The Life of William Roscoe

THE LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE, BY HIS SON, HENRY ROSCOE. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, STRAND; AND W. BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH. 1833. PREFACE.

In preparing the following volumes for the press, it has been the object of the writer not merely to detail the incidents of Mr. Roscoe’s life, but to present an enlarged view of his opinions upon the many important subjects in which he interested himself. In the performance of this labour, Mr. Roscoe’s extensive correspondence has been resorted to, as the principal source of information; and, wherever it has been possible, the personal narrative of his life, and the expression of his opinions, have been given in his own words. A much more accurate and spirited picture of both has thus been presented, than if the writer had attempted to embody them in language of his own. The size of the work is, perhaps, increased by the plan thus adopted; but that circumstance will be found amply compensated by the interest and authenticity imparted to the narrative. It is a satisfaction to the writer to know that Mr. Roscoe’s own opinion was in favour of deriving, in this manner, the history of an author’s life from his writings.*

In making use of the valuable and copious correspondence which Mr. Roscoe left, the writer has been careful to select such parts only as relate to the personal history of the subject of the Memoir, or contain the expression of his sentiments; and has scrupulously avoided the insertion of other topics.

An apology may, perhaps, be thought, by some, to be necessary for the publication of the life of a father by his son. The writer can only allege, in excuse of his attempt, that a strong feeling of duty prompted him to the task. He felt that the example of Mr. Roscoe’s life ought not to be lost to the world; and he persuaded himself that one who had long enjoyed the privilege of studying his character, through many of the changes of his eventful life, and to whom his mind and heart were ever open in the confidence of domestic intercourse; one who had felt the beauty of his character, and had been deeply

* See the Preface to the Life of Pope, p. xxi.

impressed with the importance of the principles by the operation of which that character was formed, could not be considered as altogether an unfit person to give to the public the narrative of his life.

The writer is well aware how delicate is the task which he has undertaken, and how open his work must be to the observation, that his partiality has induced him unduly to extol the character of Mr. Roscoe. He does not profess to be free from the feelings which might lead to such representations; but he has scrupulously endeavoured to subdue them, and has upon every occasion, where the merits of Mr. Roscoe have come in question, relied upon the opinions of others, where such opinions have been expressed.

In the concluding chapter he has, indeed, ventured, after much hesitation, to present a connected view of Mr. Roscoe’s character; and upon this portion of his labours he looks with much distrust. He feels, however, reassured by the reflection, that, in performing this difficult and painful task, he has not been misled by any vain idea of adding to the personal fame of Mr. Roscoe; but has only been actuated by a desire to point out, for the benefit of others, the result of those great principles by which his life was governed. If, in making this attempt, he has been betrayed into exaggerated representations, the candour of the public will, it is hoped, overlook the unintentional offence.

Respecting the success of the work, so far as his own labours are concerned, the writer feels no anxiety. His duty, with the exception above mentioned, has been little more than that of placing in order the valuable materials which came to his hands. But he does feel anxious that a work containing the opinions and delineating the character of one whose great object was to advance the happiness and the improvement of mankind, should not fail to produce those beneficial effects which the principles it developes are so well calculated to ensure.

CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

CHAPTER I. 1753—1781. Family of Mr. Roscoe—his birth—loses his mother at an early age—his own narrative of his childhood—his reluctance to the discipline of a school—quits school at twelve years of age—assists his father in gardening—is placed with a bookseller—articled to an attorney—his attachment to reading and to poetry—imitations of Shenstone—attention to his profession—his early friends.—Memoir of Francis Holden—Robert Rigby—Miss Done.—Causes which led to the formation of Mr. Roscoe’s poetical character—his early poems.—Ode on the formation of a society for encouraging the arts of design, &c.—Mount Pleasant.—Letter from Sir Joshua Reynolds—smaller poems—other studies—“Christian morality.” Page 4 CHAP. II. 1781—1787. Is admitted an attorney, and enters into partnership at Liverpool—his acquaintance with Miss Jane Griffies, and correspondence with her—his marriage with her—visits London—his taste for collecting prints and books—his love of art.—“Society for promoting Painting and Design” established at Liverpool—his lectures there—his first acquaintance with Fuseli—writes “The Origin of Engraving,” a poem—reference in that poem to Lorenzo de’ Medici—his collection of prints—his correspondence with Mr. Strutt, author of the “Dictionary of Engravers”—his contributions to that work—is elected an honorary member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. Page 41 CHAP. III. 1787—1792. Early opinions of Mr. Roscoe on the subject of the African slave trade—his allusion to it in the poem of “Mount Pleasant.”—Publication of “The Wrongs of Africa”—translated into German.—Publication of the “General View of the African Slave Trade,” his pamphlet in answer to the Rev. Raymund Harris—Thanks of the Abolition Committee.—Publication of the “Inquiry into the Causes of the Insurrection of the Negroes in the Island of St. Domingo.” 73 CHAP. IV. 1788—1796. Motives which led Mr. Roscoe to take a part in politics—Celebration of the Revolution of 1688—song on that occasion.—Commencement of the French Revolution.—Publication of the “Ode to the People of France,” “Unfold, Father Time,” “O’er the vine-cover’d hills.”—Progress of the Revolution.—Execution of the Brissotines.—Letter to Lord Lansdowne—Publication of “Strictures on Mr. Burke’s Two Letters.”—“The Life, Death, and wonderful Achievements of Edmund Burke.”—State of parties at Liverpool—public meeting there.—Address written by Mr. Roscoe—Singular proceedings.—Publication of “Thoughts on the Causes of the present Failures.”—The Literary Society—forced to abandon their meetings.—Letter to Lord Lansdowne.—Sonnet by the Rev. W. Shepherd—Visit to London.—Domestic correspondence.—Count Rantzau—correspondence with him and with the Countess Rantzau.—Removal of Mr. Roscoe from the town of Liverpool “Inscription.”—Removal to Birchfield. Page 99 CHAP. V. 1795. First idea of writing the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici—want of materials—assistance rendered by Mr. William Clarke at Florence—progress of the work—printing of the inedited poems of Lorenzo—the Life sent to press.—Mr. M’Creery.—Lord Orford’s opinion.—Letter to Lord Lansdowne.—Publication of the Life—its popularity Letters from Lord Orford and Lord Bristol.—Opinions on the work—Lord Lansdowne, Dr. Aikin, the author of the “Pursuits of Literature”—correspondence with the latter.—Letters from Mr. J. C. Walker and Fuseli.—Dr. Parr’s criticisms, and correspondence with him.—Favourable reception from the periodical critics—review by Fuseli in the Analytical Review—success of the work abroad—opinions of the Italian scholars Fabroni and Bandini—translation into Italian by the Cav. Mecherini, and correspondence with him—criticism of the Abate Andres—opinions of Morelli and Moreni—translation into German by Sprengel—letter to him—translation into French—republication in America. 143 CHAP. VI. 1796—1799. Mr. Roscoe, dissatisfied with his profession, relinquishes it.—Letters to Mr. Ralph Eddowes—Mr. Rathbone.—Visits London—becomes a member of Gray’s Inn.—Society in London.—Letters to Dr. Currie, Mr. Rathbone, and Mr. Daulby.—Lord Orford’s death.—Sir Isaac Heard.—Washington’s genealogy.—Return to Liverpool Translates the “Balia” of L. Tansillo.—The Duchess of Devonshire—Sonnet to Mrs. Roscoe.—Letter from Lord Holland—Dr. Currie’s criticism.—Letter to Dr. Wright.—Visit to Mr. Daulby at Rydal Mount—his death—sonnet addressed to him—lines on his death.—Establishment of the Athenæum at Liverpool.—Letters to Mr. Edwards respecting Mr. Coleridge.—Robert Burns—letters respecting him—monody on his death—letter from Dr. Moore.—Publication of third edition of Lorenzo de’ Medici.—Letter to Dr. Parr. Page 203 CHAP. VII. 1799—1805. Mr. Roscoe purchases Allerton Hall, and retires thither—his projected mode of life—his studies Inscription—letter to Fuseli—Change in his prospects—becomes a partner in the bank of Messrs. Clarke—letters to Dr. Parr and Lord Lansdowne—his studies suspended—his opinions on political affairs—letter to Lord Holland.—Establishment of the Botanic Garden at Liverpool—prospectus of that institution—address delivered previously to the opening of the garden.—Letter from Dr. Rush of Philadelphia.—Correspondence with Dr. Smith—visit of the latter to Allerton—dedication by him of “Exotic Botany” to Mr. Roscoe.—Mr. Roscoe becomes a Fellow of the Linnean Society.—Fuseli visits Allerton—letter from him.—Mr. Mathias—his Canzone, addressed to Mr. Roscoe—correspondence with him.—Dr. Currie—his friendship for Mr. Roscoe—his character and death.—Letter to Mr. Macneil.—Death of Mr. William Clarke—his character and correspondence with Mr. Roscoe—lines addressed to him at Lisbon—letter on his death.—Death of Mr. Fox.—Letter to Lord Holland.—Visit to London.—Political affairs—Letters to Lord Holland and Dr. Parr—visit of the latter to Allerton. Page 241 CHAP. VIII. 1805. Histories of the age of Leo X., Paulus Jovius, Fabroni—Collins’s projected history.—Warton.—Robertson.—Mr. Roscoe urged to undertake it.—Letters to Lord Bristol and Lord Holland.—Motives which influenced Mr. Roscoe.—Progress of the work.—Materials procured by Lord Holland—letter to him.—Assistance rendered by the Italian scholars.—Mr. Johnson’s offer—correspondence with him—documents procured through him Information obtained at Paris by the Rev. William Shepherd.—Letter to Fabroni.—The progress of the work interrupted—Sonnet Letter to Dr. Smith.—Publication of the work.—Letter to President Jefferson, and answer.—Letter to Dr. Smith—Letter from Mr. J. C. Walker, and answer.—Letter from Mr. Mathias—Other opinions in favour of the work.—Sonnet by Mr. Hayley.—Letters to Lord St. Vincent and to Dr. Parr.—Criticisms upon the work in the Edinburgh Review—in other publications.—Mr. Roscoe’s feelings on the occasion—his answer to the Edinburgh reviewers in the preface to the second edition.—Letter to Professor Smyth.—Prepares, but does not publish, an answer to his critics.—Letter from Mr. Mathias.—Reception of the work abroad—in Germany—is translated there—is translated in Italy by Count Bossi—French translation—American edition.—Effect of his literary labours on the health of Mr. Roscoe.—Letters to Fuseli and Lord Buchan. 301 CHAP. IX. 1806-7. Requisition to Mr. Roscoe to become a candidate for the representation of Liverpool—commencement of the elec-tion—state of parties—his return—celebration of his election—his speech on that occasion—leaves Liverpool to attend his parliamentary duties—his feelings on his change of situation—letters to Mr. Rathbone and to the Rev. W. Shepherd.—Mrs. Roscoe joins him in London—letter from her.—Debate on the Slave Trade, and Mr. Roscoe’s speech.—Letter to Mr. Shepherd.—Speech on Sir S. Romilly’s Bill for subjecting Real Estates to simple Contract Debts.—Dissolution of the Ministry.—His speech on Mr. Littleton’s motion.— Speech on Mr. Whitbread’s Bill for the Education of the Poor.—Parliamentary patronage.—He assists in founding the African Institution—his speech on that occasion—termination of his parliamentary career—riot on his return to Liverpool—declines to come forward again as a candidate—his address—address to him.—Letter from Dr. Parr.—He is nominated without his concurrence—his address on the conclusion of the election—address to the freemen.—Letter to Dr. Smith, and answer.—Refuses the appointment of Deputy Lieutenant. Page 353 CHAP. X. 1808. Mr. Roscoe’s Tracts on the War.—Publication of the “Considerations on the Causes, &c. of the War with France.”—Character of Mr. Pitt in that pamphlet—The attack upon Copenhagen.—Poem of “Copenhagen.”—Letter to Mr. Wilberforce—Success of the pamphlet.—Letter from Mr. Whitbread.—Letter to Mr. Wilberforce.—Impression made by the pamphlet.—Publication of “Remarks on the Proposals for Peace,” &c.—Letter from Mr. Rathbone.—The pamphlet submitted to Mr. Whitbread—letter from him, and reply.—Mr. Roscoe’s defence against his critics.—Letter to Professor Smyth.—Opinions on the pamphlet.—Letter from Mr. J. Graham.—Letters to the Marquis of Lansdowne and to Mr. Whitbread.—Some of his political friends differ from Mr. Roscoe on the subject of peace—he proposes and carries a pacific address at a public meeting at Liverpool.— Letter to Mr. Mathias. Page 411 CHAP. XI. 1809, 1810. Mr. Roscoe resumes his literary studies—letter to the Rev. W. P. Greswell—meditates a Life of Dr. Currie—assists Mr. Cromek in preparing his Relics of Burns—writes the preface to the Gallery of British Portraits—his enquiries into the History of Art during the middle ages—projects a History of the Progress and Vicissitudes of Literature and Art—Death and character of Mr. Rathbone—Mr. Roscoe an active member of the African Institution—communications to that Society—controversy with Mr. George Harrison—letter to the Duke of Gloucester—Essay on the Right of Great Britain to compel Foreign Nations to abolish the Slave Trade—Letter to the Duke of Gloucester.—Liberation of nine negroes at Liverpool—thanks of the African Institution.—Publication of “Occasional Tracts on the War.”—Letter to Mr. Whitbread.—Letter to Mr. Wilberforce.—Letter from Sir Philip Francis.—Publication of “Observations on the Speech of Earl Grey.”—Letter from Mr. Whitbread.—Letter to Lord Erskine—Letter to Dr. Aikin.—Letter from Sir S. Romilly—Mr. Roscoe’s general opinions on peace.—Early writings on the subject 453 THE FOLLOWING WORKS, BY THE LATE W. ROSCOE, ARE PUBLISHED BY T. CADELL, 141. STRAND.

The LIFE of LORENZO DE’ MEDICI, called “The Magnificent” Sixth edition. 2 vols. 8vo. with Portrait. 1l. 4s. ILLUSTRATIONS, Historical and Critical, of the LIFE OF LORENZO DE’ MEDICI, called “The Magnificent.” With an Appendix of Original and other Documents. 8vo. with Engravings. Price 14s. in boards; or in one volume, 4to. uniform with the First edition of the Life of Lorenzo, 1l. 1s. 6d. The LIFE and PONTIFICATE of LEO the TENTH. In 4 vols. 8vo. Third edition. 2l. 8s. in boards. OBSERVATIONS on PENAL JURISPRUDENCE, and the Reformation of Criminals. 8vo. Price 9s. in boards. ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS on PENAL JURISPRUDENCE, &c. &c. 8vo. Price 6s. in boards. OBSERVATIONS on PENAL JURISPRUDENCE, and the Reformation of Criminals. Part III. Containing further Remarks on the Opinions of the Edinburgh Reviewers; on the Society for Prison Discipline; on the General Penitentiary at Milbank; and on the State Prisons in America: being an attempt to demonstrate the necessity of adopting an Improved System of Criminal Jurisprudence. With an Appendix, containing the latest Reports of the State Prisons at New York, &c. 8vo. Price 6s. boards. The NURSE; a Poem: translated from the Italian of Luigi Tansillo. A new edition, elegantly printed in a pocket volume, with Wood Cuts. Price 6s. in boards. The WORKS of ALEXANDER POPE, Esq. With Notes and Illustrations by himself and others. To which are added a New Life of the Author, an Estimate of his Poetical Character and Writings, and occasional Remarks, handsomely printed in ten volumes, 8vo. with two Portraits of Pope, price 6l. in boards. A LETTER to the Rev. WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES, A.M. Prebendary of Sarum, and former Editor of Pope’s Works, in 10 vols.; in reply to his “Final Appeal to the Literary Public relative to Pope,” 8vo. Price 2s.

The family of Mr. Roscoe, for a considerable period before his birth, had been settled in the central part of Lancashire, where they lived in humble circumstances. The name, which in other parts of the country is an uncommon one, occurs not unfrequently in those districts.* Mr.

* No record of the family is found in the Heralds’ College, except the information furnished by Mr. Roscoe himself, to Sir Isaac Heard, Garter Principal King at Arms, who had expressed a wish to trace its origin. In a letter to that gentleman, written in the year 1797, Mr. Roscoe says, “From all that I can learn, it appears, that whilst other families have rolled on for centuries in distinct and appropriate channels, mine has always been mingled in the common mass, and has composed a part of the immense tide that daily falls into the ocean of oblivion. The Origines Guelficæ occupy five folio volumes, whilst the origines in question will find ample space in five lines. I shall return the pedigree you have been so good as to sketch; and if any of my descendants 500 years hence should be desirous of knowing who was their ancestor, I hope that your kindness will not be lost, and that your records will remain to give them the information.” In a letter written about the same time to his brother-in-law, Mr. Daulby, Mr. Roscoe says, “Amongst my new acquaintances is Sir Isaac Heard, who has been extremely civil to me, and is desirous of tracing the pedigree of the noble family of the Roscoes, which has

Roscoe was the only son of William Roscoe and Elizabeth his wife, who had also an only daughter, Margaret, afterwards the wife of Daniel Daulby, Esq.

At the period of Mr. Roscoe’s birth, his father kept a public-house, called “The Bowling-Green,” in the neighbourhood of Liverpool, a place much frequented for the recreation afforded by its garden and bowling-green. His father continued for many years in the same business, to which he united the cultivation of an extensive market-garden.* He was a man below the middle stature, but of remarkable bodily strength and activity; of much vivacity of temperament, and greatly attached to field-sports and other amusements, for which his son never displayed any taste. He lived to attain a very considerable age; and two years before his death, which took place in 1796, he was removed by Mr. Roscoe to his own house at Birchfield, where his latter days were soothed by the continued attentions of his children.

hitherto, I find, baffled all his researches. I told him I was a good patriarch, and the proper person to begin a family, as I had six sons, &c. Accordingly, the whole descent is registered; and the Roscoes and Daulbys may now go on in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.”

* In the latter part of his life he retired to his native place, Charnock, where he was supported for many years by his son.

Mr. Roscoe’s mother, a woman of superior mind and warm affections, exercised an influence over his character, the effects of which, to the latest period of his life, were never obliterated. The grateful respect and attachment which he bore her memory, were frequently evinced when he referred to the period of his childhood; and he always dwelt with particular pleasure on the years during which he had experienced her watchful and affectionate care. The following lines, written soon after her death, though evidently a juvenile production, are interesting, as expressive of his feelings towards her:— “O! best of Mothers! Thou, whose guardian care Sustain’d my infant life, when, weak and faint, I pour’d the feeble cry! Thou, whose kind hand Through scenes of childhood led my devious steps Towards Virtue’s arduous way, and bade my soul With ceaseless assiduity attempt The glorious road! Thou, whose preserving hand With friendly aid restrain’d my boist’rous speed When maddening passions ruled! To thee I owe Health and existence! and shalt thou not claim One filial sigh, and bid one starting tear Fall from my eye?— What splendid scenes had Hope too fondly sketch’d Of future bliss? But ah! at Death’s approach The fairy colours faded, and the piece Remain’d a gloomy void. No more I saw In distant view, through Fancy’s magic glass, The best of Mothers, when by age oppress’d, Beneath my roof retired, my care to tend Her sinking frame, to raise her drooping heart, With converse sweet—or, if deprived of sight— To lead her where the opening roses shed Ambrosial odours round; and vernal gales Breathe gently o’er the field.”

Of the childhood and early life of Mr. Roscoe, the following account is derived from a letter addressed by him, a few months before his death, to one of the oldest and dearest of his friends; in which he proposed to amuse himself, during those hours which sickness now disabled him from devoting to more serious pursuits, by tracing for the eye of his friend a brief narrative of the principal events of his life:—

“I was born on the 8th day of March, 1753, at the Old Bowling-Green House, on Mount Pleasant, one of the oldest houses yet standing in Liverpool, and of which an excellent drawing, by that rising artist, Austin, is engraved, and given in the account of that town, now publishing by Fisher and Co.; but in the following year I was removed, with my family, to the New Bowling-Green House, on Mount Pleasant, which my father was building at the time of my birth, but which has since been taken down to make way for more modern dwellings.

“Of that interval of time I know little worth recording. Yet, when I tax my memory, I find some circumstances which give indications of my future character. One of these is, a decided aversion to compulsion and restraint, insomuch that I remember, to this day, being carried to a schoolmistress by a servant with a rod, not without violent struggling and opposition, before I had the honour of being breeched; and throughout my future life, it was with great difficulty that I was induced to submit to the restraints and attendance necessary to acquire any share of learning.

“This incident reminds me of the following Address to Liberty, in the second part of ‘The Wrongs of Africa:’— ‘At my birth, What though the Muses smiled not, nor distill’d Their dews Hyblean o’er my infant couch; What though they scatter’d not their fading flowers; Yet thou wert present, thy diviner flame Play’d round my head. Impatient of control, My young step follow’d where thou led’st the way, And, far as memory traces back my years, My soul, though touch’d with human sympathies, Revolted at oppression.’

“At six years of age, I was taken from under the care of my good old schoolmistress, and placed under the tuition of Mr. Martin, who kept a daily school for boys in Paradise Street, in the middle of Liverpool, where I improved myself in reading English, and where I was frequently admitted to the use of his little bookcase, filled with the best authors of that period. To his care, and the instructions of a kind and affectionate mother, I believe I may safely attribute any good principles which may have appeared in my conduct during my future life. It is to her I owe the inculcation of those sentiments of humanity, which became a principle in my mind. Nor did she neglect to supply me with such books as she thought would contribute to my literary improvement. Amongst others, I still remember, with great pleasure, a periodical work, entitled ‘The Library,’ in prose and verse. Many pieces of the latter description I committed to memory; some of which I retain to this day.

“After remaining about two years with Mr. Martin, I was removed to Mr. Sykes, who kept a school in the same house, for writing and arithmetic, to which were added, instructions in English grammar. As he had a numerous school of boys, I found myself here obliged to fight my way till I had taken a certain station, and could distinguish my superiors from my inferiors. With respect to my new master, he was a good instructor in what he professed to teach, and a kind-hearted man, although on one occasion I incurred his severe displeasure, by having been guilty of whipping a top, with one of my schoolfellows, a few minutes beyond the time appointed for commencing school in the afternoon. On this occasion, the master proposed to make an example of us to the scholars. His mode of cor-rection was not by the shameful and indecent method of flogging yet so prevalent in England, but by means of a small cane, which he held in his right hand, whilst, taking that of the culprit in the other, he inflicted on his back a sufficient number of strokes, which, from a powerful man to a child, were at least an adequate punishment for any childish offence. He ordered me up to him, and, taking my hand, began to bestow the usual discipline upon me. It was the common practice of the unfortunate scholar who underwent this disgrace, to endeavour to free himself, as soon as the master relaxed his grasp, and to make his escape. On the contrary, I stood immovable on this occasion, and patiently received all that was administered. When, at last, the master stopped, expecting I should retire, I stood, without the slightest indication of emotion of any kind, till, provoked at my contumacy, he again seized his cane, and impressed on me such a memorial of his ability, as remained on my back a considerable length of time. This was the first and the last time that I ever experienced the punishment of a school, and I believe neither my master nor myself retained afterwards any sentiment of ill will towards each other.

“When I was twelve years of age I quitted school, my master having reported that I had learned all that he was capable of teaching me; which included a knowledge of the common rules of arithmetic, mensuration, and algebra, and should have included an acquaintance also with English grammar, to which, however, I had rather imbibed a dislike than otherwise. The numerous occasions of leisure during this period of my life were devoted to other employments. Adjoining to my father’s property was a considerable manufactory of British china-ware. With the painters employed in these works I became intimate, and frequently assisted them in their labours, in which I was tolerably expert. Among these was Hugh Mulligan, an engraver of copperplates, as well as a painter, who some years afterwards published a collection of his own poetical compositions in a quarto volume, some of which are not without merit. He became a kind of Mentor to my youthful years; and my acquaintance with him, under different circumstances, continued till his death, at an advanced period of my life. I also became a tolerable joiner, and about this period made for myself a bookcase with folding doors, which served me for many years, and which I filled with several volumes of Shakspeare, a great part of whose historical plays I committed to memory; to these were added the Spectator and other valuable works, which I perused with great pleasure. One of these books I have yet in my possession, marked with my name, on the 5th of June, 1765, when I was little more than twelve years of age. The book referred to is, the poems of Mrs. Catherine Philips, ‘the matchless Orinda,’ a writer of the time of Charles II., of considerable merit, who died, amidst the admiration of her contemporaries, at an early age, and is applauded by Cowley in his Odes, both living and dead. Nor can it be denied, at the present day, that her works have in them a depth of true feeling, and a spirit of poetry, which will keep them in remembrance.

“According to my best recollection, I was at this period of my life of a wild, rambling, and unsocial disposition; passing many of my hours in strolling along the shore of the river Mersey, or in fishing, or in taking long walks alone.* On one occasion, I determined to become a sportsman; and, having procured a gun, and found an unfortunate thrush perched on the branch of a tree, I brought him to the ground

* “Most persons,” says Mr. Roscoe, in his Life of Pope, “can relate some dangers of their youth from which they have escaped with difficulty.” He has, however, himself forgotten to relate, in this narrative, an incident which had nearly proved fatal to him. During one of his strolls along the shore of the Mersey, while the tide was out, he lingered so long, that the returning waters had closed round the bank on which he was standing, before he perceived the danger of his situation. Being unable to swim, his only chance of escape was by fording the water while it was yet passable. This he was fortunately able to accomplish, with considerable difficulty.

with fatal aim; but I was so horrified and disgusted with the agonies I saw him endure in death, that I have never since repeated the experiment.

“Having quitted school, and committed my English grammar to the flames, I now began to assist my father in his agricultural concerns, particularly in his business of cultivating potatoes for sale, of which he every year grew several acres, and which he sold, when produced early in the season, at very advanced prices. His mode of cultivation was entirely by the spade; and, when raised early, they were considered in that part of Lancashire as a favourite esculent. When they had attained their proper growth, we were accustomed to carry them to the market on our heads, in large baskets, for sale, where I was generally intrusted with the disposal of them, and soon became a very useful assistant to my father. In this and other laborious occupations, particularly in the care of a garden, in which I took great pleasure, I passed several years of my life, devoting my hours of relaxation to reading my books. This mode of life gave health and vigour to my body, and amusement and instruction to my mind; and to this day I well remember the delicious sleep which succeeded my labours, from which I was again called at an early hour. If I were now asked whom I consider to be happiest of the human race, I should answer, those who cultivate the earth by their own hands.*

“Being now in my fifteenth year, I was called upon to make choice of a profession, when my attachment to reading induced me to prefer that of a bookseller. I was accordingly placed with Mr. Gore, a respectable tradesman in Liverpool; but, after remaining there for a month, and not finding the attendance on a shop reconcilable to my disposition, I quitted him, and returned to my labours. In the following year (1769) I was, however, articled, for six years, to Mr. John Eyes, jun., a young attorney and solicitor in Liverpool; and thus entered upon an anxious

* This narrative of Mr. Roscoe’s early history resembles, in very many of its circumstances, the account he has himself given of the youth of Pope. The Poet left school at the age of twelve, and went to reside with his father, who, like Mr. Roscoe’s, supported himself partly by the cultivation of a garden. The same desultory studies, amongst which an attachment to poetry appears pre-eminent, were pursued by both; and the description which Pope has given of himself, at this period of his life, might well be applied to the youth of his biographer:—“I followed every where as my fancy led me, and was like a boy gathering flowers in the woods and fields, just as they fell in my way; and these five or six years I still look upon as the happiest part of my life.” (Life of Pope, p. 16.) In their aversion to compulsory instruction, also, they closely resembled each other. “I never learned any thing,” says Pope, “at the little schools I was at afterwards, and never should have followed any thing that I could not follow with pleasure.” Both Pope and Mr. Roscoe may “be properly ranked amongst that class of remarkable persons who have been their own instructors.”

and troublesome profession. I passed all the hours I had to spare in perusing such authors as fell in my way, among whom Shenstone was my great favourite, till from admiring I began to imitate him. Amongst several of these early productions, I find I have preserved the following verses in his praise:— ‘ON MR. SHENSTONE AND HIS WRITINGS.* O Shenstone, favourite of the Nine, What sweetly varying powers are thine! ’Tis thou canst bid the soul to glow With purest joy, or melt with woe; O’er thee bright Fancy waves her wings, And strikes for thee the trembling strings, And soft Simplicity combines To warble through thine artless lines. Far from the glitt’ring scenes of care, Thou breathed content thy native air; Too good for wealth, too great for pride, Thou lived beloved—respected died. When first thy genuine warblings stole With gentlest magic on my soul, So soft, so sweet, so clear, so strong The tide of music roll’d along, That, quite enraptured by the strains, Methought with thee I trod the plains, Reclined with thee in shady bowers, Survey’d with thee the opening flowers, The spacious lawn, the rising hill, The rural cot and sparkling rill; But soon the dear delusion fled, And left reflection in its stead.’

* Written January, 1771.

“On one occasion, my master having unexpectedly made his appearance in our office intended for business, into which he seldom entered, found a copy of these lines lying on the desk, which, having read, he asked if they were mine, and being answered in the affirmative, paid me what I then thought a great compliment, by observing, that I must have copied them from some other writer. This admiration of Shenstone, I retained for several years, as I find by some lines, written at a subsequent period, where, referring to the animosity with which poets too often regard the talents of each other, I have said,— ‘Why pour’d sweet Shenstone his enchanting lay, Stamp’d as a trifler in the page of Gray, Or why should Gray deserve a better fate, Below the good, but far above the great, While Johnson tears the laurel from his bust, Degrades his memory, and profanes his dust?’

“Shenstone was not, however, long the sole object of my poetical adoration; his claims being divided with Goldsmith, whose ‘Deserted Village’ was first published about this period, and passed through several editions. That these authors have fallen into neglect, when compared with the more energetic and ambitious poets of the present day, I am well aware, and yet I know not whether these writers are not as deserving of estimation as those of modern times, who, in endeavouring to become more natural, have too often fallen into the vulgar and the mean, and, instead of improving, have debased the public taste.”

Here, unfortunately, the manuscript abruptly concludes. The lassitude of illness, and the unfavourable effect produced upon Mr. Roscoe’s health by any mental exertion for the last year or two of his life, prevented him from proceeding with his projected sketch,—a circumstance the more to be regretted, as the materials which remain for delineating the incidents and feelings of his youth are few and imperfect.

Absence of restraint, and perfect freedom of thought and of action, during the early period of life, though favourable to originality of mind, do not always contribute to form a useful and well-balanced character. The sequestered studies which add strength and fervour to the poetical temperament, and which inspire a love of intellectual pleasures, too often unfit those who pursue them for the irksome duties and the active engagements of life. We, consequently, seldom find, in the history of men of letters, that they unite with their mental pre-eminence that capacity for affairs which is often possessed by persons of meaner endowments. In youth, more especially, it is difficult to impress upon the mind devoted to intellectual pursuits, the wisdom and the necessity of a strict regard to the routine of common duties, and to the active business of life. It might have been expected, from the strong attachment of Mr. Roscoe, at this period, to literary studies, and especially from the cultivation of his poetical taste, that the graver business of his profession would sometimes have been neglected; but the circumstances in which he was placed, as well as the peculiar character of his mind, prevented him from falling into this dangerous error. The total dependence, not only of himself, but of his father and his sister, upon his future exertions, afforded a most powerful motive for assiduity; while the natural energy of his mind prevented him from remaining satisfied with pursuits, however pleasant or instructive, not leading to that independence, which ought to be to every man the first object of his exertions.

Throughout the whole of his clerkship, therefore, his literary improvement was made a secondary object; his great design being to acquire a competent knowledge of his profession, and to render himself useful to his employers. After the death of Mr. Eyes, he served the remainder of his clerkship with Mr. Peter Ellames, an eminent attorney of Liverpool, to whom his industry and talents gave great satisfaction. During the whole of this period he resided with his father, having had the misfortune to lose his mother some years previously.

Notwithstanding his strict attention to business, some hours were still left vacant, and these were gladly devoted by him to the improvement of his mind and to the cultivation of his taste. In this agreeable task he was stimulated by the sympathy and society of several friends of his own age, with whom he passed much of his leisure time, and in the selection of whom the character of his own mind was clearly manifested. An attachment to elegant literature, a love of study, a relish for the beauties of nature, and a heart capable of returning the warmth of friendship, were the qualities which distinguished the early companions of Mr. Roscoe. Of these, no one was more loved or admired by him than Francis Holden, of whom he has said, in recalling the superior qualifications of his friend, “that he seemed to realise in himself the accomplishments both of body and mind which have been attributed to the admirable Crichton.”*

Francis Holden was descended from a family, many members of which had distinguished themselves by their progress in scientific pursuits. At fifteen years of age he had arrived at manhood

* The following account of Francis Holden is derived from Mr. Roscoe’s own notes. He appears to have had, when he made them, some intention of recording the incidents of his own early life; but he did not persevere in his design; and the pages contain merely the history of that youthful friend, whose genius and acquirements first excited his literary ambition.

in person, in manners, and in mental acquirements. His figure was powerfully yet elegantly formed; and his strength and agility were such, that he scarcely ever took a walk into the fields without exhibiting, for the amusement of his companions, feats of bodily dexterity which might have extorted the applause of a crowded theatre. To the extraordinary endowments which he possessed, he added such a cheerful vivacity, and so unassuming a modesty, as to relieve his friends from the sense of inferiority which his splendid talents and extraordinary accomplishments were so well calculated to inspire. To those who knew Francis Holden, the accounts of Pico of Mirandola, and of Leo Battista Alberti, ceased to appear incredible.

At a very early age he became an assistant in the school of his uncle, Richard Holden, at Liverpool, where he taught the mathematics, and the Greek, Latin, French, and Italian languages. In his extemporaneous translations his talents were very conspicuous. So correct, elegant, unembarrassed, and concise were his versions, that they might, without correction, have been committed to the press. Soon after his arrival in Liverpool, he became accidentally acquainted with Mr. Roscoe, who, although he was at that time very deficient in the acquirements by which Holden was so much distinguished, attracted the regard and friendship of the youthful scholar. They became, during their leisure hours, almost inseparable companions; and it was at the solicitation of his friend that Mr. Roscoe first commenced the study of languages, receiving from him gratuitous instructions in French. In these studies he made a rapid progress; and the capacity of enjoying the same authors in the same language became a new bond of union between the friends.

After remaining a few years in Liverpool, Holden removed to Glasgow, with the view of improving himself by attending the lectures of the professors in that University. He resided there with the widow of his uncle, John Holden, well known by his learned treatise on music. “My uncle,” he says in one of his letters to Mr. Roscoe, “died the morning after I arrived. He declared all along that he only lived to see me. I cannot say any more. You shall hear more of this shortly.” In the midst of his studies, which he describes as extending to twelve hours a day, Holden found time to maintain a correspondence with his friend; and his letters, many of which still remain, are full of the animation and intelligence which distinguished their writer.

Having finished his studies at Glasgow, Holden accepted an offer to accompany a young gentleman of fortune to France, where he resided for some time. Upon his return to England, he again visited Liverpool, improved in his acquirements, but unaltered in his affections. The friend who had enjoyed the benefit of his society, and of his instructions, had not, in the mean time, been idle.

During the absence of Holden, Mr. Roscoe had devoted much of his leisure to the acquisition of the dead languages,—a study which he prosecuted in conjunction with two other friends, Mr. William Clarke and Mr. Richard Lowndes, with whom, to the close of their lives, he remained in habits of the strictest intimacy. After the return of Holden, the four associates were accustomed to meet early in the morning, and to pursue their classical studies till the hours of business arrived. Hitherto Mr. Roscoe had made no attempt to acquire a knowledge of the Italian language; and it was by Francis Holden that his attention was first directed to the literature of that country. In their evening walks, Holden was accustomed to repeat passages from the most celebrated poets of Italy; and the pleasure with which he recited their verses, producing a strong impression upon the mind of Mr. Roscoe, led him to apply himself to the study of the Italian language; which, however, he describes himself as having acquired rather by slow degrees, and by gradual application, than by any sudden and laborious effort. The first idea of writing the life of Lorenzo de’ Medici appears to have occurred to him in the course of these studies.

Having now no certain occupation, Holden determined to engage in the study of the law; for which purpose he went to London, and became a member of one of the Inns of Court. In this design he relied much upon the advice of his friend, whose kind offices towards him he acknowledges in the following letter:—

“My dear Roscoe,

“The day after I received your inexpressibly kind letter, I waited upon Messrs. Lyons*, who received me with all the marks of a sincere friendship, and promised to do all in their power for me—particularly to recommend me to the gentleman you spoke of. I have heard no more of that business as yet, but I cannot refrain from writing to you. My time now goes on more pleasantly. I have met with one or two Glasgow friends, who treat me with an affection something like yours, if they did but know how to express it, or to entertain me as well. No, my dear Roscoe; it will never be my fate, it will never be my wish, to meet with so faithful, so engaging a friend. I would not learn to do without you, for fear of inconstancy. * * * I will make you my director in matters of law, and will prepare myself in such a manner as to be of

* The professional agents of Mr. Roscoe.

real service to him who will please to employ me; for nothing is more oppressive to a generous heart, than to be in arrears for favours received. Must I tell you, my friend, that this thought has given me no small uneasiness? I know it is not in my power to repay your kindnesses to me, nor to be of half the service to you which you can be to me; and you have always done all you could. What I would desire is, not that you should waste your time in reading law books with me, which you know already; but that you would answer those questions, and explain those difficulties, which must occur of course to a young beginner; and that you would furnish me with books, which I cannot at this time afford to purchase. But above all, that you will not put me upon the footing of one whom you think yourself obliged to entertain at the expense of your time, &c., but use me as one whose duty and desire is to render himself as useful to you as possible, and as little burdensome. If you will promise me these things, I shall be happy if Mr. Lyon succeeds with Mr. Crompton the special pleader; and if not, I will console myself, conscious that want of merit, not of friends, was my loss; and that want of merit is one of Epictetus’s “τα έϕ ημιν,” or things in our own power; and consequently I will take care not to be long without it, by your assistance, who are a part of myself. Adieu, my dear Will.”

The difficulties which Holden had to encounter in putting into execution his design of qualifying himself for the bar, sometimes threw a gloom over his spirits, which communicated itself to his letters. “There is nothing,” he says, in a letter written from London, “I more ardently desire, than that our friendship may continue through life. It began at an early period, and perhaps before either of us was able to judge what were the essential qualities of a friend. I have learned since, by disappointments, to know and value them; and may truly pay you that compliment which Hamlet pays to Horatio. I only fear you will become too serious and too wise, not to discover imperfections in me, which will outweigh the few good qualities to which I can have any pretensions. Believe me, Roscoe, reflections of this nature, co-operating with retirement, hard study, and bad health, sometimes throw a gloominess upon the prospect of my future life, which makes me regard it with an indifference amounting to disgust. ’Tis a most disagreeable situation, to have nothing to do but study in hope of some distant advantage, and only exist at present, that we may begin to live some years after. I long to be in some active employment,—no matter what, provided I can get called to the bar when the time comes. * * * If something does not fall out to my mind, you will see me in Liverpool in June, where I shall be happy, at least while with you. But pray write to me often before that, and put me in humour with the world and myself. I often see David Samwell, and philosophise with him upon the comparative merits of a savage and a civilised life; and we seem both to be of our friend Rousseau’s sentiments. Samwell is a man of humour, and a great genius, but indolent: he is going out again with a Captain King, who had long been Cooke’s lieutenant. * * * I have called once or twice upon Mr. Deare, who got the medal for a piece of sculpture, and find him a very agreeable young man, though rather deficient in other branches of education. It gives me pleasure to be informed of your progress in Italian; but I do not agree with you in thinking it inferior to the Latin in any respect; to the Greek, I own, it is infinitely inferior,—I mean, when the Greek is pronounced as it ought to be. If you can spare the plan I gave you for the Italian verbs, pray send it me with your next letter, for I do not remember it perfectly.”

Pecuniary considerations rendered it necessary that Holden, while engaged in the study of the law, should adopt some measures for his present subsistence; and the plan which he pursued ultimately led him to abandon his legal studies. He removed to Cambridge; where his very remarkable acquirements, and engaging manners, soon procured him friends. Having obtained a competent number of pupils to afford him a liberal income, he took a house at Chesterton, and married; but he had not resided more than two or three years at that place, when the symptoms of approaching consumption threw a gloom over his prospects, and compelled him to take a voyage to Lisbon, as the only chance for his recovery. Whatever might have been the effects of a southern climate, he did not live to experience them.

Another of the friends to whom Mr. Roscoe was attached by a similarity of pursuits, and especially by a mutual taste for poetry, was Robert Rigby, a young man of fine talents, who, like himself, occasionally devoted his pen to poetical compositions. The two friends were accustomed, not only to study together, but, when their occupations permitted them, to make excursions into the country,—a circumstance alluded to in the following lines addressed to Mr. Rigby:— “Friend of my heart! how blest, with thee, Of late I traversed with unwearied feet The wide champaign—o’erjoy’d to see The woodland charms, and breathe an air more sweet; To taste that unreproved delight Which the keen breast with thrilling transport warms, When full upon the unbounded sight Luxuriant Nature opens all her charms, Where smiles the extended lawn in glowing pride, Sinks the green vale, or swells the airy hill, Waves the rude grove its hoary branches wide, And down its bosom steals the darkling rill. This, this is transport; but, alas! Too soon the transient Eden disappears, And, fraudful as the artist’s magic glass, The faded prospect now dissolves in tears. Ah! what avails the gentler heart, That beats to every finer feeling true, Can taste each bliss that genius can impart, And catch from nature’s face each varied hue— The breast with sympathy that glows, When on the houseless head the rude storm showers— If Poverty her hateful form oppose, Damp all their fires, and deaden all their powers— For the sweet hour of leisure doom’d to sigh, Yet waste in ceaseless toils the inglorious year, To see the friendless child of woe pass by, And only pay the tribute of a tear? Yet envy not the wretch whose countless hoards To narrow bounds have circumscribed his soul; More bliss to generous minds one hour affords; Than he can feel whilst circling ages roll.”

The spirit of despondency which breathes through many of Mr. Roscoe’s early pieces, and with which, in his youthful life, he had sometimes to contend, is forcibly displayed in the foregoing lines.

To the early and sudden death of Robert Rigby, who was drowned while crossing the Irish Channel, Mr. Roscoe alludes in some lines addressed, many years afterwards, to Dr. Currie. “‘Twas thus, in health’s high bloom and youth elate, My Rigby yielded to his early fate.”

To the friends already mentioned, in whose society Mr. Roscoe spent many of the happiest years of his early life, may be added a young lady, who, to the usual accomplishments of her sex, united high cultivation of mind, and considerable poetical talents. Miss Maria Done, with her sisters, Mrs. Bewley and Mrs. Holmes, resided in Westmorland; but an intimacy with some of Mr. Roscoe’s friends in Liverpool, and temporary visits to that place, led to an acquaintance with him, which gradually ripened into friendship. They occasionally corresponded, and exchanged the productions of their Muse. Several of Mr. Roscoe’s early pieces are addressed to this lady; and to her he originally inscribed his poem of “Mount Pleasant,” in some lines which do not appear in the printed copy. The character of Miss Done was of the most admirable and elevated class, as appears both from her poetry and her correspondence. She afterwards married Mr. John Barton. Subsequent to this event, she, with her sisters, still continued on the same friendly footing with Mr. Roscoe and his family for many years; and Mr. Barton became one of his warmest friends, and most frequent correspondents. Her son, Mr. Bernard Barton, to whom her poetical talents have descended, and her daughter, Mrs. Hack, the author of many valuable works for children, are well known in the literary world. Some idea of her powers as a poet, and of her feelings as a friend, as well as of her fine discernment and just appreciation of the promise held out by Mr. Roscoe’s early years, may be formed from the following lines. They occur at the conclusion of a poem “On Pride,” dedicated to him, and written in the year 1774. “But cease, my Muse! unequal to the task, Forbear the effort, and to nobler hands Resign the lyre—thee, Roscoe, every Muse Uncall’d attends, and uninvoked inspires. In blooming shades and amaranthine bowers They weave the future laurel for thy brow, And wait to crown thee with immortal fame. Thee Wisdom leads in all her lonely walks; Thee Genius fires, and moral Beauty charms: Be it thy task to touch the feeling heart, Correct its passions, and exalt its aims; Teach Pride to own, and owning, to obey Fair Virtue’s dictates, and her sacred laws: To brighter worlds show thou the glorious road, And be thy life as moral as thy song.”

The causes which led to the formation of that lively taste for poetry, which was so early developed in Mr. Roscoe, are not difficult to be traced. Strong natural feelings, and an ardent and sanguine temperament, form the foundation upon which the poetical character is built. This native susceptibility to the influence of poetry received, in his case, no check from that strict attention to other pursuits which the ordinary education of young persons imposes upon them; and his desultory studies were more frequently directed to the pages of the poets, than to the writers whose works are generally put into the hands of the young. The habits of his early life were also favourable to the same influences, as may be clearly traced in the account he has given of his childhood—of his meditative and retiring disposition—and of his solitary walks along the shores of the Mersey. The love of poetical composition continued to acquire power, as it will ever do under such favouring circumstances; and before he had attained the age of twenty, he had produced some poems of no inconsiderable merit. In these, the youthful efforts of his Muse, may be discovered the dawnings of his character.

Having become, in the year 1773, one of the founders of a Society for the Encouragement of the Arts of Painting and Design, in the town of Liverpool, he commemorated the event by an Ode, which was his first published piece. It was afterwards reprinted, with the poem of “Mount Pleasant,” in the year 1777. This was favourably noticed in some of the Reviews of the day; and the following passage, containing a comparison between music and painting, was selected as a specimen of the author’s manner:— “When just degrees of shade and light Contend in sweetest harmony, Then bursts upon the raptured sight The silent music of the eye. Bold as the base’s deeper sound, We trace the well imagined ground; Next, in the varying scenes behind, The sweet melodious tenor find; And as the softening notes decay, The distant prospect fades away; Their aid if mingling colours give, To bid the mimic landscape live; The visual concert breaks upon the eyes, With every different charm that Music’s hand supplies.”

A similar comparison between the great masters of poetry and painting, displays the early taste of the author for the arts as well as for literature. “Majestic, nervous, bold, and strong, Let Angelo with Milton vie; Opposed to Waller’s amorous song, His art let wanton Titian try; Let great Romano’s free design Contend with Dryden’s pompous line; And chaste Correggio’s graceful air With Pope’s unblemish’d page compare; Loraine may rival Thomson’s name; And Hogarth equal Butler’s fame; And still, where’er the aspiring Muse Her wide unbounded flight pursues, Her sister soars on kindred wings sublime, And gives her favourite names to grace the rolls of Time.”

Before attaining his twentieth year, he made a bolder attempt; and in imitation of the “Grongar Hill” of Dyer, and the “Edgehill” of Jago, he selected, as the subject of his poem, Mount Pleasant, an eminence overlooking the town of Liverpool. “The shades of Grongar bloom secure of fame; Edgehill to Jago owes its lasting name; When Windsor Forest’s loveliest scenes decay, Still shall they live in Pope’s unrivall’d lay: Led on by Hope, an equal theme I choose; Oh! might the subject boast an equal Muse! Then should her name the force of time defy, When sunk in ruins Liverpool shall lie.”

In this poem he not only celebrates the growing importance of his native town, its commerce, and its public institutions, but attempts, as he often did in after life, to direct the attention of his townsmen to the more liberal pursuit of literature and science, “and to abate that spirit of enterprise and thirst of gain, which, when too much indulged, is seldom productive either of virtue or happiness.”* “Ah! why, ye sons of wealth, with ceaseless toil, Add gold to gold, and swell the shining pile? Your general course to happiness ye bend, Why, then, to gain the means, neglect the end? To purchase peace requires a scanty store;— Oh, spurn the groveling wish that pants for more! And thirst not with the same unconquer’d rage, Till nature whitens in the frost of age; But rather on the present hour rely, And catch the happier moments ere they fly; And whilst the spring of life each bliss inspires, Improve its gifts, and feed the social fires; Let Friendship soften, Love her charms disclose, Peace guard your hours and sweeten your repose: / Yet, not regardless how your joys endure, Let watchful Prudence make those joys secure.”

* Advertisement to “An Ode on the Institution of a Society in Liverpool, for the Encouragement of Designing,” &c.

The temper and tastes of Mr. Roscoe, at this period of his life, are manifested in the following lines:— “Oh still, at midnight’s milder hour, be mine To trace with raptured eye the dear decline! Catch the pure gale as from the main it springs, Salubrious freshness dropping from its wings; —Then, cares forgot and sorrow soothed to rest, Each ruder passion banish’d from the breast, Mild as the hour, and cloudless as the skies, The mind on stronger pinions loves to rise; And loosen’d from the dull restraints of day, Expansive gives the springs of thought to play. Bold, active, vigorous, through the enfranchised soul The nobler trains of fair ideas roll: The ardent glow that wakes at friendship’s name, The thirst of science, and the patriot flame; The generous fear, that wounds the youthful breast, To live inglorious, and to die unblest; A liberal scorn of every low desire, Of all that knaves pursue, and fools admire, Of fortune’s stores, of splendour’s sickly blaze, Precarious bliss, and unsubstantial praise.”

That inhuman traffic, against which, throughout the whole length of a life extended beyond the common period, the voice of Mr. Roscoe was unceasingly raised, was not unnoticed in this early poem. “Mount Pleasant” contains his first protest against the Slave Trade.

“Mount Pleasant,” which was not published until the year 1777, met with a favourable reception in many quarters. It had previously been submitted to the cultivated judgment of Dr. Enfield, who returned it to Mr. Roscoe with the following letter:—

“I cannot take leave of your excellent poems, without thanking you for the pleasure they have afforded me. They cannot fail of being highly acceptable to every reader of classical taste, and will, I am persuaded, obtain for their author no inconsiderable share of reputation. The few liberties which I have taken, have been rather with a view to express my respect for the writer, than in expectation of making any material improvement in the poems.”

Amongst other persons to whom Mr. Roscoe presented a copy of his poems, was Sir Joshua Reynolds, from whom he had the gratification of receiving an opinion favourable to their merits, and of learning that the suffrage of Mason had been given in their favour.

“I am now to return you my thanks for the present of your poetical works, which I have read with the greatest pleasure. It is approaching to impertinence, to say that I was much surprised at seeing such excellence in a work which I had never heard of before, or the author’s name reached my ears; however, I found other people were not quite so ignorant. I mentioned the poem to Mr. Mason, who dined with me a few days ago. I do not recollect that he knew your name, but he was well acquainted with the poem, which he read when it was first published. I had the satisfaction of hearing my opinion fully confirmed by his authority.”

Of the early poetical taste of Mr. Roscoe, a record remains in several manuscript volumes, in which he had made a selection from the writings of the popular poets of the day, together with such fugitive pieces as had attracted his notice. Shenstone holds a distinguished place in the collection, in which Goldsmith and Collins also appear to be favourites. Several original poems by himself are inserted in these volumes, as well as in the selections of one in whose studies he took the greatest interest. At the commencement of one of the volumes containing those selections, the following verses appear, written in his own hand:— “In the blest round of youth’s delightful hours, How sweet through Fancy’s flowery fields to stray, Catch the wild notes inventive Genius pours, And stamp on lasting leaves the genuine lay. “Nor think those hours to trivial cares consign’d, Thou with the favouring Muses may’st employ; ’Tis they who harmonise the youthful mind, And waken every avenue to joy. “Bid the free soul the groveling crew despise, Whom humbler hopes of power and riches move; Bid the free soul to nobler prospects rise— To Fancy, Friendship, Harmony, and Love.”

It was not alone to the pursuits of elegant literature, and to the pleasures of poetical com-position, that Mr. Roscoe’s studies were directed. More serious enquiries occasionally engaged his attention. An early and careful perusal of the Sacred Writings had led him to reflect much upon subjects which do not usually engage the attention of the young, and gave a tone to his character observable throughout the whole course of his after life. Amongst his youthful writings is a small volume, to which he had given the title of “Christian Morality, as contained in the Precepts of the New Testament, in the Language of Jesus Christ.” To this little tract, Mr. Roscoe, towards the close of his life, added the following memorandum:—“Done when I was very young—very erroneous and imperfect.” It had been submitted to Dr. Enfield, apparently soon after it was written, and a few verbal corrections and occasional remarks occur in the handwriting of that excellent man.

In the introduction to this work, Mr. Roscoe points out the peculiar beauty and perfectness of the moral precepts contained in the New Testament, and explains his motives for the selection and arrangement which he had made.

“The object of the ensuing sheets is to collect, in one uniform and regular system, the moral duties which are inculcated in various parts of the New Testament, by the direct and immediate words of our Saviour, and thereby to promote the knowledge and practice of virtue, and to render the study of the Scriptures more easy and pleasant.

“It is a melancholy but true observation, that whilst the speculative and abstruse parts of the New Testament have been the subject of endless debate, and enquiry, and contention, the moral or preceptive part has been too often overlooked and forgotten; and hence, in a great degree, has arisen that dreadful perversion which has so deeply injured the cause of true religion.

“If the Christian scheme was intended for no other purpose than to instruct mankind in Divine mysteries, the compiler of the following pages has deceived himself, and his work is useless; but he is bold to ascribe the Divine mission of Christ to another and more beneficent purpose; for it is his persuasion, that the Christian religion was designed by the Almighty to promote the eternal happiness of mankind, by the truest pursuit of their temporal welfare; to instruct them in the practice of virtue; and to prompt them, by every inducement that can influence rational and eternal beings, actively to pursue that course of conduct which alone can render them finally happy.”

The author enforces this remark from the precepts and example of Christ; and particularly, for this purpose, quotes the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. vii. 15.) as “so explicit and striking, that it must appear su-perfluous to insist farther on an interpretation of the Christian doctrine.

“It is not intended to touch in the least on speculative points, nor even to demonstrate the belief necessary to salvation: these must be the employ of a much superior understanding. It must, however, be remembered, that innumerable volumes have been written to compile a system of belief from the Sacred Volume, and to separate its doctrines from its precepts; yet these authors are not accused of depreciating the necessity of a blameless conduct: for once, then, let us endeavour to render the practical part more useful, by connecting it under one point of view, without being censured as inimical to the belief of the more abstruse parts of the Sacred Scriptures. The excellence of these precepts cannot be too much insisted on, and equally command the attention of, and are necessary to be obeyed by, all sects, parties, and denominations.”

The author concludes, by saying, that he “believes this to be the first attempt to extract from the New Testament a complete rule of conduct.” It is, perhaps, worthy of notice, that in 1831, when Mr. Roscoe had the pleasure of a personal introduction to Rammohun Roy, he had the satisfaction of showing to the author of the “Precepts of Jesus,” the youthful pro-duction of his first religious enquiries and impressions.

The work itself is divided into three heads: viz. Duty to God; Duty to our Fellow Creatures; and Duty to Ourselves. Each of these is illustrated by apposite quotations from the precepts of Christ, connected together by a “few short illustrations and reflections, suggested to the author by the plain and literal signification of the different passages.”

The spirit of purity, mercy, forgiveness, and charity, which breathes throughout the New Testament, seems peculiarly to have fixed the attention of Mr. Roscoe in the composition of this tract; and it was to the operation of these divine principles upon his conduct and temper throughout life, that may be attributed all that was most attractive and most exalted in his mind and character.

CHAPTER II. 1781—1787. Is admitted an attorney, and enters into partnership at Liverpool—his acquaintance with Miss Jane Griffies, and correspondence with her—his marriage with her—visits London—his taste for collecting prints and books—his love of art.—“Society for promoting Painting and Design” established at Liverpool—his lectures there—his first acquaintance with Fuseli—writes “The Origin of Engraving,” a poem—reference in that poem to Lorenzo de’ Medici—his collection of prints—his correspondence with Mr. Strutt, author of the “Dictionary of Engravers”—his contributions to that work—is elected an honorary member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. CHAPTER II.

Having completed the period of his clerkship, Mr. Roscoe was, in the year 1774, admitted an attorney of the Court of King’s Bench, and commenced the practice of his profession at Liverpool. In the course of the same year he entered into partnership with a gentleman of the name of Bannister; but this connection lasted only a short period. A second engagement of the same kind was more fortunate; and, in conjunction with Mr. Samuel Aspinall, who had long been known by the respectability of his practice, he became actively engaged in the duties of his profession.

He did not, however, neglect the studies which had already attracted so much of his attention; and, in the society of the friends who have already been mentioned, he continued to prosecute his literary enquiries during the intervals of business.

Amongst those with whom, at this early period of his life, Mr. Roscoe was in habits of intimacy, was the family of Mr. William Griffies, a respectable tradesman of Liverpool. Of the three daughters of Mr. Griffies, the second, Jane, soon attracted his admiration, and won his affection, by her gentle yet lively manners, by the sweetness of her disposition, and by the many admirable qualities of her truly feminine mind. Although the state of his circumstances at this time gave little promise of an immediate union with the object of his attachment, it was not the wish, and perhaps it was scarcely in the power, of one possessing the frank and ardent character of Mr. Roscoe, to conceal from her the feelings she had inspired. From that moment, to the close of his long and eventful life, he never found reason to regret, for one instant, the judgment of his youth.

A similarity of tastes, if it could not add strength to an attachment founded upon higher principles, yet lent it no mean ornament. Affection may be won by sweetness of disposition, and esteem and respect by talents and by virtue; but no other quality can confer the nameless interest which arises from a happy congruity of tastes and of pursuits. To feel with one heart, to judge with one mind, and to look to the same high and pure sources for happiness, are the most beautiful links in the golden chain of domestic union. At an early age, Miss Jane Griffies had evinced a great attachment to literary pursuits, especially to poetry; and had selected and arranged, with much taste and judgment, a collection, in several volumes, from the works of the most popular writers of the day. A journal, which she was in the habit of keeping at this period of her life, is also a proof of her love of study, and of her pleasing and simple style of composition. To promote and encourage her taste for writing, Mr. Roscoe, although they both resided in the same town, induced her to commence a correspondence with him; which, continuing for many years, until the period of his marriage, forms an interesting record of his views and feelings at this period of his life.

“Your journal,” he observes, in one of the earliest of these letters*, “is now discontinued; and as I know you have an aversion to being idle, I should think myself very fortunate could I engage your leisure hours in a communication of this kind. Nothing can be more innocent—nothing more rational; and though the generality of mankind might think it a little silly, I hope you and I have too great an opinion of our own consequence to be guided by vulgar opinions.

* * * * *

“I cannot help pleasing myself with the reflection, what an infinite variety of subjects this intercourse would give rise to. Convinced of the perfect confidence which subsists between us, how freely might our thoughts expand themselves! The desire of pleasing might cause some little attention to the mode of expression,

* Dated March 30. 1777.

whilst the certainty of a mutual indulgence would prevent us from being apprehensive about trivial inaccuracies.

“I own this scheme begins to grow a favourite with me, and I beg my dearest Jane will not overthrow my expectations.”

In a letter, written soon after the foregoing, he alludes to the circumstances which, for the present, prevented his marriage.

“It is a remark which has been made by us both, that our situation is a very particular one. Whilst we are separate, we enjoy every convenience that a frugal competence can afford; but there seems at present to be an invincible bar to our united happiness, which time only can remove. If, however, we are unfortunate in this circumstance, let us be grateful to Providence for the many advantages we enjoy, to make amends in some degree for the suspension of better times. The frequent opportunity we have of enjoying each other’s company—sometimes in an unreserved and uninterrupted exchange of sentiments; the similarity of our tastes and dispositions; and, above all, the conviction we have of the lasting continuance of each other’s affection: these are advantages seldom experienced amongst lovers, and which, if they cannot confer happiness, must at least banish discontent.

“My dearest Jane cannot imagine how proud I am to reflect, that whilst numbers around us are almost every day united upon sordid, capricious, and unworthy motives, we have chosen a nobler plan, and formed a connection upon the most liberal, the most disinterested principles. Conscious of the rectitude of our conduct, and the innocence of our hearts, we have nothing to fear; but can place our confidence in that great Being who never deceives those who put their trust in him—that Being who has ever been a guardian to us both, and who, I hope, will at length crown his goodness by rendering us happy in ourselves, and in the knowledge of each other’s happiness.”

Occasionally more gloomy prospects of the future presented themselves, and it was with difficulty that he reconciled himself to his situation.—“It would be impossible for me to attempt to write on any other subject, whilst I feel so much anxiety from the thought of our unfortunate and hopeless situation. Deprived as we are of almost the most distant prospect of an union that can promise a probability of happiness, how can our attachment be unembittered? It is in vain that I love my Jane with the most unreserved affection, or that she assures me of a return of my passion. Obstacles that appear insurmountable forbid us to indulge the thought of a more endearing connection.

“It is but of late that I have felt the full force of this misfortune. Always ready to flatter myself, I imagined a time might come that would be more favourable to our wishes. That expectation now subsides; and in the prospect of my future life I see no object that can reasonably induce me to desire its continuance.”

The pain which the postponement of his hopes occasioned, was, however, alleviated by the reflection, that the self-denial he practised enabled him to support those whom nature and fortune had made dependent upon his industry.

“Hitherto,” he observes, in a letter written during the same year, “my path through life has been clouded with anxiety; and though the pleasures of love and of friendship have at times raised me above the recollection of unhappiness, the consciousness of my situation always returns with additional uneasiness; yet, my dearest Jane, think not I blame the dispensations of that Being, whose goodness to me has been manifested throughout my whole life. If my own situation is not the most desirable, it is with no common degree of satisfaction that I reflect, I have been enabled, so far, to screen a helpless parent, and a deserving sister, from the hardships of an unfeeling world; and whilst I make that reflection, I never can be wholly unhappy.”

The same ideas are expressed in the following lines, written about the same period:— “Oh I if, upon my natal morn, Plenty had fill’d her liberal horn, And Fate thy hopeless lover blest With arts to win thy gentle breast; Then thou, the partner of his life, Hadst own’d the tender name of wife; Thy smiles had every bliss improved, Thy sympathy each care removed, Thy calm advice his passions sway’d, Thine hand, in sickness, raised his head; Whilst he, with love’s pervading eyes, Had mark’d thine embryo wishes rise, And ere to full perfection brought, Precluded every anxious thought. “But Heaven forbade—some happier youth, (Oh, may he equal me in truth!) Born under favouring stars, shall gain That heart thy Roscoe loved in vain— For him that candid smile shall rise, On him shall beam those lucid eyes; His ears those much loved accents bless, And his be every fond caress. —Oh, may he know thy worth, and own A soul to love that worth when known; Whilst I for humbler views resign Each flattering hope that once was mine; Resolved, whilst penury remains, To seek no partners in my pains, But thankful still, if Heaven supply The hard earn’d fruits of industry, Enough to soothe a sister’s fears, And screen a parent’s sinking years.”

Many poetical pieces are scattered through this correspondence. “I must yet,” he says, in a letter, dated the 9th of May, 1777, “copy you a sonnet, if I have room, which I suppose some of my brethren would call an extempore, as it has been fabricated in about ten minutes:— “O my loved Julia! in whose tender breast Each fairer virtue ever finds a place, And every milder charm and softer grace, With each ennobling passion loves to rest; Thou who, in humble state, canst boast a mind In loftiest spheres that might applauded move, Yet shrinking from the public gaze, to find The warmer transports of domestic love— Like some fair flower, that, hid from human eye, Pours all its fragrance on the trackless vale, Has thy unsullied life its vernal glow Accomplished—and that happier shepherd I, To whom kind Heaven the treasure did reveal, Dearer than every gift its kindness could bestow.”

Occasionally a few verses of a lighter and livelier character are interspersed, as in the following parody of his favourite Shenstone.—“I think I some time since promised to make you a present of an inkstand, and I have accordingly got one for you; but when I once begin to rhyme, I never know where to leave off, so must present it in verse:— “A present I’ve bought for my fair, An inkstand of curious device, But to tell what it cost I’ll forbear, She’ll say ’t was a barbarous price. “For he ne’er could be true, she averr’d, Who in nicknacks his money would spend, And I lov’d her the more when I heard Such savingness at her tongue’s end.”

In the spring of the year 1778, Miss Jane Griffies visited London, where she had an opportunity of gratifying the literary tastes of Mr. Roscoe, by assisting him in the collecting of his library, which, from his earliest youth, had been one of his chief pleasures. “Let me know,” she says, in a letter addressed to him soon after her arrival, “what particular books of the Elzevir editions I must buy, and the extent of the price, as I called at a place where there will be some in a few days.” In a subsequent letter she sends him a list of such books as she thought would be suitable to his collection. “I am obliged,” he observes in his answer, “beyond measure, by your kindness in sending me the list of books; indeed, my dear Jane, there is nothing gives a more indisputable proof of affection, than those little attentions to the pursuits and inclinations of each other which have long marked our connection, and in which I hope you have never found me deficient.”—“I thank you,” he says, in another letter, “for the trouble you have taken in procuring and sending me the list of Elzevirs from Otridge, which I have looked over; but they are so extremely dear, that I really cannot find in my heart to purchase any. I could like Cicero vastly, but three guineas is a most enormous price for ten volumes not above the breadth of my three fingers. I this day got a catalogue published by Lockyer Davis, in Holborn, out of which I should take it as a very particular favour if you would get me the undermentioned books. If it is convenient, I would have you send them the first opportunity, as I fear they will otherwise be gone, and I am particularly anxious about the first book. * * * Should you get the above, or any of them, you will be so kind, if you dare venture (which indeed I have no right to expect), to pay for them, and get the bookseller to send them to the next waggon, directed to me.”

While Miss Griffies was residing in London, the lady who had supplied the place of the mother whom she had lost in her infancy, was seized with an alarming illness, and it became the duty of Mr. Roscoe to communicate the distressing intelligence of her sickness, and subsequently of her death. This portion of the correspondence illustrates so well a peculiar quality of Mr. Roscoe’s mind,—the firmness and resignation with which he ever submitted to the inevitable misfortunes of life,—that it would be unjust to omit it.

“As I cannot write on any other subject, whilst I have any circumstance to communicate which can in the least degree affect your peace of mind, I am under a necessity of acquainting you that for these three days past Mrs. Wilson has been very low and poorly, and from her great age and natural weakness, there is, in my opinion, great reason to apprehend she cannot get over any considerable length of time. We are not without hope that a few days may restore her to her usual state of health, as you know she has often sudden complaints, which she as speedily gets the better of. But should it be otherwise ordered, I trust you will submit to the appointments of Providence without murmuring at its dispensations; and, instead of indulging an excess of grief (equally injurious to your health and inexcusable in a moral view), will return thanks to the Author of all good for the length of days this good woman has enjoyed, and the many comforts she has equally received and communicated for such a length of time. Whatever the sincerest affection and kindest tenderness could do for her, I have been a witness she has long experienced. And to add to her former blessings, she has not even now the least degree of pain, nor makes the least complaint, and her death (whenever it happens) will, I apprehend, be as calm, easy, and imperceptible, as a person falling asleep. Tell me, then, what more is to be wished for, unless we were impious enough to desire that she should never die?”

The next letter communicates the account of Mrs. Wilson’s death.

“It is now my painful office to give you the melancholy information that Mrs. Wilson is no more. She died about two o’clock this afternoon, without a struggle or even a sigh, and will undoubtedly now participate in that happiness which God has appointed, as the reward of a life spent in undissembled goodness, in usefulness and innocence.

“If in this painful moment you perform that duty which you owe to yourself, to your friends, and the memory of the deceased, you will call your reason, and even your affection to the living, to your assistance, and submit, with a calm and humble resignation, to an event which was alone in the power of Providence, and which you had every reason to expect could not be far distant; and instead of repining at the dispensation, your emotions should be only those of gratitude to God for his kindness to her through a long and happy life, and his greater kindness in allotting to her an easy and tranquil death.

“It is not, my dearest Jane, that I would wish you to repress entirely those emotions of tenderness which a heart sensible as yours must feel on the loss of a person so deservedly dear to you. Nature will not be restrained by the intrusion of cold advice and unfeeling reasoning; and where we are deeply wounded, we must deeply feel. Yet, my dearest girl, the severest sorrow has its intervals; and it is at these moments I would wish you to consider those fa-vourable circumstances in this event which I have before pointed out to you, and which cannot fail of affording you real consolation. Your sisters bear the event with resignation, and, as they have nothing to feel for the deceased, only distress themselves on your account. As I am certain you bear them the sincerest affection, this will be another inducement to you to avoid indulging an excess of grief.

“I must again repeat to you, do not, by any means, harbour a thought of leaving London till the time you intended. There needs no reason to convince you how fruitless such a scheme would be; and, I again repeat, what almost irks me to say, we should be sorry to see you, as it will be depriving yourself of pleasure to answer no purpose.”

In a letter written a few days afterwards, he points out the uselessness of immoderate grief.

“But you will, perhaps, tell me that your painful sensations are not entirely selfish; that they have a reference to the loss you have lately sustained; and that you lament the respected person who has been your guardian from your infancy. Need I urge any thing to convince you of the weakness and folly of such conduct? As well might you lament the condition of a friend, who, from a state of precarious indigence, pain, and sickness, was suddenly restored to health and to affluence. When neither yourself nor the person you grieve for, are, in any respect, objects of compassion, but, on the contrary, in a state of prosperity, how can you find food for sorrow?

“Another, and, perhaps, a more efficacious way, will be for you to mingle in the amusements and diversions of the gay place you are now in; and that, not merely as a spectator, but as a partaker. There is, perhaps, a kind of delicacy which represents a conduct of this kind as too little respectful to the memory of the person we lament; but it is certainly a false kind of delicacy, as it serves only to make ourselves miserable without a shadow of advantage to our lost friends, who, we must suppose, if they now superintend our earthly concerns, would be glad to see us cheerful and happy in the joint pursuit of our pleasure and our duty, rather than wasting our time, our health, and our peace of mind, in vain and fruitless, not to say criminal, lamentations.”

As the professional engagements of Mr. Roscoe increased, and demanded an additional devotion of his time and attention, he found it necessary to circumscribe, in some degree, those more agreeable studies which he had hitherto pursued with so lively a relish. His great object now was, to make himself sufficiently independent to gratify the first wish of his heart; and with this view he applied himself with unremitting assiduity to the discharge of his professional duties. His industry and intelligence soon won the regard of his partner, Mr. Aspinall, with whom he lived upon terms of the most friendly understanding. “I am extremely happy,” he says, in a letter written in the spring of the year 1779, “in my present connection; my partner is one of the most well-behaved, and, at the same time, one of the most friendly hearted, sincere men I ever met with, and has, on every occasion, behaved to me with a great deal of affection and generosity: as I know his temper and his wishes, it gives me an opportunity of repaying his kindness, which I should think myself ungrateful if I neglected.” In the same letter he states his own views with regard to his settlement in life, from which it will be seen how free his mind was from any feelings of vulgar ambition.

“You know my sentiments with regard to pecuniary matters, and I hope the principles and grounds of my opinions are not entirely imaginary. My utmost ambition would be to attain, by the industry and labour of my early days, such a competency as would enable those around me, and with whom I should be most nearly connected, to know themselves secure of the necessaries of life, in any event, and permit me to enjoy a few tranquil years of leisure and retirement, under the guidance of my own native and unrestrained disposition; which has ever had a tendency to avoid crowds, noise, and contention, in the company of a few, very few, chosen friends; whilst the unabating ardour of conjugal affection, increased and refined by years, should add a double relish to every enjoyment. To you I need not point out the advantages of this plan, and the good effects which may arise from a steady pursuit of it; and I flatter myself I have shown some adherence to it already, in quitting some enticing and pleasing pursuits, which must have inevitably interfered with my general design. It is true, the amusements of poetry and the incense of praise constitute of themselves some degree of happiness, and, it may be said, happiness should never be slighted. But, alas 1 I am a traveller; and before I intend to indulge myself, I purpose to get to the end of my journey. If every beautiful prospect, and every shepherd’s pipe, must allure me out of my road, what probability is there that I shall ever find myself at rest?”

“How should I rejoice,” says his correspondent, in her answer to the above letter, “were your circumstances such as allowed the indulgence of those pursuits so consistent with your genius, so agreeable to your taste; but though it may be prudent to make a sacrifice of them at present, yet I hope it will prove a momentary one, and that, after a short time, an establishment in your profession will yield you more leisure, and lead to the renewal of those pleasures you now relinquish.”

The circumstances of Mr. Roscoe’s situation at this time are alluded to in a very pleasing manner by his correspondent, Mr. Barton:—

“It is time to say something with regard to yourself. Have you yet recovered from your lameness? How are you going forward in your new connection? When did you hear from London? And when——? I perceive you have already filled up the blank, and I hope the question will ere long be an unnecessary one. Need I add (but I am sure I need not), that whenever the endearing connection takes place, I most sincerely wish it may be attended with all the happiness that can (and surely the most substantial happiness may) result from it. In some cases, too, we may, I think, most justly, do more than wish—we may both hope for and expect this happiness. Where cultivated understandings, sensibility of heart, and, above all, an honest, undissembled, mutual attachment, are to be found in the married state, happiness, and that of the most refined and rational kind, cannot possibly be wanting; may it be yours, my worthy friend, to find, as I am well convinced you deserve it.”

At length the period arrived, when the state of his business permitted the union which had so long been the object of his wishes; and on the 22d of February, 1781, he was married to Miss Jane Griffies, at St. Ann’s Church, Liverpool. For some years after this event, he devoted himself assiduously to the practice of his profession, though without altogether neglecting the studies more agreeable to his taste. Notwithstanding the additional expense of his new establishment, he continued to add to his collection of books; and “a sumptuous edition of Ariosto,” which he had commissioned his friend Mr. Barton to purchase for him about this time, appears to have revived that taste for Italian literature which he had derived from his friend Francis Holden.

In the spring of the year 1782, Mr. Roscoe visited London, on professional business, and took advantage of the opportunity thus afforded him, to add, so far as his slender resources extended, to his small collection of books and prints.

“Our trial,” he says in a letter to Mrs. Roscoe, “cannot possibly come on till the 28th or 29th of this month; so that I am likely to have enough of London, having already made some discoveries which many wise heads have made out before me, and handed to posterity by the name of proverbs, such as “Happiness begins at home,”—“Man never is, but always to be blest;” and those lines of Goldsmith certainly haunt me,—“Even whilst fashion’s brightest scenes,” &c.— but it is yet time enough to make complaints.

“I have laid out about forty shillings in prints, and find no inclination to any more extravagance in that article. My book account already amounts to a good deal more, but I trust I shall have prudence enough to restrain it in decent bounds. Be assured, I am not without a full sense of the danger I run in the many temptations which surround me in this line, but my affection for you is the great security which must prevent me from trespassing in this respect, as well as in all others.”

“This morning,” says Mrs. Roscoe, in answer to the above letter, “I received your letter, and sincerely thank you for every kind consideration; but do not restrain yourself too much; and do me the justice to believe, that whenever I suggest a plan of economy it does not proceed from narrow motives, but from a consciousness of the many dependencies upon us. Heaven has hitherto favoured us with unlooked-for blessings, and, I trust, will continue the enjoyment of them. To doubt its providence would be the highest ingratitude.”

Even the very moderate expense upon which Mr. Roscoe at this time ventured in gratifying his taste for literature and art, was a source of anxiety to him. “There is one circumstance,” he observes, in a letter addressed, during his visit to London, to Mrs. Roscoe, “which is a continual mortification to me, viz. the thought that I am not likely to get any thing by my journey, exclusive of the expenses I have imprudently gone to in buying things which I might very well have done without. In books and prints I have spent full as much as I proposed, but have now put a stop to it, and shall keep myself within bounds. What I have purchased besides, I intend to convert into money on my arrival at Liverpool, which I can do without losing a farthing.”

“You seem,” observes Mrs. Roscoe, in answer to the foregoing letter, “to consider the present expenses of your journey as extravagant; but this I cannot admit of. You may not have another opportunity of visiting London again for a long time, and a little indulgence is only reasonable; but I perfectly agree with you as to the necessity of a general economy. By a strict attention to it now, we shall open a path to competence, and to that easy independence so desirable to us both. When I mention competence, you know my ideas are not extensive. I only wish to be in a situation to render a service to others without the disagreeable reflection of injuring the interests of those who depend on us alone. I have sometimes been afraid you have thought me sordid and ungenerous; but indeed I never valued money for itself.”

During this visit to the metropolis, he was present at Westminster Hall on the occasion when Lord Mansfield, in imitation of the Lord Chief Justice North, desired the attorneys to proceed in the absence of counsel.

“I am just returned from Westminster Hall, and have seen Lord Mansfield trying causes without a single counsel in court. The attorneys pleaded for themselves, and most extraordinary figures some of them cut. This arises from an obstinacy on both sides, between Lord Mansfield and the counsel; the latter think it absolutely necessary to keep holiday on Whit Monday and Tuesday, while his Lordship thinks it better to despatch, as fast as he can, the causes which come before him, and to which every delay adds a considerable expense.”

The taste of Mr. Roscoe for elegant literature was early associated with a love of art. When about twenty years of age, he had been, as already stated, one of the most active members of the Society for promoting the Arts of Painting, Design, &c. at Liverpool, and had celebrated the institution by the publication of an ode. From the want of efficient support, this society had only a transient existence. In the year 1784, however, Mr. Roscoe, in conjunction with Mr. Daulby, and some other gentlemen, endeavoured to create a taste for the arts in Liverpool by the revival of the “Society for promoting Painting and Design,” and by an exhibition of paintings and drawings under the patronage of that society.*

* The Catalogues of the two first exhibitions of the society, in 1783 and 1787, are now before the writer, and form interesting memorials of the history of Liverpool. Mr. Henry

Mr. Roscoe ventured to introduce into the exhibition one or two drawings from his own pencil; and the ticket of admission was etched by his hand. Through his means, also, Sir Joshua Reynolds was interested in the undertaking. “I am very glad,” he says, in a letter addressed to Mr. Roscoe, in October, 1784, “to hear of the success of your exhibition, and shall always wish to contribute to it to the best of my power.”

One of the chief objects of this society was the diffusion of information on the subject of art by means of lectures; and in the course of the year 1785, several lectures “On the History of Art,” and “on the Knowledge and Use of Prints, and the History and Progress of the Art of Engraving,” were delivered by Mr. Roscoe. At the conclusion of one of the latter lectures, he took the opportunity of applauding the genius of Fuseli, at that time little known. He speaks of him as “an artist by no means inferior to any of those who dignify the present Royal Institution; and though,” he adds, “the public are not yet in possession of any of his works in this

Blundell, of Ince, was the president for the first year, and Mr. Roscoe the vice-president; for the second year, Mr. Ashton was president, and Mr. Roscoe formed one of the committee. The exhibitors are chiefly natives of Liverpool: but a picture by Fuseli, two by Barrett, and two by Stothard, appear in the first exhibition; and in the second, the names of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Gainsborough, Fuseli, Farrington, and Wright of Derby, occur.

line, I shall not be apprehensive of incurring any future impeachment of my judgment when I mention the name of Fuseli.”

It was during his visit to London in 1782, that Mr. Roscoe first saw and admired the paintings of Fuseli, with whom he then contracted a friendship which was cemented by numerous good offices towards that celebrated painter. In a letter to Mrs. Roscoe, written at a later period, he mentions the pleasure he derived from the society of Fuseli:—“Last night Wakefield and I got tea and supped with Fuseli, who is in great spirits, and very friendly. * * * He is a wonderful man, and certainly the most agreeable companion that can be, when pleased; and even when not so, his very anger and resentment may be tolerated for the sake of the wit and liveliness they produce.”

Of the genius of Fuseli he had formed the highest opinion, and from the period of their first acquaintance he became interested in his success, and used his influence for him in the disposal of his pictures.

“A letter from me,” says Fuseli, in 1783,—“a letter, too, of acknowledgments for your very friendly and vigorous exertions in my favour, does not, perhaps, come with a very good grace. I might, indeed, plead the painter’s privilege with a poet, if I knew not that the habits of a more serious employment have made you an exception from the fraternity of Irregulars. All I can say is, that I have never forgotten those few agreeable moments spent with you in London, and on the road; and that the flattering hopes of being able to see you at Liverpool made me neglect writing. Those hopes have not yet left me; in the mean time I shall make it a point to employ myself in a manner not altogether unworthy of your good wishes and encouragements.”

In the year 1785, Fuseli, on the invitation of Mr. Roscoe, paid a visit to Liverpool, the recollection of which appears, from his letters, to have afforded him much pleasure.

It was about this time, while his attention was devoted to the study of art, that Mr. Roscoe produced a poem of some length, under the title of “The Origin of Engraving.” This piece, which has never been published, displays an intimate acquaintance with the different styles of the great masters in that branch of art, and evinces no inconsiderable poetical skill in the introduction of the various descriptions.

The following lines allude to the revival of art in the fifteenth century, and, with the note appended to them, are curious, as showing the attachment of the writer, even at this period, to the great subject which afterwards employed his pen:— “In elder Greece when arras and science reign’d, The finer arts an equal rank maintain’d, High ’midst the rest, the Muse of Painting shone, And bade the admiring world her wonders own; To nature true, the graceful outline flow’d, With more than life the vivid colours glow’d; Applauding nations saw with grateful joy, And wealth and honours crown’d the fair employ: Yet whelm’d amid the wreck of former days, Lie the gay monuments of ancient praise, And though revolving years have spared the name, Dimm’d is the radiance of the painter’s fame. Long droop’d the sacred art—but rose at length With brighter lustre and redoubled strength; When great Lorenzo*, ’midst his mild domain, Led the gay Muses and their kindred train; Then, as the bard the imagined story drew, The kindling artist bade it rise to view; Till the strong comment shamed the sister art, And found a nearer passage to the heart.”

For several years Mr. Roscoe had been in the habit of amusing himself, during the hours of leisure which his profession afforded, by forming a small collection of engravings, in the study of which he found great pleasure. The opportu-

* “Lorenzo de’ Medici, called the Magnificent, (born in 1448, died in 1492,) was the director of the Florentine republic for upwards of twenty years, and the father of John de’ Medici, afterwards pope, by the name of Leo X. To the munificence and taste of Lorenzo is principally to be attributed the sudden progress of the fine arts in Italy at the close of the fifteenth century. But this is only a small part of his praise. If a full enquiry be made into his life and character, he will appear to be not only one of the most extraordinary, but, perhaps, upon the whole, the most extraordinary man that any age or nation has produced.”

nities supplied by his occasional visits to London were gladly taken advantage of; and as the indulgence of the taste was at that period less expensive than at present, he succeeded in obtaining such a collection as enabled him to prosecute with gratification and advantage the study of this branch of art. The late Mr. Joseph Strutt being at this time engaged in preparing for publication his “Biographical Dictionary of Engravers,” Mr. Roscoe communicated to him some observations on the art, the receipt of which Mr. Strutt acknowledges in the following letter, dated in 1785:—

“I received your obliging letter last night, with the excellent Essay on the art of engraving, for which I return you my most sincere thanks. The observations contained in it are, as you remark, entirely new; and, from the mode of their arrangement, precisely what are highly necessary to precede a work like mine. As you have kindly permitted me to make use of them, I shall certainly give them to the public in the form in which they stand, which cannot possibly, as I conceive, be altered for the better; and I hope you will favour me, whenever you can find leisure, with any observations that may strike you, either concerning the art itself, or any of the artists; for every assistance from a person of your taste and judgment will contribute greatly to the enriching of the work, which of course, as a mere dictionary, must be exceedingly dry.”

In the Dissertation which is prefixed to his Dictionary, Mr. Strutt has accordingly availed himself of a portion of the Essay thus furnished, which he introduces with this remark:—“With respect to the use and excellency of the art of engraving, I beg leave to subjoin the following observations. They were drawn up by a gentleman of great taste, and are the result of a critical examination of the greatest masters; and will, I trust, be still more acceptable to the public, as they are not the remarks of an engraver, but of a gentleman no otherways interested in the cause, than as a man of science and a lover of the arts.”

It was at one time the intention of Mr. Strutt to add a third volume to his Dictionary, in the preparation of which he proposed to avail himself of the assistance of Mr. Roscoe. “I thank you,” he says, in a letter to the latter, “for your obliging permission to insert your name in the list of my benefactors, but still more for the name of friend which you have kindly added; and I sincerely wish it was in my power in any manner to return those singular favours and repeated marks of friendship which I have received at your hands. But instead of paying off any arrears, I am running still deeper in debt, as you will find, when I add, that a third volume must, of necessity, follow these two, exactly upon the plan you have proposed. It will be preceded by a dissertation upon etching in general, and painters’ etchings in particular, with complete (or as nearly so as possible) catalogues of the works of the greatest masters. This, as you justly observe, may either be connected with, or purchased separate from, the Dictionary.”

In consequence of this communication, Mr. Roscoe was induced to transmit to his correspondent an Essay, under the title of “Remarks on Etching,” and “An Idea of a Chronological Collection of Engravings,” intended to form part of the projected third volume of the “Dictionary of Engravers.”

“I received your kind present,” says Mr. Strutt, “with the obliging letter enclosed in it. I have diligently examined the whole of the work, and think it is drawn up in an admirable manner; neither could it possibly have been comprised in a less compass. I want words to express my gratitude to you for the trouble you have been at on my account. I shall certainly print it as it stands, with very few additions to the names of the artists; the number of which, with the greatest propriety, is made as short as it can be.”

Engagements of another nature, into which Mr. Strutt entered, prevented him from carrying on his design of adding to his Dictionary; and the contributions from Mr. Roscoe were returned to him, with the following observations:—“I am highly obliged to you for your kind offers, and should receive them with the warmest gratitude if I was proceeding with the work, as I am well assured they would form a very valuable part of it. But let me endeavour to prevail upon you to give them to the public from your own hand. I mean your “Remarks on Etching;” to which may properly be added, the “Idea of a Chronological Collection,” &c. Any kind of information that I can possibly supply you with, you may at all times command. I again add, that I am confident you will greatly oblige the public by the publication. It will make a complete volume by itself, and the usefulness of such a work need not be pointed out.”

In the course of this year (1784), Mr. Roscoe was elected an honorary member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester. His diploma bears the signatures of Dr. Percival and Dr. Henry.

CHAPTER III. 1787—1792. Early opinions of Mr. Roscoe on the subject of the African slave trade—his allusion to it in the poem of “Mount Pleasant.”—Publication of “The Wrongs of Africa”—translated into German.—Publication of the “General View of the African Slave Trade,” his pamphlet in answer to the Rev. Raymund Harris.—Thanks of the Abolition Committee.—Publication of the “Inquiry into the Causes of the Insurrection of the Negroes in the Island of St. Domingo.” CHAPTER III.

The African slave trade constituted, at this period, a great part of the commerce of Liverpool. A numerous body of merchants and shipowners, and a still more formidable array of masters of vessels, and sailors, looked to the continuance of that traffic for their emolument or their support. The wealth and prosperity of the town were supposed to depend chiefly upon this branch of commerce, and there were few persons whose interests were not, directly or indirectly, connected with the prosecution of it. Even those whose employments had no reference to commercial objects, found their opinions and feelings with regard to the traffic necessarily affected by the tone of the society in which they mingled.* Under these circum-

* The painful effect which the discussion of the Slave Question occasioned in Liverpool is described by Dr. Currie, in a letter written in the year 1788.—“The general discussion of the slavery of the negroes has produced much unhappiness in Liverpool. Men are awaking to their situation; and the struggle between interest and humanity has made great havoc in the happiness of many families. If I were to attempt to tell you the history of my own transactions in this business, I should consume more time than I can spare. Altogether, I have felt myself more interested and less happy

stances it was hardly to be expected that Liverpool should be the place from which a voice should be heard appealing to the world on behalf of the captive African. Fortunately, however, the mind of Mr. Roscoe remained unshackled by the prejudices or the interests of those around him, nor did any motives of a personal nature operate to prevent the expression of his opinions. He had been gifted with those strong feelings of abhorrence to injustice, and of resistance to oppression, which are the great moral engines bestowed by God upon man for the maintenance of his virtue and his freedom. The “aversion to compulsion,” recorded by Mr. Roscoe as one of his earliest characteristics, led him in his youth to form very decided opinions upon this question, which, in his after life, occupied much of his attention, and in which he had ultimately the gratification of knowing that he had laboured

than is suited to my other avocations. The attempts that are continually made to justify this gross violation of the principles of justice, one cannot help repelling; and, at the same time, it is dreadful to hold an argument, where, if your opponent is convinced, he must be made miserable.”—Memoirs, vol. i. p. 135.

In the same letter, Dr. Currie gives the history of a short poem, which appeared about this time, under the title of “The African,” in the London papers, and which was the joint production of himself and of Mr. Roscoe. It has also been printed in Mrs. Riddell’s “Metrical Miscellany,” under the title of “Maraton.”

not unsuccessfully. In his poem of “Mount Pleasant,” which, though written in the year 1771, was not published till the year 1777, he did not hesitate to brand with the opprobrium it merited, the traffic in which so large a portion of his fellow townsmen were engaged. “There Afric’s swarthy sons their toils repeat, Beneath the fervors of the noon-tide heat; Torn from each joy that crown’d their native soil, No sweet reflections mitigate their toil: From morn to eve by rigorous hands opprest, Dull fly their hours, of every hope unblest, Till broke with labour, helpless and forlorn, From their weak grasp the lingering morsel torn, The reed-built hovels’ friendly shade denied, The jest of folly and the scorn of pride; Drooping beneath meridian suns they lie, Lift the faint head, and bend the imploring eye, Till death in kindness from the tortured breast Calls the free spirit to the realms of rest. Shame to mankind! but shame to Britons most, Who all the sweets of Liberty can boast; Yet, deaf to every human claim, deny That bliss to others which themselves enjoy; Life’s bitter draught with harsher bitter fill, Blast every joy, and add to every ill; The trembling limbs with galling iron bind, Nor loose the heavier bondage of the mind.”

The writings of many excellent men, about this period, had attracted the attention of the public to the momentous question of the slave trade. Dr. Beattie, in his “Essay on Truth;” Wesley, in his “Thoughts on Slavery;” Adam Smith, in his “Wealth of Nations;” and Paley, in his “Moral Philosophy;” had exposed the cruelty, the injustice, and the impolicy of the traffic. Denunciations of its unchristian spirit began to be heard from the pulpit; and the question was brought before the legislature in the year 1776, by Mr. David Hartley, the member for Hull. The opponents of the traffic, at length, in the year 1787, united themselves together for the purpose of rendering their opposition more effective; and a committee was formed in London, which met weekly, for the purpose of considering the best means of procuring the abolition of the trade.

To promote the same great object, Mr. Roscoe took up his pen; and, in the summer of 1787, published the first part of the “Wrongs of Africa,” a poem designed to awaken the feelings of the people to the horrors of the slave system. The profits of this poem were presented by Mr. Roscoe to the London committee, through his friend, Mr. John Barton, a member of that body. “This circumstance,” observes Mr. Clarkson, in his “History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade*,” “was not only agreeable, inasmuch as it showed us that there were others who felt with us for the injured Africans, and who were willing to aid us in our designs; but it was rendered still more so, when we were

* Vol. i. p. 280.

given to understand that the poem was written by Mr. Roscoe, of Liverpool, and the preface to it by the late Dr. Currie, who then lived in the same place. To find friends to our cause rising up from such a quarter, where we expected scarcely any thing but opposition, was particularly encouraging.”

The first part of “The Wrongs of Africa” was intended to illustrate the mode of procuring slaves on the coast of that country. The manner in which the captives were obtained, by wars or by domestic treachery, is described; and the cruelties and privations to which they were subjected, are painted in strong colours. Throughout the poem, that love of freedom, that inextinguishable hatred of oppression, are displayed, which were such signal features of the writer’s character:— “Dear to the heart is Freedom’s generous flame, And dear the exulting glow that warms the soul, When struggling virtue from the tyrant’s grasp Indignant rushes and asserts her rights.’

The following passage, in which the writer endeavours to show that, even in savage life, the natural affections exert their full influence, may be considered as affording a fair specimen of the poem:— “Nor yet unknown to more refined delights, Nor to the soft and social feelings lost, Was the swart African: wherever man Erects his dwelling, whether on the bleak And frozen cliffs of Zembla’s northern coast, Or in meridian regions, Love attends And shares his habitation; in his train Come fond affections, come endearing joys, And confidence, and tenderness, and truth. For not to polish’d life alone confined Are these primeval blessings, rather there Destroy’d or injured; mercenary ties There bind ill-suited tempers; avarice there, And pride, and lowering superstition, cross The tender union; but where nature reigns, And universal freedom, Love exults As in his native clime; there aims secure His brightest arrow, steep’d in keen delights, To cultured minds and colder skies unknown.”

In the following year (1788) appeared the second part of the “Wrongs of Africa;” the subject of which is, the voyage of the slaves to the West Indian islands. The description of the dwelling of Matomba, the guardian of Cymbello, a native prince, who is captured and carried away, is a proof that, at this period, Mr. Roscoe had become attached to botanical pursuits. “Remote from peopled haunts, ’midst silent groves, Where palms and plantains intermix’d their shade. And spread their broad leaves to the scorching sun, Matomba’s dwelling stood.—A crystal stream Gush’d from the gloom and lav’d a chosen spot, That own’d his constant culture: Aloes there Shot forth their vigorous stems, and hung their bells In graceful negligence; Hæmanthus spread His crimson bloom; the flowery Almond there, Profuse of fragrance, scented all the plain; And the gay Protea waved his silvery leaf, And glitter’d on the day;—a thousand plants The favourites of the sun, whose vivid tints Decay, and sicken, in our northern climes, There in perennial lustre smiled, nor fear’d The chilling blasts of Eurus.”

The captive Cymbello is visited by Despair, and the personification of that power is declared,by Dr. Currie, to be “one of the most sublime thoughts in modern poetry.”* “Torn by conflicting passions, barr’d from air, With taunts and stripes insulted, and compell’d To share the anguish of desponding throngs That hourly cursed existence, soon began His vigour to decline, and on her throne Sat Reason tottering. Sleep refused to close His eyes, that gazing wild with maniac glare Froze in their sockets—when before their orbs Rose a majestic form, that, not confined Within the ship’s scant boundary, rear’d her head Amidst the rolling clouds. Her right hand held A falchion dropping blood, and in her left A heart yet palpitating shock’d the sight. Dreadful she smiled, yet in her dreadful smile Lurk’d fascination: horrid was her voice, Yet did it vibrate on the wretch’s ear Sweeter than music. ‘Prince,’ she cried, ‘I come To free from weak regret thy manly mind, And vindicate thy wrongs. To deeds of death Rise then! my steel shall point the way.’ She spoke, And clasp’d him to her bosom. Through his frame Ran fierce emotions of tumultuous joy; He spurn’d the fond complaint; no more the sigh Burst from his heart; his eyes forgot to weep; Ambition now was hush’d; the patriot Hope Expired; and Love himself the rule resign’d To one unbounded thirst of dread revenge.”

* Memoirs, vol. i. p. 135.

The opinions expressed with regard to this poem, both privately and publicly, were very gratifying to the author. His friend Mr. Barton, who had superintended it as it passed through the press, thus spoke of it:—“I have at last got the second part, which, to say the least of it, will not disappoint the expectations raised by the first part. I think the poet evidently improves as he advances, and I hope nothing will prevent his going further. To me the language and thoughts appear to flow with greater ease, without the smallest diminution of boldness or energy. I have never been more pleased or affected by any poetical production whatever, and (all compliments out of the question) I must say, I cannot but feel a pride in calling such an author my friend.”

“The Wrongs of Africa” were subsequently translated into German, as Mr. Roscoe learned, upwards of twenty years after its publication, from the following letter:—“I shall beg leave,” says his correspondent, Mr. Johnson, “to mention another circumstance which I hope will be, in some degree, interesting to you, as it will show you that Germans of literary celebrity have thought themselves well employed in rendering into their native tongue the least important of your works. During my residence at Leipsic, I became acquainted with a clergyman of the name of Kühn, who showed me the manuscript of a poem which has since been published; it was a translation of an English poem in two parts, entitled ‘The Wrongs of Africa;’ and although I had not read the original, I easily recognised the author. I was sorry to find, on my arrival in England, that the poem had never been completed, as otherwise I should have sent the conclusion to my friend, as I had promised.”

But it was not in verse alone that Mr. Roscoe raised his voice against the continuance of a system so injurious to the interests of humanity as the African slave trade. In the winter of 1787 he published a short pamphlet, entitled “A General View of the African Slave Trade, demonstrating its Injustice and Impolicy; with Hints towards a Bill for its Abolition.”* In this pamphlet Mr. Roscoe considers the subject in two points of view: first, with respect to its justice or iniquity; and secondly, with respect to its political advantages or disadvantages to this country: and that he did not altogether fail in establishing his arguments, may be inferred from the following observations of Dr. Currie, who, though a sincere friend to the abolition of the trade, yet regarded with a cool and dispassionate judgment the efforts of those who

* London: printed for R. Faulder, New Bond Street, 1788. One thousand copies of this pamphlet were printed.

were labouring in the cause.* “A pamphlet has just appeared, entitled ‘A General View of the African Slave Trade, with Hints towards a Bill for its Abolition,’ which puts the subject in a very clear point of view, and contains a brief, but masterly, chain of propositions that bear irresistible force. I recommend it to your perusal. The moderation of its language is likely to make it useful.”† Mde. Necker, whose zeal for liberty led her to interest herself in the sufferings of the Africans, appears to have entertained the idea of translating this work into French. “On the subject of the Slave Trade,” says Mr. Barton, in a letter to Mr. Roscoe, “I have nothing new to communicate, except that one of the London Committee has lately been in France, and dined at Paris with the committee established in that place with the same views as our own. Our friend says, the committee appears to consist of very worthy and respectable characters, and that they are very much in earnest to bring about the reformation we wish for. He particularly mentioned the zeal of Mde. Necker in this great business, and her intentions of publishing some tracts on the subject, so soon as she could obtain leave for that purpose, which is a confirmation of the account received at Liver-

* See his Letter to Mr. Wilberforce, in the second volume of his Memoirs.

† Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 51.

pool of her having been translating the ‘General View.’” From another of Mr. Barton’s letters, it appears that the pamphlet excited considerable attention in Liverpool. “I rejoice,” says he, “to find that thy pamphlet has occasioned a ferment amongst the African merchants at Liverpool, and I trust it will occasion a ferment amongst our senators likewise, and produce the conviction we so much wish them to feel.”

The “General View of the African Slave Trade” had not been many months before the public, when Mr. Roscoe found himself again called upon for fresh exertions in the same cause. The Rev. Raymond Harris, a clergyman of the Church of England, who had been educated for the Catholic priesthood, published, under the title of “Scriptural Researches on the Licitness of the Slave Trade,” a work which was intended to tranquillise the consciences of those who carried on the traffic, by representing slavery as a system approved of by God. He proposed to show “its conformity with the principles of natural and revealed religion, as delineated in the sacred writings of the Word of God.” This bold attempt to degrade the noblest of all the attributes of the Deity,—his justice and his mercy,—met with many admirers. “Even people,” says Mr. Barton, in the same letter from which an extract has been made above, “the least likely to be influenced in their own judgments by arguments drawn from this quarter, have yet shown a wonderful desire to have such arguments pass for solid with others. I am assured that Lord Hawkesbury himself condescended to distribute some of Harris’s ‘Scriptural Researches,’ recommending them at the same time as containing unanswerable arguments in favour of the slave trade.”

Other persons, who felt that the interests both of religion and of humanity must suffer from a publication like this, were filled with indignation at its appearance. Dr. Currie, whose temperate mind and well-balanced feelings seldom permitted him to use harsh expressions, thus speaks of it:—“A little scoundrel, a Spanish Jesuit, has advanced to the assistance of the slave-merchants, and has published a vindication of this traffic from the Old Testament. His work is extolled as a prodigy by these judges of composition, and is, in truth, no bad specimen of his talents, though egregiously false and sophistical, as all justifications of slavery must be. I have prompted a clergyman, a friend of mine, to answer him, by telling him, that if such be religion, I would ‘none on’t.’”*

The reply to the “Scriptural Researches” might with great propriety have proceeded from a minister of religion, though it did not require any very considerable knowledge of divinity to

* Memoirs of Dr. Currie, vol. i. p. 135.

refute arguments derived from an authority so obviously misapplied. The zeal of Mr. Roscoe, however, did not permit him to wait until others engaged in the contest; and, in the summer of 1788, he sent to the press “A Scriptural Refutation of a Pamphlet lately published by the Rev. Raymond Harris, entitled ‘Scriptural Researches on the Licitness of the Slave Trade,’ in Four Letters from the Author to a Friend.”* As an argumentative piece, this pamphlet may certainly be considered as fully equal to any of the productions of Mr. Roscoe’s pen; nor could a more full and satisfactory answer to the sophisms of his antagonist have been wished for by the friends of the abolition. The work immediately attracted the attention of the London Abolition Committee, a member of which addressed to Mr. Barton the following letter on the subject:—

“At the desire of our committee, I have to request, that thou wouldst, with as much expedition as possible, communicate to the author of the Scriptural Refutation, &c. of Harris, their wishes to take off what remains of the impression (on his own terms of course), and in case that should not be sufficiently numerous for their purpose, they request the author’s leave to print a new edition. I beseech thee lose no time.”

* London: printed for B. Law, Ave Maria Lane, Ludgate Street. 1788.

In the letter from Mr. Barton, communicating this request, he says, “On my return from Brighton, I had the pleasure to receive a parcel, ‘from the Author,’ containing six pamphlets, in answer to Harris. I immediately perused one of them myself, and gave the others to some of the most intelligent members of our committee, and we are all unanimously of opinion, that it is the work of a master, and by much the best answer that Harris has received.” The wishes of the committee were immediately complied with by Mr. Roscoe; and the thanks of that body were transmitted to him in the following letter from Mr. Barton:—

“Immediately on receipt of thy favour of the 5th, I communicated the contents (so far as they related to the ‘Scriptural Refutation’) to the committee in London, who were much pleased with the offer made to them, and very happy to accept of it. The following is an extract from their minutes:—

“‘At a Committee of the Society for effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, July 15. 1788.

“‘This Committee, impressed with a sense of the laudable zeal, and great abilities, manifested by the author of “A Scriptural Refutation of a pamphlet, entitled Scriptural Researches on the Licitness of the Slave Trade,” do gratefully accept his offer, and request Mr. Barton to con-vey to him the thanks of the Committee, for the important service he has rendered the cause in which they are engaged.’

“I was not in town myself at the time of this meeting, nor have been since (nor do I know when I shall be again), therefore I have not seen the committee books; but, I suppose, this minute must have been preceded by another, in which the particulars of the offer made by the author would be stated.

“The Committee ordered a new edition, at the same time, which I should imagine must ere this be completed; so that the circulation of this pamphlet will very soon be general over every part of the kingdom, and I trust its utility will be as great as its circulation will be extensive. All who have read it, that I have yet met with, speak of it in terms of the highest commendation; and many are the enquiries and conjectures respecting its author.”

The insurrection of the negroes in the Island of St. Domingo, in the year 1791, having been made use of as an argument against the proceedings of the Abolitionists in this country, Mr. Roscoe was induced to examine this question with attention, and the result of his enquiry was given to the public in a short tract, entitled “An Inquiry into the Causes of the Insurrection of the Negroes in the Island of St. Domingo; to which are added, Observations of M. Garran-Coulon on the same subject, read in his absence by Guadet, before the National Assembly, February 29. 1792.”* The particular object of this pamphlet was to review the account of the Insurrection, given in the speech of the Deputies from the General Assembly of St. Domingo to the National Assembly; in which the origin of the calamity was charged upon the Amis des Noirs, “by which name,” it is said, in the English translation of the speech, “is distinguished in France, the party that have seconded the English project for abolishing the Slave Trade.”

A more dreadful and appalling picture of aggravated cruelty and atrocity, than the speech of the Deputies exhibits, can scarcely be conceived. Murder, and violence of every kind, were remorselessly committed, not only upon the persons of the whites, but upon such of the negroes as remained faithful to their masters, who were frequently put to death by the slow torture of fire. Such were the acts which the Deputies from St. Domingo accused “the Friends of the Blacks” with having caused in the island; and such were the consequences which the enemies of the abolition in England predicted, as the result of their adversaries’ labours in our own colonies.

Those who regarded these dreadful scenes

* London: J. Johnson. 1792.

with a calmer and more philosophical eye, beheld in them only the inevitable consequences of slavery:—“Are these enormities,” says Mr. Roscoe, “to be lamented? Surely they are. Can they excite our wonder? By no means. What is the state of the labouring negro? Is he not a being bound down by force? Labouring under constant compulsion? Driven to complete his task by the immediate discipline of the whip? Are affection, lenity, and forbearance, the result of oppression and abuse? When the native ferocity of Africa is sharpened by the keen sense of long-continued injury, who shall set bounds to revenge?

But it was not alone from the fierce teachings of their own clime, that the negroes derived their lessons of blood. The white man had added his terrible instructions.

“Again,” adds Mr. Roscoe, “how have the fierce dispositions of savage life been counteracted or improved by the example of their white superiors? Resistance is always justifiable where force is the substitute of right: nor is the commission of a civil crime possible in a state of slavery. Yet the punishments that have been devised in the French islands, to repress crimes that could only exist by the abuse of the slaveholder, are such as nature revolts at. How often have these unfortunate beings beheld their fellows beat, in famine and distraction, the bars of an iron cage, in which they were doomed to pass, in inconceivable misery, the last days of their existence? Is it not known that, in these wretched islands, a human being has resigned his life in the torments of a slow-consuming fire? An unavenged instance of an act so awfully atrocious marks out for perdition the country that could suffer it. When the oppressor thus enforces his authority, what must be the effect of the sufferer’s resentment?

Other instances were not wanting to urge the Negro upon the track of blood. “Yet the Negro had other examples before his eyes. A dissension had arisen amongst the holders of the slaves: those who were before united in oppressing them, were now at variance among themselves. They had proceeded to open violence; whilst the slaves awaited the event with silence, though not with indifference. One party obtained an early superiority: the leader of the weaker number was taken; and the Negroes were spectators of the death of Ogé, a man, who partook of their colour, and who was broken alive upon the wheel. Twenty-five of his followers shared the same fate. If the cold-blooded sons of Europe, educated in the habits of improved society, and affecting to feel the precepts of a mild and merciful religion, can thus forget themselves and insult their own nature, ought they to wonder that the African should imitate the pattern, and, if possible, improve upon their example?”

Amongst the atrocities detailed by the Deputies, are the two following instances:—

“At Great River, an inhabitant, M. Cardineau, had two natural sons of colour, to whom he had given their liberty, and who, in their childhood, had been the objects of his tenderest care. They accost him, with a pistol at his breast, and demand his money. He consents; but no sooner have they obtained it, than they stab him.

“At Acul, M. Chauvet de Breuil, Deputy to the General Assembly, is assassinated by a Mulatto, aged sixteen, his natural son, to whom he destined his fortune, having manumitted him from his childhood.”

Upon these transactions, Mr. Roscoe makes the following remarks:—

“But the horrors of the slaughter increase. The white father falls a victim to the unnatural rage of his Mulatto son. Have human crimes their origin and causes in human affairs; or are they incited by some malignant demon, who possessing himself of that cup of affection, the human heart, pours out its contents, and fills it with poison? Alas! we vainly seek, in fable, the apology of our own depravity; and, unhappily, the causes of those transactions, which would scarce meet credibility in any other part of the globe, are in these regions of guilt too apparent. However the Author of nature may have instilled affection into the breast of a parent, as the means of preserving the race from destruction, we must allow, that the corresponding sentiment in the mind of the offspring is merely the effect of a long-continued course of care, partiality, and tenderness. Shall the harvest, then, rise up without seed? and where no fondness has been shown, shall filial attachments be expected? In a country, where it is by no means unusual for the known children of the planter to undergo all the hardships and the ignominy of slavery, in common with the most degraded class of mortals, is it there we are to seek for instances of filial affection?”

What must be thought of that condition of society, which, if we may believe the Deputies themselves, reverses all the feelings of the human breast? “The slaves,” say they, “who had been most kindly treated by their masters, were the soul of the insurrection. It was they who betrayed and delivered their humane masters to the assassin’s sword; it was they who seduced and stirred up to revolt the gangs disposed to fidelity. It was they who massacred whomsoever refused to become their accomplice. What a lesson for the Amis des Noirs!”

“Upon this part of the address,” says Mr. Roscoe, “reflections still occur, in which the planter is deeply interested. An opinion is thus incul-cated, which, if acceded to, and acted upon, must render the islands a constant scene of cruelty and bloodshed. We are told, that the slaves who had been most kindly treated by their masters were the soul of the insurrection; that it was they who had betrayed and delivered their humane masters to the assassin’s sword, and seduced and stirred up to revolt the gangs disposed to fidelity. Hear this, ye planters! and if there be one amongst you so singularly foolish as to harbour a lurking sentiment of humanity, let him for his own safety divest himself of it without loss of time! The Negro is a being, whose nature and dispositions are not merely different from those of the European, they are the reverse of them. Kindness and compassion excite in his breast implacable and deadly hatred; but stripes, and insult, and abuse, generate gratitude, affection, and inviolable attachments! Upon this principle, we are enabled to reconcile an apparent inconsistency in the address. ‘Slaves,’ we are informed, ‘were still found, who gave proofs of an invincible fidelity; and who made manifest their determination to detest the seduction of those, who would, with promises of liberty, inveigle them to certain destruction.’ If the humanity of the master only sharpens the appetite of revenge, is it difficult to discover by what mode of treatment the friendship of these slaves was secured? Be grateful, ye planters, to the man, who has at length disclosed this important truth; and admire his courage who has dared to avow it, even in the bosom of a nation devoted to liberty!”

In perusing this pamphlet, the reader will be but too forcibly reminded of similar calamities which have recently occurred in our own colonies, and which have been in the same manner attributed, not to their true cause, the demoralising and debasing nature of slavery, but to the interference of the abolitionists. The concluding observations of the writer are as applicable at the present moment as on the day when they were written.

“If, however, no conclusions can be drawn from the history of these disorders, either to impeach the promoters of the abolition of the Slave Trade, or to deter the British Parliament from duly considering, and fully deciding on, that important measure, it will afford instruction of a different nature. Nourished in inveterate, and it will be feared irremediable, prejudices, it may show us, that the colonists are not the best judges even of their own interests; it may apprise us of the danger of sacrificing general principles of substantial justice to variable and temporising expedients; it may demonstrate to us, that the preservation of our own islands from similar disasters, depends on the early adoption of measures, which, whilst they are vigorous and decisive, are just, conciliatory, and humane; and may caution us, that, where we choose not to impart the beamings of hope, we excite not the ragings of despair.”

The merit of this pamphlet, in its application of general principles to particular cases, is remarked by Mr. Rathbone, in a letter to Mr. Roscoe, written many years after its publication:—“I have been reading some other of your publications lately, and am struck with the ability and address with which you introduce general principles; and this is a talent of unspeakable value. They leave an impression, and apply to other subjects than those which gave them birth. * * * Your account of the causes of the insurrections in St. Domingo is full of these general principles. It is, in my opinion, your great forte; and I earnestly advise you to cultivate it.”

CHAPTER IV. 1788—1796. Motives which led Mr. Roscoe to take a part in politics.—Celebration of the Revolution of 1688—song on that occasion.—Commencement of the French Revolution.—Publication of the “Ode to the People of France,” “Unfold, Father Time,” “O’er the vine-cover’d hills.”—Progress of the Revolution.—Execution of the Brissotines.—Letter to Lord Lansdawne.—Publication of “Strictures on Mr. Burke’s Two Letters.”—“The Life, Death, and wonderful Achievements of Edmund Burke”—State of parties at Liverpool—public meeting there.—Address written by Mr. Roscoe.—Singular proceedings.—Publication of “Thoughts on the Causes of the present Failures.”—The Literary Society—forced to abandon their meetings.—Letter to Lord Lansdawne.—Sonnet by the Rev. W. Shepherd.—Visit to London.—Domestic correspondence.—Count Rantzau—correspondence with him and with the Countess Rantzau.—Removal of Mr. Roscoe from the town of Liverpool.—“Inscription.”—Removal to Birchfield. CHAPTER IV.

The motives by which men are induced to take an active part in political affairs, are of a very varied character. In many instances high birth and party connections lead, as it were naturally, into public life. Others, destitute of these advantages, are allured by the prospects which ambition opens, or by the hopes of profit which place affords; while others, again, are actuated by the love of popular distinction,—perhaps the most common feeling which leads men into the ceaseless anxieties, the ever-recurring disappointments, and the unthankful duties of political life. Governed by different motives, a few individuals are found, who, in their exertions on behalf of the public, disregard the rewards which power, place, and popular applause bestow; satisfied with the conviction that, in directing their best efforts to the public good, they have not unworthily performed one of the first and most honourable of human duties. It is to this class of men alone that a country can look for faithful counsellors and for zealous servants. It is these alone, who, in their freedom from all sinister interests, and still more from all ill-directed ambition, will be neither warped nor misled in the performance of their lofty duties.

The motives which induced Mr. Roscoe, at an early age, to take a lively interest, and, so far as his station in life permitted, an active part in public affairs, were unmixed with any views of personal advantage or distinction. The opinions entertained by him on all the more important subjects of public discussion were far from finding general favour, even in the eyes of the populace; while those who professed them were avowedly obnoxious to the government, and to a great proportion of the wealthy and powerful part of the community. The advocates of French principles, as those who ventured to express liberal opinions were termed, incurred an odium which it required some fortitude of mind to withstand; and no one, who was not a witness to the state of English society at that period, can justly appreciate the merit of the persons who not only retained opinions so generally obnoxious, but continued publicly to profess them, and to despise the obloquy to which that profession gave rise.

Though the theatre of Mr. Roscoe’s public exertions at this period of his life was remote and confined, it must not therefore be supposed that to others they were without any useful results, or that on his own part they demanded no sacrifices. The town of Liverpool had not, indeed, at that time, acquired the station in the country which it now occupies; but its rapidly increasing importance rendered the opinion of its inhabitants of some consequence in estimating the general state of public feeling. In forming and directing that opinion, Mr. Roscoe possessed no inconsiderable influence; arising from the respect which his personal character inspired, and from the general confidence reposed in his sincerity and integrity. The state of society in Liverpool was at this time such, that there were few of its principal inhabitants with whom he did not enjoy a personal acquaintance; and of the opportunities thus afforded him, in public and in private, of directing the minds of those around him to just views of political affairs, he always eagerly availed himself.

The character of his political opinions, which were formed at an early age, resulted from the mode in which his mind had been cultivated, and from the absence of that control and superintendence, in matter of opinion, to which in general the formation of political principles in early life is owing. His native disposition, therefore, displayed itself, in an attachment to the principles of freedom, in an opposition to injustice and oppression under every form, and in a zealous and generous desire to benefit his fellow creatures.

Although the intervals of leisure which he was able to snatch from his daily employments were usually devoted to literary studies, his mind was yet actively alive to what was passing in the political world. The first occasion upon which he appears to have taken any public part in politics was on the celebration, in 1788, of the centenary of the Revolution. Several gentlemen of Liverpool having met to commemorate that great event, Mr. Roscoe formed one of the party; and the following lines, written by him, were recited on the occasion:—

“SECULAR SONG ON THE REVOLUTION OF 1688. “Since Freedom here fix’d her immutable throne, A hundred long years wing’d with blessings are past; Our fathers the sweets of her favour have known, But ’t is ours to complete the full circle at last: Then grasp the deep bowl, the full chorus prolong, To William and Freedom be sacred the song! “When James, the worst heir of a tyrannous line, Had trampled on reason, religion, and laws, Like an angel commission’d by goodness divine, Then William arose, and asserted our cause; Then grasp the deep bowl, the full chorus prolong, To William and Freedom be sacred the song! “Could the sons of Britannia, supine and unjust, Be dead to the transports the season inspires, The spirits of those who now moulder in dust, Would speak from their ashes to kindle our fires: Then grasp the deep bowl, the full chorus prolong, To William and Freedom be sacred the song! “To Nature the boon of existence we owe, But ’t is Liberty crowns it with honour and joy The worth of her smile by experience we know, To enjoy it we live, to preserve it we’ll die: Then grasp the deep bowl, the full chorus prolong, To William and Freedom be sacred the song! “Round this altar of Freedom united we bow, Our libations shall aid her unquenchable flame, Which here to transmit to our children we vow, Bright and vivid as when from our fathers it came: Then grasp the deep bowl, the full chorus prolong, To William and Freedom be sacred the song!”

Possessing principles and feelings like these, it cannot be supposed that Mr. Roscoe witnessed the commencement of the French Revolution without sentiments of the most intense interest. The spectacle of a great nation rising up, as one man, to regain the station and the happiness from which it had been debarred by centuries of misgovernment, was one which might well awaken the sympathies of his heart. Nor was the splendour which surrounded the first efforts of the French to recover their freedom obscured by any clouds. In this glory of the first days of their Revolution it was that Mr. Roscoe dedicated his muse to the celebration of French liberty. In the prosecution of his studies he had been struck with the fine canzone of Petrarch— “Quel ch’ ha nostra natura in se più degno,” which seemed susceptible of being applied to the great struggle for freedom then taking place in France; and he accordingly imitated the Italian poem in “An Ode to the People of France,” which was published at Liverpool, in the year 1789. The invocation to Liberty, “Libertà! dolce e desiato bene,” is perhaps the most spirited part of the translation:— “Freedom! blest gift, whom none condemn who know; Dear is thy presence to this world below! Life vigorous grows where’er thy steps have trod, And man walks forth the semblance of a God; If thou be absent, life no joy affords, Despised its titled pomps, its useless hoards; But in thy presence every cottage charms, And Peace reposes in thy sheltering arms.”

At a period long subsequent to the publication of this Ode, Mr. Roscoe transmitted a copy of it, together with some other of his works, to Mr. Fox, who, in a letter to the author, expresses his admiration of the poem.

The interest which the friends of liberty in Liverpool felt in the progress of the French Revolution was manifested by a meeting held on the 14th July, 1790, to celebrate the taking of the Bastile; on which occasion Mr. Roscoe produced his well-known song, “Unfold, Father Time.”

“SONG. “Unfold, Father Time! thy long records unfold, Of noble achievements accomplish’d of old, When men, by the standard of Liberty led, Undauntedly conquer’d or cheerfully bled; But know, ’midst the triumphs these moments reveal, Their glories shall fade, and their lustre turn pale; While France rises up, and confirms the decree That tears off her chains, and bids millions be free. “As spring to the fields, or as dew to the flower, To the earth parch’d with heat as the soft dropping shower; As health to the wretch that lies languid and wan; Or as rest to the weary—is Freedom to man. Where Freedom the light of her countenance gives, There only he revels, there only he lives; Seize, then, the glad moment, and hail the decree That bids millions rejoice, and a nation be free! “Too long had Oppression and Terror entwined Those fancy-form’d chains that enslave the free mind, Whilst dark Superstition, with Nature at strife, Had lock’d up for ages the fountains of life: But the demons are fled, the delusion is past, And Reason and Virtue have conquer’d at last; Seize, then, the glad moment, and hail the decree That bids millions rejoice, and a nation be free! “France! we share in the rapture thy bosom that fills, When the spirit of Liberty bounds o’er thy hills; Redundant henceforth may thy purple juice flow, Prouder wave thy green woods, and thy olive trees grow, For thy brow may the hand of Philosophy twine, Blest emblems! the myrtle, the olive, and vine; And Heaven through all ages confirm the decree, That tears off thy chains, and bids millions be free!”

But the pen of Mr. Roscoe was, in the following year, exerted still more successfully in the composition of his celebrated lines, “O’er the vine-cover’d hills and gay regions of France,”—a song which, as might be expected from its beauty and its animating spirit, immediately became highly popular.

This composition, like the former, was written for the purpose of being recited on the anniversary of the 14th August. Upon that day, in the year 1791. the riots at Birmingham took place, and the celebration was afterwards discontinued in Liverpool, as well as in other places.

“O’er the vine-cover’d hills and gay regions of France, See the day-star of Liberty rise; Through the clouds of detraction unsullied advance, And hold its new course through the skies. An effulgence so mild, with a lustre so bright, All Europe with wonder surveys; And, from deserts of darkness and dungeons of night, Contends for a share of the blaze. “Ah! who ’midst the horrors of night would abide, That can breathe the pure breezes of morn? Or who, that has drunk the pure crystalline tide, To the feculent flood would return? When the bosom of Beauty the throbbing heart meets, Ah, who can the transport decline? Or who, that has tasted of Liberty’s sweets, The prize but with life would resign? “Let Burke like a bat from its splendour retire, A splendour too strong for his eyes; Let pedants and fools his effusions admire, Entrapt in his cobwebs like flies. Shall insolent Sophistry hope to prevail Where Reason opposes her weight, When the welfare of millions is hung in the scale, And the balance yet trembles with fate? “But ’tis over—high Heaven the decision approves, Oppression has struggled in vain, To the hell she has form’d Superstition removes, And Tyranny bites his own chain. In the records of Time a new era unfolds, All nature exults in its birth; His creation benign the Creator beholds, And gives a new charter to earth. “O catch the high import, ye winds, as ye blow; O bear it, ye waves, as ye roll, From regions that feel the sun’s vertical glow, To the farthest extremes of the Pole. Equal rights, equal laws, to the nations around, Peace and friendship its precepts impart, And wherever the footsteps of Man shall be found, He shall bind the decree on his heart.”

