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 CHAPTER IV.

��THE COWPER CENTENARY.

(April 25th, 1900.)

THE celebration at Olney of the hundredth anniversary of the poet's death promises to commend itself to all lovers of Cowper. Mr. W. H. Coliingridge, who was born in the Cowper house, and has presented it to the town, purposes further to commemorate the Centenary by founding a museum of Cowper relics, to be placed in the famous parlour and Cowper's hall, the room to be used as a public library. Mr. CoUingridge has for years been diligently collecting, and the result of his labours is to form what he modestly terms " a nucleus " for a Cowper and Newton Museum. The MSS. include a few of Cowper's and John Newton's, and the diary kept by Samuel Teedon. This extends from October, 1791, to February, 1794, and contains many references to the poet and to Mrs. Unwin. The celebration is to be marked by an address from Mr. Clement Shorter, who is at work on a lif e of Cowper ; the Dean of Canterbury is to preach ; and the children of Olney, wearing favours of buff and green (Cowper's colours), are to take part in the general pro- ceedings, at the close of which each child will receive a copy of the biography of Cowper kindly presented by the Religious Tract Society. It is also suggested that on the previous Sunday Cowper's hymns should be sung in all churches and chapels. It is proposed that a Cowper Society should be formed. My friend Mr. Colling- ridge considers it strange that Olney is still almost as little known to the inhabitants of London as it was in John Newton's time, and begs admirers of Cowper to take the short journey of sixty miles, when they will find the house in which the poet wrote ' The Task,' the ' Olney Hymns,' and ' John Gilpin ' ; the tiny summer-house, "not much bigger than a sedan chair" ; and the old church, dating back to the fourteenth century, where Newton laboured for sixteen years before he was appointed to St. Mary Woolnoth. It will be remembered that his remains and those of his wife, on their removal from the vaults of St. Mary Woolnoth on the 24th of January, 1893, were reinterred at Olney. Weston Lodge, only a mile distant, where Cowper lived for ten years, should also be included in the visit. It is situated in the midst of beautiful scenery. Upon the

��1900, April 21.

The Cowper Centenary.

��W. H.

Coliingridge.

��Clement Shorter.

�� �