The subject of the present memoir, Henry Cooper, was born at a house in
Bethel Street, in the City of Norwich, now well-known as the late
residence of Alderman Hawkes, and where resided for many years his
father, Charles, now better known as Old Counsellor Cooper, a remarkable
man, who, like the late William Cobbett, though of humble origin,
possessed one of those minds that will and must, as they have ever done
from the time of Deioces of Ecbatana (recorded by Herodotus) till now,
elevate the possessor and compel the homage, whilst exciting the no small
envy of inferior intellects. What education he received was at a small
school kept by the Rev. John Bruckner (a Lutheran Divine), who died in
1804, and was buried at Guist, in Norfolk, where French, Latin, and the
common rudiments of an English education were taught; and where, too, the
late William Taylor,--perhaps one of the most extraordinary men Norwich
ever produced, the early and intimate friend of Southey, and who was the
first, according to Lockhart's Life of Scott, to give that great writer a
taste for poetry by his (Taylor's) spirited and inimitable translation of
Burger's well known ballad beginning,--
"At break of day from frightful dreams up started Eleanor,"
was his fellow pupil, and who has told me what a gentle, industrious, and
amiable boy he remembered my father (truly, in this instance, the child
was father of the man); there he acquired, no doubt, some knowledge, but
it was far more to his own self-instruction that he was indebted for the
large and varied knowledge he possessed, for, as his brother Samuel (his
only and younger brother,--he had a sister but she died young) informed
my mother that such was his early thirst for knowledge, that he not only
repudiated all play, and the sports of boyhood, taught himself Greek, and
greedily devoured the contents of every book that came within his reach,
but would, with the pocket-money given him, purchase candles, and when
the family had retired to rest, light one, and sit and read till the dawn
of day, when he would creep into bed, and sleep till the hour of call,
when he would rise to resume anew his mental exercise. So years past by,
and the young and sickly looking boy grew into the youth, when his
father, a man of strong intellect, with a great deal of sound common
sense, perceiving the bent of his son's mind,--and being a man who had
retired early in life from business with a small property, on which he
lived in a house at Heigham (a hamlet within the city),--at once placed
his son Charles with one of the most respectable attornies, in large
business in Norwich, as an articled clerk to the law, where he very soon,
by his persevering industry, his assiduity, and the great acuteness shown
in every matter entrusted to his care and management, so conciliated the
good opinion of his master, who discovered progressively, the evident
marks of superior abilities [here, too, he indulged to an excess his
insatiable thirst for reading, that he would sit up the greater part of
the night for this purpose, to the neglect and injury of his health],
that at the termination of his engagement, his conduct was so acceptable,
and his services so manifest, and his influence, too, among the clients,
was found to be so extensive, that on his obtaining his certificate to
practise as an attorney, his principal was glad to offer him a share in
the business, and receive him as a partner; the reputation he had already
acquired became wide spread, and quickly raised the firm in the
estimation of the public, and clients flocked to it, and all would see,
if they could, and consult with Mr. Cooper on their affairs.
Some years thus passed, when, from some cause or other, a dissolution
took place in the partnership, and when, probably from the advice of
friends stimulated by his wife's ambition (a Miss Yarrington, a woman as
I have been given to understand, of masculine mind, vast energy, and
indomitable spirit, whom her son Henry has been often said by those who
knew her, to have resembled in more than features, for in face he
resembled his mother), he was induced to enter himself at Lincoln's Inn,
which he accordingly did in the year 1782, and is thus entered: "Charles
Cooper, of the City of Norwich, eldest son of Charles Cooper of the same
place, merchant, admitted 22nd of April, 1782." Prior to this, a
remarkable incident occurred in his life: he undertook the conduct of a
cause of great intricacy and importance for a pauper, a labouring
blacksmith. An extensive and valuable landed property, well-known as Oby
Hall, with its extensive demesnes, had been for a long time in abeyance;
the property was estimated at that period, at not less than 30,000
pounds; on failure of male issue, the descendants on the female side put
in their claim, among whom the blacksmith stood foremost; he came,
consulted with my father on his claim, who became after a time, convinced
of the solidity of his title; and after examining it with indefatigable
assiduity, he at length, after much entreaty, undertook to carry his
cause through every court, were it necessary, upon certain conditions;
the conditions were, that if my father succeeded in gaining the cause, in
consideration of taking upon himself all the risk, expenses, and labour,
he should enjoy the estate; whilst the claimant, having no relations but
the most distant, if any, was to receive an annuity for life of 300
pounds. After almost insurmountable difficulties, great expense, and
consumption of time and labour, the long anticipated time arrived when
the trial was to decide the question of such grave moment to the parties
concerned: Lord Erskine came down to Norwich specially retained for the
claimant (the origin, I believe of his after intimacy with Henry), the
case came on for trial,--was fought on both sides with all the ability
and ingenuity such a cause demanded (I forget the name of the opposing
counsel), the claimant's title was confirmed, and the estate gained. The
claimant lived but a little more than a year or two after to receive his
annuity, to him absolute wealth; and he died, I have heard, expressing to
the last, his gratitude to (as he styled my father) his protector.