As the revolution proceeded,—as the confidence of the people in the sincerity of the king decreased,—as the passions of various parties became more and more exasperated,—as the threats of foreign interference were redoubled, the aspect of political affairs in France grew darker and darker. It now became evident that despotism, amongst its most hateful qualities, possesses that of rendering those who suffer under its influence unfit for the wise enjoyment of freedom, until after a long and too often a sanguinary education;—that it is vain to expect from slaves, the discretion, the forbearance, and the magnanimity of freemen; and that the fatal retribution of the crimes of governments is found in the madness of the people. The oppression of the atmosphere is carried off in lightnings and in storms, and despotism expires in tumults and in blood. The crimes of the French revolution have been by many absurdly charged on those alone by whose hands they were committed; while their governors, who had industriously extirpated the principles and feelings which would have prevented such excesses, have been represented as their martyrs. Time, and calm reflection, will teach the better lesson, that, to render a people humane, just, and moderate, their government must first set them an example of humanity, of justice, and of moderation.

Those who, like Mr. Roscoe, had witnessed with delight the birth of freedom in France, and watched anxiously over its cradle,—who had looked for peace, and happiness, and improvement, as the great results of the revolution, beheld with grief and dismay the alarming vicissitudes of its progress. The last hope of the friends of France seemed to expire on the scaffold of the Brissotines.

It was soon after this event, the intelligence of which he received with the deepest emotion, that the following letter was addressed by Mr. Roscoe to the late Marquis of Lansdowne:—

“The event which has pressed upon me with more weight than almost any other I ever as yet experienced, either of a public or private nature, is the execution of the Deputies in France,—men whom I had long been accustomed to look up to as the best friends of their country and of mankind; and for whom, if affection be acquired without a personal acquaintance, I may say I had a real esteem. Of these men, Verniaux was the most particular object of my regard. He seems to have possessed a grandeur and sublimity of imagination, coupled with an accuracy of judgment, beyond any of his associates; and if ever the love of his country was apparent in any man, it was so in him. In lamenting the fate of these great men, I cannot, however, forget their errors, which, I am convinced, they themselves discovered when too late. Their graves were dug on the 10th of August, and the 2d of September passed their sentence. The remainder of their lives was a struggle to repair either their mistake in assenting to, or their want of energy in resisting, the violence that then took place. Fatal day! that overthrew the labour of years, and placed the fortunes of the human race on the chance of a die. Surely, nothing less than absolute despotism can admit of the application of the principle of force.

“Wherever the sense of a whole community can be peaceably taken, the insurrection of a part is treason. This forms the distinction between the destroyers of the Bastile and the heroes of the 10th of August, or their rivals of the 2d of September.

“As to the great point which the French think they have gained by the destruction of their monarchy, I think it of little consequence; not that I am become a believer in the maxim, that ‘whate’er is best administered is best,’ but because I think that a monarchy is capable of being as well constituted for the happiness of a people as a republic. And though, I hope, not superstitious, I cannot help thinking that the voluntary and solemn oath of a whole nation, to abide by a constitution which they took three years in framing, ought, if there be any thing serious or binding in human affairs, to have some weight. I will not trouble your Lordship with my feelings on the conduct of the French rulers subsequent to this shocking event. The horrid industry employed in the discovery of the other proscribed Deputies, the deliberate mockery of their trial, and the bloody indifference of the people at large, on the execution of such men as Rabaut, who first rescued them from despotism, freezes my affections, and gives me a dislike, not only to the French, but to my species. Sorry am I to say, that this dislike is not much removed by any thing I can see in my own country, where the same selfish and slavish spirit that has contributed to bring on the enormities of France is apparent in the prosecution of all those who aim, by a cool, rational, and deliberate reform, to prevent a similar catastrophe here. With what face can our present administration commit Thomas Muir to the hulks, preparatory to his transportation to Botany Bay, when it is apparent to all the nation, that if he has been guilty, Mr. Pitt and the Duke of Richmond ought to accompany him? But the leaders have apostatised, and the disciples perish. This is enough. The founders of a sect become its persecutors! To whom shall we compare those who punish what they have themselves endeavoured to promote?

“I cannot conceive what can be the views of the people assembled in Edinburgh, under the name of the British Convention; but the whole is so ill-timed, and so ill-conducted, that I should easily be persuaded it was intended to bring additional odium on the cause of reform, did I not know, that one person appeared amongst them whose motives are beyond suspicion. I mean Lord Daer, whom I have seen in Liverpool, and whose heart, I am sure, is right. Why has he committed himself in such a business, and nipt his usefulness in the bud? Great harm has been done by the doctrine, so industriously inculcated by a sect of which I am a professing member, that whatever is ultimately right is to be pursued at all times. Perhaps, however, this arises rather from a misapprehension of the precept, than from the precept itself. It might be admitted in its general purport, but then, what-ever is right is always to be sought for by means likely to obtain it, and not by such as can directly tend only to the injury of the cause, and the ruin of the individual. If I wish for a prosperous voyage, I must wait for the wind and the tide; but if I resolve to attempt it in spite of both, I become the unpitied cause of my own destruction.”

As the atrocities of the Revolution increased, it became the fashion in this country to attribute their origin, not to the degraded and servile state in which the people had been so long plunged, but to the operation of those principles upon which the Revolution itself was founded; as though freedom and equal laws produced nothing but oppression; justice and public order nothing but confusion; and peace and goodwill the most barbarous and bloody actions. Amongst the foremost advocates of this doctrine stood Mr. Burke, who, wholly abandoning the guidance of his reason, laboured to inflame the passions of his countrymen, till he almost made his own madness theirs. Every principle, by which the freedom and happiness of man in civil society can be protected or vindicated, was unhesitatingly denounced; while those who professed such principles were pointed out for proscription. His Thoughts on the French Revolution were followed by his Two Letters addressed to a Member of the present Parliament; in which the war he had waged with the principles of the Revolution in France was extended to those opinions at home. Eighty thousand converts in this country were stated to have imbibed the dangerous doctrine, and to have become “pure Jacobins, utterly incapable of amendment.” To stem this fatal tide of rebellion, infidelity, and anarchy, and to prevent the least approach towards pacific sentiments, was the object of the “Two Letters.” To that publication, Mr. Roscoe, in the year 1796, sent to the press a brief answer, under the title of “Strictures on Mr. Burke’s Two Letters, addressed to a Member of the present Parliament.”* In this pamphlet, after remarking upon the exaggerations of Mr. Burke’s statements, he exposes the real object of his writings,—the extermination of liberal principles,—an act not to be accomplished by the means recommended by Mr. Burke.

“Let us endeavour to prevent the rising of the sun, or to stay the swelling of the ocean, for the material world is, in some degree, subject to the control of mechanical force; but the intellectual world scoffs at the weak attempt which would limit its operations by the coarse and clumsy restrictions of bolts and chains.”

The principal part of the tract is directed to

* This pamphlet is reprinted in the “Occasional Tracts on the War.” London. 1810.

the subject of peace, with the view of showing that the French nation had not been, and was not, averse to a pacification, and that the interests of both countries would be secured by the termination of the war. The pamphlet concludes with the following remarks upon Mr. Burke’s political character:—

“It is wonderfully, and, no doubt, wisely directed by the Author of nature, that from the same soil and climate from which some plants draw their healthful and nutritive juices, others collect a poison the most destructive to the human race. It would seem, too, as if the human character displayed a similar diversity, and that some were intended by a natural rectitude and benevolence of disposition to select, from surrounding circumstances, causes of peace, charity, and good-will, whilst others can deduce from the same circumstances only the motives of hatred, envy, jealousy, and destruction. Wherever the latter disposition appears, there is no proceeding so open and generous, no transaction so honest, no purpose so virtuous, as not to afford food for its malignity. With whatever it comes in contact, it appropriates it by a kind of chemical affinity to its own nature; and if it does not find, creates, in every thing around it, gall and bitterness. I shall not press on my reader the application of these remarks; but I confess it has always appeared to me extraordinary, that the same man, who persevered during a long course of years, in instigating the people of America to resistance against this country, and, by measures which in these days would infallibly have brought him to the bar of a criminal court, encouraged them to the defence of their independence, should, when a similar circumstance occurred in France, and when there was every reason to presume this great and desirable event might be accomplished without contention and without bloodshed, have excited a general outcry against the attempt.

“That the cases of America and France are exactly similar will not indeed be pretended; but the difference between them was such, as, upon all reasonable grounds, should have redoubled the energies of his mind in favour of the latter. If the actuating principle of Mr. Burke had been a generous and disinterested love of liberty, it is not possible that he should have beheld the rising efforts of the people of France with the obliquity of jealousy, or the frown of hostility; nay, it is not possible that he should not have felt that prepossession in their favour, that solicitude for their success, which in the early part of the Revolution agitated the bosom of those who had been his associates in the cause of freedom: but, when the moment of decision arrived,— ‘’Twas then, O shame! O trust, how ill repaid!’— he, with a perversity without precedent in the annals of apostasy, seized the operative moment to pour his drug into the healthful mass, and it curdled into poison. From that instant, his exertions to prolong, and by all possible methods to increase, the calamities of the war which he had excited, have been unremitting and successful; and lest some more fortunate combination of circumstances, some returning gleam of human commiseration for human sufferings, should lead the contending parties to listen to the voice of reconciliation, he sedulously collects the ingredients of discord from every passing transaction, and hoards up the phial of his vengeance till the moment when it is most likely to produce its effect. Ardent and impassioned in the cause of freedom in America, whilst the assertion of that freedom led to contention and blood, equally impassioned against the liberties of France, and prolonging by every means in his power the duration of the war, his character acquires a degree of consistency which his opponents have unjustly refused to his pretensions. Tros Tyriusve, it is not the cause that interests him. Alternately the advocate of liberty or despotism, just as his support or his opposition may serve to keep alive the flames of discord, he acts up to the constitution of his nature, and in the economy of the moral world performs an unwelcome, but, perhaps, a necessary part.”

Aware that ridicule is sometimes as effectual a weapon as argument, Mr. Roscoe attacked the opinions of Burke in verse as well as in prose. In the year 1791 he wrote and printed a ballad, containing “The Life, Death, and wonderful Achievements of Edmund Burke,” which he accompanied by a frontispiece etched by himself*, representing Burke armed like a knight-errant, assailing Mr. Fox in the House of Commons.

“Full tilt he ran at all he met, And round he dealt his knocks, Till with a backward stroke at last, He hit poor Charley Fox. “Now Charley was, of all his friends, The warmest friend he had; So when he felt this graceless blow, He deem’d the man was mad. “With grief his generous bosom rose, A grief too great to hide; And as the stroke was somewhat hard, He sat him down and cried. “But not a whit did Edmund feel; For at his friend he flew, Resolved, before the neighbours round, To beat him black and blue.

* “I was unluckily out of town,” says Fuseli, in a letter to Mr. Roscoe, “when your letter came with the enclosed bill and ballad. The ballad has some admirable stanzas, but I like the tune of the bill still better. Your modesty is great in thinking you could not have etched as well as the frontispiece.”

“Then Charles indignant started up, The meagre form he took, And with a giant’s awful grasp His rusty armour shook. “Oh, have ye seen a mastiff strong A shivering lap-dog tear?— Then may ye judge how Edmund did, When claw’d by Charles, appear.”

Amidst the anxieties which every friend of freedom experienced with regard to the issue of public affairs on the Continent, the state of political feeling at home was such as to cause the most serious apprehensions. The government and the more wealthy and powerful part of the community, alarmed at the progress of opinions which aimed, as they imagined, at the overthrow of the settled institutions of the country, regarded with a timid jealousy the movements of their opponents. The lower orders, whose prejudices and ignorance suffered them to be easily misled, were prompted to acts of violence against those whom they were taught to view as the enemies of the king and of the constitution. The feelings of all classes of the nation were roused to a state of excitement which threatened the most dangerous consequences, and the fever of the public mind was designedly heightened by the government itself. The apprehensions of the weak and the passions of the violent were confirmed by a proclamation, representing, in strong colours, the dangers to which the nation was exposed by treasonable and seditious designs, and exhorting all persons to make diligent enquiry after the authors of the wicked and seditious writings which were disseminated over the country. The friends of the government were not slow in answering the appeal thus made to them, and loyal addresses to the king were poured in from every quarter.

In the town of Liverpool the loyal party, as they termed themselves, were not idle. The mayor of the borough, Mr. Tarleton (a younger brother of Sir Banastre Tarleton), desirous of distinguishing himself by his zeal, caused the celebrated charge of Mr. Justice Ashurst, and the address of the London Association, to be reprinted and circulated through the town. To counteract the effect of these papers, several persons, whose principles were regarded as ultra-liberal, formed themselves into a society, and published their resolutions in one of the Liverpool papers. To so high a pitch had party feeling risen, that those who were known to be members of this society were publicly insulted, and, after a very short time, were compelled to discontinue their meetings. At this juncture appeared Mr. Pitt’s celebrated proclamation already referred to, and the load of opprobrium under which the friends of peace and reform laboured was doubled. Unwilling that objects and motives, the most false and unjust, should be imputed to those who professed the same principles with himself, Mr. Roscoe drew up a declaration expressing the attachment of those who signed it, to the constitution, and, at the same time, their resolution to seek a parliamentary reform by all legal, temperate, and constitutional means. This declaration was communicated to his friends, and was already extensively signed, when the mayor of Liverpool convoked a public meeting of the inhabitants to consider the propriety of addressing the king. An opportunity being thus afforded for a more open expression of opinion, the parties who had promoted the signing of the Declaration resolved to lay it aside, and to reserve their sentiments for the public meeting. Accordingly, on the previous evening, Mr. Roscoe prepared the form of an address, pursuing, in a great measure, the sentiments of the Declaration, but containing a more delicate allusion to the subject of reform. Three addresses having been proposed by different friends of the government, Mr. Birch (now Sir Joseph Birch) introduced that which had been drawn up by Mr. Roscoe. A stormy debate arose upon it, and violent efforts were made by their opponents to prevent the advocates of peace and reform from being heard. Mr. Roscoe, however, and some of his friends, succeeded in addressing the meeting; and after a contest of nearly two hours his address was carried, on a show of hands, by a considerable majority. The mayor, who presided, having declared the address carried, appointed the following Monday (the meeting being held on Saturday) for its signature in the Town Hall.

On that day a singular scene took place. The populace, who in the mean time had been excited by placards posted on the walls, assembled round the doors of the Town Hall, and insulted those who attended for the purpose of signing the address, which they defaced and destroyed, no peace officers being in attendance to prevent this outrage. They then sent for the mayor, called for his address; and upon one of the addresses rejected at the former meeting being produced, they voted it to be the Liverpool address. It was signed as such by the mayor and the persons present; and with 12,000 signatures attached to it was presented to the king.

In a letter to Lord Lansdowne, giving an account of these transactions, Mr. Roscoe adds, “The loss of an address, which I was in hopes would have conciliated all parties, and put an end to our political dissensions in Liverpool, is not, however, our only cause of regret. In order to justify the violence of their measures, our antagonists find it necessary to load us with all possible odium; to struggle against it only renders it more oppressive; and all we have now to do is to submit in silence, lest we occasion others of a more personal nature, with which several of us have been threatened, both anonymously and openly.

* * * * * *

“In the course of the last fortnight, the only newspaper that would admit an article on the cause of Reform has been obliged, by the violence and threats of some intolerant individuals, to disavow its principles, and profess a thorough devotion to the prevailing frenzy; and though there are four weekly papers published, there is not one that will admit a contradiction to the grossest calumnies that can be devised against the friends of Reform, who have not now a public organ by which they can address the town of Liverpool.”

Not satisfied with repressing by every means in their power the progress of French principles at home, the government ultimately resolved to attempt the extermination of them in the country where they had their birth. There have been few periods in our history at which a war with France has been unpopular; and when hostilities with the French Republic were announced, the intelligence was received with a general expression of satisfaction throughout the nation. As yet we had not been taught the bitter lesson, that the triumphs of our arms may be too dearly purchased, and that a few years of successful achievements in war may be followed by ages of national difficulty and distress. To those who, like Mr. Roscoe, regarded all wars not resorted to from the most urgent necessity as iniquitous and wicked, and who looked with peculiar aversion upon an attempt like this to repress the liberties of a foreign country by force of arms, the war with France was doubly odious. The commercial difficulties in which the country became deeply involved, soon after the commencement of hostilities, gave him an opportunity, in attempting to trace out the causes of these embarrassments, to express publicly his opinion of the injustice and impolicy of the war. The extensive mercantile failures which took place in the year 1793 were accounted for in various ways. By some, their origin was attributed to the undue extension of paper circulation; and by others, to the improvident speculations of individuals; but a different cause was assigned to them by Mr. Roscoe. He justly regarded them as owing to the sudden transition from a state of peace to that of war; which, by affecting all the foreign commercial relations of the country, was destructive to mercantile credit. These opinions he embodied in a short pamphlet, which he published under the title of “Thoughts on the Causes of the present Failures.”* The

* London: J. Johnson. 1793. Republished in “Occasional Tracts relative to the War.” London. 1810.

work attracted some attention; and was noticed by the late Marquis of Lansdowne in the House of Lords “I was so much delighted with your little tract,” says that nobleman, in a letter to Mr. Roscoe, “that I could not help mentioning both it and the author, in the House of Lords, in the terms which they deserve. The ministry, when I mentioned it, affected to sneer at it; but I have the pleasure to tell you, that several members of both Houses have been as much struck with it as myself. Your principles do you as much honour, as I feel your friendship must always do me. * * * It will give me always pleasure to hear from you, and I hope you won’t forget the public.”*

But the interest felt by Mr. Roscoe in political affairs did not prevent him from prosecuting his schemes of literary improvement. The study of the Italian writers employed at this time the greater part of his leisure; and he was thus gradually familiarising himself with that extensive subject, which he afterwards so successfully illustrated. In the society, also, of the intelligent friends by whom he was surrounded, he found a relief, both from the anxieties of his profession and from the disappointment of his political views. The occasional meetings, which took place in an evening at the houses of Mr. Roscoe and his friends, assumed so agreeable a

* Letter dated 14th May, 1795.

character, that it was determined to give them a more permanent form; and “The Literary Society” was consequently founded. Amongst the members of this friendly association were Dr. Currie, the Rev. W. Shepherd, the Rev. John Yates, Professor Smyth, Mr. Rathbone, Dr. Rutter, and Mr. Roscoe. Their meetings were held every fortnight, at their respective houses; and the hour before supper was devoted to the reading of papers or the discussion of literary questions. But even this peaceful and unoffending company was not exempt from the violence of party feeling. Upon the appearance of Mr. Pitt’s proclamation against seditious meetings, and the consequent odium in which all who professed liberal principles were involved, the Literary Society found their meetings viewed with so much suspicion and jealousy, that it was thought proper, for the time, to discontinue them, nor were they afterwards resumed. This circumstance is referred to in the following extract from a letter addressed at the time to the Marquis of Lansdowne:—

“It was my intention to have stated to your Lordship some other instances of the consequences felt under the present system, where every man is called on to be a spy upon his brother; but I have already intruded much too far on your Lordship’s time. I must, however, mention that I have, for upwards of ten years, been a member of a little society of about a dozen persons (Dr. Currie and others), who have, during that time, met in rotation at each other’s houses. The object of our meeting was merely literary; but suspicion has for some time gone abroad about us, and I have good reason to believe we have been thought of importance enough to be pointed out to government by the collector of the customs here. Some of us having openly appeared on the late address, has, I believe, completed the business; and, in the present state of things, we have thought it expedient to suspend our future meetings.”

It was at this stormy and threatening period that the following sonnet was addressed by Mr. Shepherd to his friend:— SONNET ADDRESSED TO MR. ROSCOE. “When darkening clouds surcharge the moistened air, And frowning tempests roll along the sky, The prudent shepherd drives his fleecy care Where the grey rock uplifts its head on high: There, undisturb’d, he hears the roaring wind, And sees before him sweep the driving rain; Or ’tween the gusts, beneath the crag reclined, In fading distance eyes the troubled main: So, when intestine broils or foreign rage With angry tumult fire the public breast, Let us, my Roscoe, fly the maddening age, And ’mid domestic comforts calmly rest, When wrath and discord through the nations roam, Thrice happy who possess and prize a peaceful home.

Early in life Mr. Roscoe had acquired a lively taste for country pleasures and agricultural pursuits; a taste which, for many years, he had little opportunity of indulging. About the year 1792, in travelling from Manchester to Liverpool, he was struck with the extensive track of uncultivated moss-land, which runs for some miles along the road in the neighbourhood of Manchester; and it occurred to him, that the draining and improvement of this land might be made a source of profit, as well as a work of public utility. In conjunction, therefore, with his friend, Mr. Thomas Wakefield, who had been engaged in a similar undertaking, he resolved to apply for a lease of the moss; for the purpose of procuring which they visited London in the winter of 1792. Being detained in town for some weeks by this business, Mr. Roscoe had an opportunity of enjoying the society of many friends whom he highly valued, and of gratifying his taste by the purchase of a few works of art. The following short extracts are selected from his letters to Mrs. Roscoe, written during this visit:—

“You must not conceive, because I have not troubled you with the particulars of our transactions and disappointments, we had not a specific object in view. The truth is, we have been led on day by day, always hoping the accomplishment of our purpose, and as often frustrated. To-day has, however, brought us to a point; and W. and I have offered a sum of money, which, I believe, will remove further objections, and put matters in train, in which case it is probable that two or three weeks may restore me to the place where all my affections are centered.

“On Saturday I dined with the Marquis of Lansdowne, in a family party, and am to breakfast with him some day this week. On Thursday I am to meet Dr. Priestley at Dr. Aikin’s. In short, I endeavour to amuse myself as well as I can, and (don’t be alarmed) am not altogether unsuccessful. Fuseli sat with me at my lodgings last night. We dined with him a few days since; so that you see there is nothing to be apprehended for my health and safety.

* * * * *

“Should D. D.* tell you that I have bought a large and magnificent collection of pictures, don’t believe him—it’s no such thing—a few trifles by which I shall gain cent per cent., and Dan shall be the first man I take in.

“I have many hopes of accomplishing our purpose; and if that be done, perhaps your vision of the little comfortable cot, and peace and contentment, and laughing at the follies and faults of the world, may be realised. For my own part, I

* Mr. Daulby.

am indifferent as to every thing but being restored to the bosom of my family, whether it be in town or country.”

The same strong attachment to domestic society is expressed in the following letter:—

“This negotiation, with other affairs I have on hand, has kept me in close and perpetual employment; and it was with great difficulty I got to dine at Dr. Aikin’s yesterday, where I met with Dr. Priestley, Dr. Rees, Mr. Belsham, &c., and passed a few agreeable hours.

“My way of life here I contrive to make as agreeable as circumstances will permit. The affairs I have on hand employ my full attention all day; but you will easily judge I am not much pleased with my solitary parlour in the evening, when my thoughts all turn towards my own little fireside. I am not, however, foolish enough to torment myself because I cannot at all times enjoy the pleasures dearest to my heart. A temporary absence of this kind is at times inevitable; and if we have only the happiness of meeting again, and seeing our little fellows in good health, it will repay us for the anxiety of our separation.”

“After living a fortnight in the hurry of a coffee-room,” says Mr. Roscoe, in a letter written soon after the foregoing, “I am now writing this letter in private lodgings, which I find very comfortable. The impossibility of being alone for a moment would, in another week, have made me half crazy; but here I hope to be able to summon up what little philosophy I have, and to learn to bear my present separation from the dear objects of my love, with temper and resolution, considering that what I am now endeavouring to attain will, probably, in the end, enable us to place ourselves in a situation somewhat more suitable to our wishes, and add to the many blessings we already experience, that of being able to render some services to those about us.

“I have seen my old friend, David Samwell*, who did not at first recognise me, as I should scarcely have done him; but, on mentioning my name, he was highly pleased to see me. He is to take me to the Leverian Museum, and to explain the South Sea curiosities, &c. In a world like this, where our friends are constantly slipping from our sides, it is highly gratifying to meet with an honest fellow, after an absence of nearly twenty-five years.”

The friendship of Mr. Roscoe with Lord Lansdowne, and the character which he had already acquired for liberal studies, were the means of introducing him to most of the dis-

* An early companion of Mr. Roscoe. He accompanied Captain Cook in one of his Voyages. A copious journal kept during this voyage by Mr. Samwell is now in the possession of Mr. Roscoe’s family.

tinguished foreigners who visited Liverpool. Amongst others, a young Danish nobleman, the Count Rantzau, brought recommendations to him in the year 1793, which led to a friendship not commonly arising from so transient an acquaintance. The excellent dispositions of this young nobleman manifested themselves on his return to his estates, in an act of justice and humanity, referred to by Mr. Roscoe in the following letter, addressed to the Count in the year 1796:—

“Inexcusable as I must appear to you, in not having acknowledged the favour of your letter dated so long since as 11th February, 1794, I have not forgotten the very pleasant hours for which I am indebted to you on your visit to Liverpool, nor have I once ceased to feel those sentiments of sincere and respectful esteem to which that visit gave rise. The truth is, that having unavoidably deferred writing for a short time, and understanding from your letters that you were then undertaking a journey to Northern Jutland, I was at a loss to know your destination, till I had the pleasure, a few weeks since, to see your near relation and friend, Baron Buckwald, who honoured me with a visit, and gratified my enquiries respecting you. From him I learned (what I assure you gave me great pleasure) that you had entered into the matrimonial state, and had reason to expect every happiness which it can afford. It was with no less satisfaction I found that you had executed the benevolent intention which you did me the honour of mentioning to me, and had liberated your numerous vassals within your estates in Holstein. The accomplishments of rank, or the acquisitions of science, may command respect and admiration; but I venerate the man who can break through the prejudices of an unjust, though long established custom, and who finds a gratification in exchanging the authority and name of a master, for the more honourable title of a benefactor, a father, and a friend. I hope and trust that such examples of a wise and enlightened policy will not be without their effect; and that the liberty and happiness of the northern kingdoms of Europe may be effected by just and gradual steps, without those dreadful commotions which have been occasioned in other countries by the blind obstinacy of the rulers, and the headlong impetuosity of the people.”

Of the noble act to which Mr. Roscoe refers, a more particular account is given by Count Rantzau, in his answer to the preceding letter.

“Having, since a long time, given up every hope of keeping any place in your memory, I was most agreeably surprised by receiving your favour of the 30th of September, and I seize with pleasure the opportunity you have the kindness of offering, to keep up a connection which I shall always consider as one of the most interesting fruits of my travels.

“I may not conceal to you how much the approbation of my conduct, which a man in a far distant country, whom age and knowledge places far above me, flatters myself. It gives me the courage to entertain you further of those steps which are made in a small and peaceable country towards the civil accomplishment of the state of society.

“It was in the year 1794, I granted liberty and property to the glebæ adscriptis of my estate. In 1796, shortly after my return from Italy, the noblemen and country gentlemen instituted a committee to examine the state of slavery in Holstein. The lovers of ancient time endeavoured to abuse this measure as a mean for continuing in our former state. Having been so happy as to be elected a member of the committee, consisting of eight noblemen and four gentlemen, I proposed the total abolition of slavery in Holstein and Sleswick, and was so happy to carry the measure, after the debate had lasted about thirteen months. This resolution was signed the 11th of March, and is already submitted to the royal approbation. The latter part of this century has seen many examples of sovereigns restoring part of their subjects to the rights of which another part had deprived them, but I think it the very first instance, where a privileged order has volun-tarily received their slaves into the rank of citizens. If you see Lord Lansdowne, I beg you to do me the favour to inform him of this. I am sure a thing of this nature will, notwithstanding the remoteness of the theatre and the smallness of the object, merit the attention and interest of that great man.”

How long this interesting correspondence was kept up, does not appear. But the following letter, addressed by the Countess Rantzau to Mr. Roscoe, in 1814, evinces the confidence and attachment with which her husband had always continued to regard his friend:—

“Kiel, en Holstein, le 16 Fevrier, 1814. “Monsieur,

“C’est une inconnue, Monsieur, qui vous approche avec confiance. C’est la meilleure amie, la triste veuve, d’un homme qui a passe les plus beaux momens de sa jeûnesse dans votre pays, qui est resté à jamais le paradis de son imagination. Vous l’avez alors comblé de vos bontés; il ne m’en a jamais parlé sans émotion; plusieurs de vos lettres et des marques distinguées de votre souvenir l’ont honoré depuis et sensiblement réjouï. M. Nïebuhr, que le Cte. Rantzau a osé plus tard vous recommander, lui en a sû un gré inexprimable—et c’est moi qui viens aujourd’hui,—sans aucune mérite—sans aucune motif que la confiance dans votre noble cœur,—et le souvenir que vous portez, peut-être encore, à l’homme aimable, adoré—qui n’est plus,—réclamer vos conseils.

“Je médite, Monsieur, d’envoyer mes deux fils ainés à Edinbourg,” &c. Madame Rantzau then states her views with regard to the education of her sons, and requests Mr. Roscoe’s advice and assistance in her arrangements for their benefit; she then concludes—

“Enfin, Monsieur, mettez-vous à la place d’une pauvre mère, triste, malheureuse, abandonnée trop tôt, hélas! par le soutien adoré, clairvoyant, qui guidait toutes ses démarches! Ah! vous ne savez pas à quel point l’homme incomparable, qui n’est plus, avait tenû parole.

“J’ose le dire sans aveuglement qu’il réunissait à l’esprit le plus mûr, le plus riche, le plus sérieux, le cœur le plus élevé, le plus disinteressé, le plus tendre; j’ai vû disparaître tout cela, je l’ai vû a la fleur de ses ans fermer les yeux. J’ai survecu, parceque Dieu l’a voulû; je suis faible, et malavisé, et je voudrais que ses enfans fûissent dignes d’un tel père.

“La confiance m’a entrainé vers vous, qu’il honorait d’une manière peu commune. Vous ne sauriez croire, Monsieur, combien il chérissait le souvenir des tems qu’il avoit passe avec vous, et que de fois, que de fois il m’en a parlé avec attendrissement. Daignez done me pardonner et de me le dire! J’ai perdu ce meilleur ami il y a deux ans. Dites-moi que vous pardonnez, Monsieur, à votre très-humble et très-obligée servante,

“La Contesse de Rantzau, “née Baronne de Diede.

“Souffrez aussi que je vous remercie, Monsieur, du plaisir que m’a causé votre incomparable livre des Médicis; il m’a distrait dans des momens ou j’étais fort triste. Quoique vous écrivez en Français avec la même facilité, je préférais que vous voulûssiez répondre en Anglais, seulement je n’ai pas eu le courage de vous écrire dans cette langue.”

To this letter Mr. Roscoe returned the following answer:—

“Madam,

“I had lately the honour of receiving your letter, dated the 16th of February last, communicating to me your views and intentions with respect to the sons of my highly respected and amiable friend, of whose early loss I first received the painful account from your letter. Short as was the time during which I had the pleasure of Count Rantzau’s acquaintance, I know sufficient of him to be able to appreciate his many great and excellent qualities, and deeply to feel for you, Madam, who have been so early deprived of his affection and society.

“It is, however, gratifying to me to find, that this afflicting dispensation of Providence has been supported by you in a manner worthy the chosen companion of such a man, and that your attention and care are earnestly devoted to prevent, as much as possible, the disadvantages his children must experience from the loss of such a parent. Happy, indeed, should I be, were it in my power to suggest any thing that might assist your kind maternal efforts, or give any useful information as to the plans you propose to adopt.”

Mr. Roscoe concludes the letter with giving her the information she desired, and requesting to be honoured freely with her commands.

Hitherto the residence of Mr. Roscoe had been entirely confined to the town of Liverpool; but, in the course of the year 1790, he removed to a house pleasantly situated at Toxteth Park, about two miles from Liverpool. The principal attraction of this residence was the immediate vicinity of a small but beautiful dingle, leading to the shores of the Mersey, and presenting many delightful prospects of the river, and the country beyond. The distance from Liverpool was not such as to prevent Mr. Roscoe either from attending to his professional engagements with punctuality, or from enjoying the society of the friends to whom he was attached, some of whose residences were, indeed, brought nearer to him by the change. It was the beauty of “the Dingle” that suggested to his mind the following little poem, certainly one of the most pleasing productions of his pen:—

INSCRIPTION. Stranger! that with careless feet Wanderest near this green retreat, Where through gently bending slopes Soft; the distant prospect opes; Where the fern, in fringed pride, Decks the lonely valley’s side; Where the whitethroat chirps his song, Flitting as thou tread’st along: Know, where now thy footsteps pass O’er the bending tufts of grass, Bright gleaming through the encircling wood, Once a Naiad roll’d her flood. If her urn, unknown to Fame, Pour’d no far extended stream, Yet along its grassy side, Clear and constant roll’d the tide. Grateful for the tribute paid, Lordly Mersey lov’d the maid; Yonder rocks still mark the place Where she met his stern embrace. Stranger, curious, would’st thou learn Why she mourns her wasted urn? Soon a short and simple verse Shall her hapless fate rehearse. Ere yon neighbouring spires arose, That the upland prospect close, Or ere along the startled shore Echoed loud the cannon’s roar; Once the maid, in summer’s heat, Careless left her cool retreat, And by sultry suns opprest, Laid her wearied limbs to rest; Forgetful of her daily toil, To trace each humid tract of soil, From dews and bounteous showers to bring The limpid treasures of her spring. Enfeebled by the scorching ray, She slept the circling hours away; And when she oped her languid eye, She found her silver urn was dry. Heedless Stranger! who so long Hast listen’d to an idle song, Whilst trifles thus thy notice share, Hast thou no urn that asks thy care?

Mr. Roscoe continued to reside at Toxteth Park for three years, when, having purchased some land at Birchfield, on the north side of Liverpool, he erected a house upon it for himself, to which he removed in the year 1793.

CHAPTER V. 1795. First idea of writing he Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici—want of materials—assistance rendered by Mr. William Clarke at Florence—progress of the work—printing of the inedited poems of Lorenzo—the Life sent to press.—Mr. M’Creery.—Lord Orford’s opinion.—Letter to Lord Lansdowne.—Publication of the Life—its popularity.—Letters from Lord Orford and Lord Bristol.—Opinions on the work—Lord Lansdowne, Dr. Aikin, the author of the “Pursuits of Literature”—correspondence with the latter.—Letters from Mr. J. C. Walker and Fuseli.—Dr. Parr’s criticisms, and correspondence with him.—Favourable reception from the periodical critics—review by Fuseli in the Analytical Review—success of the work abroad—opinions of the Italian scholars Fabroni and Bandini—translation into Italian by the Cav. Mecherini, and correspondence with him—criticism of the Abate Andres—opinions of Morelli and Moreni—translation into German by Sprengel—letter to him—translation into French—republication in America. CHAPTER V.

It has already been observed, that the idea of writing the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici occurred to Mr. Roscoe at an early period of his life, when, with the assistance of his friend, Francis Holden, he first began to study the literature of Italy. Amid the avocations of business, and the variety of other pursuits in which his taste or his duty led him to engage, the design slumbered, but was not forgotten. In perusing the Italian historians, and especially the Florentine annals of Machiavelli and Ammirato, he was accustomed to note the various passages which threw a light on the life and character of Lorenzo. His reading was at the same time directed as well to the writers of that age, as to those later authors, such as Crescembeni, Muratori, and Tiraboschi, who have illustrated the literature of their country by their critical labours. Unfortunately, Liverpool did not at that period possess any public library to which, when he found his own collection deficient, he could resort; and amongst the first difficulties which he experienced in the prosecution of his task, was the heavy and discouraging one of a want of materials. This deficiency he had in part supplied by the diligence with which he examined the catalogues of the London booksellers, and the zeal with which, during his visits to the metropolis, he sought for the volumes which his labours required. Fortunately, also, the sale of the Crevenna and Pinelli libraries, occurring at this period, enabled him to procure many scarce and valuable works, for which he had hitherto enquired in vain. But the riches treasured up in the literary repositories of Italy still remained inaccessible to him; and his professional engagements precluded every idea of his being able to make a personal examination of them. Even if the zeal of a foreign agent could be relied upon, who could be discovered with knowledge and judgment equal to the task? “The impracticability of obtaining in this country,” says Mr. Roscoe, in the preface to his Life of Lorenzo, “the information of which I stood in need, would perhaps have damped the ardour of any undertaking, had not a circumstance presented itself, in the highest degree favourable to my purpose. An intimate friend, with whom I had been many years united in studies and affection, had paid a visit to Italy, and had fixed his winter residence at Florence. I well knew that I had only to request his assistance, in order to obtain whatever information he had an oppor-tunity of procuring, from the very spot which was to be the scene of my intended history. My enquiries were particularly directed to the Laurentian and Riccardi Libraries, which I was convinced would afford much original and interesting information. It would be unjust, merely to say that my friend afforded me the assistance I required; he went far beyond even the hopes I had formed; and his return to his native land was, if possible, rendered still more grateful to me, by the materials he had collected for my use.”

The gentleman to whom Mr. Roscoe was indebted for these important obligations, was Mr. William Clarke, the companion of his early studies, and the devoted friend of his maturer life. The state of his health having compelled him to seek a milder climate, he selected Italy as the place of his residence; and arriving in that country in 1789, he resolved to pass the winter at Fiesole, where he rented a furnished villula for the term of six months. The distance of Fiesole from Florence not being more than three miles, Mr. Clarke was in the daily habit of visiting the latter place, and of spending his mornings in the public libraries. Thus situated in the midst of those treasures which Mr. Roscoe so ardently desired to possess, himself an excellent classical scholar, and devoted to literary occupations, no one could have been dis-covered better qualified than Mr. Clarke for the agreeable task which his friend imposed upon him. At the close of the year 1789, Mr. Roscoe informed him of his design, and requested his assistance in the prosecution of it. This was readily and joyfully granted; though not without many expressions of regret that his friend was unable personally to join him in his researches. “I wish,” he says, in a letter dated January 9. 1790, “you could have come into Italy yourself, to animate my researches, or rather to render them useless, by your native penetration and accumulated sçavoir:” and again, in a letter written during the following month,—“How much I lament the impossibility of our being together in Florence! A month passed on the spot would considerably enrich your work. As I fear it cannot be as I wish, accept my endeavours to supply the desideratum.”

The zeal and diligence of Mr. Clarke in the service of his friend, induced him to lose no time in enquiring into the various literary repositories of Florence. To the credit of the Grand Duke, his palaces, galleries, museums, and libraries, were thrown open, in the most liberal manner, to every stranger desirous of visiting them; while, in the other cities of Italy, access to the public collections was only to be obtained by means of a bribe. Even the public archives and state papers, lodged in the Palazzo Vecchio,—documents, which the jealousy of other governments has guarded with a scrupulous secrecy,—were accessible, on presenting to the Grand Duke a memorial, the prayer of which was never refused. To these valuable repositories, and also to the extensive library of the Marquis Riccardi, Mr. Clarke resorted; and with the assistance of the very learned Canonico Bandini, the Grand Duke’s librarian, and of the Abbate Fontani, the keeper of the Riccardi Library, he gained access to many curious and valuable manuscripts relating to the history of the Medici. These he carefully examined, making notes of such portions of them as appeared most likely to furnish materials for his friend. From the copious and excellent catalogue, by Bandini, of the MSS. preserved in the Laurentian Library, he extracted the titles of such as contained the desired information. “I wish,” he observes, in a letter dated February 4. 1790, “you had an opportunity of examining the catalogue; because, it would enable you to point out to me what you would have me examine; but, as I foresee that this is not likely to be in your power, I shall go on in the method I have begun, that is, of taking an account of all such materials as seem to be connected with your plan, with accurate references, as you desire; so that on a review of these materials, tête-à-tête, we can send our commissions to this city, to have the need-ful transcriptions made. There will be no difficulty in finding amanuenses here for that purpose.” Nor did Mr. Clarke confine himself to an examination of the manuscript treasures of Florence. He assiduously sought for the printed works of the authors who have illustrated the Medicean age; and when able to procure copies of those which Mr. Roscoe did not possess, he transmitted them to Liverpool. With the view of making himself well acquainted with the subject, he twice perused the Life of Lorenzo by Fabroni, with an especial reference to the authorities of that writer. “In a few days,” he says, in a letter dated in the month of March, 1790, “I remove to Florence, to remain there from fifteen to twenty days, totally occupied with your hero, who has won my warmest veneration. I have gone through (twice) Fabroni’s work. Many of his authorities will be useful to you. The life, which is composed in Latin, with laboured attention to the style, has more regard to the public conduct of Lorenzo than to his private character; with, however, some animadversions upon his patronage of learning and the arts. Yours, I am convinced, will be a more entertaining work. I need not recommend your taking time to digest it well. As I now know the principal sources that may afford materials, before I leave Florence I shall take such a general view of them, that I can leave or send directions to have what is most within the compass of your plan copied and transmitted.”

With the valuable materials thus fortunately supplied to him, Mr. Roscoe proceeded with double ardour to the completion of his laborious yet agreeable task. Amongst the unpublished pieces transmitted to him from Florence, were many original poems of Lorenzo de’ Medici, of whose poetical talents Mr. Roscoe had already formed a very high opinion. A small collection of these inedited pieces he sent to the press in the year 1791; and a limited impression of only twelve copies was printed, to be distributed amongst his literary friends. The volume is appropriately inscribed to Mr. Clarke, in a short dedication written in Italian, from which we may gather that no inconsiderable progress was already made in his Life of Lorenzo. “Ben sapete,” he says, “che il Magnifico Lorenzo autore di essi, vero Mecenate, e restauratore delle belle lettere nel secolo decimo quinto, è da molto tempo l’oggetto di mia somma reverenza, ed ammirazione; applicandomi io ad investigar le particolarità della sua vita, la quale spero mettere fra poco sotto gli occhi de’ miei compatriotti, forse più estesamente, che non hanno fatto il Valori ed il Fabroni.” “Godo,” he adds, in conclusion, “che nel consecrare questo leggier tributo alla memoria d’ un uomo degno di perpetua lode e venerazione, mi sia presentata occasione d’ unire insieme i nostri nomi siccome i nostri studj geniali ci hanno già da mold anni— “In nodo d ’amistà congiunti, e stretti.”

All the leisure which his profession allowed him was now dedicated to the Life of Lorenzo; and in the autumn of the year 1793 he committed the first sheets of his work to the press. From a desire of encouraging the talents of those around him, he was led to intrust the printing of this work to Mr. John M’Creery, who, by his advice, had lately established a press in Liverpool. The typographical beauty of the first edition of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici sufficiently attests the skill of Mr. M’Creery as a printer; but it was not merely the professional ability of this gentleman which won the regard of Mr. Roscoe. The undeviating rectitude of his mind, and the warmth and devotedness of his feelings, led to a strict friendship, which remained unbroken to the termination of Mr. Roscoe’s life.* In the spring

* Mr. M’Creery did not long survive his friend. In company with Mrs. M’Creery, and one of his daughters, he visited Paris in the autumn of 1831, and was residing in that city when the cholera made its appearance there. On the eve of departing for Switzerland, he was attacked by that dreadful disease, and fell a victim to it in the course of two days.

He was a man of much cultivation of mind, and possessed considerable poetical powers, which were uniformly devoted to the cause of truth, of freedom, and of human improvement.

of 1794, a considerable portion of the first volume of the Life was printed, and the sheets were transmitted to Mr. Edwards, the bookseller, of

In his political opinions he was inflexibly consistent, and had won the esteem and confidence of many persons distinguished in public life. Laborious, exact, and skilful, he had the satisfaction of finding himself at length rendered independent by the practice of his useful and honourable profession; and lie had begun joyfully to devote to literature the leisure he had earned.

Of his ardent and unfailing attachment to Mr. Roscoe, he has left a public memorial in the dedication of the two parts of his Poem of “The Press,” published in 1803 and in 1828. But his friendship was better exhibited in the never-tiring zeal with which he availed himself of every opportunity to serve his friend, in the deep sympathy with which he entered into all the vicissitudes of his life, and in the promptitude with which, at a season of difficulty, he endeavoured to procure him support and assistance. How sensible Mr. Roscoe was of his friendship, may be best seen from the following letter, written in the summer of 1820:—

My ever dear Friend,

“I have long wished to address a few lines of acknowledgment to you for your constant and invariable kindness to me and mine, during our long and painful state of suspense, but have delayed it in the hope of seeing our concerns in a fair way of being satisfactorily arranged. That expectation is not, however, yet realised: and as I have to send an additional poem or two for my daughter Jane’s little publication, I could no longer resist the desire of having a few words with you, and of assuring you that, though silent, I have not been insensible of that friendship which has been evinced under the most trying circumstances; nor of those kind and constant exertions on my behalf, which adversity, and the train of evils with which I have had to struggle, have only served to increase. I will not, however, dwell on this

Pall Mall, with whom Mr. Roscoe was in habits of correspondence. By him they were laid before the Miss Berrys, whose intimate acquaintance with Italian literature rendered them very competent judges of the work. The character given of it by them to the late Lord Orford, induced that nobleman to apply to Mr. Edwards for permission to peruse the sheets; and the following note, which was immediately communicated to Mr. Roscoe, was highly gratifying to him, as proceeding from a person so distinguished in the literary world.*

“Lord Orford feels himself sensibly obliged by Mr. Edwards allowing Miss Berry to communicate to him the fragment of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici. Lord O. has not enjoyed so much and such unexpected pleasure for a

subject, which I well know is unnecessary between us, and from the weight of which I find a great relief in the perfect consciousness of my own mind, that the affectionate attachment you have shown me, and which has surmounted so many trials, cannot exceed that which I trust you well know is so sincerely felt by me in return.”

* The satisfaction expressed by Mr. Roscoe at the judgment of Lord Orford seems to have excited the spleen of Fuseli. “I understand,” he says in a letter to Mr. Roscoe, “that Lord Orford, the quondam Horace Walpole, has given an ample suffrage to what he saw of “Lorenzo.” That he should have done so surprises me not, but I am a little hurt at your having wished for it. The editor of Vertue’s trash should not have had much consequence in your eyes, though I shall not deny that there are disjecti membra poetæ in the “Mysterious Mother.”

long time, as from this most able, informing, and entertaining work, which, though it will leave a most agreeable impression on his mind, gives him great inquietude too, as he does not think that it will appear very soon,—an afflicting circumstance to Lord O., as very soon may be of great consequence to a very infirm man of seventy-six, who has no hopes of being so well amused as he should be by reading the completion of this work, for the sight of which he again thanks Mr. Edwards.”

The feelings with which Mr. Roscoe committed his labours to the press may be gathered from the following extract from a letter addressed to Lord Lansdowne:—

“About the work itself, I confess I am less anxious. After having employed a great part of my leisure for some years past upon it, I feel at length something of the sensation described by Dr. Johnson on publishing his Dictionary, and may say with him, that I dismiss it into the world with frigid indifference. The truth is, it is a tale of other times, bearing but little on the momentous occurrences of the present day, and therefore not likely to be much applauded or abused by any party. I have, on all occasions, avoided violent and extreme opinions, and perhaps may be accused by some of having taken some pains to display the glossy side of aristocracy. Possibly, however, this may com-pensate for a certain degree of republican spirit which others will discover towards the close. I feel also some confidence from the idea that the subject is new to this country, and that the critics will not be yet prepared to take advantage of my errors. The affairs of Italy, and particularly the transactions of the Medici, have been involved in endless confusion; and the only work which I have ever met with (not published in Italy), which gives any just idea of them, is that of Mr. Tenhove.

“I am sensible that it may appear a strange waste of time to have employed so many hours on a subject which has no immediate tendency to develope or influence any of the important truths that are now unfolding; but I have at times consoled myself in the reflection, that if I should be fortunate enough to open a new source of rational amusement, my time would not have been uselessly employed; and that every thing which tends to soften down the irritation of political opinions, and introduce from past experience measures of moderation and forbearance, will finally tend to promote, in some degree, the general good.”

The Life of Lorenzo was at length published, in the month of February, 1796, by Mr. Edwards, of Pall Mall, whose first intimation of the success of the work was conveyed to Mr. Roscoe in the following letter:—

“All your parcel (50) of the Life of Lorenzo have gone off in three days, and we are most cruelly teazed for more. If they are not sent off, I beg they may come directly.”

On the following day he again wrote to urge the despatch of more copies.

“Every body,” he says, “tells me your second exceeds the first, though that gave the highest satisfaction. It is a subject of conversation in every company—not to be able to speak of it, or to say they are to have it from the next parcel, is to be void of all taste and discernment.”

The work, in short, had become the fashion. “We are most unfortunately deprived,” says Mr. Edwards, in another letter, “of receiving any parcel from you since the first fifty. I have sent day by day to the warehouse of the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal, and nothing is found there for me. I dare say, if you make enquiry, you will find them lying in your warehouse at Liverpool.

“After such a train as your book was in, nothing could be more mortifying. For I know the ill effect it will have on our people of fashion. If they have not things at first, when they are talked of, they save their guineas, and by affecting to speak of what they are strangers to, give a very indifferent impression to their companions, who buy by hearsay. This, you will say, is no-thing to you, who seek the applause of the learned few.

“One, however, is corroborated by the other, and the mass of approbation, with its various concomitant conveniences, is the desirable reward of merit.

“Notwithstanding your other business, remember I am fretting and harassed continually from the disappointment of being without a copy of your book.”

The avidity with which the work was sought for appears likewise by the following note from Mr. Faulder, a respectable bookseller in New Bond Street.

“I am so distressed for your ‘History of the Medici Family,’ that I am under the necessity of requesting that you will send me two or three copies by the very first coach, and the money shall be paid immediately to your order. Since I have been in business, I have not given so much offence, as by not being able to serve my friends with your work.”

The first edition of “Lorenzo” was published on Mr. Roscoe’s own account; but soon after its appearance, he received a liberal offer (1200l.) for the copyright, from Messrs. Cadell and Davies, of the Strand, which he immediately accepted. A second edition was speedily put to press by these gentlemen, which was followed by a third in the early part of the year 1799.

On the completion of the second volume of the Life, it had been immediately transmitted by its author to Lord Orford, who acknowledged the receipt of it in the following letter:—

“Two days ago, sir, good Mr. Edwards brought me your eagerly expected, and most welcome, second volume. I must thank you for it immediately, though incapable of writing with my own hand. I have been extremely ill with the gout for above eleven weeks, and ten days ago was at the point of death with an inflammation in my bowels, but have happily lived to see the continuation of your work, of which I have already gone through two chapters, and find them fully equal to their predecessors. Indeed, as I cannot express, in words of my own, my sentiments both of your work and of you, I shall beg your leave to transcribe the character of another person, which so exactly suits my thoughts of you, that I should very awkwardly attempt to draw another portrait, which I am sure would not be so like.

“‘Although these volumes appear to be rather the amusement of the leisure hours of a polite scholar, than the researches of a professed historian, yet they display an acquaintance with the transactions of Italy, seldom acquired except by a native. To a great proficiency in the literature of that country, Mr. Tenhove united an indisputable taste in the productions of all the fine arts, and a general knowledge of the state of manners, and the progress of science, in every period of society. The fertility of his genius, and the extent of his information, have enabled him to intersperse his narrative with a variety of interesting digressions and brilliant observations; and the most engaging work that has, perhaps, ever appeared on a subject of literary history, is written by a native of one country, in the language of another, on the affairs of a third.’

“Nothing, sir, but your own extreme modesty, and impartial justice, would have blinded you so far as to have prevented you discovering that this must be a more faithful picture of yourself than it can be of Mr. Tenhove’s imperfect performance, omitting the language of a third.

“In my own copy of your work, I shall certainly insert the quotation in lieu of Testimonia Auctorum.

“Give me leave to thank you (for your own sake too) for your improvement of the two lines beginning with imagined evils: you have completely satisfied me, sir; and since I find that you can correct as masterly as compose, I believe, that, with all my admiration and respect, I shall be impertinent enough to point out any new faults, if I can discover them, in your second volume.

“I hope, by this sincere sketch of my senti-ments, I have so entirely convinced you of them that I can have no occasion to profess again how much

“I am, Sir, “Your most obliged, and most delighted, and most obedient, humble Servant, “Orford.”

That Lord Orford, in the commendations thus freely bestowed, did not intend merely to flatter the vanity of the author, may be inferred from the following letter addressed by the Rev. Mark Noble to Mr. Roscoe; from which it appears that his Lordship expressed his approbation to others in language almost equally strong:—

“Though an entire stranger to you, I have ventured to transcribe part of a letter, which I have just received from Lord Orford, in answer to one I wrote when I presented his Lordship with a copy of my Memoirs of the Medici Family. Such praise from so great a judge must, I am certain, be highly gratifying.

“Had I not been in the habit of keeping my letters, and this which I have received related to various other circumstances, I believe I should have sent you the original. I am extremely mortified that the distance precludes me waiting upon you, a small one would not. I should have been happy in your acquaintance, still more so in your friendship; but I am keep-ing you too long from the praises you so justly merit.

“Extract of Lord Orford’s letter to me, dated from Berkeley Square, Jan. 12th, 1797:—

“‘I have received, Sir, your “History of the Medici,” and am much obliged to you for it; it is well, and judiciously, and impartially written, and a satisfactory supplement to Mr. Roscoe’s Lorenzo, who, I think, is by far the best of our historians, both for beauty and style, and for deep reflections; and his translations of poetry are equal to the originals.’”

Another nobleman, distinguished by his attachment to the arts, as much as by the singularity of his character, expressed in lively terms his approbation of Mr. Roscoe’s labours. The Earl of Bristol, then resident at Rome, addressed to Mr. Cadell, the publisher of the “Life of Lorenzo,” the following note, in the month of January, 1797:—

“Lord Bristol’s compliments to Mr. Cadell, and begs to know the place of residence of Mr. Roscoe, the ingenious, learned, and elegant author of the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’—what is his profession—what his resources in life—what his connection—and what present of books, pictures, or statues might be most welcome to him?”

In answer to this generous and unlooked for proposal, Mr. Roscoe addressed to Mr. Cadell the following letter:—

“The note from the Earl of Bristol, which you have been so kind as to send me to-day, does me the greatest honour, and demands my warmest acknowledgments.

“I am happy in the present opportunity, by your means, of conveying to his Lordship my most grateful thanks for the generous intentions he has expressed towards me, and of assuring his Lordship with the deepest sense of his goodness, that as I had no motive in publishing my work but a sincere desire of promoting the cause of letters, and of doing justice to a great and neglected character, so the approbation of such an acknowledged judge in works of taste and literature, as the Earl of Bristol, is the highest compensation which I can possibly receive.”

A few months afterwards, Lord Bristol addressed to Mr. Roscoe a letter expressing in the warmest terms his admiration of the “Life of Lorenzo.”

“It is impossible to read your elegant and most interesting history of that ornament of human nature, Lorenzo de’ Medicis, and not feel at the same time a kind of triumphant enthusiasm that we possess a contemporary writer of such superior talents and such indefatigable industry, with a choice of the most interesting, instructive, animating subjects that can improve his countrymen and honour himself.

“Your documents are as new as they are authentic, and as interesting from the subjects as from the writer; and I have only to lament, that, being doomed, from a very frail state of health, to drag many years in a southern climate, I have not been the fortunate person to furnish so splendid and so useful an historian with those precious documents of which he has made so masterly an use.

“In the mean time I venture to exhort you, ‘Perge ut incepisti,’ and take for your next theme a subject still more extensive, still more exalted, and, of course, still more worthy of your very eminent abilities. ’T is the sequel of Lorenzo that I propose to you, in the life of his son, Leo X. You see at once, Sir, what a glorious, interesting, animating era it embraces; and who so fit to paint the manhood of arts, of science, of religious reformation, as that happy and elegant writer who has so satisfactorily sketched and delineated their infancy?

“If, during my abode at Rome, I can in any way serve you by my connection with the Vatican Librarian, you may command me.”

In another letter, written soon after the foregoing, Lord Bristol urged Mr. Roscoe to visit Italy, offering him, at the same time, the use of his apartments at Rome, or at Naples. This invitation opened a tempting prospect to Mr. Roscoe; but his situation compelled him to decline so gratifying an excursion.

“It will not seem strange to your Lordship,” he says, in answer, “that I should feel some desire to visit a portion of the earth which has been so frequently present to my imagination, or that this desire should be increased by the accommodation so generously proposed to me by your Lordship. But, however forcible these inducements may be, there are others which are still more powerful, and which prohibit me from indulging even a distant expectation of such an excursion. With the claims of a wife and eight children on my attention, I should feel little gratification in any pleasures which required a long absence from home, whilst the improvement of an extensive tract of waste moss land in the vicinity of Manchester calls for my constant superintendence. To say the truth, too, the striking picture your Lordship has given of the great seat of arms in ancient, and of arts in modern times, might almost shake the resolution of any one who was not determined, like Orpheus of old, to drag the object of his adoration from the jaws of hell itself. Under these united impressions, I must relinquish all idea of availing myself of your Lordship’s goodness, assuring you, however, that I shall always hold it in the most grateful remembrance.”

The sheets of the “Life of Lorenzo” were also communicated to the late Marquis of Lansdowne, and by him to Sir Samuel Romilly and M. Du-mont. “I have had,” says that nobleman, in a letter to Mr. Roscoe, “a gouty attack upon my stomach, which, though it has not confined me, has indisposed me to the least exertion, and made it a grievance to me so much as to take up a pen. But it did not prevent me a moment from reading the sheets which Edwards sent me. I assure you that I was quite delighted with them, and so were two much better judges, to whom I took the liberty of showing them. One is a counsel, Mr. Romilly, a particular friend of mine, who I wish was acquainted with you, and you with him; the other is M. Dumont, a Swiss, whom you may read of in the papers as having been a secretary of Mirabeau, and a political agent of mine.”

Lord Lansdowne also, with that friendly partiality which distinguished his intercourse with Mr. Roscoe, took an opportunity of publicly eulogising the “Life of Lorenzo.” “As there is no person,” says Mr. Roscoe, in a letter to his Lordship, “whose opinion I looked up to with so much anxiety as your Lordship’s, so the approbation you have been pleased to express of my book has given me the sincerest satisfaction, which is increased by the distinguished honour it received from your adverting to it in so favourable a manner in the House of Lords.”

On the publication of the work Lord Lans-downe expressed his approbation of it in the following terms:—

“Assured on all hands of the success of ‘Lorenzo de’ Medici,’ which has been far beyond any book I remember (and Mr. Hume’s publication of his first volumes is within my memory), we determined to reserve it till we went to Wycombe, and could have the full enjoyment of it free from interruption; and I can venture to assure you that great as our prejudice was in its favour, it exceeded our expectation. Miss Fox has begun to translate the prose pieces in the Appendix, and I am determined to learn Italian without delay. In the mean time we are all suitors to you, to put us into a course of Italian reading, but I am sorry that we must, for the present, confine ourselves to translations. I do not know what the reason is, but Guicciardini is the only book of reputation which I have not been able to get through with pleasure.”

From various other quarters Mr. Roscoe received the most gratifying expressions of approbation. “Permit me,” says Dr. Aikin, in a letter addressed to him in May, 1796, “to return you my share of thanks for the pleasure you have communicated to the public by your admirable ‘History of Lorenzo.’ I have heard but one opinion of it, that it is the most elegant and interesting publication of the literary kind that has appeared in our language for many years; and sincerely am I rejoiced, that a merit which has been so long conspicuous in the circle of your friends, is now fairly displayed and made manifest to the world at large.”

Amongst these numerous and gratifying testimonies to the merits of the “Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” the most singular and unlooked for was that given by the author of “The Pursuits of Literature.” The political sentiments which distinguished that celebrated work, and the severity with which every writer of liberal, or, as they were then termed, of Jacobinical principles, was treated in its pages, seemed to render it very improbable that the writings of Mr. Roscoe would meet with a more favourable consideration. But the attachment of the author to Italian literature, and his gratitude for the contributions made to it by Mr. Roscoe, overcame even the violence of party feeling, and drew from him the following eulogistic notice:— “But hark! what solemn strains from Arno’s vales Breathe raptures wafted on the Tuscan gales! Lorenzo rears again his awful head, And feels his ancient glories round him spread; The Muses starting from their trance revive, And at their Roscoe’s bidding wake and live.”

To these lines the following note was appended:—“See the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, called the Magnificent, by William Roscoe.’ I cannot but congratulate the public upon this great and important addition to classical history, which I regard as a phenomenon in literature, in every point of view.

“It is pleasant to consider a gentleman not under the auspices of an university, nor beneath the shade of academic bowers, but in the practice of the law, and business of great extent, and resident in the remote commercial town of Liverpool, (where nothing is heard of but Guinea ships, slaves, blacks, and merchandise,) investigating and describing the rise and progress of every polite art in Italy, at the revival of learning, with acuteness, depth, and precision, with the spirit of the poet and the solidity of the historian.

“For my own part I have not terms sufficient to express my admiration of his genius and erudition, or my gratitude for the amusement and information I have received. I may add that the manner in which Mr. Roscoe procured from the libraries at Florence many of the various inedited manuscripts with which he has enriched the appendix to his history, was singularly curious; not from a fellow or traveller of the dilettanti, but from a commercial man in the intervals of his employment.

“I shall not violate the dignity of the work by slight objections to some modes of expression, or even to a few words, or to some occasional sentiments in the historian of a republic. But I recommend it to our country as a work of unquestionable genius and of uncommon merit. It adds the name of Roscoe to the very first rank of English classical historians.”

To the honour of this highly flattering notice Mr. Roscoe could not be insensible, proceeding as it did from a person eminently skilled in the same studies in which he himself delighted. He therefore thought it proper to express, to the unknown author of the poem*, the gratifi-

* Much discussion has taken place with regard to the author of the “Pursuits of Literature,” who, like “Junius,” still remains involved in obscurity.

The following passage from a letter from Mrs. Riddell, dated 20th September, 1800, may serve to amuse those who are curious on the subject:—

“Do your absent friends the justice to believe that they can think of you, and admire you, at a distance; those who know you personally and those who know you by your works alone. There is one of the latter description in my neighbourhood just now that must be nameless, whose tribute of respect has been already paid in one of the most extraordinary productions that has been given to the world for a long while (I need not mention the ‘Pursuits of Literature’). I know you were not insensible to it. I have had the pleasure of passing three or four months in the almost uninterrupted society of the very accomplished writer and scholar at whose feet the reputation of this work is generally laid, and with whom the envy and malevolence, as well as the admiration, now rest. I have had more questions asked me about you than I was well able to answer, from that quarter, but I could report nothing that did not seem to confirm the opinion conveyed in his very elegant application of a line from Vida: “‘Huic Musæ indulgent omnes, hunc pascit Apollo.’

cation he had experienced at the manner in which his literary labours had been treated. At the same time, as a letter of thanks and compliments only might seem to convey a more general approval of the principles promulgated in the poem, than in truth Mr. Roscoe felt, he undertook the difficult task of limiting the approbation which he expressed. He likewise availed himself of the opportunity to correct some errors with regard to himself, into which the author of “The Pursuits of Literature” had fallen.

“Mr. Roscoe takes the liberty of presenting his sincere acknowledgments to the author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature,’ for the great pleasure and information he has derived from his very original, learned, and entertaining work; and is happy, at the same time, in an opportunity of expressing his grateful sense of the honour done him, in the very favourable notice taken in that poem of the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici;’ and which is the more estimable, inasmuch as the author of the ‘Pursuits of Liter-

“I must add one piece of information that will make you smile. ‘The vine-covered hills and gay valleys of France,’ and its sister, ‘Unfold Father Time,’ I ventured to show to the severe censor above alluded to, a day or two ago, who not only passes with unwonted toleration over ‘a few occasional sentiments of that tendency in the historian of a republic,’ but condescends to read these with delight, making every decent allowance for the poetical privilege.”

ature’ has so fully evinced, to every unprejudiced reader, his own thorough acquaintance with the various subjects which Mr. Roscoe has there had occasion to discuss.

“As Mr. Roscoe has just observed that a new and complete edition of the ‘Pursuits of Literature,’ with corrections and improvements, is now in the press, he thinks it incumbent on him to point out some inaccuracies respecting himself, which would have been of no moment, had not the author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature’ placed him before the public in so favourable a light. After having mentioned these particulars, he submits it to the author’s judgment, whether they are sufficiently important to merit correction in the edition now proposed.

“In the first place, Mr. Roscoe begs leave to assure the author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature’ that he is not the author of the letter published under the name of ‘Jasper Wilson,’ nor had any connection whatever with the writing or publication of that work. At the same time, he wishes it to be understood, that he makes this avowal only for the sake of truth, and not from the apprehension of any imputation which might arise from his being considered as the author of that performance, which he conceives to be not only strictly constitutional, but as deserving, in a high degree, the serious attention of every real friend to his country.

“Mr. Roscoe also begs leave to notice another inaccuracy in the third part of the ‘Pursuits of Literature;’ viz. that the materials for the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’ were collected abroad by a commercial man in the intervals of his employment. If this, indeed, were the fact, Mr. Roscoe would think, with the author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature,’ that it would by no means detract either from his book or himself, but this not being the case, Mr. Roscoe thinks it incumbent on him to notice it. The truth is, that Mr. Clarke, the gentleman referred to, (and who, to an intimate acquaintance with most of the European tongues, unites a thorough knowledge of the ancient languages,) was absent from home for upwards of seven years, in Italy, and other parts of the Continent; first, on account of his health, and afterwards for the same object that forms the title of the excellent poem before referred to, without any other business whatever. Mr. Roscoe observed, soon after the publication of the ‘Life of Lorenzo,’ a paragraph in one of the public papers, stating, that the book was written by a Liverpool merchant, with materials collected by an outrider, or to that effect. He did not think it worth his while to contradict the report of the day, though it was erroneous both as to him and his friend: but the ‘Pursuits of Literature’ will reach posterity; and, as Mr. Roscoe now hopes, through the partiality of the author, to ‘pursue the triumph and partake the gale,’ he is unwilling, so far as depends on himself, to give permanency to error.

“Mr. Roscoe would not think that he acted on this occasion with that candour, which he hopes it will always be his endeavour to maintain, did he not, in expressing his admiration of the ‘Pursuits of Literature,’ avow a difference of opinion with respect to some of the political subjects there discussed; consequently, with respect to the strictures on some distinguished characters, whose merits seem to have been measured by a political rather than by a literary standard. ‘Politics,’ as the author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature’ observes, ‘are temporary, but wit is eternal;’ but if these be the perishable parts of his work, they are the only parts that will perish. It would, however, be unpardonable in Mr. Roscoe to object to that freedom of opinion which the author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature’ has in so handsome a manner conceded to himself; nor does he conceive that the difference, to which he has ventured to allude, is a difference in principles. The sound learning, and extensive acquaintance, of the author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature,’ both with modern and ancient history, are an ample pledge that he could not for a moment entertain sentiments adverse to the rational liberty, improvement, and happiness of mankind; even if this were not sufficiently evinced, as it certainly is, by numerous passages in his work. Of the best mode of obtaining these advantages, thinking men may be allowed to doubt, and good men may chance to differ—happy, indeed, if they would recollect, that, of all the calamities that can befall a nation, a spirit of mutual jealousy and vindictive resentment is the worst. Mr. Roscoe respectfully takes his leave of the author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature,’ with assuring him, in his own emphatic words, expressed in his last note, ‘That the most ardent wish of his heart is a secure peace after a war for ever to be deplored, bloody, fatal, and expensive, beyond example.’ And though Mr. Roscoe cannot join in the opinion that this war was inevitable, he hopes, that his wishes for the termination of it, and for the future union, tranquillity, and prosperity of this country, will not on that account be considered as less sincere.”

To this communication the author of the “Pursuits of Literature” sent the following answer, written in that feigned hand which he made the medium of his communications.

“The Author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature’ presents his compliments to Mr. Roscoe, and returns him many thanks for the favour of his obliging letter. He requests Mr. Roscoe’s acceptance of the new edition of his poem, with many corrections and additions. He hopes it will be found not unworthy of another perusal.

“The introductory letter is entirely new. The author of the ‘Pursuits of Literature’ only observed, that Mr. Roscoe was presented by Mr. Clarke with some of the poems in the Appendix, not in his ‘History of Lorenzo.’

“The author continues the same high opinion of Mr. Roscoe’s work. In political matters he differs a little.

“The hint about Jasper Wilson’s letter was reprinted before Mr. Roscoe’s note was received. If there should be any other editions, it shall be attended to. The author of the ‘P. of L.’ wishes Mr. Roscoe health, happiness, and the enjoyment of his well-earned and well-deserved literary honours; but fears he never may have the satisfaction of seeing him. The author will be happy to know if the parcel is received by Mr. Roscoe.”

It would occupy too much space to insert in this place the various gratifying criticisms which Mr. Roscoe received from his literary correspondents. A few extracts from the letters of persons of taste and learning may, however, be considered as properly admissible. The following passage is from a letter addressed to Mr. Roscoe by Mr. J. C. Walker, the author of the “History of Italian Tragedy.”—“Allow me, Sir, to embrace this opportunity of offering you my warmest thanks for the pleasure and interesting information which I derived from the perusal of your Life of ‘Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ It is, in my opinion, one of the finest pieces of biography in the English, or perhaps in any other language. It is also a clear, elegant, and highly satisfactory account of the rise of literature and the belle arti in modern Italy. A hermit among the mountains of Wicklow, literary intelligence and new publications are slow in reaching me: however, soon after the appearance of your work, my friend Mr. Hayley recommended it to me as a performance of singular merit in every point of view, and I then, as you may suppose, lost no time in obtaining a copy.”

Fuseli, whose erudition and knowledge of art made him a very competent judge of many parts of the work, thus mentions it:—

“So much had I written when your dear epistle from Buxton found me; a balm to my wounded and overbalanced mind: ‘Ecce iterum Crispinus!’ But let me, if possible, forget my cursed self for one moment, and thank you for the genuine pleasure your book has given me. I value it not, you know, because its publication has been eminently successful, but because it deserves that success, and more; and does to you, and to my friendship for you, infinite honour. I am perhaps not so great a friend to Lorenzo as you; perhaps I may think on some other points, more closely connected with my pursuits, somewhat differently from you; but, take the whole together, there is no writer with whom, on all the various topics he treats, I coincide more heartily than with you. The style is, in my eyes, original, ample without being loquacious, pointed without being epigrammatic, and sententious without affectation.

“As it is likely I shall immediately review it (you know for whom), I reserve finding fault with you for that lucubration.

“The head of Lorenzo prefixed is admirable; you could never have got so good a thing here; but I am very much mistaken if, by invigorating a few traits, it would not make an excellent head of Richard III.”

But it was from Dr. Parr that Mr. Roscoe received one of the most gratifying, and certainly the most valuable, communications on the subject of his new work. That learned and accomplished scholar had no sooner possessed himself of the volumes, than he applied himself to the critical perusal of them, with a degree of industry and accuracy which few persons would have been capable of bestowing. The result of his labours, comprised in many folio sheets of paper, containing corrections of the Latin quotations and documents, observations on the English narrative, and various literary notices, suggestions, and remarks, applicable to different parts of the book, he laid before Mr. Roscoe.

The pleasure which this task afforded Dr. Parr, is described by one of his pupils. “I well recollect* the manner in which Dr. Parr devoured every page of Roscoe’s ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ After his first perusal of the book, he went through it again with me, to whom he dictated numerous critical observations and suggestions, which he enclosed in a complimentary letter to Mr. Roscoe; and which, I believe, led to a friendly intercourse between the Doctor and that gentleman.”

The following letter announced these valuable communications:—

“For the liberty I am going to take with a gentleman whom I have not the honour personally to know, I have no other, and probably I could find no better apology, than the frankness which ought to subsist between literary men upon subjects of literature. Your ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’ had been often mentioned to me by critics whose approbation every writer would be proud to obtain; and, as the course of reading which I pursued about thirty years ago had made me familiar with the works of Poggius, Pico of Mirandola, Politian, and other illustrious

* Field’s Memoirs of Dr. Parr, p. 440.

contemporaries of Lorenzo, I eagerly seized the opportunity of borrowing your celebrated publication from a learned friend at Oxford. You will pardon my zeal, Sir, and you may confide in my sincerity, when I declare to you, that the contents of your book far surpassed my expectation, and amply rewarded the attention with which I perused them. You have thrown the clearest and fullest light upon a period most interesting to every scholar. You have produced much that was unknown, and, to that which was known, you have given perspicuity, order, and grace. You have shown the greatest diligence in your researches, and the purest taste in your selection; and, upon the characters and events which passed in review before your inquisitive and discriminating mind, you have united sagacity of observation, with correctness, elegance, and vigour of style. For the credit of our national curiosity and national learning, I trust that the work will soon reach a second edition; and, if this should be the case, I will, with your permission, send you a list of mistakes which I have found in some Latin passages, and which, upon seeing them, you will certainly think worthy of consideration. Perhaps I shall proceed a little further, in pointing out two or three expressions which seem to me capable of improvement, and in stating my reasons for dissenting from you upon a very few facts of very little importance.”

Mr. Roscoe, in acknowledging the receipt of this friendly letter, expressed the readiness and satisfaction with which he was prepared to receive the promised criticisms; and shortly afterwards Dr. Parr enclosed them to him, accompanied by the following letter:—

“I am determined to lose no time in acknowledging my good fortune upon the acquisition of a correspondent whose candour is worthy of his talents, and whose letters are fraught with all the elegance and all the vigour which decorate his publication. . . . I rejoice, Sir, not so much upon your account, as upon that of your readers, to whom you have opened so large and so delightful a field of entertainment and instruction, when you tell me that the ‘Life of Lorenzo’ has already gone through three editions, and that it will soon appear in an octavo form. The edition open before me is that of 1796. I borrowed it from the learned librarian of New College, Oxford; and I shall return it next week, because it belongs to a society, where you will have many readers very capable of appreciating your merit, and well disposed to acknowledge and to proclaim it. . . . By what the ancients would have called the afflatus divinus, I anticipated your willingness to let me speak with freedom; and your letter justifies me in ascribing to you that candour which is the sure criterion and happy effect of conscious and eminent worth. Indeed, Sir, I saw in your work vestiges of excellence, which, in my estimation, is of a much higher order than taste and learning. I found deep reflection, and therefore I expected to find a dignified and virtuous moderation in the science of politics. I met with sentiments of morality, too pure to be suspected of hypocrisy, too just and elevated to be charged with ostentation; and give me leave to add, that they acted most powerfully on the best sympathies of my soul. If, in this season of old corruptions and new refinements, a Fénélon were to rise up among us; and if, by a conversion in the understandings and hearts of sovereigns, not less miraculous than that recorded of Paul, he were appointed to train up the heir of a throne to solid wisdom and sublime virtue, sure I am that he would eagerly put your book into the hands of his pupil, and bid him— “Nocturnâ versare manu, versare diurnâ.”

“I am no stranger to the sweets of literary and social intercourse between kindred spirits; and therefore I wonder not that you call Dr. Currie your friend. Present my best compliments to him, and believe me,” &c.

“I last night,” says Mr. Roscoe, in reply, “had the pleasure of receiving your packet, containing your corrections and observations on the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,’ and, without losing a moment, began the perusal of them. The great length to which they appeared to extend, alarmed and surprised me; the former, from an idea that my mistakes were almost innumerable; the latter, that the cleansing of such an Augaean stable had not entirely overcome your patience. . . . It is not incumbent on me to express the obligations I feel for the great labour and attention which you have bestowed upon my work, and which acquire a double value from that union of free remark and friendly expression which constantly occurs, and which, even if I were so weak or so ungrateful as to feel the slightest impulse of dissatisfaction against any one but myself for my own errors, have so effectually removed every emotion of the kind, that I can justly say I have perused the remarks from beginning to end with uniform pleasure, approbation, and respect.”

From the periodical critics of this country, the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’ met with almost unqualified praise. In the Analytical Review, published by Johnson, of St. Paul’s Churchyard, it was reviewed by Fuseli, who at that time was one of the most active contributors to the work. The judgment of one who, like Fuseli, had been long in habits of friendship with the author, and who had avowed to him his intention of writing the review, can hardly be referred to as an impartial test of the merits of the publication; yet the following character of it, given at the conclusion of the critique, will perhaps be thought, by more disinterested judges, to be not incorrect:—

“Notwithstanding the modesty of the title, the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’ unites the general history of the times, and the political system of the most memorable country in Europe, with the characters of the most celebrated men, and the rise and progress of science and arts. The greatest praise of the historian and biographer, impartiality, might be called its most prominent feature, were it not excelled by the humanity of the writer, who touches with a hand, often too gentle, those blemishes which he scorns to disguise. It is impossible to read any part of his performance, without discovering, that an ardent love for the true interests of society, and a fervid attachment to virtue and real liberty, have furnished his motives of choice, and every where directed his pen. The diligence and correctness of judgment by which the matter is selected and distributed, notwithstanding the scantiness, obscurity, or partiality of the documents that were to be consulted, are equalled only by the amenity with which he has varied his subjects, and the surprising extent of his information. Simplicity, perspicuity, and copiousness, are the leading features of his style; often sententious without being abrupt, and de-cided without an air of dogma; that it should have been sometimes verbose, sometimes lax or minute, is less to be wondered at, than that it should never be disgraced by affectation or pretence of elegance. If we be not always led by the nearest road, our path is always strewn with flowers; and if it be the highest praise of writing to have made delight the effectual vehicle of instruction, our author has attained it.”

The success of the work on the Continent was no less striking than in England. From the scholars of Italy, who were best able to appreciate its merits, it met with a very favourable reception. The learned Fabroni, with a candour not inferior to his erudition, was the first to make it known to his countrymen; and though he was on the point of presenting to them a translation of his own ‘Life of Lorenzo,’ written by him in Latin, yet, on the perusal of the English work, he abandoned that design, and prevailed upon a young gentleman of Pisa, the Cavaliero Gaetano Mecherini, to give a version into Italian of the English Life. The translation was accordingly published at Pisa, in the year 1799*, under the express patronage of Fabroni, who, in the following year, addressed a

* Vita di Lorenzo de’ Medici detto il Magnifico, del Dottore Guglielmo Roscoe; versione dall’ Inglese, 4 tom. 8vo. Pisa, 1799. See the Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo, p. 10. and the Appendix, No. III.

letter to Mr. Roscoe, congratulating him on the success of his labours.—“La celebrità,” says that distinguished scholar, “che vi siete acquistata colla Vita di Lorenzo il Magnifico fa che io non mi penta di avervi dato un impulso di scriverla con quella ch’ io publicai del medesimo. Voi avete supplito alle mie mancanze, e se avessi saputo in tempo il disegno vostro, avrei potuto trarre da quei medesimi archivj da cui presi molti preziosi monumenti relativi al mio soggetto, altre memorie che avrebbero potuto rendere anche piu copiosa l’opera vostra. Questa però e tale da non lasciare nulla da desiderare. Permettetemi che me ne congratuli con voi, con me, e coll’ Italia nostra; e questa vi sarà anche piu obligata se, come sento, darete anche al pubblico la Vita di Leon X. sulla quale anch’ io ho lavorato, publicando due anni fa il libro intitolato, Leonis X. Pontificis Maximi Vita.”* The approving judgment of so celebrated a scholar as Fabroni was in the highest degree gratifying to Mr. Roscoe. “It cannot but give me pleasure,” he says, in a letter to Mr. J. C. Walker, “to find that my work has had the good fortune to meet with the approbation of some distinguished scholars of that country (Italy), among whom I have the satisfaction to mention Monsignor

* This letter is published in the Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo, Appendix, p. 86.

Fabroni, Principal of the University of Pisa; to whose valuable ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,’ and large historical collections on that subject, I have been so much indebted, and from whom I have just received a very obliging letter, offering me all his works, amongst which is a ‘Life of Leo X.,’ written in Latin, and published by him about two years ago. Fabroni I consider as a well informed, liberal, and judicious historian. His ‘Lives of Learned Italians,’ of which I have several volumes, is a great and national work, which will do him lasting honour. I look up to him as a sure guide, whenever I travel the same road with him; nor is there any man whose favourable opinion I should have been more anxious to obtain.”

The venerable Angelo Maria Bandini, who presided for more than half a century over the Laurentian Library at Florence, and to whose labours in the field of literature even the most learned scholars of that country are indebted, also expressed in strong language his admiration of the Life of Lorenzo:—“Eccede troppo la bonta sua verso di me,” he observes, in answer to a communication from Mr. Roscoe, “che altro merito non ho verso la sua degna persona, che quello di aver resa la dovuta giustizia all’ opera sua immortale della Vita del Magco. Lorenzo de’ Medici, uno di quei rari genii che nella rivo-luzione dei secoli la natura produce, a confusione del viventi.”*

Mecherini’s translation was transmitted to Mr. Roscoe through the Marquis of Douglas, who was at that time travelling on the Continent, and who, immediately upon his return, addressed to Mr. Roscoe the following letter:—

“It is with particular pleasure that I address myself to a man whose extensive information and literary abilities have ensured him the esteem of the public. Nor is his reputation confined to his own country. I have been not a little gratified in hearing the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’ most highly commended in Tuscany; and, as a proof of the estimation it is there held in, I am desired, by a friend of mine, to transmit the enclosed letter to Liverpool. I should tell you, Sir, that the translation of your work, which ought to accompany it, is not yet conveyed to England. It is packed up in a box of books of mine now at Leghorn. As soon as the case gets to England, I will forward your translation to Lancashire without delay. I shall say nothing of the young author who has so industriously sought to make known your work in Italy. He is a young man, a friend of Monsignor Fabroni, and one of the literary society at Pisa; and, being attached to the history of his country, naturally

* Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo, Appendix, p. 82.

felt a lively sense of gratitude towards one who has investigated so interesting a period of it with so much ingenuity. In any communication, or in any thing that can testify my personal esteem for you, I shall most willingly assist you.”

On receiving this communication, Mr. Roscoe immediately addressed to the Cavaliero Mecherini the following letter:—

“I had yesterday the pleasure of receiving, through the kindness of Lord Douglas, your very obliging letter of the 4th of June last, informing me that you had sent me a copy of your translation from the English, of the ‘Life of the Mag. Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ This translation I had, indeed, already seen with the sensations of a parent who finds his offspring returned from a distant journey, improved in his appearance, language, and address. I shall, however, receive with additional pleasure, when it arrives, the copy with which you have honoured me; and shall regard it as a monument of that sincere esteem and attachment which a conformity of studies and pursuits cannot fail to inspire.

“You will readily conceive the satisfaction it must have afforded the author of a work on Italian literature, to find that his labours had been received by the judicious and learned of that country with not only indulgence, but protection and favour; but if there is a person whose approbation I should have wished to have secured beyond that of any other, it is Monsignor Fabroni, who has shown, by his own truly valuable and learned productions, how well he is qualified to judge on those subjects; and who, in the kind communications with which he has favoured me, has displayed a degree of liberality and candour which have made an indelible impression on my mind, and secured to him my unalterable attachment and respect.

“With regard to the work which, by your partiality, now appears in an Italian dress, let me be allowed to remark, that although I have observed, on some occasions, a difference of opinion between us, as appears by the Notes you have subjoined, yet, upon the whole, so far from being surprised at this diversity, I cannot but think it extraordinary that, in a work of such length, which has been the subject of consideration to two persons in different countries, of different religious habits, and opportunities of acquirement, there should be, in general, such an union between us, not only in matters of fact, but of judgment. In one instance (vol. iv. p. 112.), I could have wished that the original passage had either been given with the note, or the passage omitted without so pointed a reprehension; but it is of little importance; and I cannot, perhaps, expect that, in a passage where I certainly have not consulted the feelings of a great and respect-able body of men, I should experience any extraordinary indulgence to my own.

“Since the publication of the work which has procured me the honour of your notice, I have employed a considerable portion of my leisure in compiling the ‘Life of Leo X.;’ in which I have made such progress, that I expect to send the first volume to the press in the course of the ensuing winter. As soon as this is completed, I shall have the pleasure of transmitting you a copy, as well as another for Monsignor Fabroni, to whose learned work on the same subject I shall stand greatly indebted, particularly in the more advanced stages of my narrative. As this publication will probably extend to three or four volumes, it will be some time before I can hope to see it completed; but I shall make a particular object of forwarding to you the volumes as they come from the press, and shall think myself much honoured by any observations that may occur to you on the perusal.”

Amongst the many other distinguished foreigners who expressed their opinions upon the work was the celebrated Abate Andres. “During my residence in Italy,” says Mr. Francis Drake, in a letter addressed to Mr. Roscoe, “I lent your excellent ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’ to several persons, who were eager to peruse a book which had acquired so much celebrity, and amongst others to the Abbé Andres, a Spanish Jesuit, a gentleman of very extensive reading, and a critic of high reputation in Italy. The enclosed paper contains his opinion of the merits of the work; and I have taken the liberty to transmit it to you, thinking that it might be very flattering and grateful to see how few and how insignificant the inaccuracies are which the Abbé fancies he has discovered in it, perusing it, as he certainly did, with the prejudices of his order and of his religious tenets, and with a jealous desire of diminishing the reputation of a work so superior in every respect to any thing which has been produced by his own countrymen; for, though he was formerly a Jesuit in Spain, I believe he is a Florentine by birth.”—“I am equally honoured and obliged,” says Mr. Roscoe, in reply to Mr. Drake, “by your communication of the paper of remarks on my ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ I had, indeed, before seen them, through the favour of the Earl of Bristol; but, as they were anonymous, your letter gratifies me by acquainting me with the name of the author, which I was very desirous of knowing. With the very learned and extensive work of the Abate Andres, ‘Dell’ Origine, Progressi, e Stato attuale d’ogni Letteratura,’ I am well acquainted, and I think myself particularly fortunate that I should have obtained, in any degree, the approbation of so well-informed a critic, who, since the death of Tiraboschi of Modena, is, perhaps, the best literary historian in Italy. At the same time it must be confessed that his general approbation is pretty much counteracted by his particular criticisms, in some of which his reprehensions seem rather stronger than the occasion requires.”

The general commendation expressed by the Abate Andres is not inferior to that of the other Italian critics.—“Il piacere con cui ho letta la Vita di Lorenzo il Magnifico del Sig. Roscoe, e la sorpresa e maraviglia che m’ha recato il vedere in un Inglese non mai venuto in Italia tanta cognizione e si pieno possesso della letteratura Italiana, mi fanno sperare che tale opera, coronata dagli applausi de’ Letterati, otterrà nuove edizioni, e desiderare che venga in esse purgata d’alcuni lievi difetti osservabili soltanto perchè si trovano in mezzo a tanti e si belli pregi; nelle avvenenti belezze si rendono sensibili i più piccioli nei.”* The particular remarks of the learned critic are noticed by Mr. Roscoe in the “Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo,” where he has, at some length, defended himself against them.

The Abate Jacopo Morelli, principal librarian of St. Mark at Venice, and the Canon Domenico Moreni, of Florence, likewise bore their testimony to the merits of Mr. Roscoe’s work. The

* Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo, Appendix No. IV.

latter, in his “Bibliografia Storico-Ragionata della Toscana,” has thus spoken of it:—“Contiene questa Vita l’ Istoria di gran parte della Famiglia Medicea * * * un opera si bella che sembra fatta per l’ Italia, e che nell’ Italia dovea esser fatta.”* In the year 1809, Moreni edited a volume† which he dedicated to Mr. Roscoe, and in which he expressed, in high terms, his favourable opinion of the “Life of Lorenzo.”—“Ex quo Laurentii Medicis cognomento Magnifici, Artium et Platonicæ Philosophiæ Restauratoris Eximii, Vitam typis Liverpoolianis impressam promulgâsti, Italorum omnium et præcipuè Florentinorum admirationem benevolentiam et maximam tui existimationem tibi conciliâsti. * * * Alia quidem extat Laurentii vita, quam non multis abhinc annis Angelus Fabronius, Academiæ Pisanae Praesæ, conscripsit, eaque prorsus laudanda tum rerum delectu, tum elegantia Latini sermonis; at Tua latius sese extendit, et præter propria Laurentii gesta, quidquid ad rem tum literariam, tum politicam, tum bellicam illius ævi pertinet, miro nexu comprehendit, ita ut non Italiæ solum, sed totius fermè Europæ historia potius appellari queat. Quapropter literaria Florentinorum historia maximam inde lucem acquisivit. Revera plures magni momenti quæstiones optimè elucidas, et resolvis, scriptores inter se discrepantes con-

* Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo, p. 39.

† Petri Angelii Borgæi de Bello Senensi, 8vo. Flor. 1809.

cilias, eximios viros, eosque plures ea aetate, tum scientiâ, tum eruditione pollentes, et Laurentio, Medicæque familiæ acceptissimos enumeras, eorumque scripta percenses, et illustras, monumenta insuper perantiqua, et pretiosissima adeo accuratè detegis, et interpretaris, ut etsi in regionibus longe a nobis dissitis degas, in media tamen urbe nostrâ scripsisse videaris. Hanc vero adeo celebras, adeo laudibus exornas, ut sapientiæ sedem, doctrinæ emporium, ac universal prope Italiæ Athenæum tunc temporis fuisse affirmare non dubites.”

In Germany, as in Italy, the Life of “Lorenzo de’ Medici” met with many admirers, and was fortunate enough to find a translator in the celebrated Kurt Sprengel, of Halle, a name well known both in the scientific and the literary world.* That translation appeared at Berlin, in

* The character of this translation is described in a letter (dated 27th March, 1801,) from M. Hufeland, professor of jurisprudence at Jena, addressed to Mr. Roscoe.—“La traduction Allemande est tombé dans des mains bien habiles. L’auteur est M. Curt Sprengel, professeur en médecine et directeur du jardin botanique a l’université de Halle, savant justement estimé à cause de sa profonde connoissance dans l’Allemagne pour être à nul autre second. Il est outre cela extremement versé dans la littérature Italienne des siécles passés. Sa traduction de voire ouvrage est très-estimée; il n’y a que peu de morceaux qu’on a censuré comme ne rendant pas le sens de l’original, à la manière la plus exacte. Il a enrichi cette traduction des notes dont on fait l’éloge. Je n’en puis pas juger par mes propres yeux, n’ayant pas la traduction dans ce moment devant moi.”

the year 1797* and was enriched by the editor with many valuable annotations. A dedication by Sprengel to his brother was prefixed to it, containing an ingenious parallel between the characters of Lorenzo and of Pericles.* At the conclusion of the dedication, the writer has expressed himself in the following manner with regard to the general merits of the Life:—

“I received the original of this work from my friend Forster in July last, to whom it was sent from England as a very interesting work. Not only my predilection for Italian literature, the study of which, as you know, has been the most agreeable employment of my leisure hours, but still more my profession, which embraces the sciences connected with physiology, prompted me to peruse this work with the greatest attention. As the author frequently refers to Fabroni, I endeavoured to procure that work likewise, and obtained the loan of it from a friend abroad. At first, I was, like Roscoe, inclined to translate Fabroni, and to take the additions from Roscoe; the more so, as the frequent digressions of the latter appeared to me to be detrimental to the unity of the work. But I soon found that the Italian was hesitating and partial in his judgments, and that he wanted, above all, the spirit of free discussion and extensive knowledge of the Englishman. I found, too, that the principal

* Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo, Appendix No. I.

advantage of Fabroni’s work, as a careful supplier of original documents, the most important of which Roscoe had already inserted in his work, must be dispensed with in a German publication; and, finally that the want of unity and of a fixed plan, which appeared to me on first opening Roscoe’s work, was only imaginary, and vanished upon a mature and impartial investigation. I found, lastly, so many charms in the composition of the Englishman, that I readily preferred translating his work to rendering Fabroni into German, and endeavoured to supply out of Fabroni such references only as I found wanting in Roscoe.”

The success of the work in Germany was communicated to Dr. Currie by one of his medical correspondents in that country. “You will have heard,” says Dr. Currie to a friend in America, “of the great success of Mr. Roscoe’s Life of Lorenzo. It far exceeds the hopes of his most sanguine friends. A third English edition is preparing, and two translations into German are advertised in the Literary Gazette of Jena: the one by Forster, who went round the world with Cook; the other by K. Sprengel, author of the “Authentic History of Medicine;” both professors at Halle. The account given of it in this Literary Gazette (the first German Review) is extremely flattering.”*

* Life of Dr. Currie, vol. ii. p. 95.

It was not until the year 1801, that Mr. Roscoe was informed of the translation of his work which had appeared in Germany. On learning the fact, he immediately addressed to Professor Sprengel the following letter:—

“It is only a few days since I had the pleasure of knowing that a work I published some years ago—‘The Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’—had been honoured by a translation into the German language, to which I find prefixed your very respectable name. Accept my thanks, Sir, not for the choice you made of the work,—for you were led to that by higher motives than a personal consideration for its author,—but for the abilities and learning you have shown in supplying my deficiencies, and particularly for the beautiful parallel drawn in your dedication between the character of Lorenzo and that of Pericles; of the golden age of Florence, with that of Athens,—a subject on which I knew my own deficiencies too well to venture, and which I rejoice to find executed with a degree of feeling, learning, and taste, which stamp a real value on the work. The enthusiasm which I felt in the composition of my history, and in the contemplation of the character of the great man who forms its principal subject, is again revived by the just commendations you have bestowed upon him; and in this similarity of sentiments, and of studies—this desire to diffuse and to per-petuate the remembrance of those who have improved, ennobled, and humanised mankind—I feel a bond of union, a principle of attraction, which emboldens me, though a stranger, to request your favourable regard, your esteem, and your friendship, as one who, in a remote part of the world, and under innumerable disadvantages, has experienced similar emotions with yourself, and which he can only regret that it has never been in his power to participate with you.

“I cannot help remarking it as a pleasing circumstance, that in the course of last year I purchased, through the means of a mercantile house here, the Herbarium of the late celebrated Dr. Forster, at Halle, with whom I perceive you have lived in habits of friendship. The specification of this collection had been entrusted to your judgment, and I again recognised you in another capacity. I mention this circumstance to show that our pursuits have another similarity, and that our dispositions (if I may be allowed the expression) touch at more points than one. You will have a pleasure in hearing, that the Forsterian Herbarium is arrived safe at Liverpool, and has given perfect satisfaction; and that its utility will not be confined to an individual, as it is now destined to become one of the chief ornaments of a museum belonging to a botanical garden, now forming in this place by the aid of a public subscription, and which I am in hopes will give an impulse to this most pleasing and attractive study, hitherto so greatly neglected in this part of the world.”

In the year 1799, a French translation of the Life of Lorenzo appeared at Paris. The translator, M. François Thurot, in a letter prefixed to the version, containing various criticisms upon the work, accuses the author of viewing his hero with too partial an eye, and of being unfaithful in his representations of the political history of Italy. In other respects, he speaks of the work in more commendatory terms:—“J’ai trouvé comme vous, citoyen, le livre de M. Roscoe extrêmement recommandable, par les idées libérales qui y sont répandues, par les connoissances étendues, et les recherches profondes qu’il renferme sur l’histoire et sur la littérature de la république de Florence, et même du reste de l’Italie. D’ailleurs, le ton de candeur, qu’y règne partout, la manière noble et décente avec laquelle l’auteur discute ou critique les opinions des écrivains que l’ont précédé dans la même carrière, inspirent une estime réelle pour son caractère personnel, en même temps que son style harmonieux et élégant, son gout pur et éclairé, donnent de ses talens l’idée la plus avantageuse.”*

In America, the Life of Lorenzo was not re-

* Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo, Appendix No. II.

printed till the year 1803, when an edition was published at Philadelphia, by Messrs. Bronson and Chauncey; and the whole impression was immediately disposed of. “It would be a proof of insensibility,” says Mr. Roscoe, in a letter to those gentlemen, “of which I am incapable, were I not highly gratified by this extension of my work through a new continent, and by the long list of eminent and respectable persons who, by their liberal encouragement of your proposed edition, have afforded it so unequivocal a testimony of their approbation; and this satisfaction is heightened by the consideration that this is the sentiment of a country where political, civil, and religious liberty are enjoyed in a degree almost unexampled in the history of the human race.”

CHAPTER VI. 1796—1799. Mr. Roscoe, dissatisfied with his profession, relinquishes it.—Letters to Mr. Ralph Eddowes—Mr. Rathbone.—Visits London—becomes a member of Gray’s Inn.—Society in London.—Letters to Dr. Currie, Mr. Rathbone, and Mr. Daulby.—Lord Orford’s death.—Sir Isaac Heard.—Washington’s genealogy.—Return to Liverpool.—Translates the “Balia” of L. Tansillo.—The Duchess of Devonshire.—Sonnet to Mrs. Roscoe.—Letter from Lord Holland.—Dr. Currie’s criticism.—Letter to Dr. Wright.—Visit to Mr. Daulby at Rydal Mount—his death—sonnet addressed to him—lines on his death.—Establishment of the Athenæum at Liverpool.—Letters to Mr. Edwards respecting Mr. Coleridge.—Robert Burns—letters respecting him—monody on his death—letter from Dr. Moore.—Publication of third edition of Lorenzo de’ Medici.—Letter to Dr. Parr. CHAPTER VI.

The branch of the profession which circumstances had induced Mr. Roscoe to adopt, was, in many respects, ill suited to his character and tastes; and the desire which he felt to abandon it is frequently expressed in his letters to Mrs. Roscoe, written during those occasional absences from home, which his professional avocations required. In a letter addressed to her some years after the commencement of his practice, he says,—“The more I see of business, the more I lament the weakness of the understanding and the depravity of the human heart, and that sometimes wilful and sometimes involuntary blindness, which prevents the appearance of truth. Would to God I could find myself eased of the weight of business, and restored to your arms! and if I might indulge a still further wish, it should be to retire with you to some peaceful retreat, where, with a sparing competence, we might live to ourselves, and bid adieu to an employment which preys upon my happiness, and disgusts me with myself and mankind.”

In another letter, also addressed to Mrs. Roscoe, from Carlisle, where he had been disappointed by the result of a business in which he was much interested, he says,—“Believe me, I am almost disgusted with my profession, as it affords me a continual opportunity of observing the folly and villany of mankind. I must, however, submit to my task till such time as Providence shall think proper to enable me to dispense with it; and as soon as that is the case, it is my fixed resolution to withdraw myself from so hateful an employment. To obtain this desirable end, my own endeavours shall not be wanting, and I trust they will not be in vain. Those needless expenses which have hitherto been a continual drain shall be abolished, and whatever can be obtained by an honourable and upright attention to business shall be secured by economy and prudence.”

Though the success of Mr. Roscoe in his profession had fully equalled his expectations, and had been the means of affording him a very competent livelihood, he continued to look with anxiety for the period when he might feel himself justified in retiring from the anxieties of business. The scheme in which, in the year 1793, he had engaged, in conjunction with Mr. Wakefield, for draining and cultivating an extensive tract of peat-moss in the neighbourhood of Manchester, continued to occupy a consider-able share of his attention, and in the ultimate success of this undertaking he felt the greatest confidence. To this source he probably looked for a recompence in relinquishing his profession,—a step which he took in the course of the year 1796, not long after the publication of his “Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.” The motives which led to this change are shortly adverted to in the following extract from a letter to his friend Mr. Ralph Eddowes, of Philadelphia:—

“Since I last addressed you, I have made a very important change, though not a local one, and have entirely relinquished my profession; having, however, first made an arrangement with my late partner, Mr. Lace, productive of some advantage to me. This I have been induced to do rather from a concurrence of many reasons, than from any one predominant circumstance; but I must, in truth, confess that a consciousness that I was not suited for the profession, nor the profession for me, has long hung about me, and that I have taken the first opportunity which has been allowed me of divesting myself of it altogether. Add to this, that my undertaking in the draining of Chat and Trafford mosses bears a favourable aspect; and that I shall be under the necessity of being so frequently absent from Liverpool, as would render it impossible for me to carry on the business of the law with satisfaction either to my clients or myself.”

A note to Mr. Rathbone, written about the same time as the preceding letter, manifests very clearly the tone of Mr. Roscoe’s mind at the period of this change.

“I am much obliged by the tailpiece to your letter of to-day, though, to say the truth, it amounts to nothing more than calling me (in very friendly terms) an idle and extravagant fellow, who is playing off the artful trick of getting hold of the conveniences and pleasures of life without performing any of its duties. This I relish the worse, as I am not sure that there is not some degree of truth in it; but I am much surer, that to toil and labour for the sake of labouring and toiling, is a much more foolish part; and that it is the curse of God upon avarice, that he who has given himself up too long to its dominion shall never be able to extricate himself from its chains. Surely man is the most foolish of all animals, and civilised man the most foolish of all men. Anticipation is his curse; and to prevent the contingency of evil, he makes life itself only one continued evil. Health, wisdom, peace of mind, conscience, are all sacrificed to the absurd purpose of heaping up, for the use of life, more than life can employ, under the flimsy pretext of providing for his children, till practice becomes habit, and we labour on till we are obliged to take our de-parture, as tired of this world as we are unprepared for the rational happiness of the next.

“I have much more to say to you on this subject, but this is not the place for it. I shall therefore leave you to your ‘Double double, Toil and trouble, Fire burn, and caldron bubble,’ whilst I go to the arrangement of the fifth class of my plants, and take my chance of a few years in a workhouse, some fifty years hence, which I shall think well compensated by having had the lot to live so long.”

Whether at the time of his retiring from business, Mr. Roscoe had any idea of resuming his profession, at some future period, as a barrister, does not appear; but from his silence with regard to such a design in his confidential letters, it may be inferred that no plan of the kind had been arranged. In the month of February, 1797, he visited London; and it was probably during his residence there that he determined to become a member of one of the inns of court, with a view to being called to the bar. He accordingly was entered at Gray’s Inn, and kept Hilary term, which was the only progress he made towards this new object. The reasons which prevented him from the further prosecution of this design were various. The affairs of his late partnership were not yet finally arranged, his agricultural undertaking required his frequent presence, while that love of retirement, which had prompted him to abandon one branch of the profession, ultimately induced him to relinquish the study of the other. Though late in life for so important a change, it is to be regretted that Mr. Roscoe did not prosecute his intention of being called to the bar, possessing, as he did, those qualities which must in all probability have rendered his success certain.

The literary reputation which he had lately acquired by the publication of the “Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” and the kindness of the Marquis of Lansdowne, who happened at that time to be in town, afforded him the means of forming some new and valuable acquaintances, in the political as well as in the literary world. He had the gratification of becoming personally known to Mr. Fox and Mr. (now Lord) Grey, and of acquiring the friendship of Dr. Moore, the author of “Zeluco.” Much of his time was also agreeably spent amongst persons whom he had long known and esteemed, but whose society his distant residence permitted him rarely to enjoy.

In his letters to his friends, Dr. Currie and Mr. Rathbone, he mentions, with pleasure, the various persons whom he had seen. In a letter to the former he says,—

“Your introduction to Dr. Moore was re-ceived by him with great kindness, and has been the source of much satisfaction to me. My wife and I dined there on Thursday. The party were Dr., Mrs., and Miss Moore; the Doctor’s two sons, James, the surgeon, and Charles, the lawyer; Mr. Gifford, the poet; Fuseli; ma femme, and myself. I hope I need not say our time passed very pleasantly. The Doctor is full of anecdote; Fuseli is a hero in conversation; Charles gave us some good imitations of the oratory of Burke, Dundas, &c.; Gifford is a little, rather common looking man, but shrewd and intelligent, though not very talkative. I have paid the Doctor several morning visits, and he has called on me. At one of these he showed me the original of Burns’s life, and several other letters, papers, and poems; all of which, he says, are at your service, if you write the life. He will also consent, I doubt not, to his letters being printed, after having first perused them. Fuseli is an old acquaintance of the Doctor’s, whom he calls a good, unctious, sociable, family man.

“I have been frequently with the Marquis (of Lansdowne) at morning visits, and am to dine with him on Tuesday. At one of these morning calls I met with Mr. Grey, and had a good deal of interesting conversation with him and the Marquis; and yesterday I met Mr. Fox there, and had a long discussion on the face of affairs at home and abroad, &c. In these accidental rencontres I consider myself fortunate; but I shall not at present attempt to sketch the conversation that took place. All I shall say is, that opposition, to judge from its leading members, seems to have now no certain system or bond of union. Whether these visits to the Marquis were mere ceremony, or portend some new arrangement, I know not, but presume the former. I left Mr. Grey with the Marquis, but out-sate Mr. Fox, as he instantly left the room when I got up to go away. The people here begin to talk about the French preparations; but nobody seems to care. The fact is, they are too busy to attend to such matters. ‘Two shall be grinding at the mill,’ &c.: you are too well read in the sacred volumes to stand in need of an interpretation.”

The following letter was written, a few days afterwards, to Mr. Rathbone:—

“This morning, and at this hour, I was to have had the superlative honour of being introduced to the Duchess of Gordon; but recollecting that I could appear before her Grace in no other capacity than as one of those puppies, ‘who dangle up and down, To fetch and carry sing-song thro’ the town,’ I have thought proper to decline the challenge; and instead of acquiring new fashionable ac-quaintance, shall devote this half hour to old solid friendship,

“How you will envy me, when I tell you, that last Saturday, I had an hour’s familiar conversation with Mr. Fox, at the Marquis of Lansdowne’s, where I before had accidentally met Mr. Grey. Of these rencontres, I put nothing on paper; not altogether because of the old proverbs, ‘Littera scripta manet,’ and ‘Nescit vox emissa reverti;’ nor yet because of the provisions of the two acts; but because it would occupy too much of my paper, and require more time than I can at present spare. I dine to-day with the Marquis; but think there will be no company. Should any thing interesting occur, either there or elsewhere, I will again take up my pen.

“The people here are of opinion the French will pay us a visit; but they have no doubt that British courage will, with God’s assistance, soon make them repent of their temerity. A shopkeeper in the Strand told me, that as God had fought for us when the enemy appeared off Ireland, He would not surely desert us when they attacked England. What can such a pious people have to fear from a nation of infidels? When miracles are daily performed in our favour, it seems absurd to have recourse to human means. A few days since, I sent a short paper to ‘The Morning Chronicle,’ pointing out the necessity of immediately adverting to the alternative of peace, whilst it was yet practicable; but it has not been suffered to appear. In fact, every thing is matter of party; and as the ministry set up the cry of danger, the opposition papers take the other side of the question, and affect to consider their wailings as a further pretence to raise loans and impose taxes; and those who have only at heart the real good of the country, without regarding either ministry or opposition, cannot obtain even a hearing. I much fear the predominating idea of men of all parties is individual, personal aggrandisement, and that the welfare of the country is only a secondary consideration; or rather, perhaps, a cloak to cover their real purpose. There are only two classes of men; viz. those who would sacrifice themselves for their country, and those who would sacrifice their country to themselves. Which of these are the most numerous I shall not pretend to say; though I think I have in the course of my life met with an instance or two of the former.”

To his brother-in-law, Mr. Daulby, then resident at the Lakes, Mr. Roscoe writes in a lighter vein:—

“From the midst of all the delights that London affords, I condescend to salute the lonely inhabitants of the solitary hills and cheerless wilds of Westmoreland. Here, every thing is life and gaiety; the rattling of wheels, the winding of horns, and the ringing of bells, performing a continual chorus; whilst with you, the chirping of a robin red-breast, or the lowing of a cow, is all that gratifies your ears. At this hour you are, perhaps, complaining of the clear and nipping air, or incommoded with the beams of the noonday sun; whilst here an impenetrable vapour screens us from his rays, and forms a soft and sociable atmosphere, breathed from the lungs of a million of people, who would not exchange this happiness for any other the world could give.

“But to tell you the truth, my dear Dan, I begin to be shockingly tired of my abode. Except Fuseli’s pictures from Milton, which are certainly much beyond even my expectations, I have seen little which has pleased me in the way of art.”

In another letter to Mr. Daulby, he says, “So far my journey has been agreeable enough; but the hurry of engagements discomposes one’s mind, and the idea of neglecting to return civilities conferred embitters those which we receive. I have seen many literary and singular characters, and formed some connections, which may prove agreeable if not useful. Pictures I have bought none,—prints not above 40s. worth,—books a few; and to-day I have ordered a few plaister busts and figures to be sent to Liverpool. I have seen many eminent political characters, but must take another opportunity of giving you particulars.”

During his stay in town Mr. Roscoe had hoped to have an opportunity of becoming personally acquainted with Lord Orford, who had frequently expressed a desire to meet him. Unfortunately at this period his Lordship’s state of health was such as to preclude the possibility of an interview. “Soon after my arrival in town,” says Mr. Roscoe, in a letter addressed to Dr. Currie, “I called at Lord Orford’s, but found him dangerously ill, and not in a state to be seen. I therefore introduced myself to his intimate friends, the Miss Berrys, who resided a long time in Italy, and with whom I dined yesterday. They told me they had mentioned to him that I was in town, to which he answered, ‘Alas! it is too late—I shall never see him.’ He afterwards said, ‘It is a melancholy thing to be so much dead and so much alive!’ It is not yet improbable that he may so far recover, as that I may get a sight of him, which I confess would much gratify my curiosity.” The illness, however of this venerable nobleman, who had held a distinguished rank in the literary world for more than half a century, proved fatal.

Amongst the persons with whom Mr. Roscoe at this time became acquainted, was the late Sir Isaac Heard, Garter principal King at Arms. This acquaintance led him to the knowledge of a singular fact respecting General Washington, which he afterwards communicated to an American gentleman in the following letter:—“I have now the pleasure of performing my promise of repeating to you, by letter, the information I gave you in Liverpool respecting the memorial of General Washington and his family, drawn up in his own handwriting, and sent by him to the late Sir Isaac Heard, Garter King at Arms, to be enrolled by him in the records of the Heralds’ College, London.

“It is now about thirty years since I had the good fortune to form an acquaintance with Sir Isaac Heard, who was a kind friend, an excellent patriot, and, I need scarcely add, a very worthy man. On visiting him one day in his office in Doctors’ Commons, I observed a portrait over the chimney piece, not sufficiently characterised for me to decipher, and to the best of my recollection not in the first style of art.

“I could, however, perceive that it was not the representation of the personage who might have been expected to preside at the fountain of honour; and on expressing my surprise to Sir Isaac, and enquiring whose portrait it was, he replied, in his usual energetic manner, ‘Whose is it? Whose should it be? but the portrait of the greatest man of the age,—General Washington.’ On my assenting to this remark, he added, ‘Now, sir, I will show you something farther.’ And turning to his archives he took out some papers, consisting of several sheets closely written, saying, ‘Here, sir, is the genealogy and family history of General Washington, with which he has, at my request, furnished me, in his own hand-writing, and which I shall have a particular pleasure in preserving amongst the most precious records of my office;’ which I have no doubt he has accordingly done, and where I presume they may still be seen on application to the proper authorities.”

The visit of Mr. Roscoe to London was not extended beyond a few weeks, and he gladly returned to his home, and to the enjoyment of that leisure he had lately secured. But a state of complete inactivity was little suited to his character, and his mind turned eagerly to the same pursuits with which it had been recently occupied. Of his employments at this time a pleasanter picture cannot be conveyed than that given in the following short extract from a letter addressed by Mrs. Roscoe to her sister, Miss Griffies:—“My husband is a happy man in his various resources. He has this afternoon got a charming importation of plants from Vienna, which completes a part of his botanical collection. He is deep in Greek and historical researches, and, above all, you will be glad to hear, in good health and spirits.”

Italian literature again engaged his attention, at first without any particular object, but as he proceeded, new designs occurred to his mind. In perusing the writings of the Italian poets of the sixteenth century, probably with a view to the composition of his “Life of Leo X.,” he had been greatly struck with the “Balia” of Luigi Tansillo, the contemporary of Ariosto and of Tasso. The simplicity and elegance of this poem, and the skill with which the subject to which it is addressed was treated, excited Mr. Roscoe’s warm admiration, and induced him to present a version of it to the English public. The pleasant occupation also, which such a task afforded, was an additional encouragement to him to proceed. “It is not,” he says in his preface to the poem, “the translator’s intention to assert, that a previous consideration of these circumstances led him to undertake the present version of the poem. The truth is, that having of late enjoyed a greater share of leisure than he has formerly experienced, he has employed some part of it pleasantly to himself, if not usefully to others, in an occupation which, without requiring the exertion of original composition, satisfies the besoin d’agir, and by calming the reproaches allays the irritation of total indolence. He must also be allowed to observe, that the hope of promoting, in some degree, the laudable object which the author himself had in view, if it did not lead him to undertake the translation, operated as a chief inducement to lay it before the public.”

The lines near the conclusion of the poem, in which the author alludes to the noble ladies of his own country— “Or se vedessi (o giorni benedetti!) Le Colonne, le Ursine, le Gonsaghe Ed altre tai co’ cari figli ai petti—” suggested to the translator the introduction of a name distinguished amongst the most distinguished of the English nobility. But unwilling to take this step without her permission, he applied to his friend Dr. Moore on the subject, from whom he received the following reply:—“I spoke to the Duchess of Devonshire on the subject you mentioned in your letter. She will be highly pleased with what you propose. She was undoubtedly the first person of her rank in England who introduced the laudable custom which is recommended in Luigi Tansillo’s poem, and she is rewarded by the great resemblance in constitution and disposition between the child she nursed and herself. Her Grace has sufficient taste to be a great admirer of the ‘Life of Lorenzo;’ and she is the more delighted with what you intend, because she relished the English translations in that work particularly. She spent six months in Tuscany; understands the Italian perfectly; and preferred several of the translations to the original; and your book afforded her additional pleasure by recalling some very agreeable scenes to her memory.”

The lines in which her Grace’s name occurs are the following, at the conclusion of the poem:— “O happier times, to truth and virtue dear, Roll swiftly on! O golden days appear! Of noble birth, when every matron dame Shall the high meed of female merit claim; Then loveliest, when her babe in native charms Hangs on her breast or dances in her arms; Thus late, with angel grace along the plain, Illustrious Devon led Britannia’s train: And whilst by frigid fashion unreprest, She to chaste transports opened all her breast, Joy’d her loved babe its playful hands to twine Round her fair neck, or midst her locks divine, And from the fount with every grace imbued, Drank heavenly nectar, not terrestrial food. —So Venus once, in fragrant bowers above, Clasp’d to her rosy breast immortal Love; Transfused soft passion thro’ his tingling frame, The nerve of rapture and the heart of flame. Yet not with wanton hopes and fond desires Her infant’s veins the British matron fires; But prompts the aim to crown by future worth The proud pre-eminence of noble birth.”

The Duchess of Devonshire, in a note to Mr. Roscoe, expressed the gratification she had received from this introduction of her name, and the satisfaction she felt “in seeing the practice of nursing, of which she had ever been an enthusiastic advocate, so honoured and recommended as it was by the poem Mr. Roscoe has beautifully translated.”

To this translation the following sonnet addressed to Mrs. Roscoe was appropriately prefixed:— “As thus in calm domestic leisure blest I wake to British notes th’ Ausonian strings, Be thine the strain; for what the poet sings Has the chaste tenor of thy life exprest. And whilst delighted, to thy willing breast, With rosy lip thy smiling infant clings, Pleased I reflect, that from those healthful springs —Ah not by thee with niggard love represt— Six sons successive, and thy later care, Two daughters fair have drunk; for this be thine Those best delights approving conscience knows; And whilst thy days with cloudless suns decline, May filial love thy evening couch prepare,” And soothe thy latest hours to soft repose.”

“There is perhaps no part of the book,” says Lord Holland, in a letter thanking Mr. Roscoe for a copy of the “Nurse,” “that I like better than that which is exclusively your own, the sonnet to Mrs. Roscoe: of the merit of that species of composition, which is so highly esteemed and minutely criticised by the Italians, I am afraid I have not a very accurate notion; but I know that I seldom read any in English that give any pleasure, and do not recollect one in the language, at this moment, which seems to me as pretty as that which you have prefixed to your translation.”

The translation of the “Nurse” was submitted to Dr. Currie, who returned it with the following criticisms:—

“I have perused the ‘Nurse’ with attention, and upon the whole with much pleasure; and I see nothing either in the general impression it is likely to produce, or in the effect of particular passages, that should prevent your publishing it, or indeed render the measure doubtful. You must not, however, expect that it will increase the reputation of the biographer of ‘Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ It is enough that it is not unworthy of him, and that you give it to the world, as the truth is, not as a laboured effort of your talents, but as the occasional occupation and amusement of a vacant hour, in the midst of more serious engagements. The versification is easy and flowing, and possesses considerable variety. Your numbers rise and fall with the sentiment they embody, which is generally, but not always, distinctly expressed. I think you have a few lines which might have been improved with a little care; but it is perhaps well to exhibit, in some cases, the marks of a little negligence to heighten the general effect The compliment to the Duchess of Devonshire, which every body will read and quote, is very fine. The four lines beginning ‘So Venus,’ &c. are singularly beautiful; but I wish you had been prompted by the muse to a better or smoother termination. My objection is to prompts the aim; it is not, however, very material.

“The prose in your preface and notes is, as usual, easy, luminous, and correct. I see nothing to object to as to sentiment, and little or nothing as to style. Yet you have, I think, got one or two Latinisms. Why should Ranza concede the MSS. It might have been as well to deliver them, or perhaps still better to have given them up, p. 10. In the same page, line 10., you use adverts to, as I suspect, for mentions; and in p. 14. adverted to is certainly employed for detailed, examined, or discussed. You are very fond of adverting.

“I have only farther to observe, that it will be wished by the ladies that you had translated the quotations in the notes as well as in he preface. I have no doubt the ‘Nurse’ will make some noise.”*

In a letter to Dr. Wright of Edinburgh (the friend of Dr. Currie), Mr. Roscoe thus alludes to his translation:—

* Life of Dr. Currie, vol. ii. p. 335.

“I beg you to accept my very sincere thanks for your present of your ‘Medical Admonitions,’ and for the obliging letter by which they were accompanied. * * * I, too, have had the temerity to rank myself as a fellow-labourer in the same good cause; and though I have lived too long to expect that any striking effects can be produced on the public morals and manners, either by exhortation or reproof, yet I certainly feel a sensible pleasure in seeing my translation recommended by those whose approbation is alone worth estimating; and in the hope that if these days of empyricism, of prophecy, of folly, and of barbarism, should be destined ever to have a termination, this slight production may have some effect in promoting those affections by which society is bound together, and effecting those beneficent purposes at which it avowedly aims. Such are the hopes of authors! But the gloom thickens round Europe; and in the contest between principles pushed to their wildest extremes on the one hand, and total want of principle on the other, it is difficult to find a spot on earth where the mind can with satisfaction repose. In this mighty convulsion, all interference can only ruin the intermeddler; and the song of exultation, like the voice that animated it, must now be still. In the mean time, there is some consolation in reflecting, that the path of utility is not entirely closed; and that, although the people of the earth will allow of no interference in their devout determination to cut each others’ throats, it may yet be allowed to recommend it to their consideration, whether it is proper they should be poisoned by quacks, or murder their children by unnatural neglect.”

In the summer of the year 1797 the leisure which Mr. Roscoe had acquired permitted him to visit his brother-in-law, Mr. Daulby, then residing at Rydal Mount, near Ambleside; but he only arrived to be present at the last moments of one whom he had long esteemed and loved.

A refined and cultivated taste for the fine arts, and for elegant literature, led in early life to an intimacy between Mr. Daulby and Mr. Roscoe, which was afterwards drawn closer by dearer ties. Some years after the death of his first wife, Mr. Daulby was fortunate enough to win the affections of Miss Roscoe; and her brother was happy in seeing her hand bestowed upon so amiable and accomplished a man. It was probably about the period of this attachment, that the following sonnet was addressed by Mr. Roscoe to his friend:— “Daulby! who oft hast bow’d beneath the smart Of keen affliction, yet surviv’d to know More blissful hours return, and through thine heart Health’s temperate flood and native spirits flow; Think not the hand that led thee through the gloom Will now forsake thee—still thy breast shall prove The lasting transports of a happier doom, Each charm of health, and every sweet of love. —Yet should thy God permit the storm to rise (His ways inscrutable to mortal eyes), Dim thy fair hopes, and bid thine ills increase, Despair not; for while Virtue is thy guide, Secure thy bark shall stem the bursting tide, And gain the haven of eternal peace.”

Amongst other works of art Mr. Daulby possessed a very complete and valuable collection of the prints of Rembrandt, of whose works he published a catalogue, which still maintains a high character among the collectors of prints. To this volume Mr. Roscoe added a preface of considerable length.

The taste and accomplishments of Mr. Daulby (which have descended to his children) are adverted to in the following lines, written by Mr. Roscoe at the time of his death:— “O formed by Heaven of purer clay To kindle at the Poet’s lyre, To catch from Art her magic ray, And melt at Music’s raptured wire; Yet may’st thou still with cold regard These transitory joys resign, Secure of Virtue’s high reward, The approving smile of Power Divine.”

It is one of the first duties of those who have derived from literary studies that gratification and improvement which they always impart, to afford every opportunity to others of obtaining the same rational enjoyments. This duty was never neglected by Mr. Roscoe, who was ever anxious to communicate to those around him the advantages of which he himself partook, and who was especially desirous to cherish in others that taste for elegant literature which had contributed so much to his own happiness. His influence in this respect was felt, from a very early period, in the circle of his own immediate friends; and he eagerly took advantage of every opportunity to produce similar impressions upon the minds of his townsmen.

