William Cowper
I find it curious that in the definitive bibliography of William
Cowper's work there is no mention in the section on Translations of his
translation of Dr. Jortin's Latin verses on the brevity of human life.[5] The translation, with Dr. Jortin's
Latin
and six lines of doggerel verse by Cowper, was reprinted in the February
1814 GM (p. 166) and bore the signature and date "W. C.,
Jan. 1801." Although the translation was written in 1784, it
was
first published, according to the Oxford edition, by William Hayley in
1804. Hayley prints six lines of doggerel, omitting Cowper's final two lines
as they appear in his letter to John Newton dated 25 January 1784, i.e. "for
the use of Mankind, both before and behind," arousing the suspicion that
his source was something other than Cowper's letter. The possible
explanation is that a version of the poem with only the first six lines of the
doggerel appeared in some periodical in January 1801. The
only substantive difference in the GM text is "globe" for
"glebe" in line 10. Also missing is the printing of all but the last six lines
of an inscription "On a Stone erected at the Planting of a Grove of Oaks at
Chillington, the Seat of T. Gifford, Esq., 1790" in the May 1815
GM (p. 387).[6] Two
epitaphs by Cowper were reprinted in the September 1815
GM
(p. 195); the first is titled "At New-port Pagnel, Buckinghamshire. On T.
A. Hamilton," the title in the Oxford edition being "Inscription for the
Tomb of Mr. Hamilton." The second appears as "On Mrs. Higgins, of
Weston-under-Edge, near Newport-Pagnel, Bucks." as opposed to the
Oxford edition's "Epitaph on Mrs. Higgins, of Weston." In this latter
poem, the only substantive difference is "those," in the last line in the
GM text, for "theirs." More interesting differences exist in
the
two versions of the epitaph on Hamilton, with the received text first in what
follows: l. 3,
Life's silent/Health's sounding; l. 4, Health/Life; l. 6, an heart/a heart; l.
7, ofttimes healthful and/healthful and oft-time. The appearances of these
poems and the textual variants have been noted.[7] The "J. C." who submitted the
epitaphs,
having
already submitted some in the previous volume (1815. i. 292), was Joseph
Cockfield of Upton.
[8]
