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Cowper. was at least free from inversions ; and if loose, negli- 

 >— -Y"""" / gent, and even slovenly, was at least free from the op- 

 posite extreme of stiffness, — a fault which often haunts 

 correcter and terser poets. 



DrHurddid considerable service to Corey's memory, 

 by selecting the best of his poems, or, more properly 

 speaking, those of his pieces which are legible as en- 

 tire poems. It was not, however, in the power of that 

 or any other critic, to disengage all the genuine ideas of 

 superlative poetical fancy, which sparkle like minute 

 fragments of gold amidst the general dross of his com- 

 position. To have presented all his beauties, he must 

 have culled broken sentences, which would be scarcely 

 intelligible in a detached shape. After pages of dul- 

 ness, Ave come to such striking thoughts, as when he 

 apostrophises Hope, 



Brother of Fear more gaily clad, 



The merrier fool of the two, yet quite as mad. 



He is never sublime, and neither his subjects nor his 

 genius seem to have favoured the deep and genuine 

 pathetic. But his fancy flutters on a gay and dazzling, 

 though often fantastic wing. A gay, exhilarating, and 

 elastic spirit of poetry supports him, without a single 

 descent, throughout the whole of some of his pieces ; 

 as in his Ode to Wit, and his Chronicle, the latter of 

 which productions Johnson characterizes with an elo- 

 quence which does equal honour to the poet and the 

 critic: " The Chronicle is a composition unrivalled and 

 alone; such gaiety of fancy, such varied similitude, such 

 a succession of images, and such a dance of words, it 

 is impossible to expect except from Cowley. His 

 strength always appears in his agility — his volatility is 

 not the flutter of a light, but the bound of an elastic 

 mind. His levity never leaves his learning behind it 

 —the moralist, the politician, and the critic, mingle 

 their influence even in this airy frolic of genius. To 

 such a performance Suckling could have brought the 

 gaiety, but not the knowledge. Dryden could have 

 supplied the knowledge, but not the gaiety." It is im- 

 possible to select such a paragraph from Johnson, with- 

 out exclaiming, with reference to his criticisms, si sic 

 omnia I (-/)) 



COWPER, William, an eminent English poet, was 

 born at Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire in 1731. His fa- 

 ther, the rector of that parish, was the son of Judge 

 Cowper, of the Court of Common Pleas, and a nephew 

 of the Lord Chancellor Cowper. The mother of the 

 poet died when he was only six years of age, but he de- 

 scribes her as if his tender memory, and not his imagi- 

 nation, had supplied the poetical portrait. At an early 

 age he was sent to Westminster school, a scene of bus- 

 tle and contention peculiarly ill fitted for his sensibility. 

 The recollection of his sufferings under his school-boy 

 tyrants at that place, seems to have embittered his opi- 

 nion of public education through life. At eighteen he 

 was sent from Westminster to the house of a Mr Chap- 

 man, a London law-solicitor, who by his own account 

 paid little or no attention to the profession. His next 

 removal was to chambers in the Inner Temple; but still 

 , his aversion to dry study, probably occasioned by his 

 constitutional melancholy, and his predilection for po- 

 lite literature, prevented his progress and hopes in the 

 legal profession. He was not, however, wholly idle, 

 but wrote from time to time translations from Horace, 

 occasional poems, and some prose papers, which ap- 

 peared in the Connoisseur, and have been deservedly 

 noticed for their ease and elegance of style. To these 

 writings he did not give his name. 



€0 W 



When turned of SO, having cherished a strong at- 

 tachment for a lady of great accomplishments and 

 beauty, (the object of his affections is said in common 

 report to have been a sister of Lady Hesketh), he look- 

 ed forward to a happy settlement for life, and was ap- 

 pointed to be the reading clerk of the private commit- 

 tees of the House of Lords ; but on account of his great 

 dread of public appearance, the situation was changed 

 to the clerkship of the Journals of the same House. 

 Even in this appointment, however, an unlucky dis- 

 pute in Parliament required his standing a public ex- 

 amination; and though he had prepared himself for 

 months by studying the Journals, he was so fearful of 

 his memory failing, that he could not make the experi- 

 ment. Under the terrors and regret attending this dis- 

 appointment, the fine fabric of his mind was over- 

 thrown, and it was necessary to remove him to St Al- 

 ban's, to be under the care of Dr Cotton, with whom 

 he continued 19 months. Removing to Huntingdon, 

 for the sake of being near his brother, a clergyman and 

 fellow of Cambridge, he fell into intimacy with some 

 inhabitants of that place, who certainly contributed to 

 deepen the shade of that religious melancholy which 

 had sprung up in his mind since his recovery. The 

 younger Mr Unwin, the son of a clergyman of Hun- 

 tingdon, made acquaintance with Cowper one day 

 after church, and introduced him to his mother, Mrs 

 Unwin, the future Mary of the poet, and to the elder 

 Mr Unwin who was still alive. He was soon domesti- 

 cated in the family of the Unwins, and Ms routine of 

 life among these well-meaning enthusiasts is thus de- 

 scribed : " We breakfast," says Cowper in one of his 

 letters," commonly between eight and nine ; till eleven 

 we read either the scriptures, or the sermons of some 

 faithful preacher of those holy mysteries At eleven we 

 attend divine service, which is performed here twice 

 every day, and from twelve to three we separate and 

 amuse ourselves as we please. During that interval I 

 either read in my own apartment, or walk or ride, or 

 work in the garden. We seldom sit an hour after din- 

 ner ; but, if the weather permits, adjourn to the garden, 

 where, with Mrs Unwin and her son, I have generally 

 the pleasure of religious conversation till tea-time. If 

 it rains, or is too windy for walking, we either converse 

 within doors, or sing some hymns of Martin's collec- 

 tion, and, by the help of Mrs Unwin's harpsichord, make 

 up a tolerable concert, in Avhich our hearts, I hope, are 

 the best and most musical performers. After tea we 

 sally forth to walk in good earnest, (Mrs Unwin is a 

 good walker,) and we have generally travelled above 

 four miles before we see home again. When the days 

 are short, we make the excursion in the former part of 

 the day between church-time and dinner. At night we 

 read and converse as before till supper, and commonly 

 finish the evening either with hymns or a sermon, and 

 last of all the family are called to prayers." On the 

 death of the elder Mr Unwin, he removed with the fa- 

 mily to Olney in Buckinghamshire. Here the society 

 of Mr Newton, a person of the same principles with 

 the Unwins, contributed to fix his mind, without 

 variety or relief, on those awful subjects, which, how- 

 ever proper to be recalled to the careless and insensi- 

 ble, are most dangerous to a diseased mind like Cow- 

 per's, whose distemper was religious madness, and 

 whose constant melancholy rose from an idea that he 

 was the only soul in the universe who was to be exclu- 

 ded from the system of divine mercy. 



In 1 773 his tremendous malady returned, and lasted 

 for nearly eight years. When his mind had broken 



Cowper. 



