general hope, that great numbers were inevitably disappointed; and Cowley found his reward very tediously delayed. He had been promised by both Charles the First and Second, the Mastership of the Savoy ; "but he loft it," fays Wood, "by certain "perfons, enemies to the Mufes." * The neglect of the court was not his only mortification; having, by fuch alteration as he thought proper, fitted his old Comedy of "The Guardian" for the ftage, he produced it under the title of "The Cutter of Coleman-ftreet ." It was treated on the ftage with great severity, and was afterwards cenfured as a fatire on the King's party. Mr. Dryden, who went with Mr. Sprat to the first exhibition, related to Mr. Dennis, "that, when they told Cowley how little favour had been shewn him, he received the news of his ill fuccefs, not "with fo much firmnefs as might have been ex"pected from fo great a man." What firmness they expected, or what weakness Cowley discovered, cannot be known. He that miffes his end will never be as much pleafed as he that attains it, even when he can impute no part of his failure to himself; and, when the end is to please the multitude, no man, perhaps, has a right, in things admitting of gradation and comparison, to throw the whole blame upon his judges, and to* 1663. + Here is an error in the defignation of this comedy, which our author copied from the title-page of the latter editions of Cowley's Works: the title of the play itself is without the article," Cutter of Coleman-ftreet," and that because a merry fharking fellow about the town, named Cutter, is a principal character in it. H. tally tally to exclude diffidence and fhame by a haughty consciousness of his own excellence. For the rejection of this play it is difficult now to find the reason: it certainly has, in a very great degree, the power of fixing attention and exciting merriment. From the charge of difaffection he exculpates himself in his preface, by obferving how unlikely it is that, having followed the royal family through all their diftreffes, "he fhould chufe the "time of their restoration to begin a quarrel with "them." It appears, however, from the Theatrical Register of Downes, the Prompter, to have been popularly confidered as a fatire on the Royalists. That he might shorten this tedious fufpence, he published his pretenfions and his discontent, in an ode called "The Complaint;" in which he ftyles himself the melancholy Cowley. This met with the ufual fortune of complaints, and seems to have excited more contempt than pity. These unlucky incidents are brought, maliciously enough, together in fome ftanzas, written about that time, on the choice of a laureat; a mode of fatire, by which, fince it was first introduced by Suckling, perhaps every generation of poets has been teazed. Savoy-miffing Cowley came into the court, Every one gave him fo good a report, That Apollo gave heed to all he could fay: Or printed his pitiful Melancholy. His vehement defire of retirement now came again upon him. "Not finding," fays the morofe Wood, "that preferment conferred upon him which he expected, while others for their money carried 66 away moft places, he retired discontented into "Surrey." "He was now," fays the courtly Sprat, 66 weary "of the vexations and formalities of an active con"dition. He had been perplexed with a long com pliance to foreign manners. He was fatiated with the arts of a court; which fort of life, thought "his virtue made it innocent to him, yet nothing "could make it quiet. Thofe were the reasons that "made him to follow the violent inclination of his own mind, which, in the greateft throng of his "former bufinefs, had ftill called upon him, and "reprefented to him the true delights of folitary "ftudies of temperate pleasures, and a moderate 66 revenue below the malice and flatteries of for"tune." So differently are things feen! and fo differently are they fhewn! but actions are vifible, though mo*tives are fecret. Cowley certainly retired; first to Barn-elms, and afterwards to Chertfey, in Surrey. He feems, however, to have loft part of his dread of the hum of men *. He thought himfelf now fafe enough from intrufion, without the defence of mountains and oceans; and, instead of seeking shelter in America, wifely went only fo far from the bustle of life as that he might eafily find his way back, when folitude fhould grow tedious. His retreat was * L'Allegro of Milton. Dr. J. at at first but flenderly accommodated; yet he foon obtained, by the intereft of the earl of St. Alban's and the Duke of Buckingham, fuch a leafe of the Queen's lands as afforded him an ample income. By the lovers of virtue and of wit it will be folicitoufly afked, if he now was happy. Let them. perufe one of his letters accidentally preferved by Peck, which I recommend to the confideration of all that may hereafter pant for folitude. 66 66 66 "The first night that I came hither I caught fo great a cold with a defluxion of rheum, as made me keep my chamber ten days. And, two after, had fuch a bruife on my ribs with a fall, that I am yet unable to move or turn myfelf in my bed. "This is my perfonal fortune here to begin with. And, befides, I can get no money from my tenants, and have my meadows eaten up every night by cattle put in by my neighbours. What this fignifies, or may come to in time, God knows; "if it be ominous, it can end in nothing lefs than hanging. Another misfortune has been, and ftranger than all the reft, that you have broke your word with me, and failed to come, even though you told Mr. Bois that you would. This "is what they call Monfri fimile. I do hope to re 66 66 66 66 cover my late hurt fo farre within five or fix days (though it be uncertain yet whether I fhall ever VOL. IX. C "recover "recover it) as to walk about again. And then, "methinks, you and I and the Dean might be very merry upon St. Ann's Hill. You might very con"veniently come hither the way of Hampton Town, "lying there one night. I write this in pain, and "can fay no more: Verbum fapienti.” He did not long enjoy the pleasure or fuffer he uneafinefs of folitude; for he died at the Porchhoufe in Chertsey, in 1667, in the 49th year of his age. He was buried with great pomp near Chaucer and Spenfer; and king Charles pronounced, "That Mr. "Cowley had not left behind him a better man in England." He is represented by Dr. Sprat as the most amiable of mankind; and this pofthumous praise may fafely be credited, as it has never been contradicted by envy or by faction. Such are the remarks and memorials which I have been able to add to the narrative of Dr. Sprat; who, writing when the feuds of the civil war were yet recent, and the minds of either party were eafily irritated, was obliged to pafs over many tranfactions in general expreffions, and to leave curiofity often unfatisfied. What he did not tell, cannot however now be known; I must therefore recommend the perufal of his work, to which my narration can be confidered only as a flender supplement. *Now in the poffeffion of Mr. Clark, Alderman of London. Dr. J. Mr. Clark was in 1798 elected to the important office of Chamberlain of London; and has every year finçe been unanimoufly re-elected. N. COW |