Unfortunately, coming into the possession of the estate, my father must
turn farmer, and like him, I have before compared him to, and I have
often thought since reading the works of Cobbett, that there was a
similarity in their thoughts on many subjects; he soon began to farm at a
fearful loss (for to be a gainful farmer, so farmers hold, or rather they
did then, a man should properly be trained to it from his youth), he was
forced to trust to others to do what he should himself have done, and
being still occupied in his professional pursuits at Norwich, his visits
to the hall and the estate were but occasional, and the eye of the master
was but too often absent; his family, however, resided there, consisting
of his wife and his four children, Charles, Henry, Harriet, and Alfred,
and there his affections were centred, so that it cannot be wondered at,
that with a divided duty, and the course pursued, ere many years, but I
am forestalling, the estate soon became involved, and eventually he was
compelled to part with it at a loss, or rather with no gain, for at the
time of its sale, which happened at a period during the long war, land
fell all of a sudden greatly in value, and the seller was glad to
experience the truth of the old saying--
"When house and land and all are spent,
Then learning is most excellent."
This sale, however, did not occur till some years after the death of his
first wife, and when he had married his second, a Miss Rose White, my
mother, and by whom he had several children, seven only living to
maturity, all of whom, I being the eldest, having survived him. His
first family, with the exception of his daughter, who died a few years
ago, having all died previous to the decease of their father. After
having pursued his studies with his accustomed assiduity, in chambers he
had taken in Stone Buildings, and eaten his terms, he was called to the
bar on the 9th of June, in the year 1788. (For these several dates I am
indebted to the kindness of Mr. Doyle, the greatly respected steward of
Lincoln's Inn.) When, having resided a few terms in London, he hastily
left the metropolis--the true and only sphere for the full development of
extensive legal knowledge and great abilities, such as his,--to reside
and practise as a provincial barrister in his native city; where, from
his previous reputation, not only as a lawyer well versed in common law,
with great knowledge in the practical parts of it, but as a most skilful
conveyancer, and great real property lawyer, with a deep knowledge of all
its intricacies and moot points, he, at once, obtained considerable
practice, and a fine income, which, I believe, by present provincial
counsel would be regarded rather as a fiction than reality. He was,
moreover, a fluent speaker, with diction pure, and most grammatical. I
ought, here, perhaps, to mention what will seem strange to the present
generation, that I have often heard my father say, that the first book he
began to study law from was "Wood's Institutes," a book that "the
Commentaries of Blackstone," rendering the study of the law far more
intelligible and easy to the student, has long completely superseded. In
Norwich he continued to reside up to his death, where he was ever applied
to by every attorney, without exception, far and near, if any very
difficult point of law arose; and, till within some few years prior to
his death, which happened on the 21st of July, 1836, when age as, is
usual, though it kindly spared the vigour of his intellect, yet brought
with it its physical weakness and ailments, he was employed as leading
counsel in many important causes, where legal knowledge and acumen was
required; and, in the courts, from the high reputation he had acquired,
he ever commanded the ear of the judges, and the respect of his brethren
at the bar. He had the joy, too, to live to see his son Henry rising
fast to eminence in the same profession, though the after pang and
anguish to sorrow for his death; and he grieved for him in heart, though
not his youngest, as did Jacob at the imagined loss of his favourite,
and, in my opinion, never did he quite get over it; he not only loved,
but was proud of him.
