Thomas Cooke

“ John’s grandfather brought the water into the town to the East Street conduit. At the age of fifteen his mother, then a widow, put John apprentice to Chaster, a saddler in Exeter, and on the death of Chaster, Cooke succeeded to the business at the age of twenty-one, and was highly esteemed in the county for the excellence of his work and his knowledge of how to fit the back of a horse. He made saddles for Lord Rolle, Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir John Duntze, Sir Robert and Sir Lawrence Palk, Sir Thomas Acland, and last, but not least, for Lord Heathfield. ”

“ COOKE, Sir THOMAS (d. 1478) , lord mayor of London, was the son of Robert Cooke of Lavenham in Suffolk, by Katherine his wife. The family was a long-established one. Hugh, another son, who died in 1443, possessed lands in various parishes of Suffolk (will in Probate Registry, Luffenham, 34) . Thomas came to London, became a member of the Drapers' Company, and soon grew rich. ”

“ Mr. Cooke continued in the Hornet until Feb. 1, 1778, when he joined the Glasgow, a 20-gun ship, commanded by the late Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, Bart., with whom he afterwards removed successively into the Sibyl frigate, and Jupiter of 50 guns, of which latter vessel he was appointed a Lieutenant immediately after the action between Commodore Johnstone and M. de Suffrein, in Porto Praya Bay, April 16, 1781 [2] . ”

“ George Cooke of Virginia commanded the Fort and his daughter Flora had ventured all the way from Harper's Ferry to the plains to see her beloved daddy.
The news thrilled Stuart. He found an excuse to carry a message from
Colonel Sumner to Colonel Cooke.
He expected nothing serious, of course. Every daughter of Virginia knew how to flirt. She would know that he understood this from the start. It would be nip and tuck between the Virginia boy and the Virginia girl.
He had always had such easy sailing in his flirtations he hoped Miss
Flora would prove a worthy antagonist. ”

“ Cooke was then not yet the great banker and financier he became during the Civil War, but he was easily recognized as a man of uncommon ability, energy, and public spirit. The attention of the Cookes was mainly attracted by the beauty, grace, and ingenuous conversation of my wife, in her naïve German-English, and as they were evidently good-hearted people of frank and simple manners, we soon became fast friends and remained so for many years. ”

“ Yet in some delusive hope, In some vague desire to cope, One still came to view the rope Walked by Cooke.
Amid Beauty's bright array, On that strange eventful day, Partly hidden from the spray, In a nook,
Stood Florinda Vere de Vere; Who with wind-dishevelled hair, And a rapt, distracted air, Gazed on Cooke.
Then she turned, and quickly cried To her lover at her side, While her form with love and pride Wildly shook,
"Clifford Snook! oh, hear me now! Here I break each plighted vow: There's but one to whom I bow, And that's Cooke!"
Haughtily that young man spoke: "I descend from noble folk. ”

“ Cooke lived seven years after this, and though he was probably again heavily fined, he left a large amount of landed and other property. In 1483, when the Duke of Buckingham addressed the citizens of London in the Guildhall in favour of the pretensions of Richard III to the throne, he referred at length to the sufferings and losses of Cooke as a notable instance of the tyranny of the late king (Holinshed, ed. 1808, iii. 391) . Cooke died in 1478, and was buried, in compliance with his wish, in the church of the Augustine friars, within the ward of Broad Street in London. ”

“ In 1789 Cooke was made captain to the sheriff's troop. "About this time there were commotions by the mobility in London against his Majesty's minister, Mr. Pitt. I went into the pot-houses at Exeter, and treated with mugs round, and gave loyal toasts and sentiments—my own motto, Any income-tax sooner than a French-come-tax; a long pull and a strong pull and a pull altogether—mind how the fox served the chicken, and said the grapes were sour—a speedy necklace to all traitors—Old England for ever, and those who don't like it, leave it. ”

“ Cooke was a man of natural ability, and he made the best use of his powers. Opportunity, sooner or later, comes to nearly all who work and wait, and are duly persevering. Shoemaking was not found very productive; and Cooke, being fairly educated as well as self-educated, opened a village school. He succeeded tolerably well. He taught himself geometry and mathematics, and daily application made him more perfect in his studies. In course of time an extraordinary ambition took possession of him: no less than the construction of a reflecting telescope of six inches diameter. ”

