Note 161 — Chapter V · The Earlier English Salon

On the Death of Mrs. Katherine Philips. In his Ode on Orinda’s Poems the lady’s descent is traced from Boadicea. Rowe, in his Epistle to Daphnis, declares that she soared as high as Corneille ‘and equalled all his fame.’ Dryden compares her with Mrs. Killigrew. Cowley may perhaps have owed more than the rest to her. The following reference to him in her letters seems to show that she had been of real service to him: ‘I am very glad of Mr. Cowley’s success, and will concern myself so much as to thank your ladyship for your endeavour in it.’ (To Berenice, Familiar Letters 1. 143; 25 June [1758?].)