Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Cole, William (1754-1812)
COLE, WILLIAM (1754–1812), miscellaneous writer, was the eldest son of the Rev. Denny Cole of Sudbury, and afterwards of Wickham Market, Suffolk. He was educated at Eton, and King's College, Cambridge, where he was elected to a fellowship (B.A. 1780, M.A. 1783). He was afterwards instituted to the vicarage of Broad Chalke in Wiltshire on the presentation of his college. For several years he resided at Yoxford, Suffolk, and had the curacy of Theberton in that neighbourhood, but he subsequently removed to London, where he officiated at a chapel near his residence in Baker Street, Portman Square, where he died in December 1812.
His principal works are: 1. 'A Key to the Psalms; being an easy, concise, and familiar explanation of words, allusions, and sentences in them,' Cambridge, 1788, 8vo. 2. 'To the Feeling Heart. Exalted Affection; or Sophia Pringle; a Poem,' London, 1789, 8vo. 3. 'The Contradiction,' a novel, London, 1796, 12mo.
[Addit. MSS. 19167 f. 64, 19209 f. 164 b; Cat. of Printed Books in Brit. Mus.; Harwood's Alumni Eton. 352.]