ment which can hardly be forgotten but with the language itself." 

 (' Lectures on the English Poets,' p. 182.) There is a striking amount 

 of variety iu his poems, or, taking but one of them, in the ' Task ' 

 alone. Some of his smaller pieces, aa for instance the ' Lines on 

 receiving his Mother's Portrait,' and those addressed ' To Mary,' are 

 exquisitely pathetic. 



His translation of Homer is unequal in execution, as might be 

 expected in the case of a work of such length, and of an author sub- 

 ject to attacks of melancholy as C'owper was. But taken as a whole, 

 and judged by those rules which should be applied to translations, 

 it must be pronounced the best translation of Homer which we pos- 

 sess. He set out with a determination to seize, so far as be could, the 

 real spirit of Homer ; and if he ha) not always succeeded, his failure 

 may be partly attributed to his failing health and the circumstances 

 under which it was written. 



There are numerous lives of Cowper. The first is that by Hayley, 

 and as such, and the work of Cowper's friend, it ought to be men- 

 tioned, though it was never of much value, and has been long super- 

 s^ded. The best life of Cowper, in every respect, is that of Southey : 

 an edition of it iu Bohn's ' Standard Library ' includes the ' Private 

 Correspondence,' which Southey was not able to publish in the original 

 edition, though he embodied nearly all that was essential in it. A 

 poem entitled ' Anti Thelyphthora,' being a satire against those who 

 would do away with the institution of marriage, appears among 

 Cowper'a poems for the first time in Southey 's edition. 



COX, DAVID, was born at Birmingham in 1793. About the 

 commencement of the present century the representations of land- 

 scapes in water-colours from feeble and ineffective tiuted drawings 

 Lad been raised, chiefly by the genius of Girtin and Turner, almost to 

 rivalry with paintings in oil. Among the many young artists who 

 devoted themselves to this new art, David Cox soon distinguished 

 himself by decided originality of style and familiarity with nature 

 under many of her most striking aspects ; and for some forty years 

 he continued, amid the manifold fluctuations of artistic fashion, to 

 pursue his own quiet course, at times neglected or depreciated, at 

 others eagerly praised and patronised by the critics and connoisseurs, 

 but always finding a goodly number of admirers. The common notion 

 respecting his pictures is that they are mere rough sketches intended 

 only to suggest, somewhat rudely and coarsely, certain natural 

 ' effects ' as they are designated. But however coarse and rude they 

 may seem in execution, the works of Mr. Cox are the results not only 

 of a close observance of natural phenomena, but of a well-considered 

 method of conveying his own impressions. He paints on the roughest 

 paper, and entirely disregards all minute details, and what U commonly 

 called ' finish.' Yet though often seemingly mere hasty blots the 

 smaller drawings at least his pictures convey to an eye that has 

 observed scenes and circumstances such as are there depicted under 

 similar conditions of season and weather, the broad general appear- 

 ance the poetic glance of the whole view, with singular directness, 

 fidelity, and vividness. Often indeed Mr. Cox seems to fail in realising 

 his intention, but his successes are very striking. Rain and wind, 

 bursts of sunshine over dark and lonely moors, long stretches of flat 

 moist sands, dank herbage by the skirts of a marsh, the harvest or the 

 hay-field with the brooding or the passing storm, and a score other of 

 what had been regarded as among the scenes and phenomena to be 

 rather avoided than sought after by the landscape-sketcher, he showed 

 to be not merely full of poetry but also of singular pictorial capability. 

 Of lale years Mr. Cox has, it must be confessed, become more loose 

 and rough in style, and his works have shown a more decided man- 

 nerism than ever ; yet the old vigour is there, and not a little of the 

 old truth and poetry. Some of his recent sunsets and more sombre 

 effects have been equal to almost anything be ever painted. 



Mr. Cox was one of the early members of the Society of Painters in 

 .-, and in the gallery of that society hU pictures have in 



Londou been almost exclusively exhibited. Many years back Mr. Cox 

 published a series of very suggestive lessons on water-colour painting, 

 but they have long been out of print. He has for some years resided 

 in the vicinity of Birmingham. Mr. Cox has a son, David, who is an 

 associate of the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, and an able 

 painter, but he appears inclined to imitate somewhat too directly his 

 father's peculiar manner. 



COXE, WILLIAM, archdeacon of Wilts, was born m London, 

 March 1747. In 1768 he was a fellow of King's College, Cambridge. 

