COCK BURN, HENRY, a Scottish advocate and judge, was b. at Edinburgh on Oct. 20,1779. At the age of eight, C. began attendance at the high school of Edinburgh, but exhibited no indications of extraordinary abilities. Sent to the university of Edinburgh at the age of fourteen, his powers began to develop themselves; and though never dis tinguished as a student, he became the companion of men like Brougham, Horner, and Jeffrey, from whom he imbibed liberal opinions, greatly to the annoyance of the hered itary toryism of his family. He was called to the Scottish bar in 1800, and after seven years spent in becoming patience, according to the manner of his profession, he was appointed, by his relative, Lorde Melville, one of the advocates whose duty it is to assist the lord advocate in the prosecution of criminal offenders. Though the appointment was conventionally a political one, and though the party to whom Q. was opposed was then in power, he was persuaded to hold the office, as it had in itself really nothing of a political character, upon the understanding that his own views were not to be compro mised. It was expected, however, that he would give up his liberalism; and when this expectation was disappointed, advantage was taken, about four years after, of some trivial excuse to dismiss Cockburn. Not till the introduction of jury trial in civil causes into Scotland in 1816, did C. find opportunity for remunerative professional employ ment. His powers were better adapted for success with a popular, than with a professional tribunal. Extremely simple, clear, and impressive, at times humorous, at times pathetic, always unaffected, and, when he pleased, eloquent, lie urged his side of the question with so much earnestness and candor, that the'effect was almost irresistible. Under the Grey ministry of 1830, he was appointed solicitor-general for Scotland; and four years later, he was made one of the judges of the Scottish supreme civil and crim inal courts, and took, according to the Scottish custom, the title of lord Cockburn. He died 26th April, 1854, at his residence of Bonaly, in the neighborhood of Edinburgh The efforts of C. as an author were not numerous. He contributed to the- Edinburgh Review a few articles, having, it would seem. chiefly a temporary interest. Those upon Scottish law reform are known to have had considerable influence in producing the changes desired. Late in life, he undertook, nt the request of Jeffrey's executors, the life of his beloved friend. This work was published in 1852. C. will be best remem
bered by the Memorials of his Time, which appeared posthumously in 1856. It is a kind of autobiography, into which have been interwoven numerous anecdotes illustrating old Scottish life, and numerous sketches of the men who composed the brilliant circle of Edinburgh society at the beginning of the present century. ,A. portion of the MS. kept, back until a date further removed from the times of which it treats, appeared in 1874, entitled Journal of Henry Cockhurn, COMCIfAFER, Migolontha tmlgaris, a beetle of the family lamellicomes (q.v.), and section phyllophagi (leaf-eaters), very common in England and most parts of Europe, comparatively rare in Scotland, famous for the ravages which it commits, both in the grub state and in that of a perfect insect—the winged beetle feeding on the leaves of fruit-trees, and of many forest-trees, as the sycamore, lime, beech, and willow; the *rub devouring the roots of plants, particularly of pasture-grasses and corn. The C. is fully an inch in length, of a pitchy black color, with a whitish down. giving a sort of powdered appearance; the sides of the abdomen marked by a range of triangular spots; the abdomen terminating in a point; the antenme short, terminating in a club formed of six or seven leaflets: the grub is about an inch and a half long, thick, whitish, with a red head and six legs. The C. does not live long after it has passed into its perfect state, but it lives nearly four years in the grub or larva state. The female C. deposits her eggs in the earth. The ravages of cockchafers were so great in some of the provinces of France in 1785, that the government offered a premium for the best mode of destroy ing them. The whole grass of a field has often been destroyed in a short time by their grubs, and the beetles themselves strip off the foliage of trees like locusts. They have sometimes appeared in prodigious numbers in some places in England: the river Severn is said to have been so tilled with their bodies in 1574, that the water-wheels of the mills were clogged; and in 1688. they so abounded in the Galway, in Ireland, that they hung in clusters on the trees and hedges like bees swarming; the noise of their countless jaws at work was heard by every traveler, and was compared to that of the sawing of timber. Rooks and other birds render great service by preventing the exces sive multiplication of cockchafers. In Scotland they are called clocks.