COOKE COOTE. 



411 



designs for it were by Mr Telford, and it was 

 opened to the public on the 1st of June, 1826. 

 The towers, on which the chains rest, are built in 

 the same style of architecture as the castle, so as 

 to harmonize with it ; and a slight effort of the 

 imagination would lead us to suppose that the pre- 

 sent structure was the original drawbridge of the 

 ancient fortress. The chains of the bridge are 

 fastened at the west extremity into the rock be- 

 neath the castle, and at the eastern end into an 

 island rock, which is connected with the shore by 

 an embankment, upwards of 2000 feet in length. 

 The length of the bridge, between the supporting 

 towers, is 327 feet, and the height of the roadway, 

 above high water of spring-tides, about fifteen feet. 

 An additional postage of one penny is charged for 

 every letter conveyed over Conway Bridge, and 

 this money is applied to the repayment of the sums 

 advanced for the building. 



COOKE, GEORGE, an eminent engraver, was 

 born in London, January 22, 1781. His father 

 was a native of Frankfort on the Main, who settled 

 in England early in life, as a confectioner, and hav- 

 ing realized a moderate competency, retired from 

 business about thirty-five years ago. In the choice 

 of a profession, George was probably influenced by 

 the example of his elder brother, William, who had 

 previously become the pupil of Angus, the publisher 

 of a set of " Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Seats." 

 In conjunction with William Cooke, and also 

 separately, George Cooke executed many plates for 

 the Beauties of England and Wales, which are 

 marked with strong indications of a sedulous care 

 and eagerness to excel the characteristics of all his 

 productions. The extensive series of plates, illus- 

 trating Pinkerton's " Collection of Voyages and 

 Travels," absorbed, for several successive years, 

 the greater part of his attention. During the pro- 

 gress of this publication, William Cooke had pro- 

 jected and commenced the first edition of " The 

 Thames," to which George Cooke contributed only 

 three plates, Monkey Island, Temple House, and 

 the Gateway at Tilbury Fort. " The Thames " 

 was the precursor of " The Southern Coast of 

 England," a work memorable on many accounts, 

 and of incalculable importance for its action both 

 on the public taste and on the art of engraving. 

 The first number came out January 1, 1814, and 

 continued at intervals until the appearance of the 

 sixteenth and last, in the spring of 1826. Of this 

 series of plates, George Cooke engraved one third. 

 An improved edition of " The Thames " fol- 

 lowed, containing some tasteful and elaborate spe- 

 cimens of graphic skill from his hand. For Hake- 

 will's " Italy," and the " Provincial Antiquities 

 and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland," he executed 

 some interesting plates : in the former two of 

 Naples, the Campo Vaccino of Rome and Florence ; 

 in the latter, Edinburgh from the Calton Hill, after 

 Turner, Edinburgh from St Anthony's Chapel, and 

 Edinburgh from the Braid Hills, both after Calcott. 

 Of the Edinburgh views in particular it is not too 

 much to assert that at the time of their appearance 

 they were unequalled. In 1819 appeared Allason'a 

 " Pola " with thirteen plates, of which the frontis- 

 piece, a magnificent, architectural composition after 

 Turner, and five others, are from George Cooke's 

 accomplished graver. On the 1st of May, 1817, 

 appeared the first number of " The Botanical 

 Cabinet," undertaken by him in combination with 

 the Messrs Loddiges of Hackney. For many years 

 he resided at Hackney, in front of Loddipcs' gar- 



den. Ten plates, small indeed and slight, but full 

 of accurate and tasteful discrimination, were sup- 

 plied monthly by his indefatigable hand for nearly 

 seventeen years ; the last number, completing the 

 twentieth volume, appearing in December, 1833. 

 Mr Cooke died on the 27th of February, 1834, at 

 the age of fifty-three. He was one of the founders 

 of the Artists' Joint Stock Fund, a member of the 

 Calcographic society, and one of the nine engravers 

 united for the purpose of engraving and publishing 

 the pictures in the National Gallery ; in furtherance 

 of which design, he had selected for his first plate, 

 and made some progress in etching from the picture, 

 Rubens's admirable landscape, presented to the 

 Gallery by the late Sir George Beaumont. In the 

 practice of his profession he deemed himself pecu- 

 liarly fortunate, inasmuch as it fell to his lot to 

 produce some of the earliest plates engraved from 

 the works of Turner, Callcott, and Stanfield, re- 

 spectively ; the first in the " Southern Coast," 

 1814, the second in the " Provincial Antiquities of 

 Scotland," 1819, and the third in his own 

 " London," in 1827. He left a widow and six 

 children. 



COOKE, WILLIAM, an English barrister, was 

 born in London where his father, a respectable 

 jeweller, resided in the year 1757, and received 

 his education in the neighbourhood of the metro- 

 polis. He was a member of Lincoln's Inn, and was 

 called to the bar in the year 1790. At an early 

 period of his career he devoted himself to the study 

 of the bankrupt laws, and at length acquired, in 

 that department, a most extensive practice. It 

 was creditable to the lord Chancellor Eldon to 

 select him as one of the commissioners of bank- 

 rupts ; an office which he honourably filled for many 

 years. He principally distinguished himself as the 

 author of a valuable work on the bankrupt laws, 

 the first edition of which was published in the year 

 1785. It passed through several editions, and was 

 long esteemed the best book on the subject. The 

 seventh edition was edited by Mr Roots. In 1816, 

 he was appointed king's counsel ; but soon after- 

 wards became so afflicted with severe and frequent 

 attacks of the gout, that he was compelled to ab- 

 sent himself on many occasions from court, and at 

 length gave up his attendance there, and confined 

 himself to chamber practice, answering cases, 

 chiefly in bankruptcy, and taking arbitrations, of 

 which kind of business he had a most extensive 

 share. In 1818, he went to Milan, as a commis- 

 sioner to take the depositions of witnesses against 

 the late queen. When subsequently attacked in 

 parliament for thus assisting in that investigation, 

 he intimated that the matter had proceeded farther 

 than he contemplated, and that he had not been 

 fairly treated. He returned to England from this 

 memorable mission in 1820, and resumed his at- 

 tention to chamber business answering cases and 

 taking arbitrations, till he finally quitted the pro- 

 fession in 1825; having thus practised as a barrister 

 for thirty-five years. After that time, he princi- 

 pally resided at his house at Lenham, in Kent, 

 where he died in Sept., 1832. His reputation 

 rested chiefly on his well-known book, which, how- 

 ever, he lived long enough to see reduced almost 

 to a dead letter by new statutes, both on the rules 

 of law and the mode of its administration. 



COOTE, CHAULES, an advocate in Doctors' 

 Commons ; was the son of Mr John Coote, for 

 many years a bookseller in Paternoster Row, and 

 the author of several dramatic productions, none of 



