Letter 4254

Cooke was unable to send the British Journal yesterday because of a disagreement with the proprietor. He has ‘made no small Progress in abridging [Sloane’s] natural History of Jamaica’. Cooke is looking to publish a shorter version without plates, with the addition of a history of the island. He will send a copy to Sloane before publishing it. Cooke has Charles Beckingham’s book and manuscripts and is talking to booksellers about publishing it if he can find subscribers. ‘Lord Pembroke, the Bishop of Lincoln, and several’ others have already subscribed. Beckhingham wrote ‘an Heroic Poem in two Books on the sufferings of Christ’ and translated several Classical works. Cooke encloses a receipt in the expectation that Sloane will subscribe to Beckingham’s book. He has already gone to the King’s Bench to make sure everything is legal. Thomas Cooke (1703-1756), known as ‘Hesiod’ Cooke, was a popular translator of the Classics and writer (Sidney Lee, ‘Cooke, Thomas (1703–1756)’, rev. Arthur Sherbo, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6180, accessed 20 Aug 2014]).