Previously to the present year (1797), the only literary institution which Liverpool possessed was a library, of a limited nature, the books of which were circulated amongst the subscribers. An establishment like this, though useful and improving, was obviously incapable of supplying that assistance which the researches of a scholar require. A gentleman of considerable literary talents, and an intimate friend of Mr. Roscoe, the late Mr. Edward Rogers of Liverpool, struck with the want of a more extensive library, and pleased with an institution devoted to literary purposes which he had seen at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, proposed to several of his friends the erection of a similar establishment at Liverpool. For some time the project was considered impracticable; but at length, by the exertions of Mr. Thomas Taylor, another of Mr. Roscoe’s friends (member of a family distinguished for virtues and talents), and of Dr. Rutter, a number of gentlemen, amongst whom was Mr. Roscoe, were induced to assemble together for the purpose of introducing the proposed establishment to the notice of the public. A prospectus was drawn up by Dr. Rutter, and the plan being approved of, a public meeting was called, and measures taken to carry it into effect. Although party politics at that time ran very high in Liverpool, they did not operate to the detriment of this design; and persons of all shades of opinion concurred in the establishment of an institution devoted solely to literary improvement.

The Athenæum consists of a news-room and library, now containing a very valuable collection of books in various departments of literature, upwards of 16,000 in number. Each proprietor has, in addition to the personal use of the library, the right of nominating one young person as a reader, and of introducing any number of strangers.

Such is the origin of an institution which has served as a model for many similar establishments in different parts of the country. It has been frequently supposed that the idea of it originated with Mr. Roscoe, an error which will be corrected by the above details. He was indeed a very active member of the committee, and devoted much of his time and attention to the selection and arrangement of the library; not the less eager to promote the interests of the new establishment because he could not claim for himself the honourable title of its founder.*

The attachment of Mr. Roscoe to literature was extended to those who, like himself, had laboured in her service. His desire to be useful

* The services of Mr. Roscoe to this institution were commemorated, after his death, in the following resolution:—

“At the General Annual Meeting of the Proprietors, July 12th, 1831,

“On the motion of Mr. Ottiwell Wood, seconded by Mr. Adam Hodgson,

“It was resolved,

“That the proprietors of the Athenæum cannot separate without expressing their grateful recollection of the services this Institution derived at its first establishment from the late William Roscoe, Esq., and the great regret which they feel that it can no longer be benefited by the advice and assistance of a man whose literary, scientific, and benevolent exertions so justly entitled him to their esteem and admiration

to such as stood in need of assistance is manifested by the following letter, addressed to the Rev. Mr. Edwards of Birmingham:—

“I had, some time since, the favour of a letter from you, intended to have been delivered by Mr. Coleridge, but had not the pleasure of seeing him, as I believe he altered his intended route, and did not pay a visit to Liverpool.

“I read with great pleasure his Conciones ad Populum, which I think contain marks of that disinterested ardour in the cause of liberty, and that abhorrence of violence and bloodshed under whatever pretence they may be resorted to, which in times like the present are so particularly necessary to be inculcated. Mr. Coleridge is one of the few individuals who have perceived the absurdity of the maxim, that it is lawful and expedient to shed the blood of those by whom it is likely that blood will be shed, and which thus authorises the commission of an immediate and actual crime, for the purpose of preventing one which is remote and uncertain, the pretexts of tyrants and of anarchists, at all times and in all countries.

“It was with much concern I found he had adopted the resolution of discontinuing his periodical paper of the ‘Watchman.’ I conceive he did not give it a sufficient trial, and that if he had persevered he would have found the extent of its circulation increase. Periodical works of this nature are generally slow in taking root, but when once established are very lucrative; and I have no doubt but the paper in question would, if continued, have been of very extensive utility.

“With the little volume of Mr. Coleridge’s poems I have been greatly delighted—his genius is of the highest class. The characteristics of a fervid imagination and a highly cultivated taste are visible in every page. I must, however, be allowed to remark, that where excellence is so abundant selection might be employed to advantage. He ought not, for a moment, to forget that he writes for immortality, which many have attained by condensing their excellencies, and many have lost by diffusing them through too large a mass. There are few authors who would not lose a considerable share of their reputation were the public in possession of all they wrote.

“It would give me much pleasure to be informed, that Mr. Coleridge’s prospects in life are such as are likely to give free scope to the exertions of those uncommon talents of which he is possessed; and I shall esteem myself much obliged by any information you can give me respecting him.

“His concluding address to his ‘Watchman’ deeply affected me, as it spoke the regret of a virtuous mind disappointed in its efforts to do good. I have since heard that Bristol is not a place likely to reward his merits. If so, might you not recommend it to him to pay a visit to Liverpool, where I know many who would be happy to see him, and who would have a particular pleasure in promoting any plan which he might suggest for rendering his talents advantageous to his country and to himself?”

Amongst the writers of the day there was no one whose genius and whose history interested Mr. Roscoe more deeply than those of Robert Burns. The vigour, beauty, and simplicity of his poetry, and the manly candour of his character, excited his warmest admiration. In his “Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici” he took the opportunity of paying a well deserved compliment to the poet, and was about to transmit to him a copy of that work, when he was informed of his death. But the productions of Mr. Roscoe were not wholly unknown to Burns, in whose handwriting a copy of the song “O’er the vine-cover’d hills” was presented to Mr. Roscoe by Mrs. Riddell, accompanied with the following note:—

“Our friend Dr. Currie has mentioned to me that the enclosed poem, found amongst Burns’s manuscripts, which we were looking through this morning, might be acceptable to you to place amongst your own, from the circumstance of its being written in the poor bard’s hand about two years ago, and given by him to myself, as a poetical production to which he was enthusiastically partial.” The interest which Mr. Roscoe felt in the fate of the Scottish poet is expressed in the following letter to the Rev. Mr. Edwards of Birmingham:—

“It has of late been my opinion that great talents are, in the present times, often repressed for want of a very small degree of encouragement; and the death of poor Burns, which has occurred since I wrote to you, confirms me in this opinion. I cannot express to you how sensibly I am affected by this event. I had not, indeed, the pleasure of his personal acquaintance; but at the time he was taken ill he was preparing for a journey to Liverpool, and had done me the honour (and it is an honour of which I shall always be proud) of sending me word that he intended to pay me a visit. His example has fixed the value of high poetical attainments in Scotland, and they amount to the place of an exciseman, with a salary of fifty pounds per annum. Such has been the munificence of the Scotch peerage and the Scotch gentry to a man who has done more honour to his country than all the throat-cutters it ever bred. May they never have another opportunity of insulting genius with paltry and insidious rewards!”

The whole of Burns’s manuscripts, “even to the copybook in which his little boy had been practising his writing*,” having been sent to

* See the Life of Dr. Currie, vol. i. p. 271.

Dr. Currie, were, with the exception of such as were manifestly unfit for publication, laid by him before Mr. Roscoe, who perused them, as it may be supposed, with the deepest interest, and made various suggestions with regard to their publication.* The hints thus given met with the entire approbation of Dr. Currie, who produced in his “Life of Burns” one of the most delightful and instructive pieces of literary biography in the language.

The indignant sympathy felt by Mr. Roscoe in the fate of Burns was again evinced in a monody on his death, which was introduced by Dr. Currie in his life of the poet. “I formerly mentioned to you,” says the biographer in a letter to Mr. Syme, the friend of Burns, “that I had received two monodies on Burns,—one by Roscoe, another by Rushton. They have both great merit, especially the first; but they have a common fault,—that of attacking the ingratitude of Burns’s countrymen too violently. I objected this to my friend Roscoe, but I have not been able to prevail on him to alter his poem in this or in several other particulars; partly because there is no reasoning down the indignation of a poet on a subject of this kind, and partly because what poetry he writes, which is very little, he executes at a single exertion, and cannot be got to retouch.”†

* Life of Dr. Currie, vol. i. p. 271. † Ibid. p. 268.

The indignation of Mr. Roscoe again breaks out in the following letter:—

“I enclose you Robert Burns’s narrative. I send you also my rhymes, which have unaccountably taken somewhat of a satirical turn, and will perhaps be thought (at least in the North) more severe than the occasion requires. From what I can collect from his writings and his narrative, I am of a different opinion; and cannot but think that he fell a victim to the unfeeling neglect of his opulent countrymen, whose patronage he courted by every means consistent with the independence of his character, and whose bounty terminated in chaining him to a station which differs in no respect from that of a galley-slave, except that the latter only shackles the body, and the former both the body and the mind.”

The monody was much admired by all those who, like its author, sympathised deeply in the fate of the poet. The powerful effect which it produced on the feelings of Dr. Moore is described in the following manner by that gentleman:—

“I have been just telling your friend Dr. Currie that I was employed till after four o’clock this morning in reading the first volume of the new edition of ‘Burns,’ and in wandering through the other three volumes desultorily. After breakfast I took up the first again, and began to read your poem to my wife and daughter. When I came to the stanza beginning ‘With step-dame eye,’ &c., my heart, which was much affected before, became at once so overwhelmed with an intermingled torrent of grief and indignation, that I could not articulate another line for some time.”

He then describes the emotion which affected him on reading other passages in the poem, and adds,—

“Though Mrs. Moore and my daughter were greatly affected, yet they were astonished at my agitation, because, notwithstanding my sensibility to the power of poetry, age has rendered me less liable to the melting mood than formerly; and I write this to thank you for restoring me, in this instance, to my youthful emotions.”

In the course of the year 1799 Mr. Roscoe was called upon to prepare for the press a new edition of his “Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” in which he availed himself of the numerous remarks, and the valuable information furnished to him, as it has been already stated, by Dr. Parr, to whom previously to the publication of the new edition he addressed the following letter:—

“Having now been called upon by Messrs. Cadell and Davies for a corrected copy of the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,’ which I promised to prepare for the octavo edition, I have again gone over all the remarks with which you so obligingly furnished me some time since, and have finally incorporated your emendations into my work. At the same time I have made minutes of these alterations in the text corresponding to your remarks, in which I have at times stated the manner in which such alterations have been made; and in the very few cases in which I have not strictly complied with your suggestions, I have endeavoured to give my reasons for such variation. These minutes I have not extended through the Latin corrections, because they have been adopted without a single exception, and in all cases with evident improvement to the sense. I now send you the minutes, accompanied with such additional notes as I have found necessary, in consequence of the documents with which you have furnished me. The former will at least show, that I have not been insensible of the value of any remark with which you have honoured my work; the latter, as I have taken the liberty of acknowledging to whom I am indebted for them, I think it indispensably necessary you should see, not only as they will serve to show what conclusions I have been induced to make from them, but that my ignorance or carelessness may not attach any blemish to a character to which it is impossible for me to add the slightest celebrity.

“When I consider the immense trouble which you have taken on my behalf, and the kind and friendly manner in which you communicated your remarks, I feel a sense of obligation which I shall not attempt to express, but which I am sure I shall retain unimpaired as long as I live.

“With the octavo edition, I am under the necessity of giving a translation of the Italian poems of ‘Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ Of the success of this attempt I have great doubts; but I have engaged myself in the undertaking, and, indeed, made some progress in it. I before hinted to you some of my objections to this measure, and received your very judicious opinion with the respect it always deserves. I now send you a few specimens, from which you will be better enabled to say what you think of this business. My principal difficulty is, as to the poem called ‘The Seven Delights of Love;’ the conclusion of which is greatly altered from the original,—but I know not whether affected modesty be not worse than open indecency.

“I hope you will think the ‘Oraisia’ of Lorenzo makes some amends for the levity of his other writings. It appears to great advantage in the original, whatever it may do in the translation.

“And now let me thank you for your last very obliging and welcome letter, which arrived and cheered me at a time when I was out of health, out of spirits, and on the point of removing, with a large family, to the house I am now in, about six miles from Liverpool. Yes, my dear sir, we must meet; and I hope in the course of the present summer, at this place, where, if you can compound for the turbulence of children of all sizes, I can promise you a most hearty welcome and tolerable accommodation, with the society of a few friendly neighbours. Our friend John Pearson may I hope be induced to accompany you into this neighbourhood. If you take a journey this summer, and have not yet fixed your route, I shall not be without hopes that my wishes in this respect stand some chance of being gratified.”

CHAPTER VII. 1799—1805. Mr. Roscoe purchases Allerton Hall, and retires thither—his projected mode of life—his studies.—Inscription—letter to Fuseli—Change in his prospects—becomes a partner in the bank of Messrs. Clarke—letters to Dr. Parr and Lord Lansdowne—his studies suspended—his opinions on political affairs—letter to Lord Holland,—Establishment of the Botanic Garden at Liverpool—prospectus of that institution—address delivered previously to the opening of the garden.—Letter from Dr. Rush of Philadelphia.—Correspondence with Dr. Smith—visit of the latter to Allerton—dedication by him of “Exotic Botany” to Mr. Roscoe.—Mr. Roscoe becomes a Fellow of the Linnean Society.—Fuseli visits Allerton—letter from him.—Mr.Mathias—his Canzone, addressed to Mr. Roscoe—correspondence with him.—Dr. Currie—his friendship for Mr. Roscoe—his character and death.—Letter to Mr. Macneil.—Death of Mr. William Clarke—his character, and correspondence with Mr. Roscoe—lines addressed to him at Lisbon—letter on his death.—Death of Mr. Fox.—Letter to Lord Holland.—Visit to London.—Political affairs.—Letters to Lord Holland and Dr. Parr—visit of the latter to Allerton. CHAPTER VII.

It seldom happens that those who have been long engaged in the active duties of life retain that taste for retirement which is often felt in youth. But it was otherwise with Mr. Roscoe, who never ceased to look forward with anxiety to the period when he should be enabled to retreat, from the harassing cares of business, to the tranquillity of the country, and the peaceful pleasures of his literary occupations. After upwards of twenty years spent in a laborious and distasteful profession, the object he had so long had at heart appeared to be accomplished. In the spring of the year 1799, he became the purchaser of a moiety of the Allerton estate, a valuable property lying about six miles from Liverpool. Allerton Hall, which was attached to that portion of the estate bought by Mr. Roscoe, was originally erected in the reign of James I., but a part of that structure had been taken down about the middle of the last century, and a handsome stone edifice erected in its place. The house was surrounded by gardens disposed in the old English taste, and environed on every side by ample woods. To this pleasant residence Mr. Roscoe retired, to prosecute at leisure his literary labours, and to enjoy the more healthy employments which agriculture and botany afford. Here he hoped, as he expressed himself in a letter to Dr. Parr, to realise the admirable picture which Jortin has drawn of the happiness which such a life affords:—“An honest and sensible man is placed in a middle station, in circumstances rather scanty than abounding. He hath all the necessaries, but none of the superfluities, of life; and these necessaries he acquires by his prudence, his studies, and his industry. If he seeks to better his income, it is by such methods as hurt neither his conscience nor his constitution. He hath friends and acquaintances of his own rank. He receives good offices from them, and he returns the same. As he hath his occupations, he hath his diversions also; and partakes of the simple, frugal, obvious, innocent, and cheerful amusements of life.” His chief literary employment at this period was the Life of Leo X., in which his leisure permitted him to make considerable progress. He also resumed the study of the Greek language; and, from a note prefixed by him to the Glasgow edition of Homer, it appears that the Odyssey had been this year the subject of his study. The charms of the country likewise revived his taste for poetry, and the following Inscription, which bears the date of 1800, was probably intended for one of the pleasant alcoves, with which the old gardens of Allerton were embellished. “INSCRIPTION. 1800. “Whoe’er thou art whom chance or choice may lead To share this rustic seat, this friendly shade, The healthful gales from wild-flowers fresh that blow, And all the extended prospect spread below; If Nature’s simple charms attract thy mind, If glows thy breast with love of humankind, All these be thine. For whether on thine eyes Green woods, bright streams, or peopled hamlets rise, Thy soften’d bosom then not only proves A sympathy with all that lives and moves, But (while the varied scene around thee glows) With all that blooms, that murmurs, or that flows?

The benefit to his health which he found in his change of residence and his country occupations is referred to in the following extract of a letter written in the summer of 1799, to Mr. Fuseli:—

“I avail myself of this opportunity of informing you, without being questioned on that subject, that I am yet in existence, and, what I know you will be glad to hear, in better spirits than when I last wrote to you. From the experience I have hitherto had of my new residence, it promises to be productive of every advantage which I expected to find from it:—good air, oppor-tunity, or rather necessity, of exercise, and a degree of retirement which is indispensably necessary to my peace of mind. The latter you will, perhaps, believe, when I tell you that I am a mile and a half from any neighbour, but, at that distance I have on every side of me some of my most intimate and valuable friends. Such being the advantages I enjoy here, you will not wonder that I am exerting myself to secure the means of remaining here, without the necessity of further interference in the tumult of the town, which I hope in a short time I shall be able to do. I consider it as one great secret in the art of living, especially at a time when all the necessaries of life are so high, to obtain subsistence immediately from the earth; and accordingly I am surrounded with cows, hogs, turkeys, geese, cocks, hens, and pigeons; which, according to the good old maxim, (“Take, Peter, kill and eat”,) I plunder and slaughter without mercy; and shall be very angry with you if you tell me (as is not unlikely) that I am keeping up my paltry existence at the expense of the lives of a number of beings, each of which is ten times happier than myself.”

The tranquil enjoyments of the country, however, were not destined to be long his portion. In less than twelve months after removing his residence to Allerton he became deeply involved in the laborious anxieties of commercial life. The family of Mr. William Clarke, whose friendship and literary assistance, in procuring materials for the “Life of Lorenzo,” have already been mentioned, had been long engaged in an extensive banking-house in Liverpool, the affairs of which, owing to various circumstances, were, at the conclusion of the year 1799, found to be in a position of considerable difficulty. The aid of Mr. Roscoe, as a confidential adviser, was requested by the partners, and he did not hesitate to lend his best assistance. Chiefly through his instrumentality, the difficulties which existed between the Liverpool bank and their London correspondents were removed, and it was the anxious wish of the latter, as well as the former, that Mr. Roscoe should render his labours complete, by becoming an active partner in the banking-house at Liverpool. The sacrifice which this change required was undoubtedly great. It compelled him to resign a mode of life which had long been the cherished object of his wishes; to forego, at all events for a time, those literary pursuits upon which his mind was so ardently bent; and to plunge into an untried and hazardous occupation. The motives which led him to take the part he did, are explained in the following extract from a letter addressed by him, in the spring of 1800, to Dr. Parr. After stating how happy he had felt in his country retirement, he says, “The step I took was not a matter of choice and inclination, but of imperious necessity. No sooner did it offer itself to me, than my determination was fixed. It was not my gratification, my pursuits, or even my interest, upon which the question arose. It was the irresistible claim of friendship, the right which society at large has upon the exertions of every individual, when he conceives he can be useful, that determined my purpose. I felt that my non-compliance would have embittered my future life. But though I have thus heartily devoted myself to my new undertaking, it need not surely follow that I have lost my individuality, and am become a new being. From the wreck of my former life and pursuits can nothing be saved? Must I for ever hereafter open no books but journals and ledgers, and breathe no air but that of the town? Happily for me, this is by no means the case; and though, from the peculiar state of the business when I engaged in it, it has hitherto required my unremitting attention, yet I already perceive the probability that, at no great distance of time, I may again enjoy some portion of those pleasures to which I supposed I had bade a last farewell. The daily routine of my engagements does not appear so irksome as I had reason to expect. I have the advantage of kind colleagues and able assistants. My province, to say the truth, has already become rather that of superintendence and direction than of labour and detail. I still can retain with ease and satisfaction my country residence; my daily exercise is conducive to my health; my evenings, and occasionally a larger portion of time, will soon be spent with my family: and, upon the whole, what I have sacrificed appears to me to be much less than what I at first expected.”

In a letter to Lord Lansdowne, written about the same time, Mr. Roscoe thus mentions the alteration in his prospects:—

“My own occupations and pursuits have, in the course of the last winter, undergone a total change; and from the situation of a recluse in a lonely residence six miles from Liverpool, I have again entered into the world, and taken an active part in the banking-house of my friends Clarkes, the conduct of which has devolved chiefly on myself. This measure was so sudden and unexpected, that I had scarcely time to analyse the motives of my conduct, before I was called on to decide; but it was rather the impossibility of refusing, than the desire of accepting, that determined what part I should take. The situation of the concern, at the time I entered into it, was such as to require the whole of my attention, which has been exclusively devoted to it for the last six months; but I have every reason to flatter myself that, in a very short time, so close an attendance may be unnecessary, and that I may be enabled to devote some portion of my time to other pursuits.”

For a short period, the pressing engagements of his new situation put almost a complete stop to his literary labours. “The new occupations in which I am engaged,” he says, in a letter to Mr. J. C. Walker, “have hitherto prevented me from bestowing the least attention on my studies. ‘Leo’ is perfectly at rest, and I begin to doubt whether I shall ever rouse him from his slumbers.” It was not until the close of the year 1800, that he resumed his pen, when, as the winter approached, he devoted the long evenings, after his return from Liverpool, which he visited daily, to the prosecution of his biographical task. His interest in these labours was about this time revived, by the acquisition of some valuable manuscript materials from Florence, for which he was indebted to the kindness of Lord Holland, and the care of Mr. Penrose, chaplain to the British Embassy at the Court of Tuscany.

The sentiments of Mr. Roscoe on the state of political affairs at this time are developed in the following letter to Lord Holland, dated October 26, 1800. After adverting to the question of peace, he says—

“As I have been led to mention this subject, I will further venture to add, that, of all the opportunities which have hitherto occurred, of opening the eyes of the people to their true situ-ation, the present seems to me the most favourable; and that, if any thing could induce the great and enlightened statesman, to whom you stand so nearly related, once more to exert his talents in the service of his country, this must be the time. The avowed object of the deliberations of parliament is to examine into the cause of the present distress. The nation at large are anxious for the result. An opportunity for negotiation is held out by our enemies. We are threatened with a hostile combination from the North; which, whatever may be its other consequences, will inevitably further abridge our resources. In this situation, every exertion will be made by the promoters of the war, to elude the knowledge of the real origin of the evil. The blame will be laid upon earth and upon heaven; upon any thing but that which they well know to be the effective cause.

“In the Upper House, your Lordship will, I hope, confute their destructive notions, with that clearness of argument and dignified freedom of speech, which have always characterised your exertions in the public service. The sentiments of the Marquis of Lansdowne, at such a time and on such an occasion, would produce an inconceivable effect; but, in the other House, who is there that can place this great truth in so luminous a point of view—who can enforce it with so much energy, with so much sincerity, with so much eloquence, as Mr. Fox?

“From the time that the minister attempted to starve the people of France, England may date the commencement of its present distress. The immense purchases of grain made by government, at exorbitant prices, overturned the mercantile system of that traffic, and, by disgusting the regular men of capital, threw the trade into other channels. Since that period, the constant interference of government and its agents in the purchase of every article of food, for an immense military and naval establishment, has been a constant and enormous drain upon both the living and dead stock of the country; and as government, in fact, never pay for what they consume, or in other words, are paid back by the people, it matters not to them at what price it is purchased. Nay, the agents of government enrich themselves; whilst the middle and lower classes of the community are pining under deprivations, or perishing in want.

“Faintly as I have been able to state my reasons, I flatter myself your Lordship will agree with me, that the opportunity is not only favourable, but the only one likely to be afforded for producing an important and beneficial effect; and that even the abilities of Mr. Fox could not have a greater subject for their exertion. His comprehensive mind will see how the war con-nects itself with our distresses at every point, and in every quarter; and should his endeavours happily be united with those of the friends of peace in both Houses, we may not yet despair of seeing a powerful and decided impression made upon the public mind.

“I know not what apology I can make for the freedom I have taken in thus expressing my sentiments on so momentous a subject, unless I may be allowed to plead the interest which I feel, in common with your Lordship, in the honour and prosperity of the country; and the desire of seeing it rescued from the grasp of those, who are not less hostile to the real happiness of this nation than they are to that of the human race.”

As the calls of business became fewer and less importunate, Mr. Roscoe was able to devote a larger portion of his time to other pursuits; amongst which the science of botany occupied some share of his attention. This study, and more particularly that branch of it which relates to English botany, had, from a very early period, been one of the favourite employments of his leisure hours. It was, therefore, with much satisfaction, that he perceived an inclination amongst several of his townsmen to encourage the establishment of a Botanic Garden near Liverpool; and, in conjunction with his friends, Dr. Rutter and Dr. Bostock, he prepared the following prospectus, in which the advantages of such an institution are pointed out:—

“The prevailing taste for botanical studies, and the liberality displayed by the inhabitants of Liverpool in the encouragement of scientific pursuits, afford sufficient reason to conclude, that the establishment of a botanical garden in the neighbourhood of the town is at present a desirable and attainable object. To enlarge upon the advantages to be derived from botanical knowledge is not the object of this address. It is presumed, that its application to agriculture, gardening, medicine, and other arts, essential to the comfort and even support of life, is generally acknowledged. The claims which it has to our attention, when considered merely as an elegant amusement, ought not to be neglected—an amusement calculated to interest the understanding, whilst it promotes the health and vigour of the bodily frame. Even the cultivation of the fine arts, however alluring in its progress, and dignified in its object, must yield the superiority to the study of nature; for who will venture to compare the most finished productions of the painter and the sculptor, with the originals, whence they derived their ideas of beauty and proportion?

“It is, however, necessary to the progress of this science, that the student should be supplied with actual and living specimens. The imper-fection of language to give an adequate idea of any vegetable production, must be generally admitted; and the most beautiful and accurate drawings fall infinitely short of that delicacy and minuteness of parts, on which its scientific distinctions essentially depend. Even the plants themselves, when collected and attempted to be preserved, are deprived of so many peculiarities incident to their habit and growth, that it is only from living plants that we can flatter ourselves with the hope of obtaining those substantial distinctions which are necessary to discriminate those numerous productions, or of extending the limits of the science itself.

“Without public institutions for the purpose of preserving such plants as are imported into the country, and in the acquisition of which so many men of great learning and talents have devoted themselves to long and dangerous voyages and expeditions, there is every reason to believe that considerable numbers will soon be lost to us. The great repositories are at present those of the nurserymen in the vicinity of London; but, when profit is the chief object, it is to be feared those plants alone will be propagated which will best repay the attention of the cultivator. Many scientific and opulent individuals, in different parts of the kingdom, have contributed not only to establish this study by their wealth, but to extend it by their talents; yet the taste of an individual may be supposed to attach to some favourite class of productions; and, at all events, a private collection cannot be expected, either in copiousness or permanency, to contend with a public institution, which is calculated to comprehend every known vegetable production, and to preserve them for a continued series of years, which, in many instances, is indispensably necessary to their perfection.

“Of the expense and attention bestowed by many respectable individuals in supporting a pleasure-garden, the environs of the town afford numerous instances: what, then, must be the advantages of a garden properly laid out, and supplied with every beautiful production of vegetable nature which this kingdom affords, yet enjoyed at the small expense of an annual subscription? Even this subscription will, it is probable, be more than repaid, by the privileges to which it is intended the subscribers shall be entitled, in having such plants or seeds divided among them as may be the increase of the garden, and can be occasionally spared without impoverishing the collection. To those who are already engaged in making a selection of plants, this institution will afford constant assistance, and may frequently preclude the necessity of obtaining them from a distance, at great expense and risk.”

The call thus made upon the liberality and public spirit of the inhabitants of Liverpool was speedily and satisfactorily answered; and a sufficient sum of money being subscribed, a piece of ground was presented, by the Corporation of Liverpool, for the purposes of the institution, and the garden was opened in the summer of 1802. A meeting of the proprietors being called previously to the opening, it was suggested to Mr. Roscoe, who then filled the office of vice-president, and whose duty it was, in consequence of the death of the president, Richard Walker, Esq., to preside at the meeting, that it would be desirable that an address should be delivered on the occasion. Although two or three days only intervened before the meeting, he assented to this request; and upon the day of the meeting he read before the proprietors an address, displaying the pleasures and advantages of botanical science. After vindicating the study of botany from the charge of being a trifling employment, and a mere nomenclature tending to burden the memory with a list of names, he thus states what may be termed the moral advantages of the science:—

“Nor are the advantages incidentally derived from these employments of slight account. Whoever has opened his mind to comprehend the extensive system of the vegetable kingdom, as arranged by that great father of the science, the immortal Linnæus, and has traced it through its various connections and relations, either descending from generals to particulars, or ascending by a gradual progress from individuals to classes, till it embraces the whole vegetable world, will, by the mere exercise of the faculties employed for this purpose, acquire a habit of arrangement, a perception of order, of distinction, and subordination, which it is not, perhaps, in the nature of any other study so effectually to bestow. In this view the examination of the vegetable kingdom seems peculiarly proper for youth, to whose unperverted minds the study of natural objects is always an interesting occupation, and who will not only find in this employment an innocent and a healthful amusement, but will familiarise themselves to that regulated train of ideas, that perception of relation between parts and the whole, which is of use not only in every other department of natural knowledge, but in all the concerns of life. Independently, too, of the habits of order and arrangement which will thus be established, it may be justly observed, that the bodily senses are highly improved by that accuracy and observation which are necessary to discriminate the various objects that pass in review before them. This improvement may be carried to a degree of which those who are inattentive to it have no idea. The sight of Linnæus was so penetrating, that he is said never to have used a glass, even in his minutest enquiries. But our own neighbourhood affords a striking instance of an individual*, who, although wholly deprived of sight, has improved his other senses, his touch, his smell, and his taste, to such a degree, as to distinguish all the native plants of this country with an accuracy not attained by many of those who have the advantages of sight, and which justly entitles him to rank with the first botanists in the kingdom.”

The museum of Dr. Forster of Halle, mentioned in the following passage, had been purchased by Mr. Roscoe for his own private collection, but was transferred by him to the Botanic Garden.

“In addition to these objects, it is also thought expedient that a library of works in natural history, and a collection of specimens of dried plants, should be formed with all possible expedition, as appendages to the institution. The foundation of the latter is laid by the purchase of the museum of the late Dr. Forster, which has been brought from Halle, in Germany, and is now under the care of our manager.

“This collection comprises many thousand specimens collected by the Doctor and his son, in the South Sea islands and other parts, and large contributions of plants from those illustrious bo-

* Mr. Gough of Kendal.

tanists, Linnæus, Thunberg, and Jacquin, with whom Dr. Forster was in correspondence.

“To these we have no doubt of making considerable additions, from the liberality of several eminent men, who have already kindly expressed their intentions in this respect; among whom I may venture to mention Dr. Wright, President of the College of Physicians at Edinburgh, who is now obligingly preparing to send us specimens of the plants which he has himself collected in foreign countries, or which have been transmitted to him by his learned correspondents from different parts of the world.”

A copy of the address having been presented by the author to Dr. Rush of Philadelphia*,

* In the year 1812 Dr. Rush transmitted to Mr. Roscoe a piece of the tree under which William Penn signed his treaty with the Indians. This was converted into an inkstand, and forms the subject of a small poem by Mr. Roscoe, which has been several times printed. The friendliness of the sentiments entertained by Dr. Rush for Mr. Roscoe may be learned by the following extract from a letter from a gentleman to whom Mr. Roscoe, in the year 1810, had given an introduction to Dr. Rush:—“With the conversation and society of Dr. Rush I have been gratified and delighted far beyond my powers of expression, and shall ever consider my acquaintance with him as the greatest obligation your kindness has conferred. Blended with an appearance that universally inspires both veneration and esteem, he possesses the most fascinating suavity of manners, and powers of conversation, which (in a greater degree than I ever before witnessed or even could conceive) unite intelligence and wisdom with the most pleasing and unassuming address. ‘If you go

he received from that eminent and excellent man the following communication in reply:—

“Dr. Rush requests Mr. Roscoe to accept of his thanks for his elegant oration delivered before the proprietors of the Botanic Garden in Liverpool. It could not have been sent to any person who more highly appreciates Mr. Roscoe’s character and writings. His history of ‘Lorenzo’ has been read with great delight by several members of Dr. Rush’s family, as well as by himself; and Mr. Roscoe’s charming little poem, styled ‘The Nurse,’ formed, a few months ago, a present to one of the Doctor’s female patients, to whom he wished to show a durable mark of his friendship and respect.”

The establishment of the Botanic Garden led to a correspondence with the celebrated Dr. J. E. Smith, which afterwards ripened into a warm and lasting friendship. In the year 1803 Dr. Smith paid a visit to Allerton, and the botanical pursuits of his friend received an impulse from his society. The gratification which this visit afforded Mr. Roscoe is strongly expressed in the following extract from a letter addressed to Dr. Smith, immediately after his return to Norwich; and it is pleasing to reflect that the

to England,’ said the good old man, ‘tell Mr. Roscoe that I love him like a brother, and that a perfect accordance of sentiment and feeling supplies what our distant situations are so calculated to destroy.’”

feelings of warm attachment, which breathe through this letter, remained unimpaired to the conclusion of his friend’s life:—

“Amidst our frequent recollections of you at Allerton, we had begun to feel some anxiety on your account, which would by no means have been diminished, had we known that you and your companion were careering over the hills of Derbyshire on the top of a coach. Your letter has arrived just in time to alleviate our apprehensions, and to add to the cheerfulness of our Sunday’s dinner, where you have as many friends as we number individuals. In rejoicing with you, as I most truly do, on your restoration to domestic happiness, I feel, however, a selfish hope that you may be encouraged at no distant period to pay another visit to Liverpool, and that you will prevail on Mrs. Smith to accompany you. I had almost begun to suspect that the cares of the world or the lapse of years had blunted in me those feelings, and diminished that capacity of attachment, which, in youth, are so ardently experienced; but the fortunate incident which introduced me to your acquaintance has restored me to a better opinion of myself, and, however I may regret that we did not meet sooner, I gratify myself in regarding you as a friend of my early days, but lately found, if indeed I can be said lately to have found one whom I have known so long in his writings, and to whom I have been indebted for much pleasure, and, I hope, some improvement.”

The pleasure which Dr. Smith derived from this visit is expressed in a very lively manner in the following letter to his friend Mr. Dawson Turner, dated from Allerton*:—

“At length I sit down to write you a letter—literally, but not, I fear, metaphorically, with the pen of a Roscoe—that very pen which has just been correcting his manuscript ‘Life of Leo X.’

“I am here at his charming villa, six miles from Liverpool, looking over Cheshire and the Mersey to the Welsh hills.

* * * * *

“My lectures are numerously and brilliantly attended, and seem to stir up a great ardour and taste for botany. The Botanic Garden promises well, though in its infancy, except the Stove, which is well filled and in the first order. The curator, Mr. Shepherd, is the properest man I ever saw for the purpose. I hope to procure him some useful correspondents, one of which shall be our friend Watts of Ashill.

“You are acquainted with Mr. Roscoe’s taste and genius,—his manners, temper, and character are equal to them. I am surprised to find him so good a practical botanist. His library is rich in botany, and especially in Italian history

* Life of Sir J. E. Smith, vol. ii. p. 302.

and poetry. I fancy myself at Lorenzo’s own villa.”

The beautiful work of “Exotic Botany,” published by Dr. Smith in the year 1804, was inscribed to Mr. Roscoe, in the following elegant and affectionate address:—

“Dear Sir,

“When, in your delightful retirement at Allerton, I felt transported to the villa of your own ‘Lorenzo,’ I was agreeably surprised to find how large a portion of your attention scientific botany had shared, amid your ardent devotion to the historic Muse. Let this remind you of that time, so grateful to my recollection, and which, if I may judge by subsequent transactions, you do not wish to forget. Long had I been anxious to know the historian of the ‘Medici;’ but I now wish far more to cultivate and preserve the regard of a Roscoe. Allow me to subscribe myself,

“Dear Sir, “Your obliged and affectionate friend, “J. E. Smith.”

The gratifying honour thus conferred upon him Mr. Roscoe acknowledged in the following letter:—

“It was not till late last night that I had the pleasure of receiving, through the hands of my booksellers, the first number of ‘Exotic Botany,’ and of perusing the affectionate, and to me highly gratifying address which you have done me the great honour to prefix to it. To such parts of it as are commendatory, I can only say, that although it he an arduous task, I will do the best I can to justify you to the world for the favourable opinion which you have ventured to express; and in this respect I feel as if I had been paid beforehand for a work which I have to perform: but in your kind and friendly expressions of attachment and esteem I experience the most unalloyed and perfect satisfaction, because I know that affection can only be repaid in kind, and that I am rich enough to make you a return. May this public seal of our friendship not only confirm it whilst we live, but long continue to unite our names in future times, as associates in our studies and pursuits, in our dispositions and our hearts.”

During the summer of 1805, Dr. Smith, accompanied by Mrs. Smith, again paid a visit to Allerton, where he remained several weeks, and confirmed the favourable impressions which his first acquaintance had created.

In the month of January, 1804, Mr. Roscoe, probably on the suggestion of his friend Dr. Smith, became a Fellow of the Linnean Society. Some years afterwards he contributed a few papers to its “Transactions,” which will be hereafter noticed.

The literary labours of Mr. Roscoe at this time were agreeably diversified by the society of his friends. During a visit which Fuseli paid to Liverpool, in the year 1804, he passed much of his time at Allerton, amusing those around him by his wit, and informing them by his learning. His biographer relates, that as Mr. Roscoe was pointing out to him the improvements which had taken place in Liverpool, Fuseli observed, “I do not wonder that you look upon these with some degree of self-complacency, for they may be considered as the work of your hands, and as such I view them with interest; but methinks I every where smell the blood of slaves.”* The gratification which Fuseli derived from this visit is expressed by him, in his usual strong language, in the following letter:—

“Ecco mi giunto al strepitoso nido! It is only since yesterday that I can consider myself as settled here, having been a visiter, ever since my arrival, at Johnson’s suburbano, which is neither Allerton, nor Shepherd’s botanic paradise, but a sweet and peaceful little neat hut embosomed in a wilderness of shrubs; and, what I like better, entomologic weeds; a close and humble neighbour to the magnificent domain of some nauwab, but undisturbed by his four demons, ycleped gardeners.

“Where shall I begin, where end my thanks

* Life of Fuseli, p. 376.

for what I enjoyed, my regrets for what I left, when I parted from you, your wife, your sons, and daughters? My heart tells me it is nonsense to attempt, and so I drop it. A few such weeks as I have passed amongst you atone for months of care and misery, and add to the real sum of life.

“In this humour you would not expect that, if I had business to impart, I should now speak of it; we always wake, and too soon, alas! from a delicious dream. Expect soon more.”

Amongst the many distinguished scholars and men of taste with whom the literary reputation of Mr. Roscoe led to an acquaintance was Mr. Mathias, whose intimate and critical knowledge of the language and literature of Italy has, perhaps, never been equalled by a native of this country. Mr. Roscoe was naturally desirous of acquiring the favourable opinion and the personal acquaintance of so eminent a scholar; but it was not until some years after the publication of his first historical work that an opportunity of becoming known to him was afforded. In the year 1801 Mr. Mathias transmitted to Mr. Roscoe, through the hands of their mutual friend Mrs. Riddel, a copy of a selection which he had lately made from the poems of Petrarch; and from this period they continued to correspond occasionally upon subjects of literary interest, and to make a mutual interchange of their writings. The admiration which Mr. Mathias felt for the high literary character of his correspondent he manifested in a beautiful Italian canzone addressed to him, and prefixed to his edition of “Selections from Tiraboschi,” a distinguished honour, of which Mr. Roscoe was justly proud. The reputation of Mr. Mathias as an Italian scholar must always render his judgment upon subjects connected with the literature of that country of the highest value; and it cannot, therefore, be improper, to present, in this place, a portion of the correspondence between him and Mr. Roscoe.

In the year 1803, Mr. Mathias transmitted to Mr. Roscoe the beautiful volumes which he had just published, of “Selections from the Commentaries of Crescimbeni,” which were accompanied by the following letter:—

“It gives me pleasure to offer you a copy of the ‘Commentaries on the Poetry of Italy by Crescimbeni,’ which I have republished, detached from the historical part of the work, as I think it is a treatise of singular merit, and perfect in its kind. I conceive it may tend in an eminent degree to diffuse the knowledge, and promote the cultivation, of Italian literature in this country, in which I am sure you will feel yourself naturally interested; for, in whatever part of the civilised world that subject is brought forwards, the name of Roscoe cannot be far off.

“It is also my intention shortly to present the public with ‘La Storia della poesia Italiana,” as written by Tiraboschi, taken from his most valuable and voluminous history of Italian literature in general. It will accompany Crescimbeni with great effect, in my opinion; and will complete this part of the plan which I have formed, in the hope of giving honour and permanency, amongst my countrymen, to the greatest language of modern Europe. I wish they may have the sense and spirit to second the attempt. I propose to address this personally to you, as Italy acknowledges in you the patron and protector of her learned offspring; and will for ever confess, that you have given the most illustrious example to all those who, though with unequal powers, may hereafter be desirous of advancing the glory of that parent of arts and learning. ‘Propter amorem’ is at once my excuse and my satisfaction on this occasion.

“I shall be happy to hear that you, and all your family, have enjoyed your health since I had the pleasure of seeing you (for too short a time) in London last year.”

“It gives me great pleasure to observe,” says Mr. Roscoe, in answer to the foregoing letter, “that the literature of Italy has begun to attract the more particular notice of our countrymen; and I am highly gratified to find that its cause has fallen into such able hands as yours, who are in every respect qualified to set it off to advantage. One would have thought that the example of our great poets, and particularly of Spenser and Milton, would have recommended the Italians to the study of all those who are emulous of their honours; yet certain it is, that they have hitherto been unaccountably neglected in this country, and, excepting a very few eminent authors, may be said to be wholly strangers amongst us. Nor is it from the poets alone we should derive improvement. The literary history of Italy would open an immense fund of information far beyond what that of any other country (I do not except even our own) could afford. I am therefore glad to find that you have followed up your ‘Componimenti Lirici’ with the ‘Commentary of Crescimbeni;’ and that to these you still design to add the excellent work of Tiraboschi, as far as it relates to the history of poetry. Works selected with so much judgment, and published in so elegant and convenient a form, seem to me eminently calculated to diffuse a more general relish for these studies, particularly at this time, when, as far as I can judge from my distant situation, the Italian language seems to be more attended to than it has ever before been within my memory. For your highly esteemed present of the volumes of Crescimbeni, and for your kind intentions towards me, I beg you to accept my best ac-knowledgments. To be associated in any manner in the attempt which you are so laudably making to recall the public taste to standards of real excellence will always be considered by me as a great honour. I should be glad to think that I have in any degree contributed to the success of this cause; but, at all events, I can never regret those efforts which have obtained for me the obliging assurances of your esteem and friendship,—assurances in which I confide with pleasure, and which I repeat with sincerity, in the hope that I may ere long find an opportunity of confirming them in person.”

The edition of the “Selections from Tiraboschi” was forwarded to Mr. Roscoe a few months afterwards, with the following flattering letter:—

“I have a particular satisfaction in offering to you the ‘History of Italian Poetry,’ as written by the great historian of the general literature of Italy, Tiraboschi, which will be published in a few days. I am sure every scholar in this country will agree in the propriety of addressing this work personally to you, as you have every claim arising from its peculiar subject, which you have illustrated in one of the principal periods, by your talents and your erudition, and which is known and admired in every part of the civilised world.

“If the canzone, which is honoured by the prefixing of your name to it, should be considered by you as answerable to the dignity of its theme, in any manner, I can assure you I have endeavoured by much thought, time, and attention, to render it not wholly unworthy of your perusal— ‘Non ita certandi cupidus, quam propter amorem.’

“I am inclined to hope that the language and literature of Italy may finally, under your auspices, be honoured, cultivated, and promoted in Great Britain; and I trust that these disinterested contributions to revive them may be favourably regarded. In the different addresses to our countrymen in the various Italian works I have presented to their notice, in the originals, I have fully explained my sentiments.”

“I have just had the pleasure,” says Mr. Roscoe, in reply, “of receiving the four volumes of the ‘History of Italian Poetry,’ extracted from the great work of the learned Tiraboschi; a publication which, like the others with which you have lately favoured us, will, I doubt not, contribute to diffuse a more general knowledge of the poetry and literature of Italy, which will be found the surest preservative against that degradation with which this country is threatened. It is not, however, as the republisher of these valuable works alone that your countrymen are indebted to you. The example which you have set before them of the proficiency which a native of England may acquire in the beautiful and expressive language of Italy, and of the success with which it may be adapted to every style of composition, from the most elegant and simple prose to the most elevated poetry, must operate as a still more powerful recommendation of the study of the Italian language. It mast not, however, be supposed that the most thorough acquaintance with the language will communicate that poetic fervour and vivacity so conspicuous in the Canzone which you have done me the honour to address to me, and in the perusal of which I know not whether I am more surprised at the powerful and well-supported strain of lyric poetry which it displays, or on finding some part of it lavished on such a subject as myself. In fact, my dear Sir, although I certainly am not insensible to the glow of honourable praise; and although the elevated and manly style in which it has been conferred, is still more gratifying to me; yet the satisfaction which I feel is not unaccompanied by sensations of a more painful nature; and I am too well acquainted with the insufficiency of my own pretensions, to consider this production in any other light than as a composition which I admire, and a mark of friendship of which I am proud. The public will not, however, I fear, allow me to appeal from so decisive an authority; and I experience the feelings of one who stands approved for merits of which he is not conscious, and pledged to the performance of labours far beyond his powers. But however low I may stand in my own estimation, I must not now allow myself to shrink from the more elevated prospect which you have pointed out to me; and it will, at least, be my endeavour to justify, by my future efforts, that favourable opinion which has been so partially expressed.”

Having reprinted his Canzoni Toscane in the year 1806, Mr. Mathias addressed to Mr. Roscoe the following letter, accompanying several copies of the poem inscribed to him:—

“It gives me particular pleasure, whenever I have an opportunity of addressing you, or enquiring after you, and your important as well as truly classical employments, for which the world of letters is so much indebted to you.

“Though you are in possession of all the Italian works which I have offered to the public, yet, as I have just been induced to reprint the two ‘Canzoni Toscane,’ which I took the liberty of inscribing to you and Dr. Marcet, separately from the volumes to which I originally prefixed them, I indulge a hope that you will receive them in their new shape. I must also confess that one very principal motive for my reprinting them was this;—that if any person should be inclined to honour my Canzone so highly as to bind it up with either of your most valuable histories, he may now be enabled to do so; as I have printed it on exactly the same sized paper. I have also had a few copies taken off on a large paper, the same as that on which your magnificent edition of Leo X. is printed. The constant indulgence with which you have favoured my attempt to express the very high sense which I entertain of your meritorious and eminent services to the literary part of England and of Italy, leads me to hope that this feeble but sincere desire of paying still further respect to you will also be excused or approved. ‘All’ opre vostre e pellegrine e nove Tue sacrerei la mia straniera lira, Straniera sì, ma fida.*

“I hope that you will excuse my having put up a few copies of the Canzone for such of your friends as you think might wish it should accompany either of your works. It seems as if Italy must at last retire into Great Britain from the insults and injuries of the Corsican tyrant, and she will repose with gratitude at your feet. I should be happy to hear that all your family are well, and that you have enjoyed health and leisure for the most pleasing of all your labours,—those which you devote to literature.”

To this letter the following answer was returned by Mr. Roscoe:—

“I have had the pleasure of receiving your obliging letter, accompanying the copies of your two beautiful ‘Canzoni Toscane,’ and cannot sufficiently express how greatly I feel myself indebted to you for this additional instance of your kind partiality. The Canzone which you have been so good as to address to me, I shall be proud to prefix to my ‘Life of Leo,’ and to enable a few of my friends, devoted to Italian literature, to do the same. I shall thus, in some degree, gratify a desire which I always had, to see this elegant production precede my work; and which, indeed, nothing could have prevented (had you consented to it), but an apprehension that I might be considered as publishing my own praise, in having my name thus permanently united with yours in this favourite object of our common pursuit. ‘Che andrian le Muse lagrimose e sole Senza onor di ghirlande e d’auree cetre, E muti si starian gli inni canori Senza Te che Parnaso ami ed onori.’

“I continue to flatter myself, that at some period not far distant, I may have an opportunity of renewing our very interesting conversations on the literature and writers of Italy. If this should happen under my own roof, it would be doubly pleasant to me; and as it is probable that you may make an excursion during the summer, allow me to prevail upon you to direct your course to the north, and to pass a few days with me in my quiet retirement at Allerton.”

Amongst the most intimate friends of Mr. Roscoe, there was no one who had won more of his affection, or commanded more of his respect, than Dr. Currie. Their acquaintance had commenced soon after the arrival of the latter in Liverpool: and to the period of his death, which occurred in the autumn of the present year (1805), their friendship had continued without interruption. The literary tastes and critical powers of Dr. Currie were highly valued by Mr. Roscoe, who submitted to his judgment the manuscript of a great part of his historical works, his translation of “The Nurse,” and his occasional fugitive pieces. In a note enclosing one of the latter, he appropriately addresses him as “Sincerest critic of my prose or rhyme.” His Muse, also, was not idle in the service of his friend; and some lines on the death of his children, and a sonnet, which have been lately published*, attest the warmth of his feelings. How secure the basis was upon which their friendship rested,—a companionship in virtuous exertions,—is seen in the concluding lines of the poem:— “—Nor o’er our heads may many suns return, When we, my friend, may share the lot we mourn— Still in the dust this busy hand shall lie, Dim in its socket rest thy tracing eye:

* Life of Dr. Currie, vol. i. p. 147.

Meantime, whate’er of life its Author spares, Give we to generous aims and social cares; That when we rest in chill oblivion cold, And o’er our ashes numerous years have roll’d, Some happier effort may survive the tomb, Pregnant with bliss to beings yet to come.”

In conjunction with Dr. Currie, Mr. Roscoe commenced, in the year 1790, a series of Essays, under the title of “The Recluse,” which were published in the “Liverpool Herald,” and of which the greater part were from his own pen. But it was not by a participation in these light and elegant pursuits alone that the friendship of Dr. Currie and Mr. Roscoe was cemented. It was strengthened by their joint endeavours to promote liberal principles, and to further benevolent objects, by their mutual anxiety to assist one another in designs of public utility, and by the promptitude with which they jointly came forwards at the public call. It is not surprising that the dissolution of a friendship like this should have been felt most deeply by Mr. Roscoe, whose sympathy for the fate of his friend was heightened by the singular instance of his attachment, recorded in the following letter, written immediately after Dr. Currie’s death, to Mr. Macneil, the poet:—

“Be assured, my dear Sir, that in our common attachment to our late much loved and lamented friend, I feel an additional bond of union between us. His influence yet survives, and forms fresh motives of confidence and friendship. * * * You will already, perhaps, have heard that the sufferings of our late excellent friend, towards the close of his life, were uncommonly severe; but it may be some satisfaction to you to know, that the firmness of his mind was equal to the trial, and that, amidst the most painful conflicts of his disorder, he was employed in an abstract attention to the nature of his symptoms, as if he had been making observations on the case of another person. Such a decided superiority of mind to body has seldom been exhibited, and reminds me of a most striking passage in a letter of Dr. Reid, given in Mr. Stewart’s Life of that eminent man. ‘To think that the soul perishes in that fatal moment, when it is purified by this fiery trial, and fitted for the noblest exertions in another state, is an opinion which I cannot help looking down upon with contempt and disdain.’ On this subject, I cannot refrain from communicating to you some other circumstances attending his last moments, which afford an additional proof of the warmth of his affections, and the unbroken vigour of his mind. Whilst confined to his bed, he was accustomed to dictate to his son Wallace, who constantly attended on him, such sentiments as occurred to him respecting those matters in which he was most deeply interested—his family, his friends, his writings, and his opinions. This practice was continued to the very extreme of his rational powers, and was even renewed in the intervals of delirium immediately preceding his death. Some of these written memorials have since been communicated to me; and you will readily conceive what my feelings must have been, on finding one of them addressed to myself, tremulously signed with his own hand, intended to convey to me and mine his last blessing, and to give me some account of the state of his feelings on the most important of all topics, so far as he had then proceeded in what he himself denominates ‘the valley of the shadow of death.’ Such a pledge of affection more nearly resembles a communication from the world of spirits, than a message from a fellow mortal; and I shall, accordingly, preserve it as an inestimable memorial of the friendship of a man of high intellectual endowments, inflexible energy, and unbounded goodness of heart.”

In one of his latest papers, Dr. Currie had expressed a wish, that, on any thing that respected his memoirs, his “loved and excellent friend Mr. Roscoe” might be consulted; and for many years it was the earnest desire of the latter to present to the public the biography of his friend. The weight of business, however, and various engagements in which he became necessarily involved, prevented him from carrying this project into effect,—a circumstance which he never ceased to lament, till he enjoyed the gratification of reading the admirable Memoir which the son of Dr. Currie has lately given to the world.

The death of Dr. Currie was followed by that of Mr. William Clarke, the early literary associate of Mr. Roscoe. In mentioning this double loss, in a letter to a friend, he says,—“It is true, the recollection of the sufferings which they had to sustain, and which they bore with uncommon fortitude, served in some degree to blunt the first emotions of sorrow, and to reconcile the mind to the loss of those, whose longer continuance in life would only have been a prolongation of anguish. But if the weapon was blunted, it has still inflicted an incurable wound; and to the last moment of my life I must regret the loss of these my long-loved friends, who, however they might differ in disposition, manners, talents, and character, united in regarding me with partial and unalterable affection.”

There was probably no one, among the many persons attached to Mr. Roscoe, in whose society he found greater delight than in that of Mr. Clarke. The liveliness, the simplicity, and the facetiousness of his manner, coupled with the great intelligence of his mind, and his love of literary pursuits, rendered him a peculiarly agreeable companion. Even during a long and afflicting state of ill health, spirits which never failed, and a good-nature not to be overcome, made his society delightful. So early as the year 1783, he was compelled, for the sake of the climate, to take up his residence abroad, where he remained for about seven years, during the whole of which time he corresponded regularly with his friend. These letters, written sometimes in Italian, sometimes in French, and occasionally in Latin, contain lively pictures of the countries which he visited, valuable intelligence with regard to literary curiosities, and ever recurring allusions to the happy days which he had passed in the society of his correspondent. A taste for tranquillity and literary leisure was strongly felt by Mr. Clarke; and he frequently refers to the expected time, when, in company with his friend, he may hope to follow the bent of his inclinations.

“So, you are immersed in public business! ‘The world, the world will have its slaves.’ A little mortification will make retreat more enviable, more full of relish. Let us make all the haste we can, however, to get along a river side to peace and tranquillity. There Dante shall attend, to conduct us to Hell, but not to leave us there; for we will not rest, till through the medium of Purgatory, we join Beatrice in the supernal regions.”

“I congratulate you,” he says, in a letter dated in 1783, “on the increase of your family; though I somewhat repine (while I applaud your resolution) at the imposition it lays upon you to join in the general contention for wealth. I expect to find you, on my return, as intently occupied in the pursuit as any of your neighbours. ’Tis in vain to resist the torrent; but your natural inclination will, I think, lead you to secure your retreat as early as prudence will allow; and I trust that period will not be a distant one, provided the moderation of your wishes continues. It is a true maxim, ‘To temperate bounds,’ &c. On this plan I hold myself ready to join you in any scheme of life you approve. I shall presently be qualified for the veriest hermit;—ease, quiet, temperance, reflection,—to these are my vows directed; not but that I sometimes shall leave my retreat, to feel a greater relish for it at my return.”

During Mr. Clarke’s visit to Lisbon, the following verses were addressed to him by Mr. Roscoe:—

“Ye hills with towering forests crown’d, Ye plains by sultry suns embrown’d, Ye vales along whose vine-crown’d sides The Douro rolls his rapid tides; “Ye rocks grotesque, whose rugged brow Glooms o’er the beating surge below, Whence Lusitania’s Genius eyes The ocean mingling with the skies; “From northern climes and colder shores, My Clarke your mild retreats explores, Hopeful to find their shades supply That health his native fields deny. “Oh! guide his steps, ye guardian powers, Oh! lead him to your greenest bowers; And whilst he treads the flowing vale, Let health breathe strong in every gale. “Nor be your gifts to health confined; But soothe to peace his gentle mind, Infuse contentment’s healing balm, And bid each anxious thought be calm. “Released from Winter’s icy arms, When Spring unfolds her op’ning charms, Then rich in vigorous health restore The wanderer to his native shore; “With learning that disdains pretence, With native wit, and manly sense, Again to smooth my brow of care, Again my social hour to share; “To soothe by reason’s kind control Each wilder tumult of my soul; Within due bounds my hopes confine, And make his temperate spirit mine. “So may nor whirlwind, blight, nor storm, Your verdant orange-groves deform; So may your vines in cluster’d pride Pour in full streams their purple tide; “Nor e’er within your favour’d bound The earthquake walk his wasteful round; Which on Calabria’s alter’d shores The trembling native now deplores.”

In the autumn of the year 1790, Mr. Clarke returned from the Continent; and the pleasure with which he anticipated his re-union with one for whom he felt so entire a friendship, is beautifully expressed in a letter written immediately upon his arrival at Brighton.—“A little while more will bring us, I hope, together. In your society, my friend, I look for the principal pleasure of my life. The commerce of the world gives me no real satisfaction, and I am not fit for it; but as often as the calls of business will allow, your dwelling, whether in town or park, shall be my principal haunt. I know no enjoyments like those of friendship and retirement. My system (as far as is compatible with duty) being to stand aloof from the cares of the world, which are the source of much disquietude. The tranquil philosophy of our old friend Horace is much to my taste. His favourite maxim, of moderating our desires, is of all others the most important; but, I know not how, we seem often to be carried along by a blind impulse, as if a fatality presided over our actions.”

In the summer of 1805, Mr. Clarke visited London for medical advice. His sufferings now almost overcame the delightful spirits with which nature had gifted him, and his letters to his early friend are full of the most affecting passages:—“I must grasp the pen,” he says, in a letter dated the 15th of August, 1805, “to say that I was sorry to hear you have been poorly. Mais j’espère que cela est passé. Here I linger on, in a most lamentable state, with little prospect of amendment. My spirits seem likely soon to be completely worn out. I must console myself with the hope that, after so long an illness, I may expect an alleviation of the sufferings of my final exit. Believe me, usque ad umbras silentes, ubi vagatur umbra Ricardi nostri*, vester additissimus Le Clerc.”

His sensibility to the sympathy of his friend he expresses in the following letter, written shortly before his death:—

“This post brought me your kind and affectionate letter, which has nearly overwhelmed me. I may literally say, I have bathed my couch with my tears. I prize, as I ought, your kind philosophical consolations; and they will, I trust, assist me in bearing patiently the ills incident to our nature. I would write more, but I am exhausted. Be persuaded that the impression of your kindness, and that of my other friends, is never to be effaced from my heart.”

The loss of these long-tried and excellent friends made a deep impression on the feelings of Mr. Roscoe, and his more confidential letters

* Mr. Richard Lowndes, the early friend of Mr. Clarke and Mr. Roscoe.

contain many reflections produced by these affecting events.

“Surely, the misery that usually attends the close of life affords one of the strongest proofs of a future state of existence. For how is it possible to suppose that the same Supreme Being, who has distributed such various and extensive happiness to his creatures, would finally conclude the whole with pain and distress? This view of the subject is the only one that can afford us any real consolation, either for the sufferings of our friends, or for those which we must experience ourselves. After a life evidently intended to exercise our virtues, and improve our moral powers, death may be considered as the last great trial of our fortitude; the display of which, as it exhibits a complete triumph over the weakness of human nature, seems the best calculated to terminate our labours in this world, and accompany us on our entrance into the next. In the mean time, we who survive are like soldiers in an army, who, as their ranks are thinned by the enemy, draw nearer to each other.”

Not long after these events, Mr. Roscoe had to regret, upon different grounds, the loss of a man for whom he had ever entertained the warmest admiration and respect. In the magnanimous nature, the philanthropic heart, and the expanded political views of Mr. Fox, he recognised the qualities which compose the character of a genuine statesman, and for a long course of years he had been accustomed to regard him as the great hope of the nation. How sincerely and how deeply he lamented his loss may be learned from the following letter to Lord Holland:—

“I well know the poignancy of domestic grief is, on this occasion, enhanced by the consideration of the public loss of such a man, at such a juncture of time—a man in whom the nation seemed at length to have reposed its hopes and its confidence, and who was pre-eminently qualified, both by his talents and his disposition, to relieve her from the complicated evils in which she has, by a long course of misconduct, been involved. In this point of view, there have been few, if any, instances, where the sudden loss of great talents may be considered as so strikingly untimely and unfortunate. But although this must be the first and natural impression on such an event, yet a due reflection will induce us to moderate our anxiety, and convince us that the expressions, ‘untimely and unfortunate,’ apply only to our own narrow conceptions and bounded views, and that, under the direction of Providence, the most alarming evils may not only be averted, but may become the instruments of good. Without this consoling hope, our present prospects would be dark indeed.

“Among the many great and striking endowments of Mr. Fox, there is one in particular to which I cannot help adverting, and which I trust will still continue to animate all those who have admired him in public, or loved him in private life. I mean that deep and intimate feeling for human nature, which has generally been estranged from the bosom of statesmen, but which was with him a part of his existence, ever actuating him to alleviate the evils, to vindicate the rights, to soften the calamities, and to increase, by every means in his power, the happiness of mankind. In this respect he is not lost to us. As long as our language remains, the powerful effusions of his mind will continue to improve and enlighten his countrymen, and to diffuse a milder and more benevolent spirit, not only in the recesses of private life, but in the direction of nations and the intercourse of states.

“This, my dear Lord, is his great and lasting praise; and if we are not wanting to ourselves in pursuing the track which his genius and his virtues have pointed out to us, we may yet, in some degree, recompense ourselves for the great but inevitable loss which, in the common course of nature, we must, at one time or other, have had to sustain.

“The preservation of his speeches, in their best and most authentic form, is a sacred duty, which, I doubt not, will be most religiously observed. It is here that he still lives and breathes; nor is there a single question essential to the great interests of mankind, but we can still resort to these invaluable records, as to his living self, for those liberal ideas, those extensive views, those impartial estimates of public conduct, those bold vindications of natural and political rights, those humane suggestions on behalf of all who suffer from injustice or oppression, which seem to have been the spontaneous result of his generous spirit and exalted mind, and which will secure to him the love and admiration of all future times.”

In the course of the year 1804, the interests of a young family who had been intrusted to his guardianship made it necessary for Mr. Roscoe to pass a few days in London. This visit gave him an opportunity of once more seeing the Marquis of Lansdowne, who was now rapidly approaching the close of his long and distinguished career. In a letter to Mrs. Roscoe, he says, “I am just returned from the Marquis. I have been deeply affected. He is very ill, but saw me; and though he speaks with hesitation, his kindness both to me and W. is expressed in the most affectionate terms. More when I return.” In a letter to Lord Holland, written after the Marquis’s death, he says, “I am sorry to have occasion, so near the close of my letter, to recall a subject of such infinite regret as the death of the Marquis of Lansdowne. I saw him about twelve months since, and was apprehensive that his life could not be greatly prolonged. He spoke to me in the most affectionate terms, particularly requesting that I would continue the attachment I had always shown him, to his son Lord Henry,—a recommendation which certainly did me great honour, but which was not necessary to induce me to comply with his wishes.” The correspondence between the Marquis of Lansdowne and Mr. Roscoe extends from the year 1790, down to the period of his Lordship’s last illness. Confidence, attachment, and respect for the opinions of each other, are freely manifested throughout the whole course of it. There were few subjects of political interest upon which the Marquis did not address his correspondent; and in his open expression of sentiment, his capacious and liberal views, his attachment to freedom, and the accurate foresight of his judgment, reflect the highest honour on his statesman-like character. On the part of Mr. Roscoe, the correspondence is conducted with freedom, with sincerity, and with the respect due to the station and talents of his correspondent, and to the conspicuous part he had long acted in public affairs. During this excursion Mr. Roscoe had the pleasure of occasionally enjoying the society of Dr. J. E. Smith, who happened at that time to be in town. In the following letter to Mrs. Roscoe he has given a slight sketch of his engagements during this visit:—

“I wrote you a few lines on my arrival on Saturday. I had scarcely finished, when Dr. Smith and Drake called on me, and I accompanied them to the Doctor’s lodgings, and was introduced to Mrs. S. and Miss F. S. I shall not attempt to describe them to you, lest you should think you have totally lost your wandering swain. I shall only say, that he who could see and hear Mrs. S. without being enchanted, has a heart not worth a farthing. Mr. Martin also called on me at the Temple Coffee-house. He was going on Sunday to dine with Dr. Aikin; and Dr. Smith promised to be of the party. I found a note from Mr. E., inviting me to dinner and bed, but I excused myself; and Dr. Smith, Drake, the two ladies, and myself, intruded ourselves unexpectedly at Dr. Aikin’s table, and passed one of the brightest days in the summer of human life. Dr. A. was in high spirits, and seemed truly to enjoy our visit. His situation is perfectly suited to his wishes; and he declared that the present is the happiest period of his life. Miss A. is improved in her health, and preserves all her vivacity. After dinner Mr. Barbauld called, and conducted us to his incomparable wife. With her we found Mrs. John Taylor, and a long et cætera of the families which I cannot enumerate; and after half an hour’s conversation, we returned to Dr. Aikin’s to tea. On our return we sent Drake home in the coach with the ladies, and Dr. Smith, Mr. Martin, and myself, went to Sir Joseph Bankes’s. I was introduced to him, and received very kindly: invited to dine with the Royal Society on Thursday, and attend the meeting of that and the Antiquarian, which I intend to do. To-day I have devoted to business, examined all the poor old gentleman’s papers and effects, in company with Mr. E., one of the finest old gentlemen of seventy-five that I ever met with. I had called on him at Clapton on Sunday, and apologised for my apparent incivility, but promised to dine with him to-day. After four hours’ hard work in Mr. Dawson’s lodgings, I accompanied him to Clapton Terrace, six or eight miles from town, and am just returned between nine and ten o’clock, with sundry valuables, safe from highway depredators. To-morrow I am engaged to dine at Mr. Barbauld’s: Mr. Martin and Miss S. are to be there. In the evening I propose to go to the Linnean Society. Wednesday, a great part, with Dr. S. to Kew. Sunday at Mr. Creevey’s, to meet Mr. Fox.

“I have paid several other visits, but have not yet been able to see the Marquis. Engagements crowd in, but I hope to arrange them so as to be free at the end of next week. On Sunday we called at Mr. Belsham’s, and saw our young friends, who are in perfect health: I shall call on them again before I leave town. I hope to see Mrs. Wakefield to-morrow. I write this with Harry Browne lecturing on beef à-la-mode in the next room, from which I hear every word as plain as if he sat beside me. I have now tired myself and you, but you will see that I lose no time; for which my constant stimulating principle is, that I may be once more at Allerton.”

The sentiments of Mr. Roscoe at this time, on the course of political events, may be gathered from his letters. In the following, addressed to Lord Holland, he has stated his views with regard to the condition of the Roman Catholics, and notices one of the great causes which was silently leading to their emancipation:—

“March, 1805.

“I have somewhere, in that work*, alluded to the necessity there is, that statesmen and rulers should be aware of the changes in public opinion, and should accommodate their conduct accordingly; and I might have added, that enlightened rulers will foresee and anticipate such changes, and turn those circumstances, which would otherwise be ruinous, to their own or the public advantage. This, however, has not been the case of late with the administration of this country, who have given another striking proof of that want of knowledge of human nature which has always characterised them, in their present conduct to

* The “Life of Leo X.”

wards the Catholics of Ireland. Can any thing be more apparent, than that the late commotions on the Continent have broken down all the old distinctions between Catholics and Protestants, and given rise to a new order of things, in which theological distinctions are absolutely lost and extinguished? Have we not been defending the Pope in his own capital? And is not the present existence of the Roman See owing to the interference of this country? Has not our great enemy united against us, not only his own motley empire, but the superstitious and Catholic government of Spain, and the Protestant and enlightened state of Holland? And shall we be the last people on earth to perceive these important alterations, and, through motives which have no longer any real foundation, place an insuperable bar between classes of people forming one nation, and that too at a time when the exertions of the whole country are required to preserve its very existence? The agitation of this question will, however, have done great good; not only from the knowledge, liberality, and temperate firmness displayed by the friends of toleration, but by the disgraceful ignorance and stupid superstition of its adversaries. The difference is such as cannot fail to be felt in every part of the country, and will have a tendency, more than any event that has yet occurred, to promote sentiments of moderation and good-will among people of different religious persuasions, and particularly towards the Roman Catholics, and thus hasten the way to that general toleration of speculative opinions, which it is yet to be hoped will finally take place.”

In another letter, to the same nobleman, written at the close of the year 1805, he thus expresses himself on the subject of the war:—“The intelligence from the Continent seems to become every day more important, and the war acquires a character of treachery, cruelty, and ferocity, which would disgrace an age of barbarians. I feel all this the more sensibly, from an apprehension that this country has been the cause of these calamities. I look back to the origin of the present contest, when peace and war hung equal in the balance, and the slightest portion of moderation and true good-will to mankind would have turned the scale on the favourable side. But Mr. Addington was suspected of being too tame a minister, and thought himself called upon to give a proof of his decision and firmness:—fatal and inconsiderate step! in which he abandoned his natural character, lost himself in the opinion of the true friends of their country, threw the reins of government into the same bloody hands that had so long and so disgracefully held them, and led the way to commotions, of which no human prudence can possibly foresee the event.”

A public fast having been directed to be observed in the year 1803, Dr. Parr took this occasion of expressing his sentiments upon political affairs, in a sermon which he preached in the parish church of Hatton. In this discourse, a copy of which he presented to Mr. Roscoe, he sketches, with his usual power, the character of a patriot; and denounces those who profane that hallowed name to the purposes of ambition, avarice, and national or individual pride. This publication drew from Mr. Roscoe a long and interesting critique, in the form of a letter, addressed to Dr. Parr; to whom, however, as appears from a memorandum made upon it, it was never sent. The following extract from this letter might almost be supposed to have been addressed, not by the politician to the divine, but by the divine to the politician:—

“From these sentiments you will perceive, that although I agree with you in your definition of patriotism, and in the inferences you draw from it, as to the indispensable duty and necessity of a vigorous and national defence, yet I conceive this is not the only form in which the efforts of a true patriot may at present be displayed. You have well observed, that our patriotism must not be confined to the endurance of pain, or the surrender of life itself; and if ever there was an occasion on which efforts of an extraordinary nature were called for, it is at the moment when two nations are whetting the sword against each other, and commencing a career of horror and of bloodshed, of which no human power can foresee the consequences. Every pretended patriot, every proud and ignorant individual, can cry out for war, and urge on his neighbour to the work of destruction; but where is the man who will oppose himself to the national madness? Who will point out to both countries the absurdity of a contest, which has no adequate or even rational object in view? Who will propose, in the very moment of exasperation, measures of conciliation and of peace; and sacrifice himself in the public opinion, in the hope, however remote, of rendering to his country, and to almost all mankind, a real and effectual service? He who would dare to attempt this is indeed a patriot. He who should succeed in it would entitle himself to the gratitude and applause of all future times.

“You will not, I am sure, conceive, that in stating these sentiments I consider myself as advancing any thing in which I believe you would not readily concur. They are, I flatter myself, too much in the spirit of the excellent discourse, which has given rise to them, to meet with any great opposition from you. But I should have been truly happy to have seen them more fully recommended and enforced in the same energetic language, and with the same convincing arguments, that distinguish the whole of your sermon.

“Surely, whilst we are vigilant in our defence, we may keep our hearts free from that rancour and malevolence which shut out all prospect and all hope of reconciliation; and if we cannot attain to the Christian virtue of loving our enemies, we may at least guard against that diabolical spirit of animosity, which renders mankind more ferocious than wild beasts. Notwithstanding the present exasperation, which has been so artfully and wickedly excited between the two countries, opportunities will occur when the breathings of a more temperate spirit will prevail; and to prepare the way for it is certainly the duty of every true friend to his country. After all the outcry that our liberties are in danger, from the measures adopted by the French tyrant on the Continent, I fear we are in more danger from ourselves, than from all other nations upon earth.”

It was not until the spring of 1806 that Mr. Roscoe had the satisfaction of becoming personally acquainted with Dr. Parr, and of enjoying his society for some days at Allerton. This visit, which confirmed the friendship created by their literary intercourse, is mentioned by Dr. Parr in the following short letter, with his usual strong expression of feeling:—

“Dear Mr. Roscoe,

“I am now in my sixtieth year. I have conversed with the wisest and most learned of my contemporaries, and I say to you with great sincerity, that the days I spent with you, and your family, were amongst the happiest days of my life. I shall remember you; I shall esteem you; I shall praise you; I shall bless you, one and all, again and again. Yes, dear Sir, I am thankful to Heaven for granting me such an intellectual and such a moral repast. I shall again be thankful, if I am permitted again to see you, and your wife and your children.”

CHAPTER VIII. 1805. Histories of the age of Leo X., Paulus Jovius, Fabroni.—Callings projected history.—Warton.—Robertson.—Mr. Roscoe urged to undertake it.—Letters to Lord Bristol and Lord Holland.—Motives which influenced Mr. Roscoe.—Progress of the work.—Materials procured by Lord Holland—letter to him.—Assistance rendered by the Italian scholars.—Mr. Johnson’s offer—correspondence with him—documents procured through him.—Information obtained at Paris by the Rev. William Shepherd.—Letter to Fabroni.—The progress of the work interrupted.—Sonnet.—Letter to Dr. Smith.—Publication of the work.—Letter to President Jefferson, and answer.—Letter to Dr. Smith.—Letter from Mr. J. C. Walker, and answer.—Letter from Mr. Mathias.—Other opinions in favour of the work.—Sonnet by Mr. Hayley.—Letters to Lord St. Vincent and to Dr. Parr:—Criticisms upon the work in the Edinburgh Review—in other publications.—Mr. Roscoe’s feelings on the occasion—his answer to the Edinburgh reviewers in the preface to the second edition.—Letter to Professor Smyth.—Prepares, but does not publish, an answer to his critics.—Letter from Mr. Mathias.—Reception of the work abroad—in Germany—is translated there—is translated in Italy by Count Bossi—French translation—American edition.—Effect of his literary labours on the health of Mr. Roscoe.—letters to Fuseli and Lord Buchan. CHAPTER VIII.

The age of Leo X., fertile as it was in brilliant events, and illustrated by the revival of letters and arts in Europe, was long ere it found an historian. The life of the pontiff had, indeed, been written by Paulus Jovius, but not upon the extended scale demanded by the subject; and again, after the lapse of two centuries, by the learned Fabroni. But neither of these works, however valuable as pieces of insulated biography, conveyed an adequate idea either of the political or of the literary history of that period. Such a work had, indeed, been meditated by several individuals, but it does not appear that any progress was ever made in the design. Collins the poet, about the middle of the last century, is said to have published proposals for such a history,—a project referred to by Dr. Warton, in his “Essay on the Life and Writings of Pope;” and mentioned also by Dr. Johnson, with the observation that probably not a page of the history was ever written.* The design was

* It appears, however, from a communication made by the late Mr. Hayley to Mr. Roscoe, that Collins had pro-

revived, after the death of Collins, by Dr. Warton, in conjunction with some of his learned and accomplished friends. “In a conversation,” says Mr. Roscoe*, “which I had the pleasure of enjoying with Dr. Warton, in the year 1797, the progress made in an undertaking which had been so long announced to the public became an object of my enquiry. By him I was informed that it had been the intention of himself, his brother, and several of their literary friends, to give a history of the revival of letters, not only in Italy, but in the principal countries of Europe, and that the history of English poetry by Mr. Thomas Warton was only a part of this great design. When we advert to the various and excellent critical productions of these liberal and learned brothers, and consider, that amongst the names of their coadjutors would probably have been found those of West, of Walpole, of

ceeded so far as to prepare a preliminary dissertation to his work. “Though the countrymen of the poet Collins,” says Mr. Hayley, “must ever lament his calamity, they have now no reason to regret that his projected history of Leo was never completed,—a work towards which he had made a greater advance than his friends, the Wartons and Johnson, imagined; for one of my early companions informed me that an elder brother of his (intimate with Collins) had heard him read a preliminary discourse of great merit, which he intended to prefix to the work in question. I have reason to believe the discourse I speak of is irrecoverably lost.”

* Preface to the “Life of Leo X.”

Mason, and of Gray, we cannot sufficiently lament the want of public encouragement, which was, in all probability, the chief cause which prevented this noble and extensive undertaking from being carried into complete execution.” At a later period, the history of the revival of learning was suggested to the attention of Dr. Robertson, but that accomplished writer does not appear to have encouraged the idea.

Other writers, amongst whom may be mentioned the author of the History of the League of Cambray, and Gordon, in his Lives of Alexander VI. and Caesar Borgia, had illustrated the political events of this period; while its literary history had been treated of in the invaluable pages of Tiraboschi, and of Mazzuchelli, but no adequate history had yet been given of the Age of Leo X.

To Mr. Roscoe this subject had been suggested from various quarters, immediately after the publication of the ‘Life of Lorenzo.’ He was strongly urged to the undertaking, both by Lord Orford and Lord Bristol; but it was some time before he resolved to engage in a work so laborious. In a letter addressed to the latter nobleman, in the month of April, 1797, he says, “Your Lordship’s recommendation to me to continue my narrative through the age of Leo X. is certainly entitled to great attention, and will have considerable weight in any determination I may form in that respect. But the success of such an undertaking would not rest on myself alone. Whatever value my former work possesses chiefly arises, as your Lordship is well aware, from the documents which I have had the good fortune to obtain; and to retail amongst my countrymen a compound, elaborated from the works of Jovius, or even the collections of Muratori, and the Histories of Guicciardini, &c., would not, I confess, gratify the literary ambition even of so humble an author as myself.”

To Lord Holland, who had liberally offered his services, in procuring from Italy any original documents which might be useful in throwing new light on the Life and Age of Leo X., Mr. Roscoe says, “It has been suggested to me that a further prosecution of the subject which has already been the object of my research, and an extension of it through the Life of Leo X., might not be uninteresting to the public; and it is certain that I am not unprepared with considerable materials for this purpose. But the great extent of such a work, the difficulty of obtaining original materials to give a sufficient degree of novelty, and the devotion of time which it will unavoidably require, have hitherto made me hesitate on the expediency of such an undertaking. The information in your note, of the favourable idea entertained, by learned and well-informed Italians, of my former exertions, and the generous and unexpected offers of assistance in the acquisition of materials towards a further extension of the work, are powerful inducements with me to engage in such an undertaking; and should I eventually adopt this resolution, I shall avail myself of your Lordship’s recommendation to Fabroni, with the hope that you will excuse the trouble I may then be under the necessity of giving you.”

The motives which influenced Mr. Roscoe in the decision to which he ultimately came, are adverted to in his preface to the “Life of Leo.” “The same considerations which have deterred others from engaging in so laborious and hazardous an attempt, would, in all probability, have produced a similar effect on myself, had I not been led, by imperceptible degrees, to a situation in which I could scarcely, with either propriety or credit, have declined the task.

“The history of the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,’ the father of Leo X., had opened the way to a variety of researches, not less connected with the events of the ensuing period, than with those of the times for which they were immediately intended, and even that work was considered by many, perhaps not unjustly, as only the vestibule to a more spacious building, which it would be incumbent on the author at some future period to complete. Since that publication, the friendship and liberality of several dis-tinguished characters, both at home and abroad, have supplied me with many valuable communications and original documents, which, without their countenance and favour, it would not have been in my power to obtain. To have withheld these materials from the public, would have defeated the purpose for which they were communicated; and to have shrunk from the task under such circumstances, would have given occasion for a construction almost as unfavourable to myself as the failure of success. These reflections have induced me, amidst the constant engagements of an active life, to persevere in an undertaking which has occasionally called for exertions beyond what my time, my talents, or my health, could always supply; and I now submit to the public the result of the labours of many years, in the best form in which, under the circumstances, it has been in my power to offer it to their acceptance.”

The additional leisure afforded to Mr. Roscoe by his retirement from business powerfully seconded these considerations, and in the autumn of the year 1798 he began to apply himself sedulously to his new labours. For these he was partially prepared by the researches which the “Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici” had demanded; and to the kindness of Lord Holland he was indebted for the first supply of original materials from the archives of Florence. “I have re-ceived letters from Florence,” says his Lordship, in a letter dated the 12th of December, 1798, “in answer to your requests, and have every reason to hope that the business will be pursued with as much diligence as possible. The person who has undertaken to copy the manuscripts is highly flattered with the commission, and the Grand Duke has been so good as to facilitate his undertaking, by allowing him access at all times to the library, and by promising him any assistance he may require. Mr. Penrose intended to return to Florence, in a few days after he received my letter, and has engaged to superintend the transcription, as well as to make all possible enquiries about the manuscripts at Rome, which, however, were always in a very confused state, and a great part of which have been either removed or destroyed by the French. At any rate, I confide in Mr. Penrose making all the exertions possible, as he is too much a man of letters and taste not to contribute all in his power for the purpose of inducing you to favour the public with another historical work.”

The manuscripts thus procured consisted of a series of letters and papers, forming two folio volumes, and illustrating, in a very copious manner, the early history of the Pontiff. “For this valuable collection,” says Mr. Roscoe, in the preface to the ‘Life of Leo,’ “I am indebted to the obliging and disinterested interference of a nobleman, who adds dignity to his station, not only by the firm and consistent tenour of his public conduct, but by his encouragement of those literary studies in which he has himself made so distinguished a proficiency.”

The great scholars of Italy, with that liberality which adds grace to learning, generously contributed their advice and assistance in procuring materials for the work. “In adverting to the assistance which I have derived from the city of Florence,” says Mr. Roscoe, in his preface, “that cradle of the arts in modern times, I must not omit to notice the favours conferred on me by the late venerable and learned Canonico Angelo Maria Bandini, principal librarian of the Laurentian library there. . . . . To this eminent man, who retained his early and ardent love to literature to the close of his days, I am indebted for the communication of several scarce and valuable documents, both printed and manuscript, as well as for various letters, indicating to me, with the utmost attention and minuteness, those sources of information which his long and intimate acquaintance with the subjects of the following volumes had enabled him to point out.”*

* Some of the letters of Bandini are printed in the Appendix (No. VIII.) to the Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.

The state of public affairs on the Continent, at this period, was such as to afford Mr. Roscoe little hope of procuring from Rome the valuable information which the archives of the Vatican, and the other collections in that city, afforded. He had also lost the friendly assistance of Mr. Clarke, whose researches had contributed so much to the enrichment of his former work; but for this loss he was, in a great degree, indemnified by the unsolicited kindness of a stranger. When almost on the point of abandoning his work in despair, Mr. Roscoe received from Mr. John Johnson, a gentleman then travelling through Italy, the most gratifying offers of assistance. “Having learned,” says Mr. Johnson, “from Signor Bandini, that you are employed in writing the ‘Life of Leone X.,’ I take the liberty of informing you that I propose passing the ensuing winter in Rome, where it is probable that, from my acquaintance with the Cardinal Borgia, the Abbé Marini, Prefetto dell’ Archivio Vaticano, &c. &c., I may be able to procure you some materials for your work. I confess I should not have taken the liberty of writing to you, until I had been able to give you some efficient indication of my wish to serve you, but from the idea that you could render my researches more useful, by giving precise directions respecting any particular documents which you might wish to have examined. . . . . I beg to repeat, that nothing should have tempted me to obtrude myself on your notice, but the hope of augmenting the literary means of an author who has given to the world a work, which the literati of Tuscany read and speak of with astonishment and delight.”

To this liberal and friendly communication, Mr. Roscoe replied in the following letter:—

“My very sincere acknowledgments are due for your obliging letter of the 1st of October, which should have been sooner answered, had I not been confined to my room by an attack of nervous fever, from which I am only just recovered. The interest which you are so good as to take in my researches respecting the Life of Leo X. encourages me to state to you, that, with respect to such information as the archives of Florence can supply, I am already, by the assistance of Lord Holland, possessed of copies of letters, &c. which compose two folio volumes, of upwards of 300 pages each. These, with such assistance as I occasionally derive from the respectable Canonico Bandini, will furnish me the necessary information. Yet, if any thing should occur to me, I shall take the liberty of addressing myself to the learned Abbate Fontani, to whose kindness I have before been indebted, and from whose very able assistance and advice I know I should derive great advantages.

“With respect to Rome, I have not yet had an opportunity of obtaining any materials from that quarter, although the Vatican certainly contains an immense fund of information respecting the subject of my work. Your assistance in this respect will, therefore, be considered by me as a great obligation. As my work will contain a pretty full account of the pontificates of Alexander VI. and Julius II., whatever relates to or elucidates either of their public characters will be of great use. With respect to the pontificate of Leo X., every thing that refers to it will be of importance to me,—whether it concerns his political transactions and negotiations, his encouragement of literature and art, his conduct, both in public and private life; in short, whatever has any connection with his history, or with that of any branch of his family. I find, that anecdotes and circumstances, trivial and unimportant in themselves, often acquire value from comparison with other parts of a person’s character and conduct; and I wish to collect all I can respecting this pontiff, in order to enable me to appreciate, so far as is in my power, his very extraordinary and equivocal character.

* * * * * * *

“I would not, if it had been in my power, have lost a single day in replying to your letter, as I shall send the first volume of my work to the press in the course of this winter. Whatever, therefore, relates to the times of Alexander VI. and Julius II. will be immediately wanted; but any memorials of Leo X. will be in time, if they arrive during the course of the next summer.

“The freedom which I have taken will convince you that I place an implicit confidence in your obliging offers, which are indeed made with such frankness, that I cannot hesitate in availing myself of them.”

The feverish attack mentioned in the foregoing letter was induced by the unremitting devotion with which Mr. Roscoe prosecuted his biographical studies, from which he was for some time interdicted by his friend, Dr. Currie.

The documents obtained from Rome, through the intervention of Mr. Johnson, consisted both of manuscripts and of printed books. Amongst the former was the fragment of an unpublished Life of Leo, written in Latin, and carried down to the year 1516. Amongst the printed books were many scarce and valuable tracts, which could not have been procured in England. But the kindness of Mr. Johnson did not terminate here. Having visited Venice on his return to England, he used his good offices with the celebrated Abbate Morelli, librarian of the S. Marco, and procured from him a list of books and documents which might be found useful to a biographer of Leo X. This circumstance led to a literary intercourse with Morelli, productive of much pleasure and information to Mr. Roscoe.*

* A letter from Morelli is printed in the Appendix to the Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici (No. IX.).

The National Library at Paris contributed also to the materials for the work. The Diary of Paris de Grassis, of which extracts only had been printed, existed entire in that collection; and Mr. Roscoe was very desirous of inspecting other portions of the manuscript. “It happened, fortunately for my purpose,” says Mr. Roscoe, in his preface, “that in the summer of the year 1802, my particular friend and neighbour, the Reverend Mr. Shepherd, well known as the Author of ‘The Life of Poggio Bracciolini,’ paid a visit to Paris. On this occasion, I scrupled not to request his assistance in examining for me the different manuscripts of the ‘Diary of Paris de Grassis,’ and making such extracts from them, in the original, as he conceived would be interesting. As no one could be better qualified for such a task, so no one could have entered upon it with greater alacrity. During his stay at Paris, a considerable portion of his time was passed in these researches, in which he met with every possible facility from the librarians; and, on his return, he brought with him several curious extracts, which have enabled me to throw additional light on the history of Leo X., and particularly on the singular circumstances attending his death.”

The assistance of various persons of intelligence and learning in England was also freely afforded; and the spirits of the writer, which oc-casionally flagged in the course of his laborious task, were supported by the kindness thus extended to him. In transmitting to Fabroni a copy of the Life of Lorenzo, he describes the progress he had then made in the biography of Leo:—

“I wait for your ‘Life of Leo’ with the impatience of a traveller by night, who expects the moon shortly to rise and direct his way. In the course of last winter I sketched the first volume of my work on the same subject, which places Leo on the pontifical throne; the remainder will, I apprehend, occupy two other volumes, and the fourth will be devoted to the appendix. This arrangement, you will easily perceive, will require much time to complete; and as I consider it rather as the offspring of my leisure than as my occupation, it will be some years before I can hope to lay my researches before the public. In the meantime, I have been assiduous, and not unsuccessful, in my enquiries. By the assistance of Lord Holland, and of Mr. Penrose, the British Resident at Florence, I have received numerous documents from the archives of that place, which have thrown great light on the life and early part of the pontificate of Leo X. These I have already employed in a great degree in my narrative, and I doubt not your learned and judicious work will furnish me with much additional information.”

Although for some time after its commencement the “Life of Leo” proceeded with rapidity, yet it was seldom that the regular and uninterrupted attention of the author could be bestowed upon it. At the conclusion of the year 1799 the work was, as we have seen, thrown aside for many months, in consequence of the important commercial engagements in which he became involved, and which continued afterwards to claim the greater portion of his time. He was also, upon more occasions than one, prevented from prosecuting his labours by illness, induced by the intensity of his application. But notwithstanding these checks, the work continued to grow under his hands, and the labour of years gradually approached its conclusion.

To this period may be referred the composition of the following SONNET. “O’er the deserted waste of ages past, As lone I wander, hover round my head, Ye mighty Spirits of the illustrious Dead! Mail’d Warriors, laurell’d Bards, whose fame shall last Through future times! For you the gay repast, The social circle, and the downy bed I quit, and, by your bright illusions led, Pursue my course; or when the wintry blast Sings o’er the heath, or Autumn browns the shade, Or Spring returns the face of Heaven to cheer; Ah, not in vain my ardent vows be paid, And may your ripening honours full display’d, The dearest guerdon to your votary bear, For many a toilsome day, and many a patient year.”

The feelings of Mr. Roscoe at this time are described in a letter to Dr. Smith, written on the 1st of January, 1804.

“On the return of our honest friend Shepherd, I wrote you a hasty letter, intending to have followed it by one more expressive of what I felt for your kindness to him; but a most violent effort to free myself from the heavy task in which I am engaged, and the continual pressure of business, with my journeys between Allerton and Liverpool, have so devoured every moment of my time, that day after day has passed on, till the conclusion of the year, without my being able to fulfil my wishes. I am now, however, determined to be somewhat more my own master. Since you left Liverpool, I have copied and prepared for the press as much as will compose my two first volumes. The remainder is in great forwardness, and, if I enjoy my health for a few months, will, I hope, be completed. M’Creery begins to print with the new year, and promises to proceed with great rapidity. My arrangements with Messrs. Cadell and Davies are made to my satisfaction; and in the spring of 1805 I am in hopes I shall make my appearance before the public in the pompous shape of four splendid quartos. The labour of correcting, &c. I regard as nothing, in comparison with that which I have had in the collecting of materials, and in the composition of the work; and hence, though much remains to be done, I find my mind lighter than it has been for some time, on account of the long and laborious road that lay before me. You, who have so frequently engaged in important literary undertakings, will know how to sympathise with a brother author, in the enthusiasm of his pursuit, the cheering prospect of success, the apprehensions of disappointment, and the lassitude of fatigue; and will easily perceive that, as the barometer rises or falls through these degrees, it is to us writers the foul or fair weather of human life.”

The long and tedious labour, which the composition of the work had required, rendered Mr. Roscoe, at its conclusion, sensible to little else than the relief which its completion afforded. “The work,” he says, to one of his correspondents, “was advertised for publication in London on Saturday last. What its reception may be I know not, nor do I distress myself by any uncommon anxiety on that head. An author who has been so long employed in preparing his works for the public, resembles, in some respects, a man who has been a long time sick, and cares not whether he lives or dies, so that he be released from his trouble. This indifference, however, does not extend to the particular friends, whom I have the happiness to know and esteem, and to whose pleasure and amusement I should be glad to think it was in my power to contribute.”

At length, in the summer of 1805, the work, which had been in the press upwards of two years, was published.* The first impression, which consisted of 1000 copies, being double the number of the first edition of Lorenzo, was nearly all disposed of soon after its publication; and the most gratifying expectations were entertained by the author, with regard to the success of a work which he looked upon as the completion of his former task, and the termination of his historical labours. “Although the ‘Life of Leo X.,’” he says, in an unpublished tract, “is given to the public as a separate and independent work, yet it is evident that I considered it as a sort of continuation of my former history of the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ The transactions that occurred in the interval between the death of Lorenzo and the election of Leo include some events of the greatest curiosity and importance in modern history; and I was, therefore, unwilling to pass over them by a meagre and uninteresting narrative. Let me also confess, however it may subject me to the

* The time employed upon the composition of the “Life of Leo” may partly be gathered from the dates in the original MS., now in the library of the Athenæum, at Liverpool. The date at the commencement of the second volume is 5th December, 1800; of the third, 15th February, 1802; and of the fourth, 21st January, 1803. One half of his copyright in the work was disposed of to Messrs. Cadell and Davies for the liberal sum of 2000l.

charge of arrogance and presumption, that I was desirous of embracing, as far as my subject would allow, the history of the principal events in Europe, from the downfall of Constantinople to the accession of Charles V.; and of thus connecting, although by a link of very inferior workmanship, the golden histories of Gibbon and of Robertson.”

Mr. Roscoe, as was his custom, presented copies of his new work to many of his friends, and to a few distinguished persons to whom he was anxious to show his regard. Amongst the latter was Thomas Jefferson, then President of the United States, to whom the volumes were sent accompanied by the following letter:—

“It is with particular pleasure that I avail myself of the opportunity afforded me, by the publication of my ‘History of the Life and Pontificate of Leo X.,’ of requesting you will do me the honour of accepting a copy, as a very humble but sincere mark of the respectful esteem and attachment of the author. In thus venturing to introduce my own productions to your notice, I am sensible I may be accused of presumption; but from such a charge I find a sufficient shelter in the reflection, that history is the peculiar study of those in high stations, whose opinions and conduct have an important influence on the destiny of mankind. I also flatter myself with the hope that the principles contained in this work will be found in unison with those sentiments of enlightened toleration, liberal policy, and universal benevolence, which have been no less strikingly evinced in your practice, than energetically recommended and enforced in your public addresses to the nation over which you preside.

“I have transmitted these volumes through the hands of my particular friend, Mr. Ralph Eddowes, of Philadelphia; who some years since left this place to reside with his family in America, and whose talents, integrity, and temperate firmness would do credit to any country.”

“By some accident,” says Mr. Jefferson in reply, “which has not been explained to me, your letter of June 4. 1805, and the copy of your ‘History of the Pontificate of Leo X.,’ which you were so kind as to destine for me, have lain in one of our custom-houses near a twelvemonth. The letter is now received, and the book expected by the first conveyance. I pray you to receive my thanks for this mark of your attention; and I anticipate with pleasure the reading of a work, which, for its taste and science, will, I doubt not, stand worthily on the shelf with the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ My busy countrymen are as yet too actively occupied to enter the lists in the race of science. When the more extended improvement of their country, and its consequent wealth, shall bring them the neces-sary leisure, they will begin their career on the high ground prepared by their transatlantic brethren, from the days of Homer to the present time. May the range of their flight be worthy of the height from which it commences; and may the due employment of the talent given them by their masters in that line merit to them the benediction of ‘Well done, good and faithful servants!’ I pray you to accept my salutations, and assurances of great respect and consideration.”

To his friend Dr. Smith, Mr. Roscoe thus wrote on the same occasion:—

“I have long intended to write to you, but have been prevented by a continual succession of unavoidable occupation and bodily indisposition, and sometimes by the junction of both.

“Leo’s reckoning is now made, and he must be sent to his account with all his imperfections. In the course of a few days after this comes to hand you will receive a copy, which, from its size, would terrify a man of much less occupation than yourself; and which you will naturally lay aside, till you can muster courage and find time to make so formidable an attack. Of the reception of this work I am, in many respects, doubtful; but I do not suffer my apprehensions to render me miserable. I have taken all the pains in my power, to make it deserving of the public notice; and have endeavoured to express the peculiar opinions which it may contain with decency, though with freedom. If all this will not do, I cannot help it; nor would I alter or suppress those opinions, to obviate censure or obtain applause. In one place or another, I have found an opportunity of expressing my sentiments on the great subjects of politics, morals, religion, and taste, as well as on a variety of inferior topics, which I hope are not impertinently introduced; and by these sentiments I am content to be judged, so long as my book may continue to be read.”

The most flattering testimonies of approbation, from those whose judgment on the subject was most worthy of regard, followed the appearance of the work.

“I should perhaps,” says Mr. J. C. Walker, “have acknowledged sooner the receipt of the inestimable present which you have done me the honour to send me; but the truth is, I was so powerfully captivated by the charms of the work, that I could not prevail on myself to suspend the perusal, even to perform a duty of gratitude. I will not, however, delay any longer to offer you my warmest thanks for the rich accession you have made to my collection. I was not entitled to, nor did I presume to expect, so magnificent a present. I was not, therefore, less surprised than delighted at the receipt of it. It has been my study day and night ever since it reached me. ‘It is,’ as Mr. Hayley observes, ‘a noble work, worthy of its subject and its author.’

“I am astonished at the immense mass of curious and interesting information it contains, and charmed with the clearness of the arrangement, and the simple elegance of the style. You, and your friend Mr. Shepherd, have completed, in a most masterly manner, the history of the revival of letters. I hope it is not true that you do not mean to pursue your researches further into the literary history of Italy. Such a determination would be matter of general regret.

“During the perusal of your work it often occurred to me, that every admirer of the golden days of Leo has reason to rejoice that Dr. Robertson did not, as he once intended, occupy your subject. To the political part he might have done justice; but in the literary department, and in the history of the arts, he would certainly have failed. Robertson shines in the cabinet and in the field, but (if I may so express myself) he does not seem at home in the academy. He does not appear to have cultivated with ardour what is generally understood by the term elegant literature; nor does he seem to have had much taste in the fine arts*: so that his ‘History of the

* Hume appears to have held the same opinion as Mr. Walker. “As to the Age of Leo X.,” he says, in a letter to Dr. Robertson, “it was Warton himself who intended to

Age of Leo’ must have been very imperfect. It is no flattery to say that you have proved yourself qualified in every way for the great undertaking.”

“I have to thank you,” says Mr. Roscoe, in answer to another letter from the same correspondent, “for your obliging communication of the opinion of your Italian correspondent, and still more for that of Dr. Burney, on my late publication; there being few persons now living whose judgment I should so highly respect, or whose approbation I should be so earnest to obtain. I fear, however, that neither these, nor your own kind encouragement, will induce me to engage myself further in the history or literature of Italy. Having said all that I had to say, I feel not the slightest disposition to intrude myself again on the public notice. If my writings have any merit, they are certainly voluminous

write it; but he has not wrote it, and probably never will. If I understand your hint, I should conjecture that you have some thoughts of taking up the subject: but how can you acquire knowledge of the great works of sculpture, architecture, and painting, by which that age was chiefly distinguished? Are you versed in all the anecdotes of the Italian literature? These questions I heard proposed in a company of literati, when I enquired concerning this design of Warton. They applied their remarks to that gentleman; who, yet, they say, has travelled. I wish they do not all of them fall more fully on you.”— Stewart’s Life of Robertson: Appendix.

enough; if not, I have already done too much. Having so long claimed the attention of others, I shall, in my turn, willingly become a hearer; and shall expect with impatience the result of your further enquiries on those subjects which you have, in some of their branches, so happily illustrated.”

Amongst the various persons to whom Mr. Roscoe looked with anxiety for a judgment upon his labours, there was no one who held a more prominent position than Mr. Mathias; and it was therefore with peculiar satisfaction that he received the following letter, written immediately after the publication of the work:—

“I feel a very sensible pleasure in possessing this new and most interesting production of your genius, your learning, and your unwearied application for the essential interests of Italy and of this country; as it may be justly said of you, in the words of Ariosto to one of his friends— “Tieni d’ ambe le lingue i bei segreti.” “I have not yet had it in my power to gratify myself by the continued perusal of this great national work, but propose, when I return home from an excursion I am just about to undertake, to have that pleasure and satisfaction; the inspection of some detached portions of it have left me con la bocca dolce. It is peculiarly delightful to me, that the Canzone which I addressed to you, expressing my sense of the obligations which this country and Italy must for ever feel for your unparalleled exertions, is not forgotten on the banks of the Mersey. It is also a consolation that my boldness in attempting to strike the lyre of Tuscany, and on such a subject, has met with that excuse I could scarce have expected. “A Te drizzai il mio stil; per te son oso D’ esser primo a versar nei nostri lidi Del divin fonte che, con tanto onore, Gustò di Paradiso il gran pittore.”

You will pardon my altering a few lines of Alamanni as an apology for my presumption.”

From his publishers also Mr. Roscoe received very satisfactory information respecting his work. “Of ‘Leo X.,’” they say, “the accounts we have received from various quarters, including many of our most respectable literary friends, are of the most gratifying description. Dr. Gillies, Mr. Malone, Dean Vincent, Dr. Sturges, are amongst those who have very recently expressed their high satisfaction with the work.”

Nor were poetical testimonies to the merits of the work wanting. For the following sonnet Mr. Roscoe was indebted to the muse of Mr. Hayley.

“Joy and renown attend the happy hour When Taste and Truth their finish’d task proclaim Their English temple to the Tuscan name! Roscoe! on thee may all the Muses shower Due wreathes of glory, graced with every flower, Worthy to crown their fav’rite, skill’d to frame This grand Pantheon of historic fame, Secure to triumph o’er Oblivion’s power. ’Tis thine departed merit to embalm, And drive Detraction’s vultures from their prey; Thine the historian’s, thine the poet’s palm, As Nature’s mirror we thy work survey, Faithful though vast! Thus Ocean, clear and calm, Reflects each light and shade the heavens display.”

“I may well rejoice,” says Mr. Roscoe, in offering his acknowledgments to Mr. Hayley,—“I may well rejoice in the approbation of one of whose applause Gibbon was proud, and in whose friendship Cowper reposed with confidence; but I am too conscious of the defects of my publications to attribute to their merits that commendation, which is more properly the result of the liberality of your character and the benevolence of your disposition.”

Satisfactory as were these testimonies of individual approbation, Mr. Roscoe was well aware that there were portions of his work which would be received by many persons with very different feelings. The tone of political sentiment prevailing throughout its pages, and the views taken of the character of Luther, and of the conduct of the early reformers, were little calculated to conciliate the favourable opinion of a large class of persons. That he was fully aware of the hazard he ran in treating of these subjects, appears from a letter addressed to Lord St. Vincent* a few weeks before the publication of the work.

“Your Lordship’s repeated kindness encourages me to mention that a work on which I have been employed for several years, the ‘Life and Pontificate of Leo X.,’ is now nearly printed, and will, I expect, make its appearance in the course of two months. On referring to this period it will immediately occur to your Lordship, that a publication on this subject must comprise some topics of considerable delicacy, as well in religion and politics, as in morals and literature; or, in other words, must involve those questions which have given rise to dissension and persecution in all subsequent, times. In the account of the Reformation, I am well aware that my book will give satisfaction neither to the Catholics nor the Protestants; yet, of the two, I apprehend most the displeasure of the latter. The former have been so accustomed to be abused, that they will receive with patience any tolerable

* His Lordship was an enthusiastic admirer of the “Life of Leo.” “A friend of Lord St. Vincent’s,” say Mr. Roscoe’s publishers, “told us, two or three weeks ago, that the old hero was getting up every morning at five o’clock to read Leo X.”

degree of castigation; but the latter, who conceive their principles and conduct to be above all censure, will be surprised to find their early leaders accused of a spirit of intolerance and uncharitableness, which has, unfortunately, continued with but little diminution to the present day. Should your Lordship ever honour the work by a perusal, I shall hope for a liberal and candid construction of my opinions, both on this and other subjects; assuring your Lordship that, however contradictory some of them may appear to the received notions, both of characters and of events, they have not been hastily adopted, nor are they now delivered to the world without the most serious and deliberate conviction that, if they attract any notice whatever, they cannot but be favourable to the cause of civil and religious liberty, and have a tendency to soothe those animosities between nation and nation, and sect and sect, which have so long afflicted our quarter of the world.”

In a letter accompanying a copy of the Life of Leo presented to Dr. Parr, Mr. Roscoe thus alludes to the manner in which he has treated the character of Luther. “If the matter should have the good fortune to please you, I shall have less anxiety about the manner; and I flatter myself that, upon the most important topics, I shall not often be found greatly at variance with those liberal sentiments which you have fre-quently so well expressed, and so eloquently enforced. In appreciating the character of Luther, I have followed the dictates of my own judgment, without desire to flatter or intention to offend; and whatever may be thought of my observations in other respects, they will not, I hope, be found to breathe that narrow and sectarian spirit which has characterised almost all preceding writers on this subject.”

The anticipations of Mr. Roscoe, with regard to the reception which his work was likely to experience in some quarters, were fully realised. In the Edinburgh Review*, although some partial commendation was bestowed upon it, the work was noticed in that spirit of asperity which seems to have been designedly adopted in the earlier stages of that publication. “Affectation of sentiment, or of profound philosophical reflection,” the critic observes, “is not less frequent, or less ridiculous, than the instances of affectation in style.” The author is accused of prejudice against Luther and of partiality towards Leo; and the alleged misdating of a letter of the former is adduced as a proof of this assertion. At the conclusion of the Review, the faults of the work are summed up in the following passage:—

“Upon the whole, then, these ponderous

* Vol. vii. p. 336.

volumes have disappointed our expectations of obtaining an adequate history of the revival of learning*,—worthy at least of the importance of the subject. The prevailing defect of the work is a minute and tedious prolixity, and the want of sufficient energy either of thought or of style. The accumulation of materials does not always add a proportionable value to history; and an author has learned but half the secrets of his trade who is ignorant of the art of blotting, to which the greatest writers have been indebted for their success. No labour can be too great to attain to perfection; and if, instead of endeavouring, in his preface, to extenuate the general defects of his history, Mr. Roscoe had transcribed it over again, under the eye of some severe critic, and had resolutely reduced it to half its present size, the remainder, from the condensation of the narrative, would have acquired an additional value, when every idle anecdote or superfluous incident was carefully expunged, and the redundance of sentiment or of diction retrenched. As it stands, the history may please the dilettanti, to whom the medallions and verses

* “The Life and Pontificate of Leo X.” did not profess to be, nor was it intended by its author, as a history of the revival of learning; a subject which, as will be seen from a letter subsequently given, Mr. Roscoe regarded as embracing a much wider range than his own work, and to the elucidation of which he did not profess himself equal.

are, perhaps, a sufficient recommendation; but it neither will gratify the general reader, nor ought it to supersede any future efforts upon the subject, when the present edition has passed away. In general, however, its materials will always be valuable to future historians, by whom the author’s opinions, in matters of taste and criticism, will always be respected, and his writings impress us with one uniform conviction that he is a truly amiable and benevolent man.”

Such was the spirit in which the “Life of Leo X.” was noticed in a journal professedly devoted to the extension of the same liberal opinions, which it had been the constant object of the author of that work to inculcate in every page.

Other journals pronounced a judgment equally unfavourable to the merits of the work. The Christian Observer declared that its author was “uniformly hostile to Christianity,” and that “he had received a retaining fee from the Pope;” that “he was afraid of apparitions;” and that “he gave rise to a strong temptation to burn him.” The Critical Review asserted, that “to approve of the moral and religious part of his work, would render a person obnoxious to the Society for the Suppression of Vice;” and bestowed upon his style the epithet of “mawkish,” and upon the author the title of “Igno-ramus.” Nor did he escape much better from the hands of the conductors of the Literary Journal, who discovered in him “the victim of ill-directed studies,” and stated that “a well-informed child of ten years of age might give him the lie direct.”

Attacks of this nature few writers of any reputation have escaped; and it would scarcely have been worth while to advert to them, had it not been for the purpose of showing the manner in which they were received by Mr. Roscoe. That he felt them, is true; for the sting even of the smallest and most insignificant insect may occasion some degree of pain. But this feeling soon passed away from his mind.

The charge of misrepresentation and inaccuracy, preferred by the Edinburgh Reviewers, was the only one which could not be passed over in silence; and Mr. Roscoe took advantage of the opportunity afforded by the publication of a second edition, to give, in the preface, a full answer to the accusation. At the conclusion of this preface he thus notices the criticisms upon that portion of his work which relates to the Reformation, and which was, in fact, the source of all the animosity of his critics.

“I cannot, however, finally quit this subject without some notice of the charges which have been so generally connected with those before mentioned, and by which it has been insinuated, or asserted, that I have endeavoured to discredit the characters of the early reformers, and to depreciate the beneficial effects of the Reformation, as well by a reference to the well-known persecution of Servetus, as on other occasions. In answer to this, I must be allowed to observe, that the idea that the following work is hostile to the Reformation, is a misrepresentation industriously circulated by those who, under the pretext of a warm attachment to the cause of Protestantism, are as adverse to all religious liberty as the most bigotted Roman Catholic; and that whoever peruses the following pages with an impartial eye, cannot fail to discover that, so far from depreciating the beneficial effects of the Reformation, I have only had to regret that it was not carried to the full extent for which its promoters originally contended. To this I can add, with great sincerity, that in adverting to the persecutions of which Protestants have been guilty, my only object has been to excite that abhorrence of persecution, under every form and pretext, which is the surest safeguard against its return. If it should appear, as has been imputed to me, that I have animadverted with more severity on the Protestants than on the Papists, it is because better things were to have been expected from them; because they, who asserted the right of private judgment in themselves, ought not to have denied it to others; because they, who have represented the cruelties and persecutions of the church of Rome as the greatest of her abominations, ought to have been peculiarly cautious how they gave rise to similar charges against themselves; and, lastly, because it is more painful to perceive a disgraceful blot among those with whom we are nearly associated, than among those who are further removed from us in principles and opinions. Hence the persecution of Servetus, conducted by Calvin, and approved by Bullinger and Melancthon, has been exhibited in those colours which it so justly merits; and should, if it were in my power, be still further raised up, as a perpetual beacon, to guard mankind against the possible recurrence of an event which outrages at once the feelings of humanity, the dictates of common sense, and the religion of Christ. It is not on the doctrinal tenets of any established church, whatever its adherents may believe, that we are to rely for the rejection of those intolerant and persecuting principles which have for so many ages disgraced the Roman see. ‘Luther, Calvin, Cranmer, Knox, the founders of the reformed church in their respective countries, inflicted, as far as they had power and opportunity, the same punishments which were denounced against their own disciples by the church of Rome, on such as called in question any ar-ticle in their creeds.’* To have freed the human race from the dread of violence and persecution, in the exercise of religion and the pursuit of truth, would have conferred greater honour on Luther than the enforcement of any dogmatical opinions whatever. To his good intentions and incorruptible integrity the following work bears uniform and ample testimony: but with the restraints of his superiors, Luther could not shake off the trammels of his education; and his highest aim was only to establish another despotism in the place of that from which he had himself escaped. In thus sanctioning, by his opinion and example, the continuance of an exterior and positive control over the consciences of mankind, he confirmed the pretensions of the Roman See; and may more justly be said to have shared its authority, than to have invalidated its unjust assumptions. But the principles of toleration are derived from higher views; from an enlarged idea of the Supreme Being; from the cultivation of generous and social affections; and, in short, from the exercise of the Christian religion as taught by its great Founder, and not as perverted by the ambition, the obstinacy, or the ignorance of his erring followers.

“I trust it will be understood, that I have not engaged in the foregoing discussions without

* Robertson’s Charles V., book ii.

great reluctance. To malicious interpretations, ignorant cavils, and illiberal abuse, I entertain the most perfect indifference; but in this instance an error of some importance has been gravely imputed to me. I could not expect that my readers in general should enter upon an examination of the different writers on this subject, and a long investigation of historical and ecclesiastical evidence, to determine between me and my censors; and I have therefore thought it necessary to illustrate the subject by further authorities, and to confirm the opinion which I have before advanced. I feel it a duty towards those who have honoured my writings with their approbation, not to suffer them to be depreciated by an unfounded charge in a point of historical fact; and a still greater duty not to relinquish the defence of those principles of liberty, of toleration, and of truth, which I have hitherto invariably asserted, and which I shall continue to maintain, independent alike either of censure or of praise.”

In a letter to Professor Smyth he says, “I must not, for a moment, allow you to think that my feelings can be hurt by any of the critiques that have yet been published on the ‘Life of Leo X.’ * * * To say the truth, I am more sensible to your observation, ‘that my history might have been condensed,’ &c. than I am to all the abuse of the reviewer. Yet I am by no means disposed to concede this point without stating, in a few words, my reasons for the method adopted by me. Let me then be allowed to say, that I rather consider myself as, in some degree, an original historian, bringing before the public new documents, and laying before them full information on the subject which I have treated, than as a writer extracting the essence of other historians, and giving, in a few brilliant passages, a general result. On this account, I am sensible that I may at times appear prolix; but if I can give real information, I shall be well satisfied, without being considered as a shining writer. If I have been fortunate enough to lay a solid foundation, others may ornament the superstructure; but whatever may be thought of my workmanship, the materials I have furnished can never be dispensed with, whatever additions may be made to them.

“After all, if the importance of the facts which I have related, and the interesting nature of the topics of which I have treated, be considered, it will appear that I have dwelt on them very briefly, and that it is, in fact, the number and variety of the subjects of which I have had to treat, rather than the extent to which I have carried my discussions, that have extended my work to its present length; which, after all, will, in the new edition, be comprised (without the appendix) in four very moderate octavo volumes. You shall soon hear from me again, probably with some observations which I have already drawn up, and which may be necessary to vindicate myself from those charges of inaccuracy and inattention brought forwards in such terms of triumph by the ‘Edinburgh Review.’”

The observations mentioned in this letter were fully prepared for the press, and contained an answer, not only to the strictures of the Edinburgh reviewers, but also to those of his other critics. On a more mature consideration, however, he abandoned the idea of publishing a defence of a work which had been received by the public with approbation, and by all competent judges with the most gratifying encomiums. Many passages of this unpublished tract are written in his best style; and it is to be regretted that the subject was not such as to render it worthy of publication. In the concluding paragraph Mr. Roscoe has expressed his wishes with respect to the character in which, as a writer, it was his ambition to be regarded.

“With this publication, to which I have been reluctantly impelled, by the just defence of myself and my writings, I take a final and a grateful leave of the public in the character of a literary historian,—a character which I have been led to assume, rather by accidental circumstances, than by preparatory studies or deliberate intention. Having now laid before them what I had to communicate, I have finished my task, and return with fresh ardour to the humbler but not unimportant occupations of private life. If my productions should still continue to experience the indulgence of my readers, few of them will be inclined to deny that I have now written enough. If the censures of my opponents be well founded, I have long since written too much; yet I would gladly flatter myself in the hope that my writings may preserve some faint memorial of their author, and may exhibit him as the friend of liberal studies, the admirer of whatever is excellent in the human character, and the advocate of truth, of liberty, and of virtue.”

Those upon whose taste and learning Mr. Roscoe could with safety rely encouraged him to receive these attacks upon his writings in silence. “I trust you will long continue,” says Mr. Mathias, “to reap the satisfaction and honour which must arise from all your well-directed literary labours, in a nation which should be grateful to you, and reject the idle attacks which are in vain directed against works which are permanent. If you will allow me on this occasion to use some expressions in the canzone I have written to Mrs. Wilmot, they will have additional force and truth in my opinion:— ‘Non paventar: ride del volgo i scherni L’augel de’ vanni eterni Di rugiada del ciel sparsi e nudriti: Febo con alti inviti Per strada non battuta e pellegrina Più d’un palma a te largo destina.’”

“With respect to my own works,” says Mr. Roscoe, in his answer to the foregoing letter, “to which you so obligingly allude, I can truly say that whilst I retain the favourable opinion of yourself and a few other enlightened friends, whom I consider as perfect judges of their merits and defects, I feel no anxiety about the censures of such critics as have pretended to decide upon them in some of the periodical journals. In estimating these critiques with as much impartiality as the feelings of an author will allow, I find nothing of sufficient importance to deserve a serious reply, except a charge in the Edinburgh and some other reviews, that I have, either through negligence or prejudice, affixed an erroneous date to a letter from Luther to Leo X., and stated it to be of the 6th April instead of the 6th September, 1520. This charge, of some importance in itself, is rendered more so by its being made the pretext of throwing a general calumny on the historical part of my work; and I am therefore under the necessity of demonstrating, which I have it completely in my power to do, the correctness of my former statements, which I shall throw into a preface to the new edition, which will appear in a few weeks. Of this new preface I propose to print a few copies in quarto, one of which I hope to have the pleasure of sending to you, to be annexed, if you think proper, to the first edition of the work.”

The reputation which the “Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici” had obtained on the Continent, and especially in Germany, where the translation of it by Sprengel had become very popular, prepared the way for the favourable reception of the present work. Soon after its publication in England, it found its way to the hands of a distinguished German scholar, M. Philip Henry Conrad Henke, whose acquaintance with the history of the revival of learning well qualified him for the task which he undertook. Having prevailed upon his friend Professor Glaser, whose proficiency in the English language was well known, to translate the work, he undertook to enrich the version, with a preface, notes, and dissertations; and, in the course of 1806, 1807, and 1808, it appeared at Leipsic, in three volumes, octavo. The manner in which M. Henke executed his task reflects the greatest credit on his erudition; and his approbation of the work, after his searching enquiries into its correctness, is one of the strongest testimonies that can be adduced in favour of Mr. Roscoe’s merits as an historian. In his preface, the editor has entered largely into the character of the work, and his criticism may be usefully compared with that of the English reviewers. In particular he has done justice to the spirit in which the Life is written, to the correct appreciation of moral worth, to the reprobation of treachery and cruelty, to the exposure of all mean and grovelling vices, and to the uniform support of honour, truth, and virtue.

It was not until the year 1816 that a translation of the “Life and Pontificate of Leo X.” appeared in Italy. In the course of that year the first three volumes of a version into Italian, from the pen of the Count Luigi Bossi, were published at Milan. It was fortunate that the undertaking fell into hands so able, Count Bossi being distinguished by his attachment to the literary history of his country, and by the success of his own compositions. Like the German translator, he added, with industry and judgment, a variety of notes and documents illustrative of the original text; and the translation of the whole work was completed in the course of the year 1817, in twelve volumes, octavo, ornamented with numerous plates of portraits and medals. Of this translation upwards of 2800 copies have been dispersed in Italy, notwithstanding the denunciation of it by the pontiff, Leo XII., who consigned it to the Index Expurgatorius. Upon the receipt of the earlier volumes of the version, Mr. Roscoe addressed to Count Bossi the following letter:—

“I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter, accompanying the three first volumes of the translation into Italian of the ‘Life of Leo X.;’ and I assure you I am fully sensible of the honour done to my work in its being thought worthy of being adopted into the language of that country to which it more particularly relates. This satisfaction is greatly increased by the consideration that those literary studies and pursuits, that have been so long repressed by the calamitous state of public affairs, are again reviving, as well in Italy as in other parts of Europe, and that we may hope once more to enjoy that friendly intercourse which extends the family of mankind, and is indispensable to their improvement and happiness.

“For the favourable manner in which you have spoken of my work, and for the attention you have paid in giving a faithful version of it, I feel myself much indebted, and can add with pleasure that, as far as I have examined it, I find it rendered with sufficient accuracy:—of the propriety of dividing the chapters into sections I entertain some doubt. But if, on the one hand, it interrupts the thread of the narrative, on the other, it may, perhaps, tend to assist the recollection of the reader, which in a very long chapter is not unlikely to be wearied; and in this view I feel reconciled to the alteration.

“The disadvantages incurred by your having commenced your work from a French translation is a subject of much greater regret, as some of the passages omitted are essential to the course of the narrative, or consist of those reflections which naturally result from it. The omission of those passages by the French translator would be unpardonable, were there not some excuse from the wretched state of subjugation to which the press has been reduced in France by the jealousy of her rulers. You have, however, done all that was in your power to repair this defect; and in case your work should be reprinted will, I doubt not, take care that these passages are properly restored, so that the work may be, as you express it, genuina ed intiera in tutte le sue parti.

“I should have been happy to have marked my approbation of your labours, by complying with your request of furnishing you, with such additional documents as have come to my hands since the publication of my last edition; but my opportunities of collecting additional information since the publication of my work have not been great; and I am more likely to be indebted to those who have done me the honour of translating them, particularly into the German and Italian languages, than they are to be assisted by me. Allow me, then, to recommend to your attention, whenever you may have an opportunity of consulting them, the translations of the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’ by M. Sprengel; and that of ‘Leo X.’ by Professor Glaser, with the annotations of the late M. Henke. In the prefaces, dissertations, and notes on these works, you will find considerable information, and many questions candidly discussed. A taste for illustrating the literary history of Italy has of late made a considerable progress in Germany as well as in England; and I trust this taste will be still further extended, inasmuch as it is certainly to the labours of your distinguished countrymen, whose lives and works are thus commemorated, that Europe is chiefly indebted for the improvement and eminence she at this day enjoys.

“As a testimony of my respect, and of the sense I feel of the honour you have done me, may I beg your acceptance of a copy on large paper of the ‘Life of Leo,’ which I have ordered to be delivered to M. Vittore Lanetti, to be forwarded to you at Milan.”

