SAMUEL COOK, ARTIST. 393 
colour, He was then learning to know Nature thoroughly, and 
with that knowledge came strength. 
Amongst those who first detected his capabilities as an artist 
were Colonel Hamilton Smith, and his earlier friend, George 
Wightwick, and Mr. William Jacobson, a distinguished amateur 
artist—all three of them then residents of Plymouth. 
Colonel Smith, as we all know, was a great authority as an 
antiquary and a naturalist, and he was also an artist. He could 
paint a battle-field in the time of William the Conqueror with a 
more thorough knowledge of costume and armour of the period 
than perhaps any one then living; and when a whale was brought 
into the port of Plymouth his opinion was sought as an authority 
concerning its species. His friends regarded him as a living ency- 
clopzedia on all such subjects, and both Macready and Charles Kean 
in their revivals of the plays of Shakspere gladly availed themselves 
of his knowledge both as to scenery and costume. 
George Wightwick, the well-known architect and Shaksperian 
reader, has left a name and reputation behind him in this town 
that will be long and affectionately remembered. 
William Jacobson was for many years a solicitor in this town, a 
patron of art, and a true friend to artists. 
Portraits of each—Colonel Smith, Mr. George Wightwick, and 
Mr. Jacobson—hang in this hall. 
It was fortunate for Samuel Cook that he had the acquaintance 
of such men in his early career. Colonel Smith not only lent him 
anatomical prints, by which Cook obtained a very fair knowledge 
of the human figure, but Cook after working hours spent his even- 
ings in the Colonel’s company. His intercourse with Colonel Smith, 
and the advantages derived from such intercourse, cannot be too 
highly estimated. It was customary for him to stay at Colonel 
Smith’s house in Park Street till midnight, and he did this 
regularly for six years. 
George Wightwick, on the other hand, was able to put a con- 
siderable quantity of decorative work into Cook’s hands. It was 
through his introduction that Cook painted, grained, and decorated 
the house of Sir John Buller, afterwards Lord Churston, at Lupton, 
in the staircase of which he painted on the walls the views that 
were immediately outside the house. He also decorated the residence 
of Sir William Molesworth, at Pencarrow, and the house of Mr. 
Phillpotts, at Porthgwidden, amongst many other country houses 
