Sarah Cowper: Difference between revisions
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However, the couple where extremely unhappy with Sarah commenting on the complete emotional incompatibility by saying "Never met two more Averse than we in Humour, Passions, and Affections; our Reason and Sense Religion or Morals agree not".{{sfn|Kugler|2001|p=293}} Her husband's income was inadequate for his rank, and so the couple maintained only modest rented homes in London, with a county seat of [[Hertford Castle]] which at that time was small and run-down. This relative lack of wealth for the title of baron only aggravated marital disputes.{{sfn|Kugler|2018}} |
However, the couple where extremely unhappy with Sarah commenting on the complete emotional incompatibility by saying "Never met two more Averse than we in Humour, Passions, and Affections; our Reason and Sense Religion or Morals agree not".{{sfn|Kugler|2001|p=293}} Her husband's income was inadequate for his rank, and so the couple maintained only modest rented homes in London, with a county seat of [[Hertford Castle]] which at that time was small and run-down. This relative lack of wealth for the title of baron only aggravated marital disputes.{{sfn|Kugler|2018}} |
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In 1699 Spencer was tried for the murder of a Quaker woman [[Spencer Cowper#The Sarah Stout Affair|Sarah Stout]], and although later acquitted, her husbands political career would never recover. It was in large part |
In 1699 Spencer was tried for the murder of a Quaker woman [[Spencer Cowper#The Sarah Stout Affair|Sarah Stout]], and although later acquitted, her husbands political career would never recover. It was in large part the response to the trial, combined with her dissatisfaction at her domestic conditions, that Sarah would begin whiting he diary the following years.{{sfn|Kugler|2001|p=293-294}} |
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== Diarist == |
== Diarist == |
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Cowper would begin her diary in July 1700 and continue until 1716, when her failing eyesight and frail hands forced her to stop. For those 16 years it covered, in detail, all portions of her life, including her feelings about her family, the politics of the time and current gossip, all presented from within her sternly moralistic framework.{{sfn|Gittings|2010|p=23-24}} Indead it seems that she originally treated the work as a spiritual diary, allowing her to vent her own frustrations as well as serving as a devotional aid. These two strands, the personal and the spiritual, would pervade the whole work.{{sfn|Kugler|2001|p=294}} |
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== References == |
== References == |
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Revision as of 12:50, 22 May 2022
Sarah Cowper (née Holled, 14 February 1644 – 3 February 1720) was an English diarist.
Life
Sarah Holled was born in Eastcheap in London as the only child of merchant Samuel Holled. Both her parents died before she was 20, and as the only heir to her parents' estate she inherited roughly £1000.[1] On 11 April 1664 Sarah married a lawyer, William Cowper, who at the end of that same year inherited the baronetcy Cowper, as well as properties in London and Kent from his grandfather.[2]
The couple would go one to have four sons, among them William Cowper, the politician who would become the first Lord High Chancellor, and Spencer Cowper, lawyer and MP.[2]
However, the couple where extremely unhappy with Sarah commenting on the complete emotional incompatibility by saying "Never met two more Averse than we in Humour, Passions, and Affections; our Reason and Sense Religion or Morals agree not".[3] Her husband's income was inadequate for his rank, and so the couple maintained only modest rented homes in London, with a county seat of Hertford Castle which at that time was small and run-down. This relative lack of wealth for the title of baron only aggravated marital disputes.[2]
In 1699 Spencer was tried for the murder of a Quaker woman Sarah Stout, and although later acquitted, her husbands political career would never recover. It was in large part the response to the trial, combined with her dissatisfaction at her domestic conditions, that Sarah would begin whiting he diary the following years.[4]
Diarist
Cowper would begin her diary in July 1700 and continue until 1716, when her failing eyesight and frail hands forced her to stop. For those 16 years it covered, in detail, all portions of her life, including her feelings about her family, the politics of the time and current gossip, all presented from within her sternly moralistic framework.[5] Indead it seems that she originally treated the work as a spiritual diary, allowing her to vent her own frustrations as well as serving as a devotional aid. These two strands, the personal and the spiritual, would pervade the whole work.[6]
References
Citations
- ^ Gittings 2010, p. 26.
- ^ a b c Kugler 2018.
- ^ Kugler 2001, p. 293.
- ^ Kugler 2001, p. 293-294.
- ^ Gittings 2010, p. 23-24.
- ^ Kugler 2001, p. 294.
Bibliography
- Gittings, Clare (January 1997). "The hell of living: Reflections on death in the diary of Sarah, Lady Cowper, 1700-1716". Mortality. 2 (1): 23–41. doi:10.1080/713685853.
- Kugler, Anne (July 2001). "Constructing Wifely Identity: Prescription and Practice in the Life of Lady Sarah Cowper". Journal of British Studies. 40 (3): 291–323. doi:10.1086/386245.
- Kugler, Anne (13 November 2018) [23 September 2004]. "Cowper [née Holled], Sarah, Lady Cowper". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/66718. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Further Reading
- Kugler, Anne (2002). Errant Plagiary: The Life and Writing of Lady Sarah Cowper, 1644-1720. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0-8047-3418-9.