cordial of the present life, and a sovereign antidote against the fear of death. less Sed hactenus hæc. Some smaller pieces upon important subjects close the volume. Not one of them I believe was written with a view to publication, but I was unwilling they should be omitted. JOHN NEWTON. Charles' Square, Horton, SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF WILLIAM COWPER, ESQ. IT has frequently been observed, that the life of a man of genius is marked by few incidents. The mind which grows up amidst the privacies of study, and the character, which is framed by solitary meditation, belong in a great degree, to a world of their own, from which the passions and events of ordinary life are equally excluded. There is, therefore, nothing very remarkable in the life of the poet to whom these pages are devoted. But in the history of those who have done honour to their country, and added richness to their native language, no circumstance is trifling, and no incident unworthy of record; especially as there is a sort of sanctity attached to these men, which diffuses itself to the minutest transaction in which they have been concerned. Mr. Cowper was born at Berkhamstead, in Buckinghamshire, of amiable, and respectable parents, of noble affinity, and connected with persons of great worldly influence, his advancement in temporal affluence and honour, seemed to demand no uncommon mental endowments. His opening genius discovered, however, a capacity for elegant literature; and he enjoyed the best advantages for improvement, in so pleasing a pursuit. With uncommon abilities, he possessed a most amiable temper; and he became, not only the darling of his relations, but beloved and admired by his associates in education. But the towering hopes that were naturally built on so flattering a ground, were undermined at an early period. From childhood, during which he lost a much loved parent, his spirits were always very tender, and often greatly dejected. His natural diffidence, and depression of mind, were increased to a most distressing degree, by the turbulence of his elder comrades, at the most celebrated public school in England. And, when at mature age, he was appointed to a lucrative and honourable station in the Law, he shrunk with the greatest terror, from the appearance which it required him to make before the upper house of Parliament. Several affecting circumstances concurred to increase the agony of his mind, while revolving the consequences of relinquishing the post to which he had been nominated; and he wished for a mental derangement, as the only apparent means by which his perplexity and distress could be terminated. A situation of mind, of which few among mankind can form a suitable con ception, but which it may be hoped, many will regard with tender pity, drove him to desperation; and the manner of his preservation in life, or rather his restoration to it, indicated an unusual interposition of the Providence of God. His friends no longer persisted in urging him to retain his office. It was resigned; and with it his flattering prospects vanished, and his connections with the world dissolved. At this awful crisis, appears to have commenced Mr. Cowper's serious attention to the ways of God. Having been educated in the knowledge of the holy scriptures, and estranged from the fool-hardy arrogance which urges unhappy youths to infidelity, he had constantly retained a reverence for true piety. His manners were in general decent and amiable; and the course of pleasures in which he had indulged himself, being customary with persons in similar circumstances, he remained insensible of his real state, till he was brought to reflect upon the guilt of that action, by which he had nearly plunged himself into eternity. He now sunk under the horrors of perdition; and that distraction which he had sought as a refuge from the fear of man, now seized him amidst his terrors of eternal judgment....A vein of self-loathing ran through the whole of his insanity; and his faculties were so completely deranged, that the attempt, which he had lately deplored as an unpardonable transgression, now appeared to him an indispen sible work of piety. He therefore repeated his assaults upon his own life, under the dreadful delusion, that it was right to rid the earth of such a sinner. His purpose being again mercifully frustrated, he became at length familiar with despair, and suffered it to be alleviated by conversation. And after having endured the severest distress, he very beautifully describes the consolation which he derived from his faith in the Son of God, in the following affecting allegory. "I was a stricken deer, that left the herd Long since; with many an arrow deep infixt, With gentle force soliciting the darts, He drew them forth, and heal'd, and bade me live." During the last year, or two, of Mr. Cowper's life, his health, and his state of mind, appeared to be as much restored as for any time during his long afflictions....He was, however, attacked by a disorder, which brought on a rapid decay. Early on the twentyfifth of April, 1800, he sunk into a state of apparent insensibility, which might have been taken for a tranquil slumber, but that his eyes remained half open. His breath was regular, though feeble; and his countenance perfectly serene. In this state he continued for twelve hours: and then expired, without heaving his breath. |