cxcviii LIFE OF 



(and with the exception of Montaigne's Essays) of Memoirs of 

 Warriors, whose deeds have been eclipsed by modern prowess, 

 it is not surprising that his labours should be forgotten ; but his 

 biographer may refer to them as proofs that indolence at least 

 was not among his faults. 



It has been taken for granted that Cotton was at one period of 

 his life an author by profession, and that he lived by his pen;^ 

 but those who have made this statement, could scarcely have 

 read the prefaces to his publications, wherein he expressly says 

 that he had lost much money by his writings, and that the expec- 

 tation of gaining anything by them was always very much beneath 

 his thoughts. The fact appears to be that he usually gave his 

 manuscripts to his friend Henry Brome, who incurred the expense 

 of their publication. This arrangement seems to have been , 

 sometimes attended with loss to his publisher, and to have 

 produced disputes between them ; for in his epistle to John 

 Bradshaw, Esq., describing his journey from London to Beresford, 

 he says — 



" And now I'm here set down again in peace 

 After my troubles, business, voyages, 

 The same dull northern clod I was before. 

 Gravely inquiring how ewes are a score. 

 How the hay-harvest, and the corn was got, 

 And if or no there's like to be a rot ; 

 Just the same sot I was ere I remov'd. 

 Nor by my travel, nor the court improv'd ; 

 The same old-fashion'd squire, no w hit refin'd. 

 And shall be wiser when the devil's blind: 

 But find all here too in the self-same state, 

 And now begin to live at the old rate. 

 To bub old ale, which nonsense does create. 

 Write lewd epistles, and sometimes translate 

 Old tales of tubs, of Guyenne, and Provence, 

 And keep a clutter with ih' old blades of France 

 As D'Avenant did with those of Lombardy, 

 Which any will receive, but none will buy, 

 And that has set H. B. and me awrj'." 



Cotton's conduct and character were naturally much influenced 

 by the manners of his times, and by the political feelings of his 

 party. He was generous, frank, and, in pecuniary matters, 

 thoughtless, if not extravagant. A boon companion, ,and, like all 

 the Cavaliers, a hater of those quaUties, as well good as evil, 

 which distinguished the Roundheads. As a son, a husband, a 

 father, and a friend, he appears in an amiable light ; and many 

 of his contemporaries bear testimony to his social worth no less 

 strongly than to his talents. His religious impressions appear 

 from his serious writings to have been fervent and sincere ; and 



2 Vide his Life by Hawkins and others. 



