II. — PETITION DE COWLEY
Abr. Cowleys Case concerning ye Mastership of the Savoy.
His Maty of blessed memory when he was at Oxford promised in a letter to ye Queen yt hee would bestow upon Abr. Cowley the Mastership of the Savoy as soon as the disposall of it should come into his power.
His Maty (whom God long preserve) gave him a warrant for ye said Mastership bearing date Jan. 30 1653.
His Maty at his coming into England was graciously pleased to con- Srm the sd grand by word of mouth to the right honble ye Earl of St. Albans.
If it bee said yt the late King had formerly promised ye place.
that is onely said; but ye other grant is under the hand of two Kings.
Secondly, it is humbly conceaved yt the promise of giveing any small preferment is satisfyed by the giveing other great ones instead of Ait
If it bee said yt the place belongs only to a Divine.
First, there are severall precedents to ye contrary.
Secondly, it is affirmed by good Lawyers yt the Statutes require no more but Deacons orders.
Fhirdly, it is a royall Foundation, and the Kings pleasure is legally a Dispensation of ye statute.
Fourthly, Holy orders are so farre from beeing necessary for the execution of the Masters office yt even ye ministers place therein has been lately suppressed.
Fifthly, if it be thought fit yt ye sd Mastership should bee ropiated and annexed to ye Clergy, yet it is humbly conceaved to bee but reasonable yt the person who hath ye present Right should have equall compensation for ye losse of it.
Notwithstanding all whch the sd
Abraham Cowley, haveing mist of
thesd Mastership or any compensation for it, his Case is this.
That hee haveeing had ye honour during all the times of distresse and banishment to serve her Maty the Queen Mother, the late King of blessed Mem. and his Maty (during all his abode in France without ever putting him to one pennies expense) in matters of considerable trust and labour, and haveing by his Maties happy restauration seen all men else who had served abroad in ye like kinds, rewarded wtt profitable employments and honours, nay almost all his olde contemporaries at ye University before, advanced far above him, at a time when all ye preferments of three nations were disposed of at once, hath bin soe farre from beeing able to get any share therein, yt all wch hee had in ye world (and yt noe great fortune, yet ye reward of twenty years service from two Kings) hath bin taken from him without any the least recompense or consideration for it, and hee not onely ruined by ye losse thereof but exposed to ye shame of à generall interpretation yt this could not have happened to him but either as ye punishment of a great criminall, or ye casting away of a most worthlesse person.
(State Papers, Domestic Series, Charles IT, vol. 47, No 94.)
aies
B. Pièces inédites de Cowley.
L'édition de Grosart, mise au point, pour la partie anglaise, par celle de Waller, contient l’œuvre entière de Cowley. Elle présente encore toutefois, quelques lacunes qu’il n’est peut-être pas inutile de combler.
Voici la liste des poèmes < académiques >» de Cowley, telle que nous pouvons l’établir à ce jour :
— La reine Henriette Marie met au monde, en 1633, son second fils, le duc d'York. Cowley, alors à Westminster, compose une poésie : On the Duke of York’s Birth (Imprimée par Sargeaunt, Annals of Westminster School, p. 282).
—— En 1635, il célèbre la venue de la princesse Elisabeth : Coolyes Verses uppon my Lady Elisabeth birtn on Christmass even 1635 (La pièce est imprimée par Grosart et par Waller).
— En 1637, arrivé à Cambridge, il participe aux Yuvoôix, sive Musarum Cantabrigiensium Concentus et Congratulatio….; à l’occasion de la naissance de la princesse Anne. Son poème : De felici partu reginae Mariae a été reproduit par J. Nichols (À Select Collection of Poems.…, vol. VII, London, 1781). Ii figurait d’ailleurs dans l’édition de ses œuvres en 1711 (vol. III, p. 205).
— En 1640, il collabore aux Voces Votivae ab Academicis Cantabrigiensibus… qui célèbrent la naissance d'Henri, duc de Gloucester, avec deux pièces, une en latin : {n felicissimam Reginae Mariae fertililatem (publiée par Nichols), et une en anglais : Upon the happie Birth of the Duke (publiée par Nichols, et reproduite par Waller).
— Enfin, en 1641, il chante le retour pacifique d’Ecosse du roi, dans la Trenodia Cantabrigiensis…, avec deux poèmes, dont l’un, en latin, paraît dans ses œuvres en 1711, et l’autre, en anglais, a été incorporé au recueil Miscellanies.
— Nous pouvons également compter au nombre de ces productions officielles, la pièce qui figure en tête de Sylva (Œuvres, vol. II, p. 46) : On His Majesties returne out of Scotland, pièce écrite lors du couronnement de Charles I°* en Ecosse.
Nous donnons ici le texte des morceaux qui ne figurent dans aucune édition moderne des Œuvres de Cowley :
