c o w 
COW'LEY (Abraham), an eminent Englifh poet, 
born at London, in 1618. His father, who was a grocer, 
dying before his birth, he was left to the care of his mo¬ 
ther, who procured him to be admitted a king’s fcholar 
in Weftminfter-fchool. The occafiori of his firft inclina¬ 
tion to poetry, was produced by his- reading Spenfer’s 
I'airy Queen. In 1633, while at Weftminlter, he pub- 
li (lied a collection of poems, under the title of Poetical 
.Bio do ms ; in which there were many things that might 
well become the vigour and force of a manly wit. He 
was removed from, Weftminlter to Trinity-college in 
Cambridge, where he, laid the defigns of. moft ot the 
works which he afterwards publifned. In 1638 he pub- 
1 iHiecl his Love’s Riddle, a paftoral comedy, dedicated 
to fir Kenelm Digby ; s and a Latin comedy, called Nau- 
fragium JecuLre ; or, The merry'Shipwreck. He was 
brought into notice by an elegy he wrote on the death ot 
Mr. William Hervey. This brought him into the ac¬ 
quaintance of John Hervey, the brother ot his decealed 
friend ; from whom he received many offices ot kindnefs, 
and by his means he came into the fervice of lord St. Al¬ 
ban’s. In 1643, being then mafler of arts, he was, among 
many others, ejected his college and the univerfity; up¬ 
on which he retired to Oxford, fettled in St. John’s col¬ 
lege there, and that fame year, under the name ot an 
Oxford fcholar, publifhed a fatire, intitled The Puritan 
and the PapilL His afteCtion to the royal caufe engaged 
him in the fervice of the king; and he attended in feve- 
ral of his tnajefty’s journies and expeditions. Here he 
became acquainted with lord Falkland, and other great 
men, whom the fortune of the war had drawn together. 
During the heat of the civil war, he was fettled in the 
family of the earl of St. Alban’s; and attended the 
queen mother, when ffie was forced to retire into France. 
He was abfent from England about ten years, bearing a 
lhare in the diftreffes of the royal family, or in labouring 
in their affairs. To this purpofe he pertormed feveral 
dangerous journies into Jerfey, Scotland, Flanders, Hol¬ 
land, and elfewhere ; and was the principal inftrument 
in maintaining a correfpondence between the king and 
his royal confort, whole letters he ciphered and deci¬ 
phered with his own-hand. 
Upon his return to England, he publifhed a new edi¬ 
tion of all his poems, confifting of four parts, viz. 
1. Mifcellanies. 2. The Miftrels. 3. Pindaric Odes. 
4. Davideis. He now alfo wrote his two books of Plants, 
publifhed firft in 1662, to which he afterwards added four 
books more; and all the fix, together with his other Latin 
poems, were printed after his death at London, in 1678. 
The two firft books treat of herbs, in a ft'yle, fays Sprat, 
refembling the elegies of Ovid and Tibullus ; the two 
next of flowers, in all the variety of Catullus aud Ho¬ 
race’s numbers, for which laft author he is faid to have 
had a peculiar reverence ; and the two laft of trees, in 
tite 'way of Virgil’s Georgies. Of thefe, the fixth book 
is wholly dedicated to the honour of his country; making 
the Britilh oak to prefide in the affembly of the foreft trees. 
After the king’s reftoration, being then paft his fortieth 
year, he refolved to pafs the remainder of his life in a 
ftudious retirement; having obtained a plentiful eftate 
by the favour of lord St. Alban’s, and the bounty of the 
duke of Buckingham. Thus furnifhed for his retreat, 
he fpent the laft feven or eight years in his beloved ob- 
feurity, and poffeffed that folitude, which, from his very 
childhood, he had always moft paflionately defired. His 
works, efpecially his elfays in profe and verle, abound 
with the praifes of folitude and retirement. His three 
firft elfays are on the fubjebts of liberty, folitude, and 
obfeurity ; and moft of the tranflations are of fuch paf- 
fages from the claffic authors, as difplay the pleafures of 
a country life ; particularly, Virgil’s “ O Fortunatos ni- 
mium,” &c. Horace’s “ Beatus ille qui procul,” &c. 
