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846 1812, March 25. Died,, a theatrical performer of the highest merit. He was born at Westminster, April 17, 1756. His father was a subaltern officer in the army, who, dying when young, left his wife in straitened circumstances. She went to reside at Berwick-upon-Tweed, where George Frederick was apprenticed to a printer; but he neglected the labours of the office, and engaged the devils and others of his companions, to assist him in performing plays. In consequence of this conduct, his indentures was cancelled, and he was dismissed. He was then tried in the navy, but his inclination for the stage overcame all restraint, and he at length joined an itinerant company of actors. He soon became the hero of the scene, and was engaged at York, Newcastle, Chester, Manchester, Liverpool, and other places. He acquired so much fame, that in 1794, he was engaged by the Dublin managers, where he performed four years. At length he made his appearance before a London audience, at Covent garden theatre, October 31, 1800, in the character of Richard III. His reputation was at once established as a histrionic performer of the first order. The talents of Cooke were obscured by indulgence in pernicious habits of intemperance, which ultimately destroyed his popularity.—Owing to the irregularity of his conduct, Cooke became the plague and terror of English managers; few, if any, of whom probably regretted his removal to the United States, where he had formed a theatrical engagement. In America he displayed the same powerful abilities, and the same vicious weakness, which had distinguished him in his native country. Death, hastened by intemperance, put an end to his career. He married Miss Alicia Daniels, a lady possessed of considerable talents as a public singer, whom he treated with great cruelty, and from whom he was separated in July, 1811, by a decree of the ecclesiastical court. It ought to be noticed, to the honour of the late Edmund Kean, that, during his visit to New York, in 1821, he erected a monument to the memory of Cooke, in the church of St. Paul, with the following epitaph:

1812. During the months of May, June, and July, the noble collection of books belonging to the late John duke of Roxburghe, was sold by auction, by Mr. Evans, at his grace's late residence, in St. James's-square, London. Few sales, perhaps, ever demanded and occupied so ample a share of public attention, as this of the late duke of Roxburghe, which lasted forty-five days, and called forth a competition of prices hitherto unrivalled in the annals of literary history. It is supposed that this library cost its late owner not more than £5,000, and produced about £23,341. After the auction, a list of the prices was published, both on small and on royal paper, with references to the number of the lots. No. 6292 was the far-famed Il Decamerone di Boccacio, fol. ediz. Venet. Valdarfer. This is certainly one of the scarcest, if not the very scarcest book extant No other perfect copy is known to exist, after all the fruitless researches of more than 300 years. The biddings for this precious morceau were keen indeed: it was finally carried off by the marquis of Blandford, for TWO THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND SIXTY POUNDS! On the 17th of June, to commemorute this extraordinary sale, the Roxburghe Club was formed in London, consisting of thirty-one of the most eminent book-collectors in the kingdom—earl Spencer, president.

To the Roxburghe Club, by way of dedication. And all black letter dogs who have passed initiation: These.