The latter years of him, whose life I have thus briefly sketched, were
past at his small country residence, situated at Lakenham, where his
second wife, who survived him, my mother, now seventy-four, still
resides, a hamlet of and situate two miles from Norwich, where he spent
the chief of his time, of that he could spare from the city where he
practised, till up to the last twelve months of his life, when in his
eighty-fourth year he expired, worn out with past exertion and years, and
was, as chief Coroner and Magistrate of the Close and its precincts,
under the jurisdiction of the Dean and Chapter, buried within the
cloisters of the cathedral.
By his family, from his sweetness of disposition, kindness of heart, and
amiability of temper, he was tenderly beloved and regretted, and still
whenever recalled to memory in the quietude of the chamber the eye will
ever be moistened by a tear, and the heart kindle at the recollection;
and by many others he was and will be yet greatly missed; the poor and
struggling literary man he would encourage not only with praise, but with
his purse, and, THAT, the poor and needy had ever open to them, and his
advice besides gratuitously, whenever required (and this might be
confirmed by hundreds still living "in the ONCE ancient city," as a
certain wise Alderman of yore styled it), and to their affairs he would
give as much attention as to the richest client; his private memoranda
alone, after death, told his good deeds, for he strictly adhered to the
beautiful doctrine laid down by the great Teacher, "But when thou doest
alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth,"--"_Quando
ullum invenies parem_?"
Of his first family, Charles, the eldest son, was intended for the bar,
and was entered at Lincoln's Inn, but from the natural sensitiveness of
his disposition he never kept his terms, and soon gave up all thoughts of
the profession; he lingered at home, a Westminster scholar, a man of
extensive reading, and of great intelligence [as I have been informed,
for I was much too young fully to appreciate him], till after many years,
on Henry's quitting Bermudas, he became the secretary to Sir James
Cockburn, in which employment he continued some years, and only returned
when Sir James ceased to be the governor. He then became a kind of
superior clerk in the Marine office then held in Spring Gardens, and
subsequently died at the age of about forty-five or forty-eight of
consumption, a complaint of the mother's family. Alfred went into the
army as an ensign, was at the battle of Waterloo, was wounded there, was
ordered and went subsequently to India with his regiment, the 14th Foot,
where, years after, just as he had obtained a sick leave to return home,
he was shot at Dinapoor, whilst reposing on his sofa, thinking probably,
or dreaming of home and its affections, by a drunken Sepoy, mistaking him
(in his mad excitement) for his servant, who had just previously refused
him drink; the occurrence caused, necessarily, great excitement and much
conversation at the time, the man was caught and hanged--a satisfaction
to justice, but a wretched consolation to his family, by whom, as the
youngest, and amiable as he was gentle, he was most fondly loved. His
father and sister, I believe, were never made acquainted with the true
cause of his death. A letter of Henry's relating, though indistinctly,
for evident reasons, to the sad occurrence, will be placed before the
reader. Harriet, as I have said, the only sister (who married a Dr.
Leath, a physician in the army, who resides still at Bayswater) died not
very long ago, leaving no issue.
Having given a sketch, which I think and hope will have interested the
reader of him, from whom He sprung, whose life I am about to delineate. I
will now proceed to depict the life of the Son, with the simple remark
that I have undertaken a task of no slight difficulty (and much such an
one as that of the poor Jews, who, under their hard taskmasters in Egypt,
were set to make bricks without straw), with very slight materials to
describe the life of one who died when I was sixteen, and whom I loved
from his unvaried kindness to me, of the life of one who, had he lived,
would have had a far abler biographer. Henry, in early life, took a
propensity to and entered the navy, and was a midshipman in the battle of
the Nile, but soon after, disliking the service, quitted the profession.
