died at Farringdon in Berkshire, A.D. 901, and was buried at Winchester, in a monastery which he had founded.

VI-Cowper.

William Cowper was born at Great Berkhampstead, in Hertfordshire, on the 26th of November, 1731. His father was the Rev. John Cowper, Rector of the Parish, and Chaplain to George II. His mother's name was Ann Donne, who died when William was only six years old; and her loss was felt by her son all through his life.

He was a delicate, shy, and sensitive boy, and some of his schoolfellows took advantage of this, and bullied him from day to day. One boy especially persecuted him so cruelly that Cowper writes: "I had such a dread of him, that I did not dare lift my eyes to his face. I knew him best by his shoe-buckle." The cruelty being discovered, Cowper was removed from the school. For the next two years he lived a very dull life under the care of an oculist.

When he was ten years of age he was sent to Westminster School, where he worked hard, and became a favourite both with masters and boys. Among his schoolfellows were Warren Hastings, Colman, and Churchill, afterwards Poet-Laureate.

In 1748, he left Westminster, with the intention of studying for the bar. He was also articled to a solicitor for three years, at the end of which time he went to reside in the Middle Temple; and there he had a severe attack of melancholia. A change of scene being advised, Cowper went down to Southampton for a few months. On his return to London in 1754, he was called to the bar, but he never had a brief. Through the influence of his family he was appointed Commissioner of Bankrupts, at a salary of £60 a year. Soon after this, his melancholy culminated in madness; and, although he recovered in about four months, yet he resigned his Commission

I

ership, and lived almost entirely dependent on his relations and friends.

Cowper now removed to Huntingdon, where he made the acquaintance of William Cawthorne Unwin, and soon after became a permanent resident in the house of young Unwin's father. On the death of the latter, Cowper migrated with Mrs. Unwin to Olney, in Buckinghamshire. In 1779, he published his Olney Hymns, many of which are very beautiful. From this year began his true literary life. His poem "The Progress of Error", was followed by "Truth”, “Table Talk”, and other poems, all of which were published in 1782. His greatest work is “The Task"; and the best poem in that work is "The Winter Evening". He is said to be the best letter-writer in the language, his only rival being Horace Walpole.

His

In the November of 1786 they left Olney, and took a house at Weston Underwood. About this time, his friend, William Unwin, died, and Cowper was so much affected that he almost lost his reason again. A year afterwards, Mrs. Unwin had a stroke of paralysis; and the effect on Cowper's spirits was very severe. insanity took a new form. He thought God had finally forsaken him, and cast him off, and that an evil spirit was coming to fetch him away. When Mrs. Unwin died in 1796, a deeper gloom than ever settled upon him; and though he could work and write a little, he was never seen to smile again. He died in the evening of the 25th of April, 1800.

1. Make an abridgment of Cowper's life.

2. Write out his life from your own abridgment.

VII.-Macaulay.

Thomas Babington Macaulay, the most popular prosewriter of the first half of the nineteenth century, was the son of Zachary Macaulay, one of the earliest advocates for the abolition of slavery in our colonies. At the age of eighteen, young Macaulay was entered at Trinity

College, Cambridge, where he gained the Craven Scholarship, won two medals for English verse, and graduated with honours in 1822.

His great ambition was to be a literary man; and, while still at College, he began to write for the press. His aim was to be an historian, and his chief object in that department was to study and to realise for himself and his readers the private life of the common peoplethe wants and the ways of thinking and feeling of the masses. His first great literary success was an article on Milton in the Edinburgh Review (1825), which took the public by surprise. Nothing so brilliant had been seen from the pen of so young a man. In 1830, he sat in Parliament for Calne; in 1834, was president of a law commission for India; and, in 1835, was member of the Supreme Council in Calcutta. He returned from India in 1838. In 1839 he sat for Edinburgh, lost his seat in 1847; but, in 1852, the Edinburgh electors returned him at their own expense, unasked, to the House. It was in the midst of his Parliamentary duties that he found time for literary work. His greatest works are his "Essays", "History of England", and "Lays of Ancient Rome." The last appeared in 1842; and, in 1849, the first two volumes of his "History of England" were published. The second two volumes did not appear till six years later.

Macaulay had a wonderful memory; and the largest power among all our English writers of marshalling crowds of details into one brilliant and impressive whole. Sidney Smith said of him: "There are no limits to his knowledge, on small subjects as well as great; he is like a book in breeches."

In 1857 he was created a peer, as a reward for the greatness of his literary services. He died at Kensington on the 28th of December, 1859.

1. Write an outline of Macaulay's life.

2. Re-write his life from your own outline.

PRÉCIS WRITING.

A Précis (Fr. Précis, precise, exact) is an abstract or digest of a narrative, a letter, or series of letters, or of any official document.

It should exhibit briefly and distinctly the substance of the whole correspondence, or document.

Directions.

1. Read over the subject-matter very carefully. 2. Number the paragraphs.

3. Write in the margin the shortest possible abstract of each paragraph.

4. Number the abstracts to correspond with the numbers of the paragraphs to which they belong.

Example.

Mr. WADDINGTON to the Civil Service Commissioners.

Gentlemen,

1.

Sir G. Grey thinks the subjects of examination should be settled at once.

2.

Age and
Health of
Candidates.

3.

of Candidates.

Whitehall, 28th April, 1856.

1. I am directed by Secretary Sir George Grey, to inform you that although no vacancy has occurred in the Home Office since the date of your circular, referring to the Order in Council of the 21st May, 1855, he thinks it desirable that the subjects in which candidates for clerkships are to be examined, should be settled at once.

2. It appears to Sir George Grey that candidates should be between eighteen and twentyfive years of age, and should possess good bodily health.

3. That they should show decided profiQualifications ciency in good writing, correct spelling, and grammatical English prose composition, and should give evidence of a fair and respectable knowledge of arithmetic, geography, English history, and the Latin and French languages.

4. Examination for Honorary Certificates.

5.

Subjects and place of examination for promotion.

4. As regards Greek, and other modern languages, besides French, mathematics, English and international law and political economy, the candidates should be allowed to be examined upon those subjects, if they wish to receive an honorary certificate. In the event of any candidate for a clerkship in the Home Office appearing before you, Sir G. Grey requests that his examination may be conducted in conformity with the foregoing suggestions.

5. Sir George Grey is of opinion, that an examination, before a clerk is promoted from the third to the second class, with a view to test his ability to prepare a précis or abstract of papers on any given subject, and the knowledge he has acquired of the course of business in the office, is fully as important as an examination previous to his first appointment; but he thinks that this examination may be best conducted in the office itself, where the qualifications of a clerk for promotion are all well known, and can be efficiently tested. He has, therefore, directed that before any such promotion takes place, the candidate for it shall be strictly examined as to the knowledge and habits of business he has gained while acting in the third class, and as to the general efficiency he has acquired since his first appoint

ment.

I have, etc.,

J. G. WADDINGTON.

Précis of the above Letter.

Mr. WADDINGTON to Civil Service Commissioners.

Whitehall, 28/4/56.-1. That Sir G. Grey thinks the subjects of examination for clerkships should be settled at once. 2. Age is limited from 18 to 25; health must be good. 3. Candidates are qualified, if proficient, in writing, spelling and composition; respectable in arithmetic, geography, English history, Latin, and French. 4. Candidates may be examined in extra subjects for an honorary certificate. 5. That a candidate for promotion be examined, in his own office, in précis writing, and in the knowledge of the business of his office.