ed himself as a professed maker of telescopes. He
added to this the business of a general optician, his wife attending to
the sale in the shop, while he himself attended to the workshop.

Such was the excellence of his work that the demand for his telescopes
largely increased. They were not only better manufactured, but greatly
cheaper than those which had before been in common use. Three of the
London makers had before possessed a monopoly of the business; but now
the trade was thrown open by the enterprise of Cooke of York. He
proceeded to erect a complete factory--the Buckingham Street works.
His brother took charge of the grinding and polishing of the lenses,
while his sons attended to the mechanism of the workshop; but Cooke
himself was the master spirit of the whole concern. Everything that he
did was good and accurate. His clocks were about the best that could
be made. He carried out his clock-making business with the same zeal
that he devoted to the perfection of his achromatic telescopes. His
work was always first-rate. There was no scamping about it.
Everything that he did was thoroughly good and honest. His 4 1/4-inch
equatorials are perfect gems; and his admirable achromatics, many of
them of the largest class, are known all over the world. Altogether,
Thomas Cooke was a remarkable instance of the power of Self-Help.

Such was the story of his Life, as communicated by Mr. Nasmyth. I was
afterwards enabled, through the kind assistance of his widow, Mrs.
Cooke, whom I saw at Saltburn, in Yorkshire, to add a few particulars
to his biography.

"My husband," she said, "was the son of a working shoemaker at
Pocklington, in the East Riding. He was born in 1807. His father's
circumstances were so straitened that he was not able to do much for
him; but he sent him to the National school, where he received some
education. He remained there for about two years, and then he was put
to his father's trade. But he greatly disliked shoemaking, and longed
to get away from it. He liked the sun, the sky, and the open air. He
was eager to be a sailor, and, having heard of the voyages of Captain
Cook, he wished to go to sea. He spent his spare hours in learning
navigation, that he might be a good seaman. But when he was ready to
set out for Hull, the entreaties and tears of his mother prevailed on
him to give up the project; and then he had to consider what he should
do to maintain himself at home.

"He pro