His education, when he returned from sea, was, through indulgence,
neglected: and he passed most of his time at Oby Hall, in Norfolk, the
then residence of his father, and distant about eight miles from
Yarmouth, in shooting, fishing, and driving a tandem-cart about the
country, built of unusual height; and an anecdote is related of him,
that, after driving it awhile, he went to Mr. Clements, the builder at
Norwich, and said, "Well, Clements, you have built a machine to surprise
all the world, and I am come to surprise you by paying you for it." And
to show his early quick perception, ready reply, wilfulness, and
precocity, I must here relate two well-attested anecdotes: the first,
when quite a child, and at his lessons in the nursery, on his mother's
running up to dispel the noise and disturbance he was making, she
exclaimed in anger, after in some measure correcting him, "Why, sir, if
you go on in this manner you'll turn the house out of the windows," the
young gentleman, looking roguishly at his mother, responded, "How can I
do that, Ma, for the house is bigger than the windows?" this of course
dissipated all anger, and brought a smile to the mother's face; silence,
however, was restored and study resumed. The other, when he was about
eleven or twelve years of age, a poor soldier, who had been kind to him,
assisting him in his fishing, boating, &c., and who was at that time
cleaning harness for my brother in the stable, was arrested by an escort
of soldiers, who suddenly came to apprehend and convey him, for some
alleged offence, to the head quarters at Yarmouth; without saying a word
or leaving a message behind him, young Henry started off with his friend
and the soldiers, telling the captive, "Never to care, for he would be
his advocate." He was, after some time had elapsed, missed; search was
made for him in every direction till night came on, but no traces of his
whereabouts could be discovered, and, with fearful anxiety, as I have
heard my father often say, all, at last, worn out and weary with the
fruitless search, retired to bed, but not to rest; care brooded over
their pillows and dispelled sleep. Morning, at last, came, but with it
no tidings of Henry; and, when alarm had reached its height, in ran the
servant lad, in breathless haste, exclaiming, "Master Henry is found,"
and soon after he was seen, being borne in triumph on a soldier's back,
with others following, coming up the lawn. All were delighted to see the
lost one safe, and, to delight was added astonishment, on a soldier
putting into his father's hand a letter, which was quickly opened and
read, and which came from the commanding officer. I regret that letter
is lost; it spoke, I have often heard my father and mother relate, in the
highest terms of the youngster, and warmly congratulating the former on
the possession of such a son, so noble in bearing, so bold, and so
talented; adding, that he had pleaded the soldier's case so well, that he
had, so young an advocate as he was, obtained the acquittal of his
client. As he grew up in years he was the pride and terror of the little
farmers of the neighbourhood,--the first from his ready wit, playful, and
genial disposition, which he ever retained; the latter from the practical
jokes he was constantly in the habit of playing on them, many of which
are remembered and spoken of at, and around Oby, up to the present day:
and he had the love of all, for, if they wanted game, or any kindness
done them, they had only to ask and have. But midst this he read, and he
lacked not mental food to feed on, as his father possessed a large and
well-stocked library. Henry's reading, however, was necessarily
desultory and discursive, but such the retention of his memory, that he
forgot nothing he had once conned; as an instance of this I must relate
an anecdote, often told of him by Mr. Jay, an attorney at Norwich, still
living, and who was an excellent client, and a great admirer of my
brother, that soon after large business flowed in upon him, and he went
into court with a bag full of briefs; to his Mr. Jay's utter
astonishment, after a case had been called on, in which he was the
attorney, and the several witnesses had been called, examined, and the
cause gained, my brother, who had led it, turned round, and said, "There
Jay, I have won your cause, but I will be hanged if I know where your
brief is; I read it, but somehow lost it." He, of course, used blank
paper for his notes. His perception, too, was so acute, his imagination
so vivid, and his memory so retentive, that he could at once, and readily
apply the knowledge so widely gleaned to the subject under discussion,
that they who were ignorant of his previous mental instruction, would
have imagined that he had, in earlier years, been the lean and diligent
student, who had wasted the midnight oil in meditation and deep research.
After an interval of years, he became a member of Lincoln's Inn, when in
due course of time he was proposed by the late Mr. Justice, then James
Allan Parke, Esquire, and called to the bar, May 25th, 1811. Soon after
his call, he accompanied Sir James Cockburn, who had been just appointed
governor of the Bermudas, as his secretary, and after a short period, on
his arrival there, was made Attorney General, the duties of which office
he for some years performed to the entire satisfaction of the governor.
