the dust but last year, so as to widen High Street. Cooke urged its destruction in 1809, as "useless and dormant."
Cooke built himself a villa residence, which he dubbed "Waterloo Cottage." He was a very plain man, with thick, coarse mouth, and a broken nose. A portrait, a profile, is prefixed to his pamphlet, Old England for Ever but there is one much finer of him, in colour, representing him in uniform. This is in the library of the Institution at Exeter.
That the man had enormous self-confidence and conceit saute aux yeux, but that he was a useful man to his country, to the county, and to the city is also clear.
Cooke assures us that he had been in 400 out of the 466 parishes of Devon, "having the heartfelt satisfaction of being respected" in all of them, "and knowing fifteen lords, four honourables, twenty-two baronets, and three knights, and most of the clergy and gentry" of the county.
Universal suffrage will never, never do,
So experience tells me—and I tell you.
It would break down the barriers of our Constitution,
And plunge both high and low in cut-throat revolution.
You see, in the murder of the Constable Birch,
The means they'd employ to destroy King and Church.
The King is the head—the constable the hand—
For preserving peace and order in this happy land.
They who'd cut off the hand, would cut off the head—
So, a word to the wise; remember what's said
In the plain, honest Book
Of your humble servant,
COOKE.
