Robert Cowper
Apparently much of Cowper’s work has been lost or destroyed . . . contemporary writing by Morley and Meres mention his skill, and a 1529 King’s College inventory mentions a book of mass settings by Cornyshe and Cowper, now lost. It was at King’s College, Cambridge that Cowper served as a clerk in the choir in 1493, and received the MusD there in 1507. After his ordination in 1498 he was priest at churches in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Kent. We only have 3 sacred and 7 secular pieces of his \that have survived.
I have been a Foster
Robert Cowper "I have been a Foster"
1. I have been a foster Long and many a day;
Foster will I be no more, No longer shoot I may;
Yet have I been a foster.
2. Hang I will my noble bow upon the greenwood
bough,
For I cannot shoot in plain nor yet in rough;
Yet have I been a foster.
3. Every bow for me is too big; mine arrow nigh
worn is;
The glue is slipp’d from the nick; when I should
shoot I miss;
Yet have I been a foster.
4. Lady Venus hath commanded me out of her
court to go.
Right plainly she sheweth me that beauty is
my foe.
Yet have I been a foster.
6. Now will I take to me my beads for and my
psalter-book,
And pray I will for them that may, for [I] may
nought but look.
Yet have I been a foster.