at Cambridge, but no copy is in the British Museum Library. His works which are preserved include:
- 'Bersaba; or, the Love of David,' 1695, which he wrote when a student at Trinity College, the preface being dated 3 Aug. 1695.
- 'The Portugal Expedition,' 1704, urging the Austrian prince on his expedition for the Spanish throne.
- 'The Female Reign, an ode … occasion'd by the wonderful successes of the arms of her Majesty and her allies,' 1709. This ode was reproduced in 'A Collection of the best English Poetry,' 1717, the 'Gentleman's Magazine' for 1755, pp. 282-5 (when it was slightly altered by Dr. Watts and styled the 'truest and best Pindaric' that he had ever read), in Dodsley's 'Collection of Poems,' i. 69-81, whereupon Joseph Warton, in a letter in Nichols's 'Literary Anecdotes,' vi. 170, wrote, 'Cobb's ode in Dodsley is most excellent,' and with other poems by Cobb in Nichols's 'Collection of Poems,' vii. 238-66.
- 'A Synopsis of Algebra, being the posthumous work of John Alexander of Bern, in Swisserland. … Done from the Latin by Sam. Cobb for the use of the two mathematical schools in Christ's Hospital,' 1709. The manuscript of this work was given by Edward Brewster, and the translation was printed at the expense of the governors.
- 'Poems on several occasions. With imitations from Horace, Ovid, &c. To which is prefix'd a discourse on criticism and the liberty of writing,' 3rd edit. 1710.
- 'A Panegyrical Elegy on the Death of Gassendus, the celebrated astronomer and philosopher. Inscrib'd to the reverend Mr. Flamsteed of Greenwich.'
- 'The Mousetrap, a poem written in Latin by Edward Holdsworth, made English by Samuel Cobb,' 1712, reprinted in 1771, and included in John Torbuck's collection of Welsh travels.
- 'The Carpenter of Oxford, or The Miller's Tale from Chaucer attempted in modern English by Samuel Cobb,' 1712. This was included in George Ogle's 'Canterbury Tales of Chaucer modernis'd,' 1741, i. 191-228.
- 'News from both Universities, containing Mr. Cobb's tripos speech at Cambridge, with a complete key inserted,' 1714.
- 'Clavis Virgiliana; or, new observations upon the works of Virgil,' 1714. Cobb translated 'The Judgment of the Vowels' in the works of Lucian (1711), ii. 55-62, the 'third and fourth books of the translation of Quillet's 'Callipædia,' which bore the name of Nicholas Rowe (1708), and assisted John Ozell in his version of Boileau's 'Lutrin' (1708).
He is said to have been the author of 'The Oak and the Briar, a tale,' and to have composed the translation of Dr. Freind's Latin epitaph on Lord Carteret's younger son, Philip, which is given in [Crull's] 'Antiquities of Westminster Abbey' (1722), ii. 101-2. Cobb's learning and ready wit were much commended by his contemporaries.
[Jacob's Poetical Register, i. 36; Trollope's Christ's Hospital, pp. 298, 334; Christ's Hospital List of Exhibitioners, p. 11; information from Christ's Hospital Records.]
COBBE, CHARLES, D.D. (1687–1765), archbishop of Dublin, was born and educated at Winchester. He afterwards entered Trinity College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1709, and M.A. in 1712 (Cat. of Oxford Graduates, edit. 1851, p. 136). In August 1717 he went to Ireland as chaplain to Charles, duke of Bolton, lord-lieutenant. His first ecclesiastical preferment was the rectory of Skrine in the diocese of Meath. Afterwards he was appointed dean of Ardagh (22 Jan. 1718-19), whence he was promoted to the sees of Killala and Achonry by patent dated 30 May 1720. He was translated to the see of Dromore by patent dated 16 Feb. 1726-7, and thence in March 1731 to Kildare, with which latter dignity he held, in commendam, the deanery of Christ Church, Dublin, and the preceptory of Tully, co. Kildare. On 19 July 1734 he was sworn of the privy council. He appears to have taken the degrees of B.D. and D.D. at Dublin 1735, and he was created D.D. at Oxford by diploma dated 9 July 1744 (Cat. of Dublin Graduates, edit. 1869, p. 109). He was translated to the archiepiscopal see of Dublin by letters patent dated 4 March 1742-3. He died at St. Sepulchre's, Dublin, on 14 April 1765, and was buried at Dunabate, where he had a country seat.
His portrait has been engraved by A. Miller from a painting by F. Bindon (Bromley, Cat. of Engraved Portraits, p. 354).
[Authorities cited above; also Cotton's Fasti Eccl. Hiberniæ, ii. 24, iii. 187, iv. 74; Gent. Mag. xxxv. 199; D'Alton's Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin, p. 342; Mant's Hist, of the Church of Ireland, ii. 637-40.]
COBBETT, WILLIAM (1762–1835), essayist, politician, and agriculturist, was born at Farnham in Surrey on 9 March 1762. Of a purely peasant origin, his early days were spent in the fields, and he had few educational advantages until he arrived at an age when his native force of character could help him to severe self-application. He was much impressed at an early age by Swift's 'Tale of a Tub.' In 1783 a sudden freak brought him to London, where he obtained employment as a copying-clerk to an attorney. After some months he enlisted in a line regiment. At
