Thomas Cox

“ Contrary to expectation, Cox left nothing to the institutions he had founded, but bequeathed 3,000l., with his medical library and instruments, to the cottage hospital at Moreton-in-the-Marsh, 12,000l. to establish and support dispensaries in several suburbs of Birmingham, 3,000l. each to build and endow a dispensary at Tamworth and Kenilworth, money to endow scholarships at King Edward's School, Birmingham, and Guy's Hospital, London, besides money to complete and endow a church he had built in Birmingham. ”

“ Mr. Cox was, no doubt, a tolerably clever man, but not a lawyer, though generously educated. Like Taylor, he travelled and gave to the world the result of his observations in his “Arctic Sunbeams” and “Orient Sunbeams.” True, he had been a member of Congress, but even if one were to become an M.P. in Canada that would not further him in any way for foreign preferments. No one will for a moment doubt but that Cox’s position as charge d’affaires at Constantinople was far preferable to that of any M.C. at Washington, or an M.P. at Ottawa. ”

“ COX, ROBERT (1810–1872) , author of several important works on the Sabbath question, was the son of Robert Cox, leather-dresser, of Gorgie Mills, near Edinburgh, and of Anne Combe, a sister of George and Dr. Andrew Combe [q. v.] He was born at Gorgie on 25 Feb. 1810, and received his early education at a private school and at the high school of Edinburgh. Besides attending the classes of law and of general science at the university of Edinburgh, he also studied anatomy under the not too reputable Dr. ”

“ That will be all right. You and Mary can come home after we have driven the Tories away.”
“We'll go over to Mr. Foster's as soon as it is dark,” said Mrs. Dare.
Shortly after dark, Dick, accompanied by his mother and Mary, went over to the Foster home, and Ben returned with him.
“So you're here, eh?” greeted Tom. “That's fine. I guess when those cowardly Tories put in an appearance, they will get something that they are not looking for.”
“That's what they will,” nodded Ben. “At any rate, I hope so.”
“So do I,” said Dick.
“I wish Zeke and Lem would be in the party,” said Tom, grinning. ”

“ Initially I was sent to a fitting bench where my main unofficial job was to convert an English penny into a spitfire brooch for my sister. Later I was transferred to the Drawing Office. I don’t recall exactly what I worked on, nothing earth-shattering but this was to be the pattern of things for the next couple of months.
This was a peacetime undertaking employing mainly civilians both in the offices and workshops and supplemented during the war by army tradesmen. There were relics of a bygone age when time was not of the essence ”

“ Mister Cox, Mister Cox, My feelings overpower me, That his lodger, his friendly lodger, Should once suspect that Bouncer is COX:
A dodger. BOUNCER:
As to who takes your coals, wood, and all that, It must have been — COX:
No! No! ’Twas not the cat! BOUNCER:
Rataplan, Rataplan, I’m a military man, Rough, honest, I hope, though unpolished, And I’ll bet you a hat, that as to the cat, The cat in the Army’s abolished! COX:
Rataplan, Rataplan, you’re a military man, Honest, I hope, though it doesn’t appear, And as to the cat, the treacherous cat, If it isn’t in the Army, don’t have it here. ”

“ Indeed he may be said to have spent the rest of his life in painting pictures and making drawings which are now (in England) among the most highly prized and coveted art treasures of the world. In 1883 his ‘Going to the Hayfield’ brought 2,405l., and in 1884, at the sale of Mr. Potter's collection, ‘The Church at Bettws-y-Coed’ sold for 2,677l. At a sale a little later in the same year ‘Going to Market’ fetched 2,047l. ‘The Skylark’ (1849) and ‘The Seashore at Rhyl’ are other oil pictures painted by Cox after 1845 which have in recent years sold for sums exceeding two thousand pounds. ”

“ Tom stopped at the first house he came to, and opened the door without ceremony and called out:
“A party of redcoats is coming to attack the settlement, sir. Get the men together quickly, if you want to make a fight.”
A man came hastily to the door, and cried: “What’s thet you say, young man? Redcoats comin’ here?”
“Yes, sir. You can see them, yonder, and--”
“Why, ye’re one yourself!” exclaimed the man, noting Tom’s British uniform.
“No, I’m a patriot that was forced to join their force. I was with that party, but got ahead of them, and came to warn you. Get the men together, quickly. ”

