William Cowper, the eldest son of the Rector of
Berkhampsted in Hertfordshire, was born on the 15th of November, 1731. He
was a delicate and sensitive child, and was seriously affected by the loss
of his mother when he was six years old. At school, he was cruelly treated
by an older boy, which led to his decided views against public schools,
expressed in his poem called _Tirocinium_. His morbid sensitiveness
increased upon him as he grew older, and interfered with his legal studies
and advancement. His depression of spirits took a religious turn; and we
are glad to think that religion itself brought the balm which gave him
twelve years of unclouded mind, devoted to friendship and to poetry. He
was offered, by powerful friends, eligible positions connected with the
House of Lords, in 1762; but as the one of these which he accepted was
threatened with a public examination, he abandoned it in horror; not,
however, before the fearful suspense had unsettled his brain, so that he
was obliged to be placed, for a short time, in an asylum for the insane.
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