A translation into French appeared at Paris in the year 1808, in four vols. octavo, from the pen of M. P. F. Henry, and a second and more correct edition was published in 1813. In the preface to the latter the translator says,

“Quant à ma traduction, je l’ai retouchée avec tout le soin dont j’ai été capable, sans que toutefois je puisse me flatter de l’avoir rendue digne d’un ouvrage que son mérite reconnu a fait passer dans presque toutes les langues de l’Europe.”

In America the “Life of Leo X.” was reprinted soon after its publication in this country, with the omission of the documents contained in the appendix. It had not, however, the success which attended the American edition of the “Life of Lorenzo.”—“My edition,” says Mr. Bronson of Philadelphia, who had republished the Leo, “has met with tolerable success, though it has not sold as rapidly as I had reason to expect. I have, however, the gratification of finding that it is highly approved and relished by men who occupy the first rank of taste and literature in our country.”

The long and unintermitted labour which the composition of Leo had demanded, produced its natural effect on the mind of Mr. Roscoe, and some time elapsed before his health and his spirits resumed their usual tone. “For my own part,” he says in a letter addressed to Mr. Fuseli in the summer of 1805, “I am endeavouring to acquire the habit of idleness. After having finished my work, the sudden transition from extreme attention to a state of comparative leisure is not easy. The effects of that labour and fatigue, which I scarcely felt in the eagerness of pursuit, have now overtaken me—the storm is over, but the waves swell. I am idle without being at rest, and am obliged to turn to other occupations for relief. Luckily, these are neither few nor unimportant. The drainage and improvement of some thousand acres of land, which I am about to commence, might satisfy the rage of any reasonable man; and with this I have other objects, as you well know, which require no small portion of my time. As an author I have taken my final farewell of the public.”

With the publication of the “Life of Leo X.” the enquiries of Mr. Roscoe into Italian literature terminated. Further labours of the same kind were suggested to him, but he declined to attempt them. “The history of the rise and progress of literature and the fine arts in Italy,” he says in a letter to Lord Buchan, “which your Lordship recommends to my consideration, is, indeed, a noble subject, but to execute it would require a fortunate union of talents, acquirements, and circumstances, which it has not fallen to my lot to enjoy. In what I have already done I have taxed my exertions to the height, and neither my health nor my leisure would permit me to engage in so extensive a work, or rather in two works. For perhaps the history of literature and of art should each be treated separately; and of these, if I were to make my choice, I should prefer the latter. An excursion to Italy, or rather a residence there for some time, would be an indispensable preparatory measure; but this I must leave to younger men, and console myself in the hope of having shown that, in the literature and the fine arts of Italy, may be found a rich and unexplored mine, in which the intellectual exertions of my countrymen may be certain of meeting with an ample reward.”

CHAPTER IX. 1806-7. Requisition to Mr. Roscoe to become a candidate for the representation of Liverpool—commencement of the election—state of parties—his return—celebration of his election—his speech on that occasion—leaves Liverpool to attend his parliamentary duties—his feelings on his change of situation—letters to Mr. Rathbone and to the Rev. W. Shepherd.—Mrs. Roscoe joins him in London—letter from her.—Debate on the Slave Trade, and Mr. Roscoe’s speech.—Letter to Mr. Shepherd.—Speech on Sir S. Romilly’s Bill for subjecting Real Estates to simple Contract Debts.—Dissolution of the Ministry.—His speech on Mr. Littleton’s motion.—Speech on Mr. Whitbread’s Bill for the Education of the Poor.—Parliamentary patronage.—He assists in founding the African Institution—his speech on that occasion—termination of his parliamentary career—riot on his return to Liverpool—declines to come forward again as a candidate—his address—address to him.—Letter from Dr. Parr.—He is nominated without his concurrence—his address on the conclusion of the election—address to the freemen.—Letter to Dr. Smith, and answer.—Refuses the appointment of Deputy Lieutenant. CHAPTER IX.

Although from a very early period of life Mr. Roscoe had taken a deep interest in public affairs, and had manifested, not only by his writings, but also by the part he had taken in promoting public meetings in Liverpool, the strong desire he felt to render himself useful to the country, he had yet never entertained the idea that he should be called upon to fill the responsible situation of a representative of the people. It was therefore with the greatest surprise that, on the eve of the general election in 1806, he received a requisition from a number of the most respectable burgesses of Liverpool, requesting him to come forward as a candidate for the representation of his native town. In the selection of a person to oppose the individuals who had long represented the borough, the friends of Mr. Roscoe were actuated by many considerations. His well known attachment to liberal principles; his long connection with the town; his acquaintance with business; his celebrity as a writer; and the universal respect with which his personal character was regarded, were powerful recommendations in his favour; while the warm attachment of his numerous private friends added zeal to the efforts of those who supported him merely on public grounds. On the 30th of October, only two days before the commencement of the election, Mr. Roscoe received the requisition; on the following day he issued his address to the electors, and on the 1st of November the election commenced. The contest was a severe one. Of the former members, who again came forward as candidates, General Gascoigne had represented the borough for ten, and General Tarleton for sixteen years. The former was a zealous supporter of Mr. Pitt’s administration; and had recommended himself to the corporation and to the merchants by his active attention to their interests. General Tarleton, after a long alliance with the Whigs, had joined the party of their adversaries; and though he had thus forfeited the support of many of his former partisans, he was still surrounded by a considerable body of personal friends. The party of General Gascoigne, which included the Corporation of Liverpool, finding the opposition on the part of Mr. Roscoe likely to become formidable, effected a junction with the friends of General Tarleton; in the hope that, by splitting the votes of their mutual supporters, they should be enabled to exclude the new candidate. The friends of Mr. Roscoe, considerable in point of numbers, and distinguished by their respectability, wealth, and intelligence, comprised not only the Whigs, but persons of every shade of opinion attached to liberal principles. Though the ardent zeal with which they engaged in the contest seemed to promise ultimate success, yet for several days the system of splitting votes kept the other candidates at the head of the poll. It was not until the fifth day of the election, that Mr. Roscoe obtained a majority even on the day’s poll; but on that day it became obvious that the strength of his adversaries was exhausted; and on the seventh day the contest terminated, leaving Mr. Roscoe at the head of the poll, with a majority of nearly two hundred votes over General Tarleton, and of thirteen over General Gascoigne. When the number of single votes given for the respective candidates was examined, it was found that General Gascoigne had received 289; General Tarleton, 292; and Mr. Roscoe, 867.

Throughout the whole of the election Mr. Roscoe had been the popular candidate; the number of his supporters in the town quadrupling those of either of his antagonists.* His

* In the preface to “An Account of the Election,” published by a supporter of one of Mr. Roscoe’s adversaries, it is said,—“At this period the popular cry was completely in

return, therefore, was hailed with the most enthusiastic rejoicings; and he was chaired through a greater assemblage of people than the town had probably ever before witnessed.

The return of Mr. Roscoe was celebrated on the 25th Of November, by a large and respectable meeting of his friends, when he took the opportunity of declaring, more at large than he had hitherto done, the principles by which his public conduct would be guided. After adverting to the situation of the Continent, and expressing his hope that the course of events might lead to the accomplishment of that most desirable object, an honourable and lasting peace, and after pointing out the necessity of retrenchment, he entered upon the two great questions, of the African Slave Trade and of Parliamentary Reform. To speak of the former in an assembly where some were present who were still engaged in the traffic was a task of considerable difficulty; but Mr. Roscoe did not hesitate to avow, in the most distinct manner, his adherence to the opinions which he had so long held on the subject. He contended, indeed, as the justice of the case obviously required, that as the trade had been sanctioned by parliament, and long continued

favour of Mr. Roscoe; and to walk the streets quietly in an evening, it was necessary to re-echo his name to the innumerable persons who saluted you with it.”

under the authority of the government, the persons engaged in it were entitled to a full compensation for the losses they might sustain; but he pointed out the propriety of looking to other branches of commerce, and particularly to the East India trade, for an equivalent. On the question of parliamentary reform he thus expressed himself:—

“The other subject, on which I wish to say a few words, is one of considerable moment; it is that which is usually called a Reform in Parliament. But before I proceed, it may be necessary to enquire, what is meant by a reform in parliament? If by a reform in parliament be meant any alteration in the established constitution of this country, as it has long existed in its three estates of king, lords, and commons, then I declare I am totally averse to any reform in parliament. I consider the king as the keystone of the arch of the constitution, and that if he were taken away, the whole must inevitably fall into ruins. I consider the nobility as a body of hereditary counsellors, adding dignity to the crown, and forming a powerful and useful barrier, on many occasions, between the crown and the people. I esteem the House of Commons, properly purified and constructed, as the legitimate organ of the public voice; and, therefore, if any innovation be attempted upon any one of these, to that you will always find me a decided enemy. But if by a reform in parliament be meant the purifying of the House of Commons from all kinds of bribery and corruption, whether that of electors, or of those who sit in that House, then I am a friend to reform in parliament. If it should be proposed that the elective franchise should be granted to great towns, and extensive bodies of men who do not at present enjoy them, then I am a friend to a reform in parliament. If it should appear that insignificant and corrupt boroughs have from time to time tainted the dignity of the house, and it should be thought proper to deprive them of the right of election, then I shall be found an advocate for a reform in parliament.”

The principles of reform, professed upon this occasion by Mr. Roscoe, and in a few years afterwards more fully developed in a letter addressed to the present Lord Chancellor, are in effect the same which have since formed the basis of the great scheme so happily accomplished under the auspices of Lord Grey.

Parliament having assembled early in the year 1807, Mr. Roscoe, unattended by any of his family, left Liverpool for the metropolis. Upon his entrance into public life he had many difficulties to contend with. He was called away from the active management of a very extensive mercantile concern, upon the prosperity of which he was entirely dependent, and, unfortunately, soon after his election, his partner Mr. Leyland, whose name stood at the head of the firm, and whose wealth contributed to its stability, withdrew suddenly from the partnership. These circumstances, together with his separation from Mrs. Roscoe and his family, made his removal from Liverpool a source of much anxiety and disquiet to him. In addition to this, he felt no inconsiderable difficulty in adapting himself to the new mode of life which his public duties required. He had gone into parliament at a more advanced age than is usual, and with the weight of much public and private business of importance pressing upon him. The novelty of his situation became, in some degree, painful to him. He was conscious, also, that much was expected from him, which naturally increased his anxiety. His change of life was far, therefore, from contributing to his happiness. In a confidential letter to his friend Mr. Rathbone, written soon after taking his seat, he thus expressed the feelings under which he laboured:—

“The rest of your letter, my dear friend, rather oppresses than cheers me, in my present difficult and laborious situation. If my friends have formed such high notions of the extraordinary effects which I am to produce in my public character, I fear they will only meet with disappointment, and that I must reconcile my-self to that failure with which I am so strongly threatened. Excepting on the first night on which I entered the House, there has been no debate on a popular subject; and though I had some intention of speaking, yet, upon the whole, I believe it was better on many accounts that I declined it. I find great caution necessary on my first outset; and my present resolution is not to engage in any hasty or precipitate measures, nor to commit myself in any way where I cannot maintain my ground. For this reason you must expect at present to hear but little of me in public; but if on that account you think that I am insensible to the great objects of your letter, you will not do justice either to my intentions or my feelings.”

In reply to a letter from one of the most valued of his friends, the Rev. W. Shepherd, making some suggestions with regard to his new course of life, Mr. Roscoe says, “As to the rest of your cautions, they point not out the rocks on which I am likely to split. Deeper thoughts oppress and agitate me. I ruminate much, and do nothing; yet I keep some objects in view, of which I may say with Milton, ‘The accomplishment of them lies not but in a power above man’s to perform; but that none hath by more studious ways endeavoured, and with more unwearied spirit that none shall, that I dare almost aver of myself, as far as life and free leisure will extend.’ I shall only add in the words of the same great man, ‘De cætero quidem, quid de me statu erit Deus, nescio.’ Believe me, however, always most affectionately yours.”

In another letter, written soon afterwards to the same correspondent, he says, “You cannot readily conceive the difficulties that are to be got over in the House of Commons, particularly in some minds, before a person can acquire the habit of expressing his sentiments in a way to do either himself or his cause any credit. I certainly, however, do not despair of attaining it, though, from the state of my health, and a consequent depression of spirits, I have hitherto been deterred almost wholly from the attempt.”

In the month of February, 1807, he was joined in London by Mrs. Roscoe; and her society, upon which he always set the highest value, contributed much to the ease of his mind and the restoration of his health. “You will, I am sure, all rejoice with me,” he says in a letter to Mr. Rathbone, “that last night my wife and Edward arrived safe in London. It was once my wish to have gone through the troublesome task which I have undertaken alone, without deranging my domestic connections; but to pass five or six months in banishment from my family and dearest connections I find is too bold an attempt.” As he became more familiar with the proceedings of parliament his confidence revived, and the feel-ings which had oppressed him at his entrance gradually subsided. “By a constant attendance on the House,” he says, in a letter to the same friend, “I find myself more accustomed to its forms, and have made some good acquaintance. In a little time, when the election committees are over, its duties will be less laborious, and I shall begin to feel myself more at ease in my new station. I have spoken three or four times, which is, I believe, as often as any new member, but still find a reluctance to offer myself to the House. If the Catholic question be discussed, I shall, however, most probably attempt a bolder flight; but this will depend on circumstances. My wife’s presence has contributed to restore both my health and peace of mind, which, I believe, had suffered before her arrival.”

The favourable effect which a restoration to his usual domestic society produced upon the health of Mr. Roscoe, appears from the following extract of a letter addressed by Mrs. Roscoe to Mrs. Moss, her warmly attached sister, and the invaluable friend of Mr. Roscoe and his family:—

“I well know that Mr. Roscoe’s health and welfare are always an object of great solicitude to you. He is now nearly well of the nervous complaint which had assailed him from overexertion and want of exercise, and his spirits are very good. Edward will have informed you that he conducted us to our lodgings an hour before he quitted London. The situation is within five minutes’ walk of the House, and close to St. James’s Park. This morning, being frosty, Mr. Roscoe rose from the breakfast-table and walked in the Park near an hour before he sat down to his writing. I yesterday returned the visit of a very intelligent woman, and had a most agreeable interview with her—Mrs. Erskine, wife to the Lord Advocate of Scotland. They were both at home to us. We called on, and saw, our excellent neighbour Miss Ashton too, whom I hope to see again soon. In the evening Mr. Roscoe went to dine with the Duke of Gloucester, where were present the Lord Chancellor, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Sidmouth, and a number more of the very great. The Duke pays Mr. Roscoe the most respectful attentions. Edward would tell you of his paying me a visit the morning after he knew I was in town. You know very well how I estimate all these things in themselves; but I never can be insensible to any mark of sensibility to Mr. Roscoe’s uncommon merits, and which his own extreme humility keeps him wholly unconscious of.”

As the period approached when the great subject was to be discussed in which, from his earliest youth, Mr. Roscoe had taken so deep an interest, his anxieties became great, lest he should not do justice to the cause which he had so much at heart. Mr. Rathbone having addressed to him a letter on the subject, containing many just and valuable reflections, he replied as follows:—

“I have received your excellent oration on the African slave trade, which, if delivered by yourself, would have the intended effect on the House. If I speak on the subject, which, unless I am disabled by personal indisposition, it is my resolution to do, I shall probably adopt somewhat of a different line of argument, touching, however, though not so largely, on several of the topics in your sketch. If I should be able to get out all I have to say, it would perhaps be longer than yours, though I have not committed a word of it to writing. In this situation I cannot describe the anxiety I feel, lest I should be a weak and unworthy advocate of the great cause which I have espoused.”

The following report of the speech of Mr. Roscoe on this occasion, fuller than that given in the Parliamentary Debates, was corrected by himself immediately after its delivery:—

“As the colleague of the honourable gentleman who spoke last, and as one of the representatives of a place where the trade, which it is the object of the present bill to abolish, has been carried on to a greater extent than in any other place in the kingdom, I cannot, I conceive, with propriety, give a silent vote on this occasion. That vote, Sir, will be in favour of the bill now before the House for the abolition of that trade. In giving this vote I shall at least satisfy my own feelings and my own conscience. But I trust, Sir, that I shall at the same time perform my duty to my constituents. For whatever may be thought of the people of Liverpool in other parts of the kingdom, I must beg leave to inform this House that they are by no means unanimous in support of the trade in question. On the contrary, a great and respectable body of the inhabitants of Liverpool are as adverse to the slave trade as any other persons in these realms, and I should greatly disappoint their expectations and their wishes, if I were not to vote for the abolition of that trade. After the length of time during which this subject has been considered by the nation at large, after the frequent discussions it has undergone in this House, after the present bill has been passed by the Upper House of Parliament, and is now sent to this House for its concurrence, above all, after the full and able manner in which the noble Lord (Howick), who introduced the bill, has brought it forward, it is perfectly unnecessary for me to discuss the principle of the bill, or to detain the House by additional arguments in its favour. There is, however, one argument which has always appeared to me so clear, so conclusive, and so short, that I will venture to state it. Sir, the African slave trade has always subsisted only by an abuse. If we place the human race in any fair and reasonable situation, if we provide them with the necessaries and accommodations of life, they must, by the very law of their nature, inevitably increase. It is only, then, because the slaves in our West India islands are not in that proper situation, and are not provided with the proper necessaries of life, that a diminution of number continually occurs, and the slave trade becomes necessary to supply that deficiency. Now, Sir, the bill before the House will not only prevent the further prosecution of the trade to Africa, but will also effect another great and beneficial purpose, not contemplated on the face of the bill,—it will immediately improve and meliorate the condition of the slaves in the West Indies. For as soon as the planter shall be convinced that he cannot make up the deficiency of his slaves by purchase, as soon as he can no longer act upon the horrid maxim, ‘that it is better to buy a slave than to breed one,’ he will then be called upon, by a sense of his own interest, to pay that attention to the comfort and accommodation of his slaves which is so essentially necessary for their increase and their happiness. Whatever apprehensions may be entertained as to the security and welfare of our West India possessions from the present measure, I hesitate not to assert that, in my opinion, it will, in the result, be found to be the first cause of the security and prosperity of those colonies. I well remember the time when the regulations made by this House on the middle passage were opposed by the merchants with the greatest warmth, as wholly destructive to their trade; but it is only a few days since that we heard their counsel at the bar of this House admit, that such regulations had rendered the trade much more advantageous than it had ever before been.

“In like manner, I trust that the time will ere long arrive when the West India planters will feel and acknowledge the beneficial effect, and will date the true prosperity of the British colonies from the time of the abolition of the slave trade. In discussing a question of this magnitude, affecting so great a portion of the human race, it is impossible to close our eyes to that part of the world which has suffered so greatly by the effects of the trade in question—I mean the coast of Africa. I should be sorry to accuse this country as being the sole cause of the state of ignorance and degradation in which that immense continent yet remains; but I must be allowed to say, that if we have not been the cause of the evil, we have at least contributed in a high degree to prevent its removal.

“When we consider the nature of the trade which we have carried on with that continent, when we reflect that the objects of our commerce have been our fellow-creatures; and that the articles we have furnished in return have been chiefly fire-arms, ammunition, and brandy, articles of destruction, articles of debauchery, I cannot but fear that we have contributed in a great degree to prevent that civilisation and improvement in Africa which might otherwise have taken place. That this supposition is too well founded may be fairly inferred from the well-known fact, that the interior of Africa is more civilised and better cultivated than the coast, where our trade has been carried on, and where we have kept up that continual excitement so prejudicial to that unfortunate country. It is time that we should remove that excitement; and if we cannot contribute to the improvement of Africa, that we should not at least contribute any longer to her calamities and her degradation,

“But, Sir, although I think it unnecessary to enter into a further discussion of the principle of the bill, yet I have been well aware, that with respect to its mode of operation, or rather with respect to the time when such operation is to commence, some difference of opinion may be entertained. However anxious I have always been for the abolition of this traffic, it has been my uniform opinion that this should be effected by gradual and proper measures.

“And here I beg it may be most explicitly understood that, in speaking of gradual measures, it was never my idea that the trade should be continued for the advantage of those persons who are carrying it on. No, Sir, I would not continue the trade a month, a week, a day, on any such grounds.

“It was well observed on a former night in this House, that justice is due to all persons, as well to our own countrymen as to the natives of Africa. I fully assent to this observation. But in the distribution of justice we must cautiously distinguish between the rights of the claimants. It would be the height of injustice to balance the mere pecuniary interests of any one body of men against the lives, the liberty, and the safety of any other body of men. They are claims of a different nature, and cannot be weighed with each other. That justice is due to the persons in this country who may be affected by the bill 1 readily admit; but it is due from this nation, and not from Africa, which has already suffered sufficiently from us.

“Leaving, therefore, these claims out of the question at present, and regarding only the object of this bill, I must observe, that in a great measure, of this nature particularly, caution is necessary, that in producing a certain good we produce as little evil as possible.

“Sir, we must perceive how difficult it is to legislate for those who are no parties to our deliberations.

“I certainly am not without apprehensions that if this trade had been terminated by a sudden and immediate act, it might have been productive of dreadful consequences on the coast of Africa, where there is a great conflux of slaves, whose numbers might accumulate, and who, from the sudden and total cessation of the trade, might fall a sacrifice to the avarice or resentment of their owners. Before I left Liverpool, to have the honour of taking my place in this House, I thought it necessary to make a particular inquiry on this subject from a person well conversant with, and who had frequently visited different parts of the coast. From him I learnt, that at Angola, and other places on the southern parts of the coast, slaves were brought down in scanty numbers, and, consequently, little danger was to be apprehended from the immediate termination of the trade; but that on the more northern parts, and particularly at Bonny, the slaves are brought down in great numbers, being carried from the interior parts of the country for four, five, or six months, and that there some fatal consequences might ensue if precautions were not taken against them. It was, however, his opinion, that a period of six, or at most nine months, would be a sufficient notice for terminating the trade; and as this space of time will be afforded by the present bill, I shall cheerfully assent to it as it now stands, and do conceive that as the trade has been gradually narrowed by the regulations adopted by this House, and as some further time is yet allowed by the bill for its final termination, the friends of a gradual abolition ought now to unite with the promoters of the present bill, in carrying this great and beneficent measure into full effect.

“And now, Sir, as to the question of compensation to those persons who may be injured by the effects of the present measure, I cannot entertain a doubt that this House will be earnest to distribute justice in its proper degree to all who are entitled to it. The trade in question has been long carried on with the concurrence of the country, and under the sanction of the legislature, and has, till the present time, been thought indispensably necessary to the cultivation and possession of our colonial possessions. If, then, it should hereafter appear, that the persons engaged in carrying it on should sustain an actual loss by the operation of this bill,—not a loss of eventual or prospective profits, which they might have derived from continuing to carry on the trade (for to such a claim it would be absurd to listen), but a real and substantial loss, by not being able to withdraw their capital, and to close their concerns within the time limited by the bill,—then I must assert, that the persons making such claims are as well entitled to compensation as any persons who ever solicited the justice of this House. But, Sir, there is another compensation of a much higher and better nature to which the merchants of this country are entitled. That compensation is to be found in the more extended trade and commerce of this country. When we consider the immense revenue which we are now called upon to pay, it is evident that the time is arrived when we must avail ourselves of all our resources; when we look at the immense power acquired by the great tyrant of the Continent, we must perceive, that it is necessary to oppose to him an immense colonial power, whereby we may maintain and enlarge the maritime strength of our country. Under such circumstances, we ought to extend ourselves to the East and to the West.

“It can be no longer concealed, that the question respecting the East Indies is now so closely connected with the safety and prosperity of this country, that they can scarcely be separately considered; nor can it be supposed that we can any longer allow ourselves to be crippled in this essential branch of our commerce. Let there be no monopoly but the monopoly of the country at large.

“Sir, I have long resided in the town of Liverpool. It is now upwards of thirty years since I first raised my voice in public against the traffic which it is the object of the present bill to abolish. From that time I have never concealed my sentiments upon it, in public or in private; and I shall always think it the greatest happiness of my life, that I have had the honour to be present on this occasion, and to concur with those true friends of justice, of humanity, and, as I most firmly believe, of sound policy, who have brought forward the present measure.”

Of his feelings on this occasion, which he justly regarded as the most important passage in his whole life, he has given some account in a letter, written immediately afterwards, to his friend Mr. Shepherd.

“You will, I am sure, rejoice with me most truly, on the triumphant manner in which the question on the slave trade has been carried through both Houses of Parliament; and you will also feel an additional gratification, that I have had an opportunity of speaking my sentiments publicly on the subject.

“It required, I assure you, no small share of resolution to seize the proper moment to obtrude myself on the House, and to persevere against several competitors, all of them eager to distinguish themselves on the occasion. Mr. Fawkes, member for Yorkshire, and I, were equally unwilling to give way, till the Speaker restored order, and decided in my favour. What I had to say, was well premeditated, but had not been written. I delivered it with tolerable clearness, and, I believe, without embarrassment, but not with sufficient energy. I should tell you, that before the debate began, the Speaker called to me, as I was passing near him, and gave me, in very kind terms, the same advice which you had done; viz. to take my station at about two thirds of the House distant from him, that, in addressing him, I might be well heard. This I complied with, and found efficient I have reason to think that, upon the whole, my speech gave satisfaction, as both Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Whitbread expressed themselves in particular terms to me to that effect. But what pleases me more is the idea, that by speaking so soon in the debate, and standing in the capacity of member for Liverpool, I may have contributed in some degree to that decision of sentiment which the House manifested in the result. My friend, Richard Sharp, who sat by me, says my vote was worth twenty. But it will be enough for me, if I can persuade myself that I have contributed in any degree to the success of such a cause.

“I afterwards, with the assistance of my son Edward, committed my speech to paper, which he took down with him, and which you have perhaps seen. I have since recollected some omissions, but it will give you a sufficient idea of it.

“We had a long debate on the same subject on Friday, and shall have another on Wednesday next. Wyndham has avowed his determination to oppose the measure; Lord Howick, and it is said Sheridan, will defend it. There are so many persons who have not yet spoken, that I shall not attempt it again, unless I feel myself called on to explain.

“On the whole, I find the attendance on the House of Commons, particularly whilst the election committees are sitting, a very arduous service. There are great difficulties to be surmounted, and it requires a degree of courage and of caution, not often united, to secure the favourable judgment of the House. Although I have spoken twice, my anxiety on this head is very little relieved, and I have reason to suspect that I partake this anxiety in common with many of those who have been much more accustomed to the House. I mean, however, to attempt it again when a proper opportunity occurs, being resolved that if there be any talent, it shall not, in times like the present, be buried in a napkin.”

To the vote given by him on this occasion he often referred, in his after-life, with expressions of the warmest satisfaction. In a letter written in 1812 to his friend Walter Fawkes, Esq., he says,—“I am gratified to find that the few but interesting conferences we had together in St. Stephen’s are yet held in your remembrance. Tiresome as our sittings frequently were, we had our seasons of triumph and congratulation,—and the evening when we rejoiced together on the abolition of the slave trade will never be forgotten by me.”

There was no member of the House for whose talents and virtues Mr. Roscoe entertained a more sincere regard than for those of Sir Samuel Romilly; and when that distinguished and enlightened statesman brought forward in Parliament his bill for subjecting real estates to simple contract debts, the measure received the warm support of Mr. Roscoe. The following outline of his speech on this occasion is now given from a note of it, in his own hand, and may serve as an example of the style which he adopted in public speaking:—

“I must beg leave, Sir, wholly to dissent from the opinion of the honourable member on the other side of the House (Colonel Eyre), and am, on the contrary, of opinion that the country is highly indebted to the honourable and learned member who introduced the bill, for proposing a measure of such manifest utility. Sir, it is to me matter of surprise that in a country like this, where there is such a continual and daily interchange between real and personal property, this measure should not have been sooner adopted. With respect to the objections which have been urged against the bill, as well on this as on a former night, I cannot allow to them any degree of validity. By some we are told that it will make a most dangerous inroad on the laws of our ancestors, and be an innovation on the constitution, as if laws were not to change with the changes and circumstances of the times to which they are applied. By others we are informed that it will be the downfall of the aristocracy, as if the aristocracy could only subsist by the nonpayment of their debts. Next we are informed that a law of this nature will throw the landed estates of the country into the hands of East Indian nabobs, and that it will even interfere with the elective franchise. Really, Sir, I can perceive nothing in the measure under consideration which can have the least tendency to produce any such effects. This bill, when passed into a law, will do nothing more than is done in this country every day. It will subject freehold estates to the payment of simple contract debts, a duty which is already performed by every honest man on making his will; yet what inconvenience has ever been derived from it? What injury to the constitution? Who ever discovered its injurious effects? Is it not, on the contrary, highly desirable that an honest creditor should be paid his just demands? In all cases of this kind, where the testator charges his estate with the payment of his debts, this bill will make no difference whatever. Its provisions will only be concurrent with the will of the testator; and whether the creditor recovers his debt under the will, or by the operation of this act, is to him a matter of little importance.

“It is only, then, in cases where a person possessed of freehold estates dies without subjecting them to the payment of his debts that this bill will apply. Now, Sir, such cases can only occur from two causes. First, where a person, knowing himself to be indebted, wilfully and purposely avoids making a provision for the payment of his debts. This, Sir, I cannot but consider as a crime of the highest magnitude. The perpetrator of it avails himself of the law to defraud his just creditor. And what is the moment of the completion of his crime? That awful moment when he quits this state of being, to appear in the immediate presence of his Creator? Surely, Sir, a law to prevent so heinous a crime cannot be too soon passed through this House.

“The second case, Sir, is, when a person, intending to make a will and to do justice to his creditors, is snatched away without having an opportunity of carrying his intentions into effect. Perhaps in the midst of health he has postponed this important duty. Perhaps he feels that reluctance, common to some minds to perform what he considers as a last act. Perhaps he perishes by some unforeseen accident, and leaves his estates to be inherited by some distant relation, who seizes upon them, and by refusing to pay the debts of his predecessor, leaves a stigma upon his name, which, if he had supposed that such a circumstance could have taken place, would have been regarded as the greatest calamity that could have befallen him.

“If, however, Sir, there be any gentleman in this House, whose moral taste is so peculiarly formed, as to be gratified with the injustice of the present system, there will still remain sufficient to satisfy him. In the first place, there is the whole class of estates for life, by which a person is enabled to live in high rank and great splendour, so as to obtain considerable credit among his tradesmen, yet at his death his estate passes to the person in remainder, wholly discharged from his debts. There will also still remain all the estates entailed in strict settlement, in which the present possessor either cannot, or will not, defeat the entail, and which pass to the person next in remainder, without being subject to the debts of his predecessor. Neither of these classes will be at all affected by the present bill.

“Nor are the copyhold estates of the country within its operation; and, indeed, I conceive this to have been the strongest objection which was, on a former night, raised against this bill by an honourable and learned member high in the law department. But although I could have wished to have seen copyhold estates included, yet I am satisfied with the reasons alleged, in this respect, by the honourable and learned member who introduced the present bill; hoping that on some future occasion its principle will be extended also to copyhold and customary estates.

“Nor am I deterred from expressing this hope by any apprehension that in these wise, and just, and necessary regulations, we are encroaching on the institutions of our ancestors, or making alterations in the established law of the land.

“Sir, it is the very end and object of our meeting to make such regulations as may from time to time be found necessary, and to vary the law, according to the circumstances of the times and the different situations in which the country is placed. In our present situation the measure now proposed is highly necessary and advisable, and I shall therefore give the bill before the House my most hearty assent.”

The circumstances under which the ministers were deprived of office in the spring of 1807 will not be easily forgotten. In accordance with the principles which they had always professed, and which they were known by the King to entertain, when he submitted to their appointment, they deemed it their duty to bring before parliament a question connected with the Roman Catholic claims. A measure so obnoxious to the prejudices of the King was received by him, not only with decided disapprobation, but with a command that his ministers should give a pledge that they would never in future attempt to bring forward the question. To this command, so unconstitutional in its tendency, they refused to submit, and the administration was immediately dissolved. Frequent and angry debates ensued in the House of Commons; in the course of which the late Mr. Canning threatened the House with a dissolution in the event of a majority against the new ministry. On the 15th of April, the Hon. W. H. Littleton moved a resolution, declaring the regret of the House at the late change in his Majesty’s councils, which afforded Mr. Roscoe an opportunity of expressing his sentiments both upon the question which had given rise to the change, and upon the manner in which that change had been effected. In the course of his speech, he adverted particularly to the conduct of Mr. Canning. “Another striking proof of the disregard paid by the present ministry to the constitution of the country, and to the privileges of this House, may appear in the conduct of the right hon. member, to whom I have before alluded, as filling the office of one of his Majesty’s principal secretaries of state, and who, towards the close of the debate to which I have before referred, thought proper to threaten this House, that if its members did not vote according to the will of the ministry, his Majesty would be advised to appeal to the people, or, in other words, to dissolve his parliament. Sir, I deeply regret, and shall regret to the close of my life, that not a member was found in this House to rise in his place and call upon you, Sir, to interpose your authority, and to stay the proceedings of the House, till it had expressed its resentment at the indignity which was thus offered to it.” In recurring to this subject, as he occasionally did in his after-life, it was always with the strongest expressions of regret that he had not, on the instant, made an attempt to rouse the House to a sense of its privileges, when thus openly threatened by a minister of the crown.

In the course of this speech, he took an opportunity of stating, in a pointed manner, the cruelty of inflicting penalties and disabilities on those who, notwithstanding the injustice to which they were subjected, did not hesitate to range themselves in the ranks of our armies.

“Sir, I remember that when it was urged that the bill, to which I have alluded, would induce the Roman Catholics to enter into our armies and navies, that right honourable and learned gentleman observed, that, in this respect, the bill was useless; for that in spite of the Test Laws the Roman Catholics did enter into our armies and our navies; and that, therefore, we might as well avail ourselves of their services, and still retain the test laws to be used or not as might be found necessary. What, Sir! shall we then distrust those men who offer themselves to shed their blood in our defence, and to die by our sides? And what is this privilege which we are so desirous to retain? And what is the use which, under such circumstances, we could possibly make of it? Why, Sir, it is the privilege of saying to our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, when they return from their service, You have been righting the battles of your king and country; and therefore the law has determined that you for ever be rendered incapable of suing either at law or equity; in short, you shall be put out of the protection of the law, and every one who pleases may plunder you with impunity. It is the privilege of saying, You have been faithful to your trust, and therefore the law has determined that you shall be disqualified from being an executor or administrator, or the guardian of the child of your nearest relation. It is the privilege of saying, You have devoted yourself to a military life, and have returned home in poverty but with honour, and therefore the law has determined that you shall pay a penalty of five hundred pounds. I am ashamed that it should be necessary at this day to answer such ungenerous arguments.”

The last occasion on which Mr. Roscoe addressed the House of Commons was upon Mr. Whitbread’s bill for establishing a plan for the education of the poor; the object of which was to provide a school, at which the children of the poor might be instructed, in every parish. This was the first of a series of measures which the enlightened statesman, from whom it emanated, had it in contemplation to propose, with the view of rescuing the poorer classes of the community from that state of degradation to which the operation of various causes, and more especially the weight of taxation, have reduced them. The basis of all improvement Mr. Whitbread justly regarded as consisting in that intelligence and knowledge of their real interests which education can alone confer, and in this view of the question he was warmly supported by Mr. Roscoe.

In the course of his short parliamentary life, Mr. Roscoe, as a friend of ministers, had considerable experience in that system of patronage which was thought necessary to keep the machine of government in motion. Innumerable applications were made to him, both by those who had claims upon him, and by those who had nothing to urge but their own desire of preferment. The rule which he laid down with regard to these applications he thus states in a confidential letter to one of his friends, whose request carried with it every recommendation which long friendship and sincere esteem could confer:—

“You are right in supposing that the applications from Liverpool for places, &c. are very numerous. I divide them, however, into two classes, viz. first, such as relate to places already vacant, for which the applicant brings good recommendations; and, secondly, such as require generally a good place, a tolerable place, an easy place, a place in the customs, &c. or, in short, any place that may happen to offer. To the first of these I think myself bound to pay attention, and have not hesitated, where I thought the persons proper, to recommend them to his Majesty’s ministers; but in the latter cases it is impossible for me to do any thing, as I could scarcely expect that they would promise me the reversion of a place not yet vacant, but on which some provident expectant might have set his eye. You will therefore see that your friend ——— comes under this latter class, and that I can be of no service to him, for it is impossible for me here to know what places become vacant. If he will take an opportunity, when such an event occurs, to furnish me with proper testimonials, I will do the best I can for him consistently with the merits and pretensions of other candidates that may appear; and this I think is all you would wish me to say on the subject.”

During his residence in London, and before the dissolution of that parliament of which he was a member, Mr. Roscoe was much gratified by being enabled to assist in founding “The African Institution,” a society, the object of which was the civilisation and improvement of the natives of Africa. The first meeting, which was a highly respectable one, was held at the Freemasons’ Hall, and the Duke of Gloucester, whose zeal on behalf of the enslaved Africans has reflected the highest credit on his character, took the chair. Mr. Roscoe, having been requested by Mr. W. Smith and Mr. Robert Thornton to address the meeting and to propose its thanks to Mr. Wilberforce, did so in a short speech; which he closed by observing, “That as this was the first public meeting held by the friends of the abolition after their great measure had been accomplished, he trusted it would not be passed over without marking the deep sense which they entertained of the pre-eminent services of him who had laboured so successfully in their cause. Not that even this approbation, however grateful it might be, was necessary to him,—that his reward was not to be found in the applause of that meeting,—not in the admiration of the whole country, but in the conscious rectitude of his own conduct, and in the approbation of his God.” On the passing of the resolution, Mr. Wilberforce rose and ob-served, that however he might be gratified by the honour which was done to him, it was rendered much more estimable in his opinion by the quarter from which it came. That when he considered that the person who had thus seconded the motion had resided all his life in the very midst of a place which had been particularly distinguished by the share which it had taken in the African slave trade; and that, by his own strength of mind, he had risen above all the prejudices that surrounded him, and opposed himself with firmness to so great an abuse; when he considered that he had not only done this, but that he had also obtained the favourable opinion of his townsmen in so eminent a degree, as to be returned their representative in parliament, in a manner equally honourable to him and to themselves, he did, indeed, consider this as a great triumph.

Mr. Roscoe having been appointed one of the committee, took an active and zealous part in preparing the laws of the Institution, and in bringing it into operation. For many years he continued to manifest an interest in its success, and corresponded at considerable length with the Duke of Gloucester on the subject.

Thus terminated Mr. Roscoe’s short parliamentary career, before he had become well accustomed even to the forms of the House, or had acquired that confidence in his own powers which is so essential to render a man distinguished in public life. He had acted the part of an independent member of parliament, and though from principle a strenuous supporter of the government, he never enrolled himself amongst the followers of the minister. Upon all questions of importance he formed his own conclusions, on which he invariably acted with firmness and decision. His natural turn of mind rendered any thing like intrigue, or even partisanship, distasteful to him, and he was therefore probably regarded as a person not altogether qualified to be admitted into the mysteries of ministerial arrangements. His station, as one of the representatives of the second commercial town in the empire, gave him considerable weight, which was not lessened by his personal character; and had he remained in the House, it is probable that he would have rendered himself extensively useful. He had the good fortune while there to acquire the friendship of several very excellent and distinguished persons, and amongst others, of Sir Samuel Romilly and Mr. Whitbread, with whom, after his retirement from parliament, he continued occasionally to correspond.

The inconvenience and anxiety that he had experienced during the short period of his public life did not induce him to shun a renewal of the same duties. As the dissolution of parliament approached, he expressed his resolution to his friend Mr. Rathbone in these terms:—“What line I am to take in this case, or what will be the wishes of my friends, I shall not anticipate. All I know and feel is, that I will not desert them as long as they think I can render any services, either to them or to the country. I do not,” he added, “augur much opposition from my conduct on the slave trade, as my opinions on it were well known; and I do not yet think so ill of the world as to suppose that an adherence to one’s own principles can be made a very substantial cause of reproach.”

Unfortunately, in this supposition, Mr. Roscoe was mistaken. The part taken by him on the question of the slave trade, and the triumphant passing of the bill for the abolition of that traffic, had excited a strong feeling against him amongst the lower classes in Liverpool. In that town, as in other parts of the empire, the “No Popery” cry had been renewed; and the speech of Mr. Roscoe in favour of the Catholics was made use of, in order to excite against him the odium of the populace. The dismissal of the ministry also was not without its effects on the minds of many, while the short period, which had elapsed since the former contest, might be expected to create a degree of unwillingness on the part of his supporters, so soon again to incur the labour and expense which a contested election in Li-verpool has always occasioned. Of these circumstances his adversaries eagerly took advantage. The cry that the trade of the port had been ruined was raised: every artifice to render him obnoxious to the electors was resorted to; and preparations were made to convert the spectacle of his return into a scene of tumult and bloodshed.

Mr. Roscoe made his public entry into Liverpool in the month of May. A numerous body of his friends, mounted and on foot, met him at the outskirts of the town. They had not, however, proceeded far on their return when it became evident that their progress to Mr. Roscoe’s bank, from the windows of which it was intended that he should address the people, would be opposed. Strong parties of seamen, chiefly consisting of the crews of vessels lately engaged in the African trade, armed with bludgeons and other weapons, were disposed along the streets to obstruct the passage of the procession; and when it reached Castle Street, the principal street of the town, a scene of the greatest tumult and riot prevailed. At length the number and resolution of Mr. Roscoe’s friends enabled them to force a passage through their adversaries, but not without many personal injuries to both parties. The horse on which Mr. Williams, a magistrate of the county, and a warm friend of Mr. Roscoe, was mounted, was stabbed in the body with a knife; and the most fatal consequences might have ensued, had not great forbearance been displayed towards the assailants. On reaching the bank, Mr. Roscoe attempted to address the crowds collected beneath the windows, but the tumult was renewed, and he was compelled to desist. Fortunately, the day passed off without further violence.

It now became necessary for Mr. Roscoe to decide upon the course which, under circumstances like these, it was his duty to adopt. While some of his friends strongly urged him to disregard the attempt to drive him from the contest by threats and by violence, to which they did not doubt their ability to offer a successful resistance, others expressed the most serious apprehensions as to the result. The great body of the electors, it was represented to him, were still favourably disposed towards him; and though it could not be denied that his popularity had, in some degree, suffered by his vote on the slave trade, yet his parliamentary conduct had entitled him to the continued confidence and exertions of his friends. These topics, though strongly pressed on the mind of Mr. Roscoe, failed to produce the effect which those who urged them desired. He saw, in the exasperation displayed upon his entrance, a determination to decide the contest by tumult and by violence; and he did not find it consistent, either with his feelings or with his principles, to take any part in transactions which must, in all probability, have terminated in bloodshed. At the same time, it is not improbable that motives of a different kind, the weight of which he himself could scarcely estimate, had their influence over him. After some experience of political life, he had found it distasteful to him, and he earnestly longed to be relieved from a burden which he had been unaccustomed to bear,—a burden rendered still weightier by the reflection that it interfered with the performance of those private duties, upon which his own happiness and that of those around him depended. An opportunity now offered itself of retiring with honour from a contest, into which his sense of duty, rather than his inclinations, had led him to enter; and it is not surprising that, under such circumstances, he should have declined to act upon the advice which many of his friends so earnestly tendered.

His determination was conveyed to the public in the following address; in which he both enters into an explanation of his parliamentary conduct, and details the motives which induced him to retire from a second contest.

“To the Independent Freemen of Liverpool.

“Gentlemen,

“After the many proofs of attachment and confidence with which you have honoured me, and which will ever be remembered by me with the warmest gratitude, it is with sincere regret that I announce to you my determination to withdraw myself as a candidate at the approaching election.

“Called upon as I was by you on a former occasion, I laid aside all considerations of private interest and personal convenience, and cheerfully obeyed your summons. From that time I have devoted myself to your service by a diligent performance of my duty in Parliament, and have uniformly maintained those principles and opinions which first recommended me to your choice. To the best of my power I have asserted the cause of justice, of humanity, of toleration, and of true constitutional British freedom; and amidst the changes which I have witnessed around me, I have certainly remained and now return unchanged.

“Short as the duration of that parliament has been, its proceedings will always be recorded, in the annals of this country, with peculiar honour. During that period, I have had the satisfaction of giving my humble but disinterested support to men who, from their rank, their property, and their independence, could have no object in view but to promote the permanent interests and prosperity of the country; and of adding my public sanction to measures of the greatest national benefit and importance. Of these measures, some were carried into complete effect, and others were only frustrated by the premature dissolution of parliament, which his Majesty’s ministers thought it expedient to advise. A system of finance was proposed and matured, which surprised and gratified the country, by demonstrating, that no new taxes were necessary, and which regulated the public revenue and expenditure for a long series of years. The great principles of justice and humanity were asserted by the abolition of the African slave trade. A committee was appointed to examine into the abuses of excessive salaries and peculations in office, which had discovered frauds in public functionaries to a considerable amount A bill was introduced, which was intended to add to our national security at this dangerous crisis, by uniting his Majesty’s subjects of all religious persuasions in the common defence of the country. To these great measures of public benefit I must be allowed to add the bills introduced by an enlightened member of the House of Commons, for improving the condition, raising the character, and providing for the education of those lower classes of the community, on which the strength and prosperity of a nation so essentially depend, and which, carried into effect, would ere long have alleviated those enormous parish rates which have of late increased with such alarming rapidity. To have had a share in these deliberations will ever be remembered by me as the chief pride of my life.

“No sooner was the dissolution of this parliament known than I announced to you my intention of offering myself again to your choice. But on my arrival in Liverpool I found that the same arts of ministerial misrepresentation, which had been so industriously employed in other places to mislead the public mind, and had induced so many persons of independent character to relinquish their pretensions to a seat in parliament, had not been without their effect there also. To this more general prejudice was added a particular disapprobation, in some few individuals, of the part I had taken on the abolition of the slave trade. On these and other points it was my most earnest desire to have addressed myself to you. After having been met on my approach, and accompanied into the town by such a concourse of the most respectable inhabitants as was perhaps never before witnessed, except on the memorable occasion in November last, I made several attempts to obtain a hearing, and to perform what I consider a sacred and indispensable duty, by rendering an account of my conduct to my constituents. But, to the disgrace of themselves and their employers, persons evidently stationed for the purpose prevented me, by their clamours, from all possibility of addressing my friends. Prepared for outrage, they suddenly attacked the large and respectable body of freemen by whom I was surrounded. Without the least restraint from the police of the town, many of my friends were grossly insulted, and some of them much wounded. Persons, whose peculiar province it was to have repressed such outrages, were observed actively employed in promoting them. An officer of the highest reputation and independence of character, to whom the town of Liverpool is under particular obligations, and who had honoured me by his presence, was insolently attacked, and his horse stabbed with a knife. Happily for the peace and character of the town the feelings of resentment, thus wantonly and arrogantly excited, were suppressed by the consideration of the dreadful consequences which must have ensued, had my friends indulged themselves in that retaliation which was decidedly in their power. The example of firmness and moderation which they at this moment evinced confers on them the highest honour.

“Under these circumstances, and wholly hopeless, in the present situation of public affairs, of rendering those services to my constituents or to my country, which could alone justify me in entering upon a contest, I have finally resolved not to afford, by my further perseverance, a pretext for those excesses, which, from what has already occurred, there is but too much reason to apprehend would be experienced in the course of the election. What will be the character of a parliament chosen under such auspices I shall not pretend to determine; but if the representation of Liverpool can only be obtained by violence and bloodshed, I leave the honour of it to those who choose to contend for it, nor will I accept even that distinction, accompanied by reflections which must embitter every future moment of my life.

“I have the honour to be, “With the greatest gratitude and respect, “Gentlemen, “Your most obliged and most faithful Servant, (Signed) “William Roscoe. “Allerton Hall, May 5. 1807.”

On the appearance of this address, a numerous meeting of Mr. Roscoe’s friends was held, and the following letter was transmitted to him, expressive of their feelings on the occasion:—

“Sir,

“It is with heartfelt concern that we have read your address, announcing your intention to withdraw yourself as a candidate for the representation of Liverpool.

“Impressed with a high respect for your talents and your virtues, confident in your abilities, and still more so in your integrity, we invited you, the last autumn, to offer yourself as a competitor for that honour. At the expense of considerable sacrifices you complied with our invitation. Our joint efforts were crowned with the most brilliant success, and.you took your seat as one of our representatives in the great council of the nation.

“It is with pleasure that we discharge an incumbent duty in assuring you, that your conduct in that assembly meets “with our entire approbation. In most of the particulars of that conduct you expressed our unanimous sentiments, and in whatever cases any of us might differ from you in opinion, we paid cheerful deference to the purity of your motives. It was never our object to send into parliament a party agent, or an instrument of faction. Our honest ambition was, and is, to be represented by a man of undeviating honour, who would uniformly act according to the dictates of his conscience.

“Regarding you, Sir, as such a man, we have cherished an earnest desire that you should again yield your services to the independent burgesses of Liverpool, under the full persuasion that you retain the affectionate esteem of a great majority of your late constituents. We were not, indeed, insensible of the effects which had been produced by the misrepresentations of your opponents. But we were assured that a simple explanation on your part would have convinced those who have been deluded by groundless clamour, that an enlargement of the royal prerogative entrenches not on the privileges of the sovereign; that your political friends, who comprise almost the whole body of the ancient nobility and gentry of the realm, can have no interest separate from the welfare of their country; that the enabling his Majesty to permit such of his Catholic subjects as he may think deserving of trust, to fight his battles, cannot possibly endanger the church establishment; and that the contest which now convulses the kingdom is not a struggle between the throne and a faction, but between honesty and peculation, between integrity and corruption.

“We are the more persuaded that these truths would have been brought home to the general feelings, from the unexampled attendance with which you were honoured on your arrival in Liverpool on Saturday last. As to the outrages which took place on that day, be assured we reflect upon them with mingled sensations of indignation and contempt. And we are confident that could you have been persuaded to authorise our firm but peaceable exertions in your favour, we should soon have demonstrated that the sense of the town is not to be ascertained by the chalk or the pen of the incendiary, nor its spirit by the clamour and violence of intoxicated ruffians.

“As, however, you have declined to accept our services, however cheerfully proffered, we pay reluctant deference to your decision, expresssing our warmest wishes for your health and comfort in your retirement, and assuring you that the concern which we cannot but feel on this occasion is much lessened by the prospect of your again residing amongst us, and gratifying us by the attentions of private friendship. “Signed on behalf of a most numerous and respectable meeting of Mr. Roscoe’s friends,

“Thomas Rawson.”

From many quarters Mr. Roscoe received communications expressive of the strong regret which the late occurrences at Liverpool had occasioned. “I am seized alternately with stupor and indignation,” says Dr. Parr, in a letter written at this time, “at the state of public affairs. Do not suppose that I am a tame or careless observer of the strange and disgraceful events which have occurred at Liverpool. Disdain, I beseech you, to repel any accusations. All wise and all virtuous men will deplore your removal from parliament, and will detest or despise the artifices of your opponents. Reading, reflection, the society of wise men, and the conscious rectitude of your own intentions, will preserve you and me from the perturbation and dismay which other men may experience in these strange and eventful times. The yell of ‘No Popery’ has been heard even at Cambridge: the effects of it were visible in the late election; and on the walls of our senate house, of Clare Hall chapel, and of Trinity Hall, I saw the odious words in large characters. The good sense of the country will not speedily return. There is a great and portentous change in the public mind, and you and I are at a loss to assign the cause, or to predict the consequences. So it is, that, amidst the fury of the tempest, and the wreck of our fairest hopes, I feel myself sustained and animated by the reflection that you, and those who supported you, deserved a better fate.”

The resignation of Mr. Roscoe did not prevent the freemen of Liverpool from attempting to assert their own cause. A number of the electors, without any communication either with him or his late committee, met together for the purpose of considering the best means of securing his re-election. A subscription was set on foot, and instead of receiving bribes, the poorer voters cheerfully contributed their half crowns or half guineas to the expenses of the contest. About one hundred pounds having been raised in this manner amongst the common freemen, a number of gentlemen stepped forwards and offered their exertions in the same cause; still without the sanction of Mr. Roscoe or his immediate friends. On the day of election he was nominated as a candidate, and the contest was kept up for seven days, when it terminated in favour of Generals Gascoigne and Tarleton by a large majority.

An effort so zealous and disinterested called for the acknowledgments of Mr. Roscoe; which were accordingly expressed immediately after the conclusion of the election, in an Address, of which the following is the termination:—

“In taking my leave of you in a public character, and returning to the avocations of private life, I feel consolations of which no change, either in the opinions or the conduct of others, can ever deprive me. I have faithfully discharged, to the best of my abilities, the trust reposed in me; not by sacrificing my principles to my popularity, but by consulting the true honour and character, and, let me add, the real and permanent interests of the town of Liverpool, as well as of the empire at large. In the great questions that have of late agitated the country, I have taken that part to which I have been induced by an unalterable attachment to my king, a strict regard to the dignity and security of his crown, and a firm adherence to the genuine principles of the British constitution; and I have contributed my humble efforts towards promoting that affection, attachment, and brotherly union, amongst his Majesty’s subjects of all religious denominations, which are now become indispensably necessary, as well to the internal tranquillity as to the general defence of these realms.

“With these reflections I could easily have consoled myself under much greater changes of popular favour than any that I have ever experienced. But your unsolicited patronage has removed all impressions of the kind; and I retire with the additional satisfaction of knowing that my public conduct, during the short but eventful period in which I have been your representative, has obtained the approbation of a great and respectable body of my constituents, and has preserved to me undiminished those connections of private attachment and friendship, which have hitherto been the chief honour and happiness of my life.”

Great regret was expressed by the political friends of Mr. Roscoe, when his resolution to retire from public life became known. How highly his services were valued, and how much the loss of them was felt, will appear from the following extract from a letter addressed to him on this occasion by Lord Holland:—“Among the many mortifications to which an interest in political events exposes one, there is none greater than the success which a senseless cry sometimes insures over tried worth and a steady attachment to the cause of the people. Representative governments and popular elections being the best devices which human wisdom has contrived for the security of liberty, and the preservation of its spirit among the people, it disgusts one’s feelings, and humiliates one’s pride, to see them rendered the instruments of bigotry and prejudice; and to find the enemies of liberty triumphant in the very sanctuaries instituted for her protection. The instances of such a perversion of our best institutions have not been so numerous on this occasion as the fomentors of the cry expected that they would be; but, I assure you, your rejection at Liverpool is considered by us all as one of the greatest disgraces to the country, as well as misfortunes to the party, that could have happened.”

Of the line of conduct pursued by him on this occasion Mr. Roscoe never repented, firmly persuaded that it had prevented the occurrence of evils which his return to parliament could never have counterbalanced. In a letter to the Duke of Gloucester, written immediately after the publication of his address, he says, “At a time like the present, it was not without great reluctance that I withdrew myself as a candidate; but the more I reflect upon it, the more reason I have to be satisfied with my determination; for the violence of my opponents and their friends, and the prejudices of the town, are such, that I am persuaded my further interference must have produced the most unhappy consequences.”

How joyfully his mind reverted, from the cares and tumults of public life, to the calm pleasures of a private station, may be best learned from his own words. In a letter to Dr. J. E. Smith, written in the summer of 1807, he says, “I have for some time past rejoiced in the thought that I am likely to see you in Lancashire in the course of the present summer. I already anticipate the happiness I shall have in your society at Allerton, where I must at least claim some portion of your time, and where I shall be delighted to stroll and saunter with you through the fields in an evening, instead of being locked up, balloting for committees, in St. Stephen’s. In truth, my dear friend, it requires but little of the efforts of others to drive me from public life. The only wonder is, that I was ever brought into it; and I sink back with such a rapidity of gravitation into my natural inclination for quiet and retirement, that I totally despair of ever being roused again to a similar exertion. Add to this, that the one great object which was continually before my eyes is now attained, and I shall have the perpetual gratification of thinking that I gave my vote in the assembly of the nation for abolishing the slave trade to Africa. Though not insensible to the state of the country, yet I see no question of equal magnitude; and am fully aware how little my efforts could avail in the political struggles of the times. Come then, my friend, and let us again open the book of nature, and wander through the fields of science. Your presence will increase my reviving relish for botanical pursuits; and when we are tired with those subjects, we will call in the aid of the poets and philosophers to vary our entertainments.”

“After all the agitation and anxiety of mind,” says Dr. J. E. Smith in reply, “which I have felt for some weeks past on your account, how delightful it is to find, by your most welcome and interesting letter of the 25th of June, that you still possess yourself in undisturbed tranquillity; not like a reed that has bent before the storm, but like a palm-tree, around whose polished and upright stem the winds have whistled, without ruffling the lofty honours of its head! Such a plant can no more be nursed in St. Stephen’s chapel; than the Norfolk Island pine, 250 feet high, in any of our stoves. You are now in your proper element; and very long may you continue so! The world is not worthy of you, ‘nor the world’s law.’

“The line of conduct you have pursued secures you from regret; and I trust you will soon look back on all that is past, with no less satisfaction, on every account, than self-approbation. I wished it rather for your triumph than your happiness; and really triumphs of any kind are worth but little:—‘One self-approving hour,’ &c., you know the rest; and that a good man has, independent of triumphs founded on the accidental justice of the world.”

Soon after his retirement from Parliament, Mr. Roscoe was gratified by receiving, in the following letter from the Earl of Derby, the Lord Lieutenant of the county of Lancaster, an expression of his Lordship’s wish that he would suffer himself to be appointed one of the Deputy Lieutenants of the county:—

“Dear Sir,

“I have lately been applied to and desired to appoint some gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Liverpool to be Deputy Lieutenants of this county. I think I cannot in a better manner comply with this request than by applying to you, and desiring your permission to propose you to his Majesty to fill this office. If I obtain it, I assure you I shall have great pride and pleasure in laying such a name before his Majesty, with the recommendation of,

“Dear Sir, “Your obliged and faithful humble servant, “Derby.”

To this communication Mr. Roscoe returned the following answer:—

“My Lord,

“I should have esteemed it a very great honour to have been recommended by your Lordship to his Majesty as a Deputy Lieutenant of the county, had I not been one of those, whom the operation of the test laws excludes from all offices of trust under government. I well know that if others thought with the same liberality as your Lordship, these disabilities would be removed; but whilst they remain, I think it better that those affected by them should implicitly submit to them, rather than by an occasional conformity to, or an open disregard of them, invalidate the reasons for their repeal.

“With the deepest sense of this mark of your Lordship’s confidence, I remain,

“My Lord, “Your Lordship’s most obliged “And most faithful servant, “W. Roscoe.”

CHAPTER X. 1808. Mr. Roscoe’s Tracts on the War.—Publication of the “Considerations on the Causes, &c. of the War with France.”—Character of Mr. Pitt in that pamphlet.—The attach upon Copenhagen.—Poem of “Copenhagen.”—Letter to Mr. Wilberforce.—Success of the pamphlet.—Letter from Mr. Whitbread.—Letter to Mr. Wilberforce.—Impression made by the pamphlet.—Publication of “Remarks on the Proposals for Peace,” &c.—Letter from Mr. Rathbone.—The pamphlet submitted to Mr. Whitbread—letter from him, and reply.—Mr. Roscoe’s defence against his critics.—Letter to Professor Smyth.—Opinions on the pamphlet.—Letter from Mr. J. Graham.—Letters to the Marquis of Lansdowne and to Mr. Whitbread.—Some of his political friends differ from Mr. Roscoe on the subject of peace—he proposes and carries a pacific address at a public meeting at Liverpool.—Letter to Mr. Mathias. CHAPTER X.

Although no longer actively engaged in the duties of public life, Mr. Roscoe was not insensible to the prospects of the country and to the progress of political affairs. He saw, with sorrow and dismay, that the spirit of hostility, which had given rise to a war almost unexampled in the expenditure of blood and of treasure, still continued to actuate the councils of the English government, and he was impelled, by a sense of the injustice of this protracted contest, and of the dangers which the country incurred by its continuance, to exert whatever influence he possessed, in directing the public mind to more pacific views. From the commencement of the French war in the year 1793 he had, on various occasions, earnestly advocated the cause of peace. In his “Thoughts on the Causes of the late Failures*,” he had denounced the war as the origin of the evils under which the country was suffering; and in the year 1802

* Vide ante, p. 125.

he again exerted himself in the same cause, by the publication of a short pamphlet under the title of “Observations on the relative Situation of Great Britain and France.”* He now made another attempt to enforce these opinions, in a pamphlet, to which he gave the title of “Considerations on the Causes, Objects, and Consequences of the present War, and on the Expediency or the Danger of Peace with France.”†

Now that Europe has long returned to a state of peace, and that this country has had an opportunity, which she never enjoyed while the contest continued, of weighing the effects of the long and sanguinary struggle in which she engaged, it is unnecessary to recur to the arguments with which Mr. Roscoe enforced his opinions. The result has shown, but too forcibly, the correctness and the foresight of his judgment; and the peace which arrived at last, induced not so much by the wisdom of our own councils or the vigour of our own arms, as by the mad ambition of our enemies, reached us only just in time to rescue the country from destruction. Not one of the objects of those with whom the war originated has been accomplished. The French nation have once more expelled from amongst them those whose fatal

* Reprinted in the “Occasional Tracts on the War.” 1810.

† Reprinted in the Tracts on the War.

maxims of government were the occasion of the Revolution, and have, undisturbed by foreign interference, freely chosen for themselves their own rulers; while, in this country, the principles of freedom and reform, which it was the unceasing endeavour of the war-party to crush, have attained a complete, and, it may be hoped, a lasting triumph. The only effect of the long and bloody contest has been to burden the country with a debt, the weight of which, even now, impoverishes her industrious population, oppresses her best energies, and still threatens her with destruction.

Though the subjects which form the topics of this pamphlet have partially lost their interest, yet the following passage, containing a character of Mr. Pitt, may not improperly be extracted:—

“With the battle of Austerlitz the confederation against France terminated, and with that terminated also the political career and the life of Mr. Pitt—a statesman to whom it would be unjust to deny the endowments of extraordinary talents, and the praise of having improved those talents in some departments, to a most uncommon degree. But these accomplishments, which ought to have rendered him a benefactor to his country, were unfortunately subservient to one predominating passion, which not only counteracted their good effects, but converted them into implements of danger and destruction. This passion he inherited from his father, who cherished it in the early years of his son, and directed his infant gaze towards that eminent station which he had himself once occupied. In his education nothing was left undone, that could qualify him to attain this object; and no one certainly entered into public life with equal advantages. There is, however, an essential difference between those qualities which are calculated to obtain power, and those which enable us to make a proper use of it. Unfortunately, the system of education of Mr. Pitt was, in politics, that which Lord Chesterfield’s is in private life. It was founded on too narrow a basis, and aimed too directly at its object. A cultivated mind and a humane disposition will render their possessor truly polite; sound principles and a real love of mankind, truly patriotic; but without these, neither the politeness nor the patriotism is any thing more than a whited sepulchre. The system was, however, successful: the young orator began his career in a manner the best calculated to display his powers. As he spoke, the hopes of freedom revived; corruption shrank before his glance, and the nation hailed him as her deliverer; but no sooner was the prize within his grasp, than he seized it with an eagerness, and retained it with a tenacity, which all the efforts of his opponents could neither impede nor relax. Having thus obtained the supreme power, the talents which had acquired it were employed with equal success to preserve it. The correction of abuses, the removal of peculation and corruption, the reform of the representation, the extension of religious and civil liberty, were now no longer the objects in view; or were only recalled at stated periods, to show how the minister could blast his promise without breaking his faith. Well schooled in all the routine and arcana of office, an adept in the science of finance and taxation, Mr. Pitt’s great accomplishment was a thorough knowledge of the artificial and complex machine of government, and his great defect, a total insensibility to the feelings of mankind, and a thorough ignorance of the leading principles of human nature. Unfortunately for his fame and for his country, new situations arose, to which the hackneyed rules of a narrow policy were totally inapplicable. A powerful nation, whose slavery had for ages been its reproach, threw off its shackles, and attempted to form for itself a limited monarchy. It was Mr. Pitt’s first misfortune to be insensible to the grandeur of so glorious a struggle, his second to miscalculate its consequences. The first act of France was to hold out her emancipated hands to the free states of England and America; but the coldness of the minister soon convinced her that in this country she was not to expect a friend. That coldness soon degenerated into enmity and abhorrence, and through every change of circumstance and situation, through all the evolutions and forms of her government, whether monarchical, republican, aristocratical, or despotic, she found in him a decided and an inflexible enemy. With what success his hostility has been attended impartial history will show.”

The attack upon Denmark, a neutral state, not with the view of preventing a possible junction with France, but for the purpose of forestalling that nation in an act of unexampled atrocity, is one of the subjects commented upon in the “Considerations,” and denounced with all the energies of the writer’s mind. Upon the justification of “the cruel necessity which obliged the British sovereign to have recourse to acts of hostility against a nation, with which it was his most earnest desire to have established the relations of common interest and alliance,” Mr. Roscoe observes; “This passage contains the complete avowal of the principle upon which the British ministry acted. It presumes, not only that the laws of morality and justice, and the rules of good faith which attach one individual or one nation to another, may be dispensed with from temporary motives, but that either of the parties has a right to judge of such motives, and to disregard those rules whenever he may think proper. That this doctrine cannot be supported must be apparent to every one, from the slightest observation of the consequences to which it must lead. At no period of society have mankind been so lost to the dignity of their nature and the interests of their association as to avow it. Even states and sovereigns at war, under circumstances of the utmost exasperation, have rejected it with horror; and it may truly be said, that the establishment of such a maxim, even between belligerent powers, is all that is now wanting to complete the downfal of Europe, and destroy the hopes of mankind. Jealousy, hatred, assassination, poison, treachery, cruelty, and revenge are its instruments, to be indiscriminately employed as necessity requires, and upon these grounds every crime and every atrocity may be equally justified.”

The feelings of Mr. Roscoe, when highly excited, were often poured out in verse; and the sanguinary act which he thus reprobated in his pamphlet, became the subject of the following short poem.

COPENHAGEN. —“Shroud me, shroud me, shades of night, Save me from the blasting sight!’— Thus by Murder’s screams awoke, Britain’s troubled Genius spoke, Whilst beneath the northern star Gleam’d the purple cloud of war.— —Echoing thro’ the midnight skies, Shrieks of fear and anguish rise, As the battle’s furious rage Spares nor infancy nor age— —“Stay,” she cries, “ye ruthless bands, Stay your fratricidal hands— If your breasts with vengeance glow, Drive its fury on the foe— But the wise, the just, the brave, Britain’s glory is to save.” Hark! the war-shouts louder swell; Hark! the victor’s tiger yell. —Now the work of death is o’er, Suffering Nature bears no more; O’er the city’s sea-girt steeps Desolation sits and weeps; There the mother, wandering wild, Asks the stranger for her child, And sacrilegious feet have trod O’er the prostrate fanes of God. Wretches! who, in evil hour, Seized the trident of my power, For whose guilt no time atones, Murderers! whom my soul disowns, Authors of your country’s shame, Recreants to a Briton’s name; What could prompt your furious rage Thus the war with Heaven to wage, In its decrees refuse to trust, And boldly dare to be unjust?— Say, can you pierce with steady eye The folds of dark Futurity, Control the stubborn course of Fate, That good from ill may emanate, That thus you raise, by fear unaw’d, Your impious hands against your God? —Supreme Creator! he with ease Can smooth the waves and bridge the seas, Can raise the feeble and forlorn, And dash the pride of man to scorn. Earth trembles at his mighty stroke, At his touch the mountains smoke, And changing at his powerful call, Successive nations rise and fall. Wretches! for whose dark misdeeds. Thus my soul in anguish bleeds, By unprecedented crimes, The reproach of future times; Know, not long your impious sway Thus shall blot the face of day. —Rising from its native steep, Soon th’ indignant storm shall sweep, That shall whelm, in dire disgrace, You and all your blood-stained race. —Then once more in Britain’s isle, Suns of brighter glow shall smile, And the white-robed lustral band From pollution cleanse the land; Then again shall Britain’s name Emulate her former fame, And her arm be stretch’d to save The just, the generous, and the brave!

On the subject of the attack upon Copenhagen, Mr. Roscoe had the misfortune to find his opinions at variance with those of some of the political friends with whom he had been accustomed to act,—a circumstance which he deeply regretted, not so much because it placed him in opposition to those whom he loved and respected, as because he was deprived of their assistance in the maintenance of the principles he had so much at heart. In a letter to Mr. Wilberforce, he has expressed this feeling in strong language. * * * “What is it that has preserved the human race from utter degradation and ruin, but the assertion from time to time of these sacred principles of morality and justice, which are daily and hourly in danger of being lost amongst the violence and the wrath, the prejudices and the passions of mankind? When these principles are combated and denied, the lines of demarcation are drawn between the opposing parties, and the last stand must be made for the preservation of that which is dearer than life. With an ardent spirit, but a feeble hand, I have plunged into the contest, and I naturally look round to those, who have on other occasions shown themselves the firm and fearless friends of truth, of liberty, and of the best interests of mankind, for their countenance and support; or rather for their better and more effectual efforts to release me from a task to which I am unequal. Must I add, that I look with fear, and anxiety, and dread! That even in the small circle, in which I once had the pleasure and the honour of deliberating with you, for the benefit of a distant people and of future times, I am to reflect with sorrow, that there are some with whom I must now differ on one of the most important questions that ever came before a nation?

“I have not the presumption to arrogate to myself a superior delicacy of feeling on such a subject; far less would I assume the airs of a rhetorical moralist, carrying his ideas to an extreme inconsistent with the nature of human affairs; but, if ever there was a crime that bore upon its forehead its very name in burning characters, and which posterity will regard with peculiar horror, it is that which perpetrated the enormities at Copenhagen. Nor will it long escape notice, that this transaction was, if possible, still more impolitic than it was unjust.”

To another of his political friends who had justified the conduct of the British Government in this transaction, he wrote in language of almost indignant sorrow:—

“I certainly had flattered myself, that if there was a man in the kingdom, in whose sight the opinions avowed in my late publication would have found favour, it was yourself, and I may truly add that if there was any part of it, which I thought more likely than the rest to obtain this honour, it was that which related to the attack upon Denmark.

“I know of no circumstance that could have damped my hopes and depressed my feelings so much as to find that this is not the case; and I naturally ask myself what is to be expected from others, when those, on whose countenance and support I chiefly reckoned, in the humble attempt I had made to inform the judgment of the public, see this great object in a totally different point of view.”—“But, independently of the particular nature and horrid consequences of this transaction, I must avow my decided opinion, that if the maxims and principles upon which such a transaction can alone be justified, be once established, there is an end of every thing that is sacred, just, and honourable amongst mankind. Treaties are no longer of any avail, and fraud and force will henceforth contend for mastery with each other. If such a pretext as that for the attack on Copenhagen be a sufficient justification, I will forfeit my head if there ever be one wanting to the end of time, for the greatest atrocity that the human imagination can devise. What is the final and essential cause of all the despotism on earth, but the tyrant’s apprehension that if he does not cut off and destroy those around him, some danger, immediate or remote, may be apprehended to himself, and, therefore, his self-preservation, or what is called necessity, compels him to have recourse to bloody and destructive measures. When I reflect that fear has no limits, and that cruelty derives new fierceness from gratification, when I am told that the maxims of Bonaparte are henceforth to become the maxims of Great Britain, I tremble for the independence and the fate of what yet remains of Europe; and see no repose for mankind till they are absorbed in that dreadful gulf of universal dominion, or rather of universal subjugation, towards which we are so rapidly tending.”

The success of the “Considerations” far exceeded the expectations of the author. The pamphlet, which was published in January, at the commencement of February had reached its fourth edition; and in the course of the year, eight large impressions of it were demanded by the public. Like every successful political work, it attracted various replies; one of which appeared at Liverpool, another in Edinburgh, and a third in London. Mr. Cobbett also devoted three letters in his “Register” to the consideration of its merits. But the idea that he had contributed in any degree to forward the cause of peace, was a full compensation to Mr. Roscoe for the obloquy and abuse with which his writings were received by his adversaries. “It cannot,” he says in a letter to one of his correspondents, “have escaped your penetration how open my pamphlet is, from the nature of the subjects there discussed, to misrepresentations of various kinds, which I have not thought proper to guard against, as is the fashion of the times, by obtrusive professions of loyalty or continual abuse of our enemies. Having never, either in word, thought, or action, given ground for such imputations as some of my critics have, I find, thrown out against me, I should feel it a humiliation to vindicate that loyalty to my So-vereign, and attachment to my country, which no one has just grounds to impeach; and shall leave it to the public to judge between me and my assailants, without further answer.” By many of his political friends he had the pleasure of finding his work spoken of in terms of warm admiration; and the following letter from Mr. Whitbread, who, like himself, had the subject of peace “nearest to his heart,” and whose labours in parliament were at this time especially directed to the same object, afforded Mr. Roscoe the highest satisfaction:—

“I was highly gratified by the attention you were so good as to show me in ordering a copy of your pamphlet to be sent to me, as every testimony of your regard and approbation is of the highest value in my estimation. I read the work with the avidity which my knowledge of the merits of the author in every way was so well calculated to excite, as well as the subject which he had treated, which of all others is the nearest to my heart. You may believe me, when I assure you that (exclusive of the note which is so peculiarly pleasant to me personally, and for which I sincerely thank you) my expectations, however highly raised, were perfectly satisfied, and that I esteem the production worthy of your fame and of the great work respecting which you have written. The positions you have taken are impregnable; the truths you have told are incon-trovertible: and if anything can give them their due weight in these disastrous times of fright and delusion, it will be the temperate and conciliating manner in which you have stated them. The public of these kingdoms and the world are greatly indebted to you for your labours; would I could hope the English public would allow the rest of mankind to profit by them.

“You will have perceived that I gave notice some days since of my intention of submitting to the House a direct proposition on the subject of peace. I delay it for the purpose of seeing whether any further step will be taken by the French Emperor in consequence of the foolish and insolent refusal of his overtures, and because I think, for some parliamentary reasons, it may be brought forward with greater effect a short time hence. You have given me powerful assistance. I wish you were amongst us, that I might derive further aid from your exertions in the House; and in that wish I am sure I am joined by all who value independence, ability, and integrity. You avowed your opinion of the propriety of my conduct, at a time when I felt myself impelled to act by motives too powerful for restraint. Many who then joined in the attempt to restrain me, now give me the late satisfaction of knowing that they agreed with me in opinion at the time. I thank them for their frankness, and it gives me additional courage to proceed.”

In the course of his speech on bringing forwards his promised motion, Mr. Whitbread took the opportunity of referring to the unceasing labours of Mr. Roscoe in the same cause, a circumstance most pleasing to the feelings of the latter, “As to myself,” he says, in a letter to Mrs. Rathbone, “I will confess to you I am gratified beyond the extent of my hopes by the circumstance which occurred in the House on Thursday night. To be mentioned with approbation by such a man, and on such an occasion, when the eloquence of the tongue was prompted by the best feelings of the heart, is, indeed, a triumph, the more gratifying the more it was unexpected.”

The anxiety experienced by Mr. Roscoe that his pamphlet should be favourably received in quarters where it might produce impressions serviceable to the cause of peace, appears from the following letter, addressed to Mr. Wilberforce, on the 30th January, 1808:—

“Before I had the pleasure of your obliging communication, I had desired my bookseller to send you a copy of my pamphlet, which I hope you have received. How happy should I be, my dear Sir, if I could flatter myself that I agreed with you on all subjects, as precisely as on that on which I have had the pleasure of seconding your efforts; and this, not merely for my own gratification, though I confess that would be great indeed, but because, from your extensive influence, great talents, and unexampled perseverance in every benevolent purpose, I should yet flatter myself with the hope of seeing the calamities with which this country and mankind are threatened effectually removed. Knowing as I do, through every different shade of opinion between us, the perfect rectitude of your views, with what delight should I see you advocate the cause of suffering Europe, or rather the cause of the civilised world, with the same energy and success as you have done that of the oppressed Africans. I see with terror, not only the political, but the moral horizon daily grow darker, and I look up with anxiety to those few who alone can dispel the gloom, and whom I consider as the lights of mankind. I cannot, however, venture to flatter myself that any representations of mine can influence their determination, nor am I indeed insensible, that the earnestness with which I have enforced my own opinions, may, in many instances, rather give offence than produce conviction. If, however, I have written with warmth, many of those who espouse an opposite opinion have more than set the example, and as I feel the most decided conviction in my own mind, that I am actuated by no other motive than a wish to promote the cause of sacred morality and the true interests of my country, as far as consistent with the general rights of mankind, I should think myself inexcusable were I to engage in the contest with ‘a cold and unperforming hand.’ At all events, you will, I trust, allow me to retain some share of your indulgence and favourable opinion, assured, as you may be, that no difference as to means, mode, or manner (for as to the main end, and object, and view, it is impossible we can disagree) can ever diminish the high respect, and allow me to add, the affectionate attachment, with which I am, &c. &c.”

The impression made by this pamphlet is noticed in a letter addressed by Mr. Roscoe to Dr. Parr, and dated the 1st of February, 1808:—“May I hope, my dear Sir, that if my hasty publication should engage your attention, I may have your favourable construction, at least as to my intentions and views? It has been already much noticed in London, where it was published a week since, and I have this morning a line from my printer, M’Creery, to say that he has just put to press a fourth edition. By many it is well spoken of; by some, and those amongst my friends in politics, it is complained of as bearing hard on the late administration; and by others, the advocates of war and desolation, it is abused in gross and open terms. I hope, however, that you will find, that on all the great points of politics and of morality, I have not deserted those principles which I have the pleasure to know we hold in common.”

Soon after the publication of this pamphlet, Mr. Roscoe was induced, in consequence of certain papers respecting the proposals for peace being laid before parliament, to appear again before the public in a short tract intended as a sequel to the “Considerations.” This tract, which he entitled, “Remarks on the Proposals made to Great Britain for opening Negociations for Peace, in the Year 1807,” was written for the purpose of showing that the ministers, whilst they professed themselves favourable to peace, had, in three distinct instances, demonstrated in the most decided manner, their unwillingness even to enter upon a negociation for it. He then states the real nature and tendency of the petitions for peace, and lastly contends, that if, after all, it should be unattainable, the war ought to be conducted in a manner honourable to the country. To this tract he added a preface of considerable length, in which he shows the application of the principles of morals to the intercourse of states, and pleads in strong and feeling language the cause of veracity, good faith, and honour. The following passages are not perhaps exceeded in any part of his works.

“The truth is, that a patriot must be a virtuous man, and a virtuous man will not commit or encourage injustice for the sake either of himself or others. After having participated his affections with those around him, he will be anxious to promote their interests; but he will promote them only in the same manner as he would his own. Schooled to the restraint of his own passions, he will not flatter and inflame those of the populace. In acting for his country he will seek for no advantages, but such as, under similar circumstances, he would endeavour to obtain for himself. If in the one case he would not waylay and rob an unsuspecting neighbour, in the other he would not enrich his country by piracy, violence, and spoil. In this he would do, not only what is abstractedly right, but what is truly and ultimately for the real interests of his country. The globe is a society of states, and nations as well as individuals have each their peculiar character. To grasp at temporary advantages, to oppress a weaker, or circumvent an incautious neighbour, may frequently, in private life, be attended with success; and states and nations may, in like manner, seem for a while, by a similar conduct, to promote their prosperity. But the foundation is unsound, and the edifice of their greatness is built on sand. By the system of Providence and the constitution of human affairs, a continual barrier is forming against such unjust aggressions, which are counteracted by the influence of public opinion, the distrust and resentment of surrounding states, and a thousand unforeseen circumstances, that either frustrate the expected advantage or retaliate its injustice, and not unfrequently subject the aggressor to the very evils intended to be inflicted on others. It is, therefore, only by strictly conforming to the eternal principles of right and justice, that we can consult either our own honour or our own interest; and to desert those principles when a particular occasion puts them to the test, is to exclude ourselves, by our own act, from the pale of civilised society, and to render ourselves as it were outlaws to the rest of the world.

“Such appear to be the positive and relative duties of the subjects of a free state; but if they who obey be accountable both to themselves and the public for the propriety of their conduct, they who are intrusted with the executive power of a state have a still more weighty task imposed on them. In claiming from the people a general assent to their measures, and a perfect unanimity of support, they must take care that such measures are consistent with the acknowledged laws of universal justice, and are not subversive of those first principles of morals which are antecedent to every other law of society. As man to man, there are certain duties incumbent on us, the violation of which no pretext of political necessity or national hostility can justify. To inculcate upon the people ideas of a contrary tendency, and to weaken their faith in the existence of political virtue, is not less impolitic than it is erroneous. That governments as well as individuals are actuated only by selfish motives, and that the professions which they are continually making of veracity, fidelity, honour, and frankness, are merely a cloak for their criminal views, are sentiments which it is thought a mark of penetration to have discovered, and a proof of sincerity to avow. But whatever may be thought of the sagacity of such politicians, to act upon the conviction of such sentiments is dangerous. God has not abandoned his creatures, nor are the common feelings of human nature wholly extinguished amongst mankind. If there be depravity, there is yet integrity; if there be oppression, there is yet sympathy; if there be baseness, there is yet honour; if there be treachery, violence, and rapine, there are still the unextinguishable feelings of virtuous indignation and generous contempt; and they who direct their conduct, either in public or in private life, with a total disregard to these truths, will, whatever may be their temporary success, incur, upon the whole, not only disappointment but disgrace.”

Previously to the publication of this tract, Mr. Roscoe was very desirous of submitting it to the excellent judgment of Mr. Whitbread, whose devotion to the cause of peace was equally ardent with his own. The readiness with which the latter consented to perform this friendly office rendered the service still more acceptable. “Whitbread, who is a divine man,” says Mr. Rathbone, who was then in London with the view of forwarding the repeal of the celebrated Orders in Council, “is very anxious you should publish, and confident it will do great good. Do not think I wish to pay compliments: I would avoid them, could I otherwise say what I think. But he says, and I so clearly see, that your name will do much. He expressed the great pleasure it would give him to revise it, and an assurance that he would offer his unfeigned opinion, and you might then do as you thought best. We also agreed that it would prove the most dignified conduct to come forwards boldly and manfully again, and without noticing any attack of Cobbett, or any other person, tell the country what it imports them to know. This we think is the way to keep the high and firm ground on which you stand. You will judge for yourself. Make use of me in what way you please; and with much more effect you may make use of Whitbread. He is, indeed, a delightful man: we have all at once jumped into an intimacy, and I cleave to him as a brother or a bosom friend.” In a letter written shortly after the preceding, Mr. Rathbone says, “Mr. Whitbread told me that he had written to you, and Mr. Brougham assured me his remarks should go to you by the post of the 12th (the day on which we left London), which I strongly urged. Mr. W. said you and he had viewed some parts of the subject in different lights; but this did not, in his opinion, lessen the value of your publication. I am strongly of the same opinion. His is an excellent speech; and some parts towards the conclusion are admirably impressive. Yet it does not, on the whole, appear to me calculated to produce conviction in the way that your pamphlet is; nor do I expect it will be so generally read; and this was the opinion of Ridgway. I hope it is now come out, or that its appearance will soon take place, for I think it should follow Mr. Whitbread’s pretty soon; and I hope, also, that you have not pruned it too much, in compliance with the suggestions of very prudential critics. With a large class, we must expect all works of such tendency to be very unpopular; and I see no signs that the violence or the acrimony of party spirit is likely to subside or even abate. This may render caution requisite in respect to the issuing of any publications, or taking any part in public measures; but it appears to me, that if either of these are advisable, then the only line to be pursued is to be explicit, vigorous, and decided.”

The pamphlet was subsequently submitted, in the proofs, to Mr. Whitbread; and most of the al-terations suggested by him, chiefly relating to matters of fact, were adopted by the author.* The proofs were accompanied by the following letter:—

“At length I take the liberty of returning the pamphlet which you were so good as to submit to my perusal, with such remarks as have suggested themselves to me in the course of it. I have been prevented, by the constant, pressure of material business, from giving earlier attention to it, in the way in which I wished to do it; and, indeed, I was anxious you should see the report of my speech, before you finally decided upon the difference between us, in some of our respective conclusions drawn from the papers. I directed Ridgway to send you three copies of my speech, begging you to accept one for yourself, and requesting the favour of you to give one copy to Mr. Martin and one to Mr. Rathbone, who will, I believe, have quitted London before this time.

“The spirit of equity, toleration, philanthropy, and patriotism, which pervades your pamphlet, is your own, and I have not the

* The copy sent to Mr. Whitbread, and returned by him, was carefully preserved by Mr. Roscoe, who has written on the fly-leaf the following memorandum:—“The late Mr. Whitbread did me the favour of perusing this pamphlet before it was published, and the observations upon it are in his handwriting.”

smallest doubt but that its publication will do essential service to the cause we espouse; and, indeed, it wants assistance.

“If I might suggest any improvement, it would be the compression of the preface, as being rather too long for a work of such a size. The sentiments are admirable throughout, and the language is such as was to be expected from its author.”

“It is upwards of a week,” says Mr. Roscoe, in answer to the above letter, “since I received the proof copy of my intended pamphlet, which had been sent you by my printer, accompanied by your letter and very judicious remarks; but it was not till yesterday that I had the pleasure of receiving the copies which you were so good as to order to be sent me of your speech, for which I beg you to accept my thanks, as well on my own account as for my friends, Mr. R. and Mr. M., who will think themselves much honoured by your remembrance of them. The perusal of this last noble effort on your part, to enlighten our countrymen as to their true interests, has only confirmed the opinion I have so long entertained of the perfect rectitude of your principles and the correctness of your views. How it is possible for sophistry to misrepresent or dulness to misconceive such statements is to me incomprehensible; such, however, is the present state of the public mind, that the stronger the light becomes the more obstinate the people are in closing their eyes against it. A wilful inflexibility seems to pervade all ranks; and if ever the hearts of a people were hardened, they are certainly those of our own countrymen.

“I have lost no time in comparing the passages marked by you in my pamphlet, with those which touch on the same subject in your speech, and in some instances I have implicitly adopted your recommendations, whilst in others I have ventured to adhere to the views I had before taken of the subject.”

In pursuance of Mr. Whitbread’s suggestion, a portion of the preface was omitted, and amongst other passages the following expression of the writer’s feelings with regard to the attacks upon his former pamphlet:—

“With respect to my own personal feelings, I am well aware that it would have been highly inconsiderate, at a season like the present, for me to have quitted my retirement, and entered on the turbulent stage of political controversy, if I had not been prepared for every consequence to which such a measure might give rise. On this occasion I may be allowed, like the younger Pliny, when he was entreated by his friends to desist from the dangerous task of avenging the cause and bringing to public justice the murderers of Helvidius, to adopt the language of Virgil:— ‘Omnia percepi, atque ammo mecum ante peregi.’”

This tract did not meet with the same degree of attention as its predecessor; and in despite of the exertions of those who, like Mr. Roscoe, laboured in the cause of peace, the supporters of the war continued to make proselytes. A fresh arena was opened for the combatants in Spain, and all idea of pacification was lost in the hope of defeating the enemy in this new struggle. On this topic Mr. Roscoe touches in the following letter to Professor Smyth:—

“My polite critics were never more mistaken than when they assert that I have a rage for writing pamphlets, whilst the fact is, that the hesitation and reluctance I feel on such occasions are inexpressible. Who can have any pleasure in putting his head into such a hornet’s nest? or in being held up to the public as a scarecrow? or what, but an idea (right or wrong) that what I have to say is of some importance, could induce me to undergo such an ordeal?

“I think with you that the last pamphlet was too late, and what interest it had has been wholly taken away by new circumstances and events, in which some persons foresee the liberation of Europe. The liberation of Europe! alas! what can liberate countries sunk in the darkest superstition—the devoted slaves of despotic authority—who dispute only for the right of bringing back their former tyrants, adoring the Virgin Mary, and burning their neighbours? I execrate the rapacity and ambition of Bonaparte, and should be truly glad to see his projects defeated; but with respect to Spain and Portugal, if the only result be that which is professed by themselves and confirmed by our government, that they are to return to the authority of their former dynasties, under the wretched governments which have so long oppressed them; if, after having driven out the invader, they are to relapse into the same intellectual and moral imbecility in which they have so long remained, I see little at which liberty can congratulate herself or humanity rejoice. My wishes, however, go with them. They are struggling, if not for civil or political freedom, for national independence; and if they should accomplish it by their valour, it is yet to be hoped that they will not resign, unconditionally, into the hands of their former rulers, those rights which they have preserved from the violation of foreign arms.”

By many of the friends whose judgment he valued, Mr. Roscoe had the satisfaction of knowing that these efforts in the cause of peace were approved.

“The pleasure which I received,” says Mr. James Grahame, the author of the beautiful poem of “The Sabbath,” “from the reperusal of your Considerations on the causes, objects, and consequences of the present war, was alloyed with some portion of disappointment. The fifth edition is, I see, before the public; and yet the war-whoop is as loud as ever, and was as loud, before the dawn of the Spanish revolution had opened a new prospect to our view. That your impressive, your unanswerable arguments must have sunk deep into the minds of thousands, there can be no doubt; but on the mass of this people I fear that no impression can be made through the medium of their reason. They have ears, but they hear not. They exhibit an instance of that obduracy in folly and in pride which so frequently precedes the downfall of nations. The preface to the remarks had quite an exhilarating effect. Your observations on national ethics are most excellent in themselves, and they are well calculated to impress the two great divisions of mankind, the generous and the selfish. I was particularly struck, and indeed solaced, by a fine passage, of which the following words are a part:—‘God has not abandoned his creatures,’ &c. I thank you most heartily for the present. I prized the ‘Considerations’ very high before they had acquired the additional value which, as coming from yourself, they now possess. I feel, indeed, much honoured by such a gift, and much gratified by the expressions which accompany it To be acknowledged by you as no unworthy ally in the cause of justice and humanity is truly most pleasing.

“The Spanish revolution has undoubtedly produced a conjuncture to which some of your arguments will not apply; yet the general strain of your reasoning will suit all times of warfare; for every war, even this of Spanish freedom against French despotism, ought to be waged (so far I mean as the directing councils are concerned) in the spirit of peace. I own I am sanguine with regard to Spain. I would like to know your opinion.”

The interest which the heroic efforts of the Spaniards to escape the dominion of France excited in the breast of Mr. Roscoe, may be gathered from the following passage in a letter addressed to the present Marquis of Lansdowne:—

“Since the publication of the two pamphlets which your Lordship is so good as to notice, a new aspect of public affairs has taken place, and any interest which they might have excited is lost in the great and unexpected events which have since occurred. Some of our modern politicians seem at a loss to reconcile an attachment to the cause of the Spaniards and Portuguese, with the dislike which every friend of civil and religious liberty must feel for their despotic and intolerant institutions; but this is not the question. The struggle is for national independence, whatever form of government or mode of religious worship they may choose to adopt; and the point in debate is whether they shall submit themselves like slaves to an imperious usurper, or assert their rights as a nation to adopt such sovereign and such form of government as they may think proper. Upon this subject there can scarcely be a difference of opinion; particularly amongst those who so strenuously contended that France had a similar right, and was very unjustly attacked in the exercise of it by her despotic neighbours. The consequences of the events that have already occurred are highly important to this country, if Spain and Portugal can be considered, as I truly think they may, as freed from the dominion of France; and although such events may not lead to a peace, they will open an intercourse between us and the continents of Europe and South America in the highest degree advantageous.”

Again, in reference to the negotiations which took place in the year 1809, in a letter to Mr. Whitbread he says,—“If Spain, after the glorious struggle she is making, and all the assistance this country can afford her, should be eventually conquered, there is nothing to be done but to submit to unavoidable events, and to wait for better times; but to have abandoned our brave allies, and delivered them over by our own voluntary act to their tyrannical oppressor, would have entailed on this country a degree of infamy never to have been removed. I could not even have supposed that any pro-posals could have been made for negotiation, in which the independence of Spain was not taken as the basis; and as this now appears not to have been the case, our ministers were, in my humble opinion, perfectly right in terminating the correspondence. If they had always conducted themselves with the same propriety and good faith, I should have been as happy, at least, to have applauded their conduct as I ever have been to censure it.”

It was a matter of regret to Mr. Roscoe that his arguments in favour of peace failed, in some instances, to influence the minds of those whose political principles were in other respects in perfect accordance with his own. To one of his friends, for whose public and private character he entertained the highest esteem, but who differed from him on this subject, the following letter is addressed:—

“Conceiving, as I do, that the very existence of this country depends upon the speedy adoption of pacific measures, and that if ruin does not come from without, it will certainly come from within, I must own I should have been most particularly happy to have had the sanction of your opinion, in favour of the sentiments which I have ventured to lay before the public. It would, however, be unreasonable and absurd in me to expect that any assent should be given to those sentiments, further than the arguments adduced in their favour irresistibly demand; and if, after the deliberate and impartial consideration which I am sure you are disposed to give them, they have not produced the same conviction on your mind as they have on my own, I can only lament that the cause on which so much depends has not met with a better advocate.

“To attempt to supply in a few words what I have not been able to accomplish in many pages would, I fear, be to no purpose; and if I have not already demonstrated, that a state of warfare is more likely to induce our powerful enemy to attempt the creation of a navy, and to afford him the opportunities of forming experienced seamen, than a state of peace, I have failed in one of my principal objects. Even now the result seems to me to be approaching with a celerity which ought to attract the notice of this country more than it has hitherto done; and what is more extraordinary, the commercial intercourse between France and this country, which has of late been extensive, has been carried on chiefly by seamen belonging either to France or her subject states; and thus, with our usual wisdom, whilst we are provoking or rather compelling Bonaparte to form a navy, we are assisting him in providing skilful navigators to man it, and admitting them daily into our harbours and our ports.

“You will, I hope, do me the justice to be-lieve that I am not one of those, who upon every difference of opinion are ready to accuse the motives of those who may differ from them, or allow such difference to interfere with sentiments of the sincerest attachment and the highest respect. If I were, the number of those whom I am happy to call my friends would be reduced to very few indeed. But even if I were actuated by any such unjustifiable and arrogant principle, it certainly could not operate with respect to yourself, with whom I have the pleasure of knowing that I agree in all the great points which are essential to the honour and happiness of mankind:—in the love of liberty; the desire to communicate it universally; the hatred of oppression and corruption; the desire of serving our country in the best way we are able; and, let me add what you so kindly refer to, a similarity of studies and pursuits. These, my dear Sir, are surely sufficient to cherish sentiments of kindness and of goodwill, and allow me to say, of friendship and attachment between us, without unreasonably expecting a similarity of opinion in every particular question, the decision on which must, as you observe, depend on the different education, connection, and habits, of those who judge upon it. If, however, in such cases either party had to apologise for the opinion he entertained, I fear it would fall to my lot; especially if it were put to the vote of the country at large.”

Whilst engaged in these political discussions, an opportunity was afforded Mr. Roscoe of enforcing his opinions amongst his own townsmen. In the early part of the year 1808, Mr. Rathbone and two other gentlemen had been deputed, by some of the merchants of Liverpool, to give their assistance to the opposition at that time making to the Orders in Council respecting neutrals; an interference regarded with much jealousy by another portion of the mercantile community in that town. At the suggestion of the latter, who were desirous of supporting the government in the prosecution of the war, a requisition was presented to the mayor, requesting him to call a general meeting of the inhabitants of the town to address his Majesty, and assure him of their confidence in his present councils and government. The object of the meeting obviously was, under the pretext of expressing confidence in the administration, to throw impediments in the way of the parliamentary opposition then offering to the Orders in Council. An address to the King having been moved by the originators of the meeting, Mr. Roscoe proposed an amendment, in which he expressed a sentiment which he strongly felt, that no difference of opinion, as to the grounds or nature of the war, ought to prevent or invalidate that perfect union and concurrence of all parties which was necessary to carry on the contest with vigour and success. In other respects the amended address was of a pacific tendency. “To these assurances we are led, as well by the duty and loyalty which we owe to your Majesty, as by a firm conviction, founded on your Majesty’s constant and paternal regard to the welfare of your subjects, that a war requiring such unexampled sacrifices will not be protracted beyond the period that maybe necessary for securing the honour and dignity of your crown and the rights and interests of your people.” The address then submitted the propriety of terminating the war entirely to the wisdom of the King, as the sole constitutional judge, assuring his Majesty, that until that period arrived, the petitioners would spare no sacrifices in its prosecution. The address and the amended address having been put, the latter was most decisively carried by a show of hands; but the mayor, who presided, declaring that he could not ascertain the respective numbers, an adjournment was proposed from the Town Hall, in which the meeting was held, to the more capacious area of the Exchange Buildings. Before this could be effected however, after a short consultation with some of his friends around him, the mayor suddenly declared that the original address was carried. A scene of great tumult and confusion ensued; and notwithstanding the decision of the chairman, the greater part of the meeting adjourned to the area of the Exchange, where the amended address was read by Mr. Roscoe, and voted by a majority of at least twenty to one.

In thus devoting his mind to political discussions, Mr. Roscoe flattered himself that his labours were also subservient to the cause of letters. In forwarding the two pamphlets which he had lately published to Mr. Mathias, whose sentiments on public affairs did not coincide with his own, he expresses his hope that the interests of literature, to which they were both equally attached, might in the end be promoted by these graver studies.

“That I should have troubled you with the result of my political lucubrations may almost seem to require an apology; but as I should be sorry to write any thing which I could not offer to your perusal, so I relied on your favourable construction, in case of any difference of opinion between us. Nor have my late employments been so remote from my former objects and studies as may at first sight appear. It is, I fear, but too true, that this dreadful war, and the outrages and calamities to which it gives rise, have a strong tendency not only to increase and perpetuate national prejudices and animosities, but to extinguish all relish for literary pursuits. In attempting, therefore, to infuse amongst my countrymen a spirit of moderation and forbearance, that may eventually lead to pacific sentiments, I feel a conviction, that I am labouring at the only foundation on which the superstructure of national improvement can be built; and when to this I add, that not only the improvement, but the honour, the interest, and the safety of the country, appear to me to rest upon the same basis, you will, I am sure, agree with me, that under such impressions I could not have remained silent, or have asserted my opinions with less earnestness than I have done.”

CHAPTER XI. 1809, 1810. Mr. Roscoe resumes his literary studies—letter to the Rev. W. P. Greswell—meditates a Life of Dr. Currie—assists Mr. Cromek in preparing his Relics of Burns—writes the preface to the Gallery of British Portraits—his enquiries into the History of Art during the middle ages—projects a History of the Progress and Vicissitudes of Literature and Art.—Death and character of Mr. Rathbone.—Mr. Roscoe an active member of the African Institution—communications to that Society—controversy with Mr. George Harrison—letter to the Duke of Gloucester.—Essay on the Right of Great Britain to compel Foreign Nations to abolish the Slave Trade.—Letter to the Duke of Gloucester.—Liberation of nine negroes at Liverpool—thanks of the African Institution.—Publication of “Occasional Tracts on the War.”—Letter to Mr. Whitbread—Letter to Mr. Wilberforce.—Letter from Sir Philip Francis.—Publication of “Observations on the Speech of Earl Grey.”—Letter from Mr. Whitbread.—Letter to Lord Erskine—Letter to Dr. Aikin.—Letter from Sir S. Romilly.—Mr. Roscoe’s general opinions on peace.—Early writings on the subject. CHAPTER XI.

From the tumult and anxiety of political controversy Mr. Roscoe was happy to turn away, and to resume those more congenial studies, from which his mind had been now for some time diverted. The prospect of a continued war, and a conviction of the futility of all attempts to give effect to more pacific sentiments, induced him to abandon for the present his fruitless opposition. “Whilst you,” he says in a letter addressed to his friend Mr. Greswell, “still continue to live, and converse with Horace and Virgil, with Pico and Politiano, I have launched out into the stormy ocean of politics, and been assailed with all the artillery that the advocates for war and desolation can bring to bear upon me. Their attacks, however, neither alter my opinions nor disturb my peace; and my only cause of regret is, that I have not been able to impress my own convictions more effectually on the minds of my countrymen, so as to have prevented, if possible, the calamities which have since taken place, and of which it is impos-sible to see the termination. The rude reception which my advice has met with releases me, however, unless I have a wish to become a martyr, from further service; and I begin the year by devoting my leisure to pursuits more agreeable to myself and less invidious to others,—to the examination of such unpublished papers as I have by me on various subjects, and to the inspection and arrangement of my drawings and prints.”

In the course of this year he meditated with much earnestness the commencement of a work, which his friends had long expected at his hands, and which nothing but the urgency of public affairs had prevented him from attempting,—a Life of Dr. Currie. But the leisure which he had promised himself he was deprived of by circumstances which debarred him from the performance of this grateful duty.

In the mean time, as the literary representative of Dr. Currie, he watched with solicitude over the fame of Burns. Mr. Cromek, an engraver, and a devoted admirer of the poet, having, with much industry, collected a number of Burns’s letters, and some of his unpublished poetical pieces, resolved to publish them as a supplementary volume to the edition of the works which had appeared under the superintendence of Dr. Currie. Before taking this step, however, he requested the advice of Mr. Roscoe; who, after perusing the whole of his materials, pointed out the pieces which, in his judgment, were fitted for publication. The following letter (April 9. 1808) to Messrs. Cadell and Davies, the publishers of the intended volume, will show how anxious he was that Mr. Cromek (in conformity with the maxim that an editor is bound to suppress whatever the author himself would have suppressed) should give to the world nothing derogatory to the high character which the genius of Burns had obtained.

“A short time after Mr. Cromek had begun to print his volume of Burns, the proofs of the first sheets were sent to me, when I was equally surprised and sorry to see that the work opened with some poems, of the admission of which I very much doubt; but which, in that situation, would have given a very unfavourable idea of the work. I immediately wrote to Mr. Cromek, entreating him to stop the press till we had settled this point, as well as some others, which I had to remark to him. In consequence of this, he got into the mail, and came to Allerton, where we have gone over the whole work; and I am sorry to say that, in my opinion, the seven sheets now printed must be cancelled, and the work begun again, although it will undoubtedly be attended with a very considerable expense. This mistake has arisen from a misapprehension; it having been settled by Mr. Cromek and me, when he was last here, that the letters should be printed in chronological order, and which I supposed would be done; but Mr. Cromek having these poems of earlier date, thought it would be proper to begin the book with them, and unluckily sent them to press before I knew of it.

“I am particularly anxious on this subject, as I consider it a matter of great importance not only to the character of the poet, but to the credit and interest of those concerned in the publication. Should any thing be admitted which may give just ground for censure, it will immediately be laid hold of, and the book will be condemned as containing only worthless and indecent fragments, which both the poet and Dr. Currie had rejected; and not only would this affect the sale of the work, but it would also injure the character of Burns; and, perhaps, depreciate, in a considerable degree, his other writings, for the property of which you have so liberally paid. In avoiding any imputation of this kind, the credit and interests of the author, the editor, and the publishers, all unite; and I am truly happy to say that, in my judgment, there is no danger of it whatever, if prudent precautions be taken, which Mr. Cromek is not only willing but anxious to do. The materials are, in fact, excellent, and the more I examine them the more I am convinced that they will make a most interesting volume. Every thing is now arranged for its being immediately put to press, and the only circumstances to be regretted are the loss of time and the expense already incurred.”—“I have only to add that I have undertaken to arrange the materials for the preface, and shall have great pleasure in attending to the progress of the printing, as far as my distance from town will allow, or rendering any other service which you or Mr. Cromek may wish.”

About this period Mr. Roscoe was induced, at the earnest solicitations of his publishers, Messrs. Cadell and Davies, to furnish them with a preface for their magnificent volume, “The Gallery of British Portraits,” a work in the course of which a portrait of himself, from a miniature by Mr. Moses Houghton, was published, accompanied by a short memoir.

While engaged in the political discussions of which some account has been given in the last chapter, Mr. Roscoe sought amusement and relief in the prosecution of some literary enquiries to which he had at various periods of his life devoted a considerable share of attention. The history of art, and the cause of the vicissitudes of taste had furnished him with subjects for his lectures before the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts of Design, &c., in the year 1784, and after that period the same subjects appear to have been frequently the objects of his study. In the composition of the “Life of Leo X.” he was compelled to enter largely into the history of the revival of art; and it was probably this circumstance which suggested to him the idea of a work upon which he bestowed much labour, but which he never completed.

In a letter to Mr. William Smith, written soon after the publication of the “Tracts on the War,” he says,—

“For a few days past I have sought for shelter from discussions about war, and parliamentary reform, and the bullion committee, which have for some weeks past occupied my attention, in the darkness of the middle ages; where I am endeavouring to trace out, amidst churches, and cemeteries, and popes, and Goths, and Vandals, the slender thread by which the arts of design were continued through the storms and desolation of this gloomy period. Of this subject I have often thought, and for some years past have collected memorials, as well in prints and drawings as in books, respecting it; and, although I am aware that there is not much to be discovered by the most diligent researches, yet I have found enough to convince me that the remarks of Vasari, Baldinucci, and other historians of the arts, as to their total annihilation before the time of Cimabue, are unfounded, and that the subject deserves rather more attention than has hitherto been paid to it; particularly as it seems to me, that if the present system of warfare and desolation continues, we shall shortly have to plunge again into a similar gulf.”

In a letter to Sir James Smith, written about the same period, Mr. Roscoe says, “I am also looking into the state of the arts during the middle ages for a memoir, of which I have good materials.” The collecting of these materials had been the study of many years; and he appears at this time to have reduced them into order, and to have prepared the greater part of them for publication under the title of an “Historical Sketch of the State of the Arts during the Middle Ages.” Subsequently this design was enlarged; and he contemplated a much more extended work, to which he intended to give the title of “An Historical Inquiry into the Rise, Progress, and Vicissitudes of Taste, as exemplified in Works of Literature and of Art.” Of the nature of this work, which was to be comprised in two volumes, an accurate idea may be formed from the following heads of the chapters which it was intended to contain:—

“Vol. I. chap. 1. Introductory Chapter on the Causes of the Rise, Progress, and Vicissitudes of Taste. “2. Origin of Taste, as exemplified in the History of the earliest People. “3. On the State of Literature and Arts anterior to their Rise in the Grecian States. “4. State of Letters and Arts among the Greeks. “5. Introduction of Works of Taste into Rome, and Progress of Literature and Art to the Death of Augustus. “Vol. II. chap. 6. Progress and Vicissitudes of Literature and Art to the Year 400. “7. Progress and Vicissitudes of Literature and Art to the Year 1200. “8. Literature and Arts of the Arabs. “9. Progress and Vicissitudes of Literature and Art to the Year 1400. “10. Progress of Literature and Art to the Year 1500.”

In another scheme of the work three additional chapters are inserted, on the Rise and Progress of Literature and Art in Italy, France, and England.

Of this extensive and interesting undertaking a small portion only was executed. The third and fourth chapters seem to be nearly complete, and ample materials remain for the composition of some other parts of the work. Those materials consist of various dissertations upon different branches of art;—“On the Cultivation of the Polite Arts and particularly those of Painting and Design,” written at an early period; “On Painters’ Drawings;” “On the Practical Part of Painting;” “On the German Engravers;” “On the Origin of Engraving in Wood and on Copper;” together with several detached memoirs of the Italian painters.

In the spring of the present year (1809) Mr. Roscoe had the misfortune to lose his friend Mr. Rathbone, with whom he had lived for many years upon terms of the most confidential intimacy and the most attached friendship. The affection which had so long subsisted between them arose from the congruity of their opinions on all the most important subjects of human judgment, and from the equal devotion of their minds to objects of usefulness and benevolence. The character of Mr. Rathbone was of the highest cast; and it was ever the subject of deep regret with those who knew and appreciated him, that a genius, which might have shone with the brightest lustre in the most extended sphere, was restricted to comparative obscurity. The talents for public life manifested by him on various occasions, when he came forwards in support of liberal principles, were of the first order. A friend to peace, to toleration, and to improvement, had he been placed in a situation where scope could have been given to his lofty and benevolent views, his name must have been for ever associated with his country’s happiness and honour; but confined to the narrow limits of a private station, a man framed of the clay from which in former days heroes and martyrs were moulded, expended the strength which might have ruled a nation, in contests, the recollection of which has already past away. It must not, however, be supposed, that the labours of such a man were lost. The influence of a mind like that of Mr. Rathbone, upon the community of which he was a member, was necessarily great; and it is to the efforts of him, and of those who, like him, in seasons of difficulty and danger, openly avowed their adherence to the interests of truth and freedom, that we may attribute the progress since made in the cause of political and social improvement. A short memoir of his friend was written by Mr. Roscoe, and printed in the Athenæum, a periodical work, published under the auspices of Dr. Aikin.* The following is the sketch there given of Mr. Rathbone’s private character:—“True excellence is always the more highly esteemed as it is the more nearly approached and the more intimately

* “You will have heard with sorrow of the loss of our invaluable friend Rathbone, who bore his sufferings with the patience of a martyr, and died with the fortitude of a hero. His character was not only excellent but of a peculiar kind of excellence, which, if accurately described, must render it interesting. It is my intention to attempt a brief delineation of it, for the ‘Athenæum,’ which may perhaps occupy a page or two; and if you will have the goodness to reserve a space for it in your obituary for the present month, I will take care it shall be with you by the end of next week, or sooner if necessary.”—Mr. Roscoe to Dr. Aikin.

known; and notwithstanding the respect paid to his acknowledged merits in public life, it was in the social circle, and in the society of his family and friends, that his character appears in the most favourable aspect. On these occasions, it was impossible not be struck with that soul of benevolence which disclosed itself in every word and look, and with that simplicity of manner which indicated that he had not a thought to conceal. As his views were extensive, and his experience considerable, so the tenor of his conversation was always instructive; and it may most truly be said of him, that a word scarcely ever escaped his lips that was not directed to some benevolent purpose,—to impart pleasure, to communicate knowledge, or to do good. His person and appearance were strikingly impressive, and conciliated attachment whilst they inspired respect. His manner was peculiarly natural and engaging; and throughout his discourse, the aptitude of his illustrations, and the playfulness of his fancy, always confined within the strictest bounds of propriety and decorum, never failed to delight his hearers.

“For a long time, the declining state of Mr. Rathbone’s health had caused the most serious apprehensions to his friends; but a few months since, his complaints attained a more alarming form, and he had to struggle with sufferings beyond what generally fall to the lot of humanity. If there be a spectacle on earth more peculiarly deserving of admiration than any other, it is the contemplation of a firm and a virtuous mind, rising superior to corporeal sufferings, and shining forth in all its lustre amidst the ruins of its earthly frame.

“In the last period of the life of Mr. Rathbone, this spectacle was most eminently displayed. The moments that could be spared from actual suffering were assiduously devoted to the consolation of his affectionate family, and the society of his friends, with whom he conversed on his approaching death, not only with fortitude, but with cheerfulness. The faculties of his mind were unimpaired to the last moment; when, without a struggle, he resigned his spirit into the hands of his Creator. “Thrice happy! who the blameless road along Of honest praise hath reach’d the vale of death! Around him, like ministrant cherubs, throng His better actions—to the parting breath Singing their blessed requiems; he the while, Gently reposing on some friendly breast, Breathes out his benisons; then, with a smile Of soft complacence, lays him down to rest, Calm as the slumbering infant.”

It had been the custom of Mr. Rathbone to inscribe, in a book devoted to that purpose, the names of those of his family, whom he had lost by death. In this volume, Mr. Roscoe has, in his own hand, thus recorded the death of his friend:—

“11th February, 1809.

“William Rathbone, died at nine o’clock in the morning, aged 51 years and 8 months.

“This domestic record, which contains the brief memorials of many of his beloved and respected relatives, registered by his own hand, and endeared by the warm expression of his affection, now receives the honoured name of WILLIAM RATHBONE, Of Liverpool, Merchant. a name which will ever be distinguished by independence, probity, and true benevolence, and will remain as an example to his descendants, of genuine piety, patient resignation, and of all those virtues which give energy to a community, adorn society, and are the delight of private life. “Through life beloved! O let this votive line Unite in death its author’s name with thine. “William Roscoe.”

In the following sonnet, also, he has recorded the character and virtues of his friend:— “SONNET ON THE DEATH OF MR. RATHBONE. “Doom’d for a season to that frail disguise, Whilst yet thy spirit felt its bonds of clay, How through the gloom shone forth the imprison’d ray Beam’d in thy smile and sparkled in thine eyes! Prompting thee on to deeds of high emprise, To plant thy foot athwart Oppression’s way; To shield the weak, the sufferer’s pangs allay, And soothe the widow’s woes, the orphan’s cries. Thy mission now is closed. The sacred flame From earth released, in other worlds expands, Midst the blest regions of eternal love. O glorious hour! when, midst her falling frame, The imperishable soul superior stands, Spurns her frail chain, and soars to realms above.”

From the period when, in 1806, Mr. Roscoe had assisted in founding the African Institution, he had actively endeavoured on all occasions to forward the objects of that association. Not only did he maintain a frequent correspondence with the President the Duke of Gloucester, and with Mr. Zachary Macaulay the Secretary, in which he offered many suggestions with regard to their course of proceeding, and urged especially the great necessity of prevailing upon foreign nations to abolish the Slave Trade; but he also zealously exerted himself in procuring such information in Liverpool, as might tend to prevent those fraudulent evasions of the Abolition Act which for some years after its passing were of too frequent occurrence.

Amongst the papers which he occasionally communicated to the Institution was one, in the shape of a letter to the Duke of Gloucester (dated March 20, 1809), in which he urged the necessity of encouraging a trade with Africa, as one of the surest means of promoting the civilisation of that country. Upon this letter, which appeared in the Appendix to the third annual Report of the Society, Mr. George Harrison, a warm friend to the improvement of the Africans, made some remarks, which were afterwards published in a periodical work called the Philanthropist.* Amongst other observations this gentleman expressed his apprehensions lest the communication of Mr. Roscoe “might have the effect of damping the hopes and disappointing the expectations of many warm well-wishers to the cause of civilisation.” To a charge like this, publicly made, Mr. Roscoe conceived it to be incumbent upon him to give some answer; and accordingly, in the spring of 1811, he printed a very short tract, under the title of a “Reply to some Remarks by George Harrison, on a Communication from William Roscoe to the

* No. II., Jan. 1. 1811.

Duke of Gloucester, President of the African Institution, dated March 20, 1809.”

In this little tract he defends (what seems scarcely to have required defence) the proposition, that in attempting to civilise the natives of Africa the greatest assistance would be derived from a friendly and honourable traffic with them; “that whilst proper methods were adopted for civilising and instructing the inhabitants of Africa, the peaceful and friendly interchange of the conveniences and necessaries of life might assist in rousing their faculties to action, and engaging them by the most powerful principle in human nature to contribute to their own improvement.”—“In the consideration of this question it would have been incumbent on Mr. Harrison to have shown, from the history of past events, that countries in a state of barbarism have been civilised by persons sent as professed instructors; and to have demonstrated, on the other hand, that the production and interchange of the necessaries of life had no share, or at least a very inferior share, in producing that civilisation which has extended over no inconsiderable portion of the globe.”

On the subject of this controversy he addressed the following letter to the Duke of Gloucester, as President of the African Institution.

“Your Royal Highness will, I trust, excuse the liberty I have taken in enclosing, for your perusal, a brief reply to some remarks made by Mr. George Harrison, one of the Directors of the African Institution, in a letter which I had the honour to address to your Royal Highness in 1809, and of which the Institution published an extract in their report for that year.

“I confess, that as far as these remarks relate to myself, they appear, from his own statement, to be so unfounded, that I should willingly have left the decision to the candid judgment of his readers, but on further consideration, it appeared to me, that the sentiments avowed by Mr. Harrison were not only inconsistent with those enlightened views upon which the Institution has hitherto acted, but likely to prove injurious to the best interests of those for whose benefit it was established. In fact, a considerable degree of prejudice seems to prevail against all those who have engaged in a direct and legitimate trade with Africa, although their motives and conduct are as different from those of their predecessors as light from darkness, and the existence of such an intercourse is indispensably necessary to the civilisation of those countries.

“An idea has, I find, been entertained, that I had myself engaged in this trade; but, in fact, I never had in my life any share or concern in any ship or adventure. My second son is, indeed, a partner in a mercantile house in Liver-pool, which has sent out three ships direct from Liverpool to the coast, two of which returned last year, and the third is daily expected; but with this voyage, I understand, their undertaking will close; as the duties upon African produce are such that it cannot be imported with advantage.

“Anxious as I am that every measure should be adopted that may eradicate the traffic for slaves, I cannot perceive that the regulations now proposed to parliament for that purpose will be more effectual than those which preceded them. The former act has been evaded, not because of the inadequacy of the penalties, but because of the difficulty of conviction, in an intercourse which can be carried on between the coast of Africa and foreign ports, though with the property and for the use of British subjects.

“To increase these penalties will, therefore, only induce the slave-dealers to redouble their precautions; and if they have not been convicted when punishable only by fine, they will certainly not be convicted when punishable by transportation or death. I have already too far intruded on your Royal Highness’s indulgence on this subject, but I cannot relinquish my decided conviction, that it is only by one great and virtuous effort that the slave trade can be effectually abolished, and until it can be demonstrated that power is improperly exercised when employed in restraining inhumanity and oppression, I am compelled to retain my opinion.

“Should the enclosed paper accord with the sentiments entertained by your Royal Highness on the subject in discussion, it will give me the greatest satisfaction.”

The subject adverted to at the conclusion of the foregoing letter had occupied much of Mr. Roscoe’s attention. After the abolition of the slave trade by Great Britain, other states still continued to carry it on, and under the protection of their flags, British subjects, in many instances, were still engaged in the traffic. The consequence of this was, that the natives of Africa were deprived of the full benefit of the sacrifice made by this country, and that all hopes of permanently improving their condition were at an end, so long as the European nations were permitted to carry on the traffic for slaves. It therefore became a matter of the highest importance to ascertain the right of this country to interfere with other nations, and to insist upon the abandonment of a trade contrary to the first principles of humanity and justice. This inquiry, involving a consideration of the great principles of general and international law, Mr. Roscoe entered upon with much industry and solicitude, and the result was a Dissertation of considerable length “on the Right of Great Britain to prevent other Nations from carrying on the Slave Trade.” The greatest care and the most diligent research appear to have been bestowed on this paper, which presents an irresistible argument in favour of the right contended for, and is, perhaps, the most closely-reasoned of all Mr. Roscoe’s writings. It displays, at the same time, that animated style, which always distinguished his compositions when his heart was deeply engaged. After stating that it was probable that the remonstrances of this country might produce the desired result without resort being had to coercive measures, he thus proceeds:—

“By such representations as these, conveyed in that firm and temperate language which becomes a powerful nation, acting in a just and generous cause, there can be no doubt that all reasons for hostility would be avoided, and that the object would be accomplished not only without injury and without danger, but with the highest honour to this country. If, however, these expectations should be disappointed; if motives of pride, of obstinacy, or of interest, a predilection for tyranny and oppression, and an insatiable thirst of African blood, should frustrate the pacific efforts of this country to relieve the injured from the jaws of the oppressor, and to deliver him that is ready to perish, let her rise in her terrors, and repress the impious rage of the enemies of their kind. Let her venge-ance be directed on those whom no admonition can convince, no example influence, no considerations of justice or of humanity restrain, till the objects of her resentment furnish to posterity an awful lesson, that the general rights and privileges of human society cannot, with impunity, be trampled under foot.”

How deeply he was interested in this subject appears by the following letter to the Duke of Gloucester, to whom he communicated the dissertation.

“I now perform a promise, which I some time since made to your Royal Highness, and take the liberty of submitting to you the result of my further thoughts on the means that yet remain to be adopted for terminating the African slave trade. The ideas principally intended to be illustrated are, the necessity of the immediate interference of this country to induce foreign states to assent to its abolition, and the propriety and justice in case of refusal, of capturing all such vessels, of whatever country, as may be found engaged in the trade. Your Royal Highness will, perhaps, recollect that this idea was first started in a conversation which I had the honour to have with you at High Legh, and it seemed to me at that time to be a consequence of some observations which your Royal Highness had made on the subject. I afterwards reconsidered an assertion, which, I feared, had been too hastily made, but which further deliberation confirmed; and I have now the satisfaction to know, that on the principal point of the abstract right of this country to prevent other nations from carrying on the trade, your Royal Highness entirely coincides.

“The question of the expediency of such an interference, under present circumstances, as it involves the deepest considerations of national interest, is of more difficult solution, and on this account I postponed, in my last communication to your Royal Highness, entering upon its consideration, under an apprehension that a hasty and imperfect defence of it might rather injure than promote a cause on which so much depends. Since that time, I have deliberately reconsidered my former statement, and compared it with the opinions of the principal writers on general law, and the pages I now transmit to your Royal Highness are the result of this consideration. I cannot but be sensible, that the proposing any measures which may possibly tend to increase the causes of hostility between nations, unless such measures be indispensably necessary, is highly culpable, and I should consider myself as acting in contradiction to every principle and feeling of my life, if I were to place myself in such a predicament. But, greatly as I deprecate it, and thoroughly convinced as I am that war is often resorted to upon insufficient and even criminal grounds, I cannot admit that the dearest and most indisputable privileges of the human race are to be abandoned to the caprice, the tyranny, or the avarice of those, who, in the plenitude of their power, may think proper to trample upon them. War, when engaged in for the defence of liberty, the vindication of justice, or the succour of the oppressed, is not only allowable, but when it can be waged with a reasonable prospect of success, is indispensable; and if it were not for this eternal and unshaken resistance of right to wrong, this rising up of justice, to crush and put down oppression, the interests of the human race would be surrendered, and their destinies decided upon by the most cruel, the most odious, and the most profligate of their kind.”

