Cowper Day 2001: report

Cowper's Gardening Progeny

Professor Vincent Newey, who had kindly agreed to act as President for the day’s proceedings, opened with a talk entitled “Cowper’s Garden Progeny”. He focused on the theme of reciprocity - the creative interchange between the individual and nature in Cowper’s poetry.

For Cowper, gardening was a union of art and nature, through which the individual could order his experience of the world of the senses. Far from being an advocate of untamed nature, he regarded a partnership between nature’s fecundity and man’s ingenuity as the happiest outcome: the richness of God’s creation can best be enjoyed and made fruitful for man by good husbandry. From such partnership flows spiritual health for both the individual and the community.

Professor Newey also demonstrated how Cowper, while demonstrating minute and expert knowledge of specific plants, was at the same time concerned to make their characteristics reflect a divine plan-in-little. In a telling phrase, he talked of Cowper’s “amplification of Olney minutiae” to illustrate larger truths about man and God. Glancing on the way at the frequent hints in the poems of gardens as a reflection of the earthly paradise, lost at the Fall, he concluded by affirming Cowper’s clear belief in a God of revelation, actively involved in the affairs of man and his environment, rather than a detached Deist God, a Divine Watchmaker who set the universe going and then withdrew from its active management. In response to a question following the talk, Professor Newey agreed that Cowper would have had a great deal to contribute to the debate arising from the current foot and mouth crisis!

From Lettuces to Pineapples

Elizabeth Knight followed with a wide-ranging account of Cowper’s gardening practice entitled “From Lettuces to Pineapples”, illustrated by slides and by passages from the letters and poems, read by Jeremy Cooper.

From early days in Huntingdon, through the years at Orchard Side and finally at Weston Underwood, Cowper was a pioneering, innovative plantsman, always eager to take up the challenge of raising new and exotic species. Many of his seeds and specimens he obtained by correspondence with friends in different parts of the country, and visits to nearby estates such as Gayhurst. Without the benefit of nurseries or garden centres he succeeded in raising fruits and flowers which far more heavily resourced establishments would have found a challenge.

One of the questioners suggested that he was in fact extremely competitive, and enjoyed being able to equal the achievements of friends with far grander establishments! But principally, it seems, gardening was for him a therapy second only to poetry as a relief from spiritual and mental stresses.

Mrs Knight brought out vividly how his gardening was not simply a matter of tilling the soil but involved the ingenious construction of a greenhouse, hot beds and cold frames. His greenhouse also doubled as a conservatory, whence he and Mrs Unwin could retreat on fine days from the “noise and stench of Silver End” at the front of the house - yet another instance of Cowper’s modernity.

William Cowper's Olney

The participants then broke up for lunch, with those wishing to go on the walk around Olney entitled “William Cowper’s Olney” reassembling at the Museum at 2.00 p.m.

This was again led by Elizabeth Knight, who was having a very busy day indeed. Mrs. Knight started with describing the outside of the Museum, and the beginnings of Silver End before moving along the eastern side of the Market Place. Many of the rooms in Orchard Side look out over the Market Place, and William Cowper would have been able to watch many of the happenings which occurred there without having to be personally involved with them.

The walk continued up the east side of the High Street as far as the United Reformed Church. This was the former Congregational chapel, and although Cowper would have known it, it had been demolished and rebuilt in 1880. The rebuilt chapel had a statue of William Cowper below its front gable, but alas this disappeared after a disastrous fire in 1965.

Crossing the High Street at this point, the High Arch was recalled as the destination of the Whipping Distance from the Market Place for any wrong-doers convicted of crimes in the town.

Walking south down the west side of the High Street, walkers passed the home of the Rev. John Sutcliff before coming to the well known Baptist Church where Sutcliff preached and was subsequently buried.

Continuing on, the walk passed The Bull Hotel where Cowper and Mrs. Unwin stayed for a while in 1771. Finally, the walkers entered High Street South to view various other buildings which Cowper would have known, before returning to the Museum.

Favourite Writings

After some well-earned refreshments, we repaired to Cowper’s bedroom in the Museum, where a lively hour and a half was spent in recalling our favourite poems and letters. This session was again chaired by Professor Newey, and extracts from several of Cowper’s best known works were introduced and read out. These included some extracts from 'The Task', some of the poems about Delia (cousin Theodora), one of Cowper’s Olney Hymns, 'On the Loss of the Royal George', 'The Castaway', and several others.

In addition, a number of extracts from Cowper’s letters, in particular some written to John Newton about happenings in Olney written after Newton had left. Professor Newey expressed his pleasure that so many of the people present had contributed to the session, that it most certainly should be repeated in future years.

Reception and Dinner

To bring the day’s events to a conclusion, a sherry reception and dinner were held at The Olney Centre. This was a time of conversation and conviviality amongst all the participants, whilst simultaneously enjoying an excellent meal of roast pork and all the trimmings.

The evening was rounded off with an excellent “After-Dinner” speech by the Rev. James Whysall, who had tried to make us believe that he had never done one before. However, if this was true, he surmounted a steep learning curve with much alacrity as he spoke about The Alternative Cowper with much humour and veracity!

Future Cowper Days

Altogether, in excess of eighty people attended this, the first Annual Cowper Day. It certainly will not be the last, and anybody who may be interested in coming to future events should make a note now of the last Saturday in April, and reserve the date of Saturday 27th April 2002 in their diaries now. What the details will be and who will be the speakers can wait, but the event will surely take place following the undoubted success of this inaugural event.

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