MONTHLY MIRROR FOR NOVEMBER, 1807. Embellished with ▲ PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM COOKE, ESQ. ENGRAVED BY FREEMAN, FROM A PAINTING BY POPE. PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETORS,' By J. Wright, No. 38, St. John's Square, Clerkenwell, And published by Vernor, Hood, and Sharpe, in the Poultry; sold, also, by all the Booksellers in the United Kingdom. The great influx of original matter has made it necessary, this month, as well as on several former occasions, to give an additional half-sheet. To satisfy the wishes of many literary friends, a further expence has also been and will continue to be incurred, by the free use of a smaller, but beautifully round and legible, type in the latter part of this publication. Under these circumstances, the Proprietors, at the commencement of the new year, propose, without fear of exciting a single murmur, to raise the price to Two Shillings. Were this advertisement to appear unaccompanied by a number of the MONTHLY MIRROR, they might be induced to boast of the honourable names and distinguished talents of their principal contributors, as well as to say something of the deserts of their co-adjutors on the establishment, but in this place the praise, if false, would avail them nothing; and if true, it would be both injudicious and superfluous. The evidence, on which the PROPRIETORS rest their case, and to which they confidently look for the happiest issue, is at this moment before THE JUDGE. A more explicit address shall hereafter be presented to the public in general. CORRESPONDENCE. We forgive Abelard's crime, but not his "Penitence."-Penitence in ten pages of verse is unpardonable! One rhyme deserves to be preserved: "With sighs and downcast-look I come, "A lowly penitent with hum ble steps and slow." I. A. informs us that lottery-office keepers are "rogues," and their falling out beneficial to the public. He recommends their schemes and them to our dramatists, as a good idea for a farce-a tragedy more likely! "sweet To the opinion of Louis, Grove, Bath, that Mr. Bennett is a son of science," of "unassuming excellence," he is welcome, but, to a place here for such verses-no. If unworthy, he says, I should "be eternally obliged to you to commit them to the flames without delay." He is eternally obliged to us. G.'s Gigantic Children, and Stradula on Virgil, if possible next month. It has been intimated to us, by note, that some of our readers wish quotations in Latin to be translated. (See Page 376.) Painted by Alexander Pope Esq. William Cooke. Esq. Publish'd by Vernor, Hood & Sharpe Poultry, Deca807. MONTHLY MIRROR, FOR NOVEMBER, 1807. MEMOIRS OF WILLIAM COOKE, ESQ. (With a Portrait.) THE respectable situation which this gentleman has long held in the republic of letters, entitled him to an earlier notice in our work, as one of its chief purposes is to be a Mirror to the literary talents of the time. William Cooke, Esq. is descended from an ancient and respectable family, who resided in the city and county of Chester for many generations. His grandfather, William Cooke, was entered, at an early age, in Lincoln's Inn, and afterwards became a barrister of very considerable practice. Having exerted himself too zealously in a cause which was tried in Westminster Hall, and which occupied a long period, he was suddenly taken ill as he left the court, and had scarcely time to reach home, before he expired. This gentleman left three sons. The eldest, by the interest of his maternal uncle, a wealthy Turkey merchant, obtained a commission in the guards. The second became a lieutenant in the navy, and was killed at the taking of Carthagena. The third, whose baptismal name was Hugh, and who was the father of our present subject, was sent to Westminster school, and was intended for the bar. Hugh Cooke had the honour of being instructed, during the first year of his admission at that school, by the celebrated Dr. Busby, then master, who was well-known to have been the first scholar of his time, and to whom most of the great characters of this country, from the middle to the close of* the seventeenth century, were in a great degree indebted for their education. Hugh Cooke had also the honour of being classfellow, at that distinguished seminary, with the youngest son of our great poet Dryden. Hugh Cooke remembered very well the funeral of that excellent poet, which he represented as having been considered as a very grand spectacle, that excited general |