Cowper, WILLIAM, was born in 1731 at the rectory of Great Berkhamstead, in the county of Hertford. He was sent to Westminster School at so early an age that all his impressions were painful, and he thus conceived a hatred of public schools which was never modified. He complains that there he became an adept 'in the infernal art of lying,' an art which we could hardly assert either to be extinct in our public schools at the present time, or to be ever to have been entirely confined to them. Among his schoolfellows were Churchill the poet, and Warren Hastings; and for these two at least he seems to have maintained a lasting affection. On leaving school he was artickled to an attorney named Chapman, with whom he idled away his time for several years. One of his fellow-pupils there was Thurlow, who in a jesting mood promised to give Cowper an appointment when he should be Lord Chancellor. The boyish ambition was verified, as every one knows, but not the promise. Cowper was called to the bar in 1754, and lived for some time the ordinary life of a young man, not uncheerful, though with occasional fits of depression. He belonged to the 'Nonsense Club,' founded by Bonnell Thornton and George Colman, and is supposed to have contributed some short articles to the Connoisseur, a paper started by them. He also fell in love, during this period, with Theodora, the daughter of his uncle Ashley Cowper, a lady who seems to have had for him a far deeper feeling than his essentially recipient nature could return. Certainly he appears to have made no particular effort to overcome his uncle's opposition to his suit. In those days a well-connected young man was more easily provided for than now, and a sinecure appointment, as 'Commissioner of Bankrupts,' gave Cowper a certain independence, which he enjoyed tranquilly, relying on the influence of his relations to promote him further, an expectation which they on their side did all they could to fulfil. His cousin, Major Cowper, had the right (extraordinary to hear of nowadays) of appointing to the office of Clerk to the Journals of the House of Lords, and also to the joint offices of 'reading clerk and clerk of the committees' to the same august assembly. All these appointments happened to fall vacant at the same time (1763). Major Cowper wished his cousin to take the latter and more valuable office, but Cowper in one of his fits of self-depreciation, preferred the other, which was found eventually to involve a so-called examination as to his fitness for the office, meaning in fact only an appearance before the bar of the House. The idea of this appearance unmanned him altogether. A fixed idea, the well-known fore-runner of madness, that every one was hostile to him, gradually took possession of his mind; and the horror grew by continual brooding, until suicide seemed the only way of escape. He several times attempted to make away with himself, and on one occasion at least was only saved by a fortunate accident. When his friends were finally made aware of his condition, they gave up at once a project so evidently impracticable; but Cowper's mind was permanently unhinged. He fell into a state of religious despair as to the consequences of the crime he had almost committed, in the height of which his misery found vent in the composition of a copy of Sapphics, in which he describes himself as 'damned below Judas, more abhorred than he was,' and again, 'man disavows and Deity disowns me.'
It was found necessary to remove him to a private asylum at St Albans, where he was gradually restored to health by judicious treatment. After this, in June 1765, he drifted to the quiet town of Huntingdon, where he made acquaintance with an amiable and religious family to which he was at once attracted, and in which he was soon accepted as an inmate. The head of the family, Mr Morley Unwin, was a clergyman, but retired from active work, and with his wife and two children lived a life of almost perpetual devotion, into which Cowper plunged, spending most of his time in religious exercises of various kinds, and correspondence on religious subjects. Cowper continued to reside with Mrs Unwin after her husband's death (July 1767), but they soon removed to Olney in Buckinghamshire, where the famous John Newton was curate. This remarkable man soon acquired the most complete influence over the gentle invalid; and, under Newton, Cowper worked among the poor of his friend's parish, devoting his whole time to pious exercises and good works. Owing, perhaps, to these exertions, and to the unbroken monotony of the atmosphere, signs of his former madness began to reappear, and in 1773 it burst out. He was at the time in Newton's vicarage, and here he remained for more than a year, refusing to return to his own house though it was but next door. After his recovery (which was never complete) he lost—we might almost say, though it seems cruel, he was delivered from—the companionship of Newton, who was presented in 1779 to the rectory of St Mary Woolnoth. The effect of his departure on Cowper was miraculous; whether Newton, in his intense enthusiasm miscalculated his friend's powers, or whether he was only ignorant of the delicate nature of the mind on which he was working, it is evident that the constant intercourse with him, aided perhaps by the wearying sameness of the life, had an oppressive and crushing effect upon Cowper. Even after Newton's departure, the old gloom appears in letters addressed to him, while in correspondence with Hill or Unwin, Cowper is always cheerful, full of graceful playfulness, entering into a pleasant record of his amusements and occupations, his hares and garden and greenhouse. To the quiet of this period of his life we probably owe the tranquillised condition of mind which makes the tone of Cowper's poetry contrast so strangely with the sentiments of his early experiences. An astonishment almost amounting to incredulity fills our mind when we find the madman, the religious fanatic, who despaired of salvation, and on several occasions attempted suicide, luxuriating in the quiet of nature, which he fully appreciated and enjoyed, and changing his abject fears of God's wrath for a tender delight in and love of the ordinary works of His hands.
