COWPER.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Siu,—In the course of your interesting notice of the Poet Cowper, in the Spectator of September 8th, you speak of the " jejune but sincere" inscription to his memory before
Dereham Church. I am not sure whether you refer to the inscription on the memorial-stone erected before the Cowper Congregational Church, Dereham, or not ; but if you do, may I say the inscription was written, at my request, by the late
Dean Stanley, and is as follows P-
" This Monument is erected on the site of the house where the beloved poet of Olney, William Cowper, spent the last years of his life under the care of faithful friends. He lies buried in the Parish Church, having here given up his soul to God, April Kith, 1800.
' I was a stricken deer that left the herd Long since. With many an arrow deep inered My panting side was charged, when I withdrew To seek a tranquil death in distant shades ; Then was I found by One who had himself Been hart by the archers–in his side he bore. And in his bands and feet, the creel soars.' "
This inscription is hardly chargeable, I think, with being jejune, when its object is borne in mind.—I am, Sir, &e.,
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