OF

WILLIAM COWPER, Esq.

COMPILED FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE

AND OTHER

AUTHENTIC SOURCES OF INFORMATION

BY THOMAS TAYLOR.

'Untainted with the blandishments of vice,
Which mark the manners of the present age,
He sought and found the pearl of precious price
Which stands recorded in the sacred page.
Yet, spite of all that wisdom could impart,
And all the fervour of religious flame,
Grief poured a tide of anguish through his heart
And shook the fabric of his mental frame.'

THIRD EDITION, WITH NUMEROUS ADDITIONS.

:

PUBLISHED BY R. B. SEELEY AND W. BURNSIDE:
AND SOLD BY L. B. SEELEY AND SONS,
FLEET STREET, LONDON.

MDCCCXXXIII.

TO

R. D. ALEXANDER, Esq. F. L. S.

THE STEADY, DETERMINED, AND PERSEVERING
FRIEND OF HUMANITY,

This Life

OF THE AMIABLE, PIOUS, AND HIGHLY GIFTED,

BUT DEEPLY-AFFLICTED POET,

COWPER,

WHICH OWES ITS EXISTENCE ENTIRELY TO HIS SUGGESTION,

Es most respectfully Enscribed,

AS A SLIGHT, BUT SINCERE AND GRATEFUL,

TRIBUTE OF ESTEEM,

FOR THE NUMEROUS UNMERITED FAVOURS RECEIVED

FROM HIM,

BY HIS OBEDIENT SERVANT,

THE AUTHOR.