COBBE, FRANCES POWER (1822-1904).—Theological and social writer, wasb.near Dublin. Coming under the influence of Theodore Parker, she became a Unitarian. Her first work,pub.anonymously, was onThe Intuitive Theory of Morals(1855). She travelled in the East, andpub.Cities of the Past(1864). Later she became interested in social questions and philanthropic work, and wrote many books on these and kindred subjects, includingCriminals,Idiots,WomenandMinors(1869),Darwinism in Morals(1872), andScientific Spirit of the Age(1888). She was a strong opponent of vivisection.
COBBETT, WILLIAM (1762-1835).—Essayist and political writer,b.at Farnham, Surrey,s.of a small farmer, his youth was spent as a farm labourer, a clerk, and in the army, in which his good conduct and intelligence led to his promotion to the rank of sergeant-major. After moving about between England and America, and alternating between journalism and agriculture, in the former of which his daring opposition to men in power got him into frequent trouble and subjected him to heavy fines in both countries, he settled down in England in 1800, and continued his career as a political writer, first as a Tory and then as a Radical. His violent changes of opinion, and the force and severity with which he expressed himself naturally raised up enemies in both camps. In 1817 he went back to America, where he remained for two years. Returning he stood, in 1821, for a seat in Parliament, but was unsuccessful. In 1832, however, he was returned for Oldham, but made no mark as a speaker. C. was one of the best known men of his day. His intellect was narrow, but intensely clear, and he was master of a nervous and idiomatic English style which enabled him to project his ideas into the minds of his readers. His chief writings areEnglish Grammar,Rural Rides,Advice to Young Men and Women. HisWeekly Political Registerwas continued from 1802 until his death.
COCKBURN, HENRY (1779-1854).—Scottish judge and biographer,b.(probably) anded.in Edin., became a distinguished member of the Scottish Bar, and ultimately a judge. He was also one of the leaders of the Whig party in Scotland in its days of darkness prior to the Reform Act of 1832. The life-long friend of Francis Jeffrey, he wrote his life,pub.in 1852. His chief literary work, however, is hisMemorials of his Time(1856), continued in hisJournal(1874). These constitute an autobiography of the writer interspersed with notices of manners, public events, and sketches of his contemporaries, of great interest and value.
COCKTON, HENRY (1807-1852).—Novelist,b.in London, is only remembered as an author for his novel ofValentine Vox(1840), the adventures of a ventriloquist.
COLENSO, JOHN WILLIAM (1814-1883).—Mathematician and Biblical critic,b.at St. Austell, Cornwall, anded.at St. John's Coll., Camb., where he was a tutor, entered the Church, andpub.various mathematical treatises andVillage Sermons. In 1853 he was appointed first Bishop of Natal. He mastered the Zulu language, introduced printing, wrote a Zulu grammar and dictionary, and many useful reading-books for the natives. HisCommentary on the Romans(1861) excited great opposition from the High Church party, and hisCritical Examination of the Pentateuch(1862-1879), by its then extreme views, created great alarm and excitement. He was in 1863 deposed and excommunicated by Bishop Gray of Cape Town, but confirmed in his see by the Courts of Law. His theological writings are now largely superseded; but his mathematical text-books, for the writing of which he was much better equipped, hold their place.
COLERIDGE, HARTLEY (1796-1849).—Poet, eldests.ofSamuel T.C.(q.v.),b.at Clevedon, spent his youth at Keswick among the "Lake poets." His early education was desultory, but he was sent by Southey to Oxf. in 1815. His talents enabled him to win a Fellowship, but the weakness of his character led to his being deprived of it. He then went to London and wrote for magazines. From 1823 to 1828 he tried keeping a school at Ambleside, which failed, and he then led the life of a recluse at Grasmere until his death. Here he wroteEssays,Biographia Borealis(lives of worthies of the northern counties) (1832), and aLife of Massinger(1839). He is remembered chiefly for hisSonnets. He also left unfinished a drama,Prometheus.