In the year 1809 Mr. Roscoe was so fortunate as to receive the thanks of the African Institution, for his services in assisting to rescue some Negroes from an attempt to re-capture them in this country. A Brazilian vessel, called the Monte de Carino, under the command of a person whose name was Joze Antonio Cardozo, having arrived at the port of Liverpool, nine of the crew, who were Negroes, and had been slaves in Brazil, were immediately arrested under process from the Borough Court of Liverpool, at the suit of the captain, Cardozo, and lodged in the borough gaol. The affidavit of debt, upon which this process was founded, stated that these men were indebted to the plaintiff for advances of money. They were carried, in handcuffs, to the prison, where they remained for about a month; when the ship, being ready for sea, the captain, attended by his attorney and a gang of men, went to the gaol and produced discharges for all the prisoners from his suit. The unfortunate captives, aware that on their release from confinement they should be hurried on board ship and carried out again as slaves, refused to quit the prison; their fellow-prisoners declared that they would protect them; and the gaoler, with a humanity which did him credit, afforded them the protection of the prison walls. These circumstances reaching the ears of Mr. Roscoe, an immediate inquiry was instituted into them; bail was, by his direction, put in, in all the actions; and, with the assistance of the magistrates of the town, who acted with alacrity in the affair, such proceedings were taken as effectually secured the freedom of the Negroes. Mr. Roscoe’s exertions on this occasion procured him the thanks of the African Institution, conveyed to him in the following resolutions:—

“At a meeting of the Directors of the African Institution, on the 5th December, 1809,—

“A letter from Mr. Roscoe to the Secretary, dated the 22d November, 1809, having been read,

“It was unanimously resolved,

“That the thanks of this Committee, in the name of the African Institution, be given to Mr. Roscoe for his humane and successful interposition on behalf of nine black men, lately confined in the borough gaol of Liverpool by process for debt sued out by a Portuguese ship-master, with the purpose of securing them till he should be ready to sail, and then forcibly carrying them into slavery. The Committee congratulate Mr. Roscoe on his having thus been the instrument of delivering nine human beings from the dreadful state of Negro slavery, and vindicating at the same time the justice of the British laws, which were fraudulently abused for purposes of oppression. The Committee also request the favour of Mr. Roscoe to communicate the thanks of the Institution to Messrs. Stanistreet and Avison, whose humane and liberal conduct and assistance in this business he acknowledges; and also to the keeper of the prison, by whose humanity the fraudulent and iniquitous purpose of the Portuguese master and his accomplices was frustrated, when it might otherwise have been carried into effect. The Secretary, in communicating this resolution, is requested further to thank Mr. Roscoe for his remarks on the general means of effecting more fully the abolition of the Slave Trade.”

Though Mr. Roscoe seems to have made a resolution, after the publication of his pamphlets on the war, in 1808, to renounce, as vain, the attempt to promote the cause of peace, yet the interest with which he viewed the subject would not permit him to remain a passive spectator of the events around him. He determined to make one effort more to enforce the opinions which he deemed so essential to the safety of the country; and with this view he collected and published, in one volume, the various tracts which, since the commencement of the French war, he had given to the world in favour of peace. This collection contained three pamphlets, already noticed, which he had published anonymously:—“Thoughts on the Causes of the present Failures:” “Strictures on Mr. Burke’s two Letters, addressed to a Member of the present Parliament;” and “Observations on the relative Situation of Great Britain and France.” To these were added the two pamphlets published in 1808, of which some account has been given:—“Considerations on the Causes, Objects, and Consequences of the present War, and on the Expediency or Danger of Peace with France;” and “Remarks on the Proposals made to Great Britain for opening Negotiations for Peace in 1807.” The volume concludes with “Brief Observations on the Ad-dress to his Majesty, proposed by Earl Grey in the House of Lords, June 13. 1810.”* “Of the following tracts,” he says in the advertisement to the volume, “the three first were published without the name of the author, at the times of their respective dates. In thus uniting them with his later pieces, his chief object is to recal the public attention to the awful subject which they profess to discuss, and, if possible, to impress upon others those convictions which the occurrences of the last eighteen years have produced and confirmed in his own mind. How far his statements and reasonings have been justified by subsequent events, the present state of Europe in general, and of this country in particular, may sufficiently show. But whatever reception this volume may meet with, the author has thought proper to avow all that he has at any time written on this subject, and to commit it, as far as in his power, to future times, as an appeal against the promoters of a war, as unjust in its principle as it has been sanguinary in its progress and calamitous in its result.”

That his expectations of making any impression upon the country by his arguments were very humble, appears from the following extract from a letter to Mr. Whitbread, written shortly before the publication of his “Tracts.”

* Post, p. 487.

“Having, at different periods since 1793, published my sentiments on the subject of the war (some of the earlier tracts anonymously), I have lately collected together and reprinted these pieces in an octavo volume, of which I hope soon to have the pleasure of sending you a copy. Should you ever find leisure to look into these melancholy and fruitless labours, I trust at least you will find nothing in the earlier part of them inconsistent with the latter,—a kind of merit which, in these days, must from its very rarity be of some value.”

In a letter to Mr. William Taylor, of Norwich, he says, “How little I expect from these efforts I need scarcely state to you. The question of peace or war is long since gone by. There may, indeed, be some shades of difference in opinion as to the best mode of prosecuting the war; but, in the necessity of its continuance, all are agreed,—ministerialists, oppositionists, and reformers. The favourite doctrine of the latter is ‘that peace can only be substantially obtained through the medium of reform.’ I hold the converse of this to be true, and that no reform is likely to take place while we have to contend with a foreign enemy. Experience, ancient and modern, has shown, that, in proportion as nations have been endangered by war, their governments have become more despotic. This effect is inevitable. The foreign enemy must be kept out, and for this end the ruling powers must be strongly supported. When the storm blows hard, however the crew may quarrel, the first consideration will be to take care that the vessel does not drive on a rock.”

To Mr. Wilberforce he expressed, in the following letter, the painful feelings with which he regarded the continuance of the war, and the impossibility of giving a more pacific tone to the public mind:—

“Accept my thanks for the few lines with which you were so good as to honour me on the receipt of a copy of my Tracts on the War. I know of no right that I have to intrude upon you with opinions in which, I fear, you cannot agree; but I was desirous you should see that the pacific sentiments which I have of late avowed, and which have drawn down upon me so much odium and misrepresentation, are not new to my mind; but are the result of a serious and deliberate conviction, maintained through all the changes and fluctuations of the contest, and founded on a sincere and earnest desire to promote the interests and happiness of my country. I had certainly, at times, flattered myself with hopes that these efforts might have contributed to much more important purposes; but the obloquy I have met with from some quarters, and the neglect I have experienced from the community at large, have but too feelingly convinced me of the inefficacy of my attempts, and induced me to lament, with more anguish than I can express, that such a cause has not fallen into abler hands, and been felt and promoted, as I conceive it was entitled to have been, by those enlightened friends of humanity whose exertions and whose eloquence could not have failed of success. Disappointed in my expectations, I have chastised my mind into submission; and though I should be truly sorry to forfeit the favourable regard of many persons whom I venerate and esteem, shall console myself with the reflection, that what I have done was intended for the best.

“But I have already said more to you on this subject in the way of complaint than I have ever said to any other person; and I will not, therefore, conceal from you that, in a general view, I am tranquillised and consoled by the reflection that the Great Disposer of events stands in need of no such feeble aid as any of his creatures can give, for accomplishing any purpose which he may in the course of his providence see proper to carry into effect; and that, therefore, to lament the failure of our individual efforts is equally wicked and presumptuous.”

In the same tone of depression, or rather of resignation to evils which he had no power to remove, he addressed Sir Philip Francis, from whom he received the following answer:—

“I am not surprised at your giving up all hope of the country, much less at your intention to withdraw yourself from political discussion. An author whom I greatly respect has told me ‘that in all ages the rage of popular violence has been principally directed against the best friends and benefactors of mankind.’ So, if you are fortunate enough to escape unpunished from the public service, you must be satisfied with impunity, and consider it as a reward. There may, probably, be an exception in your favour, but the general rules of human justice are against you. The only traveller I know of whose veracity is not to be suspected, informs us that, in the island of Glubdubdrib, he had an opportunity of conversing with the spirits of the dead; and he says, that ‘having read of some great services done to princes and states, he desired to see the persons by whom those services were performed. On enquiry, he was told that their names were to be found on no record, except a few of them whom history hath represented as the vilest rogues and traitors. As to the rest, he had never once heard of them. They all appeared with dejected looks, and in the meanest habit; most of them telling him they died in poverty and disgrace, and the rest of them on a scaffold or a gibbet.’ Nevertheless, if you believe, as I do, that great faculties are given in trust, and that duty may survive hope, I cannot allow you to quit your station. The very worst of all the symptoms in the present case, is the universal indifference of the country to the dangers that surround it. Something must be done to rouse the people and bring them to their senses; and I, for one, shall look to you for some great contribution to that service. While I am here at Lord Thanet’s, I shall read and study all your tracts again. You cannot give me wealth or power; but you can, and shall, give instruction. I will not suffer you to forget me, if I can help it. I would rather have accompanied Charles Fox to his grave, and into it, egenus et exul uterque, than have been witness to what I heard and saw in the last six months of his life. He missed the moment—e curru descendens Teutonico. He might have commanded, as you will do, his own Euthanasia. To my knowledge, more than twenty years of his life were heroic. Farewell, dear sir; do not yet despair of the Republic.”

While the collection of tracts on the war was in the press, an address to the King was moved by Earl Grey in the House of Lords, on the subject of the war, which left little hope of peace from the exertions of any party in this country. The advocates of peace had gradually deserted her ranks, till at length Lord Liverpool triumphantly declared, that whatever difference of opinion formerly existed on the subject of the war, he believed, amongst all sober and rational men, but little contrariety of sentiment remained. Some few there were, however, who despising these imputations, still continued faithful to their principles, and amongst these Mr. Roscoe was conspicuous. In Parliament Mr. Whitbread, with honourable consistency, still raised his voice in the cause he had so long and so ably supported. “I much fear,” he says in a letter to Mr. Roscoe on the publication of his Collection of Tracts, “that the friends of peace are daily diminishing, and that the advocates for war are gaining proselytes. However small the band, I continue firmly attached to the standard, and am happy to have this additional proof that I have so able an associate.”

The motion of Lord Grey occasioned the deepest feelings of regret in the mind of Mr. Roscoe. He saw those to whom alone he could look for support, yielding to the torrent which he had vainly endeavoured to stem; yet even this circumstance did not lead him to forego his own individual efforts in the cause he loved. Anxious to counteract, as far as lay in his own power, the effect of Lord Grey’s motion, he immediately sent to press a short pamphlet, to which he gave the title of “Brief Observations on the Address to his Majesty, proposed by Earl Grey, in the House of Lords, 13th June, 1810,” which he printed also at the conclusion of his Tracts on the War. In this publication he endeavours to show, that so far from peace being rendered less desirable, the progress of the war had demonstrated the still greater necessity of it, and he exposes the unreasonableness of those who were desirous of persisting in the war, lest France should take advantage of an interval of peace to increase her resources and augment her power. The low-minded jealousy which leads one nation to dread the prosperity of another is thus justly reprobated:—

“The Creator of the universe has not so disposed his works that the prosperity or aggrandisement of one state must necessarily imply the debasement or misfortune of another; and the two great communities of Great Britain and France are not less calculated to assist each other in the cause of national honour and felicity, than they are to oppose each other by arms and violence. It must, however, unhappily be admitted, that so fortunate a result must be the offspring of more generous sentiments and more enlightened views, than are at present to be expected from the recent conduct of either of those two powerful countries; and that until such an event takes place, it will be incumbent on us, by every fair and justifiable effort, to maintain ourselves upon an equality at least with our rival state; but it would be no less criminal than it would be absurd to suppose, that the mere superiority of one state is a sufficient ground for the permanent hostility of another. In the community of nations as in that of individuals, Providence has determined that there shall be degrees of pre-eminence; and it is no more justifiable to attack a nation by war, on account only of its superior strength or greatness, than it would be in private life to assassinate every person of higher rank than ourselves. It is only by industry, by integrity, by knowledge, by the encouragement of enlarged and virtuous sentiments, by the cultivation of the human mind in every department of science and of art, that we ought to contend for superiority over others. It is by such contests only that the human race can be effectually improved, and it is these alone that counteract the calamities which the brutal struggles of physical strength have hitherto inflicted upon mankind.”

Upon the scheme of a defensive and protracted warfare, to which Lord Grey appeared to be favourable, Mr. Roscoe observes, “That war, under every form, is an evil greatly to be deprecated will readily be allowed: but when the passions are irritated by wrongs, and inflamed by resentment; when to these are superadded the love of glory and the thirst of revenge, we feel, from the sentiments of our common nature, a sympathy with those who engage in the contest, which, in victory, elevates and expands, and even amidst defeat and slaughter, soothes and consoles the mind: but when these incentives are withdrawn; when the courage and ardour of the soldier are extinguished for a cold, calculating, and inextinguishable hatred; when valour and enterprise, the shock of armies and the tented field, are no more, and a nation of warriors devotes itself to lie in wait for opportunities to attack the enemy with advantage, and to protract the calamities of war,—we sicken at the cheerless and deathlike prospect, and feel no emotions but those of horror and disgust.

“From the infirmities of our nature, war, as an ultimate appeal, is at times inevitable; but the common interest and the common consent of mankind require that the struggle should be speedy and decisive, and that the miseries of those who suffer by its consequences, without being partakers in its guilt, should not be unnecessarily prolonged. The thunder may roll, and the bolt may fall; but when the storm is passed, let us hope once more to see the atmosphere clear, and to enjoy the brightness of day. The calamities of the physical world are temporary. Earthquakes, plagues, and tempests have their season; but a protracted warfare is a perpetual earthquake, a perpetual pestilence, a perpetual storm; and to propose to any people the adoption of such a system, is to propose that they should resolve, not only to live in sorrow, in wretchedness, and in peril themselves, but to entail the same calamities on their descendants.”

Such were the sentiments which Mr. Roscoe wished to substitute for the violent, unjust, and destructive maxims, by which, at that time, the Government of this country were swayed. But these sentiments, as he himself truly said, were given to the winds; and the resources of the country were taxed to their utmost to support the sanguinary struggle.

In transmitting this pamphlet to Lord Erskine, he accompanied it with the following letter:—

“The decided opposition which your Lordship has uniformly shown to the war with France, from its unhappy commencement in 1793 to the present time, and the great and patriotic effects which you have repeatedly made to terminate so disastrous a contest, induce me to intrude upon you with a short publication, in reply to such part of Earl Grey’s speech in the House of Lords, on the 18th June last, as relates to the subject of peace.

“Your Lordship will readily believe that it is not without great regret that I have undertaken thus publicly to controvert the opinions of one whom I so highly respect as Earl Grey, and that in this instance I fully participate in the feelings expressed by your Lordship on the debate; but I know your Lordship would be the last man to suppose that any motives of this nature ought to interfere with that imperative duty, which not only authorises but commands every individual, who conceives that he has any thing to advance that may serve the interests of his country, to state it freely and fully, without regard either to enmity or favour, and regulated only by the rules of decorum and the limits of the law.

“At the time the debate took place, I had collected together a few tracts which I had published at different times, from the year 1793, on the subject of the war, and reprinted them in one octavo volume, which was just ready for publication, when the unexpected avowal of Lord Grey’s sentiments, including the express assent of Lord Grey in favour of the prosecution of an indefinite war, deprived me of the hope of producing the slightest effect upon the public by any arguments which had been before advanced. I therefore thought it incumbent on me to obviate, as far as was in my power, any thing that might appear like new reasons for the continuance of hostilities; and if in this I have not been able to succeed, I am well convinced it is not because of the validity of such reasons, but of the inability of their opposer.”

The public mind had become averse to the idea of peace, and Mr. Roscoe had to regret the little effect which his pamphlet appeared to pro-duce,—a circumstance which he has touched upon in the following letter to Dr. Aikin:—

“How I can have delayed so long to thank you for your last kind letter, appears to me perfectly unaccountable. It is natural in sickness to reflect on our sins, and in the course of a ten days’ confinement, I vowed to St. Cosmus and St. Damienus, that as soon as I was able to hold a pen I would employ it in writing to you, and telling you how much I was gratified in finding that the observations I had ventured to publish on Lord Grey’s speech coincided so nearly with your own sentiments. This vow I now perform, and assure you most sincerely, that nothing could have been more gratifying to me than to find my statements approved by one who can look with an impartial eye, not only on the politics and parties of one country, but on the relative situation, conduct, and pretensions of all. It is to such critics alone that I confess I should wish to appeal; but, as they are of rare occurrence, I must not be surprised that this last effort should share the fate of all the rest of the same nature, and should be equally disregarded by those who are in and those who are out of office; by the friends of corruption and the friends of reform; all of whom labour on in their purblind occupations with as obstinate a blindness to all general views, as if they had no more concern with the rest of the world, and cared no more for the destruction of our countrymen and the desolation of Europe, than they would for a war in the interior of Africa.”

From Sir Samuel Romilly, to whom he had presented a copy of his “Observations,” he received the following letter:—

“I return you many thanks for your ‘Observations on Lord Grey’s Address.’ I have read them with the greatest interest. To all your general reasonings I entirely agree; and I have been very much struck with the great force and irresistible eloquence of the concluding passages. I cannot, however, but confess to you, that the present state of Spain appears to me to throw very great difficulty in the way of making an immediate peace. I agree that there seems very little prospect of the Spaniards succeeding ultimately against their oppressors; but as long as there is a possibility of their success, I cannot think that we ought, by abandoning them, to seal their doom.* It is very true, that in an answer to Lord Grey, it was by no means necessary to discuss this difficulty, but I own I should have been extremely glad to have seen how you had considered it.

“I am very highly gratified by the kind things you say of me, and of the late unsuc-

* Mr. Roscoe’s sentiments on this question have been stated in a previous page.

cessful attempts I have made to introduce some improvements into our criminal law. I greatly lament that they cannot have your powerful support in parliament, and that the distance we are removed from each other leaves me so little opportunity of cultivating your friendship, on which I shall always set the highest value.”

With this tract terminated Mr. Roscoe’s publications against the war, which had appeared at intervals, during the course of nearly twenty years. The motives by which he had been actuated in these long-continued endeavours to prevent the effusion of blood, were founded not only upon principles of political expediency, but upon more extended views of human conduct. He regarded war as one of the worst of human evils, not only inconsistent with the interests of mankind, but in direct opposition to those Christian precepts by which the nations of Europe profess to be governed. Yet the peace which was the ardent object of Mr. Roscoe’s wishes, was far from being the peace which is coveted by the timid or the servile: it was the peace which arises from the removal, by the exercise of reason and of justice, of all the causes of contention—the peace which coexists with freedom, with honour, and with virtue.

In a short paper, written apparently about the year 1790, to which Mr. Roscoe had given the form of a sermon, and prefixed the text of “Blessed are the peace-makers,” he has defined his own idea of those qualities in which the character of a peace-maker consists. This discourse, never intended to meet the public eye, exhibits so forcibly and clearly the principles which were the invisible spring of the unyielding and undaunted perseverance, and even pertinacity, with which, in despite of all opposition and obloquy, he continued to hold and assert his views on the subject of the war, that the following extracts will perhaps not be thought misplaced.

“That the peace-maker is in a high degree acceptable to the Supreme Being, is evident from the positive assurance of our Saviour; but, in endeavouring to obtain this honourable distinction, it is indispensably requisite that we should form proper notions of the character and office of a peace-maker, for until we know its proper scope and aim, our endeavours to attain it will be to no purpose. In all our concerns we should take care that we distinguish the mark before we draw the bow, and we shall then be sure our exertions, be they what they may, are not misdirected.

“Accustomed as we are to confine our views to the little circle that surrounds us, we often lose, or, at least, weaken, the spirit and purport of the moral precepts of our Saviour. Instead of taking them in the full extent in which he undoubtedly meant that they should be understood, we childishly apply them to trivial purposes and occasions. It is thus that the term of Charity, that prime spring of moral virtue, which inculcates forbearance, good-will, benevolence, and kindness to all the race of man, is often confined to mere pecuniary assistance, or the giving of a trivial alms; but envy, resentment, haughtiness, and pride, are as inconsistent with true charity as avarice itself. In like manner, when we speak of the Peace-maker, we are apt to consider him as one who bestows his time and attention in healing the little breaches that, in the common intercourse of life, may arise between those around him. But though this be, in some cases, a very meritorious employment, it is far short of that exalted virtue which has entitled its possessor to the appellation of blessed, from the mouth of Jesus Christ. Let us, then, endeavour to extend our views beyond these narrow limits, and to acquire more suitable notions of the dignity and importance of the character which is here recommended to our attention.

“Nothing can be more clear, than that he who employs his time and labour in reconciling those who are at variance, without removing the cause of contention, has ill performed the office he undertook,—such reconciliations, however sincere they may be in appearance, are seldom of long continuance. To remove, then, if it were possible, all causes of contention from the face of the earth, is the great office of a peacemaker. And though this will not be in the power of any individual; yet it is only by attending to this view of his duty, that he will be able to do any considerable portion of that great good. Nay, it is, on the contrary, very possible, that instead of being of service to his fellow-creatures upon the whole, he may, notwithstanding the sincerity of his endeavours, be doing them, upon some occasions, an essential injury. To explain more fully this important point, let me suppose that a disagreement has arisen in consequence of some civil or political law or regulation, that is evidently vague, imperfect, severe, or unjust. It may seem the part of a peace-maker to accommodate, to soothe, and to suppress the differences to which such a law may have given rise, and to unite in harmony the discordant parties. But is this attacking the evil at its root? Had the mediator a proper idea of his office, he would endeavour not only to reconcile the particular quarrel to which he was a witness, but to have the law in question amended, explained, or abrogated; so as to prevent, in future, similar dissensions. Omitting this, he has only cut off a shoot from a tree that will send out a hundred others; and so far from being of service to mankind, has, perhaps, pro-longed the abuse, by concealing from the eye of the world its hateful effects.

“Who, then, is the true peace-maker? Not he who, sitting in voluptuous apathy, exclaims against every attempt to improve society, and remove the causes of contention, as an infringement on the doctrines of peace. Not he whose mild and timid disposition leads him to soften, to soothe, and to accommodate the dissensions that may sometimes occur, by prevailing on the unjust man to relax his harsh pretensions, or on the oppressed to submit to his further oppression.

“These are neither peace-makers, nor the true friends of peace.

“But, blessed is the man who, with undeviating rectitude, endeavours to procure for every one that to which he is justly and indisputably entitled; who, instead of reconciling the master to the slave, dissolves the odious relation; who, instead of teaching to one sect of religion, principles of toleration, and inculcating on others a factitious gratitude, contends for an universal liberty of sentiment; who, in a nation whose high privileges are reserved to one class of its inhabitants and refused to others, instead of exhorting the injured to acquiesce in their deprivations, adopts every firm and manly method of abolishing such absurd distinctions, and thereby placing all around him upon a just and equal footing; and for ever removes those degrading, wicked, and preposterous regulations which have always been the disgrace of society, and will never cease to occasion hatred, jealousy, and contention, so long as they are allowed to exist.”

“The peace recommended in the text is not the peace of tyranny and subjection, it is the peace of equality and brotherhood. The despot may hold in awe his trembling slaves, who may quietly submit to his imperious commands; but the peace-maker, whom our text pronounces blessed, will neither be found in him who orders nor in those who obey. Let him, then, who aims at the glorious distinction, begin by divesting himself of his unjust pretensions, and removing from himself the causes of offence; let him be as willing to impart as he is to receive; and when he has placed himself on a fair equality with those around him, he will then have proceeded so far towards meriting the appellation of a peace-maker, as not to be a maker of dissensions. He will have attained, at least, a degree of negative virtue that must, in its nature, precede any positive acquirements. And let me be allowed to remark, that it is on the exercise of this disposition, that every noble and generous effort, every expectation of public and private happiness, depends. So much, then, for the character of a peace-maker, as it is connected with individual conduct; and if the same justice and forbearance were practised by all, we should arrive at that happy period when we should experience ‘peace on earth, and good-will to men.’

“But, alas! the admonitions of reason are too ineffectual to control the passions of mankind, by which they are continually prompted to seize with avidity every opportunity of personal aggrandisement and selfish gratification. Here, then, a wider field is opened for the exertions of the virtuous and the just. And it is only in performing their part with firmness, that they can entitle themselves to the full reward that attends on the promoters of peace, and the friends of human kind. Raise, then, thy views, thou who aspirest to this dignified character, beyond the narrow limits of private life; and contemplate, as far as is allowed to mortal faculties, the views and dispensations of Providence. There wilt thou discover that the intention of the great Creator of all, is the happiness of all His creatures; and thou wilt thence feel it thy most important duty to concur, as far as lies in thy power, in promoting that beneficent end.”

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. London: Printed by A. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square.

THE LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE, BY HIS SON, HENRY ROSCOE. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON: PRINTED FOR T. CADELL, STRAND; AND W. BLACKWOOD, EDINBURGH. 1833. CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTER XII. 1811, 1812. Mr. Roscoe’s opinions on Reform in Parliament—letter to the Duke of Gloucester.—Mr. Brougham’s letter on this subject—Mr. Roscoe’s reply, published at Mr. Brougham’s request.—Plans of the reformers of that day.—Mr. Brougham’s views.—Mr. Roscoe dissents—his reasons—his own views stated—ultimately realised in many particulars.—Answer by Mr. Merritt to Mr. Roscoe’s letter—Mr. Roscoe’s reply—his sentiments on the use of influence in the House of Commons—his desire for union amongst the reformers—letter to an illustrious correspondent.—Trade with India.—Letter to Mr. Whitbread—he writes fully on the subject to Mr. Creevey.—Public meeting at Liverpool to oppose the renewal of the charter.—Resolutions drawn up by Mr. Roscoe, and adopted.—Letter to the Duke of Gloucester thereon.—General election of 1812.—Proposals made to Mr. Roscoe by electors of Westminster, which he declines—is put in nomination at Leicester—address to the electors of that borough.—Election at Liverpool.—Mr. Brougham and Mr. Creevey jointly supported by the reformers.—Mr. Canning opposes them, and succeeds.—Mr. Roscoe’s sentiments as to compromise participated by Mr. Brougham.—Mr. Canning’s speeches.—“Review” of them published by Mr. Roscoe.—Character of Mr. Brougham.—Prospects at this time of reform. Page 1 CHAP. XIII. 1812—1815. Alterations at Allerton Hall.—Mr. Roscoe’s illness—his study of bibliography—letter to Dr. Dibdin respecting a Life of Erasmus—projected account of his library and other collections—letter to Dr. Smith—verses on the Liverpool election of 1812—his intention of writing the Life of Dr. Currie—letter to Dr. Wright—projects a translation of Lanzi—papers in the Transactions of the Linnaean Society—is elected an honorary member of the New York Historical Society—acquaintance with Mr. Owen of Lanark—letter to him.—Prince Sandars.—Visit of Miss Aikin to Allerton.—Mr. Roscoe’s taste for agricultural pursuits—communication to the Agricultural Society of West Derby-cultivation of Chat Moss—communication to the Board of Agriculture—letter to Sir John Sinclair—thanks of the board.—Letter from General Dirom—allusion to his cultivation of Chat Moss in Mrs. Barbauld’s “Eighteen Hundred and Eleven”—letter to her—acquaintance with Mr. Tollet and Mr. Wilbraham—letter from the latter.—Invitations to Holkham.—Letters from Dr. Smith.—Visit to Holkham.—The collection of MSS. there—undertakes the arrangement of them—bound by Mr. Jones of Liverpool.—Letters from Mr. Wilbraham and Mr. Coke.—Poem of “Holkham.”—Letter from Mr. Coke to Sir J. Smith.—Presentation of the “Life of Leo” to Mr. Coke, and sonnet.—Letter from the Bishop of Norwich to Sir J. Smith.—“The Return.”—Visit of Mr. Coke and Dr. Parr at Allerton. Page 51 CHAP. XIV. 1816. Pecuniary embarrassments of Mr. Roscoe.—Letter to Mr. M’Creery.—General meeting of creditors.—Report of the committee.—Settlement of the affairs undertaken by Mr. Roscoe.—Sonnet, expressing his feelings at this time.— Sympathy of his friends.—Letter from Sir J. E. Smith.—Sale of his library, pictures, &c.—Sonnet on parting with them.—Sonnets addressed to him.—Catalogue of the library prepared—its principal contents.—The sale of the books.—Purchase of books by his friends for his use.—Mr. Shepherd’s letter.—Mr. Roscoe’s reply.—Books presented to the Athenæum.—Sale of the prints—description of them.—Sale of pictures and drawings—their nature and value.—Picture of Leo X., with the Cardinals Giulio de’ Medici and Rossi.—Its history—attributed to Andrea del Sarto.—Madonna and Child by Ghirlandajo, with a frieze by Michelagnolo.—Pictures by Fuseli.—Painting of the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici by him.—Letters from him respecting it.—Purchased by an unknown person, and presented to Mr. Roscoe.—Series of pictures bought by several gentlemen and presented to the Athenæum.—Letter from Mr. Singer—John Gibson the sculptor—letter from him.—Mr. Roscoe’s reply.—Letter from Mr. Gibson at Rome.—He presents a bust of Mr. Roscoe to the Liverpool Royal Institution.—Mr. Reynolds of Bristol—his death.—Letter to Mr. W. Rathbone on that occasion, and to Mrs. Rathbone.—Verses to his memory. Page 101 CHAP. XV. 1817, 1818. Meeting for the establishment of the Liverpool Royal Institution.—Report drawn up by Mr. Roscoe.—Introductory lecture delivered by him—printed by request of the committee.—Letters from Mr. Shepherd and from Dr. Aikin, on this occasion—Resigns the office of President of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool.—His contributions to that society.—Essay on the Application of the Principles of Morality to the Intercourse of States.—Is elected a member of the Philadelphia Linnaean Society—Correspondence with Sir Joseph Banks on Miss M’Avoy’s pretensions to the faculty of discriminating colours by the touch.—Tract on penal jurisprudence meditated. Hymns contributed by Mr. Roscoe to the Collection for the use of Protestant Dissenters.—Anthem—set to music by Mr. Webbe.—Proposal to him to write a History of the State of Europe—declined.—He communicates with M. La Fayette through Mr. M’Creery.—Interview of the latter with M. La Fayette.—Letter from M. La Fayette to Mr. Roscoe—his reply—his regret that he had been unable to carry into effect his more extended views.—Lines expressive of his deep feeling on this subject. Page 151 CHAP. XVI. 1819. The nature and objects of punishment.—Mr. Roscoe’s attention turned to the question.—Publication of his “Observations on Penal Jurisprudence and the Reformation of Offenders.”—His idea of the true guiding principle—of secondary punishments.—Consideration of the penitentiary system—Apathy of the public mind to this subject.—Letter to Dr. Parr, with copy of the tract—to Mr. Basil Montagu.—He derives assistance from America through Mr. Thomas Eddy—letter to him.—Article in the Edinburgh Review against Prison Discipline controverted by Mr. Roscoe in “Additional Observations.”—Solitary confinement in America opposed in this tract—copy sent to Mr. Jeffrey—letter to him.—Corresponds with Mr. Livingston and other distinguished Americans.—Letter from Mr. Bradford, Governor of Massachusetts state prison.—Letter to Sir James Mackintosh—his reply—his remarks in the House of Commons—letter to him from Mr. Roscoe thereon.—Reforms in Denmark Letter from Mr. Thorkelin of Copenhagen.—Publication of “Observations,” Part III.—Letter to Sir James Mackintosh—to Mr. Dumont.—Publication of “Remarks on the Report of the Commissioners for Visiting the Prisons of New York,” &c.—Letter to Dr. Southwood Smith—to M. la Fayette, then in America—his reply.—Controversy with Mr. Allen of New York and others.—Publication of Letter to him on Penitentiary Discipline. Series of Letters to Mr. Vaux, Dr. Mease, and Mr. Allen, published in the Liverpool newspapers.—Change of opinion in the United States in favour of reformatory discipline.—Mr. Roscoe expresses his pleasure, in a letter to Dr. Hosack of New York. Page 187 CHAP. XVII. 1820—1823. Termination of the affairs of Mr. Roscoe in bankruptcy.—Letters to Mr. M’Creery and Sir J. E. Smith.—His certificate disputed.—He retires to Chat Moss.—Recurs to the perusal of the Italian poets.—Translation from Dante.—His attention again drawn to penal jurisprudence.—Letter expressing his motives for the promulgation of his opinions.—His hesitation between continuing in active life or retiring.—Letter considering and determining this doubt.—Allowance of his certificate.—He returns to Liverpool—retires finally from business.—Sum of money raised for him by his friends.—He again visits Holkham.—Letters from that place—Literary projects—visits London—letters from thence—prepares a Catalogue of the MSS. at Holkham—letters to Mr. M’Creery, describing his labours—to his daughter.—Lines to Lady Anson on her birthday.—Letter to Mrs. Rathbone—returns to Liverpool—receives proposals to publish a series of the Italian authors.—Letters to Mr. Valpy—to Sir J. E. Smith.—Publication of the “Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.”—Writers whom he refutes—M. Sismondi and others.—It is translated into Italian by S. Pecchioli—letter to him.—Letter from M. Sismondi.—Mr. Roscoe’s reply—becomes acquainted with M. Sismondi.—Publication of the “Memoir of Richard Roberts Jones,” and account of him.—Letter to Dr. Parr.—Anecdotes of R. R. Jones—his portrait, etched by Mrs. Dawson Turner.—Letter to Mr. D. Turner.—Sonnet, written while publishing the Memoirs of R. R. Jones.—Mr. Roscoe removes to Lodge Lane—letter to his daughter.—Dr. Aikin—letters to him on the publication of the “Life of Huet,” &c.—Mr. Roscoe’s contri- butions to the Athenæum.—Death of Dr. Aikin.—Letter to Miss Aikin.—He proceeds with the “Life of Pope.”—Again visits Holkham.—Letters from that place.—Liverpool Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery.—Mr. Roscoe chosen president.—Draws up a declaration of the objects of the Society.—His views as to the best mode of effecting emancipation. Page 241 CHAP. XVIII. 1824. Death of Mrs. Roscoe.—Verses addressed to her at different times by Mr. Roscoe.—Letter from Mr. M’Creery on occasion of her death.—Sonnet addressed to her in early life by her son.—Letter from Mr. Roscoe to Dr. Wallich.—Mr. Roscoe resumes the study of botany, and particularly of the Monandrian plants.—His new arrangement of the plants of the Monandrian class, usually called Scitamineae, referred to by Sir J. E. Smith in Dr. Rees’s Cyclopædia.—Letter from Sir J. E. Smith on the merits of this arrangement.—Name of “Roscoea” given by him to a new order of Scitaminean Plants.—Present of plants to the Botanic Garden from Dr. Wallich.—Correspondence of Mr. Roscoe with him.—Projected publication of Specimens of the Scitaminean plants.—Mr. Roscoe is elected an Honorary Associate of the Royal Society of Literature, and afterwards an Associate of the First Class—receives the gold medal of the Society—is elected Corresponding Member of the Academy della Crusca.—Letter of the Secretary, with the diploma.—Mr. Roscoe’s reply—is elected Member of the New York Horticultural Society—visits London again—letter to his daughter. 311 CHAP. XIX. 1825—1827. Edition of the Works of Pope, and new Life.—Letter on this subject to Mr. Mathias.—Merits of former editors.—Prefatory remarks by Mr. Roscoe—Sources from which he derived new information.—Principle adopted by him in suppressing certain pieces.—Original Letters furnished by J. L. Anderdon, Esq.—Controversy with Mr. Bowles.—His “Final Appeal to the Literary Public,” &c.—answered by Mr. Roscoe in his “Letter to the Rev. W. Lisle Bowles.”—Review of the new edition, in the Quarterly Review.—Mr. Bowles publishes his “Lessons in Criticism to W. Roscoe, Esq.,” &c.— Extract from a reply prepared, but not published, by Mr. Roscoe.—His comparative estimate of the characters of Pope and Swift.—Mr. Fuseli—first acquaintance with him—letters from him respecting the Milton Gallery—on Mr. Roscoe’s election, &c.—his death—his biography by Mr. Knowles.—Letter to Mr. Knowles.—Correspondence with C. Hughes, Esq., Chargé d’affaires from the United States to Brussels.—Letter to him from Mr. Odevaere, the historical painter, sent to Mr. Roscoe.—Letter to Mr. Hughes.—Decline of Mr. Roscoe’s health.—Letter from him to Sir J. E. Smith.—New edition of “Lorenzo de’ Medici” and “Leo the Tenth.”—Use made by Mr. Roscoe of the notes and illustrations of foreign translators and writers.—Present from the Grand Duke of Tuscany of a new edition of the Poetical Works of Lorenzo.—Letter from Mr. Roscoe in acknowledgment. Page 331 CHAP. XX. 1827—1831. Increasing infirmities of Mr. Roscoe.—Letter to Sir J. E. Smith.—Completion of the Holkham catalogue.—His remaining literary undertakings.—Is attacked with paralysis—causes of the attack.—Persists in preparing for the press his “Letters on Prison Discipline.”—Mode of life after his attack.—Description of his study.—Sonnet to him.—His mode of employing his time.—Letter to Mr. Dawson Turner.—His warmth of feeling unchanged.—His feelings with regard to his own state.—His interest in political events:—repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts—Catholic emancipation—the Revolution of July.—His letter to La Fayette, interceding for the French ministers.—Letter to Mr. Coke on the same subject.—Formation of Lord Grey’s ministry, and letter to Lord Brougham.—Completion of all his literary labours.—Publication of the last number of his “Monandriau Plants.”—Opinions of celebrated botanists on that work.—Loss of his friends.—Death of Sir J. E. Smith.— His surviving friends:—Professor Smyth—the Rev. W. Shepherd.—Dedication by the latter, of his poems.—Mr. Panizzi.—Letter to Mr. Rogers.—Opinion of the “Life of Dr. Currie.”—Projects a publication of his poems.—Letter to Dr. Hosack of New York.—Letter to Rammohun Roy, and interview with him.—Letter to Lord Brougham.—Mr. Roscoe’s last illness and death. Page 367 CHAP. XXI. Mr. Roscoe’s life a useful example.—His moral qualities—his consistency in politics—in his religious opinions—in his tastes and pursuits—in his attachment to works of art and poetry—in his friendships.—The reward of consistency.—His humility—his ambition, and love of literary fame—his own feelings with regard to the success of his writings—his humanity—his charity.—Devotional feelings of Mr. Roscoe—his early study of the Scriptures.—Letter on the presentation of a Bible to him.—His religious poems—hymn—sentiments on religious liberty.—Mr. Roscoe’s political opinions—his enlarged and liberal views—objects of his political exertions—political poems—lines.—Mr. Roscoe’s acquirements as a scholar—his acquaintance with the Classical languages—with the modern languages—his taste in English poetry—his knowledge of botany—his love of the fine arts—his promotion of literary and scientific institutions—his power of generalisation—his energy in literary pursuits.—Mr. Roscoe’s friends in early life—in middle age—his associates in political and local improvements—his political friends—the friends acquired by his philanthropic exertions—by his literary character.—Mr. Coke of Norfolk.—Distinguished foreigners—Americans, Italians—his botanical friends.—The grounds upon which his friendships rested—his demeanour in society.—Mr. Roscoe’s domestic character.—Poems addressed to him by his children. 425 Appendix. 477

CHAPTER XII. 1811, 1812. Mr. Roscoe’s opinions on Reform in Parliament—letter to the Duke of Gloucester.—Mr. Brougham’s letter on this subject—Mr. Roscoe’s reply published at Mr. Brougham’s request.—Plans of the reformers of that day.—Mr. Brougham’s views.—Mr. Roscoe dissents—his reasons—his own views stated—ultimately realised in many particulars.—Answer by Mr. Merritt to Mr. Roscoe’s letter—Mr. Roscoe’s reply—his sentiments on the use of influence in the House of Commons—his desire for union amongst the reformers—letter to an illustrious correspondent.—Trade with India.—Letter to Mr. Whitbread—he writes fully on the subject to Mr. Creevey.—Public meeting at Liverpool to oppose the renewal of the charter.—Resolutions drawn up by Mr. Roscoe, and adopted.—Letter to the Duke of Gloucester thereon.—General election of 1812.—Proposals made to Mr. Roscoe by electors of Westminster, which he declines—is put in nomination at Leicester—address to the electors of that borough.—Election at Liverpool.—Mr. Brougham and Mr. Creevey jointly supported by the reformers.—Mr. Canning opposes them, and succeeds.—Mr. Roscoe’s sentiments as to compromise participated by Mr. Brougham.—Mr. Canning’s speeches.—“Review” of them published by Mr. Roscoe.—Character of Mr. Brougham.—Prospects at this time of reform. CHAPTER XII.

The subject of a Reform in Parliament was one upon which Mr. Roscoe had early formed, and repeatedly expressed, a decided opinion. At the period of his election in 1800, he stated explicitly his sentiments on this question; and in his political correspondence he frequently refers to it as one of the most important considerations that could engage the attention of the legislature and of the public. In a letter to the Duke of Gloucester, written soon after the forming of Mr. Perceval’s administration, after expressing his deep regret at that event, he thus proceeds:—

“When misfortunes occur, and I cannot but consider this as a very great one, we are frequently led to examine into the causes which have produced them; and if I were called upon to assign, to the best of my judgment, the true root and origin of all the evils which this country experiences, I should, after the fullest deliberation, attribute them to the corruption of the representation of the people, and the consequent subserviency of the House of Commons. For this reason, I cannot express my astonishment and regret, that those great and distinguished characters to whom I have before alluded, and many others who, I truly believe, have the welfare, honour, and happiness of their country at heart, should, of late more particularly, have rebuked and discountenanced that strong and virtuous popular feeling which once looked up to them for its guidance and direction, and which, if it had been duly encouraged and segregated from its grosser particles (which would easily have been shaken off as soon as it was sanctioned by its proper patrons), would soon have given to worth and rank, to integrity and talents, that weight and direction in the country, which are now possessed by ministerial sycophants, professional statesmen, and time-serving intriguers. I will venture on your Royal Highness’s indulgence still further, and will dare to say to a prince of the House of Brunswick, that if any thing can yet save us from destruction, and avert the fate that threatens us, it is the solemn and deliberate adoption by men of the highest character and connections in the country, of some plan, which shall relieve the House of Commons from its direct and immediate subserviency to the dictates of the Crown, and shall restore that tone and energy to the popular sentiment which it has now lost. If this could be effected, it would be an honour and a happiness for a good man to be the chief minister of such a country,—of a country that could acknowledge his virtues, appreciate his talents, and confer on him that best reward, which the public voice alone can give; whilst, on the contrary, to hold even the highest station under the present system, which exhibits a subservient House of Commons, acting under a subservient minister, would, in the calm and deliberate judgment of truth, be a degradation and a disgrace. Your Royal Highness will not, I trust, think this language exaggerated, though strong; but, if any one could think so, let him look at the conduct of our ancestors through a long series of years; let him examine the records of the country, and let him then say, whether the independence of the House of Commons has not been the invariable object of their most anxious solicitude; the very talisman, upon the preservation of which the safety of the country, as a free country, entirely rested. That which they dreaded we have seen nearly, if not entirely, completed; yet, most unhappily, those who are most deeply interested in such an event have stood aloof till the very hope of any effectual remedy is relinquished, and a measure of the most vital importance to the country has taken place, without a single voice being raised against it;—for in what place is it now possible, that a voice could be raised that would produce the least effect?

“When I look back on what I have written, I cannot but feel that I may possibly have presumed too far on your Royal Highness’s goodness, well knowing that, to many persons, the dissemination of sentiments like these might be considered as very dangerous to the peace of the country. One reflection, however, relieves the anxiety I should otherwise feel, and induces me not to withhold from your Royal Highness the warm dictates of my heart,—the hope, that your Royal Highness will still continue to attribute what I say to no improper motive, but will do me the justice to believe, that however erroneous my political opinions may be, I am at least sincere in my wishes for the prosperity of my country.”

In the course of the present year, an opportunity offered itself to Mr. Roscoe, of bringing before the public the subject of Parliamentary Reform in a shape which he hoped might attract some attention. Mr. Brougham, who had lately taken his seat in the House of Commons, being anxious to obtain the opinions of some of his friends with regard to the most judicious method of introducing the subject of Parliamentary Reform, addressed to Mr. Roscoe (amongst others) a long and interesting letter, in which he both explained the view taken by himself, and requested the opinion of his correspondent. With this request it was impossible not to comply, and Mr. Roscoe accordingly addressed to Mr. Brougham a letter, in which he stated, at considerable length, the reasons which induced him to differ from his correspondent with regard to the best means of effecting their common object. The answer was favourably received by Mr. Brougham, who communicated it to a few of his friends, and amongst others to Mr. Bentham, who, after expressing the satisfaction he had felt in the perusal of it, strongly recommended its publication. To a note from Mr. Brougham communicating this information, Mr. Roscoe replied in these terms:—

“I assure you that I feel I owe you much for your indulgence to my letter on Parliamentary Reform. Not that I am doubtful of the opinions there avowed, and which have long been the settled convictions of my mind, but because I have perhaps introduced topics which your letter did not call for. I should be much gratified to think that it had been favourably considered by one whom I so highly respect as Mr. Bentham. With regard to its publication, I feel no reluctance of a personal nature, and am only apprehensive that the manner of the argument is not equal, either to the goodness of the cause, or to the great importance of the subject. There are, also, several passages not strictly relating to the point, and which, though intrusted to a friendly letter, I should certainly wish to omit in a publication.”

He then urges his correspondent to make his own letter public, and suggests the propriety of printing both their letters in one pamphlet.

“This would at least have the effect of placing this great subject in its various points of view, and of inducing the public to take it into their deliberate consideration, without which nothing effectual will ever be done. But, besides this, it would, I hope, set an example not frequently seen, of two persons contending with each other, not for victory but for truth; not as in a battle, which shall defeat the other, but as in a race, which shall first arrive at the mark. If, however, you should feel the least reluctance either to the one or the other of these modes, I will, should you still think my sentiments can be of any use, endeavour to alter the form of my letter into a sort of dissertation, though I am aware that it must by this method lose much of any effect it might otherwise produce.”

The resolution taken by Mr. Roscoe to publish his letter met with the full approbation of Mr. Brougham.

“I am truly delighted,” he says, in answer to the foregoing letter, “to find you still so earnest in the great cause of Reform, and that you have listened to the anxious wish of some of its most respectable, though less clamorous supporters, viz. to give your letter to the public. I have again perused it with much care and increased pleasure. There are certainly some points on which I continue to differ materially. But, it contains so powerful a defence of reform, in a narrow compass, and leads so directly to the grand point of extended discussion upon the whole subject; moreover, it rescues by so impressive and eloquent a statement the reformers from the vulgar charge of aiming at confusion, that I consider the publication as likely to prove essentially useful, even to the specific plans or detached measures which may be brought forward next session, and certainly as eminently subservient to the cause in general.”

By the encouragement thus unreservedly extended to him, Mr. Roscoe was induced to give his letter to the public, which he did in the summer of the year 1811. Some few alterations were made in it, for the purpose of rendering it fit for the public eye, but in substance it remained the same as originally written.

Now that the great measure of Parliamentary Reform has received the sanction of the legislature, after an opposition unexampled in character and duration, it cannot be uninteresting to recal the plans, which at different periods its friends have proposed, for the purpose of effecting the object of their wishes. A considerable class of reformers, of whom, at this time, Mr. Brougham may be regarded as the leader, were anxious to attempt some measure, however inconsiderable in itself, which might yet be regarded as the commencement of a better order of things. Though conscious that more important changes were called for, they thought that the impossibility of then effecting such changes, justified them in aiming at an inferior but more attainable object. They imagined that a measure so moderate, so just, and so rational, might be brought forwards, that the enemies of reform would be unable, or perhaps unwilling to oppose it; and they regarded the largeness of the demand, in former instances, as the cause of the want of success. The measures which at this period Mr. Brougham had in contemplation, are thus described in Mr. Roscoe’s letter:—

“I shall now beg leave more particularly to notice the steps towards such a reform, which are pointed out in your letter, and which you inform me it is shortly your intention to take, by proposing such measures in parliament. The first of these is, limiting the number of inferior placemen in the House of Commons, and the leaving there only the ministers and principal members of the boards. The second is, the correction of the corrupt or defective representation of the Scottish counties; a subject which you have most clearly stated, and of the necessity of remedying the defects of which there cannot in any impar-tial mind exist a doubt In the third place, you would give the elective franchise to the English copyholder. You have also a fourth object in view, the laying the foundation of a Scotch and English borough reform; avoiding as much as possible the principle of disfranchisement, but obtaining the voluntary sale of some English boroughs, giving to other towns a right of representation, and adding in some instances to the county members. These measures you conceive to be ‘sufficient to begin with,’ and ‘sufficient to satisfy the most sanguine reformer.’”

To this plan of proceeding Mr. Roscoe then states his objections; the first of which is its impracticability, from its failing to meet the wishes of any considerable class of reformers:—

“In one word, it appears to me, to go much too far to obtain the support of one party, and not far enough to command that of the other. The time for intermediate measures is past. Those who are in the possession of the emoluments of office, and rely upon borough influence, have taken their stand; they will either retain all or lose all; and would consider the smallest concession towards reform as a Hollander would the cutting through an embankment, which would soon let in the ocean that must sweep him away. There cannot, therefore, be in my apprehension, the slightest expectation entertained, that any one of these measures will be acceded to by any of those who have hitherto objected to reform; and who, if the proposed alteration be small, will treat it as insidious, if extensive, will consider it as bold and ruinous; and, as in cases of difference of opinion, the precise degree of difference has little effect on the bitterness of opposition,—except that experience has shown, that such bitterness is generally greater where the points in difference are less,—so the same artillery would be brought to bear against your propositions, as would be brought against one for a more general reform in the mode of electing members to serve in parliament. On the other hand, the friends to such a reform, founding their ideas upon the principle, that every person under equal circumstances has an equal right to vote, would regard your propositions with coldness, as not answering the great object towards which they earnestly look, and with jealousy, as substituting an imperfect regulation in the place of the ultimate result of their efforts. Under these circumstances, I doubt, whether either of the great parties into which the nation is divided, would even wish to see your measures carried into effect.”

He again adverts to the tenacity with which the enemies of reform cling to the abuses by which they profit, in the following passage:—

“He who attempts to restore a mouldering brick, or to replace a rotten timber, is as ob-noxious to them as he who would pull down the building. It is in the holes, and chinks, and corners, which time and decay have produced, that they live, and feed, and fatten; and the first symptom of improvement is to them the signal of alarm.”

The real sources from which reform was to be looked for are thus pointed out.

“To you, my dear Sir, the result of these observations will not be difficult to collect. Were it necessary for me to explain them further, I should say, that it is not by agitating any partial reforms, but by producing a serious conviction in the public mind, of the necessity of an incorrupt and independent House of Commons, that the friends of reform must eventually hope for success. This conviction the people are rapidly obtaining, in a manner which they cannot but feel and acknowledge.

“The friends of reform may, perhaps, by calm and temperate discussion contribute in some degree to promote it; but the most powerful advocates of reform are the adherents of the present corrupt system, and the most unanswerable arguments are the present state of the country, the increasing weight of taxation, the profuse waste of the blood and treasure of the nation, the enormous sinecures enjoyed by ministerial dependants, and the appointment of inefficient and inexperienced ministers to offices of the highest trust. It is to such arguments, and to the prevailing opinion that such transactions have not met with due animadversion and restraint from the Commons’ House of Parliament, that we are to attribute the deep impression which has been made on the public mind. As long as such practices continue, the public dissatisfaction must increase; and the time either now is, or will soon arrive, when every person must ask himself the important question, what opinions he means decisively to adopt, and what course of conduct to pursue.”

The nature and extent of the change in the elective franchise advocated by Mr. Roscoe appear in the following passage:—

“In order to accomplish these objects in their full extent, it would be necessary that the right of voting should not depend on the various, and in some instances capricious qualifications, which at present exist, but should be extended to all; by which I mean, to all who as householders are heads of families, and contribute to the exigencies of the state, as well as to some other descriptions of the community; and that all persons holding places and pensions should be incapable of being elected, or if they afterwards accept of places, should absolutely be deprived of seats in the House. This I should consider as a full and substantial reform.”

He afterwards adverts to the consequences of such a reform:—

“To whom would the granting of an equal right of suffrage be an offence, but to those who are interested in the corrupt system of trafficking in boroughs? In fact, such a reform would not only occasion no tumult, but would be the means of preventing it, and would put an end for ever to those disgraceful scenes of bribery and intoxication, which, on the occurrence of an election, disgust every thinking man in the kingdom. By a proper division of each county into districts, every member ought to be elected on the same day. No person would be under the necessity of going above a very few miles from his own house. All pretext for bribery under the idea of paying the travelling charges of electors, &c., would be done away, and the House of Commons would, in a great degree, if not entirely, be spared the laborious and irksome service of election committees, which occupy the chief part of the first session of every Parliament, and are beneficial only to the lawyers who attend them.”

On the danger of change, an argument which may be urged against every improvement, Mr. Roscoe makes the following observations:—

“I have before hinted an opinion, that alterations or reforms in government are often more to be dreaded from the opposition they meet with, than from the effects they would be likely to produce. Ever since the French Revolution an universal panic seems to have pervaded this country; and because the people there became frantic on rushing out from their prison, we cannot walk out of our houses to take the air, without fearing a similar result. This disposition is fostered and promoted, with the utmost diligence, by all those whose interest it is to keep us from looking into our own concerns. As soon any public abuse is pointed out, and a desire expressed to prevent it, we are told to look at the French Revolution, and observe the dreadful effects of attempting the work of reformation. The false and slavish maxim that it is ‘better to bear the ills we have, Than fly to others that we know not of,’ is held to us in terrorem, as if it were better to bear actual, certain, and present evils, than to take the chance of incurring evils of which we confessedly know nothing, and which may therefore have no existence but in a distempered and timid imagination.”

The letter, when printed, was again honoured with the full approbation of the distinguished statesman to whom it was addressed:—“I have just received your two covers, and greatly rejoice at your publishing the letter. I have read it again, and (which does not always happen) like it even better in print than in MS, It must do good, and people will read it who wont look at a book on the subject.”

At the close of his life Mr. Roscoe had the happiness of seeing a scheme of reform introduced, founded upon the principles which he had himself thus earnestly supported. He witnessed an attempt made to abolish “the various and capricious qualifications” of voters, and to substitute, in place of them, a franchise at once just, simple, and rational, in those “who as householders are heads of families, and contribute to the exigencies of the state.” He saw a system proposed which realised, in almost every particular, the plan recommended by himself. He did not, indeed, live to see the completion of this great measure, or to witness the confirmation which it afforded of the many important truths contained in his Letter to Mr. Brougham: to mark the accuracy of his assertion that “the feelings of the people, when once warmed and excited, will not stop short of an ultimate and substantial reform,” and that “alterations or reforms in government are more to be dreaded from the opposition they meet with, than from the effects they are likely to produce.” It was the happy fortune of his distinguished correspondent not only to see these important changes effected, but also to be one of the principal instruments of their accomplishment.

Soon after the publication of the Letter to Mr. Brougham, an answer to it appeared from the pen of Mr. John Merritt, a gentleman of Liverpool. The object of this publication was to demonstrate, that the scheme of reform suggested by Mr. Roscoe was at once uncalled for and dangerous, and that the system of influence under which the country had for so long a course of years been governed was perfectly in accordance with the principles of the constitution. Referring to Burke’s “seeming paradox,” that though a theory may be beautiful and correct, yet it may be impossible or dangerous to reduce it to practice, Mr. Merritt contended that the notion of an independent House of Commons, though plausible in theory, was utterly impracticable.

For some time Mr. Roscoe was undecided whether he should extend the controversy by replying to this publication, which ultimately, however, he resolved to do; and in “An Answer to a Letter from Mr. John Merritt, on the Subject of Parliamentary Reform,”* he discussed at considerable length the topics in dispute between them. He exposed the unphilosophical and absurd idea that what is theoretically true can be

* Liverpool; printed by M. Galway and Co. 1812.

practically false, though he admits, that in the application of the theory of politics there may be found much difficulty. With regard to the principal point of Mr. Merritt’s argument, the constitutional propriety of the system of influence, or as it may be more truly termed, of corruption, Mr. Roscoe readily demonstrated its fallacy, and showed, even from the admissions of his opponent, how dangerous to the liberties of the people such a system must be.

“If this were the system of the government, it is of all engines of oppression undoubtedly the worst. The conflicts which arose between the contending powers of King, Lords, and Commons, in former times, are beyond all comparison preferable to the dead, spiritless, unelastic pressure of such a government. In comparison with this, a direct and open despotism is liberal and magnanimous. By whatever name the ruler may be distinguished, he there appears in his own character, and is himself responsible to public opinion for the manner in which he exercises his authority; but if such a ruler can by any contrivance establish an intermediate body between himself and the people, who shall be supposed to guard their rights and defend their interests, whilst, in fact, they are only the creatures of the crown, corrupted and paid to sanction every act, and interpose as a screen between the resentment of the people and the misconduct of their rulers,—this, of all the situations in which a country can be placed, is the most fatal, the most humiliating, and the most hopeless. It is calculated not only to oppress but to insult a nation. It is to tyrannise over them by their own consent, and to close their lips against even complaint and remonstrance. It bears with it, in short, the worst features of the gloomy reign of Tiberius, and threatens this once favoured country with a long series of abject despondency, servility, and disgrace.”*

On the imputation so frequently cast upon the friends of reform, that they attributed to the people at large much more virtue and public spirit than in fact they possessed; and that their schemes, though they might be well meant, were yet short sighted, Mr. Roscoe observes;—

“Amongst other means to which these practical men have resorted to injure the cause of reform, towards whatever object it may be directed, it is not unusual for them to represent the advocates for improvement as men of warm hearts but weak understandings, who are apt to attribute to mankind in general better qualities than they in reality possess, and who are therefore always mistaken in their reasonings respecting them.

* “Quinetiam speciem libertatis quandam induxit, congervatis senatui ac magistratibus, et majestate pristina et potestate. Neque tam parvum quidquam, neque tam magnum publici privatique negotii fuit, de quo non ad P. C. referretur.” Suet, in vit. Tiber.

“Nor can it be denied, that if we are to judge from the result of their efforts, there often appears to be too much reason for the imputation. This, however, is not a necessary, much less an inevitable consequence; and he who forms his political creed on a presumption of the general depravity of mankind, is perhaps liable to fall into as great, and certainly a much more dangerous error, than he whose experience leads him to attribute to the rest of mankind some portion of those better principles, for which he expects that the rest of the world should give him credit. Dark as the political horizon may appear, yet, if we look into the circles of private life, we shall find, that integrity, truth, and justice are not yet exploded amongst mankind;—that magnanimity excites admiration, generosity gratitude,—and that all the best feelings and affections of the heart yet exist in their full force. Where, then, is the absurdity of presuming, that he who would not commit a dishonest action in private life, would not lend his aid to an act of public injustice? That he who would not be guilty of a highway robbery, would not willingly associate himself with a band of pirates? That he who would shudder at the thought of murdering his neighbour, would not, for the sake of his private emolument, instigate or encourage a war in which thousands of his neighbours must inevitably perish?

“It is only by extending his sphere of action, and supposing that an individual will most likely perform upon a large scale the same part that he does on a small one, and the absurdity vanishes. What would be the condition of private society, if envy, jealousy, fear, distrust, and hatred, were the only feelings by which mankind were actuated? but still more unfortunate is it, when these dreadful and unsocial passions are intermingled in the character of nations, and influence the conduct of states towards each other.

“The former is only an accidental and local disease, the latter is a sweeping pestilence, by which whole nations are destroyed. These, I may be told, are truisms; but when truisms are forgotten or disregarded, their truth is surely no objection against their being revived and enforced. What, then, has the politician to do, but to apply to the affairs of nations and the intercourse of states those principles of morality which he finds in the relations of private life? to banish the absurd and dangerous maxim, that ‘there is one line of moral conduct for nations, and another for individuals;’ to exemplify in public those maxims of justice, sincerity, moderation, and good-will, towards which every government pays a nominal homage, and which are the very cement of private society; and to render a government the example and pattern, and not the corruption and opprobrium of a people.”

While the reflections of Mr. Roscoe had led him to the conviction, that it was only from the introduction of a large and substantial measure of reform that success could be expected, he was fully aware that the combination of persons of rank, property, and influence with the mass of the people, would be necessary to give this great object any chance of accomplishment. He, therefore, anxiously exerted himself in every quarter to impress this fact upon the minds of his political friends, and to induce them to wave all minor differences of opinion in favour of some plan which should unite the great body of reformers. He earnestly desired to see those whom he considered as the natural leaders of the people step forwards to direct popular opinion on this subject, and by the weight of their influence to. give at once power and steadiness to the efforts of the reformers. In a letter to one of the most illustrious of his correspondents, written in September, 1812, he says, “Mr. Brougham has just left Allerton, where he passed a few days with: me, and told me, in private conversation, of the efforts made by you to induce the great leaders; of (what I am sorry we must still call) opposition to unite in some general expression, before the rising of parliament, of the necessity of measures of reform. Such a step, if it could have been accomplished, would have had the happiest effect, in uniting the great body of the people with he enters at considerable length into the state of our Indian possessions.

In the year 1807 he had taken a part at a public meeting held in Liverpool, on the subject of the opening of the trade; and again, in the course of the present year (1812), he came forwards on a similar occasion. The charter of the Company being about to expire, meetings were held in different parts of the country, for the purpose of petitioning parliament for a free trade, and the inhabitants of Liverpool, amongst other places, met together to oppose a renewal of the monopoly. The resolutions proposed and carried on this occasion were prepared by Mr. Roscoe, who supported them in an address of considerable length.* He treated the subject entirely as a commercial question, and rested the claims of the petitioners upon the principles of free trade. The following are the resolutions directed to this part of the question:—

“That we, in common with the rest of our fellow-subjects, have a right to a free trade with all parts of the British empire, and other countries in amity with these united kingdoms, subject only to such general regulations of trade as the policy of this country may require, or as may be necessary for maintaining the relations of these realms with foreign states, and

* Printed in the Liverpool Mercury of 20th March, 1812.

securing to government those revenues which may be necessary for its support.

“That we humbly conceive the great object of all legislative regulation, in the commercial concerns of the country, is the protection of this equal right in the subject, and the further extension of an honourable, just, and legitimate commerce; and that therefore all monopolies which exclude the general body of the people from trading with other countries, are in derogation of the birth-right of the subject, and counteract the chief purpose which they ought to have in view.

“That the monopoly of the East India Company is an additional instance, with others which might be adduced, of the injurious consequences that must always attend such attempts at an exclusive traffic; and that we conceive it to have been fully demonstrated, not only by the most conclusive reasoning, but by incontrovertible facts, that such monopoly is prejudicial to the general interests of the country at large, and discourages that commercial spirit which, from the nature and local situation of these islands, is indispensable to their prosperity, and upon which their security, at this moment, essentially depends.”

On the subject of this meeting Mr. Roscoe thus addressed the Duke of Gloucester, in a letter, dated the 21st March:—

“I have desired the printer of the ‘Liverpool Mercury’ to forward you a copy of that paper, in which you will see the result of a public meeting for petitioning parliament for an open trade to the East Indies, and will, I hope, think that the resolutions there adopted have placed the subject on its proper ground, that of a claim of right. I also venture to flatter myself that your Royal Highness will think that in what I have said I have acted the part of a friend to my country, in endeavouring, as far as in my power, to prevent the people being deluded to their destruction, by the prospect of advantages which it is impossible should be realised in time to provide for present emergencies.

“That the East India trade will, when opened, be highly beneficial to this country I have no doubt; but if the expectation of it should call off our attention from the real causes of our distress, and induce us to suppose that we can dispense with the advantages we derive from the preservation of an intercourse with America, it may lead us into a most serious error.”

The occurrence of a general election in the autumn of 1812 again drew Mr. Roscoe into the toils and anxieties of public life. With regard to himself, his increasing age and his engagements in business precluded him from entertaining the idea of resuming his seat in parliament, though, had his inclinations been so directed, opportunities were not wanting of indulging them. In the month of September, he received a confidential communication from one of his friends in London (Mr. John M’Creery), stating, that a meeting having been held of certain electors of Westminster, preparatory to a larger assembly, he had been requested on behalf of the gentlemen who composed that meeting to inquire from Mr. Roscoe whether, if elected free of expense on the pure principles of the last election, he would be willing to perform the duties of their representative. “I need not tell you,” says his correspondent, “what answer I should wish you to enable me to give. Your love of liberty, your love of the principle, will, I am persuaded, dictate the answer, and over, rule all considerations arising from personal inconvenience.” The answer of Mr. Roscoe to this flattering communication was conveyed in the following letter:—

“Your letter of the 24th, desiring to be informed, whether, if I were chosen for Westminster, upon the pure principles of the last election, I would undertake the duties of the office, has greatly surprised me.

“That my name should be in any manner suggested as connected with the representation of the first city in the empire, is in itself an honour of which I cannot but be most deeply sensible. At the same time, I am compelled to say, that if the result were as certain as the object is elevated, I must most seriously decline it, and to your question so distinctly put must answer, No. The truth is, that if a Parliamentary life were in my view, I should think myself bound, in the first instance, to renew the offer of my services to my native place, where, if I have not the certainty, I might now have the fairest prospect of success. The same reasons that have induced me to decline the solicitations of my friends here, must operate equally at least as to any other place, however more distinguished, with the additional consideration, that after the decided step I have already taken here, I could not accede to any other prospect without subjecting myself to a charge of inconsistency, which it has ever been my endeavour to avoid.

“This inquiry, however it may have originated, or to whatever number of electors it may be confined, will always be recollected by me with the highest gratification. Not, I trust, from any weak motives of personal vanity, but because it affords me the happiness of thinking that the principles I have avowed in favour of liberty, peace, and reform, are in strict unison with those of the enlightened electors of Westminster. Nor can I entertain a doubt that they will persevere in the cause they have already so nobly begun, and by maintaining the independence and purity of election, become the saviours of their country.

“I have now only to thank you, my dear friend, for the solicitude you so kindly express as to my decision, and to assure you of my invariable attachment.”

When the elections came on, Mr. Roscoe learned with much surprise that he had been proposed as one of the candidates for the representation of the borough of Leicester. No previous intimation had been conveyed to him of the intention of the electors to make use of his name, and he had not therefore the opportunity of expressing his dissent to the measure. His name had, in fact, been selected as that of a person whose character was generally known and regarded, for the purpose of affording some strength to an opposition, which, at that time, was little more than hopeless. At the conclusion of the election, it appeared that while the successful candidates numbered 1116 and 967 voters, those who had supported Mr. Roscoe amounted to 412. It was only through the public papers that Mr. Roscoe obtained a knowledge of this transaction, and immediately on the conclusion of the election he transmitted to Leicester the following address:—

“To the Independent Electors of the Borough of Leicester.

“Gentlemen,

“Although I have received no information, except from the public papers, of the circum-stances which have taken place in your very populous and respectable town, during the late election for its representatives in parliament; yet, I cannot affect to be ignorant that I had, on that occasion, the honour of being proposed as one of your candidates; an honour conferred upon me, not only without my solicitation, but without my knowledge; and which can admit of no other construction than that of being an explicit approbation of those public principles which I have had occasion so repeatedly to avow.

“That under such circumstances I should have had the support of no less than four hundred and twelve independent voters, whilst one of the successful candidates numbered only 967, and the other only 1116 votes, is to me a subject of gratification. Nor is this diminished, when I reflect that it is highly probable, from the union of interests that appears to have subsisted between those candidates, that a great part of the votes so given were divided votes. Even this majority has not, as it appears, been obtained without a powerful struggle; nor, as we are expressly informed by those gentlemen in their printed letter of thanks, ‘without calling forth great and burdensome exertions from a numerous body of their friends.’

“In such a situation, for me to remain silent would evince a want of feeling, of which I hope I am utterly incapable. No, Gentlemen, although I am personally an entire stranger to you, yet be assured, that in spirit and in principle I am with you; and that you have not formed a wrong estimate of me, when you consider me as ‘The friend of peace, of reform, and of religious liberty.’ Nor am I less gratified by the independent and truly constitutional manner in which you have endeavoured to obtain your object, divested of ‘the influence of party, and without any personal feelings of opposition.’ These are the sentiments that ought to animate the breast of every elector; but with you they are not vain and empty professions. Even your opponents have publicly acknowledged in their final address, that ‘you were entitled to their thanks,’ and ‘that you have manifested your wish to promote the peace of Leicester, and the personal safety of those engaged in the election.’

“I hope that the pleasure I feel upon this occasion, and which I am now endeavouring to express, will be attributed to its proper motives. That I am insensible to the honourable esteem of good men, will not, I trust, be supposed; but a still more legitimate cause of my satisfaction is in the decided proof that has been given, as well in your distinguished town as in other parts of the kingdom, of the more general diffusion of principles favourable to freedom, to peace, to well regulated government, and to high and enlightened morality; in the conviction that the great work, which must eventually produce the reformation and happiness of the people, is already begun; and in the ardent hope, that as we have lived to see this country perform one great act of disinterested justice, so we may yet expect to see the defects and abuses of our political system corrected and improved, by wise, temperate, peaceable, and effective measures, and this country raised to that eminence, to which, from the good sense, the courage, the industry, and the talents of its inhabitants, it is so justly entitled to aspire,

“I have the honour to be, “With sentiments of the highest respect, “Gentlemen, “Your most faithful servant, “William Roscoe. “Allerton Hall, Oct. 12, 1812.”

With regard to the representation of Liverpool, Mr. Roscoe was pressed, individually, by many of his friends, to present himself again as a candidate; and the strong assurances of support which he received might have justified him in looking for success. With these solicitations, however, influenced by those sufficient reasons which have already been mentioned, he uniformly declined to comply. Though himself debarred from becoming the representative of his townsmen, he felt no little share of anxiety with regard to the choice which they might make. He thought that, if at this juncture, a triumph could be obtained for liberal principles in Liverpool, an impression would be made upon the country at large, which might be essentially serviceable to the two great objects of his political life,—peace and reform. To make this triumph complete, it was necessary that two members attached to these principles should be returned;—a step which the state of parties in Liverpool seemed to render feasible. The next consideration was the selection of two persons, who, from character, talents, and public services, might be supposed to have a claim upon the suffrages of the electors. That Mr. Roscoe, in common with all the other friends of freedom in Liverpool, should in the first instance look to Mr. Brougham, as the fittest person to forward these great objects, was not surprising. His exertions in the case of the Orders in Council; his declared attachment to reform; his brilliant though brief career in the House of Commons; and his reputation for extraordinary talent, then rising rapidly towards that height which it has since attained, all pointed him out as the individual best qualified to give splendour, dignity, and success, to a popular contest. A long and confidential correspondence on political subjects between Mr. Brougham and Mr. Roscoe, had confirmed, in the mind of the latter, the high opinion which Mr. Brougham’s public conduct had created, and had added feelings of personal attachment to those of admiration and respect for his political character.

A number of the merchants of Liverpool, desirous of testifying their sense of the public services of Mr. Brougham, especially in the matter of the Orders in Council, resolved to give a public dinner in honour of him, and to solicit his attendance on the occasion. This circumstance afforded Mr. Roscoe the opportunity of enjoying the society of his distinguished correspondent for a few days at Allerton,—a pleasure of which he had been long desirous. The enthusiasm which, at the public dinner, attended the coupling the name of Mr. Brougham with the representation of Liverpool, left no doubt with regard to the strong and general feeling existing in his favour.

The other individual selected to stand by the side of Mr. Brougham in this great contest, was Mr. Creevey, himself a native of Liverpool, and well known to its chief inhabitants. Consistency of political conduct, and an intimate acquaintance with the commercial and financial interests of the country, frequently displayed in the debates of the House of Commons, seemed to render this gentleman a fit coadjutor to Mr. Brougham, while the exertions he had lately made to give to the country at large the benefit of a free commerce with the East Indies, might well be supposed to have rendered him popular in the great mercantile community of Liverpool.

The attempt to return two members of liberal principles excited, as it was expected it would do, a spirit of strong opposition. The friends of the late members, General Gascoyne and General Tarleton, clearly foresaw, that unless some new and extraordinary effort was made, their adversaries would have every chance of success. From the ranks of both of them, therefore, a number of the most wealthy and powerful of their supporters stepped forwards, and in order to secure a candidate equal to the task of contending with Mr. Brougham, invited Mr. Canning to Liverpool. The consequence of this step was, that the party of General Tarleton, whose influence had been gradually diminishing, became almost extinct; and a junction was formed between the supporters of General Gascoyne and of Mr. Canning. With this combination of forces, to which the corporation influence added great strength, the friends of the liberal candidates were unable to contend; and after an arduous and well maintained struggle of several days, the election terminated in favour of Mr. Canning and General Gascoyne.

Having refused to come forward in his own person, Mr. Roscoe did not think it proper to take an active and conspicuous part in the con-test, though the friends of Mr. Brougham and Mr. Creevey were, as it may be supposed, very principally guided by his advice. In the course of the election, and while the event of it was yet uncertain, it was supposed that a compromise might be effected with the opposite party, and the return of Mr. Brougham secured. To this course of proceeding Mr. Roscoe was strenuously opposed; and his conduct on this occasion incurred the censure of some of his friends. To these censures it may be a sufficient answer to state, that the person whose interests were most nearly affected expressed his full approbation of the course recommended by Mr. Roscoe—“I only wish to say,” he observes, in a letter, written immediately after the election, “that wherever I go, I find the most respectful ideas of our strength in the late contest; and that my constant theme is the propriety of having tried two, and refused all idea of compromise. I found it the more necessary to speak this language, because notions seemed to have got abroad, as if it was not consonant to my own views. You know the contrary, and I flatter myself the idea is at an end.” The motives which influenced Mr. Roscoe on this occasion were worthy of his character. At the time when an accommodation was possible, the event of the election was of course in doubt; and Mr. Roscoe could not reconcile himself to the idea that he might be made instrumental in the return of a person to whose principles he was so decidedly opposed. Nor did he esteem it honourable, for any object of public convenience, to desert that friend, who had been induced, principally at his solicitation, to engage in the contest, and who might thus be deprived of an opportunity of obtaining a seat in parliament.

Under the disappointment which Mr. Roscoe naturally felt at the failure of the efforts made by the friends of freedom in Liverpool to return representatives enjoying their confidence and respect, he found a satisfaction in reflecting, that the contest had been the means of calling forth the eloquence, and exhibiting the high genius of one who has since acted so distinguished a part in the political history of his age.

The speeches delivered by Mr. Canning in the course of the election (which were collected and published soon after its termination) contain an elaborate defence of the war, and unsparing attacks upon the friends of parliamentary reform. Unwilling to suffer a publication like this to pass without notice, Mr. Roscoe, a few weeks subsequent to its appearance, felt it incumbent on him to examine the arguments it contained, which he did in a short pamphlet, entitled, “A Review of the Speeches of the Right Honourable George Canning on the late Election for Liverpool, so far as they relate to the Questions of Peace and Reform.”* “The frequency and earnestness,” he says, “with which these questions were discussed by Mr. Canning, could not fail of engaging my attention. I found those principles and opinions which I was well known to entertain, in common with a very great proportion of the community, not only controverted as ignorant theories, the result of an enthusiastic and presumptuous philosophy, but represented as criminal and dangerous—as directly hostile to the honour and interests of the country—as leading to mad and desperate attempts to involve the nation at large in the most deplorable calamities.”

Mr. Roscoe then proceeds to comment upon the arguments made use of by Mr. Canning in defence of the war, and especially that most extraordinary and delusive position, that the warfare in which we were engaged was a visitation from heaven, and that it was in vain to struggle against the divine wrath:—“What, gentlemen,” he observes, “should you think of the sense or the fairness of men, who, in the midst of the distress and desolation occasioned in one of your West India Islands by a hurricane or tornado, while the air was involved in a pitchy darkness and the city rocking with volcanic explosions, were to run about the streets, proclaiming them-

* Liverpool, Dec. 1812.

selves the friends of peace and of perpendicular position.” And again, in speaking of the sufferings occasioned by the war, he says, “but that these sufferings are inflicted by any other hand than that which bringeth down punishment upon nations, I must utterly deny.”—“It is not easy,” observes Mr. Roscoe, “to conceive how Mr. Canning could venture to advance, and repeatedly to insist upon, this very singular sentiment. Could he for a moment conceive that it was in his power to induce his hearers to relinquish their understandings, to extinguish their feelings, to abandon every effort for their own security and their own happiness, and to resign themselves in despair to whatever fate might be impending over them? Is it not an insult upon common sense to tell us that we can no more prevent the continuance of war, than we can prevent the effects of an earthquake or a tornado? Has not Mr. Canning himself entered into discussions on the question of peace? and did he ever hear of persons seriously deliberating on the best mode of preventing a hurricane or an earthquake, or of altering the course of nature in the system of the physical world?”

It is a matter of some curiosity at the present time to observe the manner in which the great question of parliamentary reform was treated, twenty years since, by the most brilliant politician of the day.

The tone of triumph assumed by Mr. Canning, in referring to the subject of reform, and the derision and contempt with which its advocates were uniformly treated by him, show how imperfectly he understood the progress of public opinion on this subject; but it is not improbable, that had the days of this celebrated statesman been prolonged, he might, upon this question, as he did upon others, have recurred to the principles of his early life. The fact that he had supported Mr. Pitt in his projects of reform, is very justly brought forward by Mr. Roscoe in answer to the imputations so freely cast by Mr. Canning on the motives of the reformers:—“Mr. Canning has been in the ranks of the reformers, and cannot but know that the grounds and reasons upon which they claim their constitutional rights, have too broad a foundation in the history and laws of the country and the practice of their ancestors, to be overthrown or invalidated by the mere assertion of any man; and ought to be aware that, as a person who has derived, or is likely to derive, peculiar advantages from the change of his political opinions, he should be particularly cautious in imputing to those who have adhered to their principles, those base and unworthy motives, which might with so much propriety be retorted on himself.”

It is seldom that, in the political writings of Mr. Roscoe, any attempt at pleasantry is to be found: almost the only instance of it occurs at the conclusion of the present pamphlet, where he ridicules the consolations administered by Mr. Canning for the sufferings of the war, and the admiration expressed by his audience at these portions of his speeches.

“Now, it is not easy to determine whether we ought most to admire the kind and consolatory language in which the orator thus consigns his hearers to irremediable distress, or the readiness and pleasure with which they surrender themselves to their fate. It is as novel as it is delightful to see with what ardour and cordiality they congratulate each other that no changes, either in the internal or external policy of the country, can remedy their sufferings, and how truly they participate in the cheering sentiment of the excellent old song— ‘Let us all be unhappy together!’

“In this prosperous state of affairs, with which they are so highly gratified, it would be quite impertinent to interfere. About tastes it is in vain to dispute; and they who meddle on such occasions undertake a thankless and often a dangerous office. It is only a few weeks since, as my readers must all remember, that a circumstance occurred in the metropolis which strongly exemplifies this remark. An honest John Bull had been unluckily tempted to engage in a game of chance, as improvidently as nations sometimes engage in a war. Having lost all his money, he wagered his clothes, and lost them also. Having then nothing left but his life, he placed that, too, on the chance of the die. Being still unfortunate, he fairly resigned himself up to his antagonist, who, with as little ceremony as Mr. Canning displays in pronouncing the decrees of heaven, hung him up on a lamp-post. A police officer passing by, and seeing so unusual a spectacle, hastened and cut him down. On such an occasion, it might be supposed, that the gratitude of the man to his benefactor would be unbounded; but what was the surprise of the interloper on finding, that the first use which the other made of his returning strength was to commence a violent attack upon him, from which he with difficulty extricated himself, and was obliged to resort for redress to a court of law. Ex uno disce omnes. This is a true prototype of the supporters of the war, and ought to be a caution to those officious persons who are so ready to assist their neighbours. People have, it is true, in general, no relish for hunger and thirst, poverty and nakedness, any more than for being hung up at a lamp post; but it must not be presumed from this that every one is of the same opinion. It is said there is a pleasure in madness which none but madmen know; and as Mr. Canning has told us that war has its consolations, arising from the com-parison of our own sufferings with those of our enemies, so it is possible that the pleasure of knowing that others are miserable, may, in some persons, exceed the pain occasioned by the distress of them and their families; but this is a matter of feeling, not of reasoning, resulting from the organisation of the heart, not of the head. In this state of affairs, all that can be done is, to leave them to their own enjoyments, the circle of which has, in the course of the present year, been so considerably enlarged. Unfortunately, however, these Epicureans in misery cannot think their gratification complete unless the rest of their countrymen partake of the treat. Nor is this sufficient. They must not only be compelled to take their share, but they must take it with every demonstration of satisfaction and of gratitude to those who have so liberally provided it for them: otherwise the branding iron is in the fire; and Mr. Canning, the crier of the court, is ready to affix the indelible mark which is to render them the objects of aversion or of distrust to their countrymen for the remainder of their days.

“But I should do great injustice to the important towns before mentioned, and to that of Liverpool in particular, were I to allow it for one moment to be understood that the persons who could thus hear with patience and mark with their approbation the sentiments of Mr. Canning, are to be considered as expressing the sense of the inhabitants, or even of a majority of the inhabitants of those places. It is not, indeed, easy to conceive how statements so fallacious, assertions so unfounded, accusations so injurious, and views of national policy so disheartening and unjust, could have met with the applause with which they were received. But that Mr. Canning’s speeches have contributed to add to his popularity, or to attract a single individual to his cause, will not readily be believed. On the contrary, it must appear to every intelligent and impartial reader that these harangues exhibit nothing of those strong feelings for the happiness of the people, those comprehensive views of the public interest, or that deliberative wisdom which ought to characterise even the extemporaneous effusions of a truly enlightened statesman; but that they are the common and vulgar topics of those political partisans, who, however they may disagree amongst themselves, always make common cause against the people, and would gladly induce them to believe, that all opposition to their measures is not only useless, but criminal; not only irrational, but insane; not only imprudent, but contradictory to the immutable decrees of Providence.”

Adverting to a passage in one of Mr. Canning’s speeches, in which he alludes to the dis-appointment of the rival candidate, Mr. Roscoe gives the following brief but eloquent character of that celebrated person:—

“And who was he that was thus marked out as retiring, disappointed in his expectations? A man of whom it is difficult to say, whether the courageous energy with which he has uniformly pursued every great and noble object, or the splendour of his talents and extent of his acquirements are the most conspicuous,—who would have reflected back, with additional lustre, the honour conferred on him by his constituents,—who has compressed within a small portion of his life, and a short parliamentary career, the most important services to his country; and who, in the midst of venality and corruption, the defalcation of the young and the prejudices of the old, has always stood up, the fearless and successful advocate of justice, of humanity, of freedom, and of peace. If such a man is not entitled to the affection and gratitude of his countrymen, and may not hope for the favour of Heaven upon his exertions,—then, indeed, a revolution has taken place in the moral constitution of the world, such as it has not before experienced. ‘But evil on itself shall back recoil, And mix no more with goodness.’ ‘—if this fail, The pillar’d firmament is rottenness, And earth’s base built on stubble.’

In a letter, conveying to one of his principal political friends an account of the Liverpool election, Mr. Roscoe states his sentiments with regard to the prospects of Reform.

“What has happened here has happened also at other places, and I cannot but particularly regret that Sir Samuel Romilly was not returned for Bristol. But, although I admit that the present opposition are not likely to be any gainers by the dissolution of parliament, yet I cannot but think that a more correct and enlightened spirit of improvement is gradually diffusing itself amongst the people at large.

“The efforts that have been made have all been respectable, founded on principle, and free from all just charge of outrage or violence; nor is it an unfavourable symptom that all attempts to carry the people to extremes have been put down and repressed, and a more distinct barrier drawn between the real and steadfast friends of the country, and those who would infuse their own intemperate and dangerous spirit into the community. What you have stated, respecting your own efforts to produce a declaration of sentiment favourable to reform, has given me the greatest pleasure. I hope and trust such a measure may yet be possible; and that the friends of real and practicable improvement may begin to understand each other. Certainly there has been, hitherto, some fatal mistake on this subject; and the great mass of the people who wish to see a change of political measures, upon principles within the strict limits of the constitution, have been confounded with men who have taken upon themselves to be the organ of the people; but who, it now sufficiently appears, speak only their own violent, and often discordant, opinions.

“That this mistake has weakened the efforts of Opposition, even in Parliament itself, I am well convinced, and still more in the country at large; nor can it be remedied till our great statesmen will perceive the distinction that really subsists between the great body of the people who are favourable to reform, and those who undertake, without their consent, to express their sentiments, in a tone and manner which no liberal nor candid mind can approve.”

CHAPTER XIII. 1812—1815. Alterations at Allerton Hall.—Mr. Roscoe’s illness—his study of bibliography—letter to Dr. Dibdin respecting a Life of Erasmus—projected account of his library and other collections—letter to Dr. Smith—verses on the Liverpool Election of 1812—his intention of “writing the Life of Dr. Currie—letter to Dr. Wright—projects a translation of Lanzi—papers in the Transactions of the Linnæan Society—is elected an honorary member of the New York Historical Society—acquaintance with Mr. Owen of Lanark—letter to him.—Prince Sandars. Visit of Miss Aikin to Allerton.—Mr. Roscoe’s taste for agricultural pursuits—communication to the Agricultural Society of West Derby—cultivation of Chat Moss—communication to the Board of Agriculture—letter to Sir John Sinclair—thanks of the Board.—Letter from General Dirom—allusion to his cultivation of Chat Moss in Mrs. Barbauld’s “Eighteen Hundred and Eleven”—letter to her—acquaintance with Mr. Tollet and Mr. Wilbraham—letter from the latter.—Invitations to Holkham.—Letters from Dr. Smith.—Visit to Holkham.—The collection of MSS. there—undertakes the arrangement of them—bound by Mr. Jones of Liverpool.—Letters from Mr. Wilbraham and Mr. Coke.—Poem of “Holkham.”—Letter from Mr. Coke to Sir J. Smith.—Presentation of the “Life of Leo” to Mr. Coke, and sonnet.—Letter from the Bishop of Norwich to Sir J. Smith.—“The Return.”—Visit of Mr. Coke and Dr. Parr to Allerton. CHAPTER XIII.

For a considerable period previous to this time, much of Mr. Roscoe’s attention had been devoted to the improvement of his mansion at Allerton. The older portion of the house having become dangerous from the decay of the timbers, he determined to pull it down, and to rebuild it on an uniform plan, so as to correspond with the centre and wing, which had been erected about sixty years previously. This alteration was necessarily attended by a change in the disposition of the grounds round the house; the gardens, which had been well laid out in the old style, being converted into pleasure grounds, ornamented with shrubberies and plantations. Until this time Mr. Roscoe had possessed very inadequate accommodation for his library, and for his collection of pictures, prints, and drawings, which year after year continued to accumulate upon his hands; but, in the construction of the new building, he secured for himself a handsome and capacious library, while the walls of the other new apartments were ornamented by his collection of paintings. The alterations being finished in the autumn of the year 1812, he took possession of his new library, and to the too early occupation of this room he attributed a violent attack of sciatica, under the painful influence of which he continued for several months confined to the house. The arrangement and cataloguing of his books, to which at this time he made some considerable additions, afforded him the greatest pleasure, and induced him to resume the study of bibliography, a pursuit which during the composition of the “Life of Leo,” had necessarily occupied some share of his attention. He entered with no little ardour into this renewed pursuit, and formed the design of illustrating the origin and progress of the art of printing, by a continued series of early printed books. The sale of some valuable collections in London favoured this design; and he became the purchaser of many rare and curious specimens of early typography. At the same time he diligently studied the various writers, both foreign and English, who have illustrated the science of bibliography by their industry and their learning, and particularly the “Annals” of Panzer, which he was accustomed to characterise as a most invaluable publication. Had he been enabled to complete his collection of early printed books upon the plan he meditated, it would have formed a highly interesting illustration of the progress of the art. The more active and useful labours in which he had been engaged, rendered this pursuit of trifling value in his eyes; and he represents himself, in a letter to Dr. Aikin, as “a perfect idler, labouring under the idlest of all complaints, a bibliomaniacal affection.”

His taste for the study of bibliography led him at this time into a correspondence with Dr. Dibdin, whose magnificent volumes were frequently the subject of his admiration. In one of his letters he notices the suggestion of Dr. Dibdin as to his writing a Life of Erasmus:—“I am too well acquainted with your entertaining volume of the Bibliomania to be ignorant of your recommendation to me to undertake a Life of Erasmus. That such a work is much wanting I admit, and I think it one of the finest subjects that could be undertaken; but you do me too much honour in thinking that I am competent to it. To execute it properly, a knowledge of the German language and literature would be indispensable. Much, I believe, has been done in Germany towards elucidating this important period of their literary history, and I trust it will not be long before some of our countrymen, fully qualified, will repair the defects of Knight and Jortin, and give us such a view of the subject as may gratify reasonable expectation.”

The task of forming a catalogue of his library suggested to Mr. Roscoe the idea of a publi-cation, which subsequent events prevented him from carrying into effect. His collection of books, of pictures, and of other works of art, having been formed with the view of illustrating the period of the revival of learning, it occurred to him that some account of it would not only be interesting in itself, but might prove useful to those whose studies were directed to the literary history of that period. The title-page of this work will give an idea of its proposed contents:—“Catalogue of a Private Collection of Books, Pictures, Drawings, Medals, and Prints, illustrating the Rise, Vicissitudes, and Establishment of Literature and Art in Europe; to which are added, Collectiones Medicianæ, or Pieces chiefly relating to the Family of the Medici, from MSS. and rare Books in this Collection, with numerous Portraits, Fac Similes, Engravings, and Vignettes, and occasional Remarks, biographical, historical, and critical.”* Within two

* The following inscription was intended to be prefixed to the volume:—

Hæc Monumenta Artium Literarumque Renascentium Prjecipue Sub Auspiciis Cosmi Laurentiique Necnon Leonis X. Pont. Max. Diuturno Studio Conquisita Collegit Disposuit In Deliciis Habuit Atque Posteritati Commendat Gulielmus Roscoe. mdcccxv. years from this time the catalogue of this collection was published in a very different form, and under very different circumstances.

The rheumatic affection from which Mr. Roscoe suffered, prevented him from visiting Norfolk, a disappointment which he notices in the following letter to Dr. Smith, in which he also gives some account of the manner in which he passed his time during his illness.

“If I could have entertained the least hope or prospect of being able to undertake my promised excursion into Norfolk, I should not so long have delayed apprising you of it; but after having protracted writing from day to day, and from week to week, I am at length under the necessity of relinquishing, for the present, the pleasure I had so warmly anticipated, and consoling myself as well as I can under the pains of the rheumatism, which have of late left me little relaxation either by day or night.

“My spirits are, however, pretty good; and as I am fortunate enough to be able to sit up, and even walk about a little, I am seldom unemployed with objects either of business or amusement. Of the former, my operations at Chat Moss have engaged a great share of my attention, as I have promised some account of them to the Board of Agriculture, which this long confinement has given me the opportunity of drawing up. I have also done something towards a catalogue of my pictures, drawings, prints, &c. which are become much more numerous since you saw them, and which I promise myself great pleasure in submitting, at no distant period, to your examination and criticism. Among these is the portrait of Leo X., with the Cardinals di Rossi and Giulio de’ Medici, which I have been assured by several persons is the copy made by Andrea del Sarto from the celebrated picture of Raffaelle, and which was sent as the original to the Duke of Mantua, from whence it went to Parma, and was transferred with the rest of the collection to Capo di Monte, near Naples.

“You must, in all probability, have seen one of them, although you have not mentioned it in your travels, and will be able, perhaps, to clear up my conjectures.

“Another picture which I long to show you is a Madonna and Child, with St. Helena and St. Francis, by Don Ghirlandajo, the master of M. Angelo, painted, according to his custom, in distemper; but what constitutes its value is a freize, or history piece, below; the work of M. Angelo, when young; with strong indications of the great manner by which he afterwards distinguished himself.

“I hope before this time you will have received a copy of my review of Mr. Canning’s speeches; if not, be so good as to say so when you write, as I find several persons to whom I had ordered them have not received them. You will think me bold if not imprudent to render myself obnoxious to so powerful a party, both in politics and literature, as Canning and his friends, but after the abuse I have received from them and others, my susceptibility is somewhat diminished, and provided I could have done any good, I should have been very indifferent to whatever they might pour out against me.

“Throughout this troublesome complaint I had many sleepless hours at night, in some of which I strung verses together, which I wrote down in the morning, and of which I send you a specimen; which I beg you to present to Mrs. Smith with my kind remembrances. Should she approve of them, she will perhaps do me the favour of sending a copy to Miss Coke, whenever she may have an opportunity.”

SONG. On the Ball given by the friends of Mr. Brougham and Mr. Creevey. Liverpool, November, 1812. The fair face of morning when sudden clouds cover, And tempest and darkness envelope the day, Shall the gloom of the moment deter the true lover Who hastes to the home of his mistress away? When heaved from its base proudly swells the vast ocean, And danger rides high on the crest of the wave, Undaunted the mariner views the commotion, And bares his bold bosom the sea-storm to brave. Then say, shall the Patriot e’er prove a recoiler? Shall the champion of freedom e’er stoop to despair? Shall he basely resign to the hands of the spoiler The prize that high Heaven has consign’d to his care? No! still to his task with fresh vigour returning, He shall wage the bold war with corruption again, As the lion, that, roused by the beam of the morning, Shakes off the light dew-drops that hang on his mane. If he falls—like the warrior he falls in his duty, Whilst his country shall hail him and angels approve; If he conquers—he wins from the bright hand of beauty The wreath wove by Liberty, Friendship, and Love.

The design of writing the Life of Dr. Currie continued to engage the attention of Mr. Roscoe, as will appear from the following extract of a letter (May 22, 1814) addressed to Dr. Wright of Edinburgh:—

“It is true, my dear Sir, that a combination of circumstances, which it would be irksome to explain, but which, as you rightly judge, have chiefly arisen from my other importunate avocations, have hitherto prevented me from giving a memoir of our excellent friend; but it is no less true, that I have never for a moment faltered in my resolution of taking the first opportunity in my power of accomplishing it, and I am truly happy to say, that I have now a fair prospect of being shortly enabled to devote myself to it, with less interruption than at any former period. In the course of my narrative, and particularly on medical subjects, which, however disqualified for, I cannot avoid touching upon, it is probable I may wish to avail myself of your kind and judicious advice, which I have no doubt will be given in the same friendly spirit which has dictated your letter to me. I shall also feel myself obliged and honoured by any communications you may have received since Dr. Currie’s death, as to the result of the mode of treatment which your joint endeavours have been exerted to establish; and which, I am convinced, cannot, under proper management, be too highly appreciated.”—“I have scarcely left myself room to say a word on our favourite study of botany; my attention to which has of late been confined to a narrow compass—the Scitamineæ tribe; on which I lately sent a paper to the Linnæan society, containing observations on Dr. Roxburgh’s descriptions of them in the 11th vol. of the Asiatic Researches, which has, I find, been read; and if it should be printed, I shall take care to transmit you a copy.”

The paper adverted to in the above letter to Dr. Wright, was published in the 11th volume of the Linnæan Society’s Transactions; and in the same volume is inserted another communication from Mr. Roscoe, under the title, “On artificial and natural Arrangements of Plants, and particularly on the Systems of Linnæus and Jussieu.”

In referring to the latter paper, he says, in a letter to Dr. Smith.—“Be so good as to tell me, whether you have yet fired off my Congreve rocket against the French botanists. I hope not, as I think I could put some more combustibles into it. In particular, I think the distinction between a natural and artificial system might be more fully explained. In other respects, I have no objection to give them a broadside, and wish you could prevail upon both nations to confine their animosities within such harmless limits; but the business of cutting throats must go on, and seems even to be considered not as an accidental, but as a permanent state of society.”

Another literary project entertained by Mr. Roscoe at this time, was a translation of the excellent work of Lanzi, “Storia pittorica della Italia.” At his suggestion, his intimate friend, Dr. Traill, undertook the version of the work, which was to be accompanied by notes, and an introductory dissertation from the pen of Mr. Roscoe. This work was afterwards executed by one of his sons; but the preliminary dissertation is not appended to it.

During the present year, Mr. Roscoe was gratified by receiving intelligence of his having been elected an honorary member of the New York Historical Society.

It was about this period that Mr. Roscoe had an opportunity of frequently meeting and conversing with Mr. Robert Owen of Lanark; upon whose system of education and schemes of society they had much discussion. The following letter fully displays Mr. Roscoe’s opinions on these subjects.

“A perusal of your fourth essay, which you were so good as to leave with me last night, has confirmed in my mind the justice of the remarks which I took the liberty of making to you on the nature of your plans for public improvements, and the best method of carrying them into effect.

“There is in them so much practical excellence that I cannot without great regret see them united with projects, which, to many persons, must appear in the highest degree extravagant, and supported by arguments, which, to say the least, are often of questionable validity, and which cannot fail to offend all those persons upon whom your plans must depend for support.

“I have already stated to you, in explicit terms, where I conceive you must fix your boundary, if you expect success. These are,—

1. A particular Account of the Improvements at New Lanark, demonstrating the Effects of Education and Habit on the Lower Classes of Society, and the Facility with which they may be trained, without Severity, from a cheerful Infancy, to an industrious Manhood, and a happy old Age. 2. Directions in what Manner the Methods adopted at New Lanark may be best applied to similar Establishments in different Parts of the Kingdom. 3. An Enquiry how far the same Plan may be adapted to Manufactories of other Kinds, or to Establishments where great Numbers of people are employed. 4. A brief Statement of the Influence of Education and Habit on the Mind of Youth, and a Proposal for establishing national Schools of Education, in which shall be inculcated the general Principles of Morality and Benevolence, as well as the Intellectual Acquirements at present taught in the Schools of Bell and Lancaster. 5. An Enquiry into the best Means of affording Employment for the industrious, and relief for the disabled poor. 6. Observations on the Necessity of abolishing all Laws which tend to the Corruption of Morals and the Perpetration of Crimes, as inconsistent with the best Interests of Society.

“On all these points your writings contain many excellent remarks, and if you should be the means of establishing such improvements, you will have done the greatest good that ever any man conferred upon his country. But, when abandoning these practicable reforms, you resort to theory, and insist upon it as a preliminary that all mankind shall alter their opinions and admit the new light that is descended suddenly upon them; and when you add to this the downfall of all existing establishments in church and state, you appear to me effectually to preclude the very possibility of success, and to convert into your strongest opponents those who would have been your warmest friends.

“I have endeavoured to compress what I have before said on this immense subject into as little space as possible, and have now only to entreat that you will excuse the freedom of my remarks, and will believe me, with real esteem,” &c.

The interest which Mr. Roscoe felt in the improvement of the natives of Africa, was awakened this year by the appearance at Liverpool of one of that race, who had devoted himself to the extension of education amongst persons of his own colour. To talents of no ordinary kind Prince Sandars united considerable information, and exhibited a remarkable proof of what might be effected amongst the natives of Africa by due cultivation.

On his departure for London, Mr. Roscoe gave him letters of introduction to the Duke of Gloucester, as President of the African Institution, and to some others of his friends who were favourable to the cause of the Negroes; and soon after his arrival in the metropolis, Mr. Roscoe received from him the following letter, curious as a specimen of African literature.

“Dear Sir,—It is with much heartfelt pleasure that I improve a moment for the acknowledgment of your kind attentions, to inform you of the convalescent state of my health, and also to let you know that I have relinquished the idea of going to Sierra Leone the ensuing fall, but shall go to the Island of St. Domingo, for the purpose of introducing the British system of education. I am inclined to think the climate equally favourable for the confirmation of my health, and the field for usefulness quite as extensive as that of Africa.

“I was very much pleased with your friend the Duke of Gloucester. It is extremely gratifying to find a person of his illustrious rank so habitually disposed to acts of benevolence and kind affection, as he appears to be. His Highness seemed very desirous that I should go out under the patronage of the Institution to Africa, and so did several other gentlemen; but others, who were members of the Church Mission Society, immediately introduced me to that society, as it were, before I was apprised of it. They have uniformly been, and still are solicitous in the extreme that I should engage with them for at least five years, which is a thing which I could not (under existing circumstances) conscientiously perform.

“Messrs. Wilberforce, Macauley, and Stephen, have very cheerfully fallen in with the St. Domingo proposition, and seem disposed to give their most hearty encouragement. As there is no society organised for that object, they propose making up the money for the outfits and establishment of the school by voluntary contributions and subscriptions.

“As King Henry is so very desirous of having his subjects improved and instructed, we are very sanguine in the hope that he will immediately take it under the patronage of his government. Messrs. Wilberforce, Clarkson, and one or two other gentlemen, will give me letters to his majesty King Henry; and, if it would not be asking too much, I would solicit one from you, Sir, as a well-wisher to all mankind; and as one whom, I trust, will ever be numbered among the most indefatigable and zealous advocates for the emancipation, the moral and religious improvements and elevation of the characters and lives of the African race.

“I am, dear Sir, with sentiments of the highest consideration, &c.

“N. B. Please to give my best regards to Mrs. Roscoe and family.”

Nor was this the only instance which occurred to Mr. Roscoe of the intelligence displayed by the Negro race. A servant, who lived several years in his family, evinced a desire of learning and talents seldom seen in persons of his rank in life. He had acquired, without assistance, a considerable knowledge of the French language, and had mastered the rudiments of the Latin. Occasionally he ventured upon poetical compositions; and if his verses did not equal those of “John Jones,” they were not without much merit, considering the circumstances under which they were produced.*

* The following curious specimens of African literature deserve to be recorded as the first dawnings of civilisation among the potentates of Guinea. They are letters addressed by African kings and chiefs to the master of a Liverpool vessel:—

“Dear friend Captn. Evritt,

“I let you know what make King Young Come on board for take is Coomey. And next Day you Cannot Send Boat for me to Come Down for my Coomey, then I been send Young Ego Down Yester, Day for you to Paid him my Coomey, then when he come home he Shew me Piece Paper, your copy my Coomey; then I send him down again to Day for you to Paid hime my Coomey, And my Family. And if you have any bob for Paid for that when you See me then we Settled. I remain you Friend

“Ego Honesty King Ebengo. “Nov. 17, 1810.” “My Dear

“Sir I thank you if you gan spear me two Boxes Capper rods today, for to Pay Yampia Egbo, that I will Pay you Palm Oil for it in one Market, if you please, and send me answer

In the autumn of the present year (1814) the family of Mr. Roscoe derived great gratification

may be you will halp me or not, because I want for send to Cricktown Yampia man to Come Down this morning. Do my friend halp me for that I am your Brother

“Duke Ephraim.” “Dear friend

“Captain Everett Sir if you please Will Send me by Berer Some Rum to Drink for the River, be cause this be Great Market and Go for you. I am do in something to put for Canoe. That be reason I no come me Self to See you face, and but if you will please me that pritty chint I been keep power for you. Send me that you know. I been take I gun when I come home Tomorrow night we settled that I am beg you to send me that pritty chint because I want to Make good Market. If you will send to me—if you no will you may Left, I ask you that because I no want ask no thing for other Captain but you.

“Toby Tom Narrow.” “Old Callabar, April 15, 1811. “Dear Sir Old friend Thomas payne

“You may Try to Come you Self in Callabar to Make all Men pay you what the owe you. If you Done Come you Self, no Body mind to pay Captain that ded becous no see you face.

Better you Come you Self, then all men have Time will pay you all you palmoil. I sent this letter by Captain Everrett Ship Hope to Let you know, becous you be my old freind. I am very sorry, I no want you Loose all this money becous be Too much, you know this Country very well, If no See you for face, the no mind what they owe you My old friend. But now I help Captain Everrett very well. I am Sold him about 440 Crew of palmoil. I do that becous I know that Ship belonging to you Merchant there now.

from the society of Miss Aikin, who passed several weeks at Allerton. “I am almost inexcusable,” says Mr. Roscoe in a letter to Dr. Aikin, “in not having sooner returned you my thanks for the pleasure you have afforded us in the society of Miss Aikin, which has certainly enlivened this old château beyond any thing which it has before known. Nothing will now satisfy us but —‘pomp and feast and revelry, With masque and antique pageantry.’ A few days since my eldest daughter’s birthday was thus celebrated.”

The celebration here alluded to was the performance of a little dramatic poem, in the form of a masque, written by various members of Mr. Roscoe’s family*, and to which he contributed the part of “Peace,” represented by his youngest

My big House I been bilded. I not done yet but I am Short for Glass becous all the Glass I have all very small, the no will fill for that House there. I am very much oblige you to Bring me three very Large Looking Glass 4 foot Long, and Marked my name. 3 fine Red Ensign 8 yard Long, Marked my name, if you will bring me that, first I do I will pay you for them thing before, and do tother thing. I have no more to Say but Give my Complement to all you family and all you friend

“Remain you friend “Toby Tom Narrow.”

* Published in the second part of “Poems for Youth, by a Family Circle.”

daughter. At the conclusion of these lines he thus adverts to his own ardent desire of peace, now at length gratified:— “Joy, joy to earth, and joy to these Who round my favour’d altar stand; With chosen rites my presence grace, And form for me the chosen band; For well I know full many a sigh From these green shades ascended high That once again on earthly ground My guileless footsteps might be found. And lo! I come the world to bless With lengthened years of happiness. Nor shall my partial love disdain For thee, fair nymph, to raise the strain, But ever o’er thy favour’d head My wings of guardian power I’ll spread; And pleased from thee no more to part, Will place my altar in thy heart.”

Amongst the strangers who occasionally visited Allerton, there were many whose attachment to art led them thither for the purpose of examining Mr. Roscoe’s collections. Of the impression made upon their minds by these visits some idea may be formed from the ensuing letter addressed to Mr. Roscoe by a Roman artist.

“Allow me the honour and liberty of this, in order to thank you particularly for your politeness and liberal hospitality, that you were so pleased as to use to me, on Sunday the 19th inst.

“Sir, that day has been to me one of the finest day of my life: it was many years that I had n’t experienced a such one!

“On Wednesday the 22d inst. I came in town, and I went to Mr. Douce, to whom I gave the best description, that was in my power, of your large collection of painting, sculpture, and prints, of which he was highly pleased and delighted.

“Sir, allow me to wish you joy and delight, and a long life to enjoy it, for you deserve it. And I hope your children will inherit from you the same taste for the Fine Arts, and the same kindness for the artists that you have to such an eminent degree; that even in your lifetime makes your person beloved and respected by every one.

“Sir, excuse the intrusion that I commit on your time that is too precious, as well as to excuse my poor English.

“I wish that you would have the goodness to remember me to all your amiable family, for their obliging politeness, and all your friends.

“Sir, I hope that you will favour me with an introduction to Mr. Othelly, as you were so kind as to tell me, and if you have something to send him, I shall be proud to be the bearer of it. And with the greatest esteem and respect,

“I am, Sir, &c. &c. “Christopher Prosperi.”

The taste of Mr. Roscoe for agricultural pursuits, which has been already alluded to, induced him to keep in his own hands the whole of the land surrounding his house at Allerton. The superintending of this farm afforded him much amusement and a healthful relaxation from his sedentary employments. He became a member of the Agricultural Society of West Derby, and occasionally communicated, to that body, papers connected with the objects of their meeting. It is interesting to observe how, even in these technical dissertations, the liberal and extended views which distinguish his other writings may be traced, and with what felicity he applied those principles of honesty and good faith which he had contended for in the intercourse of nation with nation, to the humbler relation of landlord and tenant. The following observations are extracted from a paper on “Farm-leases” read before the Society in the year 1810:—

“We must not, however, suppose that the conferring of such rewards is the sole, or even the chief object which an Agricultural Society should keep in view. Its efforts ought to be of a still higher kind: to inculcate just and liberal sentiments amongst those whose rank and influence in society are of the first importance; to introduce new and improved modes of cultivation suitable to the district; to discover in what manner the respective interests of the landlord and tenant may best be secured, and to improve that intercourse and attachment between the different ranks of society which is equally honourable and advantageous to all.

“In order to accomplish these desirable objects it is evident that one of the first measures would be to ascertain the true nature of the connection between landlord and tenant, and to endeavour to establish such a basis as would be consistent with their mutual interest. * * * That the proprietor of an estate has a right to prescribe such conditions as he pleases as to the occupation of his land must be admitted, but at the same time a due regard to his own interest should lead him to consider the welfare of his tenant as inseparably connected with his own. He will, therefore, ask himself whether the conditions he prescribes are reasonable, and such as may enable a tenant to pay him the rent, which he stipulates to receive, and whether he has made it the interest of the tenant to improve the land by granting him a reasonable term of years, and allowing him proper facilities. If this has not been done, he may please himself with the idea of having stipulated to receive a rent for land, of the use of which he has deprived his tenant; but in the event he is the actual sufferer, the loss is finally his own, and his endeavours have been employed only to impose upon himself.”

The cultivation of Trafford and Chat Moss, which Mr. Roscoe had commenced in the year 1793, still continued to require his superintendence, and his occasional visits to that place for the purpose of witnessing the effect of various experiments he was making, were a source of much interest to him. The expense with which this undertaking was attended, rendered its success a matter of considerable importance to him, and he gladly availed himself of all the information which he could derive from persons who had been engaged in similar labours. Much of his correspondence with Sir John Sinclair referred to the improvement of moss lands; and he was induced, at the solicitation of that gentleman, to transmit to the Board of Agriculture an account of his mode of cultivation, which he accompanied with the following letter to Sir John, as President of the Board:—

“Herewith I have the honour to transmit you some account of my proceedings towards the improvement of Chat Moss, which I have to request you will have the goodness to lay before the Board of Agriculture, whenever it may suit your convenience.

“I confess I have not ventured to make the communication without considerable hesitation, being apprehensive that I may appear, in the opinion of those who are much better acquainted with such subjects, to have acted too much upon my own judgment, and not to have availed myself sufficiently of the successful experiments made in other parts of the United Kingdom. I am also aware that the result I have stated cannot be considered as complete or satisfactory, and that it will yet require a few years to determine, with accuracy, the benefits to be derived from similar improvements. That under proper management these benefits would be very considerable I have, however, no doubt. I have, therefore, been induced to comply with the wishes of the Board, in giving the best account in my power, and shall at all times be happy to answer any other enquiries which they may do me the honour to make.”

For this communication Mr. Roscoe received the thanks of the Board; and also of Sir John Sinclair:—“It does great credit,” says the latter, “to your skill and zeal in the cause of agriculture, and will, I have no doubt, promote similar exertions in other public spirited individuals.”

Several copies of this paper having been transmitted to Mr. Roscoe by the Board of Agriculture, he distributed them amongst his friends, from many of whom he received a very encouraging judgment as to the merits of his plan:—“I beg leave to return you my best thanks,” says General Dirom, a gentleman who had been engaged in a similar undertaking, “for the copy you have had the goodness to send me of your excellent and interesting Memoir on the improvement of Chat Moss. It is the greatest undertaking of the kind, I believe, in the kingdom, and your example may be expected to have great effect in exciting others to engage in similar laudable works, which may be expected to be attended with considerable advantage to themselves as well as to the public. You have, in my opinion, discovered a shorter, more simple, less expensive, and more effectual way of rendering moss land capable of producing a rotation of the best crops than any that has yet been practised.”

Mrs. Barbauld, in her beautiful poem of “Eighteen Hundred and Eleven,” has alluded, in the following lines, to the attempt made by Mr. Roscoe to bring this barren tract of land into cultivation:— “Oft shall they seek some peasant’s homely shed, Who toils, unconscious of the mighty dead, To ask where Avon’s winding waters stray, And thence a knot of wild flowers bear away; Anxious enquire where Clarkson, friend of man, Or all accomplished Jones his race began; If of the modest mansion aught remains, Where heaven and nature prompted Cowper’s strains; Where Roscoe, to whose patriot breast belong The Roman virtue and the Tuscan song, Led Ceres to the bleak and barren moor Where Ceres never gain’d a wreath before.”

In acknowledging the favour which Mrs. Barbauld had conferred upon him, by presenting to him her poem, Mr. Roscoe says, “I cannot avoid intruding on you with a few lines, to thank you for the present I lately received of your very beautiful poem, which I really fear is but too prophetic of the doom which awaits this infatuated country. If any thing could rouse the people from their lethargy it must be remonstrances like this, addressed to their feelings and their fears, for as to all appeals to their reason and judgment, they are entirely disregarded, or seem rather only to harden them more in their iniquities. It is with great pleasure that I perceive in this poem the same spirit of benevolence, the same extensive and enlightened views, and the same true poetical feeling that uniformly distinguish your other writings; but the conclusion of it from the passage beginning, ‘There walks a spirit,’ is peculiarly new and grand, and has not, in my judgment, been exceeded by any poetical personification that I have met with. To have my name recorded in such a poem is, in my estimation, the greatest honour that could have been conferred on me, and will be more durable than any that brass or marble could bestow.”

Amongst the various persons to whom Mr. Roscoe’s agricultural tastes were the means of introducing him, were G. Tollett, Esq., of Betley Hall, Staffordshire, and George Wilbraham, Esq., of Delamere Lodge, Cheshire. With the former he corresponded frequently on the subject of his improvements at Chat Moss, at which place he had the pleasure, in the course of the year 1810, of receiving a visit from him. In the following year he was warmly pressed to return this visit at Betley, where, in addition to the pleasure of viewing the ingenious agricultural inventions of Mr. Tollett, he was promised the high gratification of being introduced to the personal acquaintance of Mr. Coke of Norfolk. Unfortunately the numerous claims upon his time did not permit him to take advantage of this friendly invitation.

“I went from hence,” says Mr. Wilbraham, in a letter dated 17th Dec. 1811, and addressed to Mr. Roscoe, “with Mr. Coke to Mr. Tollett’s, and was in great hopes of meeting you there, as was Mr. Coke, who has commissioned me to say he shall be very happy to see you at Holkham, when his meeting takes place, generally about the 20th June. Indeed, the various and excellent husbandry that is seen there cannot fail to be highly satisfactory to a lover of farming improvements, and the communications obtained from the variety of persons who attend the meeting are a most pleasing addition to the practical part.

“I think you would have been much gratified at Mr. Tollett’s. His farm yards and buildings are singular, ingenious, and useful. The advantage taken of a small hill, by making it a straw yard, with two stories surrounding it with sheep and cattle above each other under one roof, is a scheme of economy. His water-wheel is most excellent; threshes the corn and winnows it, and is intended to grind and dress it; cuts the straw, and is meant to churn and to wash linen; and after the stream has performed all these offices it will irrigate land worth about 3l. an acre, the value of which it will treble. Could I adequately describe all I saw at Betley you might be tempted to view it, and this is the season when cattle and sheep are in the yards. I feel more anxious that you should see these wonders for a selfish reason, for this place is directly in your road, and I shall be happy to hear how Chat Moss goes on. If on this or on any other occasion I can tempt you to come here, I shall be most happy to see you.”

The invitation from Mr. Coke to visit Holkham, conveyed to Mr. Roscoe in the preceding letter, was repeated through several of their mutual friends. Sir J. E. Smith, in a letter dated 7th September, 1812, adds his own anxious solicitations, and thus endeavours to prevail upon Mr. Roscoe to accept the invitation, by recounting the literary treasures of Holkham:—

“We have been spending ten days at Holk-ham, and I write now at the earnest desire of Mr. Coke to try to persuade you to come and see him and us. He says you have given him some hopes, but have as yet only disappointed him. Now I can conceive nothing more delightful than spending a fortnight with you under this roof, and have promised him to do so, whenever you come. To contemplate his pictures and statues, to rummage amongst his books, drawings, manuscripts, and prints (where we every day find treasures unknown before), is extremely agreeable, and he kindly entrusts all his keys to me in full confidence. I found a case of the earliest printed books, which no one had examined since the time of his great uncle, Lord Leicester. Such MSS. of Dante, drawings of the old Italian masters, treasures of European history—you have no idea! The house is one of the finest in Europe, and its riches are inexhaustible. But of all things its owner is the best worth your seeing and knowing. He is so amiable, with all the first gloss of human affection and feeling upon his heart; so devoid of all selfishness, that with the early and constant prosperity he has experienced, his character is next to a miracle; and he has such an agreeable liveliness and playfulness of manners, that nobody is more entertaining. You would exactly suit, in all your ideas of men and things. Do give me some hopes that you will come over this autumn with Mrs. Roscoe, or some of your family. We will meet at Holkham; and if you can descend (without breaking your neck) to our ‘low estate,’ we will strive to rival even Holkham in the heartiness of our welcome. I shall show you the Linnæan reliques, and we shall consult you about a new Botanic Garden now projecting. Do, my dear friend, think of all this.”

“And now, my dear friend,” says Mr. Roscoe in reply—“for your last letter— “So cunning was the apparatus, The powerful pot-hooks did so move him, That, will he, nill he, to the great house He went as if the devil drove him.

“It would not, however, be so much for the sake of the great house, nor for all it contains, though nothing in its way could be more attractive, that I wish to visit Holkham. It would be with the view of paying my respects to its excellent and distinguished owner, and of meeting you under his roof,—temptations which I feel I shall hardly be able to resist. At present, however, I cannot speak very decisively. Neither my wife nor myself are at present very well, and when I shall be able to venture abroad so far before winter, I really dare not say. Mrs. Roscoe and I ought to have gone to Hafod this year; but the same causes rendered it impossible.”

Two years afterwards he was again urged to visit Mr. Coke, and with better success.

“I had intended,” says Sir James Smith (October 3. 1814), “writing to you a few days since, but many things have prevented me. I hope I am still time enough for the main purpose of my letter, which is to make another attempt, at the desire of Mr. Coke, to induce you to visit Holkham. We have spent a delightful fortnight there lately, and two hours almost every day were devoted to an examination of the manuscripts. I am going there on Monday with our good bishop, for a few days, for the express purpose of looking further into these treasures, and if you would join us, you would complete the joy of the whole party.

“I must tell you a part of our discoveries: besides beautifully illuminated MSS. on vellum of many of the Latin classics, a most exquisite Boccacio, a very fine and old Dante, a Chronique d’Henault, in two immense folios, richly illuminated, and other valuable things of that kind, there is a very valuable collection of historical Italian MSS., fairly copied at Florence, Venice, &c, for Lord Leicester; and there are partial or local chronicles, memoirs, &c., very curious. Amongst others is a complete copy of Burchard’s Diary. This delectable treasure will surely tempt you of itself. I think you know nothing of it but what Gordon has printed:—am I right in this?”

There is one original monastic chronicle itself of the date of 1300 or 1400. There are also many things which we want you to tell us the value of. The printed books are inestimable in value and number.”

At length, no longer able to resist his own inclinations and the kind solicitations of his friends, he paid his long wished for visit to Holkham in the autumn of the year 1814. His reception was most gratifying to his feelings, and the society which he found assembled there most congenial to his taste. In addition to Sir James Smith, Dr. Parr had been invited to meet him; and some other persons, distinguished by their literary attainments, were of the party. With several of the latter Mr. Roscoe now, for the first time, became personally acquainted, and contracted with many of them a sincere friendship. This was the origin of his intimacy with Mr. Dawson Turner of Yarmouth, for whom he ever afterwards entertained the highest esteem, and who, in the latter part of his life, was one of his most frequent and valuable correspondents. In the society of this gentleman and his family, at Yarmouth, he some years afterwards passed a few days; a visit to which he always adverted with lively expressions of pleasure.

No sooner was Mr. Roscoe established at Holkham than he entered upon the most in-teresting task of exploring the literary treasures of the place. Accompanied by Dr. Parr, Sir J. E. Smith, and several other of the visiters, he proceeded to the upper library, an apartment at the top of the house, where, in consequence of their unsightly condition, the collection of manuscripts, and many of the rare printed books were deposited.

These inestimable treasures had been collected chiefly in Italy in the early part of the last century, by Thomas Coke, Lord Lovel, and afterwards Earl of Leicester, the great uncle of the present possessor of Holkham. With much trouble and expense he amassed, while abroad, a great collection of works of art, manuscripts, and early printed books; but unfortunately, after their arrival in England, the MSS. were never properly arranged. Their value was little known, nor indeed were they in a fit state to be placed upon the shelves of a library. Few of them had been consulted by scholars, with the exception of seven remarkably fine manuscripts of Livy, which had been lent by Lord Lovel to Drakenborch, who has given an account of them in his edition of that historian, dedicated to his lordship. A partial examination into the manuscripts had been made by Sir J. E. Smith and some other gentlemen, before Mr. Roscoe’s visit; but the greater part of them still remained undisturbed.

