COVERDALE, MILES (1488-1568).--Translator of the Bible, _b._ in Yorkshire, and _ed._ at Camb. Originally an Augustinian monk, he became a supporter of the Reformation. In 1535 his translation of the Bible was _pub._, probably at Zurich. It bore the title, _Biblia, the Bible: that is the Holy Scripture of the Olde and New Testament faithfully and newly translated out of the Doutche and Latyn into English_. C. was made Bishop of Exeter in 1551, but, on the accession of Mary, he was imprisoned for two years, at the end of which he was released and went to Denmark and afterwards to Geneva. On the death of Mary he returned to England, but the views he had imbibed in Geneva were adverse to his preferment. He ultimately, however, received a benefice in London, which he resigned before his death. Besides the Bible he translated many treatises of the Continental Reformers. COWLEY, ABRAHAM (1618-1667).--Poet, _s._ of a grocer or stationer in London, where he was _b._ In childhood he was greatly influenced by reading Spenser, a copy of whose poems was in the possession of his mother. This, he said, made him a poet. His first book, _Poetic Blossoms_ (1633), was _pub._ when he was only 15. After being at Westminster School he went to Camb., where he was distinguished for his graceful translations. On the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the Royalists, was turned out of his college, and in 1646 followed the Queen to Paris, where he remained for 10 or 12 years, during which he rendered unwearied service to the royal family. At the Restoration he wrote some loyal odes, but was disappointed by being refused the Mastership of the Savoy, and retired to the country. He received a lease of Crown lands, but his life in the country did not yield him the happiness he expected. He is said by Pope to have _d._ of a fever brought on by lying in the fields after a drinking-bout. The drinking-bout, however, is perhaps an ill-natured addition. C.'s fame among his contemporaries was much greater than that which posterity has accorded to him. His poems are marred by conceits and a forced and artificial brilliancy. In some of them, however, he sings pleasantly of gardens and country scenes. They comprise _Miscellanies_, _The Mistress, or Love Poems_ (1647), _Pindaric Odes_, and _The Davideis_, an epic on David (unfinished). He is at his best in such imitations of Anacreon as _The Grasshopper_. His prose, especially in his Essays, though now almost unread, is better than his verse; simple and manly, it sometimes rises to eloquence. C. is buried in Westminster Abbey near Spenser. Ed., Grosart (1881), Waller (1903).