COLERIDGE, SAMUEL TAYLOR (1772-1834).—Poet, philosopher, and critic,s.of the Rev. John C., vicar and schoolmaster of Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, wasb.there in 1772, the youngest of 13 children. He was at Christ's Hospital from 1782 to 1790, and had Charles Lamb for a schoolfellow, and the famous scholar and disciplinarian, James Boyer, for his master. Thence he proceeded to Jesus Coll., Camb., in 1791, where he read much, but desultorily, and got into debt. The troubles arising thence and also, apparently, a disappointment in love, led to his going to London and enlisting in the 15th Dragoons under the name of Silas Tomkyn Comberbacke. He could not, however, be taught to ride, and through some Latin lines written by him on a stable door, his real condition was discovered, his friends communicated with, and his release accomplished, his brothers buying him off. After this escapade he returned (1794) to Camb. He had by this time imbibed extreme democratic or, as he termed them, pantisocratic principles, and on leaving Camb. in the same year he visited Oxf., where he made the acquaintance of Southey, and discussed with him a project of founding a "pantisocracy" on the banks of the Susquehanna, a scheme which speedily fell through, owing firstly to want of funds, and secondly to the circumstance of the two projectors falling in love simultaneously with two sisters, Sarah and Edith Fricker, of whom the former became, in 1795, the wife of C., and the latter of Southey. C. had spent one more term at Camb., and there in Sept. 1794 his first work,The Fall of Robespierre, a drama, to which Southey contributed two acts, the second and third, waspub.After his marriage he settled first at Clevedon, and thereafter at Nether Stowey, Somerset, where he had Wordsworth for a neighbour, with whom he formed an intimate association. About 1796 he fell into the fatal habit of taking laudanum, which had such disastrous effects upon his character and powers of will. In the same yearPoems on various Subjectsappeared, and a little laterOde to the Departing Year. While at Nether Stowey he was practically supported by Thomas Poole, a tanner, with whom he had formed a friendship. Here he wroteThe Ancient Mariner, the first part ofChristabelandKubla Khan, and here he joined with Wordsworth in producing theLyrical Ballads. Some time previously he had become a Unitarian, and was much engaged as a preacher in that body, and for a short time acted as a minister at Shrewsbury. Influenced by Josiah and Thomas Wedgwood, who each in 1798 gavehim an annuity of £75 on condition of his devoting himself to literature, he resigned this position, and soon afterwards went to Germany, where he remained for over a year, an experience which profoundly influenced the future development of his intellect. On his return he made excursions with Southey and Wordsworth, and at the end of 1799 went to London, where he wrote and reported for theMorning Post. His great translation of Schiller'sWallensteinappeared in 1800. In the same year he migrated to Greta Hall, near Keswick, where he wrote the second part ofChristabel. Soon after this his health gave way, and he suffered much; and, whether as the cause or the consequence of this, he had become a slave to opium. In 1804 he went to Malta in search of health, and there became the friend of the governor, Sir Alexander Ball, who appointed him his sec., in which position he showed remarkable capacity for affairs. Resigning this occupation, of which he had become tired, he travelled in Italy, and in the beginning of 1806 reached Rome, where he enjoyed the friendship of Tieck, Humboldt, and Bunsen. He returned to England in the end of 1806, and in 1808 delivered his first course of lectures on Shakespeare at the Royal Institution, and thereafter (1809), leaving his family at Keswick, he went to live with Wordsworth at Grasmere. Here he startedThe Friend, a philosophical and theological periodical, which lasted for 9 months. That part of his annuity contributed by T. Wedgwood had been confirmed to him by will in 1805, and this he allowed to his wife, but in 1811 the remaining half was stopped. He delivered a second course of lectures in London, and in 1813 his drama,Remorse, was acted at Drury Lane with success. Leaving his family dependent upon Southey, he lived with various friends, first, from 1816 to 1819, with John Morgan at Calne. While there hepub.ChristabelandKubla Khanin 1816, and in 1817Biographia Literaria,Sybilline Leaves, and an autobiography. In 1818 he appeared for the last time as a lecturer. He found in 1819 a final resting-place in the household of James Gillman, a surgeon, at Highgate. His life thenceforth was a splendid wreck. His nervous system was shattered, and he was a constant sufferer. Yet these last years were, in some respects, his best. He maintained a struggle against opium which lasted with his life, and though he ceased to write much, he became the revered centre of a group of disciples, including such men as Sterling, Maurice, and Hare, and thus indirectly continued and increased his influence in the philosophic and theological thought of his time. He returned to Trinitarianism, and a singular and childlike humility became one of his most marked characteristics. In 1824 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Society of Literature, which brought him a pension of 100 guineas. His latest publications wereAids to Reflection(1825) andThe Constitution of Church and State. After his death there werepub., among other works,Table Talk(1835),Confessions of an Enquiring Spirit(1840),LettersandAnima Poetæ(1895).
