tion: the latter was a reaction from the former, in
which the masses changed their opinions, in which the Puritan leaders were
silenced, and in which the constant and consistent Cavaliers had their day
of triumph. Both parties, however, modified their views somewhat after the
whirlwind of excitement had swept by, and both deprecated the extreme
violence of their former actions. This is cleverly set forth in a charming
paper of Lord Macaulay, entitled _Cowley and Milton_. It purports to be
the report of a pleasant colloquy between the two in the spring of 1665,
"set down by a gentleman of the Middle Temple." Their principles are
courteously expressed, in a retrospective view of the great rebellion.

COWLEY'S LIFE AND WORKS.--Abraham Cowley, the posthumous son of a grocer,
was born in London, in the year 1618. He is said to have been so
precocious that he read Spenser with pleasure when he was twelve years
old; and he published a volume of poems, entitled "Poetical Blossoms,"
before he was fifteen. After a preliminary education at Westminster
school, he was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1636, and while
there he published, in 1638, two comedies, one in English, entitled
_Love's Riddle_, and one in Latin, _Naufragium Joculare, or, The Merry
Shipwreck_.

When the troubles which culminated in the civil war began to convulse
England, Cowley, who was a strong adherent of the king, was compelled to
leave Cambridge; and we find him, when the war had fairly opened, at
Oxford, where he was well received by the Royal party, in 1643. He
vindicated the justice of this reception by publishing in that year a
satire called _Puritan and Papist_. Upon the retirement of the queen to
Paris, he was one of her suite, and as secretary to Viscount St. Albans he
conducted the correspondence in cipher between the queen and her
unfortunate husband.

He remained abroad during the civil war and the protectorate, returning
with Charles II. in 1660. "The Blessed Restoration" he celebrated in an
ode with that title, and would seem to have thus established a claim to
the king's gratitude and bounty. But he was mistaken. Perhaps this led him
to write a comedy, entitled _The Cutter of Coleman Street_, in which he
severely censured the license and debaucheries of the court: this made the
arch-debauchee, the king himself, cold toward the poet, who at once issued
_A Complaint_; but neither satire nor complaint helped him to the desired
preferm