The verses at the end of the following letter may excuse the insertion
of a query, which would otherwise be out of place in a publication not
designed to be a channel of inquiry.
_To the Editor._
Sir,--I should feel much obliged, if the _Table Book_ can supply some
account of a clergyman of the name of Thomas Cooke, who, it is supposed,
resided in Shropshire, and was the author of a very beautiful poem, in
folio, (published by subscription, about ninety years since,) entitled
“The Immortality of the Soul.” I have a very imperfect copy of this
work, and am desirous of ascertaining, from any of your multifarious
readers, whether or not the poem ever became public, and where it is
probable I could obtain a glimpse of a perfect impression. Mine has no
title-page, and about one moiety of the work has been destroyed by the
sacrilegious hands of some worthless animal on two legs!
The list of subscribers plainly proves that Mr. Cooke must have been a
man of good family, and exalted connections. On one of the blank leaves
in my copy, the following lines appear, written by Mr. Cooke himself;
and, considering the trammels by which he was confined, I think the
verses are not without merit; at any rate, the subject of them appears
to have been a beautiful creature.