In the course of his inquiries, Mr. Roscoe was delighted to find many volumes of extreme rarity and value. Amongst these the most remarkable was a volume of original drawings, by Raffaelle, of the architectural remains of ancient Rome, executed at the desire of Leo X., and mentioned by Camolli, in his life of the painter, as having been in the possession of “Tomaso Coke, Lord Leicester.” Of this inestimable treasure some account had been given by Mr. Roscoe, in his life of Leo X. “That I should have had,” he observes in a letter to Mr. Coke, “the good fortune of seeing and turning over at my leisure such a book, is almost incredible.” Another manuscript of nearly equal value was a treatise, written on paper, by the hand of Leonardo da Vinci, alia mancina, or from right to left, so that it can only be read with ease by the assistance of a mirror. The subject is a dissertation “on the nature, weight, and force of water,” explained by numerous drawings on the margin, from the pen of the artist himself. But the production which most interested Mr. Roscoe was a superb copy of Livy, which had been the property of Alfonso, King of Naples, to whom it was presented by Cosmo de Medici, pater patriæ, on the establishment of peace between Florence and Naples. Alfonso’s physicians insinuated that the volume was poisoned; but the king, disregarding their suspicions, began with great pleasure the perusal of the work. It appears to be annotated by the king’s own hand, and, amongst its subsequent possessors, once belonged to the celebrated Justus Lipsius. Another work of high value was a “History of the Councils,” by Fra Paolo Sarpi (Father Paul), which has never been published. Amongst many copies of the sacred writings was a very remarkable manuscript of the Pentateuch, in Hebrew, on deer skins, forming a roll thirty-eight feet in length, supposed by competent judges to be an Eastern transcript of high antiquity. To these may be added several unpublished manuscripts of Chief Justice Coke. These were only the gems of the collection, which included a variety of beautiful classical MSS., rare works of Italian history and poetry (amongst which were several copies of Dante), various English MSS., of much curiosity, and numerous other volumes, the rarity of which was often equalled by their beauty.

Mr. Roscoe was gratified beyond expression at the opportunity of examining at his leisure so rich and various a collection of literary treasures, and immediately offered his services in arranging them. It was necessary, however, that the whole of the volumes should pass through the hands of the binder, and he therefore recommended that they should be placed under the care of the late Mr. John Jones of Liverpool. By this arrangement the volumes would again come under his own eye, and he would have an opportunity of stating, in a short note to each, the nature of its contents and its probable value.

The manuscripts, many of which had been stripped of their covers previously to their importation from the continent, and some of which had been considerably injured, required the greatest skill and care in the binding. Fortunately, they could not have fallen into abler hands. The taste and ingenuity displayed by Mr. Jones*, to whom they were confided, could only be equalled by the zeal with which he devoted himself to the task. Many of the manuscripts being defaced with creases, he invented a very simple but ingenious mode of restoring the pages, by stretching them in a frame, and covering the injured parts with a solution of vellum.

The judicious, tasteful, and solid style, in which Mr. Jones executed his task, excited the admiration of all Mr. Coke’s literary friends. Amongst others, Mr. George Wilbraham thus

* Mr. Jones, after having given up his laborious occupation of a bookbinder, was appointed librarian of the Athenæum at Liverpool; nor is it possible that a more diligent and efficient person could any where have been found. The library under his superintendance was a model of order, neatness, and arrangement. He had been long acquainted with Mr. Roscoe, and entertained for him feelings of the most devoted attachment and respect. He was a man of strong natural powers of mind, and of an original character. His son, Mr. William Roscoe Jones, has succeeded his father as librarian, and is an excellent officer to the institution.

speaks of his labours, in a letter to Mr. Roscoe, from Holkham:—

“From no other place could I with more propriety address you, than from one which you are so eminently contributing to distinguish and adorn, by arranging and new clothing the precious MSS. which belong to it; and thus adding a new honour to the possessor of it, already raised above his fellows by so many eminent and amiable qualities. It has been the wish of my life, for these last twenty-four years that I have had the good fortune to live with Mr. Coke in habits of the closest intimacy and friendship, to have this object set about. Judge, then, of the pleasure I have, in seeing this great desideratum in a way of being speedily accomplished, and so as to reflect the highest honour on the very intelligent superintendant to whom it has been confided. The cheapness with which you do it astonishes not me alone, but Lord Spencer, perhaps the most conversant person in England in the price of bookbinding. There is no binding that we should not have estimated at one half more; and many at double what you have paid for the nice repairing, mending, and binding.”

The gratification which. Mr. Coke felt on seeing his valuable collection thus, as it were, restored to him, is expressed in the following letter to Mr. Roscoe:—

“Without compliment, I verily believe, there is not another man in the kingdom to be found equal to yourself, or capable, indeed, of undertaking so laborious and great a work as that which you have so kindly volunteered. Is it then possible to imagine me capable of refusing so singular an opportunity as now presents itself, in committing to your care all my manuscripts, one after another, enhanced as they must be in value after passing through your hands? To say how much I am indebted to you, and delighted with those you have returned, is quite impossible; it only makes me every hour of my life more impatient to have them all rebound and examined.

“I did not delay a moment after my arrival in looking them over, and the moment I had done so, I mounted into the upper library, to select as many as would refill the box, which I sent, addressed to you at Liverpool, yesterday, containing thirty-two books, many of which you will find it necessary to divide into separate volumes.”

Nothing can give a more pleasing picture of Mr. Roscoe’s visit to Holkham than the following little poem, in which he has celebrated both the literary and social pleasures with which that celebrated mansion abounds:—

“HOLKHAM. “Where Holkham rears in graceful pride Her marble halls and crested towers, And stretches o’er the champain wide Her lengthened suite of social bowers; “Where, led by Leicester’s forming hand, To Nature Art her succour gives, Touches the desert with her wand, And sculpture breathes, and painting lives; “There, ’midst the tomes around me spread, The spoils of learning’s prosperous day, As once I prest my sleepless bed, I heard a voice that seemed to say— “‘Yes, days, and weeks, and months have past, And on thee closed the changeful year, Yet still the powerful motives last That led thy willing footsteps here; “Delighted, thro’ the fleeting hours, The mouldering volume to explore, And waste thy time, thy health, thy powers, On the dull page of ancient lore; “Resolved, by all his threats unaw’d, With Time the warfare to renew, And with officious zeal defraud Thy brother book-worm of his due. “And wouldst thou to this cultur’d age Restore the school-man’s endless theme? Recall the bigot’s fiery page? The jurist’s web, the statesman’s dream? “Far happier, if the useless toil A darkling age so long admired, Had served to add to Omar’s pile, And in the general blaze expired.’ “‘Cease, slanderer; cease that voice profane,’ (Indignant thus I quick replied), ‘Nor dare to wake the honoured train That silent slumber at my side. “For though they breathe not, yet they live, Though tongueless, mingle mind with mind, And through succeeding ages give One great censorium to mankind; “A power divine, that still shall last Beyond the brutes’ precarious doom, Combines the future with the past, And bids us live beyond the tomb.’ “Then blest the hand, and blest the day That led me to your haunts divine, To share your loved retreat, and pay My homage at your sacred shrine. “Shelter’d beneath this friendly dome, Far from the world’s tumultuous rage, I ope the venerated tome, And read, and glow along the page; “Or, wrapt in dreams of ages old, O’er time triumphant seem to stand, Whilst I th’ historic volume hold, Once held by great Alfonso’s hand; “Or, sunk in learning’s calm retreat, Midst scenes remote from vulgar eyes, I trace the weakness of the great, And mark the follies of the wise; “How Poggio’s tale attention drew From pontiffs proud and grave divines, Or Cosmo smoothed his wrinkled brow O’er Beccatelli’s playful lines; “With joy the rescued volume see, Where Sarpi wakes the patriot soul, And the bright glance of liberty Shot from beneath the monkish cowl. “—But when the studious hours decline, And tired attention wakes no more, Then, idly busy be it mine Upon the pictured page to pore! “Where rude designs of earlier days Their bright unchanging hues unfold, And all th’ illumin’d margins blaze With azure skies, and stars of gold; “Where on the solemn page intrude Figures grotesque, and emblems quaint, And monsters of infernal brood Grin scornful at the preaching saint. “But see, where Giotto’s purer ray, Emerging from the gothic night, Drives the fantastic shapes away, And brings his chaster forms to light; “Forms, worthy in devotion’s eye, The sacred volume to adorn, Where, wondering, we may yet descry The dawn of Raffaelle’s brighter morn. “Nor yet let him, whose love of art To Holkham’s halls his steps has led, Refuse his homage, or depart, Till here his pilgrim vows are paid; “For here the sacred leaves expand, That once (such mighty Leo’s will) Have rested under Raffaelle’s hand, And bear the impress of his skill. “And here Da Vinci’s genius strives Through nature’s works to trace the cause, The water’s rapid course describes— Its weight, its current, and its laws. “But happier far the moments fly, When, resting from my lengthen’d toil, I meet with Coke’s benignant eye, And share his kind approving smile; “Friend of his country and mankind, To more than titled honours born; Who looks with independent mind On all the venal tribe with scorn. “His the firm soul to freedom true, The open heart, the liberal hand, That from the rock the waters drew, And bade the bounteous stream expand, “To clothe the plain with brighter green, The soil with richer harvests bless, And pour on all the cultured scene The glow of life and happiness: “—Not with scant hand the pittance small To starving industry to give; But grant their general rights to all, And as he lives, let others live; “And sees, with all a parent’s pride, His healthful village train display’d, To heal the wounds in nature’s side, By tyrants and by heroes made.”

The feelings of affectionate regard and sincere esteem which Mr. Roscoe’s visit to Holkham created in the mind of Mr. Coke, may be best learned from the letters of the latter to Sir J. E. Smith:—

“I cannot,” he says, “forward the enclosed, which reached me by yesterday’s post, without acknowledging all your friendly assistance, and expressing the great pleasure afforded me by your own and Mr. Roscoe’s visit.

“The more I saw of him the more I was delighted with the benevolence of his mind, the rectitude and liberality of his principles, as well as with his superior acquirements.”*

Soon after his visit to Holkham, Mr. Roscoe presented to his friend a large paper copy of his “Life of Leo X.,” in which he inscribed to him the following sonnet:— “Though, clothed in varnish’d vest and trick’d with gold, To Holkham’s splendid halls thou take thy way, Think not, my book, that this thy proud display Will aught avail thee. There shalt thou behold The speaking train of bards and sages old, Immortal sons of Learning’s happier day, And own that thou amidst their bright array Art all unworthy to be there enrolled. There, then, abashed, at modest distance lie, Till he, the master, with benignant eye Shall o’er thy leaves in pleased attention bend; Enough, if, firm to truth and freedom’s cause, He find thee worthy of his kind applause, And in the Author recognise the Friend.”

* Life of Sir J. Smith, vol. ii. p. 354.

In the following letter to Sir James Smith, Mr. Coke thus expresses his gratification on receiving the volumes:—

“‘Leo X.,’ most magnificently bound, made his appearance yesterday, and will be more highly prized than any manuscript in my possession. To you I may fairly say I am more particularly indebted for this most inestimable gift; I should probably never have known Mr. Roscoe, if it had not been for your kindness in bringing us together; it has established a mutual regard between us, which I am satisfied will be pleasing to us during the remainder of our respective lives. To say the truth, he is a most extraordinary personage; such a head, such a heart, such suavity of disposition, such courage in the pursuit of what is right, such pure philanthropy are seldom combined in one individual; imagine, then, my dear Sir, the store I shall set by the present of his book. How preferable such a testimony of esteem from such a man, to the baubles which may be derived to a cringing sycophant from a profligate court! If I live and have my health, I will do myself the pleasure of passing a few days with him at Allerton in September or October next. Could not you accompany me? I will not keep you from home more than five or six weeks.”

Amongst the distinguished persons with whom his visit to Norfolk made Mr. Roscoe acquainted was the venerable and patriotic Bishop of Norwich. To an invitation from Sir James Smith to meet Mr. Roscoe at his house, that excellent prelate made the following reply:—

“I feel, if possible, more proud of being indebted to your friendly partiality for the favourable opinion which Mr. Roscoe is so good as to entertain of me, than I do even of his approbation; and yet the esteem of such a man is a source of higher gratification than any which it is in the power of kings or ministers to bestow. Many thanks for your kind invitation. To wait on you, and to meet Mr. Roscoe, are certainly very great temptations; for men like him are rare beings:— “‘Numero vix sunt totidem quot, Thebarum portæ, vel divitis ostia Nili.’ Old as I am, I cannot therefore but feel anxious to say before I die, ‘Virgilium vidi.’ Adieu.”

But amidst all the literary pleasures and splendid hospitalities of Holkham, the recollection of his own tranquil home was still present to the mind of Mr. Roscoe, and the joy which his restoration to it afforded him is expressed in the following stanzas, addressed to Mrs. Roscoe, on his return:—

“THE RETURN. “December 17th, 1814. “In search of amusement abroad if we wander, Novel scenes for a while may the senses decoy, But short the delight their attractions can render, If wedded affection partake not the joy. Without the loved bosom to share each transaction, ’Tis in vain that to distance for pleasure we roam; For the magnet still turns towards the source of attraction, And the heart, tho’ long travelled, still points to its home. “O Home! how delightful thy tranquil enjoyments, When again on thy hearth the tired limbs are reclined; When wearied no longer with restless employments, We resign to calm pleasures the indolent mind! O! moments of bliss, when all thronging around me, I see the bright faces with pleasure more bright; Whilst one ’midst the rest more rejoiced to have found me, Glows with warmer emotions, with deeper delight. “Thus, down from the mountains some rivulet gushing, O’er the precipice steep gives its current to flow, In eddies now swept, now in cataracts rushing, Till it reaches at length the calm valley below; There, tormented no more by its vagrant meanders, Its fugitive waves seem delighted to rest, O’er its placid expanse not a breath of air wanders, And heaven smiles serene in the calm of its breast.”

The visit to Holkham was repaid by Mr. Coke in the autumn of 1815, when several of the distinguished persons who had assembled at Holkham in the preceding year were invited to meet him at Allerton. Amongst these was Dr. Parr, who, on his return to Hatton, expressed, in the following letter, the gratification which he had derived from his visit:—

“And now, dear Sir, I must entreat you and Mrs. Roscoe to accept my warm and unfeigned thanks for the hospitable and friendly reception with which you honoured me at Allerton. To the latest hour of my life shall I remember my tour with joy, and even triumph. Within the same space of. time never was so much happiness, intellectual and moral, crowded upon my mind. Within the same circuit of space I never met with so many enlightened and interesting companions. As I lay great stress on all the little courtesies which endear man to man, I beg you will remember me, in strong terms of tenderness and respect, to Mrs. and Misses Roscoe, and your sons; to Mr. and Mrs. Martin, and their little ones; to Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd; to Dr. Bostock, Dr. Traill, &c. &c. &c.”

CHAPTER XIV. 1816. Pecuniary embarrassments of Mr. Roscoe.—Letter to Mr. M’Creery.—General meeting of creditors.—Report of the committee.—Settlement of the affairs undertaken by Mr. Roscoe.—Sonnet, expressing his feelings at this time.—Sympathy of his friends.—Letter from Sir J. E. Smith.—Sale of his library, pictures, &c.—Sonnet on parting with them.—Sonnets addressed to him.—Catalogue of the library prepared—its principal contents.—The sale of the books.—Purchase of books by his friends for his use.—Mr. Shepherd’s letter.—Mr. Roscoe’s reply.—Books presented to the Athenæum.—Sale of the prints—description of them.—Sale of pictures and drawings—their nature and value.—Picture of Leo X., with the Cardinals Giulio de’ Medici and Rossi.—Its history—attributed to Andrea del Sarto.—Madonna and Child by Ghirlandajo, with a frieze by Michelagnolo.—Pictures by Fuseli.—Painting of the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici by him.—Letters from him respecting it.—Purchased by an unknown person, and presented to Mr. Roscoe.—Series of pictures bought by several gentlemen and presented to the Athenæum.—Letter from Mr. Singer.—John Gibson, the sculptor—letter from him.—Mr. Roscoe’s reply.—Letter from Mr. Gibson at Rome.—He presents a bust of Mr. Roscoe to the Liverpool Royal Institution.—Mr. Reynolds of Bristol—his death.—Letter to Mr. W. Rathbone on that occasion, and to Mrs. Rathbone.—Verses to his memory. CHAPTER XIV.

“It is only on occasions that deeply affect our feelings and our happiness, that the character of our minds is fully unfolded.”* One of these trying occasions now occurred in the life of Mr. Roscoe, when he was called upon to sustain a distressing reverse of fortune,—to see himself and all his family connections thrown at once upon the resources of their own personal exertions; and after the most determined and anxious efforts to retrieve his affairs, protracted to a period of upwards of four years, to witness the termination of them in bankruptcy.

Owing to various circumstances, amongst which may be reckoned the investment of considerable sums of money in landed and mining property, much difficulty was experienced at the end of the year 1815, by the banking-house in which Mr. Roscoe was a partner. The opening of the American trade had been the means of creating a great demand for capital, and this, cooperating with other circumstances, produced a

* Life of Pope.

scarcity of cash. Great exertions were made in the course of the winter to prevent the apprehended inconveniences—exertions which would in all probability have been successful, had not the distrust of numerous creditors been excited; as a natural consequence of which, large balances were suddenly withdrawn from the bank. This circumstance was decisive; and after struggling for a few days, in the hope of being still able to maintain their ground, the partners, on the 25th of January, suspended their payments. This event was communicated by Mr. Roscoe himself to several of the customers of the house; and amongst others, to his friend, Mr. M’Creery, in the following letter:—

“My dear Friend,

“You will judge what the state of my mind must be, when I am compelled to announce to you, that from an unremitting demand upon our bank for several days, we have this day been obliged to suspend our payments, in order to prevent an unjust preference of those who were most clamorous in their demands.

“In this distressing situation my sole consolation is, that the funds of the house are sufficiently ample for all demands upon us, if our creditors do not by any severe or hasty measures prevent us from availing ourselves of them, which I have reason to believe will not be the case.

“God bless you, my dear old friend, in your peaceful and laborious occupation. May you be justly sensible of the blessings of your happy lot in the bosom of an affectionate family, and never experience the unfortunate fate and deep anxiety of your ever faithful and affectionate friend,

“W. R.”

It now became a momentous question, under what direction and in what manner the affairs of the house should be wound up. Contrary to the advice of many of his friends, who recommended that he should at once exonerate himself from such a burden, Mr. Roscoe resolved that he would, with the consent of the creditors, undertake the arrangement of the affairs himself. A general meeting of the creditors,—a very numerous body, was called, at which Mr. Roscoe attended, and explained to them at length the state of the concern. This meeting afforded a striking proof of the estimation in which his character was held, the conclusion of his address being attended with a general applause.

A committee of seven gentlemen was appointed at this meeting, to inquire into the state of the concern, and to make a report to the creditors. After a patient and minute investigation, and after taking the opinion of skilful persons with regard to the value of the various property belonging to the partners, these gentlemen re-ported, that the house was solvent; and that, after payment of all the debts of the concern, there would remain a balance of £61,144. The general meeting of the creditors called to receive this report adopted it; and came to this resolution;—“that there were funds sufficient to pay all the debts, with interest.”

Under these circumstances, Mr. Roscoe rightly considered himself not only justified in maintaining the superintendence of his affairs, but imperatively called upon not to suffer the interests of the creditors to be committed to any other hands. He immediately drew up and issued a plan, by which he proposed, that the house should be allowed six years, in the course of which period the whole of the debts, with interest, would be discharged. To this proposal the assent of a great majority of the creditors was obtained. In taking this course, he was well aware of the great responsibility attending it, and of the harassing and distressing situation in which it might place him, but the hope of ultimately discharging all the demands upon the house, and a firm conviction that he was acting for the benefit of the creditors, prompted and sustained him in his resolution. Writing to one of his friends at this time, he says:—

“In the present state of things, it will be long before the principal can be wholly paid, but the greater part will be discharged in two or three years; and as both principal and interest will be eventually paid to the very last farthing, I hope our friends will be satisfied, and that when I am called for, I may lay down my bones to rest in peace. In the mean time I keep up my health and spirits, and prepare myself to meet whatever may be destined for me with a conscience clear of offence, and with increased affection to those long tried friends who have accompanied me in adversity as well as in prosperity, and amongst whom you will ever be numbered.”

In a letter to another friend, he says, “I cannot for a moment delay my grateful acknowledgments for your most affectionate and welcome letter received this morning, and for the encouraging observations it contains, which, I assure you, have arrived at a time when they are peculiarly applicable and useful, as giving me additional courage and confidence in a line of conduct from which I have already perceived the best effects; and which, if persevered in, will yet, I trust, before I die, restore me in the estimation, not only of my dear and partial friends, but of the public. When I first professed my resolution to retain the management of our concerns, and continue our business, it was treated, even by those the nearest connected with us, as impossible and chimerical, and I was strongly pressed on all sides to resign the affairs into other hands, if not by the usual process of law, at least by a trust deed. This I resisted, and chose rather to throw myself on the good will of the creditors at large, to explain matters to them vivâ voce, and show them how our interests were inseparably connected, than to have our estates and property torn in pieces—they deprived of a great part of our debts, and we of any surplus which might remain for ourselves and our families. More unanimity was, perhaps, never seen at such a meeting; only one person expressed his private dissent, and he has since acceded to the plan proposed. In the mean time our bank has never been shut; we have re-established our connection with the very safe house of Jones, Loyd, & Co.; we have fresh deposits lodged with us, and we draw bills on our own account. For the purpose of separating this from our former concern, and of obtaining additional assistance in our bank, we are negotiating to take into partnership a very respectable young man, who was brought up with us, and on whose diligence and integrity we have a perfect reliance. When this alteration is made, we have received assurances from many of our friends, that they will resume their transactions with us.”

The devotion of heart and mind with which Mr. Roscoe applied himself to the accomplishment of the proposed plan of liquidating the debts of the bank was such, that neither by day nor by night was it absent from his thoughts. Many of the most important arrangements for the settlement of these affairs were projected and resolved upon, as he lay in the silence of night, unable to sleep. To accomplish this great object of his wishes seemed to be the sole aim of his life.

It was during this season of painful and almost overpowering exertion of mind and of body, that the following sonnet bears date. “I wake, and lo! the morning’s earliest gleam Salutes my eyes. What joy to many a heart Its renovated lustre shall impart! —But not to mine; for from its brightening beam Gladly would I some intermission claim; And, anxious, at its near approach I start Like one when called, unwilling to depart, Depressed his spirit and unnerved his frame. —Yes—like some wanderer who has lost his way, In life’s rude paths I long have gone astray, And for the future fear. O God of love! What this day may bring forth is all to me Unknown; but oh! where’er my course may be Do thou my steps direct, my toils approve.”

That Mr. Roscoe was, in the end, unable to accomplish all that he had proposed to himself, was the result of circumstances over which he had no control. The necessity of making the payments to the creditors by periodical instalments compelled the partners to force a sale of their property at times very unfavourable to such transactions,—the value of landed and other pro-perty fell,—some of the mines in which they were interested turned out to be of less value than the report of the very skilful person* by whom they had been examined had led them to believe. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, Mr. Roscoe resolutely persisted in his endeavours, and, under his directions, large payments were made to the creditors. That at length he was compelled, as will be hereafter stated, to surrender the management of his affairs, was a circumstance which he never ceased to regret.

The intelligence of his failure was received with deep sympathy by his numerous friends, and some strenuous efforts were made, especially by one†, who had been long and warmly attached to him, to procure such assistance as might enable the house to meet their engagements, and at once to resume their station in the commercial world. Those efforts, however, failed of success; nor was there such a disposition evinced towards him in the town of Liverpool, as induced Mr. Roscoe to hope for any extraneous assistance. Many commercial houses have doubtless been supported under greater difficulties.

Amongst the many consolatory and supporting communications which Mr. Roscoe received at this time from his friends, was the following most kind letter from Sir James Smith:—

* Mr. Buddle. † Mr. McCreery.

“The afflicting letters I have from my brother and sister Martin so alarmed and overwhelmed me at first sight, that when I read them and found that nothing had affected the life or health of you and Mrs. Roscoe, I could bear any thing else. How wide are the evils attendant on these wars, which you will ever have the consolation of knowing you have done all you could to prevent. We have all said, as you know, that the struggle would be when peace came. I was well aware that you felt no trifling alarm or solicitude when I was with you. If the whole commercial world feels the shock, how could you hope to avoid it? You have now to experience, more than you ever could in prosperity, how extensively you are respected and beloved. I feel, my honoured friend, that you will rise above this calamity. And your children, to whom you have imparted more precious treasures than all worldly prosperity could bestow, and which can never be taken from them, will now find their own strength; and derive happiness, support, and importance, from sources which they could never have been aware of, but for such an event. I feel confident that unexpected sources of comfort will present themselves; and that, in the common shock, your character, your abilities, and your connections must bear you up.

“You will readily believe that we and many others here shall be anxiously solicitous to hear how you all are, and how things are likely to turn out. You cannot tell at once. Do not look too much on the dark side, but take time to consider every thing. I do not ask you to write, till you feel an inclination to do so. My brother Martin will tell us how every thing goes on; you may rely on his unchangeable respect and esteem. These, he says in his last letter to me, are such as he cannot express. Farewell, my ever loved and honoured friend,—recall us most affectionately to the remembrance of Mrs. Roscoe, and every one of your family. You may be sure we shall be ever thinking of you; and if I cannot help you, I know it will be soothing to be remembered by your ever, &c.”

To the necessity of at once rendering available not only the assets of the concern but likewise the private property of the partners, Mr. Roscoe cheerfully yielded, and he resolved to offer to public sale, without delay, the whole of his personal effects, including his library, pictures, and other works of art, which he had employed himself in collecting, for nearly half a century. The loss of other portions of his property occasioned him, personally, little regret, but he could not avoid regarding with some grief the prospect of parting with those literary treasures which had contributed so largely both to his happiness and his fame. It was under the influence of these feelings that the following sonnet was written:— “As one who destined from his friends to part Regrets his loss, yet hopes again erewhile To share their converse and enjoy their smile, And tempers, as he may, affliction’s dart,— Thus, loved associates! chiefs of elder art! Teachers of wisdom! who could once beguile My tedious hours and lighten every toil, I now resign you; nor with fainting heart— For pass a few short years, or days, or hours, And happier seasons may their dawn unfold, And all your sacred fellowship restore; When freed from earth, unlimited its powers, Mind shall with mind direct communion hold, And kindred spirits meet to part no more.”

This sonnet, which, unknown to Mr. Roscoe, found its way into the public prints, gave occasion to the following, which appeared soon afterwards in one of the Liverpool newspapers under the signature of Straniera:— “Thou dost not mourn the loss thy friends deplore, For thou from every letter’d page hast ta’en That better part of learning’s sacred store Which lifts the soul above all earthly pain, And bids it view, resign’d, each woful scene This universal theatre displays; And thine has learn’d to breathe with brow serene A calm farewell to friends of other days, Proving the rich deposits they had left. Oh, this has added to thy former name, Which, like thine own Lorenzo’s, shall descend To unborn ages; ne’er shalt thou be reft Of that bright ray shed from the torch of fame On learning’s patron, and the artist’s friend.”

A few other poetical offerings of the same kind appeared, from which the following beautiful sonnet is selected:— “Thou art not friendless now—thou on whose head The day-star of delight so long hath shone, Friend of the friendless! though his beams be gone, And o’er thy path dark clouds may lower instead. Arm thy strong soul anew! with firmness tread Thy destined road, and let thy manly breast In the calm confidence of honour rest, Rich in the only wealth it coveted. Live on in hope! Seek thy pure treasure there— There, where the good man garners up his trust; And, if the record of his deeds be fair, Esteems all else but vanity and dust; Content to know, whate’er the fate he share, That God appoints it still, and God is just. “E. T.”

The labour of preparing for the press the catalogues of his collections was very considerable, and was almost entirely performed by Mr. Roscoe’s own hand, while under the pressure of innumerable other engagements. He felt anxious that the care he had formerly bestowed upon them should not be wholly thrown away, and that they should bear a higher character than the generality of mere sale catalogues. Even in form and appearance he wished them to be such as might be placed with credit on the shelves of a library. “I now,” he says, in a letter to his printer, Mr. M’Creery, “send you the beginning of my catalogue; which I was in hopes of making more legible, but have not had time, and am apprehensive of being too late. I wish you to set up a sheet for me much in the same manner as you printed a short catalogue of the Strawberry Hill books—that is, the title of the book in a good sizeable type, and the annotations, &c. smaller. As it will contain many curious books, I do not mean it to be a common sale catalogue, but to make it a neat small octavo. “‘One would not, sure, be ugly when one’s dead.’”

The library, which had been chiefly collected in the earlier part of Mr. Roscoe’s life with a view to his historical studies, though not extensive when compared with many private collections in this country, was particularly rich and copious in some of its departments. The classes of Italian poetry, Italian history, and modern Latin poetry, presented some very rare and valuable works. Amongst the Italian poets, some of the early editions of the works of the Pulci, and of Lorenzo de’ Medici, which Mr. Roscoe had obtained at a trifling expense, brought very considerable sums of money. A copy of the Rappresentazione Sacri, which had cost him a few shillings, sold for thirty guineas. The selection of classical authors also was valuable, and contained a considerable number of editiones principes. But the most curious part of the collection was the series of early printed books illustrating the rise and progress of the art of printing. Amongst these were many highly valuable and beautiful works, two of the block books executed before the invention of moveable types, the Historia S. Johannis and the Biblia Pauperum, the Codex Psalmorum, or Psalter of 1459, printed by Fust and Schoeffer, the second book printed with a date, and of which only eight copies are known to exist; a beautiful copy of the Catholicon printed by John Guttemberg at Mentz in 1460; the works of Lactantius, from the press of Sweynheyn and Pannartz, the first book printed in Italy, and of such rarity, that, when the celebrated bibliographer De Bure wrote, there was only one copy known in France; the Rationale Divinorum Officiorum of Durandus by Fust and Gernzheym, the third printed book known with a date; besides a variety of other books from the presses of Italy, Germany, and England, previous to the year 1500. At the conclusion of the catalogue a list is given of the printers of the fifteenth century, whose productions appear in the collection, with the years in which they began to print, and also a list of the editions of works in the library omitted by Panzer in his Annales Typographici—a proof of their great rarity. To this list Mr. Roscoe has added the following note:—

“The ‘Annales Typographici’ of Panzer consist of two parts: the first, in five volumes, extending from the origin of the art of printing to the year 1500 inclusive: the second, in six volumes, from the year 1500 to the year 1586 inclusive; and are intended to comprehend a descriptive account of every edition published within those periods. When it is considered that this great work is the production of a single individual, it will be thought much more surprising that, on its first publication, it should be found so nearly complete as it now appears, than that some editions, comparatively very few in number, should be omitted. It is not, therefore, with a view of censuring its defects, but as a homage to its merits, that the following brief list is given; which it is hoped may set an example to those who have to examine and arrange more extensive collections, and contribute, on some future occasion, to render still more perfect the great work already so far advanced.”

In addition to the printed books the library also contained a small collection of manuscripts, the principal of which were two copies of the Sacred Writings executed in the early part of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The first of these was highly decorated with historical designs by some artists of the school of Grotto, and had been presented to one of the supreme pontiffs. It is described in the catalogue as “certainly one of the finest and most highly ornamented manuscripts of the Sacred Writings which has been handed down to the present times.”

The sale was attended by all the principal collectors of books in the country, either in person or by their agents, and the prices obtained were such as fully to satisfy Mr. Roscoe’s expectations. Lord Spencer, Mr. Heber, and other distinguished bibliographers, were frequent purchasers; and at the recommendation of Mr. Roscoe, a considerable number of books were bought on behalf of Mr. Coke, as necessary additions to the valuable library at Holkham. Amongst others the splendid manuscript of the Bible was purchased for the sum of 200 guineas, and deposited at Holkham, where it forms a distinguished ornament even of that inestimable collection of manuscripts.

At this sale the library of Mr. Roscoe was offered entire to the public, with the exception of a number of presentation copies of different works, which, after a valuation had been put upon them, Mr. Roscoe retained, judging it ungrateful and improper to dispose of these gifts, while it was in his power to prevent the sale of them. These, of course, formed a small and very miscellaneous collection, of little use to him, unless to remind him of those pleasant literary associations of which they were the token. Any other reservations he resolutely refused to make, and gave strict directions that not a single volume should be bought in for his use.

“The books in the catalogue,” he says, in a letter to Mr. M’Creery, “(with some that are omitted by mistake, which will form nearly an additional day’s sale,) comprise my entire library, without reserve, as may be seen by the books mentioned in the catalogue. All that I keep out are such books as have been given me by my friends, and these I shall not part with until my grasp is relaxed by death or the law. The Press shall still continue to remind me of long tried friendship, and of the happy hours I have passed with its author.”

But while he was thus himself steadily resolved to part with those “loved associates,” those “teachers of wisdom,” over whose pages he had spent some of the happiest hours of his life, a few of his friends who loved and admired him, and who were unwilling to see him deprived of the literary treasures he so well knew how to employ, consulted together on the best means of preserving them to him. Application was made by them to a small number of other gentlemen, and a sum of money was with ease raised, sufficient, as it was supposed, to purchase all the useful part of the library. This fund was placed under the direction of the Rev. William Shepherd, whose long friendship and literary intercourse with Mr. Roscoe well qualified him to select the works which would be most likely to prove useful and acceptable to him. This task he performed with the judgment which might have been expected from him, the selection being confined chiefly to works relating to the literary history of Italy, and the biography of the Medici.

Until after the sale Mr. Roscoe was not made acquainted with the intention of his friends; which, with the particulars of the purchases, was then communicated to him by Mr. Shepherd in the following letter:—

“My dear Sir,

“In the general sympathy excited by the untoward events which darkened your prospects at the commencement of this year, the idea of the dispersion of your library was a subject of painful contemplation to many of your friends. By some of these, plans were suggested to me for the retaining of it in your possession, the discussion of which, I well knew, you would not, were you apprised of them, allow to be for a moment entertained. An arrangement was, however, proposed which met with my concurrence, and in the promoting of which, though well knowing the various responsibility which I took upon myself, I have ventured to act. At the earnest solicitation of a select few of your most intimate acquaintances, I marked in your catalogue such books as I knew would be of most essential importance in the correction of your standard works, which have so justly obtained for their author so large a meed of applause. Of the volumes thus marked, the greater number have, by the kind assistance of Mr. J. B. Yates, been purchased for the individuals in question, who, by my medium, most respectfully request that you will make use of them in the prosecution of your favourite studies, till, under better auspices, you may be enabled to re-acquire or to replace them.”

To this letter Mr. Roscoe made the following reply:—

“My dear Sir,

“I know not how to express to you the various sensations to which your letter and its inclosures have given rise in my mind. From the moment that it became necessary to dispose of my library, I resolved, as I believe I informed you, not to repurchase any part of it on my own account; and accordingly not a single book was to my knowledge bought for me: those bid for in the name of Mr. Coke being for his library at Holkham, although, by his permission, I retain for the present such of them as appear to be necessary in the arrangement of his valuable manuscripts.

“Judge, then, of my surprise on finding what had been done, and of the difficulties I feel in availing myself of the liberality of my friends in the manner I am sure they would wish. Be assured, my dear Sir, no one can be more deeply sensible than myself of the motives which gave rise to this measure, and of the delicacy with which it has been conducted; and if I cannot exactly conform to the terms proposed, I trust I shall be allowed to receive the kindness intended me in a manner less troublesome to my friends, and more satisfactory to myself. I am aware that when my library was first advertised, apprehensions were entertained that our proposed arrangements might not be accomplished; and that this measure was intended to prevent my being entirely deprived of those literary treasures which had constituted so great a portion of my happiness. Had such an event unfortunately occurred, I should most gratefully have accepted their friendly assistance; but the aspect of our affairs is now more favourable, the sale of my property has been made under my own directions, and if those distinguished and ever respected friends, to whose timely and considerate assistance I owe the most heartfelt obligations, will permit me to avail myself of the alternative mentioned in your letter, and repurchase the works bought for my use, it will relieve me from my present anxiety, and infinitely add to the obligations I already feel. In this point of view I shall think myself fortunate that such a measure has been resorted to; the books purchased (as might be expected from their being chosen by the long and confidential associate of my studies) being selected with the greatest judgment, and such as I should, for the most part, certainly have retained, had I not thought it necessary to the character of the sale that the entire library should be offered to the public. May I beg you, my dear friend, to communicate this my request to your constituents, and at the same time to assure them, not only of my warmest gratitude, but of the satisfaction I must ever feel in the reflection, that, on such an occasion, I have been honoured by so distinguished a proof of the approbation of those, who, by their former kindness and friendship, had entitled themselves to my highest esteem, affection, and respect.

“I am always, my dear Sir, “Most faithfully yours, “W. Roscoe.”

To the request thus pressingly urged upon them Mr. Roscoe’s friends yielded, and the contributions which they had so generously made for his service were returned to them. But the remnant of his library, which seemed to be again within his power, he was unable to retain; and his friend Mr. William Rath-bone, assisted by a very few other individuals, having become the purchaser of the books, liberally presented them to the library of the Athenæum at Liverpool, where they are preserved as a separate collection.*

* Extract from the Books of Proceedings of the Athenæum:—

“The following letter being read to the Committee by the President:—

“‘Liverpool, 29th August, 1817. “Dear Sir,

“‘I am requested by a few friends of Mr. Roscoe to present to the Athenæum the books of which I enclose a catalogue; reserving to him, during his lifetime, their use, and removal from the library, whenever he may have occasion for them.

“‘Mr. Roscoe’s friends are desirous thus to record their high respect for his talents, and their gratitude for the virtuous and indefatigable application of them to the advancement of the intellectual character of the town of Liverpool.

“‘May I trouble you to communicate the substance of this letter, and its confirmation, to Mr. Roscoe.

“‘Believe me, dear Sir, “‘With very sincere respect, “‘Your obliged and faithful “‘William Rathbone. “‘To the Rev. Jonathan Brooks, “‘President of the Athenæum.’

“Resolved,

“That it be recorded in the Minutes of this Institution, and that the President be requested to express to Mr. Rathbone, ‘the high and grateful sense which the Committee entertain of the splendid present which accompanied it; at the same time expressing their warmest concurrence in the sentiments

The sale of the prints took place immediately after that of the library, and occupied eleven

of respect and obligation to Mr. Roscoe’s literary talents, and the credit they have reflected on the town of Liverpool.

“That Mr. Rathbone be requested to communicate to the Committee the names of the individuals who have presented this munificent donation; and that a bookcase be prepared, in which they may be separately arranged, and on which the mode of receiving them may be recorded.

“That Mr. Roscoe be informed of the amount and conditions under which this donation has been made.

“At a monthly meeting of the Committee, held October 13. 1817, Rev. Jonathan Brooks in the chair, the following letter received from Mr. Roscoe was laid before the Committee, and ordered to be entered in their Minutes:—

“Dear Sir,

“I have to request you will receive my sincere acknowledgments, and communicate the same to the Committee of the Athenæum, for the honour they have done me in the arrangements made respecting the books which some of my friends have had the liberality to present to the library of that institution, and for the obliging terms in which such information has been communicated to me.*

“In being enabled to avail myself of the use of these books in common with the other proprietors, I shall feel myself as fully accommodated as if they were under my own roof, whilst at the same time they will, I trust, be of more general benefit than while they were in the possession of an individual.

“‘In addition, however, to the favour already conferred on me, I must request the Committee will allow me to add to the collection a few books, of which a minute is enclosed, and which I am desirous should be preserved in the Athenæum, no less as an honour to myself than as a memorial of

days. The collection, which was sold in 1352 lots, and which produced 1915l. 1s., was thus described by Mr. Roscoe himself:—

my regard for that Institution, and of my respect and esteem for its members.

“‘I have the honour to be, “‘Dear Sir, “‘Your very faithful and obliged servant, “‘W. Roscoe. “‘Liverpool, 6th Sept. 1817. “‘To the Rev. Jonathan Brooks, “’ President of the Athenæum.’

“BOOKS ALLUDED TO IN THE ABOVE LETTER: “Poesie del Magnifico Lorenzo de’ Medici tratte da Testi a penna della Libreria. “Mediceo-Laurentiana. 4to. Liverpool. 1795. “Canzoni Toscane, da J. T. Mathias. 4to. Lond. 1805. “The Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, by W. Roscoe. 8vo. 4 vols. Basil. 1799. “Wilhelm Roscoe’s Lorenz von Medici, aus den Englischen von Kurtz Sprengel. 8vo. Berlin, 1797. “Vie de Laurent de Medicis, traduite de l’Anglais de William Roscoe, par Francois Thurot. 8vo. 2 tom. Paris, l’an viii. “Occasional Tracts on the War. 8vo. London. 1810. “The Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth. 4 vols. 4to. Liverpool. 1805. On French paper, of which only six copies were printed.

“Resolved,

“That a letter be returned to Mr. Roscoe by the President, communicating the thanks of the Committee for his very valuable present.”

“The prints and etchings comprise,—

“A series of prints from the works of the Greek and Italian painters, illustrative of the progress of painting in Italy, from the earliest to the later ages.

“A series of prints, illustrative of the progress of engraving in Italy, Germany, and Flanders: including choice specimens of every artist of eminence, from the earliest period to Agostino Caracci, in the Italian school; and from Francis Stoss to Edelinck, in the German and Flemish.

“A highly valuable collection of etchings, by the Italian painters, consisting of the works of the most eminent masters, who have etched their own designs, from Parmigiano to Carlo Maratti. Of the Flemish and Dutch painters in various walks of history, landscape, cattle, drolls, and interiors; and of the French school, including fine examples of Claude, Callot, Gaspar Poussin, Sebastian Bourdon, &c.

“An assemblage of fine prints, after Rubens, by the most celebrated engravers of his time. Choice impressions of the Vandyke heads. Several fine works of Rembrandt and his school. Rare specimens of wood and chiaro-scuro prints, by the Italian and German masters. Engravings from antique busts and statues,—a few select books of prints,” &c.

Perhaps the most curious and, indeed, the most highly prized portion of these collections was the series of original drawings and pictures, in the procuring of which Mr. Roscoe had taken the greatest delight. He has, himself, explained, in the advertisement to the catalogue, the nature and value of this part of his collection.

“The following works, as well as those comprised in the two former catalogues, have been collected during a series of years, chiefly for the purpose of illustrating, by a reference to original and authentic sources, the rise and progress of the arts in modern times, as well in Germany and Flanders as in Italy. They are, therefore, not wholly to be judged of by their positive merits, but by a reference to the age in which they were produced. Their value chiefly depends upon their authenticity, and the light they throw on the history of the arts; yet, as they extend beyond the splendid era of 1500, there will be found several productions of a higher class, which may be ranked amongst the chefs-d’œuvre of modern skill.

“With regard to the originality of the drawings, which form the first part of the following catalogue, it may be proper to observe, that as such productions were for the most part intended only for the use of the artist in his more finished compositions, and not like etchings or engravings for publication, he has seldom authenticated them either by his name or mark. This deficiency has, therefore, been supplied in general, either by the friends and contemporaries of the artist, or by the persons into whose hands they have in subsequent times happened to fall, and who have endeavoured to assign each piece to its proper master; at the same time, frequently adding some note or mark, distinguishing the drawing as having formed a part of some particular collection. The authenticity of such drawings may, therefore, be considered as sanctioned by the different persons to whom they have successively belonged, and whose autographs or marks they bear; amongst whom may be enumerated the celebrated painters, Georgio Vasari, and Benedetto Luti, together with the Duke of Modena, Padre Resta, and many others in Italy; M. Crozat, M. Marriette, and others in France; many collectors in Holland and the Low Countries, and King Charles I., the Earl of Arundel, Sir Peter Lely, Martin Folkes, Esq., Sir Joshua Reynolds, Mr. Barnard, and several others in this kingdom; and particularly that very worthy man and excellent connoisseur, Jonathan Richardson, who formed the finest collection of drawings ever brought together in this country. Thus, these works have been received as authentic, and have passed from one cabinet to another from the rise of art to the present day; and in this state, a great part of the following collection is now brought before the public.

“Hopes had been indulged by the present possessor, that the works of literature and art included in this and the two preceding catalogues, might have formed the basis of a more extensive collection, and have been rendered subservient to some object of public utility; but the circumstances of the times are not favourable to his views, and they are now, therefore, offered to the public in detail, and without reserve. The catalogues may serve, however, to give an idea of the entire collection when the works that compose it are again dispersed.”

The drawings, consisting of 610 lots, and the paintings of 156, produced at the sale the sum of 2825l. 19s.

The most remarkable and valuable picture in the collection was a portrait of Leo X., with his cousin, the Cardinal Giulio de’ Medici and his nephew, the Cardinal de’ Rossi. Of the history of this painting Mr. Roscoe has given the following account:—

“Vasari relates, that when Federigo, Duke of Mantua, passed through Florence, to pay his respects to Clement VII., he saw in the palace of the Medici the portrait of Leo X., with the Cardinals Giulio de’ Medici and Rossi, with which he was so highly pleased, that on his arrival at Rome, he requested it as a gift from the Pope, who was then at the head of the Medici family, and one of the persons represented in the picture. The Pontiff generously complied with his wishes, and directions were accordingly sent to Ottaviano de’ Medici, at Florence, to forward the picture to Mantua; but he, being unwilling that the family should be deprived of such a treasure, sent to Andrea del Sarto, and requested him to copy it, which he did with such success, that Ottaviano himself could not distinguish the copy from the original; concealing, therefore, the picture of Raffaelle, he sent to Mantua that of Andrea del Sarto, with which the Duke was perfectly satisfied, and even Giulio Romano, the favourite pupil of Raffaelle, who was then resident at Mantua, was not aware of the deception.

“In this error they might have remained, had not a singular incident led to an explanation. Vasari, then a young and rising artist, desirous of forming an acquaintance with Giulio Romano, paid a visit to Mantua, where he was received with great civility by Giulio, who, after gratifying him with a sight of the works of art which the city afforded, at length exhibited to him the picture of Raffaelle, as the greatest ornament of the place. ‘A beautiful work!’ cried Vasari, ‘but not by the hand of Raffaelle.’—‘How so?’ said Giulio. ‘Is it possible I should not recognise the touches of my own pencil upon it?’—‘You are mistaken,’ replied Vasari: ‘this picture is the work of Andrea del Sarto’ (under whom Vasari had studied at the time the copy was made); ‘and as a proof of it, there is a mark on it which I will show you. The picture was accordingly taken down, and the mark mentioned by Vasari discovered; upon which Giulio declared, ‘that he valued the copy no less than the picture of Raffaelle himself; nay,’ added he, ‘even more, because it is incredible that one painter should so perfectly imitate the manner of another.’

“In consequence of this artifice the picture of Raffaelle remained at Florence, till it was carried away a few years since to ornament the immense collection of the Louvre; that of Andrea del Sarto afterwards came into the possession of the Duke of Parma, from which city it was transferred to Naples, and formed a part of the royal collection at Capo di Monte, where it remained till that collection was dispersed by the revolutionary troubles, and is presumed to have found its way, in common with many other pictures from the same collection, into this country, where it became the property of a respectable dealer in London, who never would part with it in his lifetime, but after whose death it was purchased by its present possessor.

“During the time these pictures were in Italy, they were the frequent subject of comp-arison and criticism. Richardson, in his account of the works of art in Italy, (vol. iii. p. 665.) says, there are who pretend that the copy is preferable to the original, but to judge properly it would be requisite to see them together. He prefers the original, but at the same time he doubts whether he may not be prejudiced in favour of Raffaelle. The prelate Bottari, the learned editor and annotator of Vasari’s Lives of the Painters, relates, that by particular favour he obtained a sight of the picture at Naples, (about the year 1756,) and returned twice to examine it, but could not obtain permission to take it out of the frame. ‘I can however say,’ adds he, ‘that this is one of the most stupendous pictures I have ever seen, and appears not to have been painted more than six months. I have fresh in my memory the original of Raffaelle, which I saw not many years since, and I aver that, setting aside the names of the painters, and the knowledge of the facts, many good judges would take the copy in preference to the original, which is now turned rather black; whilst the copy, besides its freshness, is more soft and fleshy than the original.’ In his notes on the Lettere Pittoriche (of which he was also the editor), Bottari repeats his observations on these two pictures; ‘L’ originale di questo quadro (di Raffaelle) è nel Palazzo de’ Pitti; è la copia d’ Andrea è presso S. M. Rè di Na-poli; e sto per dire che ora è più bella dell’ originale.’ (vol. ii. p. 400.)

“From the accounts of those who have seen the picture of Raffaelle, in the Louvre, its condition has not been improved since its arrival in France; and M. Landon, who has given an outline of it in the Annales du Musée, admits, ‘qu’elle a pâti,’ whilst the present picture still retains the freshness ascribed to it by Bottari, and appears not to have been painted more than six months.

“What was the mark by which Andrea distinguished his copy from the original, Vasari has not mentioned; but the prelate Bottari informs us, that he had heard Gabbiani, who was himself an eminent painter, and who was born soon after the middle of the seventeenth century, and had associated with many old professors, say, ‘that the mark set upon the picture by Andrea, was the writing his name on the edge or thickness of the pannel, which was covered by the frame; and that when Vasari had the picture taken out of the frame, Giulio read the inscription.’

“Notwithstanding these facts, the picture had been a considerable time in the possession of its present owner, before he examined whether any traces of such an inscription could be discovered. Having, however, been assured several times, as well by artists as others who had seen it at Capo di Monte, that this was the identical picture, and several peculiarities being pointed out, which appeared too striking to be mistaken, he had, about two years since, the picture taken out of the frame, in the presence of some of his friends, when, on the left edge of the pannel, which is about three quarters of an inch thick, the remains of the inscription were still visible. This inscription was much obliterated, but, according to the best judgment that could be formed of it, had been composed of the letters Andrea. F. P. . . . . . . probably followed by the date of the year, which was, however, quite illegible.

“The coincidence of this fact with the relation of Vasari and the tradition of Gabbiani, was considered by the parties present as a sufficient evidence of this being the identical picture of Andrea del Sarto.

“It may be proper to add, that from the enquiries that have been made, it does not appear that the picture of Andrea is now either at Naples or Palermo, to which latter place a great part of the collection at Capo di Monte had been removed before the French obtained possession of Naples.”

Another picture to which Mr. Roscoe attached a very high value, was that of the Madonna and Child, by Ghirlandajo, with a frieze by Michel-agnolo, mentioned in a letter to Sir J. E. Smith, given in a preceding page. But perhaps the most striking picture in the collection was a Head of Christ, by Lionardo da Vinci, a composition of the noblest conception, and full of the deepest feeling. These three pictures, certainly the flowers of the collection, were purchased by Mr. Coke, and now adorn the walls of Holkham.

Many of the best productions of Fuseli’s pencil were found in the collection. Some of these had been painted at Mr. Roscoe’s request, and amongst others, a large painting representing the Death of Lorenzo de’ Medici. On commencing this picture, Fuseli addressed the following letter to Mr. Roscoe:—

“You will perceive by this short quotation, that I have been looking into your tenth chapter, which contains the event of the subject you propose to me for the chimney-piece of your dining-room, and which I think a very good one. The figures, half lengths, on a canvass of 6 feet by 4½ or 5. A Guercino size, I suppose. Not an upright posture. Lorenzo, Politiano, Pico. The most striking, and, for a painter, the most expressive moment of this scene appears to me that, when Lorenzo, grasping the hands of his friend, steadfastly regards him; whilst Politiano, to conceal his emotion and tears, turns his face aside. But at that moment Pico was not yet arrived; a circumstance, how-ever, which, I think, need not be regarded; as his presence, both for expression and composition appears, if not indispensably necessary, highly important. And thinking that you will agree with me in this, I wish to know if you are possessed of good and authentic heads of either, at least of Pico; as the profile of Politiano, in your book, may perhaps answer. The whole, with its chiaro-scuro, is arranged in my head, and I shall, in a little time, set about it; but I would rather decline sending you a sketch, as they always raise expectations which no picture can answer; the firstlings of my hand shall be on the canvass, as in the Cardinal which Shepherd has; to whom I beg you will remember me.”

In consequence of this letter, some prints and medals of Lorenzo and his contemporaries were sent to Fuseli, whose observations upon them are contained in the following letter:—

“I take the opportunity of Mr. Johnson’s return to Liverpool, to inform you that I am not only alive, but alive for you,—whether it be life to any purpose for myself or you, which in this case is nearly the same thing, you will be able to tell, I hope, before the middle of next month. The conception of the moment remains unaltered, the same I had at first.

“‘Piobbe,’ says Dante, ‘nell’ alta phantasia;’—‘Alluxit nobis,’ says Vitellius. The business which remains now, is to make the execution correspond; and, what of all others is the most difficult thing in art, to give the last deciding touches with felicity. It has been matter of some perplexity to me that nothing very characteristic of persons and costume occurs in the ‘History of Lorenzo:’ that he was destitute of smell is, indeed, a personal peculiarity, but of less service to me than La Fleur’s knack at making spatterdashes was to Sterne. The medals and print your son (to whom commend me) left with me are, with regard to Lorenzo, abominable caricatures, do not suffice to Pico, and turn Politian into a fat schoolmaster. It will therefore be some merit to have done better, and yet to have preserved some likeness. After all, I suspect, between you and me, your hero to have been a d—d ill-looking fellow. The head of Attila, as we find it on medals, has elevation and beauty compared with the human reptile you sent to me. Pico, on the medal, has an air of age beyond what he attained, and looks not very unlike Mr. Whitbread.”

The picture, when completed, formed the chief ornament of the dining-room at Allerton, the walls of which were decorated entirely with paintings from the same hand. On the sale of the collection it was purchased in a name unknown to Mr. Roscoe, and, by the desire of the purchaser, presented to him, through the auctioneer, Mr. Winstanley. To the letter announcing this gift Mr. Roscoe sent the following reply:—

“Dear Sir,

“May I beg you to express to the liberal but unknown donor of the picture of the death of Lorenzo de’ Medici by Fuseli, my most grateful acknowledgments for his very acceptable present; which will now be more valuable to me than ever, as, independently of the estimation in which I hold it on account of the subject and the painter, it will call to mind an act of generosity, which, although I am not permitted to acknowledge it to the giver, will always afford me the sincerest pleasure as having been the object of such an instance of disinterested kindness.

“Please to communicate the contents of this to the proper quarter, and to believe me,” &c.

By Mr. Roscoe’s directions this picture was presented, after his death, to the Athenæum at Liverpool, and is now placed in an excellent situation in the library of that institution.

A considerable number of the pictures, more especially those of the early masters, which, though highly curious as illustrating the history of art, were little interesting to the ordinary collector, did not meet with purchasers at the sale. Those which afforded a series of specimens both of the Italian and German schools, were afterwards bought by the directions of the same gentlemen who had so liberally presented the collection of books from Mr. Roscoe’s library to the Athenæum, and were by them given to the Liverpool Royal Institution, the walls of which they now adorn, and form one of the interesting objects which attract strangers to that establishment.

Amid the heavy anxieties in which the settlement of his affairs involved him, Mr. Roscoe’s mind was occasionally diverted, and soothed by communications which recalled the memory of those happier days devoted to the study of literature and of art. Acknowledgments of the pleasure and advantage derived from the perusal of his works, testimonies from unexpected quarters to their merits, and expressions of gratitude for services rendered, could not fail to be gratifying to his feelings.

From Mr. Singer he received, in the spring of this year, his beautiful and ingenious volume on the History of Playing Cards, which was dedicated to him in very flattering terms. This work was accompanied by the following letter:—

“I have much pleasure in offering to your acceptance the accompanying literary trifle. May I hope you will not deem it an intrusion, that I have ventured to inscribe it with your name.

“The truth is that I have long sought an opportunity of showing some mark of the high sense I entertain of your worth, your talents, and your successful exertions as a true patriot and as a man of letters. I have only to regret that mine is not a more worthy tribute; for I owe to the influence of your writings upon my mind at an early age the chief of my literary pleasures. It was the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici’ that first inspired me with a desire to hear the swans of Arno in their harmonious native strains.

“Grateful for this, and full of admiration of your public conduct, no one can more sincerely wish that the evening of your bright day which has been passed so honourably to yourself, and so usefully to your country, may be attended with that tranquillity which is the best reward of such a course. With sentiments of the highest esteem, and best wishes for your health and happiness, believe me,” &c.

It was the good fortune of Mr. Roscoe to be amongst the first of those who observed and encouraged the genius of Gibson, whose works as a sculptor have since gained him such deserved celebrity. While yet studying the rudiments of his art he became known to Mr. Roscoe, who, quickly detecting his talents, encouraged him by his advice and assistance to proceed with his studies. His visits to Allerton were frequent and welcome; and he had there free access to the various collections of works of art which Mr. Roscoe was delighted to look over in company with him. At the end of the year 1815 a scheme had been arranged for his visiting Rome, in the promotion of which Mr. Roscoe had promised to bear a part, which circumstances unfortunately prevented him from doing. That Gibson was not insensible to the kindness thus shown him will appear from the following letter written shortly before his going abroad:—

“Since my arrival in London I have often been on the point of writing to you, but my consciousness of the nature of your late engagements rendered me diffident of addressing you.

“Now, as I imagine the bustle of things has subsided with you, I venture to tell you that Mr. Fuseli received me as you could wish, and will give me a letter to Canova, and to others at Rome, and that I have been introduced by Mr. Christie to Mr. G. W. Taylor, who has employed me since my arrival in London. He is kind, liberal, and rich, and is, I think, determined to be of use to art in all its departments. He has expressed himself particularly delighted with what I have done for him—three busts of his children in marble. At present I am with him and his family here, at Earl Spencer’s villa, modelling his lady and himself. When these are finished I go on to Rome.

“It is with the consciousness of the pleasure this will give you I thus write about myself. This consciousness is more fixed and heightened within me when I count the years you have honoured me with your attention and kindness.

“Whenever my imagination glides to Allerton, it is with a deep feeling of gratitude and respect; for it was there my inexperienced youth was led to the path of simple art; it was there it caught the flame of ambition; it was there the suggestion of Rome was given birth to: therefore, dear Sir, though fate has prevented you from indulging your generous intentions towards me on this occasion of going abroad, it has not lessened my gratitude, but has made me feel and value, with more warmth, the superior part of our nature, that divine generosity which, when deprived of those partial gifts of fortune, exists the same in the noble mind, and therefore ought to possess a superior, an exalted place in the estimation of true gratitude. Through life, dear Sir, gratefully and respectfully yours, J. G.”

“I was highly gratified,” Mr. Roscoe writes in reply, “by your obliging letter, as well from your kind remembrance of me as from the favourable account you give me of your own pro-ceedings and prospects. As to what you are so good as to say respecting the advantages you suppose you have derived from my acquaintance, I cannot but be sensible with what caution I ought to receive it; but I will not deny that it affords me sincere pleasure, from the consciousness that it has ever been my wish to contribute, as far as in my power, to bring forward those talents, which, if patiently and duly cultivated, will confer lasting honour on your name.

“I rejoice to find you have now met with a friend who knows how to appreciate your merits. This morning I had the honour of a letter from Mr. Taylor, requesting that you would take a model of me for a bust in marble, to be executed by you at Rome,—a request which, under such circumstances, it is impossible for me to refuse. As I cannot, however, leave home at present, I should be glad of a line informing me when and where you can enter upon this undertaking; and remain with the sincerest esteem and best wishes, &c. &c. W. R.”

The favourable accounts from Rome, which from time to time Mr. Roscoe received of the growing celebrity of Gibson, afforded him the sincerest gratification, and it was seldom that the letters of the latter did not allude, with expressions of pleasure and gratitude very honourable to the writer, to the encouragement that had been extended to the studies of his youth. “I shall see more,” he says, in a letter from Rome, dated May, 1818, “I shall do more, and I shall write more, said I to myself; and thus time flies away without my addressing my earliest friend. Now I have not forgotten the pathways that lead to Allerton. I have not forgotten your early attentions to me, and which brought me to the notice of those friends whose generosity has opened the gates of Rome to me. Yes, here I am, and could be contented for ever in Rome, for I like it more and more. I have not yet seen the third part of what this city contains, for I began to work soon after my arrival here, anxious to show Canova something I have been designing and modelling. At present I have in hand the model of a shepherd-boy, sleeping (my own design), which I have been studying from nature. The Marquis was so good as to come to my studio to see it, and he seems much pleased with it. He says that I have made the body and the head beautiful.

“The Marquis is quite intimate with Roscoe. How I have wished I had a copy of the Address which you delivered at the opening of the Institution to show Canova. He said that I should make the hair of your bust* like that of Eu-

* In the year 1827 Gibson presented a bust of Mr. Roscoe, in marble, to the Liverpool Royal Institution, accompanying it with the following letter:—

ripides. I shall model it all anew, as I do not work by the piece. I have done Mrs. Taylor’s all anew, and am cutting it in marble.”

It was the happy fortune of Mr. Roscoe to number amongst his friends many of the best men of his day. Of these there was no one for whom he entertained higher sentiments of esteem and respect than the late Mr. Reynolds, of Bristol. Those sentiments will be found expressed in the following letter to Mr. William Rathbone, the grandson of Mr. Reynolds, written on the occasion of the death of the latter.

“I am so fully sensible of what your mother

“Rome, 5th March, 1827. “Sir,

“Permit me to offer, through you, to the Committee of the Royal Liverpool Institution (as a grateful tribute to my first patrons—to those who enabled me to study my profession where I could best learn it), the accompanying bust, in marble, of their illustrious and venerable president, Roscoe.

“To that gentleman I am indebted for what little merit I may possess as a sculptor. He first inspired me with ideas worthy of my profession, and kindled within me an ardent love of fame in the pursuit of it.

“By this monument, if I have endeavoured to perpetuate the lineaments of an excellent man, I have hoped also to perpetuate the gratitude and respect of the artist whom he protected.

“I have the honour to remain, Sir, “Your much obliged humble servant, “John Gibson. “T. Martin, Esq., Secretary, “Liverpool Royal Institution.”

has to go through on the present occasion, that I cannot think of intruding on her, and must therefore beg you to accept for her and yourself, your brother and sister, as well as for Mr. Joseph Reynolds and his family, the assurances of that sincere sorrow and affectionate sympathy which we all feel for you on the loss of your most excellent and ever respected relative, a loss to be lamented not only by his family and surviving friends, but wherever his name and character have been known.

“And yet, my dear friend, if ever there was an occasion, on which the tears we shed are tears of affection and tenderness, rather than of grief and distress, it is the present; when a good man, full of years and honour, goes to receive the reward of his labours, leaving to those who are dearest to him the benefit of his example, the credit of his widely respected name, and the delightful hope, that, by following in his track, they will finally be admitted to his society again in a happier state of being.”

To Mrs. Rathbone, the daughter of Mr. Reynolds, he thus addressed himself on the same event:—

——“I have not been able wholly to repress my sentiments on this occasion, nor to resist the earnest desire of paying my tribute of affection and admiration to the character of your excellent and venerated father. How inadequate the en-closed lines are to express what I feel, none but myself can judge; but I confide them to you as the best offering I have it in my power to make, and with the view (if you and Mr. Reynolds should not disapprove it) of printing a few copies in the form in which it is now sent, to be distributed to such of your father’s friends as you may think would be gratified by such a memorial, however humble, of a person universally and deservedly respected and beloved.”

The following are the lines adverted to by Mr. Roscoe.

“In Memory OF RICHARD REYNOLDS, OF BRISTOL, Who died at Cheltenham, on the 10th of September, 1816, aged 80 years. “O let no plaint be heard, no murmurs rise, When, ripe in years and goodness, Reynolds dies! But ’mid the precincts of this sacred bound Let calm and holy silence breathe around; Whilst filial duty, bending o’er his bier, Consigns to Gratitude the sorrowing tear; And humble Hope, with feelings unexprest, Owns the full promise through her thrilling breast. “For, oh! if breathings of accordant airs, The orphan’s offerings and the mourner’s prayers, Blessings from fervent hearts, in secret paid, For soothing comforts, and for timely aid; For prompt compassion, vigilant to save, For bounty, generous as the heart that gave: If these, ascending towards the source of light, May waft the spirit on its heavenward flight, Thou, Reynolds, ’midst the mansions of the just, Crown’d are thy labours, and confirm’d thy trust; Then, the last shade of earthly doubt removed, Thy deeds recorded and thy life approved, Thou hear’st with joy thy Master’s blest decree— ‘What thou hast done for these, was done for me.’

CHAPTER XV. 1817, 1818. Meeting for the establishment of the Liverpool Royal Institution.—Report drawn up by Mr. Roscoe.—Introductory lecture delivered by him—printed by request of the Committee.—Letters from Mr. Shepherd and, from Dr. Aikin, on this occasion.—Resigns the office of President of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool.—His contributions to that society.—Essay on the Application of the Principles of Morality to the Intercourse of States.—Is elected a member of the Philadelphia Linnæan Society.—Correspondence with Sir Joseph Banks on Miss M’Avoy’s pretensions to the faculty of discriminating colours by the touch.—Tract on Penal jurisprudence meditated.—Hymns contributed by Mr. Roscoe to the Collection for the use of Protestant Dissenters.—Anthem—set to music by Mr. Webbe.—Proposal to him to write a History of the State of Europe—declined.—He communicates with M. La Fayette through Mr. M’Creery.—Interview of the latter with M. La Fayette.—Letter from M. La Fayette to Mr. Roscoe—his reply—his regret that he had been unable to carry into effect his more extended views.—Lines expressive of his deep feeling on this subject. CHAPTER XV.

Amongst the public institutions of Liverpool, there existed, for a long period, none devoted to the purposes of liberal education. The advantages and conveniences of an establishment, where academical instruction of a higher character than is usually bestowed at a private school might be obtained, and where young persons, who had finished the ordinary routine of education, might have an opportunity of cultivating their minds, induced Dr. Traill, of Liverpool, in the year 1813, to draw up a plan for an institution of this nature; and in the following year, a number of gentlemen, favourable to the design, called a public meeting, “to take into consideration the expediency of establishing an Institution for the promotion of literature, science, and the arts.” The meeting was numerously attended; and a resolution was carried, that the sum of 30,000l. should be raised in shares of 100l. each, for the purpose of carrying the project into effect. A committee of twenty gentlemen, amongst whom was Mr. Roscoe, was appointed, who immediately published a detailed plan of the Institution; the objects of which they proposed to accomplish by academical schools,—by public lectures,—by the encouragement of societies, who might unite for similar objects,—by collections of books, specimens of art, natural history, &c.; by providing a laboratory and philosophical apparatus, and by the association of the proprietors for the communication of literary and philosophical intelligence. At the end of three years from this time, the committee made their first report, which was drawn up by Mr. Roscoe, as chairman of that body. A spacious and convenient building had been obtained; arrangements for the establishment of the schools and lectures had been made; apartments had been provided for the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, and for the Liverpool Academy of Artists; and a reading-room, furnished with the Foreign and English literary periodical works, had been provided for the use of the proprietors. The objects of the Institution are thus concisely stated at the conclusion of the report:—“If your committee were required to explain, as briefly as possible, the advantages, public and private, which this Institution is calculated to afford, they would beg leave to state, that it is intended to unite the benefits of a strictly academical education with domestic and social habits, and a knowledge of the manners and affairs of public life; to perpetuate the acquirements of youth beyond the limits of the school, and to diffuse a more general taste for scientific and literary subjects, so as to enable the town of Liverpool to keep pace with, if not to excel, other populous communities, as well abroad as at home, in those discoveries and improvements which have, of late years, been as astonishing as they are useful, and seem still to be proceeding in an increased ratio; and to promote, in the most efficacious manner, those studies and occupations which confer honour on the human character, and add no less to the dignity than to the rational pleasures of life.”

It was announced in this report, that the operations of the Institution would commence by public lectures, of which an introductory one would be given by Mr. Roscoe, to be succeeded by courses on different branches of natural history, by Dr. Traill and Dr. Vose. Sir James Edward Smith also undertook to deliver a course of lectures on botany, and Mr. Campbell on poetry.

The delivery of the introductory lecture, announced in the report, took place on the 25th of November. The task of preparing, and still more of pronouncing this lecture, was one of no little weight to Mr. Roscoe. It was with difficulty that, amid the distraction of business, he found time for its composition; and the idea of coming forward to deliver it in public, at a season when seclusion was so much more grateful to his feelings, disturbed and oppressed him. He yielded, however, to the conviction that he could not be wrong in thus performing a public duty, and that he should be supported on the occasion by the kindness of many friends. Nor was he mistaken. By a very numerous assembly, which filled every part of the large lecture-room of the Institution, he was received with the most flattering applause, which was repeated at the conclusion of the lecture. On the following day, he received from the committee a letter, requesting him to publish the Discourse, with which he thought proper to comply, and it was subsequently printed under the following title, “On the Origin and Vicissitudes of Literature, Science, and Art, and their Influence on the present State of Society; a Discourse, delivered on the opening of the Liverpool Royal Institution, 25th November, 1817.”*

The nature of this discourse sufficiently appears from its title. Its great object was to inculcate the too frequently forgotten truth, that it is to their own exertions that individuals must look for their improvement in taste, in literature, and in science; and that here, as in other cases, he who wishes to excel, must be the architect of his

* Liverpool: Printed by Harris and Co.; and sold by Cadell and Davies, London.

own fortunes. “To suppose that the human race is subjected to a certain and invariable law, by which they continue either to degenerate or improve; to presume, that the progress of civilisation, science, and taste, is limited to certain climates and tracts of country; or to adopt the idea, that when they have risen to a certain degree of excellence, they must, in the common course of affairs, necessarily decline, is to deaden all exertion, and to subject the powers of the mind to the operation of inert matter, or to the fluctuations of accident and chance.”

In the following animated passage he has philosophically traced the natural union between utility and pleasure.

“In thus attempting to vindicate the studies of literature and the cultivation of the fine arts chiefly on the principle of utility, I am not insensible that I may be supposed to be indifferent or adverse to the opinions of those who have defended them on other grounds. There are many persons who contend that their object is to please, and who attribute the enjoyment we derive from them to the bounty of the Creator, who, throughout the whole of his works, has shown, that an attention to order, to elegance, and to beauty, corresponding to certain fixed principles in our constitution, forms a part of his great and beneficent plan. But whilst I admit the full force of this argument, I conceive that, in this instance, there exists no necessity for our separating the ideas of utility and of pleasure, and of relying for our justification on one of them only. The gifts of the Creator are full handed; nor has he always placed it in our power to accept of that which is indispensably necessary, without, at the same time, compelling us to accept of the pleasure that accompanies it. We may morosely suppose, that fine prospects, beautiful flowers, or sweet sounds, are below the dignity, or unworthy the attention of an improved and rational mind; but we cannot close our ears to the morning song of the lark, nor avoid the sight of the landscape, unless we refuse to breathe the breath of heaven, and relinquish the cheerful beam of day; and if we resolve that our palate shall not be gratified, we must deprive ourselves of that nutriment which is necessary to our very existence. Apply this to all the conveniences, and even the elegancies of life, and then let us ask, what is the result of this system of intellectual and physical enjoyment to which the cynical and short-sighted observer has applied the equivocal and injurious term of luxury? That great classes of the industrious part of the community are employed, ingenuity exerted, talents rewarded, wealth circulated through an infinite variety of channels, and a general bond of union arising from an interchange of services and rewards is formed amongst the vast family of the human race. “A man of benevolence,” says Mr. Dugald Stewart, “whose mind is tinctured with philosophy, will view all the different improvements in arts, in commerce, and in the sciences, as co-operating to promote the union, the happiness, and the virtue of mankind.” Utility and pleasure are thus bound together in an indissoluble chain; and what the Author of nature “has joined, let no man put asunder.”

Upon the objects of the Institution Mr. Roscoe remarks, “It is to the union of the pursuits of literature with the affairs of the world, that we are to look forwards towards the improvement of both; towards the stability and foundation of the one, and the grace and ornament of the other; and this union is most likely to be effected by establishments in the nature of the present Institution, founded in the midst of a great commercial community, and holding out opportunities of instruction, not only for those intended for the higher and more independent ranks of life, but for those who, amidst the duties of an active profession, or the engagements of mercantile concerns, wish to cultivate their intellectual powers and acquirements.

“Nor is it to the period of youth alone that the purposes of this Institution are intended to be confined. Education is the proper employment, not only of our early years, but of our whole lives; and they who, satisfied with their attainments, neglect to avail themselves of the improvements which are daily taking place in every department of human knowledge, will, in a few years, have the mortification to find themselves surpassed by much younger rivals. In order to afford the best possible opportunity of preventing such a result, it is the avowed object of this Institution, not only to establish a system of academical education, but to draw from every part of the United Kingdom the best instructors that can be obtained, on those subjects which are of the first importance and the highest interest to mankind. By these means an establishment will be formed, original in its plan, and efficient in its operation; affording to the inhabitants of this great town an opportunity of domestic instruction for their children, equal, it is hoped, to any that can elsewhere be obtained; and preventing the necessity of resorting to those distant seminaries, where, amidst the promiscuous society of youthful associates the character is left to be formed as chance and circumstances may direct. Nor will the course of instruction cease with the period of manhood; but will be continued for the use of those who may choose to avail themselves of it in future life; thereby carrying the acquirements of youth into real use; applying them to the practical concerns of the world, and pre-venting, as far as possible, that absurd and entire relinquishment of the benefits and attainments of education, which generally takes place at the precise time when they should be converted to their most useful and important purposes.”

Soon after its publication in England, a translation of the Discourse into Italian appeared.

The applause with which this Discourse was received was not confined to its delivery. From many quarters the most gratifying criticisms upon it were transmitted to its author, none of which afforded him higher pleasure than the following, from his attached friend, the Rev. W. Shepherd:—

“When I received the copy of your inaugural oration on the opening of the Liverpool Royal Institution, which you were so kind as to send me, I was on the wing for my usual holiday excursion, and since my return home I have been so much occupied by the commencement of my school labours, that I had not time to read it till a day or two ago. On its perusal, I am by no means surprised at the universal satisfaction with which it was received at its delivery. The views which it exhibits of the causes of the rise and decline of literature and art, in various countries, are at once profound and clear. Its assertion of the dignity and utility of the pursuits of science and learning is convincing and persuasive. In style, it is luminous, and, upon just occasion, eloquent and pathetic. By the publication of this work you have laid the world of letters under fresh obligations, and have added a new ornament to the pillar of your literary fame. That you should ‘tot curis molestiisque distractus’ have been able to produce such a composition, is a subject of surprise to the many, and of congratulation to your friends; in which number to be reckoned has long been the pride and pleasure of yours, most sincerely, W. S.”

Dr. Aikin also congratulated him on this occasion, in a letter which was the last that Mr. Roscoe ever received from his friend:—

“Many thanks, my dear friend, for your very kind and welcome letter, and your congratulations on the state of my health. The latter is, indeed, more improved than I could once have imagined, and I have scarcely any thing to complain of except a defect of memory, which I find generally accompanying advanced life, and which does not yet deprive me of those mental occupations which are most suitable to my age.

“It is with great pleasure that I learn from Edmund, that there are no symptoms of any decline in that part of your constitution, and that the admirable powers with which you have so long amused and instructed the world, still exhibit all their pristine vigour.

“The Institution, which I must regard as principally indebted to you for its success, and which may one day convert Liverpool into an Athens or a Florence, has been most auspiciously brought forward under your tutelage, and I have the satisfaction of hearing from all who were your auditors, that nothing could have surpassed your exertions on that occasion. In my retirement from the world I conceive that you can scarcely be in earnest, by assigning me high-learned and orthodox acquaintance; but bad I any such; you might be assured of my best endeavours to enlist them in your service. At present my knowledge of such distinguished persons is in the records of my past life, and is likely never to be renewed.”

Of the Literary and Philosophical Society, whose meetings were transferred, as above related, to the rooms of the Royal Institution, Mr. Roscoe had been for some years the president. His incessant avocations unfortunately prevented him from attending the meetings of the society with regularity, and from contributing so frequently, as it was his desire to do, to its transactions. The feeling that he was unable properly to fulfil the duties of his office induced him, in the year 1825, to tender his resignation, which he did, in the following letter to his friend, Dr. Traill, the vice president.

“I much regret that it will not be in my power to attend the meeting of the Literary and Philosophical Society this evening, particularly as it was my wish to have expressed in person to the society, my grateful acknowledgments for the honour they have so long done me in continuing me in the office of their president, notwithstanding the very imperfect manner in which I cannot but feel I have been able to perform the duties of that station. I am sorry to add, that my increasing years, and uncertain state of health, which almost disqualify me from long continued exertion, have at length induced me most respectfully to tender my resignation, which I do with the sincerest sentiments of kindness and regard for every individual of a society from which I have uniformly experienced the utmost liberality and the greatest indulgence, and of which I shall still be happy in taking my place as a member as often as circumstances will admit.

“May I beg, my dear Sir, you will have the goodness to communicate this to the society this evening in such manner as you may think most proper.”

At the earnest solicitation, however, of the society, Mr. Roscoe was induced to retain the office of their president, with the understanding that his personal attendance would not be expected.

The contributions of Mr. Roscoe to the “Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society” were few in number, not exceeding three or four. One of the most interesting of these, and, perhaps, one of the very best of his productions was an essay “On the Application of the Principles of Morality to the Intercourse of States.” This paper originated in some remarks made by Mr. Bigland in his “Historical Display,” upon a passage in the “Life of Leo X.,” in which the author applies the same principles of morality which obtain in private life to the intercourse of states.

The following preliminary remarks are highly characteristic of Mr. Roscoe’s sentiments on this and other subjects of the greatest interest to mankind.

“Truths hidden to former ages are not only openly asserted, but are diffusing themselves amongst the community with a rapidity which nothing can oppose. Among these may be enumerated the establishment of the great principle of natural and personal rights, with the existence of which a state of slavery is incompatible The practical refutation of the absurd and dangerous maxim, that the safety and wellbeing of a nation depends upon the depression and weakness of surrounding states.—The open assertion of the doctrine that war is not a necessary evil, but may be averted by means, which it is perfectly in the power of rational beings to adopt.—The necessity of amore enlightened jurisprudence, by which the exercise of the benevolent feelings shall be substituted for those of anger, cruelty, and revenge; and, lastly, the establishment of the opinion that the rules of morality, which are binding upon every individual in private life, are equally applicable to the conduct of governments, and the intercourse of nations with each other:—these propositions, so various in their objects, so important in their results, are all deducible from one source, and united together in a common origin, being all comprised in the great precept of Christianity, ‘to do to others as we would they should do to us.’

“In the publications which I have at different times ventured to lay before the world, I have occasionally adverted to some of the topics above-mentioned, and have endeavoured, as far as my humble efforts can prevail, to establish their truth and demonstrate their practicability. In particular, I had in one of those works expressed an opinion that an individual, when his sphere of action becomes more extended, ought to pursue, on a large scale, the same line of conduct that he does on a smaller; to which I have added, ‘what has the Politician to do, but to apply to the affairs of nations and the intercourse between states, those principles of morality, which he finds in the relations of private life.’

With regard to the argument founded upon what is considered political expediency, that circumstances may arise, which may compel a statesman, for the promotion of the national safety or happiness, to guide himself by other rules than those which the morality applicable to the transactions of private life prescribes, Mr. Roscoe observes:—

“This theory is, however, false; virtue and true wisdom are inseparable. The real difference between a good and a wicked man consists in their extent of vision, or grasp of mind. The one sees only what is immediately before him, and acts rightly, according to his own perceptions; the other takes in a wider range, and compares the advantages to be obtained by temporary success with the evils that must ultimately result from it. If, for instance, it should appear that by a violation of moral obligation, or national rights, some peculiar advantages might be obtained by one state over another, there have been, and, perhaps, there are, politicians who would not hesitate to avail themselves of so favourable an opportunity, and would, with Mr. Bigland, ‘think it a virtue, as being directed to the promotion of national safety, tranquillity, and happiness;’ but the enlightened moralist would look further, and act upon a higher principle. He would know that this temporary advantage could not be obtained, without opening the way to consequences which he might neither be able to control nor foresee. He would perceive, that one of the first results of his conduct would be the destruction of that mutual confidence which is indispensable to the very existence of human society; he would know that such advantages are temporary, but that principles are eternal, and would not sacrifice the greater to the lesser.”

In the spring of the present year, Mr. Roscoe had the gratification of finding his name added to the list of the members of the Philadelphia Linnæan Society. His election was communicated to him in the following letter:—

“Sir,

“I am directed by the Philadelphia Linnæan Society to inform you that they have elected you a member of their association.

“In adding your distinguished name to their list of foreign members, the society have designed to testify the high sense they entertain of your eminence in the science of botany, the promotion of which is one of the objects of their institution.

“I have taken advantage of this opportunity of transmitting you a copy of a Prodromus of a Flora Philadelphica, which I published about a year since, and of which I beg the favour of your acceptance.

“I am, Sir, “With very great respect and consideration, “Your most obedient Servant, “William P. C. Barton.” “Philadelphia, Jan. 11. 1817.”

In consequence of a communication from Sir Joseph Banks, with whom he maintained an occasional correspondence, Mr. Roscoe was induced to make some inquiry into the circumstances of a most singular imposture, attempted at this time to be practised by a female in Liverpool. The nature of the faculty which she pretended to possess is described in Mr. Roscoe’s letter, and it will surprise those who have never remarked the extent to which human credulity may be carried, to learn that numbers of sensible and scientific men were persuaded that her pretensions were well founded.

“I have heard,” says Sir Joseph Banks, “so much of a woman at Liverpool, who can see with the ends of her fingers when it is light, but cannot, in like manner, see with the ends of her fingers when it is dark, and have been told that two medical men of reputation are convinced that there is no fallacy in this most extraordinary sixth sense, that I am inclined to hope that you will forgive me, if I request you to take the trouble of inquiring into the evidence and favouring me with your opinion on the subject.”

In compliance with the wish thus expressed, Mr. Roscoe, who had already visited the person in question, gave the result of his observations in the following letter:—

“I happen to be in some degree enabled to reply to the inquiries you have done me the honour to make, respecting the person who asserts that she can distinguish colours by the touch; having seen her myself about three months since, and examined her pretensions as accurately as it was in my power. She is a young woman about eighteen years of age, and much indisposed by a complaint, supposed to be water on the brain, and which is said to have deprived her of sight. Her friends and connections are decent and respectable Roman Catholics; neither she, nor they, intrude themselves on the notice of the public. When her health will permit, they allow visitors to see her, but they do not accept of any compensation whatever.

“When I saw her, she was seated by the fireside; seemed in tolerable spirits, and expressed her willingness to make the experiments required. The only persons present, besides my friend Mr. George Walker, and myself, were a respectable looking woman, who is, I believe, her step-mother, and Mr. Glover, a Catholic priest, who appeared a very well-informed and candid man. A pair of hood-winks, or goggles, were produced, and fixed over her eyes, and, as it appeared to us, so tight, as to render it impossible for her to see any object, however perfect her eyes might be. We then placed in her hand successively, various pieces of coloured silk and paper, which we had brought with us for that purpose, having the precaution to take them privately to her, so as not to let any one see them, and put them under her cloak or shawl, where she received them, and, after feeling and considering them for a few minutes, gave her decisions upon them.

“These, however, though frequently correct, were not uniformly so; and we were at considerable pains to find out the reason of this variation. After some time, we discovered, that when any opake object was interposed between the direct line of her eyes and her hands,—for instance, when I held my hat silently before her,—she seemed reduced to guess at the colour, and was frequently wrong. And when she found this repeated, she insinuated that there must be no interruption between her breath and her hands; supposing, as we understood her, that her breath was necessary to add to the delicacy of her touch.

“Upon the whole, I was by no means convinced of the existence of so extraordinary a faculty, and am still much more inclined to believe that she by some means obtained a glance below the hood-winks than to give her credit for her pretensions. What occurred afterwards rather confirmed than removed my doubts. She undertook to read by the touch a printed paper, in which she made out some words; and her friends assured us she could frequently read as much as half a page in a small type. Her mother then went out of the room and brought in a small bottle with a blue powder within, and giving it into her hand asked her what was the colour of it; to which she replied, ‘blue smalt.’ This answer proved too much for my credulity, and I have not since repeated my visit.

“I am greatly confirmed in my unbelief by the very decided opinions of my friend, Dr. Traill and Dr. Vose, who have examined her with great accuracy, and found, that when the possibility of vision was interrupted by stopping the space between the hood-winks and the nose with cotton, her faculty was gone. There are, however, I am told, many scientific and well-informed persons here who fully believe in her pretensions, and I, therefore, beg you will have the goodness to understand me, as only speaking of my own impressions, and not presuming to judge of others, who may not only be better qualified, but have taken much more pains on the subject.”

Mr. Roscoe also transmitted to Sir Joseph Bankes, a volume, containing the case of Miss M’Avoy, and asserting the reality of her pretensions.

“I beg of you,” says Sir Joseph, in reply, “to accept my thanks for the book you were so good as to send me. I cannot say, however, that I am at all convinced that your lady possesses the powers she pretends to enjoy. As long as she contented herself with judging by the sense of touch, I might wonder, but I dared not to disbelieve; but now that touch is intercepted by a plate of glass, which nothing but the sense of vision can penetrate, her fingers must have eyes in them, or she must be a deceiver. But when she finds a print too small for her, and receives aid in reading it from a lens laid upon it, her finger-eyes must be of a strange configuration, as she has no occasion to adjust them to the focus of the lens.”

The imposture did not long remain undetected. By the application of a number of ingenious experiments, it was ascertained, that however closely the covering of the eyes was fixed, a few rays of light penetrated, and enabled Miss M’Avoy to use the eyes in her head without any assistance from those in her fingers.

The whole of the year 1818 was devoted by Mr. Roscoe to the settlement of the affairs of the bank. The few vacant hours which the evening afforded him were passed in necessary relaxation; for he was fortunately at this time exempt from any literary engagements. It was not until the close of the year, that he began to meditate his tract on penal jurisprudence, of which some account will be found in a subsequent chapter.

Amongst the minor literary employments in which he interested himself at this period, was the superintending, in conjunction with some of his friends, the publication of a new edition of a collection of hymns, for the use of the congregation of Protestant dissenters, at Renshaw Street, Liverpool, of which he was a member. To this volume he contributed several pieces*, and amongst the rest the following anthem:—

* The following is a correct list of his contributions, made out by Mr. Roscoe himself, by the desire of a gentleman at Gloucester, who was preparing a Collection of Hymns:—

25. “Almighty God, before whose throne.” 65. “Almighty Father, thou whose power.” 166. “Go, suffering habitant of earth.” 255. “Who gave the sun his noonday light?” 268. “Great God, before whose piercing eye.” 343. “Oh when shall this aspiring soul.” 357. “What is the first and great command?” 405. “Let one loud song of praise arise.” 413. Anthem. “Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty! Thou to whom alone are All praise and glory due! Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty, Father everlasting! Righteous, just, and true! “Bending down before thee, Lo! thy sons adore thee, Hand and voice declaring Jehovah is thy name: Winds in tempests blowing, Waves o’er ocean flowing, To remotest regions Thy might and power proclaim. “In the heaven’s expansion Thou hast fix’d thy mansion, Clouds of endless glory Encompassing thy throne! Heard but in thy thunders! Seen but in thy wonders! Through eternal ages, Thou art God alone! “’Tis thy breath informs us, ’Tis thy spirit warms us; If thy face be turned We should cease to be. Height nor depth oppose thee, Trembling nature knows thee; Through the vast creation There is none but thee. “Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty! Thou to whom alone are All praise and glory due! Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty! Father everlasting! Righteous, just, and true!”*

The circumstances in which Mr. Roscoe was placed having induced a very general idea that he would again devote his pen to literature, several applications were made to him by respectable booksellers, with the view of engaging his services. To a communication from Edinburgh, respecting a history of the state of Europe (a subject which appears afterwards to have been intrusted to Sir Walter Scott, and to have been the origin of his Life of Napoleon), Mr. Roscoe made the following reply:—

“At an earlier period of life, and under circumstances of greater leisure, there are few works which I should have undertaken with more willingness than a history of the state of Europe, and of the causes and effects of the revolution in France. Of these astonishing events, I have been an anxious though remote observer; and am of opinion, that if they were properly narrated, combined, and commented upon, they

* This anthem was, with much taste and feeling, set to music by Mr. Webbe.

would afford lessons of greater interest and importance to the world, than any subject that has ever employed the pen of the historian. I cannot, however, but be sensible, that the utility and success of such a work must depend entirely on the ability brought to the undertaking; and although in the warmth of youth I might have overlooked this consideration, it appears at present with too formidable an aspect to allow me to contemplate a work of such magnitude and difficulty without shrinking from the task. I confess it is not without reluctance that I decline the proposition adverted to in your letter, and resign the work into other hands. At the same time, if, upon further deliberation, I should think there was a possibility of confining it within a moderate compass, so as to bring it within the limits of my powers, and allow myself a reasonable expectation of accomplishing it, I may, perhaps, reconsider my present determination; but unless you hear from me again within a very few weeks, you will be pleased to consider that determination as decisive.”

The variety and weight of his other occupations confirmed this decision, and Mr. Roscoe abandoned all idea of the undertaking.

There were few persons, either at home or abroad, for whose character Mr. Roscoe entertained a greater respect, or, indeed, a deeper veneration, than for that of M. la Fayette. The simplicity of heart, and the undeviating rectitude of conduct, which the life of that great man displays, had won his entire esteem. It was, therefore, with much pleasure, that he availed himself of an opportunity afforded him in the spring of this year, to convey to M. la Fayette, through his friend Mr. M’Creery, the assurance of these sentiments.

“I cannot suffer you to take your departure without accompanying you with my best wishes that your journey may be safe, pleasant, and prosperous, and that you may bring back those who are so dear to you as much improved in their health as I am sure they will be in their acquirements.

“Should you happen to meet with M. la Fayette, will you have the goodness to tell him that there is an individual here who has never ceased to interest himself in his welfare, and who has been happy to hear the favourable accounts given of his health and present situation, as well by some of our English travellers, as by some of his friends here, among whom I may mention M. Masclet, with whom I have often the pleasure of conversing respecting him. Yes, my friend, if you should have the good fortune to see M. la Fayette, you will see one of the very few men who know how to withstand the allurements of rank and power on the one hand, and the destructive rage of popular fury on the other, and who, notwithstanding all he has suffered, and the destruction of all his hopes for the liberty and happiness of the human race, may look back on his public life, not only with his own approbation, but with the assurance that he has obtained that of every other friend of freedom in every part of the civilised world.”

The following is the account which Mr. M’Creery gave of his interview with M. la Fayette:—

“I remained three weeks and two days at Paris, and was highly gratified, not only with the specimens of art with which that city abounds, but with the friendly reception which I met with from some of the first characters there. I had the pleasure of an introduction to General la Fayette, to whom I presented your letter, which he read with great interest; and at parting, pressing one of my hands most kindly between his, bade me tell you how much he felt the value of your good opinion, and begged, if you ever visited Paris, that you would do him the pleasure of calling upon him. I promised faithfully to deliver his regards to you, and it occurred to me afterwards that it might be agreeable to him to possess your letter. In a conversation with the friend who introduced me, I mentioned this idea, and he assured me that nothing could be a greater pleasure to M. la Fayette, and that if I would intrust it to him, as he was going to visit him the subsequent week at his country house, he would be the bearer of it. I accordingly committed it to his care (having kept a copy), together with a copy of your ‘Tracts on the War’ both of which will be very acceptable presents.”

A few months afterwards, M. la Fayette himself expressed to Mr. Roscoe his feelings of mutual esteem, in the following letter:—

La Grange, 20 Août, 1818. “Monsieur,

“L’admiration ancienne et bien sincère que m’inspiraient votre caractère et vos écrits, a donné un grand prix aux témoignages de bienveillance et d’estime dont vous m’avez honoré; c’est avec autant de plaisir que de reconnoissance que je les ai réçus, tant ceux dont MM. M’Creery, Say, et Masclet, ont bien voulu être les interprêtes, que les envois directs dont j’aime à vous avoir l’obligation; j’y ai retrouvé les principes et les sentiments qui m’avaient attaché à vos travaux précédents, et c’est cette communauté d’opinion sur les rapports politiques de nos deux pais qui m’attachent bien particulièrement à votre personne. Il faut espérer que les nations, averties par cette dernière et cruelle épreuve, éclairées par le rapide progrès des lumières sur l’horison Européen, ne seront plus à l’avenir les dupes du Machiavélisme et des passions de leurs gouvernements; elles apprendront enfin qu’entre les peuples divers, comme entre les membres d’une même société, il n’arrive pas une avantage particulière qui ne devienne bientôt l’avantage de tous; on réconnait déjà que, si les Etâts Unis eussent été subjugués, l’Angleterre aurait aujourd’hui beaucoup moins de liberté et de commerce; il est facile de voir par l’acharnement de nos adversaires de tous les païs, que la liberté Française est devenue nécessaire à celle d’Europe, et nommément à la votre.

“Continuez, Monsieur, à proclamer les vérités philanthropiques: votre réputation et vos talens sont bien propres à les rendre populaires parmi vos compatriotes. Elles trouveront en France toute la sympathie que vous pouvez désirer. Je serais très-heureux que vous puissiez en être témoin, et j’espère qu’alors nous aurions la satisfaction, ma famille et moi, de vous posséder à La Grange. Agréez, en attendant, l’expression de la vive gratitude, de la haute considération, et du sincère attachement que je vous ai voué.

“La Fayette.”

To this communication Mr. Roscoe made the following reply:—

“The letter with which you have honoured me has afforded me the sincerest pleasure; not merely as it gratifies me with a direct communication from one whom I have ever regarded with the sincerest admiration and respect, but as it proves, that after a series of events, such as few persons have ever experienced, you still preserve your health and spirits uninjured, and enjoy the happiness of looking back on those events with the consciousness of one who has steered a direct and steady course, under circumstances almost too much for human fortitude to sustain. Grieving as I do for the defeated efforts and blighted prospects of liberty,—of that rational and temperate liberty, which equally rejects the anarchy of the many, or the despotism of the few,—it is with tenfold pleasure that I can yet turn towards one of her firmest adherents, and console myself in the idea, that such an example will not be lost to the world. No, my dear Sir, the salt hath not lost its savour, nor is the cause of the human race hopeless. A few works, surviving the wreck of ages, have preserved to mankind the memorials of science and of art; and a few names, illuminating the page of history, will afford a strong and steady light to ages yet to come.

“Instead of continually lamenting what we have lost, it is, perhaps, wiser to avail ourselves as well as we can of the little that has been saved. The former can only open those wounds which it is desirable should be for ever closed; the latter affords us a consolatory hope, that the favourable appearance at present observable in France may be realised; that a limited monarchy, recognising the rights of the people, may be es-tablished; and that sacrifices, such as no other nation ever made, may not have been made in vain.

“In expressing these wishes for the prosperity of your country, I am sensible how nearly I sympathise with your own;—to express them to you in person would be a still greater happiness; but, although the distance which separates us is not great, I fear I must not flatter myself with the hope of seeing you in your retirement. It will, however, afford me a consolation, that I have been favoured with the kind assurances contained in your letter, which I enjoyed the more, as I feel, that as far as a concordance of sentiment and the most sincere and habitual attachment can lay claim to them, I may hope to merit a continuance of them.”

The efforts which Mr. Roscoe, at this period of his life, made, in the midst of the harassing and anxious labours which the settlement of his affairs imposed upon him, to render himself in some degree useful to the public, by contributing to the establishment of institutions for the diffusion of knowledge, and by endeavouring to spread abroad just principles with regard to the various subjects in which the welfare of mankind is involved, proceeded from a firm and deep-seated sentiment of duty. In those hours of depression which the painful situation in which he had been placed sometimes caused, he never regretted the loss, to himself or to his family, of those advantages which fortune is commonly supposed to bestow. To him the source of sorrow was, that he had not been enabled more effectually to promote the welfare of his fellow-creatures, and to carry into effect the extended views which he entertained for their happiness and improvement. As he saw himself approaching the termination of life, and knew how few years remained for the accomplishment of that which his heart desired, a sentiment like that of disappointment overclouded his mind; and it was while under the influence of these feelings, that the following lines, perhaps the most touching that ever proceeded from his pen, were written:—

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him.”—Job, xiii. 15. God of my life, my hope, my fear, In whom alone is all my trust, I feel the closing hour draw near That gives this fainting frame to dust. Like the tired hart, at bay I stand, Thy toils have compass’d me around; I wait the death-stroke from thine hand, And stoop resign’d to meet the wound. Yet one fond wish still warms my soul, To thee in humblest hope exprest, That, ere the darkening shadows roll To close me in their final rest, Thou wouldst some worthier aim inspire, Some living energy impart, Some holier spark of purer fire Rekindling in my dying heart; That when, removed from grief and pain, This fragile form on earth shall lie, Some happier effort may remain To touch one human heart with joy; One nobler precept to bestow, One kind and generous wish reveal, To bid the breast with virtue glow To love, to pity, and to feel; To soothe the ills it cannot cure, The sufferer’s injuries redress; And through life’s varied channels pour The living stream of happiness. Then, though in cold oblivion laid, Some secret beam of heavenly glow May pierce the dark incumbent shade, And warm the dust that rests below. This mouldering form, from God that came, An instrument at his command, Waits silent yet, through all its frame The impulse of its Master’s hand. Smite, Lord! this frame shall own thy power, And every trembling chord reply; Smite, Lord! and, in my latest hour, This falling frame shall ring with joy! 8th Feb. 1818.

CHAPTER XVI. 1819. The nature and objects of punishment.—Mr. Roscoe’s attention turned to the question.—Publication of his “Observations on Penal Jurisprudence and the Reformation of Offenders.”—His idea of the true guiding principle—of secondary punishments.—Consideration of the penitentiary system.—Apathy of the public mind to this subject.—Letter to Dr. Parr, with copy of the Tract—to Mr. Basil Montagu.—He derives assistance from America through Mr. Thomas Eddy—letter to him.—Article in the Edinburgh Review against Prison Discipline controverted by Mr. Roscoe in “Additional Observations.”—Solitary confinement in America opposed in this tract—copy sent to Mr. Jeffrey—letter to him.—Corresponds with Mr. Livingston and other distinguished Americans.—Letter from Mr. Bradford, Governor of Massachusetts State Prison.—letter to Sir James Mackintosh—his reply—his remarks in the House of Commons—letter to him from Mr. Roscoe thereon.—Reforms in Denmark.—Letter from Mr. Thorkelin of Copenhagen.—Publication of “Observations” Part III.—Letter to Sir James Mackintosh—to Mr. Dumont.—Publication of “Remarks on the Report of the Commissioners for Visiting the the Prisons of New York, &c.”—Letter to Dr. Southwood Smith—to M. la Fayette, then in America—his reply.—Controversy with Mr. Allen of New York and others.—Publication of Letter to him on Penitentiary Discipline.—Series of Letters to Mr. Vaux, Dr. Mease, and Mr. Allen, published in the Liverpool Newspapers.—Change of opinion in the United States in favour of reformatory discipline.—Mr. Roscoe expresses his pleasure in a letter to Dr. Hosack of New York. CHAPTER XVI.

It was only late in life that the attention of Mr. Roscoe was directed to one of the most important questions in the whole range of human inquiry—the nature and objects of punishment. While various degrees of severity have been exhibited in the codes of different nations, and various theories have been proposed restricting or modifying the application of punishments, there has yet been only one prevailing principle observable throughout—the principle of fear. The criminal is considered as a being to be acted upon solely by means of terror, and utterly incapable of being governed by the other motives which usually actuate mankind. Indignant at the injury which the crime has occasioned, the lawgiver abandons all consideration for the moral character of the criminal, and contents himself with inflicting a punishment which may at once terrify him from a repetition of the offence, and impress upon others a striking lesson of the severity of justice.

To Mr. Roscoe it seemed that this system was essentially erroneous. He thought that in attributing so superior a degree of influence to the passion of fear, legislators had made a wrong estimate of the human mind. It was his opinion that the actions of men are not only more effectually, but more easily, governed, by higher and better motives than those which terror supplies; and that it is not more reasonable to attempt to govern the vicious and the criminal by a system of unmingled severity, than to apply those principles to the control of a nation or to the management of a family. He was fully persuaded that in this, as in other instances, the only safe guide was that benevolent rule which has commanded us to do unto others as we would that they should do unto us; and that a system which disregards the moral improvement of those who unfortunately form so large a class of the community, and consigns them to punishment, without the hope of amendment, is one which not only impedes the good which a better system might effect, but is the actual and positive source of much evil.

The immediate cause which led Mr. Roscoe to employ his pen on the subject of penal jurisprudence appears to have been an application made to him in the year 1817, by Dr. Lushington, on behalf of the Society for the Diffusion of knowledge on the subject of capital punishment, requesting him to furnish the committee of the Society with a short tract, containing, in a condensed form, the various arguments against the punishment of death. Having, in consequence of this communication, been led to examine some of the principal writers on penal jurisprudence, he found so wide a field of inquiry opened, that he was induced to pursue the subject, and to enter into an extended investigation of the principles of penal law. In the course of these inquiries he did not fail to apply to this subject the great principles which had guided his judgment upon every other question; and he quickly detected the vice of all the prevailing systems of criminal jurisprudence, in the absence of that spirit of benevolence which ought to be the active and moving principle in every system of laws. He found that even the advocates of mitigated punishments maintained the doctrine that “vengeance” is “the foundation of punishments,” and that to deter by example is the great object of the law. To him it appeared, that to act from the impulse of anger (which, if it mean any thing, means an exaggerated state of feeling produced by injury,) was to abandon the judgment to the guidance of the passions, and that the attempt to deter by example had led to the commission of greater atrocities than those which the legislator sought to prevent. He thought that it became the state to prevent useless suffering in the guilty as well as in the innocent} and that when a certain quantity of evil has been produced by the commission of a crime, it is unwise to aggravate it by the additional evil of a useless or excessive punishment. To reform the criminal, while he underwent the punishment awarded, appeared to him the most effectual mode of preventing crime, and he therefore regarded reformation as one of the principal objects of penal jurisprudence. These principles he endeavoured to enforce in a volume published in the spring of the present year, to which he gave the title of “Observations on Penal Jurisprudence, and the Reformation of Offenders.”*

In the following passage he has stated what he conceived to be the true guiding principle in penal legislation:—“If we could divest ourselves of those resentful feelings which are too apt to take possession of our minds on the contemplation of acts of criminality, we should make one great step towards the discovery of a better system of jurisprudence, and prepare the way to an incalculable improvement in the condition of mankind. The correction of vice would then be no longer an exertion of the violent and hostile passions, but of the kind and benignant affections. By the most salutary change, the very errors and crimes of the profligate would afford to the good an opportunity for the exercise of

* 8vo. London. Cadell and Davies, and J. and A. Arch.

the highest virtues. The question would no longer be, whether stripes and bloodshed can prevail against guilt and ignorance, but whether sympathy, prudence, and compassion have lost their influence on the moral feelings of mankind. If we could impress upon the mind of the delinquent an idea that the efforts we are making are really intended for his welfare, our object would, in a great degree, be accomplished. There is no human being so stupid, or so wicked, as not to concur, to the utmost of his power, in measures evidently calculated to relieve him from misery.”

After some observations “on the motives and end of punishment,” he shortly examines the plea of example, so frequently urged as an excuse for the severity of the penal code:—“The inconsiderate and sanguinary lawgiver takes it for granted, that severe and horrible punishments will deter others from the commission of crimes; but has it never occurred to him, that by exhibiting frequent and revolting spectacles of inhumanity and bloodshed, he has counteracted his own object, and weakened in the public mind that natural reluctance to the shedding of human blood, which is one of the great safeguards of human society? In order to demonstrate to a people that they ought not to be cruel, he sets an example of cruelty; and in order to deter them from putting each other to death, he puts them to death himself; and that, frequently, by such acts of inhuman atrocity and savage barbarity, as the most ferocious criminal was never known to commit, till the common decency, no less than the common feelings of mankind revolt against the abuse, and it becomes a matter of doubt whether the detestation of the punishment does not exceed the detestation of the crime.”

In his remarks “on punishments of inferior degree,” or secondary punishments, as they have been termed, he has exposed their tendency to deprave rather than to reform those who are subjected to them. “By what degrees the author of a petty theft is brought forwards and matured, and how many of these whippings must be administered to him before he is hardened to robbery and murder, must be left to conjecture only. But if the individual has been ruined by being whipped and discharged, what has the public gained by it? Are there not in town and country many thousands of these wretches, of both sexes and of all ages, daily employed in depredation and in plunder, to the great loss, annoyance, and terror of the industrious part of the community; who are not only stripped of their property, but frequently compelled to become prosecutors at their own expense, and to attend distant courts of justice, without the prospect of any compensation? If, instead of being whipped and discharged, these culprits had been detained in custody and set to hard labour till they had acquired a habit of industry, and had been compelled to repay to those they had robbed the amount of their losses; if, instead of disseminating through the land every species of wickedness, they had themselves received the instructions of compassionate and patient friends, and been restored to society under circumstances of credit and decency, can there be a doubt that the public would have been benefited by such a change?”

After discussing certain proposed improvements in criminal laws, and displaying the injustice and unreasonableness of applying one and the same punishment to a whole class of offenders, he thus proceeds:—“On this subject, then, one of the most important which can engage the attention of the human faculties, it is highly requisite that a thorough investigation should take place; in the result of which it may, perhaps, appear, that there is no short and expeditious way of extirpating moral evil, and that if we wish to succeed, we must enter on the task with a full conviction of its importance, and a sincere resolution to bend ourselves down to the labour. We must inquire into the character, temper, and moral constitution of the individual, and acquaint ourselves with his natural or acquired talents, his habits, and his views, in order that we may be enabled to adopt such measures for his improvement as may be best adapted to the case. If he be ignorant, we must instruct him; if he be obstinate and arrogant, we must humiliate him; if he be indolent, we must rouse him; if he be desponding, we must encourage him; and this, it is evident, cannot be accomplished without resorting to different modes of treatment, and the full exercise of those moral and sympathetic endowments which subsist, in a greater or less degree, between all human beings, as incident to our common nature.”

These reflections lead to the consideration of the Penitentiary System, as it has been tried in America, on the continent of Europe, and in England, a subject to which the remainder of the volume is devoted. This system was regarded by Mr. Roscoe as the true means not only of punishing, but of repressing crime. “In adverting,” he says, “to the code of criminal law, which has been so long established in Europe, and comparing it with the proposed system which has for its object the reformation of offenders, we find them in almost every point of view the reverse of each other. The former owes its origin to those vindictive feelings which are incident to a rude state of society; the other is founded on Christian principles, and applies the precepts of our religion to the conduct of our lives. The one proposes to prevent crimes by the example of severe punishments; the other conceives that the best example is that of a criminal brought by proper discipline to a due sense of his crime. By the operation of the former, great numbers of offenders perish in the strength and thoughtlessness of life; the other endeavours to preserve rather than to destroy; it considers a criminal as an unfortunate fellow creature, led on to guilt through a great variety of causes, but capable, by kindness, patience, and proper discipline, of being reformed and restored to society. The former plan cherishes and inflames amongst mankind the feelings of anger and revenge, and employs the mind upon the most hateful of all subjects—the devising modes of punishing or tormenting another; the other embraces all mankind as brethren, and finds in the idea of recalling a fellow creature from guilt to rectitude the highest gratification. Even when compared with the milder system of criminal law, so eloquently recommended by many enlightened writers, the advantage is greatly in favour of the penitentiary plan. The one supposes that it is possible to apportion punishments to crimes, and that such punishments should be invariably inflicted; the other admits of no punishment but such as is necessary to reform the offender, and is as ready to pardon on evidence of repentance as to convict on evidence of the crime; applying to practice, on all occasions, the Christian precept, ‘Do unto all men as ye would they should do unto you.’ To extend this comparison further is surely unnecessary. If the latter plan can by any exertion be substituted for the former, is it possible that any one can doubt of its expediency?”

In noticing the eulogy pronounced by Dr. Paley upon the criminal law, as “sweeping into its net every crime which, under any possible circumstances, may merit the punishment of death,” Mr. Roscoe adds;—“the fallacy of this statement has been fully shown by Sir Samuel Romilly, by whose enlightened efforts and indefatigable exertions some of the most cruel and obnoxious of these statutes have been repealed. It is not, however, by the success that has attended his labours that we must estimate what is due from the community to this real patriot and distinguished senator. The reforms effected by him bear, indeed, a small proportion to the enormous mass of sanguinary enactments which disgrace our statute book; but the maxims of legislation which he has laid down, and the sound principles for which he has contended, apply to the whole system; and will, it may confidently be hoped, eventually produce such alterations, as may remove from our judicial code the imputation of cruelty on the one hand, and prevent the impunity of the criminal on the other.”

While the portion of the tract containing this passage was yet in the press, Mr. Roscoe received the distressing intelligence of the death of the excellent and distinguished person, to whose extraordinary merits he had been anxious to offer his testimony. In a letter to Mr. M’Creery, who was printing the work, he says, “The afflicting loss of Sir S. Romilly, to whose friendly opinion I had looked forward with such pleasure, has rendered it necessary for me to add a note on the part where I had mentioned him, which I hope you will approve as being the view most connected with my work, and avoiding the common-place eulogies on such occasions.” The note ran as follows:—

“May this expectation be accomplished! for since the above was written, the world has been deprived of the illustrious individual to whom it relates, and can now only avail itself of the lessons which he has left for its improvement. May we not, however, venture to hope, from the sincere sympathy and universal grief which this event has occasioned, that the cause he so warmly espoused and the sentiments he so forcibly expressed are deeply felt by the nation at large; and that his loss will, as far as possible, be repaid by an increased determination on their part to promote the great and beneficent objects which he so faithfully pursued? Such a result of his labours may delight his spirit, and add to his happiness in the regions of the blest.”

The subject of prison discipline is one which has only of late years engaged any degree of attention, and it possesses even yet little interest for the public at large. While in America associations are formed to forward the enquiries into this important subject, and individuals zealously devote themselves to the promotion of the same objects, the English public exhibit an apathy with regard to them by no means creditable either to the good sense or the good feeling of the community.—

“I have scarcely heard a word,” says Mr. Roscoe in a letter to Mr. M’Creery, “from the great world about my late publication, from which I conjecture that it does not exactly hit the public taste, and that the old system of hanging, transporting, and flogging will be continued. I shall, therefore, only say, liberavi conscientiam meam, and leave the good seed to grow up at such time and in such places as Providence may direct.”

Amongst the various writers whose works Mr. Roscoe consulted while investigating the subject of penal jurisprudence was Dr. Parr, to whose remarks on punishments, contained in the notes to his Characters of Fox, he attached the highest value. Upon the publication of the “Observations on Penal Jurisprudence,” he forwarded to Dr. Parr a copy of that tract, accompanied by the following letter:—

“With this I send you a book calculated to excite a great diversity of opinion. It begins with an attack upon a very worthy and excellent friend of ours, and it calls in your assistance to knock him down, which you have effectually done. It then proceeds to plead the cause of all the rascals in the nation, and it sets you up as their advocate. It not only objects to any more hanging, flogging, &c., but proposes to get clear of punishments altogether, and even presumes to treat the proportioning of punishments to crime as an Utopian scheme, which never can be carried into effect. After all this, the author turns short upon you, his great support; and presumes to criticise you in a manner that it will require all your good nature to pardon. For all this he has only one apology, viz. that the importance of the subject was such that he could neither suppress nor accommodate his opinion. He can, however, explicitly declare, that in the course of his researches on the subject, he has found no writer who has entered so deeply into it, and with such a true feeling for human nature, as yourself; and on this account you must not be surprised to find your nom de guerre frequently introduced. I am sensible, my dear Sir, that if I had been so fortunate as to have had the benefit of your observations and advice in drawing up these pages, I should have avoided many errors, the apprehension of which gives me no small uneasiness. But this is now too late; and I submit the work to your candid judgment, with the hope that the kindness and partiality you have shown me on other occasions will not be withheld on the present.”

To Mr. Basil Montagu, from whom he had differed on some points of importance, he also addressed the following letter:—

“I ought long ago to have thanked you for your very kind remembrance of me in sending me your observations respecting the punishment of death, which arrived at a moment when I had turned my attention towards the same subject, with a view to publication. I was, therefore, earnest to learn your sentiments, which I had flattered myself would, in all points, be in perfect unison with my own; but judge how I was surprised to find that we differed on the very threshold,—that you had considered anger and revenge as not only allowable but necessary, whilst I had contended that kindness and benevolence were the true principles of penal law. After stating your own opinion, you have proceeded to sanction it by the authority of several other distinguished writers, some of whom have carried it to much greater extent. This subject, thus treated from such a quarter, appeared to me so important, that I could not proceed further without paying it the utmost attention, and either admitting its validity or demonstrating its insufficiency; and, as I found the former impossible, I have been obliged to undertake the latter,—with what success, I must leave the public to judge. Having, however, once been obliged to dissent, I have not hesitated to do it fairly and openly; and, in the little work which I am now about to publish, you will find yourself placed in the front of the battle, and assailed with such arguments as I have been able to bring to bear against you. I will, however, confess that in this opposition, (in which, I trust, nothing unfriendly will be found,) I have it further in view to attract discussion on the subject; in which case I feel confident you will sacrifice any personal feeling, (if it were possible what I have said could give rise to it,) in the hope of doing some substantial good. That the present moment is of the utmost importance we must all perceive, and, to say the truth, I am confident you will be much better pleased with any opposition which may throw light on the subject, than by the greatest honours that mere authorship could confer.”

In prosecuting these inquiries, Mr. Roscoe derived much assistance from documents forwarded to him by his friends in America; and amongst others, by Mr. Thomas Eddy, a gentleman highly distinguished by his benevolent exertions in the cause of penal jurisprudence. To him, upon the publication of his tract, Mr. Roscoe addressed the following letter:—

“With this you will, I hope, receive two copies of my promised treatise on Penal Jurisprudence, and the Reformation of Offenders, which I submit, with great diffidence, to your judgment and experience; and should feel still more, if I had not in almost every respect conformed to your views, and availed myself of your excellent writings on the subject, which do the greatest credit both to yourself and your country; on which account you will find I have not only occasionally quoted you, but have given the report of the state prison of New York for 1815 (which contains so many of your excellent remarks) entire.

“From the portion of my tract which relates to this country you will perceive, that we are not insensible to the great importance of the penitentiary system, and that some idea of such a plan has been entertained even from a remote period; but that which has always been wanting has been, to place it on proper ground, and to substitute a system of benevolence and reformation for one of revenge and punishment.

“If this can be fully effected, every thing else will naturally flow from it, as from a parent stream; and from the united efforts which are making in almost every part of the civilised world, and the free communication of sentiments between those who are earnest in the cause, I trust that such a foundation will be laid for the moral improvement of mankind, as may allow us to indulge the warmest hopes of a speedy and happy result.

“The publications you were so good as to send me were of the highest value, as they show by a series of experiments, not only what ought to be done in establishing a penitentiary system, but what ought to be avoided. On this head, you will see that I have expressed myself with great freedom, and will, perhaps, think I have been more ready to blame than to commend. If, however, I have written without reserve, I have always endeavoured to give reasons for my opinions, and it would give me the greatest pleasure, if any suggestions of mine should be thought worthy the attention of those in your country, who interest themselves in the promotion of these most important and benevolent plans.”

In the course of the year 1822 the attention of Mr. Roscoe was again directed to the subject of prison discipline, by an article in the 72d number of the Edinburgh Review, directed against the reformatory system. This was the origin of his tract entitled, “Additional Observations on Penal Jurisprudence and the Re-formation of Criminals.”* The principal object of the law is, according to the reviewer, “to prevent the repetition of the offence by the punishment of the offender.” This is stated by Mr. Roscoe to be founded on an erroneous assumption; the principal object being, to prevent the repetition of the offence by such means as will most effectually accomplish that purpose; and he argues, that severe punishments have been found insufficient to this end.

He then proceeds to answer the objection, that a reformatory system must, from its want of severity, encourage the commission of crime.

“If persons could be deterred from crimes by any apprehension of the nature of their punishment, there is no circumstance that could have so great an effect for this purpose as the knowledge, that they would be subjected to a course of discipline, that would not be relaxed till it had effected an entire change in their morals and manners, and in all the dissolute habits and evil propensities of their former life. To a wicked disposition, the thoughts of becoming inoffensive, honest, just, and virtuous, is of all things the most hateful, and would consequently be avoided with more care than any punishment of a mere corporal nature. Nor would such apprehension be wholly unfounded. The punishments inflicted on the body are of such a nature, as obstinacy,

* London: Cadell. 1823.

pride, courage, and resolution can successfully resist, even in their most appalling forms; but the pangs and sufferings of an evil conscience, opened to the scene of its own enormities, abominations, and crimes—the overwhelming sense of self-reproach, contrition, and shame—the daily and nightly tears which must be shed before these stains can be washed out—and the dreadful apprehension that reformation has arrived too late, and that the sinner may be cut off before he has had an opportunity of expiating his offence by a better course of life, are, perhaps, the most acute sufferings incident to our nature. Is it then possible, that an establishment, whose professed object is to give to such feelings their full effect, can justly be represented as a place of improper lenity and indulgence? It is true, there is an essential difference in the result of these different modes of discipline. The one leaves the individual in the same, or a worse state of mind than that in which it found him; the other wakes him to new life, and points out to him the path of temporal and eternal happiness; but to the hardened and practised offender, whose life passes in midnight orgies, daring exploits, and criminal gratifications, the apprehension of the latter kind of discipline is, perhaps, the most formidable of the two.”

The subject of solitary confinement, as imposed in some of the state prisons of America, had been noticed by Mr. Roscoe in his former tract, and his attention was again called to this important question by the proceedings of the legislature of Pennsylvania, in 1820. He had also, in consequence of his observations on the penitentiary system in the United States, been led into a correspondence with Dr. James Mease, of Philadelphia, and with William Tudor, Esq., of Boston; and he felt anxious to justify, in his public writings, the part he had thus taken. To this subject, therefore, the remainder of his “Additional Observations” is devoted. Against the system of perfect solitary confinement, by day as well as by night, without employment, he forcibly argues, as being at once cruel, unjust, and useless. When enforced merely for a time, as the means of subduing a hardened and refractory offender, he admits its utility; but, as constituting in itself a scheme of prison discipline, he regards it as one of the most injurious projects ever entertained.

Of the abuses to which such a system must be liable he thus speaks:—

“Independently of the natural and unavoidable consequences of long solitary confinement on the mind and body of the prisoner, which have been so fully detailed by its advocates and promoters, such a mode of punishment is liable to abuses against which it is impossible to guard. If in British prisons, of which publicity is the legal characteristic, and even in those of the highest reputation, enormities have been discovered in the treatment of prisoners which have called for the interference of the legislature, and occasioned the removal of the keepers, what proceedings may be supposed to take place in a prison from which the public are totally excluded—where the prisoner depends for his daily existence on the diligence of an individual—and where, however severe his treatment may be, he has no one to whom to make his appeal? Humanity shudders at the idea of a weak and perishable being, subject to all the anxieties and infirmities of our nature, enclosed in a narrow cell, beyond the possibility of assistance, under the attacks of sudden disease, or the horrors of phrenzy and despair. Of all modes of torment that human revenge and human cruelty have devised, this seems to be the most perfect; for, in addition to the privation of liberty, and the restriction from every thing that can render life desirable, it extends its terrible influence over the mind and imagination of the prisoner, and removes the irons from the body only that they may enter the more deeply into the soul.”

A copy of this tract was transmitted by its author to Mr. Jeffrey, the editor of the “Edinburgh Review,” accompanied by the following letter:—

“I should not have taken the liberty of in-truding on you with the present publication, had it not professed to be an answer to an article in the ‘Edinburgh Review;’ and I was therefore unwilling you should receive it from any one but myself. The high character which that work so deservedly maintains, and the ability and success with which it has asserted all the great principles which are essential to the well-being of society, render it of importance that when it appears to deviate, though but in a slight degree, from this splendid course, it should not be allowed to pass without some attempt to prevent the injurious consequences that may possibly ensue. There can, indeed, be no doubt that an admission of the propriety of resorting again to severe punishments for our convicts; and, still more, an express recommendation of such measures, in a work so distinguished by its general spirit of justice and humanity as the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ is more injurious to what I conceive the real interests of society require, than all the writings and arguments that can be produced by the professed advocates of severe and exemplary punishment. On this account I have been induced to lay before the public what has occurred to me on the subject; and I now submit it to your judgment, in full confidence that, whatever you may think of my efforts, you will acquit me of any motive but that of a desire to perform a painful but indispensable duty.

“I rejoice with you on the proceedings on the opening of the Session, and the glorious speech of Mr. Brougham, the dread of tyrants, and the saviour of Europe.”

His writings on “Prison Discipline” led Mr. Roscoe into a frequent and highly interesting correspondence with many excellent and distinguished persons in America, amongst whom were Mr. Livingstone, the legislator of Louisiana, now secretary of state; Mr. G. C. Verplanck, of New York; Mr. Josiah Quincy, of Boston; Judge Jackson, of Boston, and several others. The approbation of his labours expressed by persons who had enjoyed opportunities of witnessing the effect of the penitentiary system, could not fail to be most gratifying to him, and it gave him especial pleasure to find that those who were practically engaged in the superintendence of the state prisons added their testimony to the correctness of his opinions.

