ll was made easy before him, than
unpitying Clolho stept up, and cut his thread of life; I must ask your
indulgence, for the reasons you will see, as you proceed in this my life
of him, as also, from the very scanty materials I have been able to
collect for it. How the first idea of this suggested itself to my mind,
I will tell you; a few days ago, I was about to re-publish some Dramas,
written by me in earlier years, and thinking one of them would scarcely
make a volume by itself, the _thought struck me_, on looking over my
treasures, and finding some verses of my brother Henry in his own hand
writing, amidst many youthful rhymes of my own and of my family, _that_ I
would string them together, and so swell the work alluded to. To do this
I thought it necessary to affix a short heading to each, to particularize
the writer, and for this purpose wrote, to head my brother's, a short
biographical sketch of him, consisting of about thirty lines, and
quitting my house, left it on my way to chambers at my printers, returned
home, the labours of the day over,--went to bed, but not to sleep,
thought of my late brother, of that I had written of him, pondered over
the past anecdotes of his life, that had been often told me, recalled his
image to my memory, and amidst airy visions of the past, of my father,
earlier days, and of youthful pleasures mixed with pain, fell
asleep--BUT--with a determination. To carry it out,--on the morrow I
began this sketch. You must judge how I have performed my self-imposed
task, and wishing it may amuse you, and encourage young aspirants who
shall chance to read it, not to give way under difficulties, but
strenuously to persevere, seeing how much may be achieved by diligence
and a determination not to yield, remembering ever the good advice and
the useful maxim delivered of old:--

"Tu ne cede malis sed contra
Audacior ito--"
"Possunt quia posse videntur."

I am, yours faithfully,
W. COOPER.

LIFE OF HENRY COOPER.

The subject of the present memoir, Henry Cooper, was born at a house in
Bethel Street, in the City of Norwich, now well-known as the late
residence of Alderman Hawkes, and where resided for many years his
father, Charles, now better known as Old Counsellor Cooper, a remarkable
man, who, like the late William Cobbett, though of humble origin,
possessed one of those minds that will and must, as they have ever done
from the time of Deioces of Ecbatana (recorded by