LIFE OF ALFRED COOKMAN.

CHAPTER I.

THE COOKMAN FAMILY.-GEORGE GRIMSTON COOKMAN.

THE REV. ALFRED COOKMAN was descended from a worthy ancestry. His father, the Rev. George Grimston Cookman, was a man of such powers and fame; his talents and reputation became, by so remarkable a providence, the inheritance of his son; his influence upon the son was so direct and continuous, that I find, in the absence of any adequate account of the father, it is quite impossible to do justice to either without dwelling more fully on the career of the father than a biography of the son would seem to allow. While it might be honour enough for George G. Cookman to be remembered as the father of Alfred, yet there was that in him-in what he was and did-which makes it proper that no extended memoir be given of the son without such a portraiture of the father as shall be in some degree worthy of his distinguished character and

services.

My apology for dwelling longer on the annals of the father than is customary in such cases, is the simple desire to so present the name of Cookman, made illustrious first in the father, and maintained afterward in the son, as that

it shall be transmitted an unbroken name, suggestive of sanctity, eloquence, and usefulness wherever known and pronounced.

George Grimston Cookman was born in the town of Kingston-upon-Hull, Yorkshire, England, October 21, 1800. His parents were George and Mary Cookman. Of these parents George himself wrote in 1825 to Miss Mary Barton, who was then his betrothed, and afterward became his wife: 66 My father is the younger brother of an old English family who, as sturdy yeomanry, had resided upon their family estates in the east end of Holderness for five generations back. My father left home early in life, and at eighteen years of age became serious, and a member and local preacher in the Methodist Society. He is constant in all his purposes, and unwavering in all his attachments—a judicious rather than a romantic husband, a kind rather than a fond father. He is independent in his principles even to the verge of republicanism; what the world terms a downright honest man. Yet there are perplexing paradoxes in his character. Possessing genuine, active courage, he hides it under a natural diffidence and modesty; with deep and strong feeling, he will generally pass for what Alfred calls a phlegmatic melancholic. Indeed, he has brought himself under so severe mental discipline and such habitual caution, that he represses all that gives a glow to feeling or a brilliance to thought under the fear of committing himself. But when you can draw him out of his shell, you find he can conceive and feel and speak with both brilliance and power. As a Christian, he is eminently consistent, liberal, and unwavering. I have sometimes thought that his habitual judgment has induced a want of faith in temporal matters, but I have met with few men so even and constant in their religious walk. Now my mother

THE COOKMAN FAMILY.

3

is almost the reverse of all this. She was the daughter of a retired and wounded officer of the Royal Navy; was left an orphan in early life, and was educated in the same house with her cousin, Mr. John Bell, of Portington. She became pious in early life, and endured much persecution from her uncle with unflinching courage. She enjoyed the blessing of perfect love for many years, and when in health was eminent for activity and good works. She possesses a much higher range of talent than my father-has more genius and less judgment-romantic in all her feelings, ardent in her attachments and resentments. She has ten times as much faith as my father. She has a keen, ready mind, but wants comparison and discrimination. She has a vehemency of impulse, and a strength and decision of will, and a power of faith which, if it had been united with a strong frame in the other sex, would have made her an eminent missionary. Now my father professes little, but feels a great deal; my mother feels deeply, and tells you of it too." He had a brother, Alfred, younger than himself by four years, and a sister, Mary Ann. Of them he also wrote, in order to complete the picture of the family: "Alfred is the finest youth I have ever met with-high in all his notions, lofty and liberal in his principles. Pride and ambition are his ruling passions. Of lion-like spirit, headstrong self-will, and a most vehement and over-bearing temper, the world will see in him a second Brougham. And yet I know no one to whom you might commit yourself for candid judgment with greater confidence than our Alfred. Mary Ann, my beloved Mary Ann, is a most affectionate and amiable girl. I thought two years ago she would be a tame, passive character; but she is developing striking and spirited traits. She has more perseverance and judgment for her years than either I or Alfred.

I think

she will not be behind either in intellect, and before both in prudence."

What is here said of his brother Alfred is not too strongly put. From the testimony of friends, and the proofs given in his letters, essays, and speeches, he must have been a youth of unusual promise. He early devoted himself to God, and became one of the most exemplary Christians. His tastes and convictions led him to choose the law for his profession. When this preference was expressed, the judicious father laid before him all the difficulties which would lie in his path: the long and expensive process of college and professional education; the still longer period which must elapse before he could reasonably expect to get into practice; the want of patronage; the envy of the aristocracy, ever manifested to aspirants at the bar springing from the middle classes of society; and concluded by saying, "Remember, Alfred, if you insist on this course, the whole of your patrimonial fortune will be expended on your education;" to which Alfred fearlessly and magnanimously replied, "“I care not when I enter the bar if I have not a shilling. I will make my own fortune, you may depend upon it." His facility of speech, readiness in debate, quickness of perception, wit -his striking person, and deep-toned and melodious voice -made him from boyhood 66 one of nature's orators." one occasion, in the debating society of which he was a member, a gentleman of the bar from London chanced to hear him, and remarked afterward, "I would give my library, and all I am worth in the world, to have the amazing power of reply exhibited by that boy." He passed successfully through the course at Glasgow University, where he had the most capable of instructors, and listened on Sundays to such preachers as Chalmers and Wardlaw.

On