Our Portrait Gallery 



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OUR PORTRAIT GALLERY. 



Mary, I want a lyre with other strings ; 



Such aid from Heaven, as some have feign'd they drew. 



An eloquence scarce given to mortals ; new 



And undebas'd by praise of meaner things ! 



That ere through age or woe I shed my wings 



I may record thy worth, with honour due, 



In verse as musical as thou ait true — ■ 



Verse that immoitalises whom it sings ! 



But thou hast little need : There is a book, 



By seraphs writ, with beams of heavenly light, 



On which the eyes of God not rarely look ; 



A chronicle of actions, just and bright ! 



There all thy deeds, my faithful Mary, shine, 



And since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee mine. 



Portrait No. IV. of last month's Gazette (here reproduced), 

 is that of a lady with a remarkably round face. The forehead 

 is broad and rounded, the nose of good size, the mouth small, 

 the chin also small and somewhat pointed. The expression 

 is intelligent, sedate, mild and pleasing. The dress, which 

 constitutes the only accessory, is quaintly plain, and implies 

 a high degree of neatness, and at the same time intentional 

 avoidance of personal adornment. 



The face is that of Mrs. Unwin, Cowper's Mary; one to 

 whom the whole English race owes a deep debt of gratitude. 

 In the year 1763, Cowper, then aged 33, was placed under 

 the care of an alienist, Dr. Cotton, at St. Albans, and after 

 remaining there two years he was well enough to remove to 

 Huntingdon. There he met the Unwins, and, charmed with 

 their society, he became an inmate of their home. Mr. Unwin, 

 a clergyman, died in 1767, and the family removed to Olney, 

 Cowper accompanying them. Mrs. Unwin died in the latter 

 part of 1796, having been for long an invalid. During the 

 thirty years which had intervened, she had tenderly watched 

 over the moods of the often unhappy poet, and done every- 

 thing in her power to mitigate and soothe his melancholy. 



