New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-12-25
THE POET OF OLNEY.
A NEW LIFE or COWPER.


TIE LIFE OF WILLIAM cowPER,, o, By Th2 wi'r,
Wright. Principal Of Cowpor school olney. WIN
Portraits and Illustrations. evo. PIP ca" Lon
don: +. Fisher Irwin.
Although perhaps the poet Cowpcr has oc'h
honorel by as many biographies ds most men u
mark, the lapse Of centur; and a half had not
vholly sufic.d 10 clear mp tho Ohscurli"s III ms
career when the present author took up me
task Of biographical research and succecdc! N
discovering some hitherto unknown or ~ least
unrelated facts some OF which are OF III" hrst
importance in giving insight to IN" CHARACTER
and actions Of the recusc poet. Most readers
lave probably general notion about 'o"pT'
rs that at intervals he suffered from mental aOcr
ration that he reared and at one time quite
literally surrounded himself by queer ictS fore
mos, among which were the three famous hdrS:
that he owed the principal part Of such pleasure
and comfort as he enjoyed IN life Ia the tender
uinjstrations and devotion Of Mrs. nwln. VINO,
without pcriphrass, sacrificed her life TO HIM
that other women, and notably Lady llcskcth, "A
distant connection, helped and guarded one oil
the most helpless of men that II" made many
warm friendships among men, bat That some d
them ended suddenly and in mutual bitterness
and finally. that a heavy cloud Of hypochordra
ovcrhunc this otherwise tranquil existence and
made of i; something Ike living tragedy.
Mr. Wright is the first of Cowpcrs bosraphers
10 discover that Lady Austen was really in love
with the poet. and that another woman with
whom he had himself been IN love when lis
circumstances were too stra:tned to admt "l
marriage, kept gentle watch on Inn a. long a.
she lived, and came 10 his aid repeatedly when
oubarrassmcnts m.naccd him. rut what Mr..
Wright has brought 10 light regarding the cause
Of the mental gloom which for the Greater part
/ I, e..
walls i, of the greatest Importance and significance.
and il IS the more remarkable that no previous
biosiaphcr should have fallen upof. the fact. Mr.
Wright attributes the oversight 10 the obvious
failure Of his predecessors 20 read the pet 5
correspondcncc and, above all, 10 read II con-
sccutivcly The facilities for accomplishing
this were indeed scarcely attainablc until quite
recently. but when all the surviving letters are
nut together in due order, several obscure points
find explanation
1t Is not to be thought that what Mr.. Wright
| terms Il the fatal dream" actually the begin
ming Of Cowpu's mental cloud. On the con-
| trary he had from adolescence suffered terribly
from gloom and despair, and II all had lis origin
in religious misconceptions Viewed from the
point Of view of alerisin. william Cowp"r must
| be regarded as having been more or less mad all
his life That is the ndubilablc truth; aad the
madness was in his blood the case of his
/ brother John clearly indicates. No doubt If his
| mind had not been unwnOlesomely excited about
the deep and dark problem of his personal saliva
! ton some other cause Of irritation would have
developed his latent insanity. But probably his
| halucinations in that case would have been less
persistent and less narrowing, and he might by
iudicions treatment have growr out Of them.
| As il was he gave himself up so completely 10
| the horrors Of wicked ima2inatiOns that several
times he was tempted 10 kill himself, and once at
| least he was very near 10 the accomplishment of
the act Mr. Wrgh, describes these suicidal
exccssrs with great particularly, and very drcal-
| full reading the narrative makes, nor can Their"
be any question that when they occurred the
poor poet was out Of his mind.
But the lata' dream which colorcd his life
occurred in 1913. Up TO that time Cowp"r,
despite his Affections still held firmly TO tine
belief that God was thus trying him only for the
purpose Of bringing about GoOd. The dream was
70 change that spirit Of hope into Of black
despair Hitherto, ~ before observed, despite
the distressing state he had got into, COwpcr
still buoycl himself with hope that God had not
forsalien him; but enc night, toward the end "
February he crossed the line hat divided a
/ life OF hope from life Of despair. He had a
Terrible Dream in which "a Word" was spoken.
? w nat inc dream WIS nc uOrS NOT t'll Us. nor
docs he tell US the Word" though from his
various references TO il and 10 his malady we
know It's import. "Acturl est de Ia, pcrsti
-" Ii is all over with thee, thou has: persisted, -
was the thought ever uppcrmOst in Cowper's
mind. II is not impossible that that was
the very Word lscr to Newton, August p,
1888, but whether ii SO or not The meaning
must have been the same. To this incident
Cowpcr thus refers October &c, 1850: had
a dream twelve years ago, before the recollection
Of which all consolation vanishes, and II seems
to me- must always vanish But ] will neither
trouble you with my dream nor with any com
mcnts upon il for, if il were possible should
do well TO forget that the remembrance of which
is Incompatible with my comfort
Twelve years ago makes, of course, the year
of the dream 1873 but in earlier letter JANUARY
. -, 1889 Cowpcr - very much moro definite
I lie says: Nature rcvivcs again, but soul once
slain lives no more. The latter cnl of
next month wiil complete period Of eleven
years, in which ! hsve spoken No. otlcr language
IL is a long time for "A man whose eyes were once
opened 10 spend in darkness; long enough to mako
despair an invetcrae habit; AMI such it is in me