general hope, that great numbers were inevitably difappointed; and Cowley found his reward very tediously delayed. He had been promised, by both Charles the Firft 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 such 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 stage with great feverity, 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 fhewn "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 firmnefs 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 comparifon, 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 itfelf is without the article, "Cutter of Coleman-street," and that, because a merry fharking fellow about the town, named Cutter, is a principal character in it. H.

3

tally

tally to exclude diffidence and shame 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 reftoration 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 Royalifts.

That he might fhorten this tedious fufpenfe; he published his pretenfions and his difcontent, in an ode called "The Complaint;" in which he ftyles himself the melancholy Cowley. This met with the ufual fortune of complaints, and feems to have excited more contempt than pity.

Thefe 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,
Making apologies for his bad play;

Every one gave him fo good a report,

That Apollo gave heed to all he could fay:
Nor would he have had, 'tis thought, a rebuke,
Unless he had done fome notable folly;

Writ verfes unjustly in praise of Sam Tuke,

Or printed his pitiful Mclancholy.

His vehement defire of retirement now came again upon him. "Not finding," fays the morose Wood, "that preferment conferred upon him which he "expected, while others for their money carried away moft places, he retired difcontented into "Surrey.

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"He was now," fays the courtly Sprat, weary "of the vexations and formalities of an active con"dition. He had been perplexed with a long com

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pliance to forcign manners. He was satisfied with "the arts of a court; which fort of life, though "his virtue made it innocent to him, yet nothing "could make it quiet. Those were the reafons that "made him to follow the violent inclination of his "own mind, which, in the greateft throng of his "former business, had ftill called upon him, and re

prefented to him the true delights of folitary "ftudies, of temperate pleasures, and a moderate "revenue below the malice and flatteries of "fortune."

So differently are things feen! and fo differently are they fhewn! but actions are vifible, though motives are fecret. Cowley certainly retired; firft 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 himself now fafe enough from intrufion, without the defence of mountains and oceans; and, instead of fecking shelter in America, wifely went only fo far from the buftle of life as that he might eafily find his way back, when folitude fhould grow tedious. His retreat was

*

L'Allegro of Miton. 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 lover of virtue and of wit it will be folicitously asked, 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.

"The first night that I came hither I caught fo s 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

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yet unable to move or turn myself 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, of 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 Monftri fimile. I do hope to re"cover my late hurt fo farre within five or fix days "(though it be uncertain yet whether I fhall ever VOL. IX.

C

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recover

"recover it) as to walk about again. And then, “methinks, you and I and the Dean might be very "merry upon St. Anne'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 say no more: Verbum fapienti.”

He did not long enjoy the pleasure or fuffer the uneafinefs of folitude; for he died at the Porchhoufe in Chertíey 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 reprefented by Dr. Sprat as the most amiable of mankind; and this pofthumous praife 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 civil war were yet recent, and the minds of either party were eafily irritated, was obliged to pass 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 fupplement.

Now in the poffeffion of Mr. Clarke, Alderman of London. Dr. J.

COW.