C.laudian’s Old Man of Verona, and Martial’s Vitam quas 
faeiunt beatiorem, &c. But his folitude, from the very 
beginning, had never agreed fo well with the conftitution 
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of his body, as of his mind. He died at Chertfey, July 
28, 1667, in his fortyminth year; and was buried in Weft- 
minfter-abbey, near Chaucer and Spenfer, where a mo¬ 
nument was ereCted to his memory, in May 1675, by 
George duke of Buckingham, with a Larin inferi-ption 
by Dr. Sprat. When Charles II. heard of his death, lie 
was pleafed to fay, “ that Mr. Cowley had not left a 
better man behind him in England.” 
Belides his works already mentioned, we have by him, 
1. A Propofttion for the Advancement of Experimental 
Philofophy ; and, 2. A Difcourfe, by way of Vifion, 
concerning the Government of Oliver Cromwell. A 
fpurious piece, intitled The Iron Age, was publifhed 
under his name, during his abfence abroad ; of which 
he fpeaks, in the preface to his poems, with fonie afpe- 
rity and concern. 
The moral character of Mr. Cowley appears, from 
every account of it, to have been very excellent, “lie 
is. reprefented by Dr. Spratt (fays Dr. Johnfon) as the 
moft amiable of mankind; and this pofthumous praife 
may be fafely credited, as it has never been contradicted 
by envy or by faction.” The works of this celebrated 
poet have been no where fo amply criticifed as in his 
Life, By Dr. Johnfon. After a particular examination of 
the different pieces, the doCtor, in taking a general re¬ 
view of Cowley’s poetry, obferves, “ That he wrote 
with abundant fertility, but negligent or unfkilful felec- 
tion ; with much thought, but with little imagery; that 
he is never pathetic, and rarely fublime, but always either 
ingenious or learned, either acute or profound.” Of his 
prole he fpeaks with great approbation: “No author 
(fays he) ever kept his verfe and his profe at a greater 
diftance from each other. His thoughts are natural, and 
his ftyle has a fmooth and placid equability, which has 
never yet obtained its due commendation. Nothing is 
far-fought or hard-laboured ; but all is eafy without 
feeblenefs, and familiar without groffnefs.” Upon the 
whole, he concludes as follows: “ It may be affirmed, 
without any encomiaftic fervour, that he brought to his 
poetic labours a mind replete with learning, and that his 
paffages are embellifhed with all the ornaments which 
books could fupply ; that he was the firft who imparted 
to Englifh numbers the enthufiafm of the greater ode and 
the gaiety of the lefs ; that he was qualified for fprightly 
fullies and for lofty flights ; that he was among thole 
who freed tranflation from fervility, and, inftead of fol¬ 
lowing his author at a diftance, walked by his fide ; and 
that, as he had left verlification yet improvable, he left 
likewife from time to time fuch fpeciinens of excellence 
as enabled fucceeding poets to improve it.” 
So many of Covyley’s productions being now efteemed 
fcarcely worthy of a perufal, while others of them are 
diftinguifhed by their beauty, Dr. Hurd, bifhop of Wor- 
cefter, thought proper to make a feleCtion of them, which 
he publifhed in 1772, under the title of SeleCt Works of 
Mr. Abraham Cowley, in two volumes; with a preface 
and notes by the editor. 
COW'PER (William), an eminent EngliHi furgeon 
and anatomift, flouriihed in the dole of the feventeentb 
and beginning of the eighteenth centuries. He refided 
in London, and diftinguilbed himfelf as a diffeCtor and 
injector. He drew well, and employed good artifts, and 
publifhed feveral fplendid works. His Myotomia Refor- 
mata, or a new Adminiftration of all the Mufcles of the 
Human Body, 8vo. appeared in 1694. Though not equal 
in accuracy to later works, it was an improvement upon 
thofe which preceded, and contained feveral new obfer- 
vations. In 1697 he publifhed The Anatomy of Human 
Bodies, folio, with the plates of Bidloo, which had been 
purchafed by an Englifh bookfeller. To thefe he added 
fame explanations, and fomc anatomical and chirurgical 
remarks. In a fupplement, he gave an introduction to 
phyfiology, efpecially relative to deglutition, with fotne 
new figures. Bidloo complained, not without juftice, 
of the ufe made by Covvper of his plates. Covvper made 
a reply 