His letters thence, I have understood, contained beautiful and vivid
descriptions of
"That happy island where huge lemons grow"
[he was an admirer of scenery and nature], and that the wit, graphic
portraitures of the men in office on the island, the general chit chat,
scandle and fun, intermixed with politics, occasional rhymes, &c., put
the reader [since dead] of a few of them, in mind of the letters of Lord
Byron. After his return home, he took chambers in Fig Tree or Elm Court,
in the Temple, read and awaited clients, and went the Norfolk circuit;
but, alas! few profitable knocks came to his door, and the circuit
yielded rather expense than profit; but on he went struggling and
struggling, till at last his talents were acknowledged; and the four
years preceding his death, he was an eminent leader, and engaged in
almost every cause throughout his circuit, and rapidly gaining a
reputation in London from "the very eloquent, bold, and honest style of
his defence," for Mary Ann Carlile, who was prosecuted, by what was then
styled the Constitutional Association, for publishing a libel upon the
government, and the constitution of this country. The trial ended after
a brilliant speech of the defendant's counsel, full of argument,
eloquence, and ability, in the dismissal of the jury, after being locked
up all night; the counsel for the prosecution, the late Mr. Baron Gurney,
consenting to their discharge. The report of the trial, and Henry
Cooper's speech in full, was printed and published by the notorious
Richard Carlile, who then kept a shop in Fleet Street. At the early age
of forty my brother died, and he was then looked on by the profession, as
a man, who, had he lived, must have achieved the highest honours in it.
He was an ardent admirer of, and some of his friends were pleased to say,
a close imitator of the oratory of Lord Erskine, with whom, till he died,
he was on terms of the greatest intimacy. In fact he was writing his
life for publication, by the express desire of Erskine himself, when
death staid the pen. Alas! but a few pages of it were written, and those
in the rough, I will, however, lay them, ere I have done, before the
reader.
Henry, the last four years of his going circuit, and when his abilities
were acknowledged, was sometimes opposed to his father, to the no small
pleasure and amusement of the Norwich people, who as greatly respected
the legal ability of the one, as they admired the eloquence of the other;
and it was often a source of half suppressed laughter in that portion of
the court set aside for the public to hear "my learned friend" banded
from one to the other by the two Athlete--Father and Son--the one as
powerful from his tact, energy, and fervid eloquence, as the other from
his legal knowledge and great acumen, and who was often the victor, for
that knowledge, deep and extensive gave the father a superiority on those
points of a case, in which law and fact were intermingled, and which were
apt from Henry's comparative previous little business and short practice
as a leader to escape his attention, or when patent rendered him less
capable effectually to grapple with the legal and knotty difficulty, for
he had never had the advantage of a pleader's chambers; nor let it be
thought in those days that there were no giants to contend with--Sergeants
Blosset, Frere, and Storks, Messrs. Plumptre, Eagle, Robinson, Prime, and
others of note, with Biggs Andrews, now Q.C., and George Raymond, author
of the "Elliston Papers," as juniors were on the circuit, all of whom
have long since been dead, with the exception of Mr. Sergeant Storks and
the four last named.
And here I cannot do better than insert a paragraph signed J. S., which
appeared in the _Times_, I think in or about the years 1831 or 1832; I
copy from the paragraph cut out from the paper, and at the time pasted in
an album, to which the date was omitted to be attached. The paragraph
was headed, "The late Henry Cooper:"--
"To most of our legal readers, we feel convinced, that this week's
sketch of the late Henry Cooper, the friend companion and intended
biographer of the late Lord Erskine, will prove highly acceptable. The
unexpected and melancholy event which deprived the bar of one of its
most promising ornaments, and cast a shade over the gay and talented
circle in which he moved, must be fresh within the memory of our
readers. As yet no memoir, no frail tribute to stamp even a fleeting
remembrance of his learning, professional fame, or liberal principles
has appeared, and while worthless rank and heartlessness have been
perpetuated by marble and the prostituted energies of literature,
genius, talent, and honor, have been left to the obscurity of the
grave; not one of those who shared his gay and mirthful hours, who
listened enraptured to his eloquence and flashes of wit, which as
Hamlet says 'were won't to set the table in a roar,' have endeavoured
by giving to the world his literary labours, or even a sketch of his
life, to preserve his memory from oblivion. Henry Cooper was the son
of an eminent counsellor of Norwich, a gentleman of powerful mind,
whose legal knowledge has rendered him one of the first consulting men
of the day. Even at his present advanced age of near eighty, he may
be seen early of a morning taking his accustomed walk, or if the
weather be too severe for exercise, found in his library surrounded by
his books and papers.
