JOHN Lovering Cook, the subject of the present memoir, was born in the parish of tawstock in Devonshire, on April 30, 1834. He was one out of thirteen children. His father was a farm labourer, and the son was brought up to follow the same calling. His father belonged to the Church of England, but, though a man of good character, he does not appear to have been decidedly religious ; his mother was a pious woman, and a member of the Baptist Church. Both endeavoured earnestly to impart to all their children an acquaintance with the Holy Scripture, and such an education as was within their reach. A John attended the village school until he had attained the age of eleven years. Yet from his own confessions he seems to have been a sad truant, and very often to have been absent from school. Hence his education was far from being as thorough as it might otherwise have been.