’ C O WL EY S Prose stamps him as a man of geniu s and an nnprover of the E nglishLangu age

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1869. — ' C HI SWIC K PR ESS I PR I NT E D BY W HI TT I NGHA M A ND WI L K I N S ,

T OOK S OUR T CHA N ER Y L AN E . C , C C O N T E N T S.

PA G E

ar Arm BI O G RA P HI C A L E SSA Y, Inr uonucr o

ESSAY

1 Lib rt . Of e y

II Of S litu de . o

I I I Of Ob ur it . sc y

V Of A ri ultur e I . g c

V The Gar d en .

VI Of Gr eatne . ss V II . Of Av arice

VI II The an er an ne t Maninmu h m an . D g s of Ho s c Co p y

IX Th Shor tn 5 i and Un er taint Ri he e e 3 L e . of f , c y of c s

Th an er Pr c rastinati n X . e D g of o o

X I Of M el . ys f

X II A i ur e b wa Visi n n ernin the G v ernment . D sco s , y y of o , co c g o

of Oliver Cr omw ell

’ ThejAuthor s Preface to C utter of Coleman Street

A Pr opositionfor the Advancement of E xperimental Philosophy

AY INTR ODUCT ORY AND ESS ,

HI AL BIO GR AP C .

Abrah am Cowley w as buried in West i A a a and m nster bbey, ne r Ch ucer Spenser , h K C arles . a ing II pronounced or c rly , had That Mr . Cowley not left behind him ” Th a better man in England . e posthumous praise of ‘ a a princes is , w e must remember, one w y of p ying their debts ; and as Cowley had acted as secretary to either a and had a Ch rles , been so trusted th t he wrote much of

r and w as ar their cor espondence in cypher, rew ded at all ma a slenderly, if , we y believe th t with the king

a w a a u T w as 1 such excessive pr ise s n t ral . his in 66 2 ; and had at us in Cowley died the Porch Ho e Chertsey, in - i a his a e a i him the forty n nth ye r of g , le ving beh nd , as and we know , both better men better poets . It is in writing his life that Doctor Johnson com ai of l a and pl ns the penury of Eng ish biogr phy, does , one

tells us at must confess , very little to enrich it . He th ’ a w as a . Cowley s f ther grocer , whose condition Dr Sprat conceals under the general appellation of a b A I N TR D UCTOR E O viii SS Y, Y m n ’ citizen : from the omission of his n a e in St . Du stans w as a a w as a register , it supposed th t thi s citizen f ther

t atever w as a sectary . he , he died before his celebr ted and to a son w as born ; it is to his mother , who lived ’ a a e and a a gre t g , rejoiced in her son s f me , th t Cowley ’ n a o w ed his education a d position . In th t mother s la a and a window y volume of Spenser, re ding this he “ ” a a a as a . bec me irrecover bly poet , he himself rel tes

w as a W a a He dmitted into estminster School , h ted gr m mar a he a a a , so th t never m stered or ret ined its ordin ry “ rules ; wrote The Tragical History of Pyramus and ” Th was a and a isbe , when he ten ye rs old, nother poem W at when he w as twelve . hile yet school he produced “ ’ ” “ a a comedy, Love s Riddle, but these le rned puer ” ilities a a , s ys the Doctor , dded little to the wonders of ” w ’ Co ley s minority . 1636 a a of In , Cowley went to C mbridge , wrote p rt the

Davideis and a a a Naufra ium J , L tin pl y, the g ocu

a and as a at v l re , Prince Ch rles , the beginning of the Ci il

War a a w a , p ssed through C mbridge on his y to York, he “ ” w as a a a entert ined by the comedy of the Gu rdi n , “ - a and a rough dr wn by Cowley, repe ted by the stu h dents . T e attention or even the attendance of the was a a a prince enough to m ke the young poet roy list , and 1643 a Ma A w as in , he , being then ster of rts , , by a a a the prev lence of the P rli ment, ej ected from C am and a a bridge , soon fter follow