SAMUEL COOK, ARTIST. 399 
time, or practice, or aught else, can give him (unless he has it in 
him) a poet’s eye, and a poet’s soul. Such were Nature’s gifts to 
Samuel Cook. 
Merits such as these could not long remain unrecognized, and 
very soon judicious critics began to appreciate his truth and refine- 
ment, and the high poetic feeling evinced in his works. 
It was with real pleasure that I called the attention of two 
eminent art critics to his works. I had known for years the late 
Mr. Tom Taylor, art critic for the Times, and Mr. Ruskin. Mr. 
Taylor was always ready to notice works of art from the West of 
England to which I called his notice. In the Times of 27th April, 
1860, Mr. Taylor wrote as follows, when reviewing the Water Colour 
Gallery: “‘ Of all the drawings in the room none have left so pleas- 
ing or so lasting an impression upon our minds as three of Mr. S. 
Cook’s ; one, a view from the grounds of Clovelly Court—a simple 
subject, nothing more than a foreground of grey pebbled beach, 
dove-coloured in the lights, and purple in the shadows, with the 
green sea breaking on the far off tide-line, and Lundy Island loom- 
ing through the morning haze on the horizon; and a companion 
pair, one representing the same coast scene as seen at early morning, 
with the fog just lifting, and the seamews splashing in the shadows, 
the other, the close of day, with the tired beachmen wending their 
way homewards, and the red sunlight low in the west. All Mr. 
Cook’s work indicates in the artist genuine refinement, as well as 
that sincere and unpretending love of Nature which never fails to 
bring its reward in results that appeal to the heart as well as the 
eye.” 
Mr. Ruskin mentioned Samuel Cook’s drawings in his yearly 
notices of pictures. In 1857 he said of one of his drawings of 
‘“‘Trebarwith Sands,” ‘‘ Mr. Cook has a very fine eye for colour, and 
great understanding of sea. I like all his drawings exceedingly. 
This seems on the whole the leading one ; the rosy sunlight oppos- 
ing the strength of the green waves very beautifully.” 
Independently of his published criticisms, Mr. Ruskin wrote to 
me concerning Cook and his drawings, and often talked of him and 
them when we have met at the London galleries. But Cook was 
really too great to be affected by praise, though his nature could 
never be indifferent to sympathy. The best of husbands and of 
fathers, a kind and faithful friend, he was always the first to rejoice 
in the success, and to point out and enjoy the merits, of a brother- 
