[ 556 
aS 
ae [May 1, 
MEMOIRS AND REMAINS OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
ACCOUNT OF THE LATE 
Mrs. HANNAH COWLEY. 
N the 11th of last March, died at 
Tiverton, Devonshire, the place of 
her nativity, in the 66th year of her age, 
Mrs. Hannah Cowley, an authoress, 
who may be justly said to have been ce- 
lebrated in every walk of the drama, and 
in every measure of poetry. 
This lady was the daughter of the 
late Mr. Parkhurst, also of Tiverton; 
a gentleman as universally respected and 
esteemed, for his learning and probity, 
as for a peculiar flow of humour, which 
enlivened his conversation: Mrs. Cow- 
ley’s genius, may in some respects be con- 
sidered as hereditary, her grandmother 
by the father’s side having been first 
cousin to the celebrated poet Gay, by 
whom she was held in such high estimation, 
that he passed a considerable portion of 
his time, at her house in Barnstaple. 
In addition to his other qualifications, 
Mr. Parkhurst had attained a proficiency 
in classical literature, which gained lim 
the reputation of having been an excel- 
dent scholar. 
Under such a tutor, was the genius of 
our authoress inspired and cultivated ; 
and she presented him in return with the 
first fruits of her Muse, by prefixing his 
name to the poem of the Maid of Ar- 
ragon, in a dedication, which evinced at 
once the fire of youthful genius, and the 
genuine effusions of filial gratitude. 
Mrs. Cowley’s first dramatic Coup 
ad’ Essat, was the comedy of the Run- 
away: this play, produced in March, 
1776, was the last new piece brought 
out by Mr. Garrick, previous to his re- 
signing the management of Drury-lane 
theatre. 
The first act of this play, verbatim, as 
it now stands, is said to have been pro- 
duced one morning before dinner; it 
met the encouragement of her husband, 
who wished to see it finished: it was ac- 
cordingly compieted in a fortnight, and 
transmitted to Mr. Garrick, at his then 
residence, at Hampton-court. 
This comedy which wasso favour ably re- 
ceived, that it first introduced the prac- 
tice, of what in dramatic phraseology, is 
termed ‘ Running Plays:” was per- 
formed a successive number of nights, 
with distinguished applause, and we may 
judge what must have been the receipts 
of the treasury of the theatre, when it 
produced to the fair authoress eight 
hundred guineas. 
Her next effort in the drama, in point 
of composition (though not : repre- 
sentation), was the tragedy of Albina, 
which was brought out by Mr. Colman, 
at his summer theatre in the fdaymarket, 
on the 30th of July, 1779: the farce of 
‘‘Who’s the Dupe,” was performed at 
Drury-lane, in the month of April pre- 
ceding, and it was received with that 
applause, which wheneyer performed, it 
now never fails to obtain. 
The Belles Stratagem, came out at 
Covent-garden, in February, 1780, and 
it was received with such loud and 
boundless acclamation, that it had the 
honour of being patronized by the queen, 
before whom it was performed once 
every season, for twenty years after its 
first appearance. 
This Play, when published, was by ex- 
press permission dedicated to her Ma- 
Jesty. 
Stimulated by her favourable recep- 
tion with the public, Mrs. Cowley con- 
tinued to cultivate her acquaintance with 
the dramatic Muses, and the Belles Stra- 
tayem was successively followed by the 
comedies of ‘‘ Which is the Man,” “ A 
Bold Stroke for a Husband,” &c. 
The limits of ‘this article will not per- 
mic us to dwell upon the merits of several 
beautiful pieces of fugitive poetry; such 
as her specimens in imitation of Cowley, 
Monologue on the Death of Chatterton, 
the verses occasioned by Lady Manners’s 
Ode to Solitude, (which produced an in- 
timacy between the two ladies), her poem, 
entitled, Edwina, inserted in a late His. 
tory of Cumberland, withsome beautiful lit- 
tle poems, which appeared in the news- 
papers of the day, and which raised 
newspaper poetry to an eminence it had 
never before attained; we proceed to 
notice her flights in che higher regions of 
epic poetry. 
Her productions in this line, which 
have yet been published, are the Maid 
of Arragon, the Scottish Villaye, and 
the Siege of Acre. 
The poems, which we have above 
alluded to abound with beautiful and 
glowing imagery; but in critical jus- 
tice it must here be admitted, that 
amidst the most luxuriant descrip- 
tions, and the most smooth and ele- 
gant numbers, we find inequalities, 
which prove that our fair authoress had 
been 
