Cobbett, William (1762-1835).—Essayist and political writer, b. at Farnham, Surrey, s. of a small farmer, his youth was spent as a farm labourer, a clerk, and in the army, in which his good conduct and intelligence led to his promotion to the rank of sergeant-major. After moving about between England and America, and alternating between journalism and agriculture, in the former of which his daring opposition to men in power got him into frequent trouble and subjected him to heavy fines in both countries, he settled down in England in 1800, and continued his career as a political writer, first as a Tory and then as a Radical. His violent changes of opinion, and the force and severity with which he expressed himself naturally raised up enemies in both camps. In 1817 he went back to America, where he remained for two years. Returning he stood, in 1821, for a seat in Parliament, but was unsuccessful. In 1832, however, he was returned for Oldham, but made no mark as a speaker. C. was one of the best known men of his day. His intellect was narrow, but intensely clear, and he was master of a nervous and idiomatic English style which enabled him to project his ideas into the minds of his readers. His chief writings are English Grammar, Rural Rides, Advice to Young Men and Women. His Weekly Political Register was continued from 1802 until his death.
Cockburn, Henry (1779-1854).—Scottish judge and biographer, b. (probably) and ed. in Edin., became a distinguished member of the Scottish Bar, and ultimately a judge. He was also one of the leaders of the Whig party in Scotland in its days of darkness prior to the Reform Act of 1832. The life-long friend of Francis Jeffrey, he wrote his life, pub. in 1852. His chief literary work, however, is his Memorials of his Time (1856), continued in his Journal (1874). These constitute an autobiography of the writer interspersed with notices of manners, public events, and sketches of his contemporaries, of great interest and value.
Cockton, Henry (1807-1852).—Novelist, b. in London, is only remembered as an author for his novel of Valentine Vox (1840), the adventures of a ventriloquist.
Colenso, John William (1814-1883).—Mathematician and Biblical critic, b. at St. Austell, Cornwall, and ed. at St. John's Coll., Camb., where he was a tutor, entered the Church, and pub. various mathematical treatises and Village Sermons. In 1853 he was appointed first Bishop of Natal. He mastered the Zulu language, introduced printing, wrote a Zulu grammar and dictionary, and many useful reading-books for the natives. His Commentary on the Romans (1861) excited great opposition from the High Church party, and his Critical Examination of the Pentateuch (1862-1879), by its then extreme views, created great alarm and excitement. He was in 1863 deposed and excommunicated by Bishop Gray of Cape Town, but confirmed in his see by the Courts of Law. His theological writings are now largely superseded; but his mathematical text-books, for the writing of which he was much better equipped, hold their place.