“ Beyond his play, practically nothing is known of Cooke. It is not even clear whether ‘Jo.’ stands for John, or for Joshua; the latter is suggested by the manuscript ascription on a copy of the anonymous How a Man may Choose a Good Wife from a Bad (q.v.) . Can Cooke be identical with the I. Cocke who contributed to Stephens’s Characters in 1615 (cf. App. C, No. lx) ? Collier, iii. ”

“ Roundjacket pointed toward the sanctum of Mr. Rushton.
Verty only smiled.
Mr. Roundjacket descended from his stool, and cast his eyes upon the paper.
"What!" he cried, "you made that picture! How, sir Upon my word, young man, you are in a bad way. The youngster who stops to make designs upon a copy of a deed in a law office, is on the high-road to the gallows. It is an enormity, sir—horrible! dreadful!"
"What the devil are you shouting about there!" cried the voice of Mr. Rushton, angrily. And opening the door between the two rooms, the shaggy-headed gentleman appeared upon the threshold. ”

“ Cooke, who, though assuredly inferior to several of the old stock, and groaning under unexampled intemperance, has in spite of every impediment which artful jealousy and envy of his talents could raise against him, risen so high in public estimation, that even when just reeking from offences which would not have been endured in Garrick or Barry, his return is hailed with shouts, as if it were a national triumph. ”

“ You perceive I have banished those ignoble fears of proctors. I no longer shiver when I hear a footstep on the staircase."
Jacques smiled languidly.
"Only when you hear it on the portico—at Shadynook or elsewhere," he said.
"No more of that, Hal, an thou lovest me," said Sir Asinus cheerfully. "The greatest men are subject to (p. 055) these sudden panics, and I am no exception. Ah! what news?"
Jacques sat down sighing.
"None," he said, "except that we have a new student at college—Hoffland is his name, I believe—a friend of Mowbray's apparently. ”

“ Of his first reception in Richard, Cooke speaks, as being flattering, encouraging, indulgent, and warm, throughout the play and at the conclusion. Cooke was not blinded by this triumphant season. Long after he said, when referring to having played with [227] and also against John Kemble: "He is an actor. He is my superior, though they did not think so in London. I acknowledge it!" Having made Black Jack "tremble in his pumps," Cooke honestly acknowledged, in homely phrase, that he could not stand in Kemble's shoes. ”

“ Cooke died 11 June 1576, and was buried in the church of Romford, Essex, where many other members of his family were buried. An elaborate monument, inscribed with Latin and English verse, was erected there to his memory. By his wife he had four sons, Anthony, Richard, Edward (M.A. Cambridge 1564) , William (M.A. Cambridge 1564) , and five daughters. The eldest daughter, Mildred, became second wife of William Cecil, lord Burghley; Ann was second wife of Sir Nicholas Bacon; Margaret was wife of Sir Ralph Rowlett, and was buried on 3 Aug. ”

“ And Mr. Roundjacket hurled his ruler at Verty's desk, with the accuracy of an experienced hand. The ruler came down with a crash, and aroused the sleeper. Longears also started erect, looked around, and then laid down again.
"Ah!" murmured Verty, who woke like a bird upon the boughs, "what was that, ma mere?"
"There's his outlandish lingo—Delaware or Shawnee, I have no doubt!" said Mr. Roundjacket.
Verty rose erect.
"Was I asleep? he said, smiling.
"I think you were."
"This place makes me go to sleep," said the boy. "How dull it is!"
"Dull! do you call this office dull? ”

“ By Eben. Cook, Gent.
LONDON:
Printed and Sold by D. Bragg, at the Raven in Pater-Noster-Row. 1708. (Price 6d.)
[Pg iii]
e have no means of knowing the history of Master "Ebenezer Cook, Gentleman," who, one hundred and forty-six years ago, produced the Sot-Weed Factor's Voyage to Maryland. He wrote, printed, published, and sold it in London for sixpence sterling, and then disappeared forever. We do not know certainly that Mr. Cook himself was the actual adventurer who suffered the ills described by him "in burlesque verse." Indeed, "Eben: Cook, Gent." may be a myth—a nom de plume. ”

“ The Doctor nodded with a benevolent smile, and restored his handkerchief to the pocket of his long, heavy, flapped coat.
"Why, sir," said Jacques, "there is a very beautiful young lady in the immediate vicinity of town, who has smiled on Tom perhaps as many as three times; and would you believe it, sir, the infatuated youth thinks she is in love with him."
"Ah! ah!" smiled the Doctor; "a mere youthful folly."
"She cares not one pinch of snuff for him," said Jacques, "and he believes that she is dying for him." ”