Raised by his own perseverance, and in a great measure self-educated,
it is not to be wondered at if from such a father, the subject of our
sketch, acquired those habits of perseverance and industry which
enabled him by system to attain knowledge and fame in his profession.
Upon being called to the bar his convivial powers and talent for
conversation introduced him to Erskine, who found so much pleasure in
his society, that they became not mere friends, but inseparable
companions, and plunged together in the gay round of pleasure, which
the world too temptingly presents to men whose minds enable them to
watch its interests and guide the machine by which society is
regulated. To all who knew him, and the thoughtless life he led, it
was a matter of surprise how and when he found time to attend to the
numerous cases of his clients, for his field of action soon became
extended; yet we will venture to pronounce and feel confident of being
borne out by those who knew him, that in no one instance did the cause
of the party he advocated suffer.
In the Court he appeared as well acquainted with the words of his
brief, as if it had been for months the object of his most serious
attention; not a thread or a link of evidence escaped him, and so
persuasive was his manner, so argumentive his style of language, that
the jury frequently received the impressions he wished to convey, and
their feelings generally, if not their judgment, went in favour of his
client. He used, on some occasions, to plead in the Norfolk Courts,
and we have frequently seen him opposed to his father as a special
pleader. The old gentlemen, strong in the possession of his youthful
intellect, which time even to the present hour has failed to rob him
of, was perhaps less assailable by his pleasing manner and florid
speech than any of his brothers of the bar, and his ejaculations not
always of the most complimentary nature, were sometimes loud and
frequent. We have seen the son on such occasions always the first to
smile at his father's petulance, and the last to express any sense of
the impropriety of the interruption. We have seen the old gentleman,
in the midst of his son's argument, write to the opposing counsel
suggesting authorities and giving references and precedents against
him, all with the most perfect good humour on both sides; and the
greatest triumph he could boast was to defeat his son upon a point of
law: on such occasions he would put his hands behind his back, and
moving round with a chuckle, exclaim, "Something to learn yet, Harry!"
The father's delight and pride in his superior legal knowledge over
his son, became at last a standing joke with the barristers of the
Court. The death of Lord Erskine blighted Henry Cooper's hopes to a
seat in Parliament, where his eloquence and sarcasm would have made
him powerful as an ally, and feared as an antagonist; liberal in his
opinions to the present exclusive system of the church, he was a
decided enemy, and a thorough reformer in the state. His services at
a crisis like the present, would have been of incalculable benefit to
his country.
From the period of the loss of his friend, till his own untimely end,
he devoted himself more than he had ever before, to literary pursuits
and the labours of his profession. A life of Lord Erskine was nearly
arranged for the press at the time of his decease, and it is to be
regretted that as yet his labours have not been given, imperfect as
they are, to the world; no one could have had better opportunities or
have been better calculated for the task; alike the counsellor in his
difficulties, the companion of his mirthful hours, the springs of
action, the feelings of his breast, must have appeared unveiled before
him; Death, however, prevented the completion of his task and removed
him too early from the world his talents ornamented."
I had forgotten to say, that on his return from Bermudas he became and
continued very intimate with the Cockburn family, and often prophesied
the future success of the late Attorney General, now Chief Justice of the
Court of Common Pleas, then young Alexander Cockburn; and often has my
brother said to me, then about sixteen, when speaking of the above
family, "rely upon it, Billy, young Alexander, if he enter the
profession, will do great things in it; he is a remarkably clever,
energetic, and talented young man." Henry had much of the restlessness
and irritability, the usual accompaniments of a high order of talent,
with great earnestness in diction and action.