“I have seen,” says Mr. Bradford, the governor of the Massachusetts State Prison, in a letter to Mr. Roscoe, “your ‘Additional Observations,’ and I have read, with no ordinary satisfaction, your other writings upon the treatment of criminals and penal jurisprudence. Whilst superficial reasoners and disappointed theorists are cavilling against this new system of punishment (so worthy of this enlightened age), and endeavouring, with a spirit of Van-dalism, to go back to the practice of barbarous times, it is cheering to find such able and humane pens as yours engaged in the defence and support of it. The Edinburgh Review has more than once attacked this new method of treating criminals, and, in very decided terms, denounced the whole plan as faulty and injudicious. I myself had the boldness to reply to this work, and to contend against the doctrine advanced in an article in a former number, and I was pleased to find it better handled in your reply to an article of the same description in a succeeding number.

“I have some pride in believing that you do not essentially differ from me in ideas about this important subject. I perceive that you are not in favour of the present prevailing notion of solitary confinement. I am very sure this will not do, and that, on experiment, the advocates for it, and the community, will be disappointed. And what I fear is, that considering, without reason, and against proof and fair experiment, that the present mode of punishment, viz. confinement to labour, has failed, and placing all their hopes in this last resort of solitary confinement, the whole will be abandoned when this does not succeed.

“I have now been attached to this institution ten years, and have taken some pains to study and learn the effects of this kind of punishment, and its advantages and evils. I am satisfied that the clamours against it are groundless, and that society derives and enjoys great advantage and security from it.”

Amongst those persons whose opinions Mr. Roscoe was more especially desirous of influencing, there was no one more distinguished than Sir James Mackintosh; to whom, on forwarding to him his second pamphlet, he addressed the following letter:—

“Although it is a very long time indeed since I had the pleasure of your society, and that only for a very short period, yet your track has been too public and too intimately connected with the advancement of civilisation to allow me to lose sight of you; to which I cannot refrain from adding, that there is also an unbroken link in the affectionate respect and attachment which you and I entertain in common for the memory of a most dear and lamented friend; which, if this intrusion stood more in want of apology than I trust you will think it does, would itself be sufficient for that purpose. I suspect, however, that this long introduction is more gratifying to my own feelings than necessary to recommend the subject of my letter, which, I well know, cannot of itself fail to attract as much of your attention as it may be in your power to bestow upon it. Conceiving, then, that in the approaching session of parliament you will again take the lead in bringing for-wards such measures as seem necessary for the improvement of our criminal law, I have taken the liberty of submitting to your inspection a tract which I have just published, under the title of ‘Additional Observations on Penal Jurisprudence,’ which are in part intended as an answer to an article in the Edinburgh Review for February last, but which also relate to the punishment of criminals, and the treatment of prisoners both in this country and America, and endeavour to ascertain the true principles by which we should be guided with respect to it. It appears to me, from the facts and publications which have come to my knowledge on both sides the Atlantic, that the philanthropic spirit, which, for some years past, has been employed in improving the condition of the most wretched portions of our fellow-creatures, has greatly declined, or has been put down by an opposite body, who have lately risen up in great force, and with unblushing front have endeavoured to recal the enormities of past ages, and to resort, for the reformation of their own species, to punishments of the most brutal and degrading kind. You will perceive I allude to the fashionable punishments of the tread-wheel in this country, and that of solitary confinement, already established in some of the American States, and rapidly extending itself over the rest.

“In this emergency I have not been able to remain silent, although I can by no means flatter myself with the hope of producing any impression on the public mind, which seems, in every quarter where I have had an opportunity of judging of it, to be fully made up to the most vindictive, severe, and unprofitable kinds of punishment that human invention can devise. If, however, I could hope to suggest an additional argument on this subject, in opposition to a system which I hold in inexpressible abhorrence, I should not regret the time and thought I have employed upon it, and it is with this view I have intruded on a few of my friends, who, I know, feel an interest in every thing which tends to the extinction of crime and the mitigation of suffering, with a copy of my tract. Among these you stand too eminently conspicuous to escape the trouble I give you, as well by my pamphlet as by this long epistle, which may at least serve to assure you,” &c.

“I ought long before now,” says Sir James, in answer, “to have thanked you for your excellent tract, and for the very kind letter which accompanied it. I have never ceased to recollect with pleasure my meetings with you at the house of our incomparable friend, Dr. Currie. I was prevented so long by indisposition, occupation, and domestic affliction, from replying to your letter, that I at last resolved to answer it in public, which I have done both in the House of Commons, and at the public meeting of the Prison Discipline Society, on both which occasions I had the pleasure of expressing my esteem and admiration for you, and my conviction that our differences of opinion about punishment are so slight, that they would probably vanish after a very short discussion. Engaged as I am in an endeavour to reduce the number of capital punishments, I cannot have any hope of success in my immediate object, without acquiescing in severe and formidable punishments of a secondary kind. When death is reserved for a very small number of atrocious crimes, I, or some future reformer, will not be precluded from considering what portion of needless severity belongs to secondary punishments.”

In a debate which took place in the House of Commons, on the 21st May, 1823, on a motion for a committee to consider the question of the penal laws, Sir James Mackintosh, in adverting to Mr. Roscoe’s writings on that subject, observed that, “the author had been a little biassed by misdirected humanity in his hostility to severe secondary punishments, and that they seemed the only road by which we could escape from capital punishments.” This circumstance drew from Mr. Roscoe the following letter:—

“Although I did not think I had a right to intrude on you with my acknowledgments for your obliging favour of the 16th June last, yet I assure you I was not insensible of the honour you had done me in noticing my last publication on the treatment of criminals in terms so favourable to the author. That this was accompanied by an observation, that I had perhaps erred through too much lenity towards offenders, is an imputation which, of all others, I can the most easily bear, as I am fully sensible how much I am yet wanting in those feelings of Christian charity and kindness towards our erring brethren, which I consider as the only solid basis on which we must ever hope for an effectual reform in our criminal law. There is no speculative truth of which I am more fully convinced, than that the real interest of the criminal, and that of society at large, are inseparably united; nor, although I may not live to see it, do I despair that a mode may be adopted by which this speculative truth will be reduced to practice, and the evil and the remedy rendered commensurate to each other.”

It was the earnest desire of Mr. Roscoe to spread abroad principles which he conceived to be so essential to the security of society, and the general improvement of mankind. He, therefore, lost no opportunity of calling the attention of his correspondents, both at home and abroad, to the subject which at this time occupied so much of his thoughts. Amongst others, he transmitted copies of his tracts to Mr. Thorkelin, a learned and enlightened Dane, who held a high office under the Danish government.

“It has given me infinite pleasure,” says Mr. Thorkelin, in a letter dated the 10th June, 1823, and written by him in English, “to hear that you have lately published your ‘Additional Observations on Penal Jurisprudence.’ Heaven grant that your perseverance shall be able to open the eyes of British legislators—of the whole civilised world, and make the rulers confess that their penal laws are in many instances an abominable prostitution of common sense; and that such laws require a speedy reform, raised on the basis of humanity, and efficient plan of obviating crimes; inflicting adequate punishment on criminals; reducing them by penitence to social duties and industry of useful labour; and, finally, enabling them to obtain their own support with honesty, after they are discharged from their imprisonment.

“Your former treatise on penal laws I have read over twenty times, with increased pleasure. I never found, in my opinion, in any other work of that kind, so many good sayings or more good sense.

“It will give you, I hope, no small joy to hear that his Danish Majesty, the best of kings, has of late made many salutary alterations of the penal laws of Danemark, conform with your ideas. His Majesty is, indeed, no less sanguine and in-defatigable in his beneficent wishes and pursuits, than the two British worthies, the best and greatest friends of mankind, Messrs. Roscoe and Wilberforce. The King of Danemark emancipated the negroes in his West India island, in the year 1792; and long before abolished the slave trade in his dominions than the Lord Castlereagh came to Vienna, and bound the sovereigns of Europe to abolish the hateful trade in human beings. Neither the King of Danemark, nor Roscoe, nor Wilberforce, the earlier movers and patrons of the emancipation, were mentioned. Castlereagh solus tulit honores.

“My feebleness makes me throw away my pen; my strength forsakes me; but I trust to recover so far in the course of this summer as to be able more fully to satisfy my duty, and prove to you that I am, and will ever continue, with the most sincere respect,” &c. &c.

Another letter from Mr. Thorkelin, at the close of the year, induced Mr. Roscoe to hope that his writings on penal jurisprudence had fallen into hands in which they might tend to produce good results.

“Your letter, and ‘Additional Observations on the Penal Jurisprudence,’ memorials of your friendship and humanity, are most welcome to me, who well know that those tenders of affection are not the common traffic of compliments and professions, which most people give only that they may receive. I need not tell you with what delight I received the favour of yours. It is better that your excellent nephew, my friend Mr. Daulby, should tell you how often you are in my thoughts, whenever you are named among us. Indeed, your letter restored for a while my broken health and spirits by continual illness.

“Now to your ‘Additional Observations on Penal Jurisprudence.’ I have read them over and over, and given them to my friend Sir Andrew Sandöe Oersted, who is the first and most enlightened lawyer, and stands high in his Majesty’s confidence. He loves and values you highly for your observations, and the principles you have founded on genuine humanity; and Sir Andrew makes use of all his interest to have your salutary plan adopted and pursued with regard to more humane treatment of criminals, and the ways and means of providing them with opportunities of getting honest support by their labour, when restored to liberty. Besides, Sir Andrew has at present taken in hand the arduous task to state rules of punishment adequate to crimes committed in this country. May I live longer, I will not fail to let you know his proceedings; and, with the first opportunity, the last volume of Edda, now in the press, shall be sent.

“In the mean time, let me have some lines (I beseech you), that will give me good account of your health, which concerns me and every cordial friend to mankind, because I love and esteem you. May you long continue to be the bright ornament of the world, and blessing to your country, your family and friends: it is the constant prayer of him who has the honour to be, with sincere and profound respect,” &c.

The kindness of Thorkelin to Mr. Daulby, the nephew of Mr. Roscoe, during his residence in Copenhagen, led the latter, in the course of the present year, to present to him copies of his other works, for which Thorkelin made his acknowledgments in the following letter:—

“Praise from thy pen ’tis mine with pride to boast, He best can give it who deserves the most.”

“Honourable, indeed, is that approbation which is bestowed by those who have themselves been the constant objects of universal applause. Accordingly, I esteem the encomium you confer upon me in your letter of March 4th, received through the hands of your excellent nephew, my intimate friend Mr. Daulby, as a distinction of the highest and most illustrious kind. After saying thus much, I must tell you that I have read over and over the works of you, with which you honoured me, at the same time with infinite delight and great benefit to myself. I should have regretted to leave this world without their perusal. Your divine writings reflect high honour upon our times; they are neither an idle show of science, nor vain ornaments to libraries. They are, on the contrary, necessary parts to the order of things, which were wanted to the glory of England; you have instructed the public, and strengthened the state. And if you did not join profound humility with profound learning, you would permit me to prefer your writings above all shields fallen from heaven, and other gages of greatness, and eternity of empires. I have had many occasions to observe the power, the dignity, the majesty—and I will add, too, the divine efficacy of history; but I never met with so strong an instance of it as in your ‘Lives of Lorenzo de’ Medicis’ and ‘Leo the Tenth;’ for every line is calculated to make men wise, and their hearts good. You have showed Virtue in all her beauty, and Vice in all her deformity; and so I join my prayers with yours, in the words of Persius:— ‘Alme pater divû! sævos punire tyrannos, Haud alia ratione velis, cum dira libido Moveret ingenium, ferventi tincta veneno, Virtutem videant, intabescantque relicta.’

“I trust and hope Mr. Daulby will have the goodness to be faithful interpreter to my sincere love and profound respect for you. He is now leaving this country; and, of course, he has lodged a needle in my heart which pricks it with incessant desire to see him return soon again. Our mutual adieu will render my desire still keener. I envy his friends (endowed with every genuine virtue of old England) the happiness of receiving Mr. Daulby in their bosoms. However, I shall never cease to wish every one of you Heaven’s best blessings, uninterrupted health, and sufficient means of doing good to mankind.

“As to the rest—as you, dear Sir! has begun to love me, I beseech you, remember me constantly; and when you sacrifice to Love and Charity, allow me some little share of the excess and overflowing of your goodness. May I be so happy as to see you here? Be sure Danemark will receive you gratefully, with open arms, as the man of truth and her best defensor against her ferocious enemies, Canning and Co., in the fatal year 1807. In the mean time, be pleased to accept, with your congenial goodness, some trifling specimens of my studies. Your good nature will so much the more readily grant my presumption a pardon, as it confessedly does not deserve it. I have the honour to remain for ever, with faithful attachment, and profound esteem and respect,” &c.

Not satisfied with the endeavours he had made to awaken the public to the importance of the question which had formed the subject of the two tracts already mentioned, Mr. Roscoe, in the year 1825, sent to the press a fresh publication, under the title of “Observations on Penal Jurisprudence, and the Reformation of Offenders. Part III.” This work is a summary of the ar-guments contained in his former tracts, enforced by additional information, and is dedicated to Sir James Mackintosh, whom, at the same time, Mr. Roscoe addressed in the following letter:—

“May I beg you will do me the honour to accept a copy of the third part of my ‘Observations on Penal Jurisprudence,’ and to excuse the liberty I have taken in publicly inscribing them to you; a liberty which, independently of those sentiments of sincere and friendly attachment which I have so long entertained, I have been induced to take, in the hope of attracting greater notice to my publication by prefacing it with your name, and at the same time of showing that I have understood the notice with which you honoured me in the House of Commons, in the friendly sense in which it was intended, although I could not, without a dereliction of what I conceived to be an indispensable duty, submit to the opinion it pronounced. It would, however, be a proof not only of a want of feeling, but of a presumption on my part, of which I hope I am incapable, if I could publish this small volume, in which I have been obliged to oppose the opinions of so many eminent persons, whom I most highly respect, without the greatest reluctance and anxiety; but being thoroughly convinced, from the best consideration I can give the subject, that no change for the better can take place either in this or any other depart-ment of human affairs, upon any other principle than that of general benevolence and good will, directed to promote the happiness of all without sacrificing the interests of any, and being decidedly of opinion that this may be most strongly exemplified in the treatment of criminals, and thence, perhaps, extended to all the relations of public life, I have not shrunk from the task I had undertaken, and would rather be considered as an enthusiast than live with the consciousness of having feared to assert, to the utmost of my power, a principle upon which, in proportion as it is adhered to or departed from, the improvement, the dignity, and the happiness of the human race must ultimately depend.”

To M. Dumont he wrote as follows:—

“Although it is now many years since I had the pleasure of making your acquaintance, at the same time with that of our late excellent and ever lamented friend, Sir Samuel Romilly, yet I have never ceased to feel a sincere interest in your welfare, and to participate in the efforts in which you have been continually employed, for improving the condition of society, and regulating its concerns upon better principles than the fallacious and temporising expedients at present so generally resorted to. That the progress made in such an undertaking must be slow, you have been too well aware; but, although all is not accomplished, much has been done; and if we may judge from the circumstances that daily occur, a wiser policy and a better spirit is rapidly diffusing itself in every department of life, from the connections and relations of states, to the regulation of our lowest, and, till of late years, most neglected internal establishments. Amongst the latter of these may be enumerated our prisons and places of punishment, which have, for some years past, attracted the notice of so many able and excellent men, amongst whom none have distinguished themselves more than yourself, as well by your own labours as by the extension you have given to those of Mr. Bentham, to whom every friend of improvement must feel the highest obligations, although he may not always assent to the peculiar mode of discipline which he has endeavoured to promote. Amongst the persons last alluded to, if I were to say I consider myself as an humble associate, I should think it an arrogant assumption, being, in fact, nothing more than an interloper; or, to place myself in the most favourable light, a kind of amicus curiæ, who suddenly rises up to express some sentiment which he thinks important to the cause in hand, and which he can no longer restrain. With these feelings I published two tracts or pamphlets, in 1819 and 1822, under the title of ‘Observations on Penal Jurisprudence,’ which have been little read and less noticed; but, as I am aware that nothing can be accom-plished without perseverance, and as the advocates of a cruel and inefficient system of criminal discipline are indefatigable in their exertions, and have even induced many of the friends of the reformatory system, both in England and America, to abandon their primitive object, and resort to the ancient plan of preventing crimes by the influence of terror alone, by which a retrograde step has unfortunately been made in this great undertaking, I have again returned to the charge, and in a third part of my Observations, now just published, have endeavoured to show that vindictive and exemplary punishments are wholly irreconcileable with reformatory discipline; and that it is by the influence of the latter alone that we can ever hope to produce any effect in the diminution of crime.

“Of this tract I now take the liberty of offering a copy to your acceptance, in the hope that you will find it, on the whole, consistent with the opinions which you yourself have so much more effectually advocated; and this step I have been induced to take at this moment, from having observed in the Bibliothèque Universelle, for February, 1825, an article on prison discipline, in which large extracts are made from your report in 1822, to the representative council of Geneva, on the establishment of a penitentiary for that canton; in which the objections to the employment of that brutalising engine, the tread-wheel, and the advantages of productive labour, and a milder discipline, are stated in that spirit of candour and impartiality by which all your writings are so eminently distinguished.

“That your recommendations have contributed to promote the establishment of a more humane and more effectual system of prison discipline in that enlightened community, consoles me, in some degree, for the regret and anxiety I have lately felt on receiving from Mr. Hopkins, of New York, one of the three commissioners appointed by the legislature of that state, to report on the discipline of their prisons, a copy of their report, in which they have recommended an entire alteration, amounting to the abandonment of the reformatory system, and the establishment of a severe and unremitting plan of compulsory labour, under the immediate discipline of the lash, and the dread of solitary confinement; both of which the jailer may inflict at his own pleasure, so that the former shall not exceed thirty-nine lashes, and the latter twelve months, at any one time!

“On receiving this document, I lost no time in transmitting to the commissioners, and several of my friends in New York, the hasty remarks of which I now enclose you a copy; which will, however, I fear, be too late to be of any avail, even if I could flatter myself that they would be likely to produce any effect upon the public de-liberations of a state, which, as it was one of the first to adopt a reformatory system, and carry it almost to its perfection, is the first to abandon it. But I fear I have already intruded upon you at too great a length. Have the goodness to attribute it not only to the deep interest I take in the subject, but also to the pleasure I feel in addressing myself to one whom I esteem, as well on his own account, as the common friend of several persons of the highest worth and talents, who are now no more, but whose memories will ever be endeared to us both by the most affectionate and most lasting recollections.”

Scarcely had the third part of the “Observations on Penal Jurisprudence” passed through the press, when Mr. Roscoe received from America the Report of the three commissioners appointed by the legislature of New York to visit the state prisons at New York and Auburn, and report such alterations and amendments of the laws for the punishment of crimes as they should deem necessary. This document was read by Mr. Roscoe with deep regret, tending, as he thought it did, to the abandonment of that system of reformatory discipline, the efficacy of which he had so strenuously advocated, and substituting for it a scheme of punishment, the foundation of which was severity and terror. Anxious to oppose, so far as his influence extended, the adoption of this plan, he lost no time in prepar-ing some observations on the Report, which he printed, under the title of “Remarks on the Report of the Commissioners,” &c. and immediately transmitted to America. Of this circumstance he thus speaks, in a letter to Dr. Southwood Smith:—

“That I am not very sanguine in my hopes on this head, you will readily believe, when I inform you, that since my tract was printed, and within these few days, I have received from one of the three commissioners at New York, appointed by the legislature to examine and report on the state prisons, a copy of their report of the 15th January last; in which they have, in fact, proposed to the legislature, the total discontinuance of the reformatory system, and the introduction of a plan of severe unmitigated compulsory labour, under the immediate discipline of the whip, and the terror of solitary confinement, both of which the jailer is to be authorised to inflict at his own pleasure. On this document I lost no time in making a few remarks; copies of which I have sent to the commissioners, and to some of my friends in New York, intended rather as a protest against such a measure, than with any hopes of successful opposition, even if the proposed act should not have passed into a law, as will, however, most probably be the case before the arrival of my remarks.”

It was at this period that La Fayette was en-gaged in making his triumphal progress through the United States, and to him Mr. Roscoe appealed in the following letter:—

“Whilst you are enjoying the purest and most honourable triumph that history records, you have friends and admirers in this country, who have traced your progress, and shared in your gratifications, with that sympathy which binds together the common friends of mankind throughout the civilised world; but, although I have the ambition to include myself in that number, I should not, for that reason, have intruded myself, at present, on your indulgence, had it not been from a wish to interest you on a subject respecting which, I am certain, you cannot be indifferent, as it regards one of the most important questions that can affect the security, the welfare, and the character of the human race.

“The system of penitentiary discipline for the reformation of offenders, adopted in the United States of America, has in many places been eminently successful, and has, in the estimate of the rest of the world, given a credit and character to that country not less honourable than that which it derives from so many other causes. I have, however, just received from Mr. Hopkins of New York, (one of the three commissioners appointed by the legislature of that state to examine the state prisons, and report such plan of discipline as they may think best calculated for the improvement thereof,) a copy of such report, in which I am surprised, and mortified beyond description, to find that it is proposed to abandon the reformatory system altogether, and to substitute for it a plan of severe and compulsory labour, under the immediate discipline of the whip, and the continual dread of solitary confinement; both of which may be inflicted at the absolute will of the agent or jailer. On this plan I have lost no time in drawing up such hasty remarks as occurred to me on its perusal, copies of which I have sent to the commissioners, and to some of my friends in New York; and as I am well convinced that your influence would, at this moment, be more extensively felt than that of any other person in the United States, and as it can never be better exerted than in preventing such a disgrace to the country, and such an outrage against human nature as this plan proposes, I have so far ventured to intrude on your leisure as to submit to your perusal a copy of these remarks, accompanied by a small volume, being the third and last part of my Observations on Penal Jurisprudence, which I am now on the point of publishing here; being an attempt to prevail on my countrymen to adopt an improved system of penitentiary discipline, of which, however, I fear there is but little chance whilst those insti-tutions which I had pointed out as my models are in danger of being overturned. Whether it may be consistent with the situation in which you stand to express your opinion on the subject, you are the sole judge; but that your heart will plead for the wretched and oppressed criminal—for a criminal may be oppressed—I have no doubt; and it is in that feeling alone that I can hope to find an excuse for the great liberty I have thus taken.”

To this letter Mr. Roscoe received the following reply:—

“Your so very interesting letter has reached me at a proper point of my rapid and extensive visits through every state in the union. I have been able to confer with several appropriate persons in Philadelphia, and new York: I have been answered that Mr. Hopkins’s personal opinion, although in the name of a committee, was not the opinion of the legislature; and I believe your observations will have a good effect. As to Philadelphia, I had already, on my visit of the last year, expressed my regret that the great expenses of their new penitentiary building had been chiefly calculated on a plan of solitary confinement. This matter has lately become an object of discussion; a copy of your letter, and my own observations, have been requested, and as both opinions are actuated by equally honest and good feelings, as solitary confinement has never been considered but with a view to reformation, I believe our ideas will have their weight with men who have been discouraged by late failures of success in the reformation plan. It seems to me, two of the inconveniences most complained of might be obviated in making use of the solitary cells to separate the prisoners at night, and multiplying the rooms of common labour, so as to reduce the number in each room to what it was when the population was less dense—an arrangement which would enable the managers to keep distinctions among the men to be reclaimed according to the state of their morals and behaviour.

“It must be said, in justice to my friends of the other opinion, that solitary confinement was never considered by them as has been the case in the prison of Inquisition and the Bastille, but merely as an effective reformation-punishment, and as a preventive against mutual teaching of corruption. The difference is, that we allow it as a punishment of a few days to refractory prisoners, properly inflicted, and they as a more extensive method to make them reflect and reform—a very mistaken notion in my opinion.

“I have had occasion to confer on this matter with friends in New Hampshire, Vermont, and the state of Maine. They are satisfied with their penitentiaries, which are less crowded on account of their population, and it confirms me in the opinion that several working rooms would answer the purpose.”

The remarks on the Report of the New York commissioners led to a discussion which lasted for several years. Unfortunately the parcel containing the copies of that tract sent to America, lay at the Custom House of New York for upwards of a year; but no sooner did it reach the hands of the commissioners, than one of them, the Honourable Stephen Allen, of New York, immediately published an answer to the tract, under the title of “An Examination of the Remarks on the Report of the Commissioners,” &c. (New York, 1826.) To this, early in the following year, Mr. Roscoe replied in a pamphlet, entitled “A brief Statement of the Causes which have led to the Abandonment of the celebrated System of Penitentiary Discipline in some of the United States of America, in a Letter to the Honourable S. Allen, of New York.” The controversy was continued by Mr. Allen, in his “Observations on Penitentiary Discipline, addressed to William Roscoe, Esq.” (New York, 1827,) and by Roberts Vaux, Esq. of Philadelphia, who, in answer to Mr. Roscoe’s “Brief Statement,” addressed to him a letter in the National Gazette of Philadelphia, vindicating the State of Pennsylvania against the imputation of having adopted a cruel system in their state prisons. Dr. Mease, also, with whom Mr. Roscoe had formerly corresponded on the same subject, addressed a letter to him about the same time in the United States Gazette.

Thus called upon from so many quarters, Mr. Roscoe could no longer be silent, and in the course of the year 1827, he addressed to Mr. Vaux, Dr. Mease, and Mr. Allen, a series of letters, which he published in the Liverpool newspapers.* While engaged in preparing for the press his answer to Mr. Allen, he was seized with an alarming illness, from the effects of which he never entirely recovered.

The great question in discussion between Mr. Roscoe and his opponents, was the propriety of substituting solitary confinement for the system of productive labour by day, and separate confinement by night. The discussion of this question was attended with very beneficial effects; and it is, perhaps, not claiming too much for Mr. Roscoe, to attribute, in some degree, the change of opinion which took place upon this subject in the United States to his reasonings, supported as they were by the authority of La Fayette. Even in Pennsylvania, where two large buildings had been erected for the pur-

* Two Letters to Roberts Vaux, Esq. (Liverpool Chronicle, 28th July and 4th August, 1827.) Letter to Dr. Mease (Liverpool Chronicle, October 20. and October 27.). Four Letters to the Hon. S. Allen (Liverpool Chronicle, 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th January, 1828).

pose of solitary confinement, the scheme was abandoned, and the commissioners appointed to report upon the penal code of that state expressed, in their report of the 4th January, 1828, a strong opinion upon its inconveniences and dangers. The report of Mr. Powers, the governor of the prison at Auburn, most satisfactorily confirmed this opinion. “We have thus,” he says, “frankly acknowledged and fully exposed a dangerous error, which we believe has been fallen into by carrying the doctrine of solitary confinement entirely too far. It is deemed proper to add, that a majority of the commissioners, who examined this and the New York prison, and whose report will be hereafter alluded to, were entirely against solitary confinement without labour, on the ground of health, expense, reformation, and unnecessary severity, and they give their reasons at length, and with great force.” From the Report of the Boston Prison Discipline Society for 1828, it may also be gathered, that the sentiments of General la Fayette and Mr. Roscoe met the approbation of that society.

The prospect thus held out of the reformatory system receiving a full and fair trial in the United States afforded the most sincere gratification to the mind of Mr. Roscoe, who expressed his feelings on the subject in a letter to Dr. Hosack, of New York, dated the 13th July, 1830:—

“As the indisposition to which I have referred attacked me at a time when I was engaged in a debate with some of your countrymen on the subject of prison discipline, my medical friends advised me, for a time, not to enter again upon that subject; and it is only of late that I have been able to say that I have had the satisfaction of hearing of the system of discipline recently established in Pennsylvania; where, for many years, I have been led to expect the adoption of the horrid punishment of solitary confinement, without permitting the convicts to labour, with which view the legislature has erected two large and expensive prisons, intended to confine the prisoners in such a manner, that they should be separated not only by night but by day, and should be deprived of the liberty of working lest it should be an alleviation of their sufferings. Against this inhuman and unchristian like system, my humble voice has been raised, amongst those of many others of more importance, for several years past; but it is only a few weeks since that I have learnt, by a communication of authentic documents from Philadelphia, that the legislature have at length given way to the feelings of humanity, and have determined that the convicts shall be allowed to labour in the day, and shall be instructed for that purpose, as well as in whatever else may be requisite for their reformation. The commissioners whom the legislature had appointed to consider and report to them on this subject had, indeed, recommended to them in their report that the convicts should be permitted to labour in companies, under proper restriction; but with this the legislature would not comply, which I cannot but greatly regret, although, at the same time, I rejoice that so much has been accomplished; considering the object of labour or no labour as being, in fact, the only question in debate; and being of opinion, for various reasons, that the legislature will yet be obliged to resort to the plan recommended by their commissioners.

“By this decision I conceive the great question of prison discipline, as far as regards the United States, is finally settled; every other place, except Philadelphia, having already adopted that plan, thereby making crime to counteract itself, and repair, as far as possible, the evils it has occasioned. In no country has this principle been so well understood, or carried so far as in your own; and the relinquishment of it for the Bastille system of solitary confinement would have grieved me more than I can express; but, thank God! my dread of that is over. I shall now die in peace, convinced that the time will arrive when my own country will follow the example.”

CHAPTER XVII. 1820—1823. Termination of the affairs of Mr. Roscoe in bankruptcy.—Letters to Mr. M’Creery and Sir J. E. Smith.—His certificate disputed.—He retires to Chat Moss.—Recurs to the perusal of the Italian poets.—Translation from Dante.—His attention again drawn to penal jurisprudence.—Letter expressing his motives for the promulgation of his opinions.—His hesitation between continuing in active life or retiring.—Letter considering and determining this doubt.—Allowance of his certificate.—He returns to Liverpool—retires finally from business.—Sum of money raised for him by his friends.—He again visits Holkham.—Letters from that place.—Literary Projects—visits London—letters from thence—prepares a Catalogue of the MSS. at Holkham—letters to Mr. M’Creery describing his labours—to his daughter.—Lines to Lady Anson on her Birthday.—Letter to Mrs. Rathbone—returns to Liverpool—receives proposals to publish a series of the Italian Authors.—Letters to Mr. Valpy—to Sir J. E. Smith.—Publication of the “Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.”—Writers whom he refutes—M. Sismondi and others.—It is translated into Italian by S. Pecchioli—letter to him.—Letter from M. Sismondi.—Mr. Roscoe’s reply—becomes acquainted with M. Sismondi.—Publication of the “Memoir of Richard Roberts Jones,” and account of him.—Letter to Dr. Parr.—Anecdotes of R. R. Jones—his portrait, etched by Mrs. Dawson Turner.—Letter to Mr. D. Turner.—Sonnet written while publishing the Memoirs of R. R. Jones,—Mr. Roscoe removes to Lodge Lane—letter to his daughter.—Dr. Aikin—letters to him on the publication of the “Life of Huet,” &c.—Mr. Roscoe’s contributions to the Athenæum.—Death of Dr. Aikin.—Letter to Miss Aikin.—He proceeds with the “Life of Pope”—Again visits Holkham.—Letters from that place.—Liverpool Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery.—Mr. Roscoe chosen president.—Draws up a Declaration of the Objects of the Society.—His views as to the best mode of effecting emancipation. CHAPTER XVII.

The difficulties of carrying into effect the proposed scheme of settling the affairs of the bank continuing to increase, a very small body of the creditors determined to resort to legal proceedings. Two or three actions were commenced; and as it was impossible for Mr. Roscoe to satisfy these persons by the payment of their demands, which would have been an act of injustice to the other creditors, he was compelled to confine himself to his house in order to preserve his personal liberty. It now became obvious, that the further prosecution of the plan which had so deeply engaged his thoughts, and so completely occupied his time since the suspension of the payments of the bank, had become impossible; and a commission of bankruptcy having issued, all the partners in the concern were declared bankrupts. Thus the blow which Mr. Roscoe had so long endeavoured to avert at length descended upon him; but his fortitude and submission enabled him to bear with composure the destruction of the hopes he had so long cherished. The feelings of his mind under this calamity are well represented in the following short extract from a letter to Mrs. Rathbone:—

“Yesterday, my ever dear friend, my long struggle terminated, and I resigned myself to my inevitable lot, neither sullen nor desponding, but with a calm consciousness that every effort on my part had been made to avert it; and with a firm reliance, that however painful the dispensation may prove, it will be productive of substantial and final good.”

In another letter to Sir James Smith he says, “As to my unfortunate partnership concerns, you will have heard that, after all my labour, I have been obliged to relinquish the management into other hands; but, notwithstanding this, I by no means regret the effort. If I have not been able (chiefly from the wretched state of the times, and the fall in all kinds of property,) to accomplish what I expected, I have done more than could otherwise be effected, and this will be a consolation to me under any circumstances in which I can be placed.”

The final surrender of his property, and of the management of it into other hands, did not prevent those creditors who had resorted to legal proceedings from still pursuing them; and it was only by the allowance of his certificate of conformity that his person could be protected. The sense entertained of his conduct by the great body of his creditors was manifested by the almost unexampled celerity with which the requisite number of signatures were affixed to the certificate; but in consequence of a petition against its allowance being presented to the Chancellor by two of the individuals who wished to render their proceedings at law available against his person, the protection which the certificate would have afforded was delayed for several months. During this interval of painful suspense Mr. Roscoe retired to his farm at Chat Moss, where he was compelled to confine himself wholly to the house, debarred even from the exercise necessary to his health. Harassing as this situation was, his mind still remained undepressed; and his letters to his family were full of the unaffected cheerfulness with which he bore the annoyances and inconveniences of his confinement.

Disengaged at length from the deep anxieties with which for the last four years his life had been attended, he recurred with natural ardour to those pleasant pursuits which had been so often the employment of his happier days. He endeavoured, and not without success, to dismiss from his mind the unavailing regrets which the recollection of the past occasioned, and to apply himself anew to the literary studies for which he still felt so high a relish. Two subjects in particular pressed upon his attention,—the defence of his historical works against the criticisms of M. de Sismondi and others, and some additional observations on the question of penal jurisprudence. In prosecuting the former subject, the Italian poets again came under his notice; and the gratification which their pages afforded him is expressed in the following letter:—

“During my visit here, I have passed many delightful hours in reading Italian poetry, and have had great pleasure in tracing the similarity of sentiment which exists between minds of a similar character, that derive their chief happiness from the exercise of warm and exalted affections; till at length I have convinced myself that there is a community of feeling amongst them wholly independent of chance or circumstance, presence or absence, time or place. Of this I could adduce many beautiful illustrations; but at present I shall only refer to a little detached piece of the celebrated Dante, in which he seems to have sketched the first idea of his Beatrice, whom he has also introduced in his ‘Paradiso’ as his guide through the celestial regions, and whom he appears to have regarded with a warmth and delicacy of passion far beyond what is found in the writings of any other poet, even of Petrarca himself. “FROM THE ITALIAN OF ‘DANTE ALIGHIERI.’ “‘Of loveliest feature and of lightest form, A stranger here, to glad your sight I come, With interview of heaven—pleas’d to perform The task assign’d—then seek my native home— Scattering delight where’er my course I bend, That whoso sees me, and refrains from love, Of love is all insensible,—for when Nature, from Him whose gracious will did send Me here, entreated I might be, oh! then To perfect me with beauty all things strove: The stars rain’d lustre in my eyes, that beam’d With mild attemper’d light, and heavenly charms In earthly mould were first to mortals shown: Yet not alike on all this radiance flam’d; His heart alone the glow celestial warms, Who from another’s bliss derives his own.’— This sentence once ’t was mine to trace, Bright beaming from an angel’s face, But by too ardent passion fir’d I nearly at the sight expir’d; Nor for the deep and hopeless wound, Sent from those eyes of heavenly blue— By one whose power too well I knew, Have I as yet a balsam found.”

Since the publication of his tract on penal jurisprudence, in the year 1819, the attention of Mr. Roscoe had continued to be directed to the same important and interesting enquiries. The additional information which he had derived from America, so valuable in every respect, and the animadversions which had been made in some quarters upon his opinions, had induced him to contemplate a second publication on the same subject; though, at the same time, the small share of public notice bestowed upon his former work almost discouraged him from making any further attempt. In this state of mind he addressed the following letter from Chat Moss to a friend who had always taken the greatest interest in these efforts to disseminate better principles of criminal jurisprudence:—

“I fear I shall be able to give you but an indifferent account of the progress of the work to which you have given rise, and in which you take so deep an interest; but the beauty of the season, the salubrity of the air, the pleasure of observing the operations of agriculture, and, above all, the delight of exercising one’s limbs, after having been kept for some time within narrow bounds, have hitherto prevented me from accomplishing as much as I expected from the leisure of which this very retired situation admits. But this is not all. To say the truth, I have been in some degree disheartened by the unfavourable aspect of the times, and the idea of the improbability, not to say absurdity, of supposing that the statement of a few simple truisms, already expressed in a manner far beyond my power to equal, can produce any effect on the violence of party spirit, and the cold, uncharitable, and quarrelsome state of the public mind.

“Under these impressions, I yesterday took a longer walk over the Moss than some of my friends would perhaps have approved; and had the satisfaction to observe some small plantations, of only a few years’ growth, flourishing in great vigour in the native soil; a circumstance which led me to reflect, with some self-reproof, on my own negligence or mistake, in not having long ago planted this extensive waste in a similar manner, by which it would, at this time, have been highly valuable. On examining into the cause of this error, I found it had arisen from the conviction that the Moss soil would not grow plants of any value, being of too cold and intractable a nature; and, consequently, that the labour and expense of planting upon it would be thrown away. The evidence to the contrary now before my eyes served, however, to correct this mistake; and, as the proverb says, ‘It is never too late to mend,’ I should, probably, if now in my power, avail myself of my past omission.

“Leaving this, however, to events over which I have no control, I could not help applying the same reasoning to another subject, in which I am equally interested; and asking myself whether, in abandoning our projected publication, I was not falling into the same error of which I had before been guilty, and that too on a subject of infinitely greater importance. ‘How do I know,’ I said to myself, ‘that sentiments and feelings sincerely given to the public may be without their effect? Or why am I to take it for granted that good seed, if sown, will not vegetate; or just principles, if planted, will not flourish amongst mankind?’ If at the present moment I feel the bitterness of regret in not having raised plantations in this wilderness, what sensations shall I feel if I should ever become conscious that I might have done some essential service to my fellow-creatures, and had neglected it under the idea that it was improbable, from their intractable dispositions, that it could produce any beneficial effect?

“Reflections of this kind once more recalled the determination with which I left you, and I now intend to proceed with my undertaking as expeditiously as my circumstances will permit.”

“There are,” says Mr. Roscoe, in his “Life of Pope,” “certain periods in a person’s life, as there are certain stations in the course of a traveller, when he thinks it proper to look back on the track he has passed, for the purpose of reviewing what he has accomplished, and of estimating whether the strength he has left be sufficient to finish what yet remains to be done.” One of these periods had now arrived in the life of Mr. Roscoe, when, after a painful retrospect of the past, it became his duty to determine his course of life for the future.

While the affairs of the bank remained under his management, the only object he had in view was their final and satisfactory adjustment. He was, it is true, a partner in the new banking house, but the active direction of that concern was necessarily left to the other partners. He was now once more the master of his own time, and it became a matter of great consideration, in what manner his future life should be disposed of. Harassed and grieved as he had been at the failure of his plan for the payment of all the creditors in full, and worn down by the incessant labour and anxiety of superintending his affairs, he was strongly tempted to take this opportunity of retiring at once from all active pursuits, and of passing the remainder of his life in the seclusion of Chat Moss. But the reflection that, even at his advanced period of life, his personal exertions might still be rendered available in the service of his family, and of the public, induced him to abandon the idea of retirement, and to return once more to the active duties of life. In the following letter he has disclosed very fully the motives which influenced him to adopt this resolution:—“The question, which ever since the unfortunate result of our bank concerns has occupied my thoughts by night and by day, has been whether it is incumbent on me, in duty to my family, my friends, my character, and my peace of mind, to continue (if practicable) in public life, or to withdraw myself into a retired situation.

“This question I have placed in every point of view of which it is capable; but the fact is, the decision was prematurely sought for, and could not be made until many previous results, of which the great event before alluded to is a principal one, were first ascertained.

“Without troubling you with the reasons on each side, I can now say, that unless I meet with some unfavourable circumstances, of which I am not at present aware, I mean to devote myself to the former, and if I receive encouragement, to resume an active course of life; and in saying this I have the satisfaction of thinking I shall meet the wishes of all those who are nearest and dearest to me. I dare not, however, venture to acknowledge how much this sacrifice costs me. It seems to me the final relinquishment and extinction of all the hopes and prospects of my youth—the abandonment of that state of leisure and retirement, for the enjoyment of which, at its proper period, I had endeavoured to make the best preparation which a busy life had afforded me.

“I will not, however, deny that these feelings, severe as they may be, are counterbalanced by others of an opposite tendency, and that the flattering hope that I may yet be able to render my humble efforts at utility serviceable to those to whom I am so greatly indebted,—that I may experience the benefits of those public institutions to the establishment of which I have in some degree contributed, and above all, that I may enjoy the friendship and society of those to whom I am bound, more by the ties of affection than even by those of gratitude,—has reconciled me to a result which I should once have thought it would have been impossible for me to sustain.

“The struggle is now over; and I shall willingly persuade myself, that even in the most selfish point of view it is for my own happiness—that a state of retirement would not have satisfied the cravings of a restless mind, and that in the active performance of that, which I cannot but feel to be my duty, I shall find my best reward.

“This determination being once made, brings with it many consequences of considerable importance in the arrangement of my concerns, and clears the way as to my future conduct. Involved as I have been, rather by unsought-for inducements, than by premeditated intention, in several extensive undertakings, I have at least derived from them a conviction of the impolicy of being led into engagements of this nature, in which I have been accountable for the errors of others as well as my own. Since I came to this place, it is true, I have found reason to form a still more favourable opinion of my agricultural improvements than I before entertained, and have little doubt but that, by proper measures, this great undertaking may be rendered productive of considerable benefit. But this no longer rests with me. If I am again destined to my station in the centre of a busy town, I cannot but see that these objects are become incompatible. The public judge, and can only judge, by the result; and I can only expect the public confidence, by cutting off every engagement and employment which can be supposed to interfere with my more important pursuits. I have, therefore, abandoned all thoughts of taking up my habitation here; and, if I see this place in future, it will only be as a visiter to my son James, in case he and his family should be established here under some arrangement for that purpose; which may perhaps be the case; as I think it scarcely to be expected that any other person will, in these times, be found to undertake so laborious a task. Other concerns I have none; and in the circle of my own family, the society of my friends, and such resources as I may be able to find in the contracted limits of my literary pursuits, I shall look forward, with humble confidence, to the enjoyment of as much happiness as it is usual for human life to obtain.”

During the long and tedious inquiry which took place in the court of Chancery respecting the allowance of his certificate, Mr. Roscoe received the able and gratuitous services of his friends Mr. Basil Montagu and Mr. William Lowndes, formerly his ward; and at length, after a delay of some months, the proceedings terminated in a decision favourable to the wishes of Mr. Roscoe, and his certificate being allowed, he was enabled to return to the society of his family and friends at Liverpool. Though he had resolved, as appears from the letter already given, once more to engage actively in business, yet the state of his health, and more especially the numerous literary undertakings in which he soon engaged, induced him to change this resolution, and to prefer the moderate but secure remuneration which his pen afforded him, to the more ample but uncertain emoluments of a banking concern. He, therefore, in the autumn of the present year, withdrew his name from the firm, and never afterwards took any part in business.

It was at this period that, unknown to himself, several of his friends united together for the purpose of raising a sum of money for his use. This object was accomplished with ease, and the sum of 2500l. was contributed, and vested in trustees for the benefit of himself and his family. The office of communicating to him this kind and liberal act, on the part of his friends, was confided to Dr. Traill, who by his judicious repre-sentations, and affectionate remonstrances, succeeded in removing from the mind of Mr. Roscoe the objections which he felt to incur obligations of so serious a nature.

After the great anxieties which he had lately suffered, a change of scene seemed particularly desirable for him; and he was induced, at the solicitation of his friends, to pay another visit to Holkham, where not only were his spirits relieved by enjoying the society of Mr. Coke, but his thoughts were agreeably occupied in the task which he had undertaken of making a catalogue of the manuscript library. It required, however, no inconsiderable effort to tear himself away so soon from the tranquil comforts of his home, and from the society of those attached friends to whom he had been so lately restored. To one of these he thus wrote, soon after his arrival at Holkham:—

“I cannot suffer our honest bookbinder, Jones, to return from this place to Liverpool without a line to assure you, my ever dear friend, that I have done, and am doing, all in my power to carry into effect the advice so kindly given me on all hands on my departure from home, to banish from my mind all that I left behind me, and to attend only to my own pursuits and amusements. In this attempt I have great assistance not only from the place itself, but from the society around me, some of the best the kingdom affords, so that I begin to hope I may in time be able to wean myself from what I have left, and to enjoy the present without its being imbittered by the past. I cannot, however, say that I have as yet perfectly succeeded in my attempt, or that the thoughts of friends and home do not sometimes intrude themselves upon me; but these I repel with tolerable success by reflecting that it was high time for me to relieve them from the painful task of hearing complaints of past misfortunes, and to retire to a situation where I must necessarily bear the weight of my own anxieties. That I have made this effort, and still more that I have in some degree succeeded in it, is a matter of some satisfaction to me; and whilst I assume a cheerful countenance, and endeavour to add as much as is in my power to the general amusement, I feel a kind of pride in thinking that no one is rendered unhappy by any thing that passes within my own breast. This self-complaisance, however, is not of any long duration, and I soon begin to perceive that in thus disciplining myself to carry my own burden, I do no more than perform a duty to society, which is, perhaps, performed by every individual around me, and by some in a much greater degree than by myself.”

Some account of his occupations at Holkham is given in the following extract from a letter to the same friend:—

“Since my arrival here I have applied myself with the greatest assiduity, as far as my health would admit, to the task I have undertaken, than which few more laborious of the kind have ever been attempted; and I have now the pleasure to inform you that I expect, in the course of a few weeks, to be able so to arrange my materials as to enable me, on my return, to draw up such a catalogue as will not discredit the collection. Lady Anson, who draws most beautifully, has undertaken to copy some of the very curious specimens of designs in gold and colours in the ancient MSS. I do not believe an artist could be found in the kingdom, who could execute them with greater accuracy.

“The Duke of Gloucester is to be here on the 9th of next month, and as he has been so good as to express a wish to meet me here, I shall not be able to leave Holkham till about the middle of the month, after which I must pass a few days at Norwich, Cambridge, and Althorp, before my return, and probably I may go to London, respecting which I cannot yet determine.”

During his residence at Chat Moss, in the spring and summer of the present year, Mr. Roscoe had made some progress in preparing for the press his “Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” a volume intended as a reply to the criticisms of M. de Sismondi and other writers upon his work, and which had, at intervals, occupied much of his attention for some years. He had also engaged to write a short account of a very extraordinary person, who, in a low rank of life, and in circumstances of the utmost indigence, had acquired an almost perfect knowledge of a variety of languages. For the benefit of this singular man, who had been long known to Mr. Roscoe, and for some time supported by his bounty, this narrative of his history had been planned.

In addition to these labours, Mr. Roscoe had been requested by the booksellers of London to superintend an edition of Pope’s works, and to add to it fresh notes and a new Life of the poet.

With the view of forwarding these various literary undertakings, Mr. Roscoe paid a visit to London in the autumn of the present year (1820). In a letter to Mrs. Roscoe, informing her of his arrival, he says,—“It was with real pain and vexation I passed Linley Wood without calling. After leaving Will there, I had a very stupid journey, with a great lumbering Flamand from Brussels, whom he will remember putting into the coach, who could not speak a word of English, and with whom I was obliged to converse in bad French, and to translate for him, in case of necessity, as our friend the parson did for the Irishman, who had missed his way, and got into France. At best, a drive of 200 miles, in one of these coaches, is a horrible job, which I hope I shall not often have to repeat. I have as yet seen no one but Charles Aikin and John M’Creery, the former of whom gives me a good account of all the family, except the poor Doctor, who, I fear, is too unwell for me to get a sight of. The latter dined with us, and we had much conversation about our numerous undertakings, which I hope will go on well. I have quite recovered from the effects of my journey, and am about to set to work under the impression of having a good deal of time to myself, which is indispensable to my completing my task.”

The progress of his various labours he describes in the following extract from a letter to Mrs. Rathbone:—

“May I hope, my ever dear friend, that I shall not be thought intrusive in giving you a few lines to inform you that I am settled here as comfortably as the general state of my health, and the absence from those enjoyments which lately constituted so great a part of the happiness of my life, will allow. Almost my whole time is closely devoted to study, and I am already engaged in printing the ‘Memoir of Richard Roberts,’ and my ‘Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo,’ both of which I hope to complete before I leave town for Norfolk. I am going this evening to dine with my bookseller, Mr. Cadell, where I shall meet some of the other proprietors of Pope’s works, and shall hear what is expected from me as to time, of which I must endeavour to obtain, if possible, a little extension. * * * For my own part, notwithstanding the kind accommodation I here meet with, I cannot help considering it as a kind of exile, and already begin to look forwards to the time when I may again find myself enjoying the delicious air of Greenbank, with a mind, if not wholly free from anxiety (for that never has been, nor ever will be my lot), yet with less laborious undertakings than I have on my hands at present.”

As his chief object in this visit was to superintend the printing of the two works which he was about to publish, he made few engagements, though he occasionally enjoyed the society of some of his friends. “I dined with Dr. Parr,” he says, in a letter to Mrs. Roscoe, “at William Lowndes’s on Thursday, and again at Mr. Newnham Collingwood’s (who married the eldest daughter of Lord Collingwood) on Friday. To morrow I am engaged to dine with Fuseli; and on Thursday next with Mr. Cadell, which are all my engagements at present, having cautiously kept out of the way of them. Hitherto I have not made any great progress in my undertakings, although I have devoted to them all the time in my power, reserving a little for exercise. Yesterday Robert and I paid a visit to old Palace Yard, and saw the great alterations made in the neighbourhood; visited the House of Lords and Commons, &c., and afterwards the Prince Regent’s new street, opposite Carlton House, a collection of plaistered buildings, better calculated for show than duration.” In another letter he says, “The days pass with such rapidity, in consequence of my being so fully employed, that I can scarcely believe I have already made so long a stay here. But I shall have thrown a great weight off my mind in printing Lorenzo and Dick Roberts, and shall be enabled to begin with Pope soon, and continue without interruption. The plan I have adopted, however painful it was to me in many respects, is the only one that could have got me clear of the laborious tasks I have undertaken.”

At the end of November, Mr. Roscoe had proceeded so far with the printing of his new works as to be enabled to leave town for Holkham, where he was anxious to complete the task he had undertaken of preparing a catalogue of the magnificent library of manuscripts belonging to Mr. Coke.

Of his progress in this laborious but interesting work he gives some account in the following letter to Mr. M’Creery:—

“I have long intended to address a few lines to you from this place, but was desirous of being able to give you some information as to my views, and the nature of the task I have undertaken. I have now been here nearly three months, closely employed in making a descriptive catalogue of the manuscript library; but, notwithstanding my utmost exertions, I have not yet been able to bring it to a termination, and it will take some weeks still to complete it. When it is done it will be the greatest exertion that I, or perhaps any other person, ever made in the time; the difficulties being much beyond what I had calculated on, and the assistance of books from the printed library being much less than I had expected. I have, however, been repaid in a great degree for my trouble by the pleasure I have had in the investigation and explanation of these ancient records, which are much more curious and valuable than I had supposed; and I shall surprise the learned world by some very interesting information. I have already accumulated as much as will make a good quarto volume, which it is Mr. Coke’s intention to have printed; and I hope to be able so to arrange the correcting it, as to have it pass through your press. The work will be accompanied by numerous engravings and ornaments, for which Lady Anson is making drawings, and I am promised such other assistance as will render it a splendid production. I will not, however, enlarge upon it at present, as I am in hopes in a short time to see you in London, when we can talk over this subject much better than we can discuss it by letter, and when we will lay a plan for carrying this object into effect.

“I am sure I need not tell you, that I find Mr. Coke the same firm and upright friend of liberty and reform as when I was here last. Uninfluenced by any party, his only wish is to do justice to all, and to give to every one those rights which he enjoys himself. The pleasure I have had in his society, and in that of his family, has alleviated my daily labours, and enabled me to accomplish what I certainly should not have undertaken had I been aware of its extent and difficulty; but before I see you, I hope to have finished my first sketch of a catalogue, though it will take some time to reduce it into order.”

In a letter to one of his daughters, dated 11th January, 1821, he says, “Accept my best thanks, my dear Jenny, for your last letter; and be assured that nothing can afford me greater pleasure than to hear of the health and happiness of you all, particularly of your mother, whose state of health naturally renders me anxious to hear either from her or of her as frequently as possible. As to myself, I go on precisely in the same way as I have done for some months past, devoting every moment of my time to the task I have undertaken, and only taking as much time to myself as is absolutely requisite for exercise, food, and sleep. By this perseverance I have now made a great progress in my undertaking, and have some hopes that, in the course of next week, I shall be able to bring the catalogue as near a conclusion as I can with the materials I have here; but much will still remain to be done after my return.”

During this visit, the birth-day of Lady Anson, who had honoured Mr. Roscoe with her confidence and friendship, was celebrated by him in the following lines:—

“TO THE VISCOUNTESS DOWAGER ANSON, Celebrating her Birthday at Holkham, Jan. 23. 1821. “When Anson’s natal day returns, And Holkham’s halls resound with joy, And every youthful bosom burns To share the general ecstasy, Say, shall the voice of friendship dare Awhile thy favouring ear detain, And mingle with the festive cheer A fainter note, a temper’d strain? “Yes; for whilst mirth and music swell, The heart will ask a pause of bliss, Nor on the rapturous moment dwell With unrestrain’d confidingness: Then—in that interval of peace A deeper feeling it will own, Nor may, perchance, the chord displease, That vibrates to a softer tone. “Yet think not that the song severe Would check the tabor’s sprightly sound, Or bid the cheerful train forbear The lively dance, the sportive round; Hard were the heart and dull the soul, That would the festive scene forego, And drop in pleasure’s mantling bowl The tear of retrospective woe. “Then turn, and with a parent’s joy Survey the gaily circling band, And meet the glance that from the eye Bids all the filial soul expand; And think that thro’ a wider sphere Thy being’s energies extend, And every tender feeling share Of daughter, sister, mother, friend. “But while thou glad’st the social feast, By all around admir’d, approv’d, By every charm of nature grac’d, In blessing blest, in loving lov’d; And while thy vows in secret prayer, By all around unseen, unknown, The breathings of thy spirit bear, In incense to th’ eternal throne: “O not for this—that favouring Heaven Thro’ flowery paths thy youth has led, Thy home in splendid bowers has given, And pour’d its blessings on thine head; For many a breast as free from pain As thine has felt the duteous glow, Nor could thy grateful heart restrain Its warm spontaneous overflow. “But deeper benefits than these Thy deeper gratitude demand, For He who all thy goodness sees, Has touch’d thee with his weighty hand; And thou, with heart resign’d and pure, Hast bow’d submissive to the stroke, And taught thy spirit to endure His strong control, his powerful yoke. “O painful trials! only sent To those his searching eye approves, O soul-afflicting chastisement! Unknown to all but those he loves; Who from the lowest depths of woe To higher excellence aspire, As gold that takes a brighter glow, When tried amidst the purging fire. “Hence, not in grandeur, pomp, and state, Those idols of the vulgar mind, That charm the little and the great, Canst thou thy genuine pleasures find; ’Tis when that chasten’d cheerfulness Thy presence gives to all around, Returns again thyself to bless, Thy heart enjoys the sweet rebound. “And dearer far to thee the joy Beside the bed of pain to stand, And see thy friend, with grateful eye, Drink health and gladness from thine hand, Than if, ordain’d in courts to shine, Thy steps the midnight revel led, And every gem from India’s mine Blaz’d radiant on thine high plum’d head! “For know, amidst this world of strife, By Heaven’s immutable decree, The only draught that sweetens life Is mixt with human sympathy; And they who to a selfish sphere The general bounty would confine, Those high delights must never share That only visit hearts like thine.”

Yet, even amidst the pleasures of Holkham, Mr. Roscoe looked forward with anxiety to the time when he should be restored to that tranquil domestic society, to which, as the infirmities of age increased upon him, he felt doubly attached. “As I find,” he says, in a letter to Mrs. Rathbone, “that you have been so good as to call sometimes at the Mount, you will perhaps have heard how closely I have been employed in getting through the tasks which compelled me to the painful measure I have taken, and which, I assure you, have proved quite as formidable as I had supposed. I find, however, a still greater difficulty in keeping down my own restless and impatient temper, which I endeavour to do, at some times by reasoning with myself on the folly of rebelling against my fate, and at others by promising myself, that when these heavy undertakings are accomplished, I may enjoy some degree of leisure and tranquillity, and may, perhaps, once more wander through the delightful gardens of Greenbank, without the cares and anxiety which have hitherto intruded themselves on my steps.

“I have now been here upwards of a week, and am sorry to say that my progress is so small that I can form no conjecture as to the time my undertaking will occupy, and begin to fear that another journey will be necessary before it can be accomplished.”

Early in the year 1821 Mr. Roscoe returned to his residence at Liverpool, and resumed with much ardour his literary occupations. Soon after his arrival at home he received a communication from Mr. A. J. Valpy, informing him of his intention to publish a series of Italian authors, in about thirty or thirty-five volumes, and requesting to know whether it would be convenient to him to assume the conduct of the work, so far as related to the selections of the authors, or parts of authors, to be printed. In reply to this communication, Mr. Roscoe, after adverting to the conditions of his engaging in the undertaking, thus proceeds:—

“With the selections that have already been made of the Italian writers I am pretty well acquainted, but know of none that answers the idea of what I conceive such a collection should be. The sketch you have sent me is not less remote from the plan I should be inclined to propose. It is time the world should be made better acquainted with the Italian writers, and par-ticularly with their poets, many of whom yet remain almost unknown to us. A similar observation may perhaps be made on their prose writers, whose works may be said to contain a rich mine of instruction and amusement which has scarcely yet been opened.”

In the following letter to Sir James Smith he adverts to this undertaking:—“You will probably have seen, by the public papers, that I have undertaken to give my assistance to Mr. Valpy, in publishing a collection of the Italian poets, in forty-eight volumes, in which it is intended that the works of each author should be introduced by biographical and critical dissertations, extracted from the best literary historians and critics of Italy; a mode which I proposed. You will, perhaps, be more surprised to hear that I have also acceded to a proposal made to me to write a new life of Pope, and publish a new edition of his works; an undertaking of much more labour than the other, and at the present time, in which a sharp contest is carrying on, both as to his moral and poetical character, attended with some peculiar difficulties. From a pretty close examination of the larger editions of his works, I am not, however, greatly discouraged; nor can I help thinking that, however deficient I may be found in some respects, I shall be able to give an edition more just to the character of the author, and more accommodated to the use of the general reader than any of those that have been published since the time of Warburton.”

Unfortunately, for want of proper encouragement, Mr. Valpy’s scheme languished and died.

Soon after Mr. Roscoe’s return to Liverpool, the “Illustrations, historical and critical, of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, called the Magnificent,” issued from the press. The object of this work is thus stated by its author, in his prefatory observations:—

“Upwards of twenty-five years have elapsed since the publication of the ‘Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ During that time considerable additions have been made to the political and literary history of Italy; many original and valuable documents have been produced, and the labours of several distinguished writers, as well here as abroad, have given a greater interest to the subject.

“Under these circumstances the history of the life of Lorenzo has occasionally been the object of reference and of criticism; and whilst the merits and talents of that distinguished individual have on the one hand been more fully illustrated, attempts have been made on the other to depreciate his character, and doubts have been thrown out as to his being entitled to the high rank which he has so long held in the general estimation. To collect and to place under one point of view the information which has thus been acquired; to give some account of the various writers by whom it has been furnished; to demonstrate that Lorenzo de’ Medici has a just claim to the elevated station which he has so long maintained, and to vindicate the fidelity and accuracy of his English biographer, against the censures of some foreign writers, the effects of which have extended to this country, are the chief motives which have induced him to submit this additional volume to the indulgence of the public.”

Amongst the foreign writers to whom Mr. Roscoe here refers, the principal was the learned and celebrated M. de Sismondi, who, in his “Histoire des Républiques Italiennes du moyen Age,” has attempted to show that the character of Lorenzo de’ Medici, drawn by his English biographer, is partial and incorrect; that, in his political conduct, he was guilty of oppression towards his countrymen, and that, so far from meriting the high eulogiums that had been pronounced upon him, he was not even to be considered as possessing superior merits in poetry, in philosophy, or in art. The other writers, whose criticisms, chiefly relating to the literary merits of Lorenzo de’ Medici, are noticed and replied to in the Illustrations, are Lorenzo Pignotti, in his “Storia della Toscana;” Professor Pozzetti, in his “Due dissertazioni sopra alcuni passi della vita di Lorenzo de’ Medici, scritta dal Dottore Guglielmo Roscoe;” and the celebrated Abate Andres, in a manuscript critique, forwarded to Mr. Roscoe from Italy.* The opinions and remarks of these writers are canvassed at considerable length in the Illustrations, and controverted, not only by the author’s own observations, but by the judgment and authority of many of the great scholars of Italy, whose sentiments coincide with his own. With what success this defence of his work is executed, those who are conversant with the early literary history of Italy will judge.

“In laying before the public,” he says, at the conclusion of his prefatory observations, “such additional proofs and documents as the kindness of my friends, or my own researches, have placed within my power, for vindicating the representations which I have already given to the public of the life and character of Lorenzo de’ Medici, I trust it will not be understood, that I conceive that the work to which they relate stands in need of any other evidence, to satisfy any impartial and candid mind, than such as it bears within itself, and is confirmed by the very numerous authorities to which I have there diligently referred. From these it will sufficiently appear, that the man, whose character I have attempted to illustrate, was not only distinguished above

* Vide ante, vol. i.

the rest of his countrymen, but, when considered with respect to the variety and extent of his talents, was one of the most extraordinary persons that any age or country has produced—that to whatever subject he applied himself, he displayed that superiority and originality which genius alone can give—that in his intimate acquaintance with the philosophy of the times, in the variety of his poetical compositions, in the acknowledged refinement of his taste, and his encouragement of the fine arts, he has few equals in any of these departments, and in the union of them all was certainly never excelled. But a much higher praise awaits him. Whatever efforts may have been made to deprive him of honours so justly his due, it was he who was the first person in modern times to oppose to the lawless violence and outrage of war the voice of reason, and the dictates of justice and common sense; to perceive the political relations of the different states of Christendom, and to balance and reconcile their various interests so as to produce the general tranquillity; and to set an example, which, if it had been successfully followed, might have prevented ages of contention and bloodshed, and enabled us to date from the commencement of the sixteenth century the great career of human improvement. But although I feel confident that these will be the convictions of every impartial reader of his short but active life, I have not thought it advisable to suffer his memory to rest without a further vindication. Having, through a sincere and disinterested admiration, endeavoured to raise a monument worthy of his fame, I cannot remain in silent indifference, and suffer it to be defaced by the hands of prejudice and malice, or insulted by the attacks of ignorance and spleen: I have, therefore, endeavoured to secure it by an additional defence, which may keep at a distance the rude feet that would trample on his ashes, and may secure my own labours against similar attacks.”

The nature of this publication, consisting of a series of detached criticisms, not connected by any continued narrative, was not such as to render it generally popular. It must, however, always be regarded as an indispensable appendage to the “Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,” and as conferring no inconsiderable additional value upon that work.

Mr. Roscoe having transmitted a copy of the “Illustrations” to his learned correspondent, the Canonico Moreni of Florence, it was by that accomplished scholar placed in the hands of one of his friends, Signor V. Pecchioli, by whom a version of it into Italian was published at Florence in the year 1823, with the omission of the Appendix. On receiving a copy of this translation, Mr. Roscoe addressed the following letter to Signor Pecchioli:—

“I am extremely sorry that my numerous concerns and journeys from home, and particularly my having undertaken to furnish the London booksellers with a new edition of the works of Pope, to be accompanied by an original life of him on an extended scale, has so long prevented me from perusing and examining, with the attention which was necessary, your translation of my ‘Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,’ with a copy of which you some time since honoured me, and of which I have within these few days received a duplicate, accompanying your obliging letter of the 27th April. Having now just completed my very laborious engagement, and relieved myself from the importunity of the booksellers, I have devoted some days to the perusal and examination of your work; and am, upon the whole, much pleased with the easy, natural, and unassuming style in which it is executed, and with the impartiality and reserve so properly adhered to in the expression of your own opinion on the various subjects of controversy to which it relates. At the same time, I regret to say, that I have met with some passages which appear to me to be either not fully understood or not correctly expressed, and which it will therefore be necessary to alter, in case of another edition. Of these I have made out a list, as far as the prefatory observations extend, and, if you desire it, will continue the same through the volume. You will, I doubt not, receive these remarks in that candid spirit which you have already so fully manifested, and will perceive that I should not have been at the trouble of making them had I not thought the work deserving of it. With the short article in the 11th number of the ‘Nuovo Giornale de’ Letterati’ I think we have neither of us any great reason to be dissatisfied.

“For the information in your last, on the state of literature and literary publications in Italy, which I am sorry to find is not so favourable as might be wished, accept my best thanks. With respect to the intended publication of a new edition of the Cav. Mecherini’s translation of the ‘Life of Lorenzo,’ it does not at present occur to me that I have any alterations or remarks to suggest, further than such as are contained in the Illustrations already published. I have, however, undertaken to examine this work in the original English, and also the ‘Life of Leo X.,’ preparatory to new editions of them, which are immediately going to the press, having been long out of print; and if I should discover any thing of sufficient importance to deserve your notice, will lose no time in communicating it to you.

“I wish it were in my power to answer your inquiries respecting the prospect which a master in the Italian language would have of a favour-able establishment in Liverpool, in a manner more accordant with the views of your friend. The truth is, that the present state of Italy has induced a great number of individuals, some of them of high rank and undoubted talents, to resort to this country, where their principal occupation is to teach their native tongue, for which they are many of them highly qualified. One of this number, a celebrated advocate, has established himself in Liverpool, and has upon the whole been well received; but the consequence has been, that another person, who taught before with great success, has quitted the town, nor is it probable that any other would succeed, as long as the gentleman now in possession of the field remains here.”

A copy of the “Illustrations” was forwarded to M. de Sismondi, who acknowledged the receipt of it in the following letter:—

“Monsieur,

“Je rectus, il y a quelque tems, de votre part, les ‘Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici.’ J’en éprouvai quelque étonnement, mais j’en fus flatté en même temps, et je vous en remercie. Vous paroissiez me dire ainsi que vous sentiez que j’aimois assez la vérité pour qu’elle me plût même dans une refutation.

“Mais est-ce bien la vérité? Vous verrez, Monsieur, par la petite feuille ci-jointe, que je persiste dans mon opinion. Je n’ai point voulu répondre ni dans un journal ni par un opuscule séparé aux reproches que vous me faites; le public dans de telles querelles ne s’intéresse que contre les deux antagonistes à la fois. Toutefois, donnant aujourd’hui une nouvelle édition de mon onzième volume, il m’a paru que je vous devois à vous-même d’expliquer pourquoi je m’étois affermi dans mes sentimens; je l’ai fait brièvement, et j’ai fait imprimer à part ces notes pour ceux seulement qui ont ma première édition. J’ai répondu sur presque tous les points. Il en est un grave cependant que je ne pourrois aujourd’hui traiter sans danger. Il s’agit des conspirations, et bien autant de celle contre Visconti que de celle contre Medici. Je ne discuterai point avec vous, Monsieur, les opinions que j’ai énoncées à leur égard. Je fais des vœux bien sincères pour que vous ne voyiez jamais votre patrie dans une condition telle qu’elle vous fît changer d’avis; et je crois en effet la liberté de l’Angleterre assez assurée pour qu’elle n’ait plus jamais à recourir à cette dernière raison du peuple.

“Agréez, Monsieur, l’expression de la haute considération avec laquelle j’ai l’honneur d’être,

“Votre tr. h. ob. Sr. “De Sismondi. “Genève, 2 Juillet, 1824.’

To this letter Mr. Roscoe immediately sent the following reply:—

“I had the honour of receiving, a few days since, your letter of the 2d July last, and am happy to find that the differences of opinion which subsist between us on some particular points, have not prevented those favourable sentiments of general respect which ought to subsist between those whose only object is the investigation of truth. At the same time, I cannot but regret that the efforts I have made in my ‘Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici,’ to remove the opinions you entertain of his character, have failed of their effect; and this regret is increased by the reflection that this work was purposely intended to conciliate your favourable opinion, and to attract your powerful support to what I consider as the cause of truth. If, on any occasion, I have exceeded the limits of literary courtesy and respect, you will, I trust, do me the justice to attribute it to my earnestness to accomplish this purpose, and not to any feelings of an adverse nature towards one whose productions I so highly admire, and in whose sentiments, on almost all the great questions of human interest, I so fully concur. You will also, I hope, believe that, in making this effort, I was not influenced by any degree of literary competition, to which I know myself too well to pretend, or even by the defence of my personal credit as a biographer, although that might, perhaps, have some weight with me; but, by an idea of the importance of vindicating an exalted character, in order to show that there is in fact something really good and estimable in human nature, and by a strong conviction of the injurious effects of reducing all men to one common level, and of imputing such blots and errors to the highest characters as wholly destroy their example, and lead us to doubt the very existence of virtue.

“With respect to your notes, intended for the new edition of your history, and of which you have done me the honour to transmit me a copy, I have only to observe, that they appear to me to have carried our debate to a sufficient length, and that I shall willingly leave it to the public to decide between us without a further reply. If I should deviate from this course, it will, I think, extend only to your last note, in which you have again endeavoured to show that Lorenzo de’ Medici maintained an usurped authority by bloody executions. * * * * * I might also, perhaps, complain of the conclusion of this note, where you declare you know not whether I have had blood enough to satisfy me; but I consider this as intended merely to give effect to the preceding representations; it being impossible you could either think that I thirsted for blood, or expect that any of your readers could think so.

“In turning to more agreeable subjects, it is with great pleasure I can assure you that your excellent work on the Literature of the South of Europe, which has been translated into English by one of my sons, and lately published, has been very favourably received, and that a new edition is shortly expected.”

Some time after this correspondence, Mr. Roscoe had the pleasure of becoming personally acquainted with M. de Sismondi, who, during a visit to England, passed a few days at the house of Mr. W. S. Roscoe, near Liverpool. The intelligent conversation and the courteous and friendly manners of this distinguished foreigner attracted the warm regard of Mr. Roscoe; and no one who witnessed the mutual pleasure they found in one another’s society, would have recognised the meeting of two literary controversialists.

Nearly at the same time with the Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo de’ Medici, the little memoir of the extraordinary person already referred to appeared, under the title of a “Memoir of Richard Roberts Jones, of Aberdaron, in the county of Carnarvon, in North Wales, exhibiting a remarkable instance of a partial power and cultivation of intellect.” This most singular person, who is still living, and who con-tinues to display a love of learning and an extent of erudition seldom exhibited within the walls of schools or universities, united with a want of common sense amounting almost to idiocy, and a squalor and wretchedness of appearance of which a common mendicant would be ashamed, was first introduced to the notice of Mr. Roscoe in the early part of the year 1806. The impression which his extraordinary appearance and acquirements made upon Mr. Roscoe at this time is described in the following letter to Dr. Parr, who had unfortunately left Allerton just before the appearance there of the Welsh scholar:—

“Your letter found me in conversation with one of the most extraordinary beings that ever occurred to my notice—a poor Welsh fisher-lad, as ragged as a colt, and as uncouth as any being that has a semblance of humanity. But beneath such an exterior is a mind cultivated not only beyond all reasonable expectation, but beyond all probable conception. In his fishing boat on the coast of Wales, at an age little more than twenty, he has acquired the Greek, the Hebrew, and the Latin languages, has read the Iliad, Hesiod, Theocritus, &c. studied the refinements of Greek pronunciation, and examined the connection of that language with the Hebrew. He reads Latin with the utmost facility, and translates it either into Welsh or English. I asked him whether he knew Italian? Yes, he could read it. I spoke to him in French,—he answered me, and we carried on our conversation in that language.

“He is well disposed, modest, truly pious, and intelligent, but in his exterior motions is certainly like no other creature on earth. He has just entered the room with a wallet of books in all languages, and on my speaking to him, he saluted me with a sort of curtsey, instead of a bow. Yet, the expression of his features speaks his mind; and if shaved and docked, he might not perhaps appear so frightful as at present. He has now left his country, where he says he is persecuted, and thrown himself upon our benevolence, of which he thinks he had some proof, on one of his visits here with fish. What I shall do with him, I know not; but I have promised him help and protection, which he shall have; and if I find I can assist in rendering the very extraordinary talents with which God has been pleased to endow this humble child of indigence useful to himself or others, I shall have no small pleasure in doing it. If, on further experience, I find him as deserving as he seems to be at present, I shall most probably take advantage of your friendship, and intrude upon you for your advice respecting him. At present, I assure you, I think it one of the most extraordinary circumstances that ever fell in my way; but as first impressions are often incorrect, and I have yet seen but little of him, I will trouble you no longer respecting him at present, than to request your kind permission to mention him to you again should I find him entitled to your advice and favour.”

This extraordinary being was immediately taken by Mr. Roscoe under his protection. His rags were replaced by decent clothing, and a comfortable bed was prepared for him at night. So little, however, was he accustomed to the usages of civilised life, that, instead of getting into the bed, he crept under it. Such, also, was his attachment to the squalid habits in which he had lived, that it was with the utmost difficulty he could be persuaded to submit to those ablutions which were absolutely necessary to render a near conversation with him agreeable or, indeed, safe. One of Mr. Roscoe’s first objects was to provide him with some employment to which he had been accustomed, and upon enquiry, it appeared that he had been brought up to the occupation of a sawyer. The sequel is thus told in the memoir.

“A recommendation was given him to a person who employed many hands in sawing, and Richard was put down in the sawpit. He accordingly commenced his labours, and proceeded for some time with a fair prospect of success. It was not long, however, before his efforts re-laxed, and grew fainter and fainter, till at length he fell on his face, and lay extended at the bottom of the pit, calling out loudly for help. On raising him up, and inquiring into the cause of his disaster, it appeared that he had laboured to the full extent of his arms’ length, when, not being aware that it was necessary he should also move forwards his feet, and being quite breathless and exhausted, he was found in the situation described. As soon as he had recovered himself, he returned to the person who sent him, and complained loudly of the treatment he had received, and of his being put under ground. On being asked, why he had represented himself as a sawyer, he replied that he had never been employed in any other branch of sawing than cross-cutting the branches of timber trees when fallen in the woods in Wales.”

Other attempts were made to discover a suitable employment for Richard, but in vain. He was placed in the office of a printer in Liverpool, where it was supposed his complete knowledge of the dead languages might render his services useful; but his inaptitude for business, and his inattention to the common decencies of personal cleanliness, soon terminated the engagement. At Allerton, many persons of distinguished learning had an opportunity of witnessing the extraordinary attainments of Richard Roberts, who never failed to leave a deep impression of the singular powers of his intellect upon their minds. It was during the visit of Mr. Coke and Dr. Parr at Allerton, in the year 1815, that the following incident, related in the memoir, occurred:—

“One of his friends happened to have a party to dinner, several of whom were persons of considerable literary distinction; when, by the misunderstanding of a message* after dinner, the door opened; and, to the equal surprise of both the host and his guests, Richard entered the room, his whole dress and appearance being grotesque in the highest degree. The curiosity of the company was excited; and, after the mistake to which his introduction was owing had been explained, he was asked several questions in French, to which he gave ready and correct answers. The conversation was then changed to Italian, in which he acquitted himself with equal readiness. To this succeeded an inquiry into his knowledge of Latin and Greek, in which languages he read and translated some passages to the satisfaction of the persons present. One of the party then proceeded to examine him

* The mistake which Mr. Roscoe alludes to was this. Having been conversing with the friends around him on the subject of the instinct of animals, he mentioned to them the singular habits of a Brazilian weasel (the Coati Mondi), which had been presented to him. One of his sons, sitting at the other end of the table, was desired “to bring in the beast;” but, unluckily, not having heard the previous conversation, he conducted Richard Roberts into the dining-room.

more particularly, when the following dialogue occurred:—

“Q. As you seem to have made no little proficiency in languages, pray tell me what means you take in acquiring a language?

“A. It is according to what the nature of the language is.

“Q. How would you set about acquiring a modern language?

“A. If it was Spanish, for instance, I would take a vocabulary of the language, and examine what words corresponded with, or resembled the words in any other language with which I was acquainted; as, for instance, the Latin, French, or Italian; and those words I would strike out of the vocabulary, learning only such as were the original or peculiar words of the Spanish tongue; and then, by the assistance of a grammar, I should soon be able to attain a knowledge of that language.

“All the party admitted, that this was a most judicious and excellent method; and Richard withdrew, with expressions of approbation from all present.”

It was on a previous day, during the same visit, that Richard had an interview with Dr. Parr, who immediately plunged into the darkest recesses of ancient learning. The refinements of the Greek language, and the works of the critics who had illustrated it were entered into, and gradually the conversation changed to the Hebrew, its peculiar construction and its analogous tongues. Here Richard had evidently the advantage; and after an attempted inroad into the Chaldee, the Doctor rather precipitately retreated, leaving a token of his liberality in the hands of the poor scholar. Richard being afterwards asked what he thought of the learned person with whom he had been conversing, replied, “He is less ignorant than most men.”

Many are the singular and amusing anecdotes recorded of Richard in this Memoir, which concludes with a short comparison between the subject of it and the famous Moses Mendelsohn and the learned Magliabechi. The portrait of Richard, prefixed to it, is from a drawing by Williamson, formerly a portrait painter at Liverpool, of considerable ability. The plate is etched by Mrs. Dawson Turner, of Yarmouth, whose efforts in this branch of art have excited so much admiration amongst her friends. The following letter to Mr. Dawson Turner, relating to this plate, contains an anecdote highly illustrative of Richard’s habits and peculiar turn of mind:—

“I had the pleasure of receiving your kind favour of the 18th July enclosing an impression of the etching of my Welsh friend by Mrs. Turner, for which I cannot sufficiently express my thanks. The likeness is admirable; so that it is impossible that any person who has seen him should not immediately recognise it; and the execution of it is beautiful beyond what I could have thought it was in the power of the needle to produce; so that it may be ranked amongst the happiest of Mrs. Turner’s works. This etching has confirmed me in the idea, in which I hope Mrs. Turner will agree with me, that there is a character of apostolic simplicity in the countenance which is highly interesting, and which, I am certain, will attract the attention of the public, and be the chief cause of any advantage which this poor child of adversity may derive from the Memoir.

“With respect to the inscription to be placed under it, I must give you a singular anecdote. A day or two after I received the etching, Richard called, as he is in the frequent habit of doing, and I showed it him, and asked him if he knew it, when, after some strange turns of his head from side to side, he said, ‘It is my portrait.’ I then told him I wished him to give me an inscription of his name, &c. to put under it; when, suddenly opening his waistcoat, he began to unwind from around his body a piece of white calico, at least five or six feet long by three broad, at the top of which there appeared, in large letters inscribed by himself, ‘Verbum Dei Libertas,’ and towards the bottom the following inscription:—

“‘R. Johannis, Caernarvonensis, Linguæ Hebraæ professor, Rabbi Nathan unus e Discipulis, et veritatis libertatisque indignissimus Martyr.’

“This seemed to me the more extraordinary as he had not the least idea of his head being engraved or any such inscription wanted, nor am I satisfied that it would be proper to adopt the above; but on this you shall hear again from me.”

The profits of the Memoir were employed in supporting the subject of it*; and this little fund was increased by the contributions of some benevolent persons to whom the publication was the means of making him known. The money thus raised, however, has since been exhausted; and Richard, who is still residing in Liverpool, pursuing his learned occupations with unceasing zeal, is sup-

* The following advertisement was prefixed to the Memoir:—

“Any profits that may arise from this publication will be applied to make a provision for the person who is the subject of it, and whose destitute situation requires the benevolent aid of those who may be disposed to afford him their assistance.

“Subscriptions will be received, and the application of them directed, by the under mentioned. William Wallace Currie,” Ambrose Lace, Samuel Parkes, William Rathbone, William Stanley Roscoe, J. Ashton Yates, of Liverpool.’

ported, in scanty comfort, by some of his charitable friends.

The following sonnet was written by Mr. Roscoe while engaged in preparing for the press the “Memoir of Richard Roberts:”— Child of affliction! hapless was the hour That gave thee birth! Thine infancy, distress; Thy young companions, scorn and wretchedness; And pain and penury thine only dower. Yet amidst this, thine utter helplessness, There is an eye beholds thee; that can see Thy patient sufferings, deep humility, And thy life-pang of conscious uselessness— Nor yet will He, the mighty One, who gave Thy shrouded talents, unaccomplished leave The work his forming hand so well begun; But in his own good time will pour the light Thro’ the thick film that veils thy mental sight, And manifest Himself—an uneclipsed sun.

In the summer of 1822 Mr. Roscoe left his residence in Liverpool, and took a house in Lodge Lane, Toxteth Park, about a mile from the town. In the following letters to one of his daughters he gives some description of his new abode:—

“I have to thank you for your very acceptable letter, and for the account you give of your proceedings; from which I am happy to find you avail yourself of the opportunities of enjoyment which the kindness of your friends affords you. I hope I shall not interrupt so pleasant a dream by informing you what you are to expect when you awake. You will find us in our new habitation, with which we are much pleased. Your mother feels a most sensible change for the better in the air and situation. The front door has ceased to ring, and the wheels of the Ropery to jar. Our rooms are all appropriated. Mine is spacious and commodious; and I am no longer under the dilemma of either sitting with my doors and windows open, or being choked. Our garden, though small, is agreeable and useful, and is much enjoyed by us all, particularly Mary Anne and Tom. The latter is before my eyes robbing the birds of their cherries. A plot is laid out for Mary Anne and you, not as joint-tenants, but in severalty; so that you will each have your own. You must not suppose that by all this I wish to tempt you to shorten your visit. I only wish to show you that we are as content and as happy as circumstances will admit, to which I may add that your mother’s health is certainly improved, upon the whole, since our removal.

“Since you left us, I have been very closely employed in a new work which I have just finished, and am sending to M’Creery to be printed, under the title of Additional Observations on Penal Jurisprudence, being a sharp criticism on an article in the Edinburgh Review on Prison Discipline, and on the proposed plan of punishing criminals in America, by solitary confinement. I have mixed it up together in great haste, and have put as much caustic into it as I possibly could.

“I shall leave a little space for Mary Anne to tell you any further news, and with kind remembrances to Mr. and Mrs. Hutton, and all our friends, I remain,” &c.

In the course of the present year, Mr. Roscoe lost one of his earliest, and, indeed, one of his latest literary friends, in Dr. Aikin, who died at his house in Stoke Newington, after a long and painful illness. The intimacy had arisen at a very early period of life, during the residence of Dr. Aikin with his father, at the Warrington academy, to which place Mr. Roscoe paid several visits for the purpose of enjoying the society of Dr. Aikin and Dr. Enfield. On the removal of the former from Warrington, he occasionally corresponded with Mr. Roscoe on subjects of literary interest, and the letters of both the parties evince, in a very pleasing manner, their mutual attachment and respect. On the publication of his ‘Memoirs of Huet,’ Dr. Aikin took the opportunity of testifying more publicly his esteem for his friend, in a dedication prefixed to that work, a mark of friendship which Mr. Roscoe acknowledged in the following letter:—

* * * “Allow me to assure you that, however my vanity may be gratified in being thus noticed, that sentiment is wholly absorbed in the pleasure I feel in this additional proof of your friendship, and in finding that, in this somewhat advanced period of life, the esteem and attachment which I so early imbibed, and have for so many years invariably felt for you, are so cordially and affectionately returned. Though we have neither of us arrived at the age of Huet, yet it is highly pleasing to reflect that you and I have hitherto retained the same invariable attachment to literary studies which animated us in our youthful days, and, I believe, I may justly add, the same sensibility to all the pleasures of friendship and the delights of social intercourse. That we shall rival in longevity the French scholar is not perhaps to be either expected or wished; but I trust the same occupations and the same enjoyments will continue to throw over the evening of our lives a beam as pleasing, if not as bright, as that of our morning; and if when the scene is closed my name should ever be recalled to memory, be assured it cannot be found in a situation more gratifying to my wishes than as associated in any manner with your own.”

Of the literary correspondence between Dr. Aikin and Mr. Roscoe, the following letter, written by the latter immediately after the perusal of the ‘Life of Huet,’ is a pleasing specimen:—

“I have now gone through the ‘Memoirs of Huet,’ and have to return you my most sincere thanks for the entertainment they have afforded me. That the reign of Louis XIV. was distinguished by an extraordinary attention to literature, and by a great number of eminent men, is well known; but it is really surprising to see them pass in review before us; and one cannot but admit the inference which the southern nations of Europe derive from this circumstance, viz. that the sciences and arts may flourish under a monarchical government; but which, after all, will not prove that they flourish as well as under a more popular form, and of this, the ‘Memoirs of Huet’ afford sufficient proofs. With respect to Huet, he seems to have acquitted himself of the difficult task of an autobiographer as well as could be expected; but, like many others who have attempted it, he will have added but little to his permanent fame by this portion of his labours. In fact, this mode of writing is full of insuperable difficulties. In order to avoid the imputation of vanity, the author is obliged to omit whatever is favourable to his character, whilst all that is to his disadvantage is taken for granted, on the best possible evidence. Is it possible to suppose that two of the greatest men of the last century could have passed through life with so total a disregard to the welfare of others, and such a selfish attachment to their own little narrow gratification, as Rousseau and Gibbon ap-pear to have done? and may we not reasonably suppose that our good bishop in the course of his life performed many acts of beneficence, besides obtaining for the Jesuits the right of enclosing a walk, of which he deprived the public? I know not, however, that this detracts from the interest of the work. It is the bishop’s own loss; but such is the nature of the human mind that we can very well pardon the omission, and perhaps derive more gratification from the discovery of his failings than we should from the display of his virtues.

“Of your part in this publication, I can only say that it has all the characteristic excellencies of your other writings. The translation reads with all the ease and freedom of an original, and your very numerous and satisfactory anecdotes give double interest to the work. It is with pleasure I trace in this department the same candid spirit and sound judgment as in your other works, but mellowed and improved by the observation and reflection of riper years. I cannot, however, help observing, that if time has mellowed the fruits of your genius, it has not destroyed their original flavour; as a proof of which, I may refer to vol. ii. p. 143., in which I find you still the advocate of ‘those kindly affections by which mankind are held together;’ a cause which I hope we shall neither of us give up but with life.

“You do me the honour of asking me whether I can point out any other subject of a similar nature to your last, and what I think of a ‘Life of Muratori?’ at the same time suggesting that I may probably have some idea of prosecuting my inquiries into the literature of Italy. If that were the case, there is no one whom I should sooner choose for a fellow-labourer than yourself; but, in fact, I have laid aside all such intentions, and if I can accomplish a little memoir of our ever-lamented friend Currie, shall never more present myself before the public. I am, however, inclined to think that Muratori would not afford you a sufficient foundation on which to build your intended superstructure. Although a man of diversified talent and sound learning, yet I do not know that his connections with persons of great eminence were very extensive; and his epistolary correspondence, of which I have two volumes, is chiefly confined to researches for the materials of his great work on the ‘Antiquities of Italy.’ Even the period, though distinguished by some celebrated characters, and particularly by several excellent lyric poets, would, as I apprehend, be found inferior in point of interest, not only to former times in Italy, but to the contemporary state of literature both in France and England. On this, however, I speak with great hesitation; and should be sorry to deter you from a work which, in your hands, could not but be highly instructive. If, however, a choice were to be made between the two subjects you have mentioned, I should prefer the history of English literature, a work which is greatly wanted, and which I am convinced that no one can execute better than yourself. That it will, as you observe, be a work of great extent and labour, cannot be denied, but at the same time the plan might be so formed as to keep it within a reasonable compass, with a chance of rendering it even more popular and more useful than a work upon a very extended plan. All that has hitherto been done by Warton, Percy, Ellis, &c. has had a reference only to the poetry of the country, and their works are, in fact, rather a series of specimens than a history. In this respect, the model you propose would suggest a different mode of execution, more condensed in its matter, but more particular in information; mostly referring the reader to the original works if he wishes to know more on the subject, but relating the progress of each branch of literature in one continued narrative. For a work of this nature, the materials are not difficult to be found; and I should suppose that two volumes in quarto, or four in octavo, might comprise this very interesting work, which I think would be more likely to succeed than any other of a similar nature that I can at present suggest.”

During the publication of the ‘Athenæum,’ a periodical work conducted by Dr. Aikin, Mr. Roscoe contributed a few poetical pieces to the pages of that work, together with the memoir of Mr. Rathbone, already noticed, and a very few other articles.

The feelings of Mr. Roscoe on the death of Dr. Aikin are expressed in the following letter to Miss Aikin:—

“Although much later than my feelings dictated, you will, I am sure, excuse a few lines to express to you how truly I have sympathised with you, on the loss of your excellent father and my old and highly valued friend. Not because I conceive that I can say any thing to relieve what I well know you must feel on the occasion, but because it is a satisfaction to my own mind to express to one so dear to him the sincere and affectionate attachment I entertained for him, and the gratitude I owe to him for the advantages derived from his friendship and society at an early period of my life. My long acquaintance with him is indeed connected with the most pleasing recollections. From having accompanied him to his little botanical garden in the vicinity of Warrington, I first imbibed a relish for these pursuits; and I well remember that on his recommendation I first was led to the perusal of the modern writers of Latin poetry—occupations which have since afforded me an inexhaustible source of pleasure. To this I might truly add, the information and delight which I have derived from his writings, which have always appeared to me to be the perfect image of his own elegant, correct, and highly cultivated mind, and which, I have no doubt, from the variety and utility of their subjects and the purity and precision of their style, will continue to be admired as long as any relish remains of what is truly excellent.

“In the sincere sorrow that must attend the loss of such a man, it is, however, delightful to recollect how much of his spirit yet remains. Whether we regard him in a scientific or a literary light, we still find him in his best disciples, his own children, to whom the world will now look for a continuation of those labours which have hitherto been so eminently successful. That you, my dear friend, will not disappoint us, you have already given us sufficient earnest; and I think I know you too well, to doubt of your perseverance. It is true the reign of Charles, compared with that of James, is like a serious history compared with a course of fantastic adventures; but you have shown that you are capable of just reflection on the gravest subjects, and that the most important concerns of states are not less within the scope of your powers than the lighter touches of lively and interesting anecdote.”

During the whole of the spring and summer of the year 1823 Mr. Roscoe was closely engaged in preparing for the press the new edition of Pope, but in the autumn of that year he made another excursion to London and Holkham. On his journey to the latter place, he was attacked with an illness, arising, probably, from the same causes which a few years afterwards produced more alarming effects. Of this attack, he gave as cheerful a representation as he could in his letters to his family.

“As I presume Mary Anne may have thrown out some hints of my having been so far indisposed on my way to Holkham, as to have got myself into the hands of a doctor, and narrowly escaped ‘losing a little blood,’ I think it may be some satisfaction to you to have a certificate under my own hand that I am yet in the land of the living; and I hope I may also add, recovering from the effects of a feverish attack, which came upon me some days before I left London, but which I hoped would have been removed by the journey. This, however, was not the case; so that I was obliged to stop a night at Fakenham, and to be put under a regular course of discipline, attended by physician, apothecary, &c.; and on the following day, the doctor paid me a visit in state, at Holkham, with which you will judge how greatly I was delighted. This, however, was his last visit; and to cut short the subject, I hope I may consider myself beyond the necessity of further assistance, although, I must acknowledge, I think the prescriptions were of considerable service to me.”

The following letters to Mrs. Roscoe will give an idea of the engagements and occupations of Mr. Roscoe during this visit to London:—

“As J. C. sets out in the morning on his return to Liverpool, I could not let him depart without a line to inform you that I continue in tolerable health and spirits, and as fully employed as it is possible for me to be. We are now making great progress towards finishing the works of Pope, which will be quite ready by the time desired by the booksellers, and to this almost all my efforts have hitherto been directed. I have also finally settled my agreement with Mr. Graves, for lithographing, printing, and colouring my plants, at a price which I consider very reasonable. On Sunday, Henry and I went to Essex Street Chapel, and heard a Mr. Cannon preach a very good sermon, after which we called on Mr. Belsham, and found him, as he hopes, recovering from his long indisposition. On Tuesday I dined with a scientific party at Dr. Bostock’s; and yesterday I met a literary one at Mr. Cadell’s, and was highly entertained by the conviviality, wit, and excellent singing of Mr. James Smith, Mrs. Cadell’s brother, and one of the authors of the ‘Rejected Addresses.’ On Sunday we are to dine with Miss Duckworth, so that you have the whole of our proceedings. * * * As to what is going on here, I am a perfect stranger, except as far as appears from ‘The Morning Chronicle,’ which I see every morning at breakfast, and shall send to Liverpool every evening as long as I stay, that you may all be as wise as myself.

* * * * *

“Notwithstanding the kindness I have experienced through all my peregrinations, I am not sorry to reflect that more than one half of the time proposed for my absence is now over, and that within the course of another month I may have the pleasure of seeing you again, when, if I should find you in a state of health equal to my daily wishes and prayers, it will be the greatest blessing that can happen to me.”

In another letter, written a few weeks after the preceding, he says, “Our frolic is now nearly over, and we have taken places in the Liverpool mail for to-morrow evening. We shall not, however, proceed direct to Liverpool, having received an invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell to stop at Linley Wood, which we have promised to do; so that we shall not reach home before Saturday. I will not attempt to express to you the extreme hurry in which I have lived since my arrival in London, where I have scarcely had a moment to myself, and am obliged to write in great haste this line, to acquaint you with our plans. This morning I breakfasted with Sir Thomas Lawrence, am going to dine at Mr. Duckworth’s, and pass the evening at Dr. Southwood Smith’s, which you may take as a sample of my proceedings. I have, however, accomplished in a great degree the various objects which brought me to town, and some others which I did not expect, particularly the publication of a new edition of Lorenzo and Leo, to which Cadell has consented.”

A number of the gentlemen of Liverpool, friends to the abolition of slavery, having shortly before this time formed themselves into a society to promote this great object, Mr. Roscoe was requested by them to fill the office of president of the society, a request to which he cheerfully yielded. It having been thought proper, in the spring of the present year, that a Declaration of the objects which the society had in view should be published, Mr. Roscoe consented to prepare this document, which was printed in the shape of a small tract, under the title of “A Declaration of the Objects of the Liverpool Society for promoting the Abolition of Slavery.”*

The tone of this Declaration, though firm, is moderate, and the measures which it recommends seem to offer the most practicable means of accomplishing the final extinction of slavery in our colonies:—

* Liverpool: printed by James Smith; published by Hatchard & Son, and J. & A. Arch, London.

“The system of slavery has been too long continued, and its devoted objects have been degraded too low in the scale of humanity, to allow it to be supposed that the act of a moment can repair the injuries and abuses of ages, or that deep-founded habits and inveterate prejudices can be removed, without the adoption of such measures as are indispensably requisite for that purpose. With every disposition on the part of the colonial proprietors to adopt a different system, how would it be possible to accomplish it without some necessary precautions, some deliberate and gradual process, which should progressively give to the slave the feeling of independence without the danger of licentiousness, and enable him to perceive that the necessity of providing for his own subsistence, though less degrading, is not less imperative, than that under which he had before been compelled to return to his daily task.”

In the following passage a reference is made to a former publication of Mr. Roscoe, the “General View of the African Slave Trade.”

“Although little has hitherto been said of the particular mode in which this great object might be most safely and beneficially accomplished, yet it has not wholly escaped the notice of the advocates for the abolition of slavery. So long ago as the year 1788, a plan was published by a member of this society for the gradual im-provement of the condition of the slaves in the British colonies, and the consequent termination of the trade for slaves to Africa. By this plan, it was proposed to improve the personal rights of the slaves; to establish courts of judicature independent of merchants or planters; to introduce the laws of England, particularly trial by jury; to punish the wilful murder of a slave by death, which was not then generally the case; to render the testimony of a slave evidence to go to the consideration of a jury; to protect them from wanton and illegal punishment; to enable them to retain property by law; to encourage them to marry; and to grant them exemptions and privileges in proportion to the number of children brought up; to allow them to work, or hire themselves out, on the days of exemption; to provide for their religious instruction and attendance on divine worship; and to allow them to purchase their freedom on certain terms; with such other regulations as seemed necessary to raise them in the scale of society, preparatory to their final emancipation. In addition to these internal regulations, the due attention of the proprietors to the increase and improvement of their slave population was proposed to be promoted by a duty upon every slave imported, which would be increased at different periods till the year 1800, when it was proposed entirely to prohibit the trade.

“Had this or any plan of a similar nature been carried into effect, the consequence would have been, that an immediate alteration would have taken place in the condition of the slave, which, by a gradual process, would have rendered him capable of still higher improvement; that seven years before the declared abolition of the slave trade by the British legislature, that trade would have been effectually abolished, and the colonies at this day would have been able to resist the competition of any other part of the world; whilst, with the continuance of slavery, they are now in a much more unfavourable state than when such publication took place.

“Whether it may be thought proper to resort to these or similar measures, for gradually relaxing the bonds of slavery, and giving to its unfortunate victims the rank and feelings of human beings, it must rest with the legislature of Great Britain, and the prudence and good sense of the colonial proprietors, to determine. That since the publication of the tract last mentioned, many instances have occurred of the manumission of slaves, some of them on an extensive scale, and with acknowledged advantage to their former owners, is certain; nor is it improbable that measures might be adopted which might render such result general, within a much shorter time than that before mentioned. To contribute, as far as its efforts can be rendered available, to-wards the immediate mitigation of the evils attendant on slavery, and to obtain its entire abolition as soon as it can be accomplished by all reasonable, proper, and effectual means, is the express object of this society, and its resolution is formed, not to desist till such object be accomplished.”

CHAPTER XVIII. 1824 Death of Mrs. Roscoe.—Verses addressed to her at different times by Mr. Roscoe.—Letter from Mr. M’Creery on occasion of her death.—Sonnet addressed to her in early life by her son.—Letter from Mr. Roscoe to Dr. Wallich.—Mr. Roscoe resumes the study of botany, and particularly of the Monandrian plants.—His new arrangement of the plants of the Monandrian class, usually called Scitaminean—referred to by Sir J. E. Smith in Dr. Rees’s Cyclopædia.—Letter from Sir J. E. Smith on the merits of this arrangement.—Name of “Roscoea” given by him to a new order of Scitaminean plants.—Present of plants to the Botanic Garden from Dr. Wallich.—Correspondence of Mr. Roscoe with him.—Projected publication of Specimens of the Scitaminean Plants.—Mr. Roscoe is elected an Honorary Associate of the Royal Society of Literature, and afterwards an Associate of the First Class—receives the gold medal of the Society—is elected Corresponding Member of the Academy della Crusca.—Letter of the Secretary with the diploma.—Mr. Roscoe’s reply—is elected Member of the New York Horticultural Society—visits London again—letter to his daughter. CHAPTER XVIII.

In the autumn of the present year, Mr. Roscoe sustained an irreparable loss in the death of her, who for upwards of forty years had been his constant companion and friend. During the latter part of her life, the health of Mrs. Roscoe had suffered much, and for several years before this time had been in a very precarious state. Within the last few months it declined rapidly; and notwithstanding the most skilful medical attention, on the 24th of September, 1824, her sufferings were terminated by death.

Her character and virtues will be best illustrated by the testimony of him to whose happiness her long and anxious, and too often painful life, was devoted. That strong attachment, which was the pride and the joy of her youth, remained unimpaired amid the wreck of wealth and the reverses of fortune. “Of my own feelings,” she says, in a letter written to Mr. Roscoe, during his residence at Chat Moss in 1820,—“of my own feelings, in the hope of your returning, I say nothing. You know well, that there is one object in this world, in which all my hopes, fears, enjoyments,—all my earthly enjoyments, centre.”

The passages already extracted from the domestic correspondence of Mr. Roscoe, may give some idea of the truth and sincerity with which this affection was returned. But it was not only when absence afforded him the opportunity, that he took pleasure in expressing the tenderness, the friendship, and the respect with which he regarded her. Various occasions occurred, of which he gladly availed himself, to offer to her, generally in verse, some token of his affection. Of these domestic poems, so honourable to her memory, a few will be given in these pages, where, it is hoped, they will not be considered as misplaced.

The following sonnet was written in the year 1788, while both Mr. and Mrs. Roscoe were absent from home, and from one another. SONNET. “From dear domestic scenes and calm delights My Julia wanders!—ah, not fond to roam! I, too, forsake awhile my peaceful home, And far from her consume the tedious night. Yet shall our dove-like wishes take their flight, At that loved home to meet, and hovering there, Screen from intruding harms our children dear, Till happier hours return, when the glad sight Of them, and of each other, shall repay, With ten-fold interest, all the transient pain That absence brings, whilst, modest and sincere, Our eldest born shall chide our long delay; Nor shall our second court a smile in vain, Nor he whose looks of love our latest fondness share.”

The verses which follow are dated in the succeeding year. To J. R. ON HER BIRTH-DAY AND WEDDING DAY. “Upborne on wings that know no stay, Time sweeps with trackless course along; Yet ere we pass this favour’d day, We’ll smooth his wrinkles with a song. “For since to bless my vows sincere, My Julia pledged her constant love, Seven times hath Autumn crown’d the year, Seven times hath Winter stripp’d the grove. “Come, then, and on this point of time, A moment let our steps delay; Recall the seasons of our prime, Or mark what waits our future day. “Thus from some mountain’s airy height, The pilgrim takes his backward view; On distant prospects feasts his sight, And from past pleasures augurs new. “Say, then, my fair, hast thou forgot Those hours to Love and Fancy dear, When, reckless of our future lot, Hope only crown’d the rolling year? “When like an April’s changeful day, Of storm, of sunshine, and of rain, Joy gilded with his transient ray, The lowering clouds of fear and pain. “I boasted not paternal wealth, Nor was the golden portion thine; Thy dower was innocence and health, And Love and Industry were mine.”

The sonnet addressed to Mrs. Roscoe, on the publication of “The Nurse,” has already been given.

During his absence from home in 1807, while attending his parliamentary duties, Mr. Roscoe felt, very sensibly, the loss of her society. To her he had been accustomed to refer for advice and assistance in every difficulty; and for sympathy and support under all the circumstances of his life. Her arrival in London was welcomed by the following lines:— “Come! bright example of unalter’d truth! O come, dear partner of my widow’d heart; Light of my life, companion of my youth, O come, and never, never let us part. “O from that hour that tore me from thy sight, What harpy griefs have fasten’d on my breast; Whilst night consigns to day, and day to night, The scorpion rods that rob my soul of rest. “O come! thy presence shall the clouds dispel, Thy voice shall soothe me, and thy counsels guide; For thou alone canst soothe the tempest’s swell, And snatch me, struggling, from the whelming tide.”

Upon the publication of a small volume of poems, in 1820, by different members of his own family, he presented a copy to Mrs. Roscoe, with the following inscription:— “Tho’ from our early hopes cast down, Tho’ Fortune smiled but to deceive us; O think not, Love, her envious frown Of every blessing can bereave us; “Enough, if midst our youthful race, With grateful hearts to Heaven resign’d, A parent’s raptured eye may trace! The richer treasures of the mind.”

And in the following year, in another volume, containing a larger collection of similar poems, he inscribed, on leaving home, some additional verses:— “Some forty years, or more, are fled, Unless through age my memory falter, Since Love our youthful footsteps led, And join’d our hands at Hymen’s altar. “Through all the long succeeding scene, Of sunshine days and stormy weather, Where’er our changeful lot has been, Our days have still roll’d on together. “And whilst to joys and sorrows past, I turn with varying recollection, O’er all one brighter tint is cast, Of constant love and kind affection. “But now a prudent voice I hear, That must awhile of home bereave me; And now the hour approaches near, When for a season I must leave thee. “Then take this book, and if perchance Some soft and pensive thoughts come o’er thee, Cast on its page thy tearful glance, And it shall soon to peace restore thee. “Nor will we with ungrateful hearts, Our bliss by Fortune’s changes measure; Whilst here our children’s verse imparts A purer bliss, a richer treasure.”

The following is the testimony of one who had known her long and intimately in her happiest days:—

“Although, from the daily accounts which Mr. Robert Roscoe gave me, of the distressing state to which Mrs. Roscoe was reduced, I expected every morning to hear of her release from her continued suffering, yet believe me, your letter, informing me of the close of her valuable life, struck me almost with as great a shock, as if it were an event that could not have been anticipated. Not having seen her during her long illness, I can only remember what she was when in the enjoyment of health, and of all the blessings attendant upon it. Her heart and her cares were yours and her family’s, with a devotion so pure, as to give me (who had more frequent opportunities of witnessing them, through many years of her life, than almost any other of your friends) the most exalted opinion of the nobleness of her character, and of the happiness you enjoyed in the possession of such a companion. To every one who came within the range of her influence, she was generous, kind, and benevolent. As a friend of long standing, I have to lament her; for when I call to mind the many happy hours I have passed with her and you, and the marks of esteem she always extended towards me, from the moment I was introduced to you, I cannot smother the grief that the close of her life has inspired. * * * *

“J. M’Creery.”

The affectionate and tender devotion of her heart to her children, bound them to her by ties of the strongest kind, and their feelings towards her were not unfrequently evinced, as their father’s were, in the language of verse. In the following sonnet, written upwards of thirty years since, one of her sons dedicated to her a small collection of unpublished poems. SONNET. “Untaught to walk the Aonian hills among, Nor skill’d to plant the dark-leaved laurel tree, Or quaff the immortal fount of Castaly; Yet may I frame for thee my youthful song, Numb’ring the blessings which thy whisp’ring tongue Pour’d on my life, as slumb’ring on thy knee, From fount more pure thou fed’st my infancy; And as these unripe strains to thee belong, (If He in heaven, approving, may inspire The breathing genius of maturer age), So thine the labour of my future days. Content, if to this frail, untimely page, Or loftier sounding of that deep-strung lyre, Thou yield that dearest meed, a mother’s praise.”

The feelings of Mr. Roscoe suffered deeply from this loss; which interrupted for a time his usual literary correspondence. His chief consolation he found in the society of his family; whose affection for him was, if possible, drawn closer by the calamity which, in common with themselves, he had sustained. The satisfaction which he felt in this domestic intercourse, a subject to which he in general refrained from adverting, is touched upon in the following extract from a letter to his friend, Dr. Wallich, written a few months after the death of Mrs. Roscoe:—

“Believe me, my dear Sir, I can most truly participate in your feelings, in your separation (though temporary only) from your wife and family; having myself sustained, a few months since, the greatest loss I ever experienced, in the death of my faithful partner, with whom I lived upwards of forty years in uninterrupted confidence and harmony, and by whom I have now living seven sons (four of them married, with families), and two daughters; the latter of whom only still reside with me, and by their affectionate attention compensate me, as far as possible, for my irreparable loss, and by the cultivation of a decided talent for literature (of which I hope, at some time, to send you a specimen), and the earnest and active interest which they take in the promotion of useful establishments for the improvement of their own sex, keep up (together with my own pretty numerous avocations), such an incessant variety of employment as never suffers a moment to hang heavy on our hands, and scarcely leaves us time for that correspondence with the detached pail of our family (all of whom are now established in different parts of the kingdom, in professions and occupations for themselves), which we all are so desirous to maintain.”

The science of botany, which at an early period had afforded so much pleasure to Mr. Roscoe, and to which he had made several contributions in the pages of the “Linnæan Transactions,” became towards the close of his life an object of still greater interest to him. He often expressed an opinion, that a science so extensive as this was best advanced when those who made it their study selected some particular branch, to the illustration of which their attention might be confined; and upon this principle he had, for many years, applied all the time which it was in his power to bestow upon the study to the investigation of a rare and beautiful tribe, the Monandrian plants of the order Scitaminece. A new arrangement of these plants was, as already stated, suggested by him in a paper communicated to the Linnæan Society in the year 1806, bearing the title of “A new Arrangement of the Plants of the Monandrian Class, usually called Scitamineæ.”*

The attention of many celebrated botanists had been employed upon this beautiful order,

* Read April 15. and May 6. 1806. Trans. vol. viii. p. 330.

which had been illustrated by the descriptions of Koenig, Retzius, and Swartz; but no satisfactory arrangement of the plants composing it had been suggested before the attempt made by Mr. Roscoe, in the paper just mentioned. This arrangement was adopted by Sir J. E. Smith, who thus speaks of it in the article Scitaminece, written by him for Dr. Rees’s Cyclopedia:—

“Mr. Roscoe, of Liverpool, first suggested a method of reducing the genera of the Scitamineæ to regular order by essential characters, derived from the structure of the stamen, particularly its filament. This principle is found to be the only one which, while it is clear and precise in defining technical essential characters, leads to the establishment of natural genera; for the inflorescence, of which Adanson had first shown the importance in this respect, though not admitted by Mr. Roscoe into his characters, goes along with and confirms them all. The labours of Giseke do not seem to have come under the inspection of this ingenious writer, nor would they certainly have yielded him any assistance. He reviews the attempts of other preceding botanists, and, after showing the insufficiency or uncertainty of other modes of generic definition, proposes his own, according to which he defines all the known genera of this natural order, ranging under each all the known species of which he could discover any certain indications.”

In noticing this paper, in a letter to the author (2d June, 1806), Sir James Smith says,—“Your letter was highly approved by every body. Dryander (no complimenter) was excited by it to take up the subject afresh; and he and I went carefully over your whole paper, turning to references, specimens, &c. I have already received the highest compliment possible from Aiton and Lambert, who, on hearing your paper, conceived that you could scarcely have had knowledge or materials to compose it, and that I must have written it! See what it is to have a name! I certainly could not have written it. I have satisfied them with the real truth, and Dryander also. With this view, I purposely let him read over your original MS. and see all my scratches and alterations, which being so few, and chiefly about technical matters, could do you no discredit. I wish you therefore carefully to preserve this original manuscript as it is; it had best be printed from this present copy, which must then be preserved in the archives of our Linnæan Society.”

The contributions thus made by Mr. Roscoe to this branch of the science, induced Sir J. E. Smith to dedicate to him a new and distinct order of the Scitaminean plants, to which he gave the name of Roscoea.* Of this genus Mr. Roscoe afterwards received many new species, several of which are figured in the Monandrian Plants.

The opportunities of procuring specimens of the Scitamineæ which the botanic garden at Liverpool offered, enabled Mr. Roscoe gradually to extend his knowledge of a tribe of plants, which was yearly receiving the most valuable accessions from the East, and from other parts of the world. A valuable present to the botanic garden at Liverpool, of new plants from Dr. Wallich, Superintendent of the botanic garden at Calcutta, led to a correspondence between that gentleman and Mr. Roscoe, and subsequently to a warm and sincere friendship. From him Mr. Roscoe derived much information respecting the tribe of plants which formed his peculiar study; and the numerous new specimens for which he was indebted to the kindness of Dr. Wallich first led him to project a publication, which was the means of affording him a most pleasing occupation during the latter years of his life.

In a letter to Dr. Wallich, dated in January, 1819, he says,—“The earnestness with which

* See art. Roscoea, Rees’s Cyc. In a letter, dated in July, 1826, Sir James says, “How little did Linnaeus, or any body till now, know of this tribe! You have well earned your Roscoea.”

I have for many years collected specimens of the Scitaminean tribe, as well in living plants as figures, is by no means diminished; but although we have at present in our botanic garden many specimens, yet it is but seldom we have the good fortune to see them flower in this country. On this account, I should esteem it a very particular favour, if, at some future opportunity, you could transmit me a few specimens of the flower-spikes and seeds of any species which may happen to bloom with you in the course of the season.”

In a letter written during the autumn of the same year, he says,—“The letter accompanying this was intended to have gone by the John Tobin, but missed the opportunity. May I beg you to consider it as the best proof I can give of the high value I place upon your kind communications and inestimable presents, and of my earnest desire to co-operate with you in extending the knowledge of the beautiful tribe of plants in which we are both so deeply interested. And may you, my dear Sir, find, as I have done, in the contemplation of the works of nature, and the abundant proofs of the wisdom and goodness of God, a consolation for the calamities of life, and particularly for the heavy loss with which you have been recently afflicted. Be assured that I shall always consider myself obliged and honoured by your correspondence, and that I am with the most friendly attachment and sincerest respect always faithfully yours,

“W. R.”

In the early part of this year Mr. Roscoe was elected an honorary associate of the Royal Society of Literature, a distinction voluntarily conferred upon him by the council of the Society. A few months afterwards he had the additional honour of being appointed an Associate of the First Class, a body which included some of the most distinguished names in English literature, and, amongst others, that of his friend Mr. Mathias. In assuming his new rank in the society, Mr. Roscoe, in conformity with its regulations, selected Literary History as the particular branch of learning which, as an associate of the Society, he desired to profess. By the munificence of the late king, the annual sum of one hundred guineas was paid to each of the associates of the first class; but, on his decease, the payments were withheld, and have not since been renewed. In the year 1827, the great gold medal of the Society was awarded to Mr. Roscoe, for his merits as an historian. It was frequently a source of regret to him that the state of his health, and the pressing nature of his literary engagements prevented him from communicating so frequently as he could have wished with the Society.

These honours were followed by others no less gratifying to the feelings of Mr. Roscoe. The Academy della Crusca elected him a Corresponding Member. His diploma was accompanied by the following letter from the secretary of the Institution:—

“Ornatissimo Signor e Collega pregiatissimo,

“Per debito di mio uffizio le trasmetto il Diploma d’ Accademico Corrispondente della Crusca.

“Ella fu eletta nell’ adunanza del dì 11 del caduto Maggio, e confermata dal sovrano rescritto del 21 del medesimo mese.

“L’Accademia nel far lei di suo collegio ha avuto intendimento di prestare il debito omaggio al celebre illustratore delle geste del Magnifico Lorenzo e del Decimo Leone—due splendentissime glorie di Firenze, ed ha riputato venirlene da questa scelta aumento d’onore.

“Io mi reco a vanto di protestarmi, con quella altissima stima in che ella è tenuta da tutti quì che si conoscono delle umane lettere.

“Di lei ornatissimo Sigre. “Devotmo. obbmo. Servitore “G. B. Zannoni, “Segreto. dell’ Accademia della Crusca. “Firenze, li 8 Giugno, 1827.”

To this communication Mr. Roscoe made the following reply:—

“Ornatissimo Sigre. e Collega pregmo.

“Ho ricevuto, solamente ora, colla più rispettosa gratitudine l’annunzio che V. S. s’è degnata di farmi, del grande ed inaspettato onore d’essere eletto Accademico Corrispondente della Imperiale e Reale Accademia della Crusca; onore, che siccome sorpassa i miei meriti, così mi priva del potere d’esprimermi degnamente in quest’ occasione, facendomi sentire più profondamente le obbligazioni mie a codesta illustre Accademia, ed al Gran Sovrano, sotto la di cui generosa protezione, non solamente ancora mantiene ma accresce di giorno in giorno la sua antica gloria. Piaccia a V. S. Illa, d’esprimere questi miei debiti ma sinceri ringraziamenti agl’ illustrissimi Arciconsolo ed Accademici, che si sono degnati di registrarmi tra i lori Socj Correspondenti, e d’accettare l’espressione della mia più viva riconoscenza pei termini gentili coi quali ella m’ha communicato quest’ onore.

“Mi creda intanto; “Di V. S. Illusta. “Divotissimo ed obbligatissimo seve. “W. Roscoe. “Toxteth Park, Liverpool, 9 Marzo, 1828.”

The New York Horticultural Society, also, over which his correspondent Dr. Hosack presided, enrolled his name, in the autumn of this year, in the list of their honorary members.

In the summer of the present year Mr. Roscoe was called up to London to give evidence on a trial; and, not being so busily engaged in his literary undertakings as during his former visit, he found time to enter a little more into society than he had done before. The following letter to one of his daughters gives a pleasant account of some of his engagements:—

“As you are the only person who has favoured me with a line since my departure, I address this to you, being in all probability the last I shall write during my stay, although I can by no means say how long that will be, as I am full of engagements, and am obliged to work (as the ship-builders say) double tides. I will give you a specimen how my time passes. Yesterday, engaged busily at home till twelve; then called, by appointment, on the Duke of Gloucester, and sat with him till one. Met the Earl of Bristol, with whose father (the Bishop of Derry) I formerly corresponded; afterwards made as many calls as my time would allow. Dined at seven, at a small family party at Lady Anson’s, with Mr. Coke and Lady Anne (with whom I also dined the day before, to celebrate her birthday), and sat till eleven o’clock; then went to a grand assembly at Lady Grosvenor’s, to which Lady Derby sent me an invitation from Lady Gros-venor; staid till near two o’clock; met with Captain Basil Hall, and had some conversation with him, which made me amends for being almost stifled for two hours with dukes and duchesses, &c. I have now just finished to-day’s visits, having seen Mrs. Holland (my third call), and found her looking very well again. I am now going to dine with Mr. Anderdon, a gentleman I have never seen, but who lent me Pope’s letters. To-morrow I am to dine, at three, with my friend William Allen, at Stoke Newington, when I intend to call on Mrs. Barbauld, and shall return after dinner to Miss Duckworth’s (where I should have dined, had I not been previously engaged), to meet Mrs. Gaskell, Miss Aikin, and Mr. Smyth. All this I should enjoy much more, if I did not so often recollect there is a certain person who cannot partake it with me, and who, whilst I am dragged about from one splendid mansion to another, is, I fear, passing her hours in pain and anxiety; which I am sure, however, you and my dear Mary Anne will do all in your power to alleviate during my absence, which I seriously hope will not extend beyond the middle of next week. I have only time to add my affectionate remembrances to the whole family circle, including,” &c. &c.

“Be a good girl, my dear Jenny, and believe me

“Your kind father, “W. R.”

CHAPTER XIX. 1825—1827. Edition of the Works of Pope, and new Life.—Letter on this subject to Mr. Mathias.—Merits of former editors.—Prefatory remarks by Mr. Roscoe.—Sources from which he derived new information.—Principle adopted by him in suppressing certain pieces.— Original Letters furnished by J. L. Anderdon, Esq.—Controversy with Mr. Bowles.—His “Final Appeal to the Literary Public, &c.” answered by Mr. Roscoe in his “Letter to the Rev. W. Lisle Bowles.”—Review of the new edition in the Quarterly Review.—Mr. Bowles publishes his “Lessons in Criticism to W. Roscoe, Esq.,” &c.—Extract from a Reply prepared, but not published, by Mr. Roscoe.—His comparative estimate of the characters of Pope and Swift.—Mr. Fuseli—first acquaintance with him—letters from him respecting the Milton Gallery—on Mr. Roscoe’s election, &c.—his death—his biography by Mr. Knowles.—Letter to Mr. Knowles.—Correspondence with C. Hughes, Esq., Chargé d’affaires from the United States to Brussels.—Letter to him from Mr. Odevaere, the historical painter, sent to Mr. Roscoe.—Letter to Mr. Hughes.—Decline of Mr. Roscoe’s health.—Letter from him to Sir J. E. Smith.—New edition of “Lorenzo de’ Medici” and “Leo the Tenth.”—Use made by Mr. Roscoe of the notes and illustrations of foreign translators and writers.—Present from the Grand Duke of Tuscany of a new edition of the Poetical Works of Lorenzo.—Letter from Mr. Roscoe in acknowledgment. CHAPTER XIX.

In the spring of 1821, a new edition of the Works of Pope having been called for, an application was made on behalf of the London booksellers to Mr. Roscoe, requesting him to assume the editorship of the works. This duty he accepted without hesitation. A warm admiration of that author’s writings, and an opinion which he had long entertained, that his station as a poet and his character as a man had suffered from the unjust attacks of some of his editors, induced him more readily to undertake a task to which, at this advanced period of life, his strength might almost appear to be unequal. But the energy of his mind was still unimpaired, and probably at no other season of his life was he better qualified to do justice to a subject so important and interesting in a literary point of view.

Of his new task he thus speaks in a letter to Mr. Mathias, dated the 2d October, 1822:—“I am sorry to say that I cannot but consider the literature of this country at present as at a very low ebb. Several of its brightest ornaments have gone off in eccentric directions, and what is left us is chiefly confined to magazines and reviews, which (as the editor of one of them some time since told us) will shortly comprise all the literature of the country. In no instance, perhaps, is this more evident than in the attacks that have been made on the character and writings of Pope, as well by his two last editors, Warton and Bowles, as by the great herd of modern critics. In order, as far as in my power, to stem this inundation of modern Vandalism, I have undertaken, under the sanction of the London booksellers, to give a new edition of the works of that great man, with a more extensive biographical sketch of his life and character than has hitherto been done, which is intended to be ready for publication in the course of the ensuing spring. In this undertaking I find great pleasure, although it will not be possible to avoid a considerable share of controversy, which, however, I am fully prepared to meet.”