Endowed with an intellect of the first order, and an imagination at once delicate and splendid, C., from a weakness of moral constitution, and the lamentable habit already referred to, fell far short of the performance which he had planned, and which included various epic poems, and a complete system of philosophy, in which allknowledge was to be co-ordinated. He has, however, left enough poetry of such excellence as to place him in the first rank of English poets, and enough philosophic, critical, and theological matter to constitute him one of the principal intellectually formative forces of his time. His knowledge of philosophy, science, theology, and literature was alike wide and deep, and his powers of conversation, or rather monologue, were almost unique. A description of him in later life tells of "the clerical-looking dress, the thick, waving, silver hair, the youthful coloured cheek, the indefinable mouth and lips, the quick, yet steady and penetrating greenish-grey eye, the slow and continuous enunciation, and the everlasting music of his tones."
SUMMARY.—B.1772,ed.Christ's Hospital and Camb., enlists 1794 but bought off, became intimate with Southey, and proposes to found pantisocracy, settles at Clevedon and Nether Stowey 1795, and became friend of Wordsworth, began to take opium 1796, writesAncient Mariner, and joins W. inLyrical Ballads, became Unitarian preacher, visits Germany 1798,pub.translation ofWallenstein1800, settles at Greta Hall and finishesChristabel, goes to Malta 1804, lectures on Shakespeare 1808, leaves his family and lives with W. 1809, and thereafter with various friends, latterly with Gillman at Highgate, returned to Trinitarianism,pub.various works 1808-1825,d.1834.
S.T. Coleridge, a Narrative, J.D. Campbell (1893), also H.D. Traill (Men of Letters Series, 1884), also Pater'sAppreciations, De Quincey's Works, Principal Shairp'sStudies in Poetry and Philosophy(1868).
COLERIDGE, SARA (1802-1852).—Miscellaneous writer, the onlydau.of the above,m.her cousin, Henry Nelson C. She translated Dobrizhöffer'sAccount of the Abipones, andThe Joyous and Pleasant History ... of the Chevalier Bayard. Her original works arePretty Lessons in Verse, etc. (1834), which was very popular, and a fairy tale,Phantasmion. She also ed. her father's works, to which she added an essay on Rationalism.
COLET, JOHN (1467-1519).—Scholar and theologian, wasb.in London, thes.of a wealthy citizen, who was twice Lord Mayor. The only survivor of a family of 22, he went to Oxf. and Paris, and thence to Italy, where he learned Greek. He entered the Church, and held many preferments, including the Deanery of St. Paul's. He continued to follow out his studies, devoting himself chiefly to St. Paul's epistles. He was outspoken against the corruptions of the Church, and would have been called to account but for the protection of Archbishop Warham. He devoted his great fortune to founding and endowing St. Paul's School. Among his works are a treatise on the Sacraments and various devotional writings. It is rather for his learning and his attitude to the advancement of knowledge than for his own writings that he has a place in the history of English literature.
COLLIER, JEREMY (1650-1726).—Church historian and controversialist,b.at Stow, Cambridgeshire,ed.at Ipswich and Camb., entered the Church, and became Rector of Ampton, Suffolk,lecturer of Gray's Inn, London, and ultimately a nonjuring bishop. He was a man of war from his youth, and was engaged in controversies almost until his death. His first important one was with Gilbert Burnet, and led to his being imprisoned in Newgate. He was, however, a man of real learning. His chief writings are hisEcclesiastical History of Great Britain(1708-1714), and especially hisShort View of the Immorality and Profaneness of the English Stage(1699), on account of which he was attacked by Congreve and Farquhar, for whom, however, he showed himself more than a match. The work materially helped towards the subsequent purification of the stage.
COLLINS, JOHN (d.1808).—Actor and writer, was a staymaker, but took to the stage, on which he was fairly successful. He also gave humorous entertainments andpub.Scripscrapologia, a book of verses. He is worthy of mention for the little piece,To-morrow, beginning "In the downhill of life when I find I'm declining," characterised by Palgrave as "a truly noble poem."
COLLINS, JOHN CHURTON (1848-1908).—Writer on literature and critic,b.in Gloucestershire, anded.at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Oxf., became in 1894 Prof. of English Literature at Birmingham. He wrote books onSir J. Reynolds(1874),Voltaire in England(1886),Illustrations of Tennyson(1891), and also on Swift and Shakespeare, various collections of essays,Essays and Studies(1895), andStudies in Poetry and Criticism(1905), etc., and he issued ed. of the works of C. Tourneur, Greene, Dryden, Herbert of Cherbury, etc.
