Oxon. ed. Bliss, ii. 154). On 2 Dec. 1573 he was unanimously elected probationer of his college, and three years afterwards he graduated M.A. In 1582 he was elected one of the proctors of the university (Le Neve, Fasti, ed. Hardy, iii. 490). He graduated B.D. in 1584 (Wood, Fasti, i. 228), and was instituted to the vicarage of Leeds on 18 Dec. 1590, on the presentation of the parishioners. Thoresby states that the Reformation went on very slowly in Leeds, till ‘the deservedly famous Mr. Robert Cooke … revived a deep sense of true religion and piety.’ Cooke was collated by Dr. William James, bishop of Durham (to whom he dedicated his ‘Censura’), to the sixth prebend in that cathedral (Thoresby, Vicaria Leodiensis, pp. 55–60; Le Neve, Fasti, iii. 314). He died on 1 Jan. 1614–15, and was buried in the church at Leeds (Hobart, Reports, ed. 1724, p. 197). His younger brother, Alexander Cooke [q. v.], succeeded him in the vicarage.
His works are: 1. Six Latin orations delivered at Oxford, in a manuscript formerly in the possession of James Crossley. One of these orations was delivered on 10 April 1583, when he resigned the office of proctor. It gives a vivid picture of the state of Oxford at that time, and the difficulties and animosities which he had to encounter in the execution of the duties imposed upon him (Notes and Queries, 4th ser. xi. 465, 514). 2. ‘A Learned Disputation betwixt Robert Cooke, B.D., and a priest named Cuthbert Johnson, alias William Darrell, before his Majesty's Council and other learned Men at York, an. 1610.’ Manuscript formerly in Thoresby's museum at Leeds (Musæum Thoresbyanum, ed. 1816, p. 86). 3. ‘Censura quorundam Scriptorum, quæ sub nominibus Sanctorum, et veterum Auctorum, à Pontificiis passim in eorum Scriptis, sed potissimum in Quæstionibus hodie controversis citari solent,’ Lond. 1614, 1623, 4to.
[Authorities cited above.]
COOKE, ROBERT (1768–1814), musician, was son of Dr. Benjamin Cooke the organist [q. v.] He became organist of the church of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields on the retirement of his father in 1793. He was elected master of the choir-boys at Westminster in 1806, and appointed organist at the abbey on the death of Dr. Arnold in 1802. He held this post until 1814, when he went mad, and drowned himself in the Thames. The most celebrated works which he left behind him are an ‘Ode to Friendship,’ which was sung on the first night of the British Concerts, an Evening Service in C, and several songs and glees, of which a collection of eight was published in 1805, and a song in imitation of Purcell, composed expressly for James Bartleman [q. v.]
[Grove's Dict. of Music; A Dictionary of Musicians, 1827, 8vo.]
COOKE, ROBERT (1820?–1882), catholic divine, was born at Waterford about 1820, and for some time studied medicine, but subsequently, during a visit to France, joined the congregation of Oblates of Mary Immaculate. After his ordination he was stationed at Grace Dieu, Leicestershire. Thence he was sent in 1847 to Everingham Park, Yorkshire, and while there he established missions at Howden and Pocklington. In 1851 he removed to Leeds. He established houses of his order at Inchicore in Ireland, and at Kilburn, London. His last missionary labour was in the east end of London, where he founded the church of the English Martyrs, Tower Hill. He died on 18 June 1882.
His principal works are: 1. ‘Catholic Memories of the Tower of London,’ Lond. 1875, 8vo, which has been translated into French. 2. ‘Sketches of the Life of Mgr. de Mazenod, bishop of Marseilles, and Founder of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and of the Missionary Labours of the French Oblates of Mary Immaculate,’ 2 vols. Lond. 1879–82, 8vo.
[Tablet, 24 June 1882; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Gillow's Bibl. Dict. i. 557; Athenæum, 1879, i. 697.]
COOKE, ROGER (b. 1553), astrologer, was born in 1553, and became Dr. Dee's assistant at the age of fourteen. He seems to have shown considerable aptitude; for Dr. Dee instructed him in many of his discoveries. Thus we find in Dr. Dee's ‘Diary’ in the Ashmolean Library at Oxford, under date 28 Dec. 1579, ‘I reveled to Roger Coke the gret secret of the salt οφ ακετελε ονε υππον α υνδρεδ,’ and in the Ashmolean MS. 1788, fol. 147, ‘he revealed to Roger Cooke the great secret of the Elixar, as he called it, of the salt of metalls, the projection whereof was one upon an hundred.’ Cooke would seem to have been a man of morose and often violent temper; but for reasons which do not appear Dr. Dee seems to have been loth to part with him. Thus, we find under date 12 July 1581, ‘About 10 of the clock ½ before noone Roger, his incredible doggednes and ingratefulnes agains me to my face, almost redi to lai violent hand on me, major Henrik can partly tel’ (the passage is in Greek character). Things culminated in the same year, on 5 Sept., when we read: ‘Roger Cook, who had byn with me from his 14 yeres of age till 28, of a melancholik nature, pycking
