steam power. By this means he secured perfect accuracy of

figure. He was also able to turn out a large quantity of
glasses, so as to furnish astronomers in all parts of the world

with telescopes of admirable defining power, at a comparatively
moderate price. In all his works he endeavoured to introduce

simplicity. He left his mark on nearly every astronomical
instrument. He found the equatorialcomparativelyclumsy; he

left it nearly perfect. His beautiful "dividing machine," for
marking divisions on the circles, four feet in diameter and

altogether self-acting--which divides to five minutes and reads
off to five seconds is not the least of his triumphs.

The following are some of his more important achromatic
telescopes. In 1850, when he had been fourteen years in

business, he furnished his earliest patron, Professor Phillips,
with an equatorialtelescope of 6 1/4 inches aperture. His

second (of 6 1/8) was supplied two years later, to James
Wigglesworth of Wakefield. William Gray, Solicitor, of York, one

of his earliest friends, bought a 6 1/2-inch telescope in 1853.
In the following year, Professor Pritchard of Oxford was supplied

with a 6 1/2-inch. The other important instruments were as
follows: in 1854, Dr. Fisher, Liverpool, 6 inches; in 1855, H. L.

Patterson, Gateshead, 7 1/4 inches; in 1858, J. G. Barclay,
Layton, Essex, 7 1/4 inches; in 1857, Isaac Fletcher,

Cockermouth, 9 1/4 inches; in l858, Sir W. Keith Murray,
Ochtertyre, Crieff, 9 inches; in 1859, Captain Jacob, 9 inches;

in 1860, James Nasmyth, Penshurst, 8 inches; in 1861, another
telescope to J. G. Barclay, 10 inches; in 1864, the Rev. W. R.

Dawes, Haddenham, Berks, 8 inches; and in 1867, Edward Crossley,
Bermerside, Halifax, 9 3/8 inches.

In 1855 Mr. Cooke obtained a silver medal at the first Paris
Exhibition for a six-inch equatorialtelescope.[8] This was the

highest prize awarded. A few years later he was invited to
Osborne by the late Prince Albert, to discuss with his Royal

Highness the particulars of an equatorial mounting with a clock
movement, for which he subsequently received the order. On its

completion he superintended the erection of the telescope, and
had the honour of directing it to several of the celestial

objects for the Queen and the Princess Alice, and answered their
many interesting questions as to the stars and planets within

sight.
Mr. Cooke was put to his mettle towards the close of his life. A

contest had long prevailed among telescope makers as to who
should turn out the largest refracting instrument. The two

telescopes of fifteen inches aperture, prepared by Merz and
Mahler, of Munich, were the largest then in existence. Their

size was thought quite extraordinary. But in 1846, Mr. Alvan
Clark, of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, U.S., spent his leisure

hour's in constructing small telescopes.[9] He was not an
optician, nor a mathematician, but a portraitpainter. He

possessed, however, enough knowledge of optics and of mechanics,
to enable him to make and judge a telescope. He spent some ten

years in grinding lenses, and was at length enabled to produce
objectives equal in quality to any ever made.

In 1853, the Rev. W. E. Dawes--one of Mr. Cooke's customers --
purchased an object-glass from Mr. Clark. It was so satisfactory

that he ordered several others, and finally an entire telescope.
The American artist then began to be appreciated in his own

country. In 1860 he received an order for a refractor of
eighteen inches aperture, three inches greater than the largest

which had up to that time been made. This telescope was intended
for the Observatory of Mississippi; but the Civil War prevented

its being removed to the South; and the telescope was sold to the
Astronomical Society of Chicago and mounted in the Observatory of

that city.
And now comes in the rivalry of Mr. Cooke of York, or rather of

his patron, Mr. Newall of Gateshead. At the Great Exhibition of
London, in 1862, two large circular blocks of glass, about two

inches thick and twenty-six inches in diameter, were shown by the
manufacturers, Messrs. Chance of Birmingham. These discs were

found to be of perfect quality, and suitable for object-glasses
of the best kind. At the close of the Exhibition, they were

purchased by Mr. Newall, and transferred to the workshops of
Messrs. Cooke and Sons at York. To grind and polish and mount

these discs was found a work of great labour and difficulty. Mr.
Lockyer says, "such an achievement marks an epoch in telescopic

astronomy, and the skill of Mr. Cooke and the munificence of Mr.
Newall will long be remembered."

When finished, the object-glass had an aperture of nearly
twenty-five inches, and was of much greater power than the

eighteen-inch Chicago instrument. The length of the tube was
about thirty-two feet. The cast-iron pillar supporting the whole

was nineteen feet in height from the ground, and the weight of
the whole instrument was about six tons. In preparing this

telescope, nearly everything, from its extraordinary size, had to
be specially arranged.[10] The great anxiety involved in these

arrangements, and the constant study and application told heavily
upon Mr. Cooke, and though the instrument wanted only a few

touches to make it complete, his health broke down, and he died
on the l9th of October, 1868, at the comparatively early age of

sixty-two.
Mr. Cooke's death was felt, in a measure, to be a national loss.

His science and skill had restored to England the prominent
position she had held in the time of Dollond; and, had he lived,

even more might have been expected from him. We believe that the
Gold Medal and Fellowship of the Royal Society were waiting for

him; but, as one of his friends said to his widow, "neither worth
nor talent avails when the great ordeal is presented to us." In

a letter from Professor Pritchard, he said: "Your husband has
left his mark upon his age. No optician of modern times has

gained a higher reputation; and I for one do not hesitate to call
his loss national; for he cannot be replaced at present by any

one else in his own peculiar line. I shall carry the
recollection of the affectionate" target="_blank" title="a.亲爱的">affectionateesteem in which I held Thomas

Cooke with me to my grave. Alas! that he should be cut off just
at the moment when he was about to reap the rewards due to his

unrivalled excellence. I have said that F.R.S. and medals were
to be his. But he is, we fondly trust, in a better and higher

state than that of earthlydistinction. Best assured, your
husband's name must ever be associated with the really great men

of his day. Those who knew him will ever cherish his memory."
Mr. Cooke left behind him the great works which he founded in

Buckingham Street, York. They still give employment to a large
number of skilled and intelligent artizans. There I found many

important works in progress,--the manufacture of theodolites, of
prismatic compasses (for surveying), of Bolton's range finder,

and of telescopes above all. In the factory yard was the
commencement of the Observatory for Greenwich, to contain the

late Mr. Lassell's splendid two feet Newtonian reflecting
telescope, which has been presented to the nation. Mr. Cooke's

spirit still haunts the works, which are carried on with the
skill, the vigour, and the perseverance, transmitted by him to

his sons.
While at York, I was informed by Mr. Wigglesworth, the partner of

Messrs. Cooke, of an energetic young astronomer at Bainbridge, in
the mountain-district of Yorkshire, who had not only been able to

make a telescope of his own, but was an excellent photographer.
He was not yet thirty years of age, but had encountered and

conquered many difficulties. This is a sort of character which
is more often to be met with in remote country places than in

thickly-peopled cities. In the country a man is more of an
individual; in a city he is only one of a multitude. The country

boy has to rely upon himself, and has to work in comparative
solitude, while the city boy is distracted by excitements. Life

in the country is full of practical teachings; whereas life in
the city may be degraded by frivolities and pleasures, which are