“ He had served in some previous Congress as a member from Ohio; but when I knew him he was serving as a member from New York.
Cox was an able man, as a speaker, a writer, and a diplomat. He was always listened to with great respect and attention when he addressed the House, but a considerable amount of fun was poked at him after a certain occasion when he had interrupted General Butler a time or two in debate, and the General, finally losing patience, replied to one of his questions with the admonition: "Shoo, fly, don't bodder me!" ”

“ Tom was only sixteen years of age, but he was well-built and athletic for his age, and was moreover as brave as a lion, though somewhat quick-tempered and impulsive. He put out his left hand and, placing it against Lem's chest, pushed him back.
“Hold on, Lem Hicks,” he said. “Just you stand back. One at a time talking with Dick is enough. You talk to me, if you want to talk to anybody.”
Lem Hicks was a hot-tempered youth also, and suddenly his rage flared to the surface. He didn't relish being pushed back by Tom, and quick as a flash, he gave the patriot youth a smart slap on the cheek. ”

“ He
is a rebel, an we are goin ter turn him over
to Captain Wilson an his compny uv
British sojers, who hev ben heer fur a
week past, an are goin to jine the main
army on Long Island to-night. Ye kaint
do nothin to git him back, so ye needn try.
An ye two boys, Dick an Tom, had better be
keerful er we'll serve ye worsen whut we
hev yer father. We don't aim ter hev
any rebels in our neighborhood. So, Dick
and Tom Dare, hev a care!”
“Oh, husband is a prisoner in the hands of the British!” wailed Mrs. Dare. “Oh, this is terrible, boys! What shall we do? Oh, what shall we do!” ”

“ On the street the young doctor beset him again with bows and news: Cox was his name, I believe; the one, you remember, who had such a Talleyrand nose for ferreting out successful men. He had to bear with him but for a few moments, however. They met a crowd of workmen at the corner, one of whom, an old man freshly washed, with honest eyes looking out of horn spectacles, waited for them by a fire-plug. It was Polston, the coal-digger,—an acquaintance, a far-off kinsman of Holmes, in fact.
"Curious person making signs to you, yonder," said Cox; "hand, I presume." ”

“ Of all these sufferers perhaps Cox is most to be pitied. They all have to eat what they're told, no doubt, yards and yards of beefsteak, and so on. In the old days rowing men had to drink beer at breakfast; I can't think of anything worse, except, perhaps, stout. But Cox doesn't eat anything at all. He has to get thinner and thinner. And if there is one thing worse, than eating beefsteak at breakfast it must be watching eight rowing men eating beefsteak at breakfast and not eating anything yourself.
Yes, beyond question Cox is the real hero. ”

“ In 1540 he was one of the fifteen divines to whom were referred crucial questions on the sacraments and the seat of authority in the Church; his answers (printed in Pocock’s Burnet, iii. 443-496) indicate a mind tending away from Catholicism, but susceptible to “the king’s doctrine”; and, indeed, Cox was one of the divines by whom Henry said the “King’s Book” had been drawn up when he wished to impress upon the Regent Arran that it was not exclusively his own doing. ”

“ As for the three in question, they had ran onward till they found that the redcoats had given up the chase, when they had turned around and made their way back to the house. And when the young people were eating, and at the same time wishing the patriot youths were there, the three were near enough so that while they could not look in through the window, they knew what was going on. Dick, Tom and Ben would liked to have been in there, engaged in the same pleasing work, but fortunately they had eaten heartily that evening, after reaching the Hart home, and were not really hungry. ”

“ Cox and his party, by the mob on board the Cambria, by the attacks made upon me in the American newspapers, and by the aspersions cast upon me through the organs of the Free Church of Scotland, I became one of that class of men, who, for the moment, at least, "have greatness forced upon them." People became the more anxious to hear for themselves, and to judge for themselves, of the truth which I had to unfold. While, therefore, it is by no means easy for a stranger to get fairly before the British public, it was my lot to accomplish it in the easiest manner possible. ”