 In 1771 he was appointed to the curacy of Denham, near Uxbridge, 

 but soon after he went to travel on the continent as tutor to the 

 Marquis of Blandford, son of the Duke of Marlborough, with whom 

 he remained two years. In 1775 he accompanied in the same capacity 

 Lord Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke, with whom he visited a 

 considerable part of Europe. His ' Sketches of the Natural, Civil, 

 and Political State of Switzerland, in a series of Letters to W. Mel- 

 moth,' 8vo, 1779, was translated into French with considerable 

 additions by M. Rainond, a French traveller of taste and information, 

 who rendered Coxe's work, which was rather dry and prosy, more 

 attractive by adding many entertaining details. Coxe's attention 

 had been chiefly directed to the political institutions of the numerous 

 republics of the old Helvetic Confederation, a subject which had been 

 already in some measure treated by Stanyan hah' a century before. 

 Ramond travelled as a pedestrian through the most remote Alpine 

 districts : he understood the dialects of the country, and in this 

 respect had a great advantage over Coxe. He added to Coxe's work 

 several entire letters, among others one in which he describes tho 

 striking scene, which few travellers have witnessed, of a general 

 landsgemeinde, or assembly of the whole sovereign people of the 

 canton of Qlaiiis. Ramoud's book is still one of the most interesting 

 works upon old Switzerland, such as it was before the French invasion 

 and subsequent changes. (' Lettres de Mr. W. Coxe sur 1'Etat Poli- 

 tique, Civil, et Naturel, de la Suisse, augmeutees des Observations 

 faites dans le mcme Pays par le Traducteur,' 2 vols. 8vo, Paus, 1781.) 

 In 1789 Coxe published a second edition, much enlarged, of his owu 

 work, under the title of ' Travels in Switzerland,' 3 vols. Svo. The 

 third volume is entirely engrossed by a description of the Orisons. 

 Meantime in 1784, having visited the northern kingdoms of Europe, 

 he published ' Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark,' iu 

 5 vols. 8vo, which were translated into French. Soon after the pub- 

 lication of this work he accompanied Mr. Samuel Whitbread on a 

 tour on the continent, and in 1786 he weut there again with the sou 

 of Mr. Portman, of Bryaustou, Dorset. In 1788 he was presented 

 to the rectory of Bemerton by the Earl of Pembroke. In 1794 he 

 again visited the continent with Lord Brornc, eldest son of the 

 Marquis Cornwallis ; and on his return was made chaplain of the 

 Tower. 



Coxo had collected a considerable store of information during his 

 travels, of which he availed himself in writing several historical 

 works, the most important of which is the ' History of the House of 

 Austria from the foundation of the Monarchy by Rudolf of Habsburg 

 to the death of Leopold II. in 1792,' 3 vols. 4to, London, 1807. It is 

 a work of considerable labour and research, and conscientiously 

 written. The author quotes in his preface and in the body of the 

 work his authorities both printed and manuscript; and he also 

 availed himself of oral information which he collected in his travels. 

 The author has confined himself to the German branch of the house 

 of Austria, leaving out the Spanish branch from Philip II. The work 

 was translated into German, and seems to have been well received nt 

 Vienna. Coxe also wrote 1, ' History of the Kings of Spain of the 

 House of Bourbon, from 1700 to 1788,' 3 vols. 4to, 1813. 2, ' Memoirs 

 of John Duke of Marlborough, with his Original Correspondence,' 

 3 vols. 4to, 1817-19.' 3, 'Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of 

 Orford, illustrated with Original Correspondence and Authentic 

 Papers,' 3 vols. 4to, 1798. 4, 'Account of the Russian Discoveries 

 between Asia and America; to which are added, the Conquest of 

 Siberia, and the History of tho Transactions and Commerce between 

 Russia and China,' in 4 to. Gmelin, Pallas, Mu'ller, and others had 

 already treated these subjects, but Coxe has added more complete 

 information which he collected at St. Petersburg. 5, ' Private and 

 Original Correspondence of Charles Talbot, Duke of Shrewsbury, with 

 King William III., the Leaders of the Whig Party, and Others.' C, 

 ' An Historical Tour in Monmouthshire, illustrated with plates from 

 the drawings of Sir R. C. Hoarc,' 2 vols. 4to. 7, 'An Account of the 

 Prisons and Hospitals in Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, with Remarks 

 on the Different Modes of Punishment in those Countries,' Svo. 8, 

 ' Literary Life and Select Works of Benjamin StilliugQeet,' 3 volfl. 

 Svo ; besides several minor works. 



In 1803 he married Eleanora, daughter of Wulter Shairp, consul- 

 general of Russia. In 1805 ho was appointed archdeacon of Wilts. 

 After publishing the 'Memoirs of Marlborough,' in 1819 his eight 

 failed him, and he became gradually blind. He died at Bemcrtoii at 

 an advanced age, in June 1828. Coxe, though a heavy writer, occupies 

 a respectable place among modern historians : the subjects that ho 

 has treated are numerous and important ; and he spared no pains to 

 collect tho best information, for obtaining which he had facilities of 

 access to some important private collections. The following work 

 was published after his death : ' Memoirs of the Administration of the 



