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WILLIAM COOK WORTHY. 1171
Mr. Harrison, the translator of some of Swedenborg’s works into
English, communicated to the Rev. John Clowes in 1825 a Memoir
of Mr. W. Cookworthy, from which Document 315 is derived. An
extract from this "Memoir" was published in the "Intellectual Re
pository" for 1825, pp. 439-447. From this we gather the following
particulars respecting Mr. Cookworthy’s life and character:
Mr. Wm. Cookworthy was born a member ofthe religious Society
of Friends, at Kingsbridge, in Devonshire, in the year 1704. At
the age of fourteen he lost his father, who was engaged in the
weaving business, and who, though an industrious man, left his family
with but slender provision for their maintenance. On his death
young William was bound an apprentice to a chemist and druggist in
London, and at the close of his apprenticeship he set up business
for himself at Plymouth. From the time of his apprenticeship to
the time of entering on the duties of married life in his thirtieth
year little is related . It is, however, known that he enriched his
mind from the stores of science and polite literature, for both of
which his relish was keen and his capacity good. Thus qualified,
his company was eagerly sought in the most accomplished society ;
besides, he was well acquainted with, and was himself one of, the
literati, who at that time flourished at Plymouth.
In his forty-first or forty-second year he lost his wife; and he
felt her loss so keenly, that he withdrew from Plymouth, and lived
in seclusion at Lowe for twelve months. From this retirement he
returned changed in appearance and manner to that of a plain Quaker.
Still he met his old acquaintances as usual, and again resorted to
the meeting of that little knot of literary friends, with whom he had
before associated. Indeed, so far were his w habits from secluding
him from the rest of the world, that he cultivated an intimate acquain
tance with some ofthe first gentlemen and the most scientific men ofthe
day. Smeaton, the engineer, was a regular inmate of his house, while
engaged in the erection of the Eddistone Light-house. Captain Cook,
Dr. Solander, and Sir Joseph Banks were his guests, before they
sailed from Plymouth on the Captain’s first voyage to the South Sea.
And to Thomas Pitt, afterwards the first Lord Camelford, and to the
gallant Jervis, afterwards Earl St. Vincent, he was united by the
closest ties of friendship. By one of these two accomplished men
it was observed, that whoever was in Mr. Cookworthy’s company,
never came out of it without being the better or the wiser for
having been in it. Such were the charms of his conversation, that
* This biographical notice was published in 1854 under the following title: "Memoir of
Wm. Cookworthy, formerly of Plymouth, Devonshire. By his Grandson."
74*
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