in the fifth volume of Scott's edition of the ‘Somers Tracts.’ It is a very scurrilous production, comparing the king to Cain, Machiavelli, and Richard III, and accusing him among other things of complicity in the death of his father and in the Irish rebellion. In it he says that when called to this service he ‘went cheerfully about it as to a wedding, and I hope it is meat and drink to good men to have justice done, and recreation to think what benefit the nation will receive by it.’ Cook was rewarded for his services by being made master of the hospital of St. Cross (Whitelocke, 30 June 1649). In the following December he was further appointed chief justice of Munster, and has left a very curious account of the dangers of his passage to Ireland. ‘It almost split my heart,’ he says, ‘to think what the malignants would say in England when they heard that we were drowned’ (A True Relation of Mr. Justice Cook's Passage by Sea from Wexford to Kinsale, etc. See also Mrs. Cook's Meditations, etc., composed by herself at her unexpected safe arrival at Cork). In ‘Several Proceedings’ for 10–17 April 1651 a letter from Ireland describes Cook as ‘a most sweet man and very painful, and doth much good,’ and about the same time Cromwell affirmed to Ludlow that Cook, ‘by proceeding in a summary and expeditious way, determined more causes in a week than Westminster Hall in a year’ (Ludlow, Memoirs, p. 123). By the Act of Satisfaction of Adventurers and Soldiers, passed 26 Sept. 1653, Cook was confirmed in possession of a house at Waterford, and lands at Kilbarry near that city, and Barnahely in the county of Cork (Scobell, Acts, ii. 250). On 13 June 1655 the council of state appointed Cook a justice of the court of upper bench in Ireland (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1655). In April 1657 he crossed over to England, whence he writes to Henry Cromwell in February 1659, apologising for his long absence (Thurloe State Papers, vii. 610). But having returned to Ireland he was arrested by Sir Charles Coote, who was anxious to make his peace with the royalists, and sent over to England in the spring of 1660. As he had been excluded by name from the Act of Indemnity, he was tried on 13 Oct. 1660, and condemned to death. The sentence was executed on 16 Oct. A full account of his behaviour during his imprisonment, and letters to his wife and her daughter Freelove Cook, is contained in ‘A Complete Collection of the Lives and Speeches of those persons lately executed, by a person of quality,’ 1661. He exhibited great courage and cheerfulness on his way to execution and on the scaffold.
Besides the pamphlets mentioned above Cook was the author of the following works: 1. ‘A Vindication of the Professors and Profession of the Law,’ 1646, republished with alterations and additions in 1652. 2. ‘What the Independents would have, or a character declaring some of their tenets and desires, to disabuse those who speak ill of that they know not,’ 1647. 3. ‘Redintegratio Amoris, or a union of hearts between the King's most excellent Majesty, the Lords and Commons, Sir Thomas Fairfax and the Army under his command, the Assembly, and every honest man that desires a sound and durable peace,’ 1647. 4. ‘Unum Necessarium, or the Poor Man's Case: being an expedient to make provision for all poor people in the Kingdom,’ 1648. An article is devoted to this tract in the second volume of the ‘Restrospective Review,’ ser. iii. 5. ‘Monarchy no Creature of God's making, wherein is proved by Scripture and Reason that Monarchical Government is against the Mind of God, and that the execution of the late King was one of the fattest Sacrifices that ever Queen Justice had,’ Waterford, 1652. The preface contains a character of Ireton and an account of the legal reforms carried out by Cook in Ireland.
[Ludlow's Memoirs, ed. 1751; Thurloe State Papers; Domestic State Papers; Nalson's Trial of Charles I; State Trials.]
COOK, JOHN, D.D. (1771–1824), professor of Hebrew, eldest son of the Rev. John Cook, professor of moral philosophy at St. Andrews, by Janet, daughter of the Rev. John Hill, was born 24 Nov. 1771. He graduated at St. Andrews in 1788. On 19 Sept. 1792 he was licensed for the ministry of the church of Scotland, and was ordained minister of Kilmany on 9 May 1793. He held this charge until 12 Oct. 1802; his immediate successor was Dr. Chalmers. Cook left Kilmany to fill the Hebrew and divinity chair in St. Mary's College, St. Andrews, a position which he occupied until his death. On 16 May 1816 he was moderator of the general assembly. He died on 28 Nov. 1824. He published ‘Inquiry into the Authenticity of the Books of the New Testament,’ Edin. 1821, 8vo (the substance of a course of lectures, on Bishop Marsh's plan).
[Hew Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scot.; Anderson's Scottish Nation, 1870, i. 680.]
COOK, JOHN, D.D. (1808–1869), professor of ecclesiastical history, was the eldest son of John Cook (1771–1824) [q. v.] He graduated A.M. at St. Andrews in 1823. In 1824 he was factor to St. Mary's College. He was licensed for the ministry of the
