Cowper, William

an English poet, B. at Berkhampstead, 1731, was the great-nephew of the lord-chancellor Cowper. After completing his education, his family pro cured him the place of clerk to the House of Lords, but his nervousne and constitutional timidity were such, that he was obliged to resign it. He now fell into so terrible a state of nervous debility, that he was for some time placed in the lunatic asylum of Dr. Cotton. The skill and humanity of that gentleman restored him, and he retired to Hunting don. Here he became acquainted with the family of the Unwins; and after Mr. Unwin's death he removed with Mrs. Unwin to Olney, Bucks. His natural melancholy colored his religious views and feelings, and he fell often into the most painful despondency. But although his mind was so frequently bent down by dejection, he was a very voluminous writer. In addition to translating Homer, which he did with more accuracy than Pope, if with le polish, he wrote The Tusk, the best of all his poems, -Tirocinium. and a host of smaller works; translated some of Madame Guyon's spiritual songs; and his correspondence, which exhibits him as one of the most elegant of English letter writers, was extremely voluminous. Towards the close of his life his gloom deepened into absolute despair, from which he never wholly emerged, and he D. in Norfolk, 1800, four years after his benevolent friend, Mary Unwin.