164 
THE LATE SIR ASTLEY COOPER. 
talent, or more extensive information, or in whose bosom beat a 
warmer or kinder heart. 
He was the fourth and youngest son of the Reverend Samuel 
Cooper, D.D., Rector of Yelverton and Morley, in Norfolk, and was 
born on the 23d of August, 1768. He was distinguished at an 
early age by unusual activity of body and mind, a fearlessness 
of difficulty and danger, and an easiness of approach and warmth of 
feeling which endeared him to all around. 
It is said that his attention was first directed to the medical pro- 
fession by the adroitness with which he performed a serious opera- 
tion on a playmate. In one of their boyish pranks, the femoral 
artery of his companion was wounded. The blood gushed out in 
a fearfully rapid stream, and in a very short time life would have 
fled. Young Cooper, however, was cool and collected : he applied 
his handkerchief around the injured limb, and so skilfully, that 
the bleeding was immediately arrested. 
His profession in after-life was from this moment decided. He 
was apprenticed to a surgeon and apothecary in the neighbourhood; 
but in a country place like this there was not room and scope enough 
for a mind like his, and he was sent to London, to his uncle, William 
Cooper, a very respectable practitioner. Even here his powers were 
“cabinned, cribbed, confined,” and he was transferred to the domi- 
cile of Henry Cline, one of the surgeons of St. Thomas’s Hospital, 
and deservedly possessing the highest reputation. 
The abilities, and the future bearing and character of young 
Cooper, were soon and plainly developed. He objected not to 
mingle in the amusements of his companions — he was the life of 
every party, and the ring-leader in many a harmless freak; but his 
devotion to his studies, and his preparation for the duties and the 
honours of future life, were never for a moment neglected. At 
the break of dawn he was always at his post, pursuing his anato- 
mical researches, or watching some dubious interesting case, or 
prepared to assist in any operation or examination which science 
or humanity might require. 
In process of time he became demonstrator of anatomy under 
Mr. Cline, and greater opportunity was afforded for the develop- 
ment of his peculiar talent. He was never absent from his post. 
He was the companion and the kind and unwearied instructor of 