COLLINS, MORTIMER (1827-1876).—Novelist,s.of a solicitor at Plymouth, was for a time a teacher of mathematics in Guernsey. Settling in Berkshire he adopted a literary life, and was a prolific author, writing largely for periodicals. He also wrote a good deal of occasional and humorous verse, and several novels, includingSweet Anne Page(1868),Two Plunges for a Pearl(1872),Mr. Carrington(1873), under the name of "R.T. Cotton," andA Fight with Fortune(1876).
COLLINS, WILLIAM (1721-1759).—Poet,s.of a respectable hatter at Chichester, where he wasb.He wased.at Chichester, Winchester, and Oxf. His is a melancholy career. Disappointed with the reception of his poems, especially his Odes, he sank into despondency, fell into habits of intemperance, and after fits of melancholy, deepening into insanity,d.a physical and mental wreck. Posterity has signally reversed the judgment of his contemporaries, and has placed him at the head of the lyrists of his age. He did not write much, but all that he wrote is precious. His first publication was a small vol. of poems, including thePersian(afterwards calledOriental)Eclogues(1742); but his principal work was hisOdes(1747), including those toEveningandThe Passions, which will live as long as the language. When Thomson died in 1748 C., who had been his friend, commemorated him in a beautiful ode. Another—left unfinished—that on theSuperstitions of the Scottish Highlands, was for many years lost sight of, but was discovered byDr. Alex. Carlyle(q.v.). C.'s poetry is distinguished by its high imaginative quality, and by exquisitely felicitous descriptive phrases.
Memoirsprefixed to Dyce's ed. of Poems (1827), Aldine ed., Moy Thomas, 1892.
COLLINS, WILLIAM WILKIE (1824-1889).—Novelist,s.of William C., R.A., entered Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the Bar 1851, but soon relinquished law for literature. His first novel wasAntonina(1850), a historical romance. He found his true field, however, in the novel of modern life, in which his power lies chiefly in the construction of a skilful plot, which holds the attention of the reader and baffles his curiosity to the last. In Count Fosco, however, he has contributed an original character to English fiction. Among his numerous novels two,The Woman in White(1860), andThe Moonstone(1868), stand out pre-eminent. Others areThe Dead Secret(1857),Armadale(1866),No Name(1862),After Dark, "I say No,"etc. He collaborated with Dickens inNo Thoroughfare.
COLMAN, GEORGE, THE ELDER (1732-1794).—Dramatist,b.at Florence, where hisf.was British Envoy, he was a friend of Garrick, and took to writing for the stage with success. He wrote more than 30 dramatic pieces, of which the best known areThe Jealous Wife(1761), andThe Clandestine Marriage(1766). C. was also manager and part proprietor of various theatres. He was a scholar and translated Terence and theDe Arte Poeticaof Horace, wrote essays, and ed. Beaumont and Fletcher and B. Jonson.
COLMAN, GEORGE, THE YOUNGER (1762-1836).—Dramatist,s.of the preceding, wrote or adapted numerous plays, includingThe Heir at LawandJohn Bull. He was Examiner of Plays (1824-1836). Many of his plays are highly amusing, and keep their place on the stage. His wit made him popular in society, and he was a favourite with George IV.
COLTON, CHARLES CALEB (1780-1832).—Miscellaneous writer,ed.at Eton and Camb., took orders and held various livings. He was an eccentric man of talent, with little or no principle, took to gaming, and had to leave the country. Hed.by his own hand. His books, mainly collections of epigrammatic aphorisms and short essays on conduct, etc., though now almost forgotten, had a phenomenal popularity in their day. Among them areLacon, or Many Things in Few Words, and a few poems.
COMBE, GEORGE (1788-1858).—Writer on phrenology and education,b.in Edin., where for some time he practised as a lawyer. Latterly, however, he devoted himself to the promotion of phrenology, and of his views on education, for which he in 1848 founded a school. His chief work wasThe Constitution of Man(1828).
COMBE, WILLIAM (1741-1823).—Miscellaneous writer. His early life was that of an adventurer, his later was passed chiefly within the "rules" of the King's Bench prison. He is chiefly remembered as the author ofThe Three Tours of Dr. Syntax, a comic poem (?). His cleverest piece of work was a series of imaginaryletters, supposed to have been written by the second, or "wicked" Lord Lyttelton. Of a similar kind were his letters between Swift and Stella. He also wrote the letterpress for various illustrated books, and was a general hack.