He was, however, as yet no poet at all. Mrs Unwin was the first who had the wisdom to perceive that a variety of occupation was necessary to Cowper, and that something to occupy his mind during the gloomy months of winter was of the highest importance to his well-being. No power of initiation seems to have existed in his mind, but he followed with docility his friend's suggestions, and when she bade him write poetry, did so. His first volume (1782) was in the fashion of the time, and consisted of several poems on abstract subjects, a poetical dialogue called 'Table Talk' being added to lighten and enliven the book. Probably Cowper himself was not conscious at the time how much higher he was capable of flying and was destined to fly; but once more a happy suggestion came to his aid. In 1781 he accidentally made the acquaintance of Lady Austen, a woman full of intelligence, and of a gay and happy disposition, bringing sunshine with her. The acquaintance rapidly grew into a warm friendship, and Lady Austen settled in Newton's deserted vicarage, next door, it will be remembered, to Cowper's house. The inhabitants of the two houses soon, of course, grew intimate, with the happiest results to the poet. It is to Lady Austen's playful commands to write a poem for her on any subject, 'this sofa for instance,' that we owe Cowper's greatest work, The Task. She has also the credit of having told him the story of John Gilpin, reproduced in the immortal ballad the next morning: and there can be no doubt that this lady was his better angel, and made the happiest revolution in the too-serious house. His position between his old friend and his new one, both being women, has been the subject of many, and we think somewhat vulgar comments. That Cowper was engaged to marry Mrs Unwin, that this project was defeated by a dawning love between the poet and Lady Austen, and that jealousy and passion came in to disturb their relations is an oft-repeated tale. It surely, however, requires but little reflection to see how unnecessary such a theory is. Cowper was in every way calculated to arouse a more than passing interest in the heart of an intellectual woman, but neither in his past nor his present was there anything that could inspire such a woman with the desire of marrying him. He had the gift of making friends and calling forth sympathy in an unusual degree, and the influence of this tender sympathy not only saved but made him what he grew to be. If Lady Austen had never said to Cowper, 'Why not try blank verse?' that grand revolt against the smoothness and artificial perfection which Pope had established as essentials of poetry might have been indefinitely postponed. Against a style which repelled him,
Cowper was the first to protest by the effectual reproduction of a more excellent way. He took that polished and splendid instrument from the hand of Milton, without his grandeur of tone, yet with a sweetness and serious power not unworthy of it. His schoolfellow, Churchill, had struck a rougher and more vigorous note, yet had not been bold enough to return to the old ways. But the timid poet in his seclusion, under the influence of his domestic muses, with unexpected boldness, seized on his inheritance. Wordsworth carried on both style and subjects, but he, like Gray, put of his own into the theme, and described less Nature herself than the thoughts which she inspired. In Cowper, on the contrary, we have Nature's very face, the calm description of a quiet scene painted by one who loved her for herself, not peopled with fancies by a poetical observer.
How his friendship with Lady Austen came to an end has never been clearly known, but at the end of 1783 she retired to Bristol, and Cowper writing to Unwin declared the connection at an end. It is a commonplace to talk, of course, of jealousy between Lady Austen and Mrs Unwin, and it is easily comprehensible that the latter lady may have objected to see her place as Cowper's friend and adviser taken from her by a stranger. However, as regards our poet, Lady Austen had done her work; The Task was published in 1785, and its power and the greatness of the old-new method very soon made themselves apparent. Whether Cowper has retained the high place which was accorded to him in the surprise and delight of the new movement, is a question which will be answered according to individual tastes and opinions, but there can be no doubt that the publication of The Task had a most powerful effect upon the literary tastes of the time.
It is characteristic of Cowper that on the departure of Lady Austen, he fell for some time into a little of his old melancholy, until in 1786 Lady Hesketh appeared upon the scene, and the poet accepted the new comforter in lieu of her who was gone. His translation of Homer was carried on under the influence of this new adviser, who was a relation of his own, and consequently escaped the imputation of wishing to marry him. She procured the removal of the sad poet and his ailing companion to Weston-Underwood, where they made acquaintance with the Throckmorton family, and received much comfort and consolation in their waning days. This move, as well as the translation of Homer, Newton, with whom Cowper still kept up a correspondence, condemned with almost brutal violence of language, and it is an evidence of his temporary recovery of strength, that Cowper defended himself without, however, losing his temper. Against Newton's advice he continued his translation, which brought him in at least a little money if not much fame: and the money was by this time much needed. In 1787 he had another attack of his old ailment, and again attempted suicide. From this attack he never seems to have completely recovered, and when he was almost at his worst, Mrs Unwin had a stroke of paralysis which cast a gloom over this devoted pair from which they never emerged. In 1794 a pension of £300 a year was assigned to him, but too late to confer much comfort or relief. When Mrs Unwin died in 1796 he heard the news without emotion, and growing gradually weaker, died peacefully at East Dereham, Norfolk, on the 25th of April 1800. Curiously enough, out of the gloom of his last waning years came two of his most beautiful and touching poems, the lines 'Addressed to My Mother's Picture,' and those entitled 'My Mary.'
Hayley's Life first appeared in two volumes in 1803. The later editions (1806, 1809, 1812) were in four volumes.
The Life by T. Wright appeared in 1892. The standard edition of Cowper's works is that edited by Southey, with a memoir (15 vols. 1834-37), and reprinted in Bohn's 'Standard Library' (1853-54). Others are those of Grimshawe (8 vols. 1835), the Aldine edition, with a good life by John Bruce (1865), and the Globe edition, with a memoir by Rev. W. Benham (1870). There are selections of the poems, by Mrs Oliphant (1883), and of the letters, by Rev. W. Benham (1884) in the 'Golden Treasury' series. For criticism, see Ste. Beuve's Causeries du Lundi (vol. xi. 1868); Stopford-Brooke's Theology in the English Poets (1874); Goldwin Smith's monograph in the 'English Men of Letters' series (1880); Leslie Stephen, in series iii. of 'Hours in a Library' (1882); and Mrs Oliphant, in The Literary History of England (1882).