Ere I proceed further; the reader will, perhaps, be pleased with a
likeness of the man. I should say, in height, he was about five-feet
eleven-inches; of spare and sinewy frame, with an elastic tread, that
those who knew him, and seeing him in the distance, might truly say, as
Ulysses of Diomede in Shakspeare's play of "Troilus and Cressida,"
"'Tis he, I ken the manner of his gait;
That spirit of his in aspiration lifts him from the earth."
And often have I heard the late Mr. Alderson (the father of the present
judge), who travelled with my father, circuit and sessions as a
provincial barrister, more than thirty years, and who was resident at
Norwich, say,--"that Henry always put him more in mind of a Spirit, that
a man of flesh and blood;" his eye dark, like that of Edmund Kean's, the
great actor, showed every emotion of the soul, now fiery with anger, now
glazed with thought, and anon, melting into softness; his head small, and
finely rounded, and covered with thick clustering curls of black crispy
hair, was such as sculptors have ever loved to give the youthful
Antinous; his forehead retreating was characteristic, as Lavater says,
"of genius;" his nose was slightly arched in the centre and slightly
fleshy near the nostrils; his face oval, with a well defined chin and a
mouth plain, but full of energy and expression, and similar to Sterne's,
the contour, of whose face I always thought my brother's much resembled.
I have thus given, to please the lover of physiognomy, "a shadow
portrait," not "a Myall's photograph," which I hope will not only satisfy
the physiognomist, but which I think they, who but even slightly remember
Henry Cooper, have but to place before the tablet of their memory and
view the shade cast from it with their "mind's eye" to at once recall and
recognize the original. I have thus sketched his likeness, as I regret
to say, thus only can he be now known, or viewed by those who were
unacquainted with him living, as no portrait of him is extant, he dying
young, and for years previous struggling to succeed in a profession where
the "battle is not always to the strong," though in the long run the best
man often succeeds, as with few exceptions, perhaps, the long race,
barring accidents, is usually won by the best horse. He left no writings
behind him save a few letters, beautifully expressed, but mostly relating
to family matters, and, therefore, uninteresting to the general reader,
with the exception of five or six preserved by my mother, which I will
give the reader ere I have ended this biographical sketch; and the few
friends with whom he corresponded, and to whom, occasionally, he showed,
and gave the productions of his pen, though they considered him a man of
considerable talent, set such small value on his effusions, that,
however, pleased at the time they might have been with them they were put
aside forgotten and most probably destroyed, and what he himself chanced
to write and was pleased with for the instant, was, from the natural
carelessness of his disposition, hastily cast aside, and, no doubt, often
burnt with the waste paper of his chambers; so that every endeavour I
have made to possess even a shred of these scraps, has been futile. All
I have been able to gather are the few letters alluded to, with a few
poetical lines which will be given to the reader; and, as we often judge
of character from trifles, he must, from the slight sketch I have given,
and the small crumbs I have been able to collect, form a judgment of HIM
I have endeavoured to describe. He had all but reached the height of his
profession, when he was taken away, no doubt for a wise purpose, to the
deep and lasting regret of those who not only fondly loved him, but who
had begun to take, and no wonder, a warm pride in the object of their
affections.
He died on September 19th, 1824, having been attacked some days previous
by a severe attack of diarrhoea, which, by some fatal mischance, was
mistaken by the surgeons who attended him, for brain fever; he was,
consequently, bled, and drastic medicines were administered, which must
have hastened if they did not cause his death, which happened at the
house of a friend of his, by the name of Hill, at Chelsea, where he was
buried, but his body was afterwards removed by his sister and deposited
where it now lies, near his father's in the cloisters of Norwich
Cathedral.
I will now lay before the reader the few letters I possess. By the
letters of an ingenuous writer, it is said, you can gain a clearer
insight into his character, disposition, and mental powers, than by long
association or familiar discourse; these letters have been kindly given
me by my mother, with whom Henry constantly corresponded, and whom he
always treated with marked respect and affection, which was fully
reciprocated. They were addressed to her at Norwich, where she with my
father resided, and the first bears date,
_London_, 3_rd_ _Nov._ 1815.
