COOKE 297 erly point of America and its distance from Asia, reached the point still known by the name he gave it, Icy cape, Aug. 18, 1778, and did not turn back till the end of the month, when he found it impossible to proceed. Re- turning to the Sandwich islands to prepare for another attempt northward the next year, he discovered Hawaii, the largest of the group, and Maui. He cruised about Hawaii several weeks, and found the natives peaceably dis- posed, but addicted to stealing. One of his boats being stolen on the night of Feb. 13, 1779, he determined to seize the person of the king and hold him until the property was re- stored. Going ashore for the purpose on the 14th, with a lieutenant and nine men, he aroused the suspicions of the natives, and a fight ensued in which he was killed. The body, and those of several marines who were slain, were afterward cut up and probably de- voured, only the bones of the great navigator being recovered by the expedition seven days later. These were deposited in a coffin, and buried in the sea. After another unsuccessful attempt in Behring strait, the expedition re- turned home by way of China. Cook's widow received a pension of 200 per annum, and each of his children 25. An account of his last voyage was prepared from his journal, and a continuation of it by Lieut. King. The charts and plates illustrating it were executed at the expense of the government, and half the pro- fits of the work were bestowed on the family of the navigator. COOKE, George Frederick, an English actor, born in Westminster, April 17, 1755, died in New York, Sept. 26, 1812. His father, an Irish captain of dragoons, died soon after his birth, and his mother removed to Berwick-upon- Tweed, where he was placed at school, and afterward apprenticed to a printer. Conceiv- ing a strong passion for the stage, he indulged it for some time in private, and first appeared as a professed actor at Brentford in 1776, as Dumont in the tragedy of "Jane Shore." He performed at the Haymarket in London in 1778, without attracting attention, and after being a member of several provincial compa- nies first attained popularity at Manchester in 1784. In 1794 he joined the Dublin company, became the hero of the stage at Dublin, Cork, and Manchester, and in 1800 accepted an en- gagement at Covent Garden, London, where he appeared with decided success as Richard III. For ten years he was the rival of John Kemble, and played both in tragedy and comedy in the largest cities of Great Britain. His most popu- lar characters were those of Richard III., Shy- lock, lago, Sir Giles Overreach, Kitely, and Sip Pertinax Macsycophant. In 1810 he sailed for America, and on Nov. 21 appeared as Richard III. in the Park theatre, New York. He sub- sequently acted in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and other, cities, attracting large audiences, whom he annoyed by his capricious conduct and astonished by his wonderful acting. His death was hastened by his intemperate habits. His memoirs were written by William Dunlap in 1812, and notes of his conversation and many incidents of his life and associates in New York are contained in Dunlap's novel of " Thirty Years Ago " (1836). He is buried in St. Paul's churchyard, New York, where a monument was erected to his memory by Edmund Kean in 1821. COOKE, George Wingrove, an English lawyer and author, born in Bristol about 1814, died at Chelsea, June 18, 1865. He studied at the London university, in Oxford, and at the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in 1835. He was for a time the political editor of the "Atlas" newspaper, and in 1857-'8 was a special correspondent of the " Times " in China. In 1850 and 1851 he was an un- successful candidate for parliament. In 1863 he was appointed tithe, copyhold, and en- closure commissioner, in which department he had previously been long employed as a law- yer. Besides several legal works, he published " Memoirs of Lord Bolingbroke " (1835), "Life of the Earl of Shaftesbury " (1836), "History of Party " (1836), " Inside Sebastopol " (1856), "China in 1857-'8" (1858), and "Conquest and Colonization of North Africa " (I860). COOKE. I. John Rodgers, an American jurist, born in Bermuda in 1788, died in Richmond, Va., Dec. 10, 1854. During a professional ca- reer of more than 40 years, he was concerned in nearly all the great causes carried to the higher courts of Virginia. He served in the legislature in 1814, and in 1829 was a member of the convention which framed the constitu- tion of Virginia, serving on the committee of seven, including Chief Justice Marshall, ex- President Madison, John Randolph, Watkins Leigh, and others, who made the draft of that instrument. II. Philip Pendleton, an American poet, son of the preceding, born at Martins- burg, Va., Oct. 26, 1816, died Jan. 20, 1850. He graduated at Princeton college in 1834, and returning to Virginia, studied law in the office of his father, was admittted to the bar, and married before he was 21. At college the greater portion of his time had been given to the study of poetry and belles-lettres, and he always took more pleasure in literary pursuits than in his profession. He published several poems in the "Knickerbocker" magazine, and on the establishment of the " Southern Literary Messenger " became one of its contributors. His only publication in book form was u Frois- sart Ballads and other Poems " (1847). At the time of his death he was publishing serially the "Chevalier Merlin," a historical prose poem. III. John Esten, an American author, brother of the preceding, born at Winchester, Va., Nov. 3, 1830. After the removal of his family to Richmond in 1839 he was sent to school, and finally prepared himself for the bar, to which he was admitted in 1851. Hav- ing contributed stories and sketches to various periodicals, he published a novel, "Leather
