Contemporary with Milton, and at the time a rival for the palm of
poetry, was Abraham Cowley, born 1618, died 28th July, 1667. His
biography stands at the head of Johnson’s “Lives of the English Poets,”
the first in that instructive collection. The two poets were on
opposite sides,--Milton for the Commonwealth, Cowley for the King.
His genius was recognized in his own time; and when he died, at the age
of forty-nine, after a night of exposure under the open sky, Charles
the Second said, “Mr. Cowley has not left a better man behind him in
England.” He was buried in Westminster Abbey, near Chaucer and Spenser.
He composed, in much-admired Latin verse, six books on Plants: the
first and second in elegiac verse, displaying the qualities of herbs;
the third and fourth in various measures, on the beauties of flowers;
and the fifth and sixth in hexameters, like the Georgics, on the uses
of trees. The first two books, in Latin, appeared in 1662; the other
four, also in Latin, were not published till 1668, the year after his
death. They did not see the English light till near the close of the
century, when a translation was published by Tate, from which I quote.
Two fruits of America are commemorated. The first is that which becomes
Chocolate:--
“Guatimala produced a fruit unknown
To Europe, which with pride she called her own:
Her Cacao-Nut, with double use endued,
(For Chocolate at once is drink and food,)
Does strength and vigor to the limbs impart,
Makes fresh the countenance and cheers the heart.”[269]