Cowper, William, one of the most popular
poets and letter writers of the English language,
was born in Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire,
November 26, 1731. His father,
Rev. John Cowper, was a chaplain to
George II. He spent ten years in Westminster
School, and then began reading law,
but abandoned it for literature after a very
brief practice. He became the most distinguished
poet of the English language in
the latter half of the eighteenth century.
His poetic works are too numerous and too
well known to need mention here. His life
is invested with a peculiar and sorrowful
interest, owing to his constitutional tendency
to mental and moral despondency,
which brought on frequent attacks of insanity.
His disappointment in not being
permitted to marry his cousin added to his
malady. His melancholia had come upon
him and placed its dark limitations upon
his life before he went, in 1765, to live at
Huntingdon, where his association with and
love for Mrs. Mary Unwin became one of
the tenderest and holiest attachments of his
life. In 1767 he moved to Olney, the home
of
Rev. John Newton.
An intimate friendship
between the two at once began. Cowper
was a constant and prayerful attendant
upon Newton's Church services, especially
his cottage prayer meetings, for
which nearly all of his hymns were written
at Newton's request. The
Olney Hymns,
1779, was their joint production, seventy-eight
of them coming from Cowper. He
also translated many of the
hymns of Madame Guyon,
one of which is found in this
volume. He died April 25, 1800, at East
Dereham. He is regarded as the greatest
letter writer in Engllsh literature. None
of his great poems show signs of melancholia,
but breathe a healthful and cheerful
piety. No other great poet has written
so many hymns as he. His hymns give
expression to sentiments of peace and gratitude,
of trust and submission, rather than
of hope and joy. A plaintive and refined
tenderness runs through them all.
A glory gilds the sacred page |
198 |
God moves in a mysterious way |
96 |
Hark, my soul, it is the Lord |
307 |
Hear what God the Lord hath |
211 |
Jesus, where'er thy people meet |
37 |
My Lord, how full of sweet content |
518 |
O for a closer walk with God |
492 |
Sometimes a light surprises |
454 |
There is a fountain filled with blood |
291 |
What various hindrances we meet |
496 |