"My Dear Madam,
"And it came to pass that when they emptied their sacks, lo! ev'ry
man's money was in the mouth of his sack." I have had the same
measure from you which Joseph's liberality heaped on his brethren; and
if you will but believe that my proposal to you, to be allowed to be a
purchaser of half the preserved raspberry, was not a covert mode of
begging it as a gift; I thank you without any regret, and am very much
obliged to you. I thank you, too, very much for the pheasant which
flew into the window of the mail coach, and startled me in St.
Stephen's Street. George, who is a good lad, had put on his best
legs, and soon overtaking the mail, threw it in '_sans ceremonie_.' It
was a pleasant disturbance from no very pleasant reverie, which my
mind set out on the moment the coach set out from the inn; and which
would, but for this agreeable interruption, have lasted me at least as
long as the first stage. For the rest of the good things which you
gave me while I was in Norwich, and sent me laden away with, I must
thank you _en masse_; for to thank you one by one for them, would
force me to write a long letter, which I have not the least intention
in the world of doing. I was outside the mail, and for a long way the
only passenger. We learned at Newmarket, that the coachman, who drove
the coach, which was overturned the preceding night, lay very much
hurt. His viscera are bruised, and his only chance of life is in cool
veins well emptied by the lancet. 'Tis right that he on whose care
the safety of others depends should be most prominently exposed to the
danger of ill conduct or neglect; I wish heartily that this liability
could be transferred from those who sit on the coach box, to those who
sit in the cabinet and hold the reins of the hard driven state! we
should then have had more peace and less taxes. Ask Mr. Samuel Cooper
[a great liberal and brother of my father] if we should not?
At Chesterford your friend, Mr. Smith, the representative for Norwich,
took the mail; and after a nap, talked very unrestrainedly with me on
the present state of France, on Buonaparte, the criminal law, and the
wisdom of the Justices at sessions. I was determined--like Horace's
whetstone, which can sharpen other things, though blunt itself, to put
an edge on him--to say something deep and decisive on some of the
subjects, but I got nothing from him but working-day talk. Perhaps
(like the character with the Greek name in the _Rambler_, who tells
his guest, showing him his fine things, that they were only brought
into service when persons of consequence visited him) he disdained to
pull out his best to me, yet I rather judge that he is only clever to
the party at Norwich; and as Oberon, though but six inches high, is
yet tall for a fairy, he is a great Apollo to the blue and whites [the
colours of the liberal party at Norwich]. For corroboration of any
opinion of theirs, I should always, like the Recorder of London, think
it right to ask the cook.
There's my letter, a type of the miracle of the creation and the lie
to the great Epicurean maxim, that 'Nothing can be made out of
nothing;' for as one of those, that, as the song runs, 'None can love
like,' would exclaim, 'by Jasus, I had not a word to say, and yet I
have spoke three whole pages!'
My duty to my father, and if you please, my best regards to Mrs.
Watson [my mother's sister], on condition she has no more hysterics;
and that is, as she pleases, more than perhaps she is aware of. She
is not naturally melancholy, and may soon accustom her mind to like
hope better than remembrance. My best love to Harriet [his sister], I
should, as I promised her, have written to her if I had not written to
you, but one letter will serve both; pray assure her how grateful I am
to her for all her anxious care and attention to me; I will not even
allow that Charles [his eldest brother, who was then the secretary to
Sir James Cockburn at Bermudas] loves her more than I, or esteems her
more, or will be more glad (as I told him in my letter) than I was to
see that she was better in health than she had been for years; 'twill
make him happy indeed, for the possibility of losing her is alarming
to him, and if she were to die, he would be most inconsolable; yet his
grief would not be more than mine, nor would he be more ready to
exclaim,--
'I, nunc; et, numina non posse nega'
which, as you are a lady, I translate for you, 'go now and say, that
angels cannot die.' But you must not read this to her, for she will
absurdly say 'tis flattery, as if I could have any motive to flatter
her.
My love to Will [meaning myself]. He is so much improved as to be an
engaging boy, and I begin to like him very much.
I am, dear Madam,
Yours very faithfully,
HENRY COOPER.
P.S.--If Mr. Boardman [an old friend of his] should call, pray
remember me most particularly to him. He has long behaved to me with
the affection of a brother. He has even, in no few instances,
preferred my interests to his own. I am most deeply obliged to him,
and I like to tell people of it."