CONGREVE, WILLIAM (1670-1729).—Dramatist, wasb.in Yorkshire. In boyhood he was taken to Ireland, anded.at Kilkenny and at Trinity Coll., Dublin. In 1688 he returned to England and entered the Middle Temple, but does not appear to have practised, and took to writing for the stage. His first comedy,The Old Bachelor, was produced with great applause in 1693, and was followed byThe Double Dealer(1693),Love for Love(1695), andThe Way of the World(1700), and by a tragedy,The Mourning Bride(1697). His comedies are all remarkable for wit and sparkling dialogue, but their profanity and licentiousness have driven them from the stage. These latter qualities brought them under the lash ofJeremy Collier(q.v.) in hisShort View of the English Stage. Congreve rushed into controversy with his critic who, however, proved too strong for him. C. was a favourite at Court, and had various lucrative offices conferred upon him. In his latter years he was blind; otherwise his life was prosperous, and he achieved his chief ambition of being admired as a fine gentleman and gallant.Life, Gosse (1888).Works, ed. by Henley (1895), also Mermaid Series (1888).
CONINGTON, JOHN (1825-1869).—Translator,s.of a clergyman at Boston, Lincolnshire, where he wasb.,ed., at Rugby and Magdalen and Univ. Coll., Oxf., and began the study of law, but soon relinquished it, and devoting himself to scholarship, became Prof. of Latin at Oxf. (1854-1869). His chief work is his translation of Virgil'sÆneidin the octosyllabic metre of Scott (1861-68). He also translated theSatiresandEpistlesof Horace in Pope's couplets, and completed Worsley'sIliadin Spenserian stanza. He also brought out valuable ed. of Virgil and Perseus. C. was one of the greatest translators whom England has produced.
CONSTABLE, HENRY (1562-1613).—Poet,s.of Sir Robert C.,ed.at Camb., but becoming a Roman Catholic, went to Paris, and acted as an agent for the Catholic powers. Hed.at Liège. In 1592 hepub.Diana, a collection of sonnets, and contributed toEngland's Heliconfour poems, includingDiapheniaandVenus and Adonis. His style is characterised by fervour and richness of colour.
COOKE, JOHN ESTEN (1830-1886).—Novelist,b.in Virginia, illustrated the life and history of his native state in the novels,The Virginia Comedians(1854), andThe Wearing of the Gray, a tale of the Civil War, and more formally in an excellent History of the State. His style was somewhat high-flown.
COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE (1789-1851).—Novelist,b.at Burlington, New Jersey, anded.at Yale Coll., he in 1808 entered the U.S. Navy, in which he remained for 3 years, an experience which was of immense future value to him as an author. It was not until 1821 that his first novel,Precaution, appeared. Its want of successdid not discourage him, and in the next year (1822), he producedThe Spy, which at once gained him a high place as a story-teller. He wrote over 30 novels, of which may be mentionedThe Pioneers(1823),The Pilot(1823),The Last of the Mohicans(1826),The Prairie(1826),The Red Rover(1831),The Bravo(1840),The Pathfinder,The Deerslayer(1841),The Two Admirals(1842), andSatanstoe(1845). He also wrote aNaval History of the United States(1839). C. was possessed of remarkable narrative and descriptive powers, and could occasionally delineate character. He had the merit of opening up an entirely new field, and giving expression to the spirit of the New World, but his true range was limited, and he sometimes showed a lack of judgment in choosing subjects with which he was not fitted to deal. He was a proud and combative but honest and estimable man.
COOPER, THOMAS (1805-1892).—Chartist poet, wasb.at Leicester, and apprenticed to a shoemaker. In spite of hardships and difficulties, heed.himself, and at 23 was a schoolmaster. He became a leader and lecturer among the Chartists, and in 1842 was imprisoned in Stafford gaol for two years, where he wrote hisPurgatory of Suicides, a political epic. At the same time he adopted sceptical views, which he continued to hold until 1855, when he became a Christian, joined the Baptists, and was a preacher among them. In his latter years he settled down into an old-fashioned Radical. His friends in 1867 raised an annuity for him, and in the last year of his life he received a government pension. In addition to his poems he wrote several novels. Somewhat impulsive, he was an honest and sincere man.
CORBET, RICHARD (1582-1635).—Poet,s.of a gardener, wased.at Westminster School and Oxf., and entered the Church, in which he obtained many preferments, and rose to be Bishop successively of Oxf. and Norwich. He was celebrated for his wit, which not seldom passed into buffoonery. His poems, which are often mere doggerel, were notpub.until after his death. They includeJourney to France,Iter Boreale, the account of a tour from Oxf. to Newark, and theFarewell to the Fairies.