“ Cox is a very careful and a very good woman and—ah! her place is a very respectable and comfortable one, and the order of travellers one meets, that is, one would meet if one went there, is quite proper indeed, but still, I thought, mind I do not say anything, I do not express any opinion Maria, I simply say, I thought, that they would have smoked for instance in the dinning-room or the bar, or on the verandah instead of in that very conspicuous manner just outside the kitchen door. ”

“ Cox’s second short residence in London, dating from 1835 to 1840, marks the period of his highest powers. During those years, and for twelve years after, his productiveness kept pace with his mastery, and it would be difficult to overrate the impressiveness of effect, and high feeling, within the narrow range of subject displayed by many of these works. He was now surrounded by dealers, and wealth flowed in upon him. Still he remained the same, a man with few wants and scarcely any enjoyments except those furnished by his brush and his colours. ”

“ Beginning a Congressional career, which was to terminate only with his death, when scarcely of the constitutional age, he was in close succession a representative from two great States,—in his early manhood from the Capital district of Ohio, and in his maturer years, even down to old age, the most prominent of the delegation from the great State of New York. Mr. Cox was gifted as few men have been in this world. His literary attainments were of a high order, and some of the books of which he was the author will no doubt furnish instructive and entertaining reading for many generations to come. ”

“ I'm shot!” cried one of the voices. “There are other rebels at hand, comrade! Perhaps we're surrounded!”
This gave Tom an idea, and he at once acted upon it. If he could make the redcoats think there were a number of patriot soldiers around, they might be put to flight, and then he could look for Dick, and learn whether he were injured.
“Come on, boys!” he yelled loudly. “Charge the scoundrelly redcoats! Kill them! At them, I say!” ”

“ COX, DAVID, the younger (1809–1885) , water-colour painter, only child of David Cox, the famous water-colour painter [q. v.] , and Mary Ragg, his wife, was born in the summer of 1809 in the cottage on Dulwich Common, where his parents had settled after their marriage. In 1812 he accompanied his father to Hastings, and in the following year, on the break-up of their home at Dulwich, spent some time with his grandfather, Joseph Cox, at Birmingham, and also with an aunt at Manchester. ”

“ He looked at his watch—it was past eight o’clock. The sea was glittering and bespangled with sunlight. He found among his scanty belongings a bathing suit, and, wrapped in his overcoat, hurried down-stairs.
“Breakfast in half an hour, Mrs. Cox,” he called out.
She stood at the door, watching him as he stepped across the pebbles and plunged in. For a few moments he swam. Then he turned over on his back. The sunlight was gleaming from every window of St. David’s Hall. He even fancied that upon the terrace he could see a white-clad figure looking towards him. ”

“ Then Dick saluted and withdrew, and hastened back to the point where his comrades were. The moment they caught sight of his glowing face, they uttered exclamations.
“You are going in search of Arnold’s army, I’ll wager!” exclaimed Tom.
“Yah, dot is vot he is goin’ to do,” nodded Fritz.
“Av coorse,” said Tim. “He’s the bye thot can foind Arnold, av innywan can.”
“Yes, I’m going in search of Arnold’s army,” said Dick.
“Say, I’m going with you,” said Tom, decidedly.
“And so am I,” said Ben.
“The three of us can spread out and cover a lot more ground than one person can,” said Tom. ”

“ COX, DAVID (1783–1859) , English painter, was born on the 29th of April 1783, in a small house attached to the forge of his father, a hardworking master smith, in a mean suburb of Birmingham. Turning his hand to what he could get to do, Joseph Cox, the father, was both blacksmith and whitesmith, and when the war with France began took to the making of bayonets and horse shoes, on wholesale commission, and immediately the boy David was thought able to assist he was taken from the poor elementary school in the neighbourhood, and set to the anvil. ”

“ The brave patriot youth realized that they were going to have a much harder time shaking these Indians off their trail than they usually had with the redcoats. The British soldiers were rather clumsy and slow, but these redskins were lithe as panthers, and as speedy, almost, and could continue running for hours.
“Do your best, boys,” he told his companions. “For I believe that they are gaining on us.”
“Run as fast as you can, Dick,” panted Tom; “we’ll keep up with you.”
“We’ll try, at any rate,” said Ben. ”