Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/448

 444 COWPER COWEY occupied -with religious exercises and charities. Olney is a damp, sickly place, and doubtless aggravated Cowper's morbid peculiarities, and he suffered returns of insanity from 1773 to 1776. Lady Austen turned his attention to poetry, and Mrs. Unwin suggested to him sev- eral subjects for poems. He contributed 68 hymns to a collection made by Newton, called the "Olney Hymns;" and in 1782, when he was 50 years of age, he published his first volume. It was tolerably well received ; but the ballad of " John Gilpin," which he wrote from a story told him by Lady Austen, gave him a wide renown. The ballad had been published anonymously, and lay for three years neglected until suddenly it caught the atten- tion of the public. It was read to crowded audiences in London by Henderson the actor, and one publisher alone sold 6,000 copies of a print of John Gilpin on his famous ride. Lady Austen next suggested to him, as a task, that he should write some verses about a sofa, and what might be seen from it ; whence the title of his longest original poem, "The Task," which was published in 1785, and gained gen- eral popularity. He next translated Homer in blank verse, and published it by subscription in 1791. He undertook a new edition of Mil- ton, with translations of the Latin and Italian poems ; but the condition of his mind prevent- ed him from completing this work. His faith- ful friend Mrs. Unwin having become paraly- tic, his cousin Lady Hesketh came to take charge of his household ; but in 1795 he re- moved from Olney with Mrs. Unwin to the house of his relative the Rev. Mr. Johnson, at Tuddenham, and finally to East Dereham. A pension of 300 had been settled upon him by the king, chiefly through the active solicita- tions of the poet Hayley ; but Cowper when it was announced to him showed no marks of pleasure. In 1796 Mrs. Unwin died; the poet, it is said, looked in silent agony upon her corpse, and then turned away and never after- ward mentioned her name. A slight recovery of his mental powers enabled him in 1799 to revise his Homer, and to write his last poem, "The Castaway," a picture of his own sad fate ; but he died of dropsy in the spring of the following year. Cowper's writings are original, truthful, and striking. In poetry he was one of the first to break away from the despotism of Pope and invent an original rhythm. He is never melodious, but always natural and at his ease. He loved nature, flowers, animals, and rural life, and paints scenery with great power. His descriptions are sometimes coarse, but always clear and effective. The moral teaching of his poetry is high, and he strove to force upon his material age the noblest conceptions of the spiritual and the divine. With this religious turn of thought he joined humor and forcible satire. He translated Homer with more accuracy than Pope, but with less elegance. His prose is excellent, and his letters are not surpassed by any in the language. Here, in his happier moods, all is playful humor, ease, gayety, sim- plicity, and wisdom. His mind seems to break from its clouds into moments of perfect sun- shine. In character he was pure, his disposi- tion amiable ; he gained the love and respect of gifted men and virtuous accomplished women ; he was charitable and active in doing good, ten- der and confiding to his friends, and capable of unchanging affection. So good a man might well have looked for happiness both here and here- after ; but it was Cowper's singular fate to pass a lifetime in despair. Hope was an impulse he never knew or never ventured to indulge. His appearance was intellectual and well bred, his manner pleasing, and his whole life that of a tasteful recluse. He cultivated flowers, and watched with interest the progress of his gar- den. He petted tame leverets and immortal- ized them in verse. He was careful of his dress, and, though shy of strangers, took plea- sure in a narrow circle of well bred intelligent associates. His clouded mind, his mental ago- nies, and his generous kindly nature, endeared him to his friends, who loved, pitied, and ad- mired him. The life of Cowper was first writ- ten by William Hayley, for an edition of his posthumous writings (Chichester, 1803-'6). It has also been written by Thomas Taylor (London, 1833) ; by the Rev. T. S. Grimshawe for an edition of his works and correspon- dence (London, 1835) ; by Robert Southey, for a complete edition of his works (Lon- don, 1838) ; by H. F. Cary, for an edition of his poems, including his translations of the Iliad and Odyssey (London, 1839); and by Sir Harris Nicolas, for an Aldine edition of his poems (London, 1843). Southey's biography and edition are much the best, and have been republished, with additional letters, in Bonn's "Standard Library," in 8 vols. COWRY, the common name of the marine gasteropod mollusk cypr&a, the representa- tive genus of the family cyprceidce. The shells are well known for their beautiful colors and polished surface ; the aperture is narrow, the lips thickened, ridged, and turned in, channelled at each end ; no operculum ; the mantle expanded on each side, meeting on the back, where there is a paler line. The young shell has a thin and sharp outer lip, a promi- nent spire, and is without the enamelled surface of the adult. They inhabit shallow warm waters near the shore, feeding upon zoophytes. Those of special interest are the orange cowry (C. aurora), worn by natives of the Friendly islands as a mark of chieftainship; the ring cowry (C. annulus), used by the Asiatic island- ers to adorn their dress, for sinkers to their nets, and for barter; and the money cowry (G. moneta), used as money, and the young shells of which, with the convex portion cut away and the cavity filled with sealing wax, are favorites with boys in the game of "shaking props." This last is an eastern and Pacific shell, and is an important article of trade, being