CO WES COWPER. 



501 



chaolain, Kilfinan, Kilniodan, Kilmorich, Lochgoil- 

 head, Strachur, and Strathlachlan. It is watered by 

 the rivers Car and Eachaig, and by the extensive 

 fresh lakes Ech and Long, the latter separating 

 it from the shire of Dumbarton, and all abound- 

 ing with the finest fish. The coast is indented with 

 numerous creeks convenient for the craft employed 

 in the herring fishery. The higher grounds afford ex- 

 cellent pasture for great numbers of black cattle and 

 sheep, while the lowlands by cultivation yield plen- 

 tiful green crops for their winter support. 



CO WES ; a seaport on the north coast of the Isle 

 of Wight, situated on the river Meden, which divides 

 it into East and West Cowes; twelve miles W. S. 

 W. Portsmouth. West Cowes fort is situated in Ion. 

 1 19' W., lat. 50 46' N. The harbour is as safe 

 as any in the British channel, and by far the 

 most convenient for vessels bound to Holland and 

 the east countries, and is much frequented by ships 

 to repair damages sustained at sea, and to water, 

 until the weather permits them to proceed on their 

 respective voyages. This place is much resorted to 

 in summer, as a bathing place. East Cowes is a ham- 

 let opposite to West Cowes. 



COWLEY, ABRAHAM, an English poet of great 

 celebrity in his day, was born at London in 1618. 

 His father, a grocer, died before his birth, but his 

 mother obtained him admission into Westminster 

 school, as king's scholar. He complained of his own 

 defective memory, in the acquirement of the rules of 

 grammar, but nevertheless became a correct classi- 

 cal scholar, and so early imbibed a taste for poetry, 

 that, in his 16th or 17th year, while yet at school, he 

 published a collection of verses, which he entitled 

 Poetical Blossoms. These juvenile productions, 

 which are more moral and sententious than imagina- 

 tive, attracted considerable attention towards the 

 author, who, in 1636, was elected a scholar of Trini- 

 ty college, Cambridge, where he soon obtained great 

 literary distinction, and published a pastoral comedy, 

 entitled Love's Riddle, and another in Latin, called 

 Naiifragium Joculare, which was acted before the 

 university by the members of Trinity college. He 

 continued to reside at Cambridge until 1643, when 

 he was ejected by the puritanical visitors ; on which 

 he removed to St John's college, Oxford, where he 

 published a satirical poem, entitled the Puritan and 

 the Papist. He engaged actively in the royal cause, 

 and was honoured with the friendship of lord Falk- 

 land. When the queen was obliged to quit England, 

 Cowley accompanied her. He was absent from his 

 native country nearly ten years, during which time 

 he undertook various journeys for the royal family ; 

 and it was principally through him that the corre- 

 spondence was maintained oetween the king and 

 queen. In 1646 appeared his collection of amatory 

 poems, entitled the Mistress. This was followed, in 

 1650, by a comedy, called the Guardian, afterwards 

 altered into the Cutter of Coleman Street. In 1656, 

 being no longer employed abroad, he returned to 

 England, where, it is presumed, he still remained 

 a medium of confidential communication between the 

 king and the royal party. Soon after his arrival, he 

 published an edition of his poems, containing most of 

 the works which appear in the final collection. He 

 was, about this time, committed to custody by the 

 ruling powers, but was released on the celebrated 

 doctor Scarborough becoming bail for him to the 

 amount of ,1000. For the purpose, probably, of 

 appearing in an ostensible character, he assumed the 

 profession of physic, and had sufficient interest to 

 procure a mandamus from Oxford, in 1657. He 

 again visited France, and resumed his functions of 



igent in the royal cause on the death of Cromwell. 



.)n the restoration he returned with the other royal- 



ists. By the interest of the duke of Buckingham 

 and the earl of St Albans, he obtained the lease of a 

 farm at Chertsey, held under the queen, by which 

 his income was rendered about ^300 per annum. It 

 however appears, that neither the mind nor body of 

 Cowley was fitted for his new mode of life. A 

 severe cold and fever, caught from wandering among 

 the damp fields, terminated his life, July, 1667, in the 

 49th year of his age. 



The private character of Cowley entitled him to 

 general respect; and Charles II., (no very conclu- 

 sive testimony, certainly) observed, that he had not 

 left a " better man behind him in England." It ap- 

 pears, on higher authority, however, that the loyal- 

 ty of Cowley was free from the servility and gross 

 adulation of the courtiers of the day, and that he 

 possessed a free, independent spirit; was modest, 

 sober, and sincere ; of gentle affections and moderate 

 wishes. As a poet, he probably stands at the head 

 of the metaphysical class, so ably discussed in doctor 

 Johnson's life of him. He is, by turns, easy, gay, 

 splendid, witty, and never trite and vulgar, although 

 often fantastic, strained, and extravagant. The 

 chief merit of Cowley consists in a kind of sport of 

 the imagination in pursuit of a thought through all 

 its variations and obliquities, and in searching 

 throughout the material world for objects of simili- 

 tude with intellectual ideas, connected by the most 

 fanciful relations. The Anacreontics of Cowley are 

 among his most agreeable pieces, and few nave para- 

 phrased the Teian bard more felicitously. His own 

 original ballad, the List of Mistresses, is deemed 

 still more sprightly and pleasant. His love verses, 

 entitled the Mistress, abound with wit, but are utter- 

 ly destitute of feeling, being at once ingenious and 

 frigid. His Pindaric Odes exhibit a most un- 

 bridled license of thought, metre, and expression, 

 but contain many very striking combinations and 

 images. H is Davideis, which is incomplete, although 

 conveying no strong proof of epic talent, contains 

 some pleasing passages. Of his occasional pieces, 

 his Hymn to Light is decidedly the most elevated 

 and poetical. As an essayist in prose, Cowley is 

 natural, easy, and equable, abounding with thought, 

 but without any of the affectation or straining which 

 disfigures his poetry. Nor is his comedy, the Cutter 

 of Coleman Street, without humour, although of a 

 temporary nature. As a writer of Latin verse, lie is 

 highly commended by doctor Johnson. His princi- 

 pal performance in that language, consists of six 

 books on plants, which show remarkable facility in 

 the accommodation of verse to an untoward subject. 

 His imitations of the satires and moral epistles of 

 Horace are also much admired by Warton. What- 

 ever place Cowley may retain in general estimation 

 as a poet, he must always stand high as a wit ; few 

 authors afford so many new thoughts, and those so 

 entirely his own. 



COWLEY, HANNAH, a popular writer of dramas 

 was the daughter of Mr Parkhouse of Tiverton in 

 Devonshire, where she was born in 1743. She mar- 

 ried, in her 25th year, captain Cowley of the East 

 India company's service, who died in 1797. Among 

 her dramas are, the Runaway, the Belle's Stra- 

 tagem, (still a stock piece,) More ways than One, 

 and the Fate of Sparta. She died in 1809, and 

 a collected edition of her works, with a memoir, 

 was published in 1813, 3 vols. 8vo. In private life, 

 Mrs Cowley was amiable and modest, and her pieces 

 are all of an agreeable kind. 



COWPER, WILLIAM, a distinguished English 

 poet, was born at Berkhamstead, Herts, Nov. 26, 

 1731. His father, the rector of the parish, was the 

 reverend John Cowper, D. D., son of Spencer Cow- 

 per, one of the justices of the common pleas, a younger 



