Page:Two Sussex archaeologists, William Durrant Cooper and Mark Antony Lower.djvu/24

 indeed, and some years before his death the appointment of Solicitor to the Club was conferred upon him. This was barely more than a graceful compliment to one who had always worked bravely for the Liberal cause, and as such he esteemed it.

Mr. Cooper's health began to fail him some three years before his death, when an attack of paralysis, from the effects of which he never entirely recovered, rendered him less capable of attending to his various professional and official engagements than before; but, save that his articulation had grown rather indistinct, his vigorous intellect survived with him almost to the last. At length, on the 28th of December, 1875, as before stated, he closed his eyes upon all that pertains to this world, to the deep grief of an only sister—his affection towards whom, and towards his mother, who died in 1867 (his father having died in 1841—26 years earlier), was of the most devoted and self-sacrificing character. Two of his brothers predeceased him. His second brother, Dr. T. H. Cooper, lives to lament his loss, while numerous friends, between whom and himself a warm attachment subsisted, will long remember one whose place in their esteem cannot in all respects be easily filled up. Mr. Cooper was ever ready to lend, and very frequently did lend, a helping hand to any historical student or enquirer, who, modestly confessing his shortcomings, sought his assistance. But, woe betide the shallow boaster or empty pretender, who should attempt to display his accomplishments in his presence! Small mercy got he. The daw in borrowed feathers was soon denuded of his false plumage, and he submitted as best he could to the scarifying operation he had undergone. For the rest, like all men endowed with true humour, he was not only light-hearted but also large-hearted. Mr. Cooper was never married.

The interest taken by Mr. Cooper in the progress and success of the Sussex Archæological Society would, had he no further claims on its lasting remembrance, be sufficiently evidenced by the number and value of his contributions to its volumes, which, beginning in Vol. ii,