CORNWALL, BARRY,seePROCTER, B.W.
CORY, WILLIAM JOHNSON (1823-1892).—Poet,b.at Torrington, anded.at Eton, where he was afterwards a master. He was a brilliant writer of Latin verse. His chief poetical work isIonica, containing poems in which he showed a true lyrical gift.
CORYATE, or CORYATT, THOMAS (1577-1617).—Poet,b.at Odcombe, Somerset, anded.at Westminster and Oxf., entered the household of Prince Henry. In 1608 he made a walking tour in France, Italy, and Germany, walking nearly 2000 miles in one pair of shoes, which were, until 1702, hung up in Odcombe Church, and known as "the thousand mile shoes." He gave an amusing account of this in hisCoryate's Crudities hastily gobbled up(1611), prefixed to which were commendatory verses by many contemporary poets. A sequel,Coryate's Crambé, orColewort twice Soddenfollowed. Next year (1612) C. bade farewell to his fellow-townsmen, and setout on another journey to Greece, Egypt, and India, from which he never returned. Hed.at Surat. Though odd and conceited, C. was a close observer, and took real pains in collecting information as to the places he visited.
COSTELLO, LOUISA STUART (1799-1877).—Poet and novelist,b.in Ireland, lived chiefly in Paris, where she was a miniature-painter. In 1815 shepub.The Maid of the Cyprus Isle, etc. (poems). She also wrote books of travel, which were very popular, as were her novels, chiefly founded on French history. Another work,pub.in 1835, isSpecimens of the Early Poetry of France.
COTTON, CHARLES (1630-1687).—Poet and translator, succeeded to an embarrassed estate, which his happy-go-lucky methods did not improve, wrote burlesques onVirgilandLucian, and made an excellent translation ofMontaigne's Essays, also a humorousJourney to Ireland. C. was the friend of Izaak Walton, and wrote a second part ofThe Complete Angler. He was apparently always in difficulties, always happy, and always a favourite.
COTTON, SIR ROBERT BRUCE (1571-1631).—Antiquary,b.at Denton, Hunts, anded.at Camb., was a great collector of charters and records throwing light upon English history, and co-operated withCamden(q.v.). Among his works are a history of theRaigne of Henry III.(1627). He was the collector of the Cottonian library, now in the British Museum, and was the author of various political tracts.
COUSIN, ANNE ROSS (CUNDELL) (1824-1906).—Poetess, onlydau.of D.R. Cundell, M.D., Leith,m.1847 Rev. Wm. Cousin, minister of the Free Church of Scotland, latterly at Melrose. Some of her hymns, especially "The Sands of Time are sinking," are known and sung over the English-speaking world. A collection of her poems,Immanuel's Land and Other Pieces, waspub.in 1876 under her initials A.R.C., by which she was most widely known.
COVERDALE, MILES (1488-1568).—Translator of the Bible,b.in Yorkshire, anded.at Camb. Originally an Augustinian monk, he became a supporter of the Reformation. In 1535 his translation of the Bible waspub., probably at Zurich. It bore the title,Biblia, the Bible: that is the Holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament faithfully and newly translated out of the Doutche and Latyn into English. C. was made Bishop of Exeter in 1551, but, on the accession of Mary, he was imprisoned for two years, at the end of which he was released and went to Denmark and afterwards to Geneva. On the death of Mary he returned to England, but the views he had imbibed in Geneva were adverse to his preferment. He ultimately, however, received a benefice in London, which he resigned before his death. Besides the Bible he translated many treatises of the Continental Reformers.
COWLEY, ABRAHAM (1618-1667).—Poet,s.of a grocer or stationer in London, where he wasb.In childhood he was greatly influenced by reading Spenser, a copy of whose poems was in the possession of his mother. This, he said, made him a poet. Hisfirst book,Poetic Blossoms(1633), waspub.when he was only 15. After being at Westminster School he went to Camb., where he was distinguished for his graceful translations. On the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the Royalists, was turned out of his college, and in 1646 followed the Queen to Paris, where he remained for 10 or 12 years, during which he rendered unwearied service to the royal family. At the Restoration he wrote some loyal odes, but was disappointed by being refused the Mastership of the Savoy, and retired to the country. He received a lease of Crown lands, but his life in the country did not yield him the happiness he expected. He is said by Pope to haved.of a fever brought on by lying in the fields after a drinking-bout. The drinking-bout, however, is perhaps an ill-natured addition. C.'s fame among his contemporaries was much greater than that which posterity has accorded to him. His poems are marred by conceits and a forced and artificial brilliancy. In some of them, however, he sings pleasantly of gardens and country scenes. They compriseMiscellanies,The Mistress, or Love Poems(1647),Pindaric Odes, andThe Davideis, an epic on David (unfinished). He is at his best in such imitations of Anacreon asThe Grasshopper. His prose, especially in his Essays, though now almost unread, is better than his verse; simple and manly, it sometimes rises to eloquence. C. is buried in Westminster Abbey near Spenser.
