This biography of William Cowper by Goldwin Smith (1823 1910) was published in the first series of 'English Men of Letters' in 1880 (this reissue being from the 'ninth thousand' of 1881). Smith states in his opening chapter that Cowper (1731 1800) 'is the most important English poet of the period between Pope and the illustrious group headed by Wordsworth, Byron and Shelley he may perhaps himself be numbered among the precursors of the Revolution, though he was certainly the mildest of them all'. He also regards Cowper as the great poet of the religious revival of the eighteenth century. Smith himself was an Oxford-educated historian who wrote for the Saturday Review among other periodicals. He was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford in 1858, and later taught at Cornell University, before settling in Canada, where he wrote widely on historical, constitutional and religious topics.

Goldwin Smith (1823 1910) was a British historian and journalist. After studying at Magdalen College, Oxford, Smith became a leading advocate of university reform before being appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford in 1858. He resigned his position in 1866, and spent two years lecturing at Cornell University before moving to Toronto following his marriage in 1875. He was considered by contemporaries a leading proponent of left-wing intellectual radicalism. This volume, first published in 1863, contains a collection of letters written by Smith concerning British colonial interests. He was a staunch anti-imperialist, and the letters examine colonial emancipation, government, trade, and British relations with Canada, New Zealand and Gibraltar, from this political view, urging the cessation of British colonial expansion. This volume provides valuable insights into the views and political beliefs of late nineteenth-century British anti-imperialists.