In person, Washington was robust, and above the middle height. He was thoughtful and reserved, without being repulsive; and his manners were those of the old school of English gentlemen. Although mild and humane, he was stern in the performance of duty, and never, upon such occasions, yielded to softness or compassion. His speeches and official letters are simple and earnest, but wanting perhaps in that conciseness which marks vigour of thought. Whilst President, he was assailed by the violence of party spirit. On his decease his worth was justly appreciated, and the sorrow at his loss was universal and sincere. Washington was distinguished less by the brilliancy of his talents than by his moral goodness, sound judgment, and plain but excellent understanding. His admirable use of those sterling, though homely qualities has gained a rank for him among the greatest and best of men; and his name will be coexistent, as it was co-eval, with that of the empire, of which, no less by his rare civil wisdom than his eminent military talents, he may be considered the founder.

The virtues which distinguish him from all others who have united the fame of statesman and captain, were two-fold, and they are as great as they are rare. He refused power which his own merit had placed within his reach, constantly persisting in the preference of a republican to a monarchical form of government, as the most congenial to liberty when it is not incompatible with the habits of the people and the circumstances of society; and he even declined to continue longer than his years seemed to permit at the head of that commonwealth which he had founded. This subjugation of all ambitious feelings to the paramount sense of duty is his first excellence; it is the sacrifice of his own aggrandisement to his country's freedom. The next is like unto it; his constant love

of peace when placed at the head of affairs: this was the sacrifice of the worthless glory which ordinary men prize the most, to the tranquillity and happiness of mankind. Wherefore to all ages and in all climes, they who most love public virtue will hold in eternal remembrance the name of George Washington; never pronouncing it but with gratitude and awe, as designating a mortal removed above the ordinary lot of human frailty.

The words of his last will in bequeathing his sword to his nephews-the sword which he had worn in the sacred war of liberty-ought to be graven in letters of gold over every palace in the world: "This sword they shall never draw but in defence of freedom, or of their country, or of their kindred; and when thus drawn, they shall prefer falling with it in their hands to the relinquishment thereof."

For farther information we refer to the works of Ramsay and Marshall; and to the Correspondence of Washington, published by Mr. Sparkes.

97

COWPER.

He

WILLIAM COWPER was born at the rectory of Berkhampstead, in Hertfordshire, Nov. 26, 1731. was nearly related to the noble family of that name, his great-uncle having been chancellor and first Earl Cowper: his grandfather, the brother of the chancellor, was a judge of the Common Pleas. Cowper's mother died before he was six years old. Soon afterwards he was sent to a country school, from which, at the age of nine, he was removed to Westminster. It is probable that one cause among others of his future unhappiness was the early loss of that tender parent, whose "constant flow of love," beautifully acknowledged in his verses on receiving her picture, and in many parts of his correspondence, made a deep and lasting impression on his infant mind. Cowper was exactly the boy to require a mother's care. His constitution was delicate, his mind sensitive and timid ; and he discovered a tendency to dejection, which was

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aggravated by the tyranny then practised at our public schools. Quitting Westminster at eighteen, with a good character for talent and scholarship, he went at once into an attorney's office, where he spent three years, according to his own account, with very little profit. He then became a member of the Inner Temple, intending to practise at the bar. At this period of life he amused himself with composition, and showed a strong predilection for polite literature and agreeable society; but he had no taste for the law, and took no pains to qualify himself for his profession. Long afterwards he deeply lamented the loss of time during his early manhood, and earnestly warned his young friends against a similar error.

In 1763 Cowper was appointed to the lucrative office of reading clerk, and clerk of the private committees of the House of Lords. The fairest prospect of happiness now lay before him, for his union with one of his cousins, it is said, had only been deferred until he should obtain a satisfactory establishment. But the idea of reading in public was intolerable to him; and he gave up this office for the less valuable one of clerk of the journals, in which it was hoped that his personal appearance before the House would not be required. Unfortunately it did prove necessary that he should appear at the bar to qualify himself for the post. "They whose spirits are formed like mine," he thus expressed himself in after-life, "to whom a public exhibition of themselves is mortal poison, may have some ideas of the horrors of my situation others can have none." He fought hard against this morbid feeling; but, when the day arrived for entering upon his duties, such was his terror and distress, that even his friends acquiesced in his abandoning the attempt. But his mind had been disordered in the struggle, and he shortly sank into deep religious despondency; so that it was found necessary,

in December, 1763, to place him in a lunatic asylum at St. Alban's, under the care of Dr. Cotton.

Cowper's insanity at this period, and the grievous dejection of the last twenty-seven years of his life, have been imputed to the so-called gloominess of his religious tenets. From that opinion we entirely dissent. No sense of religious abasement can be conceived able to drive a sane man to distraction at the thought of having to appear in a public capacity before Parliament; and Cowper's struggles and mental distress on that occasion were anterior to his receiving any serious impressions of religion. Moreover, it appears certain that his recovery was due to more encouraging views of the doctrines of the Gospel, assisted by the kind and judicious mental, as well as bodily, treatment of Dr. Cotton. For eight years his religion was the source of unfailing cheerfulness and active benevolence; and after he ceased to derive pleasure from it in his own person, he was still mild and charitable in his conduct towards others, and his opinions concerning them. The extent of Cowper's mental wandering on subjects unconnected with his own spiritual state is not perhaps generally known. A remarkable instance of it occurs in a letter to his esteemed friend, Mr. Newton, dated October 2, 1787, from which it appears that, during thirteen years, Cowper had entertained doubts of Mr. Newton's personal identity. At this latter period, therefore, there was hallucination of mind, as well as religious gloom. Cowper's recovery from his first illness is dated in July, 1764; but he remained with his friendly and beloved physician nearly a year more, after which he took lodgings at Huntingdon, directed by the wish of being within easy reach of his brother, who was a resident Fellow of Benet College, Cambridge.

He soon became acquainted with a family bearing the name of Unwin, consisting of a clergyman, his