Ed., Grosart (1881), Waller (1903).
COWPER, WILLIAM (1731-1800).—Poet, was thes.of the Rev. John C., Rector of Great Berkhampstead, Herts, and Chaplain to George II. His grandfather was a judge, and he was the grand-nephew of the 1st Earl C., the eminent Lord Chancellor. A shy and timid child, the death of his mother when he was 6 years old, and the sufferings inflicted upon him by a bullying schoolfellow at his first school, wounded his tender and shrinking spirit irrecoverably. He was sent to Westminster School, where he had for schoolfellowsChurchill, the poet (q.v.), and Warren Hastings. The powerful legal influence of his family naturally suggested his being destined for the law, and at 18 he entered the chambers of a solicitor, where he had for a companion Thurlow, the future Chancellor, a truly incongruous conjunction; the pair, however, seem to have got on well together, and employed their time chiefly in "giggling and making giggle." He then entered the Middle Temple, and in 1754 was called to the Bar. This was perhaps the happiest period of his life, being enlivened by the society of two cousins, Theodora and Harriet C. With the former he fell in love; but his proposal of marriage was opposed by herf., who had observed symptoms of morbidity in him, and he never met her again. The latter, as Lady Hesketh, was in later days one of his most intimate friends. In 1759 he received a small sinecure appointment as Commissioner of Bankrupts, which he held for 5 years, and in 1763, through the influence of a relative, he received the offer of the desirable office of Clerk of the Journals to the House of Lords. He accepted the appointment, but the dread of having to make a formal appearance before the House so preyed upon his mind as to induce a temporary loss of reason, and he was sent to an asylum at St. Albans, where he remained for abouta year. He had now no income beyond a small sum inherited from hisf., and no aims in life; but friends supplemented his means sufficiently to enable him to lead with a quiet mind the life of retirement which he had resolved to follow. He went to Huntingdon, and there made the acquaintance of the Unwins, with whom he went to live as a boarder. The acquaintance soon ripened into a close friendship, and on the death, from an accident (1767), of Mr. U., C. accompanied his widow (the "Mary" of his poems) to Olney, where theRev. John Newton(q.v.) was curate. N. and C. became intimate friends, and collaborated in producing the well-knownOlney Hymns, of which 67 were composed by C. He became engaged to Mary Unwin, but a fresh attack of his mental malady in 1773 prevented their marriage. On his recovery he took to gardening, and amused himself by keeping pets, including the hares "Tiny" and "Puss," and the spaniel "Beau," immortalised in his works. The chief means, however, which he adopted for keeping his mind occupied and free from distressing ideas was the cultivation of his poetic gift. At the suggestion of Mrs. U., he wroteThe Progress of Error;Truth, Table Talk, Expostulation, Hope, Charity, Conversation, andRetirementwere added, and the whole werepub.in one vol. in 1782. Though not received with acclamation, its signal merits of freshness, simplicity, graceful humour, and the pure idiomatic English in which it was written gradually obtained recognition, and the fame of the poet-recluse began to spread. His health had now become considerably re-established, and he enjoyed an unwonted measure of cheerfulness, which was fostered by the friendship of Lady Austin, who had become his neighbour. From her he received the story of John Gilpin, which he forthwith turned into his immortal ballad. Hers also was the suggestion that he should write a poem in blank verse, which gave its origin to his most famous poem,The Task. Before it waspub., however, the intimacy had, apparently owing to some little feminine jealousies, been broken off.The Taskwaspub.in 1785, and met with immediate and distinguished success. Although not formally or professedly, it was, in fact, the beginning of an uprising against the classical school of poetry, and the founding of a new school in which nature was the teacher. As Dr. Stopford Brooke points out, "Cowper is the first of the poets who loves Nature entirely for her own sake," and in him "the idea of Mankind as a whole is fully formed." About this time he resumed his friendship with his cousin, Lady Hesketh, and, encouraged by her, he began his translation ofHomer, which appeared in 1791. Before this he had removed with Mrs. U. to the village of Weston Underwood. His health had again given way; and in 1791 Mrs. U. became paralytic, and the object of his assiduous and affectionate care. A settled gloom with occasional brighter intervals was now falling upon him. He strove to fight it by engaging in various translations, and in revising hisHomer, and undertaking a new ed. of Milton, which last was, however, left unfinished. In 1794 a pension of £300 was conferred upon him, and in 1795 he removed with Mrs. U., now a helpless invalid, to East Dereham. Mrs. U.d.in the following year, and three years later his own death released him from his heavy burden of trouble and sorrow. His last poem wasThe Castaway, which, with its darkness almost of despair, shows noloss of intellectual or poetic power. In addition to his reputation as a poet C. has that of being among the very best of English letter-writers, and in this he shows, in an even easier and more unstudied manner, the same command of pure idiomatic English, the same acute observation, and the same mingling of gentle humour and melancholy. In literature C. is the connecting link between the classical school of Pope and the natural school of Burns, Crabbe, and Wordsworth, having, however, much more in common with the latter.