“ Its melting involutions and expiring cadences unwound themselves and floated from her lips like satin ribbon gradually drawn out.
As for Jacques, he was in a dream; one might have supposed that his nerves were steeped in the liquid melody—or at times, when he started, that the music came over him like a shower bath of perfume.
His sighs would have conciliated tigers; and when she turned and smiled on him, he almost staggered.
"Now," said Belle-bouche smiling softly, "suppose I sing something a little merrier. You know the minuet always gives place to the reel." ”

“ On census forms, and such things, when asked his religion, he always felt inclined to write: "Grace Cooke." By God, it would have been the truth. She was his religion yet, far though he had fallen away from it--oh, so far--! She stood for everything that was good and beautiful and noble. It wasn't love. It was beyond all love. She was a Madonna, a saint, and he had had the privilege to kneel at her feet--a Caliban of the slums, a tough, a hoodlum, unworthy to touch the hem of her garment. ”

“ On the reorganization of the service in 1879, he was appointed assistant auditor of the Intercolonial Railway Company, and removed to Moncton, where he was appointed general storekeeper in October, 1880. Mr. Cooke has always taken a deep interest in Masonic matters. He joined the order in Truro in 1871, and is a past master of Cobuquid lodge, No. 37, Truro, and past high priest of Keith Chapter, Truro, and of St. John’s Chapter, Pictou, Royal Arch Masons. Holds past rank as past grand king of the Grand Chapter of Nova Scotia, and is representative of the Grand Chapter of Nevada in that body. ”

“ Like Shakespeare, Mr. Cooke was judged by his works, and from these he was generally conceded to be an illiterate and indifferent person of barbarous tastes and a mania for horses. He was further described as ungentlemanly by a brace of spinsters who had been within earshot on the veranda the morning he had abused the Asquith roads, but their evidence was not looked upon as damning. That Mr. Cooke would appear at the cotillon never entered any one's head. ”

“ He is a wild young man—a very wild young man," said the Doctor, shaking his head.
"Yes, yes," sighed Jacques, imitating the Doctor's gesture; "I am sometimes anxious about him."
And Jacques sighed and touched his forehead.
"Here, you know, Doctor."
"Ah?" asked the Doctor, wiping his face with a silk handkerchief, and leaning on his stick.
"Yes, sir; he has betrayed unmistakable evidences of lunacy of late."
The closet door creaked.
"It's astonishing how many rats there are in this place," said Jacques; "that closet seems to be their head-quarters." ”

“ Ralph looked curious.
"How?" he said; "I should think the Dutch had exhausted the power and capacity of invention. St. Patrick, with a necklace of potatoes, and his wife Sheeley, with an apron full of the same vegetables, is surely enough for one day—"
"Yes, for St. Patrick's day, but not for St. Michael's," said Mr.
Jinks, with a faint attempt at a witticism.
"Good!" cried Ralph; "you are a wit, Jinks; but proceed! On St.
Michael's day—the patron saint of the Dutch—"
"On that day, sir, the Irish retort upon the Dutch by parading an image—wooden or alive—of St. ”

“ Meanwhile our little Redbud gazed, too, from the brilliantly-illumined portico, toward the golden ocean in the west. The rich light lingered lovingly upon her golden hair, and tender lips and cheeks, and snowy neck, on which the coral necklace rose and fell with the pulsations of her heart. The kind, mild eyes were fixed upon the sunset sadly, and their blue depths seemed to hold more than one dew-drop, ready to pass the barrier of the long dusky lashes, which closed gradually as the pure white forehead drooped upon her hand. ”

“ Redbud and Verty entered; and then the young man held out his hand.
"Are you going?" said the girl.
"Yes," he said, smiling, "unless you will sing me something. Oh, yes! let me go away with music in my ears. Sing 'Dulce Domum' for me, Redbud."
The young girl assented, with a smile; and sitting down at the harpsichord, sang the fine old ditty in her soft, tender voice, which was the very echo of joy and kindness. The gentle carol floated on the evening air, and seemed to make the autumn twilight brighter, everything more lovely—and Verty listened with a look more dreamy than before. ”