Sometimes irascible and intolerant, John Cosin suffered years of poverty and exile before he became bishop of Durham in 1660. Simon Webb's new biography, the first for over a century, attempts to give equal weight to the different aspects of Cosin's character: incorrigible bookworm, gifted administrator and re-builder of the diocese after the ravages of the Interregnum.Simon's book also takes a fresh look at the story that Cosin possessed a secret box, the contents of which, if revealed, would have changed the course of British history.