SUMMARY.—B.1731,ed.Westminster School, entered Middle Temple and called to the Bar, 1754, appointed Clerk of Journals of House of Lords, but mind gave way 1763, lives with the Unwins, became intimate with J. Newton and with him writesOlney Hymns,pub.Poems(Progress of Error, etc.), 1782,Task1785,Homer1791,d.1731.
The standard ed. of C.'s works is Southey's, with memoir (15 vols. 1834-37). Others are the Aldine (1865), the Globe (1870). There areLivesby Hayley (2 vols., 1805), Goldwin Smith (Men of Letters Series), and T. Wright.
COXE, WILLIAM (1747-1828).—Historian, wasb.in London, anded.at Eton and Camb. As tutor to various young men of family he travelled much on the Continent, andpub.accounts of his journeys. His chief historical work is hisMemoirs of the House of Austria(1807), and he also wrote lives of Walpole, Marlborough, and others. He had access to valuable original sources, and his books, though somewhat heavy, are on the whole trustworthy, notwithstanding a decided Whig bias. He was a clergyman, andd.Archdeacon of Wilts.
CRABBE, GEORGE (1754-1832).—Poet,b.at Aldborough, Suffolk, where hisf.was collector of salt dues, he was apprenticed to a surgeon, but, having no liking for the work, went to London to try his fortune in literature. Unsuccessful at first, he as a last resource wrote a letter to Burke enclosing some of his writings, and was immediately befriended by him, and taken into his own house, where he met Fox, Reynolds, and others. His first important work,The Library, waspub.in 1781, and received with favour. He took orders, and was appointed by the Duke of Rutland his domestic chaplain, residing with him at Belvoir Castle. Here in 1783 hepub. The Village, which established his reputation, and about the same time he was presented by Lord Thurlow to two small livings. He was now secured from want, made a happy marriage, and devoted himself to literary and scientific pursuits. TheNewspaperappeared in 1785, and was followed by a period of silence until 1807, when he came forward again withThe Parish Register, followed byThe Borough(1810),Tales in Verse(1812), and his last work,Tales of the Hall(1817-18). In 1819 Murray the publisher gave him £3000 for the last named work and the unexpired copyright of his other poems. In 1822 he visited Sir Walter Scott at Edinburgh. Soon afterwards his health began to give way, and hed.in 1832. C. has been called "the poet of the poor." He describes in simple, but strong and vivid, verse their struggles, sorrows, weaknesses, crimes, and pleasures, sometimes with racy humour, oftener in sombre hues.His pathos, sparingly introduced, goes to the heart; his pictures of crime and despair not seldom rise to the terrific, and he has a marvellous power of painting natural scenery, and of bringing out in detail the beauty and picturesqueness of scenes at first sight uninteresting, or even uninviting. He is absolutely free from affectation or sentimentality, and may be regarded as one of the greatest masters of the realistic in our literature. With these merits he has certain faults, too great minuteness in his pictures, too frequent dwelling upon the sordid and depraved aspects of character, and some degree of harshness both in matter and manner, and not unfrequently a want of taste.
Lifeprefixed to ed. of works by his son (1834), Ainger (Men of Letters, 1903). Works (Ward, 3 vols., 1906-7).