Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 11.djvu/231

 the work was not published in London till 1654. (2) 'Small poems of divers sorts written by Sir Aston Cokain,' 1658. The 'poems' include the 'Masque presented at Bretbie in Darbyshire [the seat of the Earl of Chesterfield] on Twelfth Night, 1639' (118-28), and are followed by the comedy of 'The Obstinate Lady,' of which a copy had surreptitiously been printed in the previous year, 1657. (3) A reissue of the above poems in 1659, entitled 'A Chain of Golden Poems, embellished with wit, mirth, and eloquence, together with two most excellent comedies, viz. The Obstinate Lady and Trappolin suppos'd a Prince, written by Sir Aston Cokayn.' (4) Another reissue of the above in 1662, entitled 'Poems, with The Obstinate Lady and Trappolin a supposed Prince, by Sir Aston Cokain, Baronet; whereunto is now added The Tragedy of Ovid.' Finally (5), in 1669, came the last reissue, entitled 'Choice Poems of several sorts, with three new plays, &c.'

The literary merit of the 'two most excellent comedies' and of ' The Tragedy of Ovid ' is small, while that of the ' Poems ' is marred by an extreme coarseness. For genealogical purposes, however, these numerous poems and epitaphs are invaluable, the number of persons and facts therein mentioned being probably without parallel. Though doubtless (Poems, p. 197) Cokayne loved a 'fine little glass' and alienated every acre of his inheritance, whatever his extravagance, he was staunch to his religion and to his king, and sustained heavy pecuniary losses in their cause. His name appears among the 'compounders' for 356l., while the fines inflicted on him as a 'popish delinquent' were probably much larger. He had previously been created a baronet by the late king, the date ascribed being 10 Jan. 1641-2, but the patent was never enrolled. The fact is recognised by Dugdale (his neighbour and friend) in his 'Warwickshire' and in the 'Heralds' Visitation of Derbyshire,' 1662. In 1671 he joined with his son in selling the long-inherited estate of Ashbourne, and in 1683, shortly before his own death, he sold his 'beloved Pooley' (ib. p. 111, line 11). Having survived his only son, who died childless, and his wife, who died at Pooley (May 1683), a few months before him, he died in his seventy-sixth year, a ruined man, in lodgings at Derby, 'at the breaking up of the great frost,' and was buried with his wife, 13 Feb. 1683-4, at Polesworth. By his will, dated 6 Feb. 1683-4, and proved at Lichfield, he left twenty shillings to his daughter Mary Lacy and to each of her children, and the residue to his daughter Isabella Turville, which, including 'purse and apparell, 10l.,' amounted in all to but 79l., his goods and chattels being still at Pooley. After his death the male representation of the family seems to have devolved on his 'cousin' Bryan Cokayne, then Viscount Cullen. Wood says that he 'was esteemed by many an ingenious gentleman, a good poet, and a great lover of learning, yet by others a perfect boon-fellow, by which means he wasted all he had.' In 'Cotton's Poems' (1689) he is highly praised for his 'Tragedy of Ovid,' while his neighbour, Thomas Bancroft [q. v.], in his 'Epigrams' (book i. No. 120) writes to him and of him: He that with learning vertue doth combine, May, tho' a laick, passe for a divine Piece of perfection; such to all men's sight Appeares yourselfe.  COKAYNE, GEORGE (1619–1691), independent minister, son of John and Elizabeth Cokayne, was baptised at Cople, Bedfordshire, on 16 Jan. 1619. He was educated at Sidney College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1639-40. In the civil war period he was presented to the rectory of St. Pancras, Soper Lane, London, and became a celebrated preacher among the independents. Wood speaks of him as 'a prime leader in his preachings in Oliver's time' (Athena Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. 470). On 9 Nov. 1648 he was appointed to preach the monthly fast sermon before the House of Commons, in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster, and was ordered to print it. Not long afterwards he became chaplain to Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke, one of Cromwell's lords. In 1658 he published 'Divine Astrologie, or a Scripture Prognostication of the sad events which ordinarily arise from the good man's fall by Death,' being a funeral sermon on Colonel William Underwood. He was ejected from his rectory in 1660, and his congregation going out with him formed an independent community in Redcross Street. Among the eminent citizens who adhered to him were Sir Robert Tichborne, Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke, Sir John Ireton, and Sir John More. He died on 21 Nov. 1691, and was buried in Tindall's Ground, afterwards called the Bunhill Fields Burial-ground. After his death the congregation removed to a building in Hare Court, called the Stated Room, which was succeeded by a more commodious building in 1772. An elaborate biography of Cokayne will be found in 'The Story of Harecourt, being the History of an Independent Church, by John B. Marsh,' 1871. That work contains 