William Cowper (1731-1800) is described in this 1880 book as 'the most important English poet of the period between Pope and the illustrious group headed by Wordsworth, Byron and Shelley'. A short sketch of the poet's life is followed by detailed examination of the works.

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.