On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
he became a commoner of Hart tlaii } Oxford , of which his maternal uncle , T ) r \ Johri Lamphire , an ' eminent [ tfrysifcian and Camden ' s Professor of History , was then Principal . In'the following year , he was admitted a scholar of Wadham College , and in 1677 proceeded Batchelor of Arts .
Coward appears , at this time , to have u obtained some reputation for his literary improvements , " as he was elected , in 1 * 80 , Probationer Fellow of Melton College .
This adrancernent in academic honours served afterwards the purpose of invective to one of his opponents , f ) i . Nichols , whom he designates in his ' * Just Scrutiny' * ( p . 26 . ) as ci the Reverend Bombotnachides , author of the 5 th Conference with aTheist " " The
first charge ^ " says Coward , u without argument or reason , to excite an odium against me araoiig many learned and judicious persons , is drawn from the place of my education . That Bradwardin , Occam , Wickliffe , were the glories of Merton College , wfeich is now blemished by the heterodoxy of one son ^ ( Plref , p . 70 who by a terrible dereliction of the divine grace has fallen into the most dangerous of errors , the denial of tfce immortality of our precious
souls . ( P . 4- ) Now into what a terrible dereliction , " he adds , " of sense atfd reason is this gentleman fallen , as to make Occam , Wickliffe , &C orthodox men , contrary to all the historical account of
those times insomuch that John . a-Gaunt wks forced to be the protector of the latter again * t the spiritual fcword 6 f the church for his supposed heterodoxy , though true doctrines most and owned afurvvaids , though I am so un .
Untitled Article
happy as , in these our titna ^ tt have no such kind protector . an d defender , for being guilty of truth . "
Soon after Coward ' s advance , ment in academic honours he had an opportunity of contending for classical reputation . The Absa . lorn and Ahitophel was published in 1 . 681 , being almost contentpo . rary with the famoi > s decree at
Oxford , in favour of " passive obe , dience and non-resistance . " Dry , den ' s poem , distinct from its lite . rary merit , could not fail to be admired for its political tehden .
cies . Satires < m Monmouth and Shaftesbury , as Dr . Kippis has remarked , must Have been highly acceptable to tliat loyal Univer . sity . A latin version of Absalom and Ahitophel became an object of emulation for which Coward
contended . He had a formidable competitor in young Atterbury , afterwards the celebrated prelate , who was assisted ^ by Mr . Francii Hickman , both students ofCim 6 t *
Church * Coward , who stood a . lone , was reputed to have failed in the unequal contest . His version was deemed inferior to that
by Atterbury , and , in Wood ' s quaint phrase , " he was schooled for it in the University . " It ws , however , published by a friend , and advertized as written by "Walter Curie , of Hertford , Gentle
man . " Should any of your readers be disposed to indulge a taste for such literary comparisons , they waj judge for themselves by referring
to Dryden ' s Life , noteH ^' ther edition of Biog . Brittarw Tw ten introductory lines of the original poems are there accomp ^ by both translations . -Th ey ¦ ** I thittkJ justify 4 ne in s ^ m
Untitled Article
^ 14 Writers on Mat e rialism . — . CotDmrdv — Letter N .
-
-
Citation
-
Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1811, page 214, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2415/page/22/
-