One of the principal objects of the new edition was to give a fuller and more accurate Life of the poet than had yet appeared. Of the various biographical accounts of him, it is not unjust to say that there was no one worthy of the subject. Ruffhead’s consisted of little more than long and tedious criticisms, interspersed with desultory anecdotes. Johnson, with a prejudice which appears in every page, has not only unjustly depreciated the genius but has as-sailed the moral character of the poet. Warton, founding his memoir on that of Johnson, though he has given additional interest to the narrative, has done little to raise the subject of his pen to the station he merited. The last editor of the Works of Pope, the Rev. W. L. Bowles, appears to have approached his task with strong feelings of prejudice against the character of Pope, whose reputation has suffered more in his hands than in those of any of his predecessors. The opinions expressed by Mr. Bowles attracted the notice and excited the critical indignation of various persons distinguished in the literary world, and an animated controversy ensued, in which Lord Byron, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Bowles, Mr. Octavius Gilchrist, and the Quarterly Reviewers, took part.

It was at this juncture, while the disputants were still contending for victory, that Mr. Roscoe entered the field. Of the nature of the task he had undertaken, its interest, and its critical dangers, he thus speaks in his preface:—

“It has been so often repeated, that the life of a literary man is unproductive of incident, that we seem disposed to credit it; but although this may soothe the indolence or allay the apprehensions of a biographer, it is by no means borne out by the fact. The professors of literature have always been too ready to pay their homage to the world, and to assent to the idea, that nothing is deserving of notice but the affairs of states, and the great events and transactions of public life; but it is not for these that we look in the history of a man of genius. We have a different object in view; and his life is as full of interest and information in that after which we enquire, as that of a soldier in his battles, or a politician in his schemes. In human affairs, everything is permanent in proportion as it is connected with intellect; and whilst the common events of life weary by repetition, and the memory of them perishes through neglect, the productions of the mind preserve their lustre, and even shine brighter from age to age. Under such circumstances, nothing that relates to a favourite author, or his writings, can be indifferent to us. Though he be dead, he yet speaketh; his influence is with us and around us; we feel him breathing in his works; and our minds are formed, and our characters modified, by a master spirit that survives alike the attacks of envy and the efforts of time.

“On this account, it is not surprising that a great degree of earnestness has always been displayed, as to the lives and characters of those, who by their writings have attracted a high degree of public approbation; and this earnestness has been manifested in a peculiar manner respecting Pope. In fact, there is scarcely a circumstance or an incident relating to him, from the time of his birth to that of his death, that has not been the subject of examination and doubt, and frequently of keen and angry controversy. His family origin, his person, his temper and disposition, his talents and acquirements, his sincerity in his friendships, his religious belief and moral conduct; and, above all, the character and merit of his writings, have given rise to disputes which seem rather to increase than diminish with time; and whilst they occupy the public attention in a manner scarcely inferior to the events of the passing day, have occasionally been carried to an extreme of contention and animosity, not exceeded by any of those in which the author himself was in his lifetime engaged.”

The materials for a new biography of Pope were copious, and chiefly to be derived from his own writings, of which none of his former editors had adequately availed themselves. “In adverting,” says Mr. Roscoe in his preface, “to the sources from which we may be supposed to derive information respecting the life and character of an author, we must naturally resort to his own works. Of his abilities and genius these are decisive; of his social and moral character they afford strong indications on which to form a correct opinion. In this point of view the writings of Pope would almost furnish his history. Not only are we continually presented with the pic-ture of his mind under the different lights and circumstances in which it is placed; not only are we informed of his sentiments and feelings, whenever an opportunity is afforded for the display of them, but almost all the incidents of his life are touched upon in such a manner as to enable us to form to ourselves a complete idea of his genius, temper, and character. It would not, indeed, be too much to assert that this representation of himself in his works was one of the chief objects which he perpetually kept in view.

“It is, therefore, to the writings of Pope, and particularly to his correspondence with his friends, that we are to look, if we wish to become acquainted with the individual in the most important transactions and the most deliberate and serious concerns of his life; at the same time we must not forget to make due allowance for those feelings of partiality and of self-attachment which are inseparable from every human being, and which will not only appear in his writings, but will sometimes give to them a grace and an interest which they could not derive from any other source.

“Another authentic source,” continues Mr. Roscoe, “to which we may resort for information, is found in the letters of many of the contemporaries and friends of Pope, which are inserted, not only in his own works, but in various other collections. It is true this evidence must also be received with caution, on account of the partiality of friendship; but it must at the same time be acknowledged that this partiality is seldom obtained without being deserved. At all events, the same discretion which ought to be exercised on his own productions, will be applicable also to those of his friends; and it cannot fail to be in the highest degree interesting to examine and compare the sentiments of so many distinguished individuals, who not only acted a conspicuous part, both in the political and literary history of their own times, but are intimately known to posterity; and whose writings, whilst they serve to elucidate the character of their friend, throw no inconsiderable light upon their own.”

In addition to these sources of information, Mr. Roscoe derived much assistance from the “Anecdotes of Pope,” collected by the Rev. Joseph Spence, on the authenticity of which he has expressed a decided opinion. In availing himself of the labours of preceding editors, he has relied principally upon those of Warburton, as having in a great degree received the sanction of the author himself. Of the extensive annotations of Dr. Warton he has preserved the greater part, rejecting such as seemed to have no immediate relation to the writings of Pope. From the notes of Mr. Bowles a more restricted selection was made.

Mr. Roscoe’s own annotations are not extensive. “His own observations,” he says in the preface, “have chiefly been confined to the estimate of the poetical character of the author, and the preliminary notes to the principal poems, in which, as well as in the few remarks on the text, it has been his object rather to correct the errors, and obviate the unfounded censures of former commentators, than to increase the great number of notes by any additions of his own.”

Upon one point, involving a nice exercise of judgment, Mr. Roscoe differs from his two immediate predecessors, who had admitted into the collection of the poet’s works some pieces, which, from a regard to delicacy, if not to decency, would undoubtedly have been better suppressed. The principle upon which he acted on this occasion, is stated in the following passage:—

“In performing the difficult task which has devolved upon the present editor, of determining what pieces ought to be admitted into this edition, as constituting ‘The Works of Pope,’ he has endeavoured to keep in view what he conceives to be the chief duty of an editor, viz. to execute an office which the author can no longer perform for himself, in the same manner as he would have performed it if living; admitting nothing that he would himself have rejected*, and rejecting nothing that he would have admitted; not, however, disregarding the additional considerations suggested by the change which has taken place (so greatly for the better) in the sentiments and manners of the present times, and by which, it is probable, that the author himself would have been equally influenced. On the whole, he has reason to believe that the differences which would have arisen between the author and himself on this head, would have been trivial, if any; and that the great variation in this respect will appear between the two last editions of Dr. Warton and Mr. Bowles and the present.”

To the kindness of his friends, and to the liberality of those who possessed such documents, Mr. Roscoe was indebted for many original letters and papers, by which he was enabled to throw considerable light upon many disputed points in the history of Pope’s life. Thus the three letters from the poet to Richardson, preserved in the magnificent autograph collection of J. L. Anderdon, Esq., afforded him the means of clearing the character of Pope from the as-

* Pope himself acted upon this principle with regard to his friend Gay. “Our poor friend’s papers are in my hands; and for as much as is so, I will take care to suppress things unworthy of him.”—Life of Pope, p. 368.

persion of Warton, that he had acknowledged himself an unbeliever in Christianity.*

When Mr. Roscoe, in the preface to his “Life of Pope,” remarked upon the disputes relating to him, “which seemed rather to increase than diminish with time,” and “to be carried to an extreme of contention and animosity not exceeded by any of those in which the author himself was in his lifetime engaged,” he was probably not fully aware that he was doomed to exhibit, in his own person, a striking proof of the correctness of this observation. A few months after the publication of his work Mr. Bowles again entered the field of controversy, and put forth “A final Appeal to the Literary Public, relative to Pope, in Reply to certain Observations of Mr. Roscoe, in his Edition of that Poet’s Works; to which are added, Some Remarks on Lord Byron’s Conversations, so far as they relate to the same Subject and the Author: in Letters to a Literary Friend.” To this publication Mr. Roscoe was induced to write an answer, under the title of “A Letter to the Rev. W. Lisle Bowles, A. M., Prebendary of Sarum, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and former Editor of Pope’s Works, in ten volumes, in Reply to his ‘Final Appeal to the Literary Public, relative to Pope.’” In the

* Life of Pope, p. 388, &c.

mean time, the new edition of Pope had been reviewed in the Quarterly Review for October, 1825, in which the labours of Mr. Roscoe were commended, and his observations on Mr. Bowles’s edition approved. These publications produced from Mr. Bowles “Lessons in Criticism to William Roscoe, Esq., F.R.S., Member of the Della Crusca Society of Florence, F.R.S.L., in Answer to his Letter to Rev. W. L. Bowles, on the Character and Poetry of Pope. With further Lessons in Criticism, to a Quarterly Reviewer.” With this pamphlet the discussion terminated, Mr. Roscoe being of opinion that it had been already carried to a sufficient length, and feeling confident that, so far as regarded both Pope and himself, it might here be safely left to the candid construction of the public. He had, indeed, prepared some observations upon Mr. Bowles’s last publication; but, upon reflection, he resolved not to prolong the dispute.

Of the merits of this controversy, or of the manner in which it was conducted, it is not necessary, in these pages, to enter into any details. It may not, however, be improper to observe, that though not deficient in the warmth which even a literary controversy always inspires, it was the earnest desire of Mr. Roscoe so to conduct the discussion as not to have reason to regret, at any future time, that he had embarked in it. When he found that his feelings were likely to carry him beyond this boundary, he was silent.

It would be unjust, both to Mr. Bowles and to himself, to omit the following passages, which formed the conclusion of his intended reply:—

“I cannot, however, conclude these observations, which shall terminate my labours on the subject of Pope and his writings, without expressing my sincere regret, if, in the performance of what I conceive to be the indispensable duty of an editor, I have, on any occasion, transgressed the bounds of civility, which I had a right to expect in return, or carried my remarks farther than was necessary for the refutation of error, and the removal of groundless imputations on those who can no longer defend themselves.

“To Mr. Bowles I am personally a stranger, but not so to his poetical works, which have justly entitled him to the appellation I have already given him of ‘a favourite author;’ and which title will be confirmed by his elegant and pathetic lines on Lord Byron, in his last publication. The opinion which I entertain of Mr. Bowles as a critic (with the exception of the various subjects in which we so materially disagree) may appear from my having in my edition of Pope availed myself of many interesting notes with which he has frequently illustrated the works of that author.

“In my present observations I have, as far as I am aware, removed from myself every aspersion, however trivial, which Mr. Bowles has endeavoured to cast upon me. If I could have done this without exasperating his feelings in return, I should gladly have avoided such a step; but in literary as in national warfare, the terms offensive and defensive often become synonymous. I shall not, however, like Mr. Bowles, congratulate myself on my ‘triumph;’ but shall leave it to the public, if the public should yet interest themselves in a contest which has subsisted for a century, to decide between us. To Mr. Bowles I need not observe, that more important avocations await us; and that it would be more advisable for each of us rather to attend to the correction of his own errors than to those of the other; by which means, I trust, we may yet meet, divested of malice and all other hostile feelings, in a happier and a better state,— ‘Our tears, our little triumphs o’er, Our human passions now no more, Save charity, that glows beyond the tomb.’”

Though written after that period of life which the Psalmist has declared to be the limit of human existence, not even the most critical eye can discover, in the Life of Pope, any failure in the literary powers of the author. In particular, it may be remarked that the same ardour of sentiment on all the great topics of human interest, which breathes through his other works, is expressed in these pages with all his former earnestness. The following parallel, with which the Life concludes, between the characters and writings of Pope and of Swift, is not inferior to the best passages in the Life of Lorenzo or of Leo. After noticing Sir Walter Scott’s observations on the same subject, Mr. Roscoe proceeds;—

“But, although this estimate is perfectly correct as far as it extends, it by no means comprises the whole of the subject. Swift, in the prosecution of his views, launched forth into the turbulent ocean of party politics, when, notwithstanding his utmost efforts, he could not reach the desired port; and when he found that further struggles were vain, he turned his powerful talents to degrade and satirise those whom he could not render subservient to his wishes. Pope took a more general and, perhaps, a more enlightened view of human nature. His object was not the approbation of a party, but the admiration of his own and future ages. All his subjects are of universal comprehension and universal interest; and while Swift thought he was ‘engaged in matters of much more momentous importance,’ Pope well knew for what superstructure he was laying the foundation, and disregarded the works of the passing day, in the contemplation of those which were to last through future times. Nor did he attempt to attain his purpose by the mere powers of eloquence or the blandishments of style. There is scarcely an object connected with the interests or happiness of society that has not been subjected to his inquiries, and illustrated by his genius. When we turn to the perusal of Swift we observe the workings of an original and vigorous mind, expending itself in objects of a temporary or local nature, or in dark and sombre pictures of the different relations of human life, in which we seldom sympathise, and from which we occasionally turn with disgust. Even his wit and his humour are often of so cynical a kind as to prevent our indulging ourselves in them, without something like self-reproach at the nature of our own feelings; whilst the writings of Pope, on the other hand, contain an inexhaustible fund of the most magnanimous and generous sentiments, the love of virtue, the delights of friendship, the value of independence, the indispensable duty of submission to the Divine will, the blessings derived from human society, and various other topics of the highest importance to our welfare, expressed in language which, whilst it convinces the judgment, touches the heart, and whilst it never tires on repetition, is calculated, more, perhaps, than that of any other author, to impress similar ideas and sentiments on the minds of millions yet to come.”

About this period Mr. Roscoe lost one of his oldest friends in Fuseli. Their friendship originated in the year 1779, when, in company with Johnson the bookseller, Fuseli first visited Liverpool, and its strength was preserved by a frequent correspondence, and by the more agreeable mode of personal intercourse during their mutual visits to London and Liverpool. The learning, the wit, and the sensibility of Fuseli won the warm regard of his friend, who never omitted any opportunity of rendering those services to him in his profession, of which he often in early life stood in need. In the management of his affairs, as well as in his speculations as an artist, Fuseli always found a ready and zealous adviser in Mr. Roscoe, and his correspondence teems with expressions of warm acknowledgment for services of this nature. During the preparation of his “Milton Gallery,” he communicated frequently with Mr. Roscoe on the subject, and received much encouragement from him. In a letter on the subject of his proposed exhibition, he says, “My heart longs to communicate its concerns to you; but this moment of uncertainty is not fit for it; only know, the die is cast, and I have taken Christie’s room, formerly the old academy in Pall Mall, to which the largest of my pictures are already conveyed; but I want something more of your assistance, and till then my mouth must be shut. Let me not linger for an answer.” As his pencil proceeded with its task, he was anxious to have its labours celebrated by the pen of his friend. “You have flattered me by saying that my applause to your ‘Chapter on Art’ was the highest gratification on that point you could have received. I could certainly receive no higher one, than if your muse would dictate to you a few verses on my ‘Milton;’ but like those of ignorance, the expectations of ambition are indefinite; so forgive me the petulant wish.” In another letter he recurs to the same subject. “O when will you come? If ever man had a claim on the exertions of a friend, I have on yours. Has the duchess* or the Palmers† monopolised your powers, and is poor ‘Milton’ to have nothing? Laudari a laudato; but even that praise is not worth having, unless it be founded on facts and truth. I venture to say, you have not seen half of what you now might, and I hope will see. To speak big, my nights are as restless as those of Themistocles. Though no trophies of a Miltiades perturb me, Venit summa dies et ineluctabile tempus. Fuimus Troes may, perhaps, be my doom. O say, when will you come to assist your Fuseli.” The wishes of

* The Duchess of Devonshire, to whom Mr. Roscoe inscribed some verses in “The Nurse.”

† The family of Palmer, the actor, for whose benefit Mr. Roscoe wrote an address.

the painter were at length gratified by a copy of verses from the pen of his friend.*

On the failure of his exhibition Fuseli addressed to Mr. Roscoe a letter full of his disappointment. “I shall not condole with you,” says the latter in reply, “on the contents of your letter. That public which can bestow its admiration and its favours upon such productions as daily obtain them, can scarcely be expected to become active patrons of works of real genius. There is, however, no reason for despondency. If your works possess real merit, the neglect of the present day will only enhance that merit in the eyes of posterity. With respect to pecuniary concerns, you must not suppose that I have devoted myself to Mammon without securing some of his services in this world; and therefore, should your occasions require it, the sum you mention shall be forthcoming, at whatever time and in whatever way you think proper. When your exhibition closes, you may send me down your Richard, and some Miltonic pictures, which I will endeavour to sell, as occasion may offer; and in the mean time, I shall have the pleasure of seeing them, instead of interest for my money.”

The talent and the lively temper of Fuseli are displayed in all his letters. The following, written in the year 1797, while he was employed

* See the Appendix to the “Life of Fuseli,” p. 427.

on the “Milton Gallery,” is in answer to an invitation to visit Liverpool:—

“The devil alone, at my back, bestriding the promontory of the fiery flood, can account for my silence. When Mr. Shepherd presented your friendly note, he found me wrestling with him; and I can but just now say that I have, I hope, got the better of him. Some other things have been done, indeed, in the mean time, when I wanted to recover breath, but still I wished not to write, till I could with decision, about him. All this, however, must be the subject of my next.

“I thank you for having made me acquainted with Shepherd. He is a man whom I think of as you do. I got as much of his company here as he thought proper to give me; we ate and drank together, but he went off without an adieu. If he was offended at my manner of pronouncing Greek verse, and confounding omicrons and omegas like Tros and Rutulus, I promise to make amends when we meet again. The infernal storm that inundates the street and bespatters my window whilst I am writing, equal to Dante’s ‘Pioggia maledetta eterna e greve,’ confounding all season, and cloaking the face of day, makes it indeed totally indifferent what month I picked for travel, even to those who have only to please themselves in choosing. My intention was, if I do come, to choose the time I can best spare—the twilight, the ‘brindle’ part of the year. As I come merely to see the face of my friends, the warm reflection of a genial fire is preferable to the watery, half-strangled beam of this month. But tell me, shall I come? Will it be my advantage to come? I must sacrifice time, and—you know what—what I have not now the spirit to talk about, and must reserve for my next. In a few days, at least in little more than a month, I shall be able to pronounce whether an exhibition will be in my power next year. The pleasure I feel in hearing your assurances of support, through the means of your friend, is not superior to the caution I use, and shall use, in applying for it.”

During Mr. Roscoe’s residence in London, in 1807, many of his evenings were passed with much delight in the society of Fuseli. In a letter congratulating him on his return for Liverpool, the latter anticipates the gratification of this intercourse:—

“I congratulate your town and the country at large on their choice, and the trust they have conferred on you; it is a favourable symptom of recovery from a long lethargy, or rather, a callus in politics and legislation, which hitherto have not left it a doubt, what station was the post of honour.

“That you have accepted of it may surprise those who know you not. You know, that at a period like this, every man who has courage, energy, and independence, ought to listen to his country’s voice, and direct or invigorate the public mind.

“To me it is an event more immediately grateful; for though I am sensible that your new station, with its duties and attendant connections, must too frequently interfere with our mutual intercourse, yet you will inhabit London during a considerable portion of the year, when it will be in my power repeatedly to bask in the sunshine of your face, and to tell you how much I am your—Fuseli.”

The last visit which Mr. Roscoe made to London, in 1824, afforded him once more the gratification of meeting his friend, whose mental energies had in no degree suffered from the attacks of age. He died in the spring of the following year, after a short illness, attended with little suffering.

A few months before his own death, Mr. Roscoe received from Mr. Knowles, the biographer of Fuseli, a copy of his life; and in the following letter, after acknowledging the pleasure he had derived from the perusal of it, he says, “He was, indeed, a most extraordinary and accomplished person; and notwithstanding his eminence in his profession, it may be doubted whether this was the most interesting or the most valuable of his acquirements.

“As one of the oldest and most intimate of his acquaintances, I hope I may be permitted to say, that, in my opinion, you have given a very full and candid delineation of his character, in which he appears to considerable advantage. It would have given me great pleasure to have contributed some anecdotes and records of conversations between us during his frequent visits to me in Lancashire; but the very serious complaint, with which I have for some years past been visited, has deprived me of the power of accomplishing this purpose, which I greatly regret, as my information would have been chiefly directed to show the extreme humanity of his disposition and the sensibility of his mind,—qualities in which, from his general manner, he might, perhaps, by some persons have been thought wanting.

“I cannot conclude without returning you my best acknowledgments for the favourable light in which you have placed my conduct in the transactions with our late lamented friend, in whose society I have passed so many years of uninterrupted friendship and happiness.”

Amongst the many excellent and intelligent persons whom Mr. Roscoe’s correspondents in America occasionally did him the honour of introducing to his acquaintance, was Christopher Hughes, Esq., Chargé d’Affaires from the United States to the court of Brussels. During the residence of this gentleman in the Netherlands, many letters passed between them; from one of which (dated the 12th November, 1826,) the following is an extract:—

“A very eminent literary personage of this country, and an old friend of mine (since the negotiations at Ghent in 1814), came to see me a few days ago. He looked over my books, and on seeing your supplemental work on Lorenzo the Magnificent, begged me to lend it to him, to show it to M. Odevaere, the celebrated historical painter of this country, at whose house my friend Mr. Cornellissen was lodging, and who, it appears, was employed in a great composition painting, founded on the conspiracy of the Pazzi and on your history. Of course I was delighted to lend the book for such a purpose, though I value it too much, as a present received from its illustrious author, to lend it on common occasions; but the present one was so completely in accordance with your known devotion to the arts, and, in fact, seemed to present so classic an opportunity of realising one of the noblest objects of your labours, that I felt as if I were serving you, and serving at the same time the republic of taste, in putting the work into the hands of the eminent artist, Odevaere, the spirited and worthy élève of David, who had the courage to pronounce a spirited éloge over the mortal remains of his gifted master, a few weeks ago, on their translation to the monument, erected here, to the memory of David by his family.

“It seems that I have rendered to M. Odevaere a very great service, when I only hoped to be contributing to his literary enjoyment. He has acknowledged it by sending me the enclosed letter. It should have been sent to you the next day, had not a multitude of occupations prevented it. It would be defrauding you of your legitimate rights and gratifications, if this letter were kept in other hands.

“M. Odevaere is a most eminent painter, and is greatly patronised by the royal family here, as he was by Napoleon in Italy. His latest work, ‘The Last Day at Missolonghi,’ has gained him imperishable fame. So, my dear Sir, your enthusiastic friend and admirer is himself entitled to your respect for his own merits in his own beautiful pursuit and profession.”

The following is the letter of M. Odevaere referred to by Mr. Hughes:—

“Monsieur,

“Je vous remercie beaucoup du livre que vous avez bien voulu m’envoyer par notre ami commun, Mr. Cornellissen; outre que je ne connoissois pas ce dernier ouvrage du célèbre historien Roscoe, j’y ai trouvé à ma grande surprise un des matériaux les plus essentiels pour le nouveau tableau que je vais commencer (l’assassinat de Laurent et de Julien de’ Medicis); c’est-à-dire le portrait de mon principal personnage si bien gravé et si ressemblant.

“J’envie, Monsieur, le bonheur que vous avez d’être personellement lié avec Mr. Roscoe; j’ai lu et rélu vingt fois ses très-intéressants ouvrages sur Laurent, et sur son fils Leon X.; et il n’y a peut-être pas d’écrivain avec lequel j’eusse autant aimé d’être en relation qu’avec celui, qui, par un espèce de miracle, puisqu’il n’y est jamais allé, a si bien connu l’Italie, et en a parlé si dignement. Amants, tous deux, de la même maîtresse, nous eussions sans jalousie confondus nos sentimens, et les heures que j’aurois pu passer avec Mr. Roscoe m’auroient paru délicieuses.

“Enthousiasmé comme je l’étois dès les premiers mois de mon arrivée à Florence, je cherchois de tous côtés les moyens de m’instruire à fond sur l’histoire, les arts, et la littérature de cette belle patrie des arts, lorsqu’un ami me prêta la vie de Laurent le Magnifique de Mr. Roscoe. Je dévorai ce livre, et je l’ai relu trois fois de suite.

“Il m’éclaira sur une foule de choses qui me rendirent et le livre et la ville plus intéressants de jour en jour: malheureusement l’ouvrage ne m’appartenant pas, il fallût à mon très-grand regret m’en séparer; mais je n’eus plus de repos jusqu’à ce que je pus me procurer des exemplaires et du Leon X. et du Laurent. Il n’existoit à Florence que la contrefaçon de Basle, et pour surcroît de malheur, je ne trouvai qu’un exemplaire de la vie du Péricles Moderne, entièrement gâté par l’humidité. Je le saisis avec avidité, et depuis je l’ai presque appris par cœur.

“Il ne m’appartient pas de louer la forme de cet ouvrage, ayant trop peu de connaissances de la langue Anglaise, mais enfin je l’ai compris, bien compris, d’un bout à l’autre, et je regarde ce livre comme un des beaux monumens dont puissent se glorifier l’Angleterre, et l’Italie. Mr. Roscoe a dignement placé Laurent au rang qu’il doit occuper, et l’a vengé des indignes calomnies dont quelques historiens ont voulu le noircir.

“Je suis donc bien charmé, Monsieur, d’avoir la certitude que vous transmettrez à Mr. Roscoe le tribut d’admiration que je lui ai payé, sans avoir l’honneur de le connôitre personellement, depuis vingt ans; et je me plais à confesser que c’est lui qui m’a inspiré le sujet de la Congiura de’ Pazzi que je vais entreprendre; et que c’est sa narration fidèlement traduite qui servira de notice à mon tableau; heureux si quelque jour il était digne d’être multiplié par le burin, et que je puisse offrir le premier exemplaire de cette estampe à l’historien poëte.

“J’ai beaucoup de graces à rendre aussi, Monsieur, à Mr. Cornellissen, qui m’a procuré l’honneur de vous connôitre, et je vous prie de me permettre de cultiver autant qu’il sera en moi des relations si flatteuses pour moi.

“Monsieur, votre tres-humble serviteur, “J. Odevaere, “Peintre, ancien pensionnaire de Napoléon à Rome, maintenant attaché a S. M. le Roi des Pays Bas, en qualité de peintre d’histoire.”

“I cannot,” says Mr. Roscoe, in a letter acknowledging the receipt of Mr. Hughes’s letter and its enclosure,—“I cannot dissemble the pleasure I feel in having my writings connected in any degree with works of art, and productions of genius; such a commentary being in my estimation far beyond any thing which the cold commendation of criticism can ever bestow. It is on these occasions, where “The pen and pencil bear an equal part, And art reflects its images on art, that both the one and the other are most highly gratified, and I cannot but consider the work of M. Odevaere as one of the greatest honours ever done to my history.”

The health of Mr. Roscoe was considerably affected towards the close of the present year (1825), insomuch that he was frequently prevented from pursuing his usual literary avocations. “Your most kind and welcome letter from Henbury Hill,” he says in a letter to Sir J. E. Smith, dated 3d September, “should have been sooner acknowledged, had not continual interruptions, combined with a state of unaccountable indolence and debility, prevented me from turning my thoughts to any subjects but such as had irresistible claims on me, and from which I extricated myself the first moment it was in my power. If, in return for the narrative you have so kindly given me of your peregrinations and transactions since you left home, I should furnish you with mine for the same period, they would appear like the track of a snail compared to the flight of an eagle, or the journal of a pedlar to the history of some mighty traveller. You pass from county to county, visit your friends and take up your abode where you please, whilst I remain on the same spot without emigrating even from the blue bed to the brown, and whenever I am disturbed only exclaim, ‘Let me, let me rest!’

“The only object that excited my exertion was the publication of my Monandrian Plants.

“When shall we meet again? For my own part I can only repeat, in my own words, that Hope strives in vain, through Futurity’s gloom, To descry one bright moment in seasons to come; yet I will not despair. In the uncertainty that attends this earthly state, in which we cannot foresee the consequence of placing one leg before another, I would gladly flatter myself that something may occur to draw us together again, and enable us to enjoy each other’s society, if not with all the life and vivacity, with all the warmth and affection we ever experienced; which good wish I hope Lady Smith will not refuse to share.”

For many years a new edition of his historical works had been contemplated by Mr. Roscoe, but, hitherto, the last impression of the ‘Life of Leo’ remained unexhausted. At length a reprint both of that work and of the ‘Life of Lorenzo’ being called for, he applied himself to this task with much pleasure. His labours, with regard to the latter work, were much lightened by his publication of the ‘Illustrations,’ in which he had entered at large into the various criticisms of the ‘Life’ which had appeared both at home and abroad. It was only necessary, therefore, in the new edition, to refer to that volume, which has thus become an indispensable companion to his historical works. With regard to the ‘Life of Leo X.’ the case was different. No edition of it had appeared in England for many years; and in the mean time translations of it had been published on the Continent, containing many valuable criticisms and illustrations, of which the author was anxious to avail himself in the new impression of his work. The annotations of Count Bossi, the Italian translator, and of M. Henke, who edited the German version, contained many important remarks and much valuable information. The examination and selection of these notes occupied considerable time, but Mr. Roscoe conceived himself amply recompensed for his labour by the additional value which they conferred upon his work. Of the importance of these annotations he thus speaks in the preface to the new edition:—.

“The notes and observations by which the before-mentioned translations, and particularly the German and Italian, are accompanied, are the productions of persons who have thought for themselves on the various subjects there discussed, and who have examined as well the general spirit and tendency of the work as the particular facts and circumstances which are there related. On this account, the present history has undergone an ordeal, to which few works of a similar nature have ever been subjected; and as the different annotators have not scrupled to bring forwards their objections on some occasions with the same freedom as they have stated the reasons of their assent on others, the author has found it incumbent on him, in giving the present edition (the last he will probably ever revise), to examine their remarks with diligence and impar-tiality; and either to admit their validity, or to show the grounds of his adherence to his former opinions. The task he has thus undertaken is not only due to the labours of those who have devoted to the examination of his work so great a portion of their time and attention, but is, indeed, such as he could not in justice to himself avoid. Some of the subjects to which the before-mentioned criticisms relate are, in his estimation, of the first importance to the character and credit of his work; and to have passed over such objections without a reply, would have amounted to no less than a confession of his inability to maintain his statements, or to defend his opinions. He hopes he shall, therefore, stand excused in referring so frequently to the remarks of the different translators of the present work, which he is happy to do, with those feelings which ought always to accompany a debate on literary subjects, and with that satisfaction which must naturally arise from finding that very few instances have occurred in which he has thought it incumbent on him to make any alteration in his narrative.

“In finally submitting this work to the indulgence of the public, in the form in which it is intended it should remain, it has not been thought necessary to republish the preface to the second edition; the only object of which was to vindicate the statements in the first edition, respect-ing the date of a letter from Luther to Leo X., against the unfounded objections of the “Edinburgh Review.” As that vindication has not been controverted, and as the evidence, as well external as internal, for the date assigned to the letter, will be found condensed in that part of the present work where the contents of it are noticed, it is presumed that the preface to the second edition may now be dispensed with.”

In the new edition, which comprises the ‘Life of Lorenzo’ in two volumes (instead of three), and that of ‘Leo’ in four (instead of six), a great improvement was effected, by placing the documents contained in the appendix at the close of the particular volume to which they relate. The edition appeared in the early part of the year 1827.

While engaged in preparing his historical works for the press, Mr. Roscoe received from Italy a most gratifying and appropriate present—a new edition of ‘The Poetical Works of Lorenzo de’ Medici,’ in four volumes, super-royal quarto, with annotations by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. A copy of this magnificent work, from the types of Bodoni, splendidly bound in morocco, was transmitted, by the desire of the Grand Duke, to Mr. Roscoe, of whose small collection of books it afterwards formed the most distinguished ornament, and was highly prized by him, not only for the beauty of the volumes, but for the care and accuracy with which the poems are printed. The work had been contemplated and partly carried into execution by the Grand Duke before his accession, after which event he consigned it to the learning and taste of the Academy della Crusca, of which he was himself a member. No less than thirty-six manuscripts, and twenty-eight printed volumes of the works of Lorenzo, were consulted by the illustrious editor in the preparation of this edition. A short account of the work was transmitted by Mr. Roscoe to the Royal Society of Literature.

His acknowledgments were expressed to the individual through whose hands he received the volumes in the following terms:—

“Pregiatissimo Signre.

“Con indicibil piacere ho ricevuto per mezzo del Sigr. C. T. Molini di Londra, franco di tutte spese, un bellissimo esemplare delle ‘Opere di Lorenzo de’ Medici,’ in 4 vol., carta reale, stampate in Firenze, accompagnato dalla gentilissima lettera di V. S. Illa, del 7 di Luglio pros. pas. recandomi la gradita notizia che questi pregiatissimi volumi mi sono inviati in dono da parte di sua Altezza Imperiale e Reale il Gran Duca di Toscana—dono ch’ io ho accettato colla più rispettosa gratitudine, come argomento piuttosto della generosità e grandezza d’animo di sua Altezza Imperiale e Reale, che de’ miei deboli meriti. Ad accrescere il mio piacere per l’onore conferitomi ho poi osservato le opere di questo grand’uomo che è stato, per lungo tempo l’oggetto della mia ammirazione e de’ miei lavori, unite insieme, accresciute da molte pregiatissime aggiunte, ridotte a miglior lezione, e sopratutto corredate da sì luminose e giudiziose annotazione, dalle quali il testo è recato ad una perfezione che non lascia cosa alcuna da desiderare. Piaccia a V. S. Illa, d’esprimere con tutto il rispetto, in mio nome, asua Altezza Imperiale e Reale i miei più vivi ringraziamenti per la bontà colla quale s’ è degnata d’ onorarmi, e di credermi,” &c. &c.

CHAPTER XX. 1827—1831. Increasing infirmities of Mr. Roscoe.—Letter to Sir J. E. Smith.—Completion of the Holkham catalogue.—His remaining literary undertakings.—Is attacked with paralysis—causes of the attack.—Persists in preparing for the press his “Letters on Prison Discipline.”—Mode of life after his attack.—Description of his study.—Sonnet to him.—His mode of employing his time.—Letter to Mr. Dawson Turner.—His warmth of feeling unchanged.—His feelings with regard to his own state.—His interest in political events:—repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts—Catholic emancipation—the Revolution of July.—His letter to La Fayette interceding for the French ministers.—Letter to Mr. Coke on the same subject.—Formation of Lord Grey’s ministry, and letter to Mr. Brougham.—Completion of all his literary labours.—Publication of the last number of his “Monandrian Plants.”—Opinions of celebrated botanists on that work.—Loss of his friends.—Death of Sir J. E. Smith.—His surviving friends:—Professor Smyth—the Rev. W. Shepherd.—Dedication by the latter, of his poems.—Mr. Panizzi.—Letter to Mr. Rogers.—Opinion of the “Life of Dr. Currie.”—Projects a publication of his Poems.—Letter to Dr. Hosack of New York.—Letter to Rammohun Roy, and interview with him.—Letter to Lord Brougham.—Mr. Roscoe’s last illness and death. CHAPTER XX.

It seldom happens that persons whose lives have been devoted to active mental labours reach an extended age without a failure of their bodily health, too frequently accompanied with the loss of the high intellectual powers by which they have been distinguished; but this was not the case with Mr. Roscoe. He had, late in life, engaged in a variety of literary undertakings; which, notwithstanding the infirmities of age, and the temporary disabilities of sickness, he had prosecuted with such vigour, that the termination of his labours appeared near at hand, and he had now the prospect of enjoying that repose which had become so essential, not merely to his comfort, but to his health, and, indeed, to his very existence. He began at length to feel the pressure of years, not only in the failure of his bodily strength, but in the increasing difficulty of mental exertion. His intellect was, indeed, as unclouded as in its zenith; but the fatigue which literary studies occasioned had become painful and oppressive to him. Under these feelings, he addressed the following letter to Sir James Smith:—

“I venture to address this to you at Holkham, where I hope you and Lady Smith are now enjoying the society of our excellent friends; and where I deeply lament that my infirm health and increasing personal debility prevent me from being of the party. The time seems to be approaching, when I must possess my soul in patience, and not add to the unavoidable evils of life those which are the result of a fretful temper and ill regulated passions, happy if those evils be not increased by painful and distressing complaints, which, thanks be to God, have not hitherto been my lot. I am well aware, that the powers of my mind have in some degree partaken of the infirmities of my body, but not in such a degree as wholly to deter me from my usual studies and pursuits, although I can only devote to them a much smaller portion of time than formerly, and am some days obliged to abstain from them altogether. The consequence of this is, that I am endeavouring to bring them to a termination with all reasonable speed, being unwilling to leave to be terminated by others that which by my own efforts I may finish myself. I am now revising for the last time the Catalogue of the MSS. at Holkham, with Mr. Madden’s numerous additions, which have more than doubled the size of the work. I have deter-mined to close my “Monandrian Plants” in fifteen numbers; the three last of which are now nearly ready, and will, I hope, be published before the end of the year; and I am drawing my controversy with the Americans, as to their penitentiaries, which is now at its height, into a state in which I have no doubt we shall finally understand each other, and I shall be sufficiently repaid for my trouble by the good effects derived from it. The system I have there advocated is equally desirable in this country; but amidst our old institutions and inveterate prejudices, there would be little hope of taking the lead in carrying it into effect; whilst the facilities enjoyed by the American States, of each forming their own internal regulations, render them peculiarly suitable for mooting questions where experience alone can finally decide, and for setting the example to other nations who act in larger communities, and whose motions are consequently slower. I duly receive through the hands of my son Robert my descriptions of Monandrian Plants, and cannot sufficiently express the obligations I feel to you for the trouble you have taken in perusing them, and honouring them with your valuable remarks, of which I shall avail myself in what remains of my work.”

The completion of the Catalogue of the Holkham manuscripts, mentioned in the foregoing letter, was at this time the source of considerable anxiety to him. During the earlier part of his labours on this work, he had strongly recommended Mr. Coke to publish it, and various engravings had been made for the purpose of embellishing it. Finding, from the state of his health, that he was unable to perfect the Catalogue in the manner which he thought it merited, he procured the assistance of a gentleman highly skilled in similar studies, Frederick Madden, Esq. (now Sir Frederick Madden, and one of the librarians of the British Museum.) After a residence of many months at Holkham, Mr. Madden not only completed the Catalogue, by giving an account of the volumes not yet examined by Mr. Roscoe, but added very largely to every part of the work; so that instead of being comprised in one, or at the most two quarto volumes, it appeared that, if printed, it would extend to five or six. The publication of a work of this magnitude, the expence of which would have been enormous, had never entered into the contemplation of Mr. Roscoe; and he therefore thought it his duty to dissuade Mr. Coke from giving it to the public. In addressing the latter on this subject, he adds,—“Mr. Madden has executed his task with great learning, industry, and ability. He is now copying the whole in his own excellent handwriting; so that when it is finished, it may be bound in as many volumes as it may require, and deposited in the library, where it will make an inconceivable addition to the value of the MSS., which he has described and illustrated in a manner highly creditable to himself, and useful to those who hereafter may have occasion to consult them. By this you will not only have preserved these precious volumes, and placed them in a situation worthy of them, but will have given them an additional value which it was wholly beyond my power to have conferred on them.” The MS. of the Catalogue was subsequently sent to Mr. Roscoe at Liverpool, where, after it had been splendidly bound in the first style of art, he exhibited it at one of the meetings of the Literary and Philosophical Society previously to its being despatched to Holkham.

It might have been said of Mr. Roscoe at this time, in the words of Pope when speaking of the old age of Dryden, that “his fire, like the sun’s, shined clearest towards its setting.” The active duties of life were now nearly terminated. Not only had he retired from every kind of business, but he had at length, with much patient toil, accomplished the laborious literary tasks which necessity, and the desire of exerting himself while he was still able, had imposed upon his age. Nothing remained but to give the per-fecting hand to that magnificent botanical work, the preparation of which had been his delight for many years, and to conclude his correspondence with America on the subject of penal jurisprudence. These labours completed, he might reasonably trust that, should his life be yet spared, the few remaining years of it might be passed in enjoying the society of his family, and in those never-failing pleasures which the resources of his own cultivated intellect afforded. Hitherto his health was such as to permit him to enjoy occasionally the conversation of a few attached friends; while the absence of pain and of any serious complaint induced his family to hope, that, at the close of his long and anxious life, some calmer and happier days awaited him.

It was at this period, when those who loved him were congratulating themselves on the happiness and serenity of his decline, when, with the labours of his hands finished, and some of the first hopes of his heart accomplished, he was sitting down to pass, as he hoped in peace, the short remainder of his life,—it was at this period that a calamity overtook him, which at first threatened to destroy all the hopes of his family and of his friends, and to render the remnant of his existence a scene of suffering and distress. On Sunday, the 16th December, 1827, while he was engaged in conversation with one of his sons, the latter, observing him hesitate in his speech, was shocked to find that he had been suddenly attacked with paralysis, which had considerably affected one side of his face. He was not himself at first aware of the nature of the seizure, till, on attempting to use his right hand, he found that it refused to obey him,—most fortunately his mind did not appear to be in any degree affected.

Prompt medical assistance was obtained, and he submitted to be copiously bled, an operation to which he had some aversion, and which he had not undergone since his youth. The judicious treatment to which he was subjected soon produced a beneficial effect; and in the course of a few days the use of his hand was restored to him.*

* The following is the account given by his excellent medical friend, Dr. Traill, of this attack:—“My acquaintance with Mr. Roscoe commenced in 1806, and I had soon the felicity of being received as an intimate friend. From 1810 I was further honoured by being consulted as his physician, in which capacity I watched with much anxiety over his declining health. From the time of the first derangement of the affairs of the bank, the immense mental and bodily exertions which he made produced great inroads on a constitution naturally good. He then began, on much application to any subject, to be seized with occasional faintness; and once, in 1816, he was attacked at the bank with a slight loss of memory, which speedily wore off. His habits of intense study, after this period, produced similar effects; and whilst engaged in the controversy on prison discipline, after writing

A tendency to this complaint had existed for many years. A loss of memory and a difficulty in enunciating, which occasionally occurred after he had been much engaged in mental labour, were symptoms which gave uneasiness to his family, but which were only regarded by himself as slight nervous attacks. The severe mental labours, too heavy for his age, in which he had been long engaged, contributed to increase the disposition to this attack; while the high degree of excited interest felt by him with regard to his controversy on prison discipline operated most unfavourably on his health. The latter may especially be said to have been the immediate cause of his attack.

It not unfrequently happens in the case of persons who, in the decline of life, have the misfortune to suffer from paralysis, that the temper becomes irritable and morose, and that the blighted remnant of their life is rendered a scene of misery only to be terminated by death. From

for the greatest part of a night, to overtake a ship about to sail for America, he was affected in the winter of 1827 with partial paralysis of the muscles of the mouth and tongue. I was immediately called in: the patient was freely bled, on which he recovered his speech; and the introduction of a seton in his neck removed the paralytic affection of the mouth. Intense study was forbidden; and after a period of perfect relaxation from his literary occupations, he recovered sufficiently to be able to complete his botanical work,” &c.—Dr. Traill’s Memoir.

this fate not even the firmest minds or the sweetest dispositions are exempt; and the prostration of the intellect is only rendered more striking by the recollection of its former strength and splendour. It was the blessing bestowed upon the latter days of Mr. Roscoe that he was saved from this last and most pitiable of human misfortunes, and that the powers of his mind and the dispositions of his heart were fully preserved to him to the last.

It unfortunately happened that, at the time of his attack, he was engaged in preparing for the press the “Letters to Mr. Stephen Allen of New York” (which have been already mentioned) on the subject of the American system of prison discipline. So deeply had his feelings become interested in this discussion, that notwithstanding his illness, and in despite of the injunctions of his medical attendants, and the entreaties of his family, he persisted in the publication of the “Letters,” which were read to him by one of his sons, and received his alterations and amendments previously to their being sent to the press. So occupied was his mind with the subject, and so deeply was he persuaded of its importance, that, even at the imminent chance of inducing a second attack, he thought it his duty, at all hazards, to complete what might perhaps be his last contribution to the cause of human improvement.

The discipline which his state of health required produced a considerable change in his mode of life. His diet was restricted; he was ordered to abstain altogether from the use of wine; and he was confined for some months to his bed-room, and to the sitting-room adjoining it. The latter apartment was one which he had fitted up for his own use, and which bore in every part of it the marks of his peculiar tastes. Near the easy chair in which he was accustomed to sit stood an ornamented pedestal, the inside of which was fitted up with shelves, containing the various works which he had used in preparing the “Life of Pope.” On the pedestal rested a statue of Psyche, modelled by Gibson, before his departure for Rome, and presented by him to Mr. Roscoe. At the end of the room were two bookcases, containing the remnant of his library, almost entirely consisting of presentation copies; and between these cases, a number of shelves, placed in the recess of a window which had been closed up, held the collection of his own works, with the translations and editions of them which had appeared abroad. The publications which had proceeded from various members of his own family were also honoured with a place on these shelves. On each side of the fire-place stood an ebony cabinet, manufactured from wood presented to him by one of his sons, and containing a few drawings and prints, chiefly the portraits of his friends, together with the drawings belonging to his botanical work. Behind the folding-screen, which sheltered the couch* on which he usually reposed in an afternoon, stood another cabinet, which contained his manuscripts and correspondence. A large library-table, covered with books and prints, and bearing almost constantly some rare exotic plants, which the kind attentions of his friends placed there, occupied a considerable portion of the room. The walls were appropriately decorated with a collection of small pictures, which had formerly been in the possession of the celebrated Paulus Jovius, and which consisted of portraits of the most distinguished men of the Medicean age. A few busts, which had been presented to him, of Mr. Fox, of Sir James Smith, and of Dr. Darwin, together with a magnificent head of * “O! hallow’d be the couch on which repose That head of reverend beauty, that dim frame! For deeper love, more holy honour claim These precious moments of thy day’s pure close, Whose calm a blessed stillness round thee throws, Than when in all thy noontide hour of fame, Learning and Freedom hail’d thy virtuous name, Which with untainted radiance ever glows. High hours, enchanted by the Muse, have pass’d In those forsaken halls, yet loved as thine; And secret spells a charmed influence cast Around thy hearth, and did those hearts refine, Which now with graceful rites and sacred haste, Honouring thine age, all coarser cares resign. “E. M.—1828.” Lorenzo, (a cast from the original by Michel Agnolo, presented to Mr. Roscoe by the Marquis Capponi of Florence,) also adorned the walls. Over the chimney-piece, which held a small collection of Etruscan vases and lamps, were two basso relievos,—one a figure of Justice, by Deare, and another by Gibson, representing Alexander depositing the works of Homer in a golden chest. From the window a small plot of garden ground was visible, in the cultivation and ornamenting of which he took the greatest delight.

In this pleasant scene his latter days were passed with a serenity and cheerfulness which neither age nor sickness could overcloud. Relieved from all compulsory studies, he amused himself with turning over the leaves of his books, rather than in studying them, and in replying to the letters of the very few friends with whom he was still able to keep up some correspondence. For many months he found a delightful employment in illustrating, with the heads of the painters, and with the engravings of their works, “The History of Painting in Italy,” by the Abbate Lanzi, which had been translated into English by one of his sons. The large paper copy of this work, which he thus illustrated, forms a beautiful memorial of the taste which did not desert him even in his latest days.*

* In the closing years of his life he bore testimony, in a very delightful manner, to the truth of the sentiment contained

In the following extract from a letter to Mr. Dawson Turner, Mr. Roscoe has given a picture of his own situation, when in some degree recovered from the consequences of his alarming attack:—

“If I have been too long silent, I hope it will be attributed to its true cause, an inability to keep up my usual correspondence. At the same time, I am happy to say that my health appears to be somewhat better than when I had last the pleasure of seeing you here; that I am no longer troubled with continual noises in my head; that my pulse is remarkably equal; my appetite good, and my sleep tranquil. That I do not seem to improve in strength is not surprising in a person in his seventy-eighth year; but situated as I am, in the midst of my family and friends, and surrounded by my books, &c. (the shadows of my former collections), I still continue to enjoy as much happiness as usually falls to the lot of human

in the following passage, written by himself upwards of forty years previously:—“A mind that can relish the pleasures afforded by the works of nature, of fancy, and of art, may be said in a great degree to originate its own happiness; there being scarcely a situation in which it can be placed which is not productive of enjoyment. In company, or alone; in the country, or in the town; in the splendour of noon, or the solemn gloom of midnight, a thousand images pass in succession before it; and interesting, by turns, all its faculties, desires, and affections, banish that listlessness and inactivity which render life a burden, and which all other methods will be found insufficient to repel.”—The Recluse, No. V.

nature, and, being in a great degree free from acute pain, am truly thankful to Providence for the indulgence I have so long experienced.”

It has been said by one of our most celebrated authors, that “life, after the first warm heats are over, is all down-hill.” In many cases this assertion is but too correct; and we see the generous sentiments, the high tone of feeling, and the benevolent dispositions of youth, yielding gradually to the influence of the world, and chilled, if not destroyed, by the coldness of age. It was a remarkable and a most happy feature of Mr. Roscoe’s character, that he retained throughout life the warmth of feeling, the animating views of human nature, and the benevolent purposes, which had distinguished his early years; and that he never, under the pressure of misfortunes or the weight of years, lost his lively sympathy in the welfare of others. Even his sensibility to the beauties of poetry remained unimpaired to the last, and indeed acquired additional strength by that tenderness of mind which sickness and ill health induce. But this susceptibility of feeling was unattended with any thing like depression; and there probably never was a period of his life when his spirits were more uniformly cheerful than the three last years of it, during which he was awaiting its close.

The prospect of that change, which, even in the common course of nature, was impending, and which on any fresh attack of his complaint might at any moment take place, never appeared to produce in his mind the smallest degree of apprehension, or even uneasiness. He frequently spoke of the probability of his approaching death, not with fortitude, for that implies an exertion of mind, but with that perfect and resigned tranquillity which proceeds from an undisturbed heart. On many occasions, when, in consequence of the debilitated state to which he had been reduced, he was affected with a distressing faintness, his own impression was that he was dying; but not even then did he exhibit any feelings of alarm or distress. It is, probably, to the great tranquillity of mind which he maintained throughout the whole of his illness, that his partial recovery is to be attributed, and that he was yet spared to see some happy days.*

Permanently confined though he now was, both by the infirmities of age and the effects of sickness, to the narrow limits of his study, his mind was yet actively alive to those great subjects of

* “It has served to convince me that pain and sickness, the prospect of a speedy deprivation of the enjoyments of life, and the near approach of death itself, are not objects of terror to a well regulated and blameless mind; and that, amidst all the evils and misfortunes to which our nature is incident, it is yet in our power, by a life of innocence and virtue, to secure to ourselves that consolation and peace of mind which will blunt the stings of pain, and throw a gleam of joy even on the dark precincts of the grave.”—The Recluse, No. XI.

national interest in which no period of his life had been more fertile than the present. He had now the happiness of seeing the fruit of that good seed which he and others had sown in times of danger and distrust. He had witnessed the removal of those unjust restrictions which had debarred the Dissenters from serving the public in posts of honour and emolument; and he enjoyed the high gratification of finding this great work of justice followed up by the abolition of those disabilities under which the Catholics had so long laboured. In the House of Commons, and in every other place where his voice could have effect, he had advocated the claims of the Catholics; and it was with the deepest interest that he read the debates upon the bill which restored to them their full rights as citizens. The privilege of witnessing, in these great events, the accomplishment of views cherished through a long life, was esteemed by him the highest reward of his labours.

In the summer of the year 1830 an event took place on the Continent which excited, in the highest degree, his sympathy and interest. The Revolution of July, which once more freed the French nation from the heavy yoke that had oppressed them, seemed to waken in their freshness all the feelings of his youth; and those of his family who witnessed the powerful emotions which the narrative of these transactions pro-duced, dreaded their effects upon a frame debilitated by age and sickness. He regarded this event as the establishment, at length, of rational liberty in France, and as a compensation for the miseries which that unhappy country had experienced in her former attempts at freedom, repeatedly expressing his thankfulness that he had thus been spared to witness this realisation of his early hopes. His feelings on this occasion may be gathered from the following letter, written on the 5th of August:—

“I cannot allow the small space which my daughter has left me to remain totally unoccupied, particularly as I think you may wish to know my opinions and feelings on the astonishing events which have occurred in France since you left us. They strongly remind me of the tremendous events of the last century, but are attended with better hopes and expectations. In fact, this is the first time that I can console myself with the idea, that the cause of liberty and justice has been truly successful, the former contests being, like those of two wild beasts, intended to decide which of them should devour the people; but the present noble and spontaneous expression is of a moral character, and an incident not only unparalleled in history, but an entire compensation (if any thing can be a compensation) for the dreadful loss of human life with which it has been accompanied. I dare not indulge in speculations upon the probable consequences of this great event, but it is highly satisfactory to me to reflect that, as this struggle was certain to occur, sooner or later, I have lived to see it decided according to my most earnest wishes, and shall find it an additional cause to take my departure with thankfulness whenever I shall be called upon.”

Nothing in the course of these transactions excited so warmly the admiration of Mr. Roscoe, as the forbearance manifested by the people of France towards the members of that family who had again forfeited the crown by their folly and wickedness. On the apprehension of the ministers he was anxious to see the same magnanimous line of conduct adopted towards them, and he deprecated the idea of their blood being shed, even for the heinous offence of which they had been guilty towards their country. He thought that it became the French nation to exhibit, in this instance, an example of mercy and moderation to the rest of Europe; and to show that, while despotic sovereigns are compelled to guard their power by measures of severity and cruelty, a great and a free people can afford to be magnanimous and merciful. So strongly were these sentiments impressed upon his mind, that he resolved, without delay, to address a representation to M. La Fayette, whose friendship for him might induce him, at all events, to listen to the appeal, and whose influence might possibly be favourably exerted in giving it effect. Neither by day nor by night was the subject absent from his mind until he had despatched to Paris the following letter:—

“I have just had the pleasure of receiving your obliging favour of the 18th May last, introducing to my acquaintance the Rev. Dr. Kirkland and his highly accomplished lady, with whom I have just spent a very pleasant hour in my library, and have been much gratified with the accounts they have given me of their travels on the Continent. But, my dear Sir, I can speak on no other subject till I have returned my earnest thanks to God, and congratulated you on the wonderful events which have taken place in France since your letter was written, and in which you have yourself acted so noble a part—an incident on which I may truly say, ‘Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace.’ This, indeed, is the first time in my life, although I am now fast approaching the eightieth year of my age, when I have seen the triumph of liberty complete, and a foundation laid for the perpetual extirpation of slavery and oppression from every part of the civilised world.

“On occasions of this kind the chief difficulty is to prevent the great objects so happily accomplished from being defeated by too violent a re-action. Well do I remember how deeply I lamented the overthrow of all my hopes in the early part of the former revolution, when the most precious blood of France was poured out on the scaffold; and now my chief object of anxiety is that the French nation may finish, with magnanimity and humanity, the glorious work it has so well begun. I allude to the situation of the wretched individuals who have been the cause of all this commotion, and who are deeply stained with the blood of their fellow citizens, but to whose criminal yet fortunate temerity it is owing, that France is free. Will she require their blood in return? I hope not. I should be sorry to see the same unsparing maxims acted upon by a free government, as have, in all ages, characterised despotic monarchies, to whom the ultima linea rerum is always at hand. But it is time that Europe should change its maxims, and that an example should be given which should not derogate from the character that France has already obtained, and show that a better era is opened upon society. What! I may perhaps be asked, would you suffer these traitors to their country to go unpunished? By no means. But I would punish them in a manner more consistent with the character of a great nation, which has nothing to fear, than by depriving them of life. Let them be made to feel their folly and their guilt, and not only let their estates and property be confiscated, but let them be for ever banished from the pleasant land of France. At the same time, condemn not the innocent with the guilty; but follow up the mercy shown to the late monarch of France, by making a suitable provision for the innocent and unhappy relatives of the offending parties. Thus would the ends of justice be answered, and an example be set to the world which would be the admiration of all future ages, and confirm the character of France, by an act of lenity consistent with the greatness she has already exhibited, and the security she feels in the union of her people.

“An attack of paralysis, which I experienced upwards of two years ago, has prevented my joining my friends and fellow townsmen at a public meeting a few days since, to celebrate the late glorious event in France, and to subscribe towards the sufferings of the heroes who have bled in her cause, when your name was referred to in a manner which the occasion required. All the world acknowledges that you have confirmed, in your later years, those principles of liberty to which you were so generously and so early devoted in youth. I will send you one of our Liverpool Journals, by which you will see what occurred. I am truly happy to say that such meetings are taking place in all the large towns of the kingdom.

“It is not unknown to my friends here that I have the honour of corresponding with you; in consequence of which some of them, who form a society here, under the name of the Antislavery Society, of which I have been president many years, met together yesterday, and have to-day favoured me with a copy of a resolution adopted by them, which they have desired I would send to you; which I now do in compliance with their wish. It is expressed in the following terms:—

“‘Resolution passed unanimously by the Liverpool Anti-slavery Society, William Roscoe, President. In his absence, James Cropper, Esq., in the Chair.

“‘That the president be respectfully requested to write to General La Fayette, soliciting his powerful influence with the French government to enforce the laws against the slave trade, and to bring forward others, if those already existing are not sufficient to abolish this dreadful blot on humanity.’

“I presume you have heard that the legislators of Pennsylvania, after having erected two immense penitentiaries, intended to contain convicts to be punished by solitary confinement, both by day and night, without being permitted to labour, have thought proper, on the recom-mendation of three commissioners from their own body, to change their plan, and to allow them to work during the day at some useful and productive employment.

“I will take an early opportunity of sending you a description of one of these penitentiaries, with a copy of the Report alluded to, which you possibly may not yet have seen; and I am glad to be able to add, that the system of productive labour for criminals is now the general practice of all the United States of North America.”

In a letter to Mr. Coke he thus touches on the same subject:—

“I can scarcely express to you how sincerely I rejoice with you on the great triumph which has just taken place in France, where the victories of an age have been comprised within the compass of a few days, and a foundation laid for a better system of things than I ever expected to live to see. I have already written to congratulate my friend, General La Fayette, on this most happy event, in which he has acted so important a part, and have taken an opportunity of saying a few words to stay the violence of that reaction which destroyed the good effects of the last revolution, and to induce the present government to terminate the contest, as it was begun, with magnanimity and humanity. That the ex-ministers are deserving of death I by no means deny, but the question is not merely what they deserve, but what punishment it becomes a great nation, which has just conquered its liberties, to inflict, and I wish to see the new government signalise itself by an act of lenity which should place it in contrast with the despotic governments of Europe; and, whilst we daily hear of massacres committed by the trembling tyrants of Naples, Spain, and Portugal, should show that the French can afford to spare the lives of those who have been the authors of the dreadful events which have taken place. At the same time, I would by no means suffer these great culprits to escape without punishment, but would confiscate their estates, and banish them for ever from France—to Frenchmen a heavier punishment than depriving them of life.”

The event proved that, in suggesting this humane and high-minded course of conduct, Mr. Roscoe had not miscalculated the character of the new government. The ministers were tried and found guilty, but, notwithstanding the furious opposition of the populace, their lives were spared. What impression his representations produced on the mind of M. La Fayette he never learned, nor indeed did he expect that the sentiments of that distinguished person on a subject of so much delicacy and importance should be disclosed, even in the confidence of private friendship. It was enough for him that the great object of his wishes had been accomplished, and that he had himself contributed to it as far as was in his power, by making the effort which his heart and his judgment dictated.

On the formation of Lord Grey’s ministry Mr. Roscoe looked forward with eagerness to the accomplishment of the great improvements which had long been the objects of his political exertions. In the projected measure of Parliamentary Reform he more especially rejoiced, regarding that question as one of the most vital that could engage the attention of the legislature and of the public. From the elevation of his friend Mr. Brougham, also, to a station of such high rank and influence, he anticipated the most happy results, and he addressed to him, soon after that event, the following letter:—

“Although I have not yet made my appearance amongst the fifteen hundred friends, who (as I understand from the daily papers) have already congratulated your Lordship on your having attained the highest honours of your profession, you will, I am sure, do me the justice to believe that there is no person who rejoices more sincerely in that event, or who looks forward to the result of it with greater expectation than I do.

“That one, who has hitherto unceasingly devoted himself to the greatest and most generous pursuits, should be placed in a situation where the greatest facilities are afforded for benefiting mankind, is so rare and so happy a coincidence, that it is impossible not to indulge the most favourable anticipations from it. That your Lordship may long live to enjoy the delight which I well know you feel in doing good to others, as far as even that elevated and honourable station will permit, will always be amongst the most earnest of my wishes.

“My attention was recalled a few days ago to the period of our more frequent intercourse, by the receipt of a small pamphlet from Mr. George Forwood, who is now stipendiary superintendant of the poor in Liverpool. This pamphlet is upon the subject which now occupies the entire attention of the nation,—the extension of suffrage,—and is written (as he tells me in a note) for the purpose of exemplifying one of the principles upon which (in my letter to you, addressed to you now upwards of twenty years ago) I proposed my plan of reform;—namely, ‘to extend the right of voting to all, who, as householders, are heads of families, and contribute to the exigencies of the state; as well as to some others of the community.’

“As the pamphlet just sent me enters somewhat more particularly into the subject, and as the author has requested that, if I should think favourably of his attempt, I would bring it more immediately under your notice, I have sent your Lordship a copy of it; not doubting that all information on so important a subject, and particularly that derived from practical men, will be received by you with your usual indulgence.

“A few of my friends here having thought proper, on the present occasion, to republish my letter on Reform, addressed to your Lordship in the year 1810, I venture to trouble you with two copies of it; and as I do not recollect, at this distance of time, whether I ever gave you a copy of my neighbour Mr. Merritt’s letter to me on that subject, and of my answer to him, I also send copies of each of these,—and am on all occasions, with the sincerest respect and attachment, my dear Lord,” &c. &c.

Most of the laborious literary undertakings in which Mr. Roscoe had engaged, at a period of life which in most men is necessarily devoted to repose, were now happily concluded; and he was enabled to look back upon them with that satisfaction which may be allowed to attend the completion of long and useful labours. Notwithstanding a dangerous and often incapacitating illness, he had persisted in the task to which his mind had been previously devoted, and he was now rewarded for this painful exertion by attaining that undisturbed and needful repose which his age and his infirmities required. The following letter to Mr. Coke contains the pleasing retrospect of labours completed, and the happy picture of a contented spirit:—

“I was never more delighted than by your last letter, expressing in so kind and affectionate a manner your approbation of my labours in arranging your manuscript library at Holkham, or, rather, of the time I have spent in a most pleasing and instructive employment.

“Of the various works which I have of late undertaken, and which, to say the truth, have been rather too much for my latter years, I have great reason to be thankful that I have been able to bring them so near to a termination, that I have now some hope of seeing them all accomplished. The catalogue of the Holkham MSS. being deposited in the shelves of the library, and having received your kind and friendly approbation, I now consider as complete. The edition of Pope, a work of great labour, has now been finished for some years; and although it has been much abused by those whom it justly censured, I have received the approbation of all whose good opinion is worth having. My tracts on prison discipline, particularly as far as regards America, you will be happy to hear, have been attended with all the effect I could reasonably have expected; the system of solitary confinement, without labour, for which prisons were built at Philadelphia, and others were extending over the United States, having been rejected, and the opinions of M. La Fayette and myself having been referred to in express terms in the report of their legislatures, and of the Society for prison discipline; so that I consider my works on that subject as terminated. The publication of new editions of the lives of Lorenzo de’ Medici and Leo X., in which I have reviewed the remarks of my Italian and German translators, employed a great portion of my time, and placed those works in a form in which I wish them to remain. In short, I have nothing that remains on hand, but my botanical work, of which the prints are all published, and of which I hope, in the course of this year, to publish an additional number, which will complete the letter-press and finish the volume.”

Within a few months after this time, he was enabled to send to the press the fifteenth and last number of his work on Monandrian Plants. In completing this splendid volume, he gave a proof of the undiminished powers of his mind, by prefixing to it the following poetical inscription:— “God of the changeful year!—amidst the glow Of strength and beauty, and transcendant grace, Which, on the mountain heights, or deep below, In shelter’d vales, and each sequestered place, Thy forms of vegetable life assume, —Whether thy pines, with giant arms display’d, Brave the cold north, or, wrapt in eastern gloom, Thy trackless forests sweep, a world of shade; Or whether, scenting ocean’s heaving breast, Thy odoriferous isles innumerous rise; Or, under various lighter forms imprest, Of fruits, and flowers, thy works delight our eyes;— God of all life! whate’er those forms may be, O! may they all unite in praising Thee!”

Many of the scientific friends to whose assistance Mr. Roscoe was indebted during the progress of the work communicated their congratulations to him on its termination. From Dr. Hooker of Glasgow, whose high scientific acquirements are so well known to the public, he had the satisfaction of receiving the following letter:—

“Our friend Mr. Shepherd leaves Glasgow to-day, and I am anxious to charge him with a few lines to you, though only to congratulate you, as I do most cordially, upon the completion of your great work on the scitamineous plants. It is, indeed, a national work. My copy came home from the binder last night, with the plates all arranged according to your synoptical table, and I cannot tell you with what pleasure I again looked it through. I am much gratified at the kind and handsome manner in which you have mentioned my name. Of all the work, however, I am not sure if the lines which stand in lieu of a dedication, do not please me the very best.

“I am glad to hear from Mr. Shepherd that your bodily health continues as good as your friends could expect, though I lamented to hear that you still, as when I had last the happiness of seeing you, suffered from weakness.”

Dr. Maton also, whose correspondence had afforded Mr. Roscoe much pleasure and information, thus expresses himself with regard to the work:—

“Having lately perused the last part of your excellent and splendid work on the Scitamineæ, I am anxious to convey to you my cordial acknowledgments for the very flattering manner in which you have been pleased to make mention of me in your remarks on the Cardamom plant. To be spoken of as the friend of Mr. Roscoe, and to receive his approbation of any humble endeavours of mine in the paths of science, will be ever a subject of pride and satisfaction to me.”

But the person whose approbation Mr. Roscoe was most anxious to receive was Dr. Wallich, whose intimate acquaintance with the tribe of plants figured in the work, and whose celebrity as a botanist rendered his opinion of the highest value. That approbation was conveyed in the following letter, accompanied by the warmest expressions of friendship:—

“God be thanked for having enabled you to finish successfully the arduous but noble and classical work on Scitamineæ, on which you have been so long engaged, and which must have required the most vigorous exertions of the mind, especially under the severe bodily sufferings which you have of late years undergone. I beg to offer my sincerest felicitations on the consummation of this anxiously looked for event, which will be hailed by all sound botanists of the Linnæan as well as the modern school, and which will add fresh and unfading laurels to a name already immortalised. Your work, my very dear Sir, will be referred to and studied, when many a one of modern growth, with high sounding titles and strong pretensions, has passed away like things that were intended only for an ephemeral existence. I had the happiness to receive the fifteenth number on the 6th inst, in the evening, and you may easily imagine with what eagerness I have read it through, not once, but several times. You have, in my humble opinion, taken a most luminous and perspicuous view of each genus of that extraordinary tribe, and you have left very little work for future labourers on the Scitaminean field; and at best they will be able to do little more, and nothing better, than to follow your vestigia pressis pedibus.”

* * * *

“Your charming sonnet I know by heart; and am charged by Mrs. Wallich to thank you a thousand times in our joint names for the honour you have done us both by inscribing a separate copy to her; an honour that we acknowledge with warm gratitude. We are going to have it framed against our return to India, where, in the botanic garden at Calcutta, it will have a place among our dearest and most valued friends.

* * * *

“I do glory and pride myself, as most justly I may, in all the generous expressions with which you have honoured me, and in the frequent mention of my humble name, especially in conjunction with those of my munificent masters. Your approbation and satisfaction is of indescribable value to me; to have had the distinction of being numbered amongst your friends, will always be to me a source of solid and substantial benefit, and will preserve me from that oblivion which would otherwise befal me when I shall only be a shadow—a name.”

Mr. Roscoe might now almost be said to be ultimus suorum. He had survived not only the companions of his youth, but most of the friends of his maturer years. More than half a century had elapsed since he had lost Holden and Rigby, the associates of his youthful studies, and half that portion of time since the grave had closed over the remains of Currie and of Clarke. Their loss had been followed, at no distant period, by that of his beloved friend, Mr. Rathbone; and in later years he had to lament the deaths of many of his most esteemed correspondents—of Dr. Parr, of Dr. Aikin, and of Fuseli; another was now to be added to the list.

The friendship between Sir James Smith and Mr. Roscoe was not formed until after the middle period of life, but it was accompanied by all the warmth of youthful feeling. The admi-ration with which, before their personal acquaintance, Mr. Roscoe regarded the high scientific acquirements of Dr. Smith is expressed at the conclusion of the address delivered by him previously to the opening of the botanic garden at Liverpool. “In the course of a few weeks it is in the contemplation of the committee to open the garden for public use, and I cannot but congratulate the proprietors, that about the same time the very eminent and learned Dr. Smith, president of the Linnæan Society, on the requisition of a considerable number of gentlemen, has consented to deliver his public instructions in this town on the science of botany, when the slight and unskilful remarks with which I have on this occasion had the presumption to trouble you, will be compensated by a full display of that knowledge, the joint result of genius, opportunity, and application, which has deservedly placed this illustrious disciple of Linnæus at the head of the first botanical institution in the kingdom.”

The pleasure derived by Mr. Roscoe from a personal acquaintance with Sir James Smith, has been already adverted to. From the period of their first acquaintance to the death of the latter, a frequent correspondence was maintained between them, relating chiefly to scientific subjects, but often touching upon other matters of public and of personal interest. Of this cor-respondence a considerable portion has appeared in the interesting memoirs of her husband lately published by Lady Smith, who has described Mr. Roscoe as “the individual round whom Sir James’s pride and his affection equally rallied.”*

Though the health of Sir James Smith had been for some time declining, his death was unexpectedly sudden, and the intelligence of it, for which Mr. Roscoe was unprepared, considerably affected him. He was just about to express in the preface to his “Monandrian Plants,” the affectionate regard and high esteem which he entertained for his friend—expressions destined never to meet his eye. “I cannot,” he says in the preface, “dismiss the present publication without expressing my obligations for many favours conferred on me. Of the pleasure I should have had in performing this duty, I have, however, in one instance, been deprived by the lamented death of that great promoter of botanical science, Sir James Edward Smith, president of the Linnæan Society, with whom I have enjoyed many years of literary communion and unbroken friendship, the memory of which will never be effaced from my mind; an event which has occurred precisely at the period when I should have had an opportunity of expressing my obligations to him for his numerous and

* Vol. ii. p. 306.

valuable suggestions to me in the course of my present undertaking, but which I rejoice to reflect did not happen till he had been enabled to terminate his great work, the ‘English Flora;’ a work which has perfected the system of English botany as far as present discoveries admit, and has, together with his other learned writings, conferred upon its author a name and station which will remain pre-eminent as long as the science itself exists.”

In a letter to Lady Smith, written immediately after the distressing intelligence of Sir James’s death had been communicated to him, he says,—“This great and irreparable loss I, too, must remember as one of the weightiest misfortunes of my life; for though I was sensible that the health of my dear friend was precarious, yet I had flattered myself that being younger by so many years than myself, I should have left him my survivor. I cannot, however, but rejoice in his calm and happy departure, his great worth fully understood, his fame established, and his most valuable work just finished. When I consider these circumstances, together with his pure and pious mind, I cannot repine at the result, and if it were not presumptuous, I would express an earnest wish that my latter day might be like his.”

Although Mr. Roscoe had been deprived of many of those literary friends and associates whose correspondence and whose society had been a source of so much pleasure to him, a few were still spared to him whose friendship he highly valued. Amongst these were Professor Smyth, whose annual visit continued to afford the highest gratification to him; and the Rev. William Shepherd, who, although he was prevented from enjoying the society of his friend so frequently as he did during the residence of the latter at Allerton, occasionally found opportunities of visiting him. The Collection of his Poems, published by him in the year 1829, is inscribed to Mr. Roscoe, in the following verses:— “Friend of my youth! Thou whose approving smile Cheer’d me whilst toiling up the steep ascent Of knowledge—from whose breast I caught the glow Of mental independence, and whose hand Led me through virtue’s peaceful paths—to thee I consecrate these tributary lays. What though thy setting sun, bedimm’d with clouds, Nears the horizon, and the hour draws on When it must sink beneath the western wave; Yet, in high musings, faithful memory dwells With transport on the time when erst it shone In noontide lustre;—and in steadfast faith In Him who died on Calvary, we await The advent of that morning when its beams Shall be relumed; and, never more obscured, In ever-glowing splendour shall advance, Nearer and nearer to the empyreal light, That blazes, ceaseless, from the throne of God.”

In making his acknowledgments for this volume, Mr. Roscoe says, “Accept my best thanks for the honourable, and I hope durable, memorial which you have raised to our long and uninterrupted friendship, and for the gratifying and affectionate terms in which it is expressed. I am also highly pleased with the tribute you have paid to the memory of our lamented friend, Johnes, and his charming daughter, whom you have embalmed with richer than Sabæan odours. With respect to myself, I cannot feel sufficiently grateful for the degree of strength which I yet enjoy, and in having been able to finish, since my illness, my Holkham catalogue, and my large botanical work, to which I have prefixed my inscription as I threatened, and of which I send you a copy with thanks for your emendation. I shall also avail myself of the present opportunity to return your books, which I have detained so unreasonable a length of time, and to which I have added two volumes of the Italian translation of my ‘Illustrations of the Life of Lorenzo,’ which I am sorry to say is not so well done as your ‘Poggio,’ by Tonelli, which is in every point of view a first-rate performance.”

It was the good fortune of Mr. Roscoe to retain, even to the close of his life, that power of attracting the friendship of others, which had been from his youth one of his most marked characteristics. Amongst these, the friends of his age, there was no one who became more sincerely attached to him, or for whom he himself felt a higher degree of esteem and affection, than Mr. Panizzi, an Italian gentleman, who had been compelled, in consequence of political persecutions, to abandon Italy, and to take refuge in England. Soon after his arrival in this country, he settled in Liverpool, as a teacher of the Italian language, where his talents and worth soon won the regard of Mr. Roscoe. To the kindness and attentions of Mr. Panizzi, which rather resembled those of a son than of a stranger, he owed many happy hours. Upon his appointment to the Professorship of Italian Literature in the University of London, Mr. Roscoe was deprived of his society, but had the pleasure of making him known to some of his friends. In a letter to Mr. Rogers, written in the year 1830, he thus introduces Mr. Panizzi to the notice of that gentleman:—

“This is intended to be delivered to you by my highly valued friend, Signor Antonio Panizzi, professor of the Italian language in the London University, who lived some years in Liverpool, whence he is now returning, after visiting the numerous friends whom he has made during his residence here. He is probably already known to you by his literary works,—particularly his edition of Bojardo and Ariosto, now publishing; in addition to which I beg leave to add my testi-mony, not only to his abilities as an elegant scholar, but to his experienced worth as a sincere friend, and to his character as a man. It is, therefore, with great satisfaction, that I introduce him to your better acquaintance, being convinced that it cannot fail of being productive of pleasure and advantage to both.”

Of Mr. Rogers’s singularly beautiful edition of his “Italy,” a copy of which was presented to him at this time, Mr. Roscoe expresses his high admiration in the same letter:—

“I do not consider this, your obliging remembrance of me, merely as an interesting and truly original poem, decorated with exquisite engravings, but as a production, in which the sister arts of poetry and painting are united to produce a simultaneous effect, as brilliant jewels are only seen to full advantage when set off by a beautiful face. The art of engraving has hitherto aimed only to please the eye, but it may now be said to have arrived at its highest excellence, and touched the deepest feelings of the mind. We must now acknowledge, that the finest effects of the pencil may be produced by the simple medium of light and shadow.”

Many hours during the winter of 1830 were agreeably passed in the perusal of the Life of Dr. Currie, a work which he had long been desirous of executing himself, but which he was ultimately obliged to relinquish. The pleasure and satisfaction which he derived from recalling the incidents of his friend’s life are expressed in the following letter to Professor Smyth, dated the 2d January, 1831:—

“A reluctance to writing, which is incident to my complaints, and a continual course of avocations to which I am obliged to attend, have so long prevented my replying to your several kind and affectionate letters that I am almost ashamed of recalling myself to your friendly recollection. The approaching publication of the life of his father by our friend Wallace Currie, induces me, however, to address a few lines to you to express my approbation of that work; the first volume of which I have just read with deep interest and great satisfaction, and which has relieved me from an uneasy sensation, which I have always felt, at not having undertaken the work myself, owing to my numerous and unavoidable avocations, and has convinced me, that, on many accounts, I could not have accomplished it so well as it has been done by his son.

“This work, which is to be immediately published, will, I trust, not only be acceptable to the numerous friends of Dr. Currie, but a favourite with the public at large, as it gives a faithful representation of an individual of a lofty and magnanimous character, uniformly devoting his energies to the highest objects of human pursuit, and always earnest to promote the best interests of human nature. That you and I, my dear friend, should have the happiness to have our names associated in the records of such a man’s life cannot fail to be to each of us a source of the highest satisfaction.

“I have frequently intended to congratulate you on the wonderful events that have taken place in Europe, and particularly in France, in the course of the last six months; but I have been scarcely less interested in the struggle which is now taking place in Poland, respecting which ill-fated country we both of us took so active a part upwards of thirty years ago. We cannot but wait with great anxiety the result of the present struggle between despotism and liberty in Europe, of which I hope you will live to see the happy result, which is more than at my time of life I can have any reason to expect.

“Since writing the foregoing I have received from Wallace Currie a complete copy of the Doctor’s life, which he has done me the honour of dedicating to me in a kind and friendly address. From the short survey I have hitherto been enabled to take of it, I think it will do great credit both to his father and himself. The Doctor’s letters are particularly valuable.”

It had long been the intention of Mr. Roscoe to publish a selection from his own poems, and also from those which had at various periods been written by different members of his family. During the present winter, he found much amusement in looking over the manuscripts and in selecting such as he thought worthy of being given to the world. The collection was intended to include “Mount Pleasant,” “The Wrongs of Africa,” and some others of his early pieces. Unfortunately the state of his health prevented him from completing his revision of the manuscripts, and the poems remain unpublished.*

He perused about this time, with much interest, the Life of De Witt Clinton, by Dr. Hosack, of New York, to whom he expressed his opinion of the work in the following letter, written in the summer of 1830:—

“Some time previous to the receipt of the letter with which you honoured me, dated the 29th April, 1829, and accompanying the present of your valuable Memoir of Governor Clinton, I had an attack of paralysis, which interfered with my usual occupations, and for some time interrupted my correspondence; and although, by the blessing of God and by the aid of repeated depletion and other remedies, I have been restored to such a state of health as to be able to devote a prescribed portion of my

* The following is the title which he intended to give to the selection:—“Poems, Original and Fugitive; written between the years 1770 and 1830: by William Roscoe. To which are added, Poems by some of his Children. Liverpool, 1831.”

time to the society of my friends and the perusal of my books,—a result at my time of life, approaching my seventy-eighth year, scarcely to be expected,—yet, it has not been till of late that I have been able to undertake the perusal of so large a work as yours, which I have now read, not only without any injurious consequences to my health, but with great information and amusement.

“At the same time, I have imbibed a very distinct idea and favourable opinion of the truly great and good man whose character you have so admirably depicted; and whose great and various merits you have so ably illustrated and explained.

“Writing, as I now do, under the immediate impressions derived from the perusal of your noble tribute to the memory of your friend, it would be unjust in me to suppress the feelings with which I have been actuated, or to deny that, highly as I estimate such a character in a nation abounding in great men, I consider your production as having shown you worthy to have been his biographer, and whilst you have raised an imperishable monument to his fame, to have given the surest earnest of your own.

“In addition to the regret I feel in not having been able to reply sooner to your letter, I am sorry not to have transmitted you the few documents requested by you respecting my late highly esteemed friend Thomas Eddy, of whom I have read several interesting memorials in your work; but the same calamity that prevented me from writing, also prevented me performing this duty, having taken me when my papers were in such a state of derangement that they could not for a long time be looked into. I am, however, in some degree consoled by the consideration that you will not have been delayed in your intended account of him by my apparent negligence; my correspondence with him being only occasional, and extending to little more than the interchange of new publications; although I always entertained a very high opinion both of his benevolence and his literary talents.”

It will be recollected that at a very early period of his life Mr. Roscoe had collected the moral precepts of the New Testament into a small volume, to which he gave the title of “Christian Morality, as contained in the Precepts of the New Testament; in the Language of Jesus Christ.” In the decline of life this youthful attempt was recalled to his mind by a work of a similar character proceeding from a very unlooked for quarter. This was “The Precepts of Jesus,” collected, arranged, and published at Calcutta by a learned Brahmin, Rammohun Roy, who having become a convert to Christianity, endeavoured in this manner to recommend the religion of Christ to his countrymen. The character and history of this extra-ordinary man excited in the highest degree the interest and the admiration of Mr. Roscoe. Not only had he emancipated his mind from the dark and cruel superstitions in which he had been educated, but he had cultivated his intellect to a degree which few of the natives of more favoured climes attain. For the purpose of studying the Scriptures he had rendered himself familiar with the Hebrew and the Greek, and had improved his mind by the study of various branches of knowledge. But these were his least merits. The great excellence of his character consisted in his enlarged views with regard to the welfare and improvement of his species, and in the benevolent zeal with which he promoted every project for the extension of education and of useful knowledge amongst the inhabitants of India. Of this zeal he gave a striking proof in the erection of a printing-press at Calcutta, at which his own work, “The Precepts of Jesus,” and other volumes calculated to extend the influence of Christianity amongst the Hindoos, were printed.

It is not surprising that with a man of this high and enlightened character Mr. Roscoe should be desirous of communicating; and accordingly he took advantage of the opportunity of one of his friends (the late Mr. Thomas Hodgson Fletcher of Liverpool) proceeding to India, to transmit to Rammohun Roy a small collection of his works, which he accompanied with the following letter:—

“Although I have not the honour of being known to you, I am no stranger to your writings, nor to the uniform and noble manner in which you have asserted the cause of true and genuine Christianity, against the sophisms and absurdities of those who would persuade us that they are the only objects of the benevolence of the great Creator and common Father of all His offspring. It seems strange even to myself that so long a time has elapsed, in which I have been aware how nearly my opinions on religious subjects have agreed with your own, without introducing myself to your acquaintance. The fact is, that within the first twenty years of a life which is now verging on its seventy-eighth year, I had devoted myself to the task of forming, as far as possible, a complete code of moral conduct, from the precepts of Jesus Christ as given in the New Testament, in his own words; in which I had made a considerable progress; and although circumstances prevented my completing it, yet the impression which the attempt made on my own mind convinced me, that true Christianity consists alone in doing the will of our Father which is in heaven, which will is not only sufficiently, but most powerfully and beautifully enforced in that sacred volume.

“In my riper years, as the affairs of the world engaged my attention, I have been employed on most of the great subjects of human interest; and have written and published on politics, jurisprudence, history, criticism, science, and literature, according to the measure of my abilities, and with the consciousness, in whatever department I have been engaged, of having promoted, to the best of my power, the improvement and happiness of my fellow-creatures.

“Some of these works I would even flatter myself may, perhaps, have occurred to your notice; but at all events, that I may not suffer the little that remains to me of this life to pass away without being better known to you, and having at present a favourable opportunity of sending you a few volumes on various subjects that may give you a tolerable idea how I have been employed, I have made up a specimen of my writings, which I have to desire you will accept as the gift of one friend to another; in order that, if they should be received in the same spirit in which they are sent, they may in fact diminish the barrier which Providence has placed between us, and introduce us to the society of each other, to be united, during our future lives, as true and faithful followers of our common Master.

“The opportunity to which I have above alluded is that of a young friend who is about to depart from hence on a voyage to Calcutta, where it is his intention to take up his residence in a mercantile capacity, and who is desirous of an introduction to you, for the freedom of which I must trust myself to your indulgence.

* * * * * *

“We have, for some time past, been flattered with hopes of seeing you in this kingdom, but I fear I am not destined to have that pleasure. At all events, it will be a great gratification to me if I should survive the attacks of the paralytic complaint, under which I have now laboured for some years, till I hear that you have received this very sincere mark of the deep respect and attachment which I have so long entertained for you, and which I hope to renew in a happier state of being.

“I am, my dear Sir, “Your assured friend and fellow-christian, “W. R. “To the celebrated and learned Rammohun Roy, Calcutta.”

Before this letter could reach its destination Mr. Roscoe had the unexpected gratification of hearing that the extraordinary person to whom it was addressed was already on his voyage to Europe. This intelligence was quickly followed by his arrival at Liverpool, where his character and striking appearance excited much curiosity and interest. The interview between him and Mr. Roscoe will never be forgotten by those who witnessed it. After the usual gesture of eastern salutation, and with a mixture of oriental expression, Rammohun Roy said, “Happy and proud am I—proud and happy to behold a man whose fame has extended not only over Europe, but over every part of the world.”—“I bless God,” replied Mr. Roscoe, “that I have been permitted to live to see this day.” Their conversation chiefly turned upon the objects which had led Rammohun Roy to this country, and in the course of it he displayed an intimate acquaintance with the political and commercial state of England. His visit to Liverpool was a very short one, from his anxiety to be present at the third reading of the Reform Bill, and at the debates on the subject of India; and on his departure for London he carried with him the following letter from Mr. Roscoe to Lord Brougham:—

“I have the great honour and very singular pleasure of introducing to your Lordship’s kind notice and attention the bearer of this, the celebrated and learned Rammohun Roy, who is just arrived here from Calcutta, and of whom you must already have frequently heard as the illustrious Convert from Hindooism to Christianity, and the author of the selections from the New Testament of “The Precepts of Jesus;” by the publication and diffusion of which amongst the natives of the East reasonable hopes are now entertained, that, in a short time, the shocking system and cruel practices of Paganism will be abolished, and the people of those populous regions be restored to the pure and simple precepts of morality and brotherly love. Amongst the many and important motives which have induced him to leave his country and connections, and visit this island, I understand he is induced to hope he may be of some assistance in promoting the cause of the natives of India in the great debates which must ere long take place here, respecting the Charter of the East India Company; but I have yet seen so little of him, from his numerous engagements here, that I must leave your Lordship to learn his intentions from himself, which you will find him very capable of explaining in his own strong and appropriate English idiom. One great reason, as I understand, for his haste to leave this for London, is to be present to witness the great measures that will be taken by your Lordship and your illustrious colleagues, for promoting the long wished-for reform of his native country. On the present occasion, I will not trouble you further than to request, that, if it should not be inconsistent with your Lordship’s station and convenience, you would obtain for our distinguished visiter the benefit of a seat under the gallery in the House of Commons, on the debate on the third reading of the Reform Bill; which favour I am anxious he should owe rather to your Lordship (if you have no objection to it) than to other individuals, to whom, I understand, he has letters of introduction.”

During the spring of the year 1831 there was little alteration in Mr. Roscoe’s health, though it was obvious that he was becoming more and more feeble, and that any fresh attack of illness must prove eminently dangerous. He still continued to enjoy the society of his family, and of the friends who occasionally visited him; and when the weather permitted, he sometimes walked for a few minutes in his small garden, where he watched, with much pleasure, the progress of his few favourite flowers. He was fully sensible how very frail the tenure of his life had become; and as he stood, a short time before his last attack of illness, admiring the beauty of a border of white lilies, he remarked that, perishable as they were, they would probably survive him. But no feeling of dejection was mingled with these thoughts. A few weeks before his death, in a conversation with his friend and physician, Dr. Traill, he spoke calmly of his increasing feebleness and probable early dissolution. “He thanked the Almighty for having permitted him to pass a life of much happiness, which, though somewhat checkered by vicissitude, had been, on the whole, one of great enjoyment; and he trusted that he should be enabled cheerfully to resign it whenever it pleased God to call him.”*

In this tranquil and happy frame of mind he continued to the last. Towards the conclusion of the month of June he suffered from a severe attack of a prevailing influenza, from which he appeared to have partially recovered, when, on the evening of Monday the 27th of June, while listening to a letter which one of his sons was reading to him, containing an account of the progress of the Reform Bill, he was suddenly seized with a violent fit of shivering, accompanied by an almost total prostration of strength. He was, with difficulty, conveyed to his bed, from which he never again rose. At this trying hour that confidence in the goodness of God, and that submission to His will, which had supported him in every vicissitude of his life, did not desert him, and he resigned himself, without one murmur, to the change which he well knew was near at hand. While yet able, with difficulty, to make himself understood, he said to Dr. Traill,—“Some people suffer much in dying; I do not suffer.” On the morning of Wednesday he indistinctly enquired from his highly valued medical attendant, Mr. Bickersteth, his opinion with regard to his situation;

* Dr. Traill’s Memoir.

and, on receiving his reply, he took leave of him with affectionate composure, by extending to him his hand. Soon afterwards he became unable, from weakness, to articulate, though he retained his senses till within an hour of his death, which took place at eleven o’clock, on Thursday morning, the 30th of June. The immediate cause of his death was an effusion of water into the chest.

He has himself described, in speaking of the death of Mr. Reynolds, the feelings with which it became his family to regard their loss. “If ever there was an occasion on which the tears we shed are tears of affection and tenderness, rather than of grief and distress, it is when a good man, full of years and honour, goes to receive the reward of his labours, leaving to those who are dearest to him the benefit of his example, the credit of his widely respected name, and the delightful hope that, by following in his track, they will finally be admitted to his society again in a happier state of being.”

He was interred in the burying ground attached to the Unitarian Chapel in Renshaw Street, the service being performed by his valued and long tried friend, the Rev. William Shepherd. His funeral was attended by a very considerable body of his private friends, and of those whose esteem for his character induced them to show this voluntary mark of respect to his memory, and an eloquent and touching funeral sermon was preached on the 17th of July, by the Rev. J. H. Thom, the minister of Renshaw Street Chapel.

Mr. Roscoe left a family, surviving him, of six sons and two daughters. He had lost one daughter in infancy, and a son in mature age. His eldest daughter was married, in the year 1825, to Thomas Jevons, Esq., of Liverpool.

Soon after his death a subscription was opened at Liverpool, for the purpose of raising a monument to his memory.*

* See Appendix, No. I.

CHAPTER XXI. Mr. Roscoe’s life a useful example.—His moral qualities—his consistency in politics—in his religious opinions—in his tastes and pursuits—in his attachment to works of art and poetry—in his friendships.—The reward of consistency.—His humility—his ambition, and love of literary fame—his own feelings with regard to the success of his writings—his humanity—his charity.—Devotional feelings of Mr. Roscoe—his early study of the Scriptures.—Letter on the presentation of a Bible to him.—His religious poems—hymn—sentiments on religious liberty.—Mr. Roscoe’s political opinions—his enlarged and liberal views—objects of his political exertions—political poems—lines.—Mr. Roscoe’s acquirements as a scholar—his acquaintance with the classical languages—with the modern languages—his taste in English poetry—his knowledge of botany—his love of the fine arts—his promotion of literary and scientific institutions—his power of generalisation—his energy in literary pursuits.—Mr. Roscoe’s friends in early life—in middle age—his associates in political and local improvements—his political friends—the friends acquired by his philanthropic exertions—by his literary character.—Mr. Coke of Norfolk.—Distinguished foreigners—Americans, Italians—his botanical friends.—The grounds upon which his friendships rested—his demeanour in society.—Mr. Roscoe’s domestic character.—Poems addressed to him by his children. CHAPTER XXI.

The history of Mr. Roscoe’s life affords an encouraging picture to all, but especially to those who, like himself, have to contend with the disadvantages arising from the want of education and of fortune. All that he became was the result of his own exertions. Without the assistance of rank, or wealth, or powerful friends, or accomplished instructors, he raised himself to a station in society, and to an eminence in literature, which few persons, with every adventitious aid, have attained. Nor must it be forgotten, that this was accomplished, not so much by means of extraordinary talents, as by energetic and diligent application, and by an ardent desire of rendering himself useful to mankind. In the highest and the best parts of his character he is open to the imitation of all:—in his integrity and sincerity; in his attachment to freedom and truth; in his earnest endeavours to do good; in the purity of his public principles; in the beauty of his private life; and in his serene submission to the will of God.

Much of the respect with which Mr. Roscoe was regarded arose from that consistency, both in principles and in conduct, which, extending over his whole life, gave a harmony and crowning beauty to his character. From the early period of his youth, down to the last days of his declining age, he had been the uniform and earnest advocate of the same principles; applying them in turn to all the most important subjects of human interest. In his writings on politics, on morals, on jurisprudence, and on every other subject where the application of those principles was involved, one and the same spirit was uniformly manifested; a spirit of benevolence, of liberal thought, and of generous confidence in human nature. Throughout every action of his life, the same enlarged views were visible; and never, perhaps, was any man’s course more free from the taint of low or mean motives. This consistency of character resulted from an integrity of heart, which suffered neither his feelings nor his judgment to be biassed by those views of interest or expediency, which often mislead the wise, and sometimes even the good.

It is proper to point out this consistency in right principles and right conduct, as the true source of the high personal reputation which Mr. Roscoe enjoyed; to show, that it was not to the possession of great talents, nor of brilliant qualities, nor to the merit of public services, though to these he had some claim, that he was indebted for the respect and the admiration so generally exhibited towards him, but to qualities which every one possesses, and which, if duly cultivated, will lead to the same results. Genius, learning, and accomplishments, may excite wonder or extort praise; but it is only the higher qualities of consistent integrity and generous benevolence that can secure respect or confer real influence.

In taking even a cursory review of Mr. Roscoe’s life, the striking coherency of his opinions and conduct at every period of it will be visible. In politics his course was truly uniform and undeviating. Never, for a moment, in periods of disaster and of danger, when even brave men hesitated, did he abandon the open assertion of those liberal principles which then marked out their professors, not only to the jealousy of the government, but to public odium. Throughout the whole course of the French war he never ceased to oppose it, in public and in private, in his speeches and in his writings, as unjust, impolitic, and destructive. While he deeply lamented over the excesses of the French revolution, he did not, as many did, abandon the principles and the feelings which had led him to rejoice at its commencement. He knew that the crimes and the wickedness of man could not affect the immutable principles of justice and of freedom. In his attachment to parliamentary reform, which he regarded as necessary to the security of our own free institutions, he was inflexibly constant; and when many of the political friends with whom he had acted, and whose opinions he was accustomed to regard with respect, displayed a coldness on this question, which seemed to portend a total abandonment of it, Mr. Roscoe became but the more warmly interested in its progress. From the age of seventeen, when he wrote his poem of “Mount Pleasant,” to the period of his death, the subject of the Slave Trade had been one of the most unceasing interest to him; and after giving his vote for the abolition, he continued his efforts to procure the abandonment of it by other nations, and the total abolition of slavery in our own colonies. In his adherence to the principles of Protestant dissent, in which he had been educated, and which his judgment approved, he was equally consistent; nor would he ostensibly conform to the Establishment for the acquisition of any personal distinction.

Even in his tastes and favourite occupations, the same spirit of constancy was evinced. That love of literature which was the joy of his youth was also the solace of his age. His attachment to works of art continued at every period of life to afford him pleasure:—the few prints he possessed at the close of his life, and the small collection which he had made in his youth, perhaps, gave him equal gratification. But, in nothing was the enduring nature of his tastes more visible, than in the delight which poetry afforded him in youth, in manhood, and in age; and in the undying sensibility which, to the last, he continued to manifest to its powers.

In friendship, also, the unchangeableness of Mr. Roscoe’s affections was most pleasingly manifested. The friends of his youth were only lost to him in death, and he seemed to inspire in others the same abiding attachment. Nor was it the name only, but the warmth of friendship, which remained; and which was continued to the descendants of the early friends of whom the grave had deprived him.

The reward of consistency is great. Mr. Roscoe lived to see the justice of almost all the leading principles which he had advocated fully acknowledged. He lived to witness the adoption of nearly every measure of importance for which he had laboured, through good report and through evil report. He was permitted to partake of the triumph which the friends of liberty obtained in the abolition of the Slave Trade. He saw the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, and of the laws which disabled the Roman Catholics. He beheld peace restored, and he saw the rise of a better system of things in France. He flattered himself that more correct views on the great subject of Penal Jurisprudence were ex-tending themselves; and, lastly, he survived to witness all but the completion of the grand work of Parliamentary Reform.

Another of the most amiable and striking traits of Mr. Roscoe’s character was, “that spirit of humility and modesty which ought to be inseparable from the consciousness of human imperfection, and which softens the asperities and corrects the pride even of virtue herself.”* During a long life he had occupied, in various ways, a distinguished situation. From being the first person in his family, he had become one of the first amongst his townsmen; his fame was then extended not only in his own country, but to foreign nations, by his literary works. He was, without any solicitation on his part, returned as the representative of his native town to parliament. He had acquired the personal friendship of men celebrated for their station, then character, and their talents. The letters of his correspondents were filled with the most flattering expressions of respect and admiration; and upon all hands he met with a consideration and observance which would have induced many men to exaggerate their own importance. It is an expression of Burke’s, which he makes use of in his will, that, “in his lifetime, he had had too much of noise and compliment.” He felt that the purity

* Life of Pope.

of his character had been sullied by the incense. But such was not the effect of his celebrity upon the pure mind and simple feelings of Mr. Roscoe. A native modesty, which never departed from him, taught him to set a just value on the homage of the world. He knew of how small account all talents are, in themselves, and how little justified we are in priding ourselves upon the possession of that which is only an additional obligation upon us to virtuous exertion. He looked with comparative indifference upon the reputation which he had acquired as an author, but frequently expressed the satisfaction he felt, that, by the principles and spirit of his writings, he might have contributed, in some degree, to the happiness of mankind. He was not, indeed, insensible to that honourable praise, which, after the consciousness of doing good, is the best reward of human labours, but he never, for a moment, permitted the idea of public commendation or blame to influence his actions. He was not devoid of ambition, but it was an ambition purified from dross. He was not ambitious of wealth, or of place, or of power, unless it was the power of doing good. Though he frequently came forwards in public, yet it was from no desire of personal distinction; and so little was he governed by motives of this kind, that, when he was called upon to become a candidate for the representation of Liverpool, there probably was not a person in the town who felt so much surprise as himself at a request so honourable to his character. He did not possess any great desire to become distinguished in public life, feeling that his love of retirement would be ever at war with such a career. His sole ambition was to be the instrument of disseminating amongst mankind the great principles which must eventually lead to their improvement and happiness; and in this cause, so dear to his heart, he has hot, it may be hoped, laboured in vain.

On the love of fame, as influencing the literary character, he has himself made some remarks, in an unpublished work, from which the following passages are extracted:—

“Another passion is excited, and the love of fame becomes the stimulating principle. ‘As life is short,’ says Sallust, in assigning the reasons for undertaking his history, ‘we ought to use our endeavours to prolong our memory as much as is in our power;’ hereby avowing that the motives of his work were concentrated in himself, and that the desire of posthumous reputation prompted him to his undertaking. Gibbon, without denying the influence of this sentiment, has modified it with that of the desire of utility. ‘I would despise an author,’ says he, ‘regardless of the benefit of his readers. I would admire him who, wholly attentive to their utility, should be totally indifferent to his own fame. I stand in neither of these predicaments.’ Again; ‘I ought soon to choose some portion of history which may do me credit, if well treated.’ Nor is the love of fame, considered as a concurrent cause, an unworthy motive of exertion. If the disinterested wish to be eminently useful to others be the mark of a virtuous character, the desire of reputation is that of a great and soaring mind; and it is, perhaps, to the union of these that the world is indebted for the numerous works, in ancient and modern times, which may be regarded as the lights and landmarks of the human race. When, however, the desire of benefiting mankind is absorbed and lost in the passion for celebrity, the most injurious consequences cannot fail to ensue. That predilection for a particular country, which is often veiled under the specious name of patriotism, and that bigotted adherence to a sect which assumes the character of religious zeal, are often the immediate sources of partiality or misrepresentation; but the writer who is actuated by a disinterested desire of rendering service to a party or a cause is yet more respectable than he who feels no interest whatever for the public, but selects a subject which may display his talents to the best advantage, and executes his undertaking in such a manner as seems most conducive, not to the instruction and benefit of others, but to his own fame. Whatever the subject of such a writer may be, he is, in fact, his own hero. At every opportunity he introduces himself, in his own person, to his reader, demands his attention, challenges his approbation, and reminds him of his obligations; striking novelties are substituted for important truths, the ornaments of language for the fidelity of narration; in short, whatever can amuse or allure, whatever may excite surprise or attract approbation, is uniformly preferred to that which may enlighten, inform, and improve.”

In conformity with these principles, it was Mr. Roscoe’s constant endeavour to make his literary powers subservient to the improvement and happiness of his fellow-creatures, regarding the exertion of his talents with satisfaction, only when they contributed to the public good. It was the influence of these feelings which led him to take so much pleasure in the reflection that his writings on the subject of Prison Discipline had not been without effect. “When he learnt,” says Dr. Traill, “from various quarters, that the change which was taking place in the prison discipline of America was, in no small degree, attributed to his expostulations, I heard him repeatedly declare that no literary distinction had afforded him half the gratification he received from the reflection on the part he had taken on this great question; and he expressed his satisfaction that he now might be permitted to think that he had not lived altogether in vain.”*

It was the same spirit which led him (deeply persuaded as he was of the truth and justice of the views which he had taken) to engage in the distasteful labour of political discussion,—to interest himself in the public occurrences of the day, and to devote to controversy the hours which he would gladly have dedicated to the pleasanter pursuits of literature. He has himself, in some lines already given, beautifully expressed these feelings in the prayer,— “That when removed from grief and pain, This fragile form in earth shall lie, Some happier effort may remain To touch one human heart with joy; “One nobler precept to bestow, One kind and generous wish reveal, To bid the breast with virtue glow, To love, to pity, and to feel; “To soothe the ills it cannot cure, The sufferer’s injuries redress; And through life’s varied channels pour The living stream of happiness.”

Another modification of that feeling of benevolence which existed so strong within his breast was his humanity to animals. He practised and he taught to those around him the lesson,— “Never to blend our pleasure or our pride With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels.”

* Dr. Traill’s Memoir.

He has himself related the pain he suffered on witnessing the dying agonies of a bird which he had shot on his first and last fowling excursion; and his “Elegy to Pity,” written in his early youth, displays the same tenderness of feeling:— “Devoid of fear, the fawns around thee play; Emblem of peace, the dove before thee flies; No blood-stain’d traces mark thy blameless way, Beneath thy feet no harmless insect dies.”

Not to have possessed these feelings would, indeed, have been totally at variance with the rest of his character, which was strongly marked with an aversion to cruelty and oppression of every kind. He has noticed, with much commendation, the existence of similar feelings in the breast of Pope*,—“feelings which are, indeed, inseparable from a humane and generous character, and which are founded on a sense of compassion and kindness towards the lower orders of animated being.”—“Of this,” Mr. Roscoe adds, “he gave a decisive proof in an excellent paper in the Guardian of the 21st May, 1713, in which he has endeavoured to inculcate just notions of the relations that subsist between man and the inferior animals, and to rescue them from those persecutions and cruelties to which they are so frequently and so inconsiderately exposed. I cannot think it extravagant,” says he, “to ima-

* Life of Pope, p. 569.

gine that mankind are no less, in proportion, accountable for the ill-use of their dominion over creatures of the lower rank of beings, than for the exercise of tyranny over their own species. The more entirely the inferior creature is submitted to our power, the more answerable we should seem for our mismanagement of it; and the rather, as the very condition of nature renders these creatures incapable of receiving any recompense in another life for their ill-treatment in this.”

The disposition of Mr. Roscoe to assist those who might stand in need of his aid, and the readiness with which, in the midst of his numerous engagements, he was accustomed to listen to such applications, afforded him frequently an opportunity of rendering important services at a small expense of time and attention. His name, also, being very generally known, he was applied to, not only by persons in Liverpool, but in remote parts of the country, soliciting his advice and assistance; sometimes upon matters of literature, and sometimes with regard to their own private affairs.* Many of these requests manifest the great confidence generally felt in his judgment and in his benevolence;—a confidence which his conduct on these occasions proved to be not undeserved.

* See Appendix, No. II.

Of his devotional feelings some idea may be formed from various passages in the preceding narrative. “He had,” says Dr. Traill*, “deep and solemn feelings of devotion, which it was not his practice to obtrude on his acquaintances, but which he occasionally expressed to his intimate friends, in the language of heartfelt piety. The beautiful invocation to the Deity, which he substituted for the intended dedication of his great botanical work, breathes the deep fervour of his adoration to the Supreme Creator.” In nothing did the depth and sincerity of his religious impressions more strikingly manifest themselves than in the patient, uncomplaining submission with which he yielded to calamity. A perfect confidence in the goodness of God supported him through many trials, and enabled him to regard with feelings of cheerful hope the approach of death itself.

The spirit of submission and trust which governed his conduct is expressed in the following letter, written to a lady for whom he entertained a high degree of respect and regard, immediately after the loss of one of her daughters:—

“I was not disappointed in the idea I had formed of the firmness with which you would sustain the heavy loss with which you have been afflicted, because, I knew, that such firmness

* See Dr. Traill’s Memoir.

was not a mere effort of human strength, but was founded on that humility and submission to the will of God, which is the result of a thorough confidence in all His dispensations. Under this impression we cannot but perceive, that His goodness is as great, although not so apparent, in what He takes away as in what He gives; in what He denies to our wishes, as in what He grants; and although it certainly requires an effort to act upon these convictions at the moment when calamity falls upon us, yet we may be assured, that every event that occurs, if rightly used and improved by us, is only a part of that great moral process which is intended to exalt our character, and improve our capacity for happiness in a better state.”

At an early age he had diligently and seriously studied the Sacred Writings, and had collected from them, as the rule of life, the moral precepts of Jesus Christ. Towards the close of his life he began to revise this youthful effort, and had his health permitted him, it is probable that he would have prepared it for the press. The result of these enquiries may be stated in his own words:—“The belief in Christ and in Christianity, so strongly and uniformly inculcated in the Holy Scriptures, is not the embracing or holding a particular doctrine, but a belief which results in action, which evinces itself in all the relations and concerns of life, which induces us to follow the precepts and imitate the example of Christ, which is not a mere vain and empty pretension to superior wisdom, knowledge, or power, but which humbly seeks to discover what are the duties we have to perform.”

In the year 1820, a lady of Liverpool, with whom he had little personal acquaintance, presented to him a copy of the Bible, accompanied by a letter expressing her respect for his character, and her concern for his spiritual welfare. His reply will give some idea of his opinions on religious subjects.

“On my return home, after an absence of four months, I found the copy of the Holy Bible, which you have been so good as to present to me, and which is rendered still more acceptable by the expression of friendly regard by which it is accompanied. In thus availing myself of your kindness, you will not, I am sure, suppose that I have remained till this late period of my life unacquainted with its contents. The recommendations in your letter were impressed on my mind in my earliest days, and I sincerely join in the opinion of Sir W. Jones, and yourself, in the character he has given of the sacred writings.

“Allow me to add, that I have, on more occasions than one, borne my humble testimony to their excellence, and have endeavoured, as far as it lay in my power, to prevent their remaining a dead letter, by calling the precepts of the New Testament into practical use, and introducing their sublime principles and humane spirit into the institutions of civil society. If you will do me the favour to peruse the concluding pages of a tract which I published in 1819, entitled ‘Observations on Penal Jurisprudence and the Reformation of Criminals,’ you will find a specimen of those efforts to which I have ventured to allude.

“The same sentiments which I have myself imbibed have descended to my children, and will, I trust, produce richer fruits. May I hope you will perceive some earnest of this in the little volume by which this is accompanied, the production of my younger daughter, expressing those religious sentiments and feelings, which, I hope, you will yourself approve.”

His devotional feelings were, at every period of his life, occasionally poured forth in the language of poetry; and the depth and purity of those feelings are sensibly manifested in the following hymn, written in his early youth, and displaying perhaps a too sensitive consciousness of his own imperfections. Many of his other devotional pieces are already before the public.

HYMN. Heavenly Father! in whose sight Darkness flashes into light, Gracious, from thy throne on high Cast on me a pitying eye: See my soul in anguish tost, Lost to peace, to virtue lost, Struggling with its weighty chain, Struggling ever, but in vain; As some wretch, the tempest o’er, Labours to regain the shore, So, my God, my spirit tries From the sea of vice to rise. Still my powers are weak to save, Still pursues some stronger wave, And, with a resistless sweep, ’Whelms me in the foaming deep. Long, the dupe of human pride, Have I on myself relied; Long sustain’d th’ unequal strife That defended more than life; By such weak allies betray’d, Now no more I trust their aid, But to safer refuge flee, Resting all my hopes on Thee. God of love! my faults forgive, Bid me hope, and bid me live; Let some dawn of light control This long darkness of the soul; From the temple of my heart Bid each grovelling thought depart, And to guard its peace supply Steadfast faith and holy joy: Meek repentance, in whose eyes Tears of true contrition rise; Gratitude, whose hands are prest Duteous on her feeling breast; These shall in Thy sacred way Guide my feet, long prone to stray, Till, each meaner passion o’er, I may tempt thy frown no more; Nor, of youth and vigour vain, Sow in sin to reap in pain. Swiftly fly the rolling year! Till that happier morn appear That my noblest hopes shall see Centred, O my God! in Thee!— That shall teach my thoughts to rise O’er the world and all its joys; Bend obedient to thy laws; Feel the worth of self-applause; Nobly scorn each meaner care, And in conscious virtue dare All that comes in misery’s train, Sickness, poverty, and pain, Heedless of the hour of fate, And prepared for either state.

On the subject of freedom in matters of religious opinion he has expressed his sentiments in a letter to the Rev. Dr. Butler, thanking him for a copy of his installation sermon. “The assertion and defence of truth,” he says, “is incumbent upon every one, and particularly upon every teacher of religion; but there is one truth, paramount to all the rest, which is the very basis of religious enquiry, without which all discussion is absurd, viz. that every person, in his spiritual concerns, has a right to adopt such opinions as appear to him to be right. This being previously understood, a free and useful discussion may take place; but, until this foundation be once established, nothing but confusion and dissension can ensue. You, my dear sir, would concede this liberty as freely as you would claim it, and your liberal sermon does much towards recommending and enforcing it; but, after all, it is much to be feared that these sentiments are rather those of the individual than of the body; and that neither Luther, nor any of the churches founded under his sanction, tolerate, in the full and fair meaning of the word, any opinions but their own.”

It was in his political opinions, more especially, that the character of Mr. Roscoe developed itself. Those opinions were founded upon the principles of truth, justice, and generosity. Rejecting altogether the narrow and mistaken doctrines by which statesmen have suffered themselves to be governed, he applied to the intercourse of states, and to the government of nations, those rules of morality and those maxims of honour, integrity, and good faith, upon which the safety and happiness of individuals depend. He deprecated the policy which seeks to exalt one nation at the expense of another, and he resolutely resisted that system of government which aims at benefiting a portion of the community, to the exclusion of the rest. He ab-horred the adoption of bad means under the pretext of obtaining a good end, well knowing that an abandonment of the great rules of virtue and morality is poorly compensated by any temporary advantage. He has truly said, “No end can justify the sacrifice of a principle, nor was a crime ever necessary in the course of human affairs. The sudden burst of vindictive passion may sometimes occasion important changes in the fate of nations; but the event is seldom within the limits of human calculation. It is only the calm energy of reason, constantly bearing up against the encroachments of power, that can with certainty perpetuate the freedom or promote the happiness of the human race.”*

He had a lofty and generous confidence in human nature, which led him to believe that mankind might be best governed through their judgment and their affections, and that the dominion founded upon force, or fear, or fraud, was at once unstable and noxious. Integrity of purpose, and a sincere desire to do good, were, he well knew, the true bonds which unite a government to the people. He felt the same trust in the character of nations. “What,” he asks, “would be the condition of private society, if envy, jealousy, fear, distrust, and hatred, were the only feelings by which mankind were actu-

* Life of Lorenzo, vol. ii. p. 305., last edition.

ated? But still more unfortunate is it when these dreadful and unsocial passions are intermingled in the character of nations, and influence the conduct of states towards each other.”

His great desire was to witness the removal of those restraints upon the freedom of thought and action which subject one set of men to the caprice, the ignorance, and the malice of another. He therefore opposed, to the utmost of his power, the continuance of negro slavery, the disabilities imposed on the ground of religious opinions, and the injurious restrictions by which the commerce of this country has so long been crippled. To the complete removal of these evils, and to the establishment of a truly patriotic government, he clearly saw that a reform in the representation of the people was essential; and to this, as to the instrument of great and beneficial changes, he was ever anxious to lend his assistance. But, while the country was struggling with a sanguinary and expensive war, he well knew that it was in vain to look for political improvement, and he therefore devoted all the energies of his mind to the cause of peace. Of the effect produced by his political writings, it is difficult to form an opinion; but from the popularity of some of his pamphlets, it is not unreasonable to conclude that his arguments were not without their influence on the state of public opinion.

The strong political feelings with which the mind of Mr. Roscoe was often excited were not unfrequently expressed in verse. Of these poems several specimens have been given in the preceding pages, and the following lines are now added, written at an early period of his life:—

ON READING SOME LINES IN WHICH THE CHARACTER OF OLIVER CROMWELL WAS GROSSLY ABUSED, AND THAT OF CHARLES I. HIGHLY COMMENDED. Hired slave of greatness! servile tool of state! Thy bosom labouring with thy country’s hate! Whose tongue would lick the dust where tyrants trod! And, whilst thou felt the power, would’st kiss the rod! The abject friend of Stuart’s perjured line, And the mean advocate of right divine! Go, fawning wretch! from Albion’s freeborn land; Go, seek, with trembling steps, some southern strand, Where kneeling slaves around their sovereign wait, His smile their transport, and his fury fate; Where freedom from the nerveless clime is flown, And the dear name of property unknown; Where love connubial dreads a tyrant’s lust, And man, a reptile, grovels in the dust. There, in thy native clime, thy toils pursue, And bind with weightier chains the patient crew; Teach them that Heaven, in wrath to man, design’d That one should reign, the lord of all his kind; That God for him the feast of nature spread, And screen’d from justice his anointed head. Soon shall thy various merits stand confest, Thou the first minion of the tyrant’s breast; Till one, more mean, if any such can be, Shall snatch the golden meed design’d for thee; And thou, dependent on thy master’s breath, Shalt from the bowstring meet a silent death. O glorious day! O heaven-directed hour! When injured justice crush’d the pride of power, Spurn’d the thin covering of exterior things, And dared to punish perjury in kings; Taught sceptred pride in nearer view to scan The rights of nature, and the claims of man; Bade earth’s proud Tyrants dread their Country’s hate, And fix’d the base of England’s future state.

The acquaintance of Mr. Roscoe with the classical languages was made entirely without instruction from others. Early in life he acquired a knowledge of the Latin language, and had rendered himself familiar with its best writers. Of these Horace and Cicero were his peculiar favourites. Nearly at the same period his attention was directed, by Dr. Aikin, to the study of the Italian poets, who, on the revival of learning, almost rivalled their great models in the beauty of their Latin verse. Although Mr. Roscoe cannot be said to have acquired that refined and critical knowledge of the language, to which in this country so large a portion of time is devoted, or rather sacrificed, he was yet fully capable of tasting and appreciating the higher excellencies of style, as his selections from, and observations upon, the writings of the modern Latin poets sufficiently demonstrate.

With the Greek language Mr. Roscoe did not become acquainted until the middle period of life, when for some time he studied it with much diligence. In this task also he received no as-sistance, relying entirely on his own method of study. More important avocations prevented him from pursuing these agreeable labours to the extent he desired, and it was only during the interval which elapsed between his relinquishment of business in 1796, and his return to it in 1799, that he was enabled to devote any considerable portion of his leisure time to this object. The language itself had excited his high admiration, and he often adverted with pleasure to the time he had spent in acquiring it. Of his proficiency in it he thus speaks in the following passage, intended to form part of a letter to Dr. Parr:—

“To the abstruser parts of learning, and particularly to the nicer distinctions of the Greek language, I have no pretensions. I have not, indeed, lamented, like Petrarca, over the books of Homer, which remained silent to his ardent entreaties, but my acquaintance with them has been a sort of illicit intercourse, uncontrolled by system, and unsanctioned by authority. Αυτο-διδακτος, and consequently ill taught, it has been my lot to pursue the same system to the present day, and I may say with the philosopher—γεραςχω δάει πολλα διδαςκομενος.”

His acquaintance with the modern languages was confined to the French and the Italian. In the former he conversed with considerable fluency, and of the latter he had acquired an ex-tensive and critical knowledge. The letters which he occasionally addressed, in that language, to his correspondents in Italy, from which a few specimens have been selected, will give an idea of the spirit and elegance with which he was able to express himself. It would, indeed, have been surprising if, after his long and laborious study of the best writers of Italy, he had not imbibed, in some degree, their genius and their taste. Of his intimate acquaintance with the literature of that country, and more especially of that splendid portion of it which he illustrated by his writings, it is unnecessary to speak. The general estimation in which those works are held, both at home and abroad, bears ample testimony to their merits.

It was chiefly in the earlier part of his life that English literature engaged his attention. With the works of the poets he was particularly conversant; and his memory was stored with many of the most beautiful passages from their writings. Among the elder poets, Chaucer, Shakspeare, and Milton held, in his estimation, their deserved and pre-eminent place. But the writer to whose works he recurred with most pleasure was Pope; whose genius he has vindicated in the dissertation prefixed to the second volume of his Works. Shenstone was the favourite of his youth, and in later life Cowper won his warm admiration. Amongst the poets of his own day, he was most forcibly struck with the genius of Byron. The poetry of Scott did not interest him greatly; and he did not concur with those who extol so highly the poetical productions of Wordsworth and of Southey. But with one of the writers of the same school he was much delighted; and the “Isle of Palms” was one of his most favourite poems. No writer of modern times affected his feelings more powerfully than Mrs. Hemans. He possessed the rare talent of giving full effect, in reading, to the works of the poets whom he admired.

His general knowledge of botany was more extensive than, considering the great attention which he bestowed upon one particular order of plants, he might be supposed to have possessed. His study of the science had commenced at a very early age, and it never ceased to be the recreation of his leisure hours. He had diligently studied the best botanical works, many of which his library contained; and he frequently figured plants with great freedom and truth, though not with the finished pencil of an artist. Sir James Smith, on his first introduction to him, expressed his surprise at finding him “so good a practical botanist;” and afterwards approved of and adopted his views in the arrangement of the Scitamineæ.*

* “Mr. Roscoe, in a most excellent paper to the Linnæan Society, first led the way to a true knowledge of the genera

Like his friend, the illustrious President of the Linnæan Society, he, too, was an ardent disciple of the great Swede, “and defended the Linnæan fortress as stoutly as he could.”*

He was also attached to other branches of natural history, but had never devoted much study to them, with the exception of conchology, to which, as appears from some of his papers, he had at one time paid considerable attention.

The attachment of Mr. Roscoe to works of art contributed greatly to his happiness. When fatigued with business, and with the literary employments which generally succeeded to the engagements of the day, he was accustomed to amuse his mind with turning over the leaves of his portfolios,—an occupation which always seemed to beguile his fatigue, and to revive his spirits. His knowledge of art was considerable. In his collections he endeavoured, not merely to bring together beautiful specimens of the pencil or the graver, but to form materials for illustrating the rise and progress of the various branches of art, and thus to form, as it were, a school of art, in which its history might be studied with pleasure and advantage. He freely

of these difficult plants.”—Sir J. E. Smith to the Rev. Dr. Goodenough. “Life of Sir J. Smith,” vol. i. p. 555.

* Ibid. vol. ii. p. 261.

and gladly threw open his collections, not only for the amusement of his friends, but also for the improvement of the young artists who were desirous of studying the works of the great masters, and who constantly found in him a zealous and steady friend.

The love which he felt himself for intellectual pursuits he delighted to communicate to others; and nothing afforded him higher pleasure than to assist in the establishment of the various literary and scientific institutions, which have, in the course of the last forty years, been founded at Liverpool and in other places. The part which he was known to have taken on these occasions produced many applications to him from quarters where similar institutions were projected, and he thus enjoyed opportunities of extending his usefulness, of which he gladly took advantage. His correspondence on these subjects was not confined to England. The founders of the Botanic Garden at Philadelphia were indebted to him for the plan upon which they proceeded to form their establishment. “With the information which you have had the goodness to give me,” says Mr. Short, an American gentleman, “and which I communicated to one or two friends, and particularly to Dr. Barton, our most able botanist, we determined to make an attempt at Philadelphia, towards what you had so happily effected at Liverpool. I made use of your name and your example to inspire the greater confidence of success in the undertaking, and should it ultimately meet with the necessary support, and be carried into execution, I am persuaded it will owe so much to this circumstance, that you will have a right, Sir, to consider yourself as one of the founders of the establishment.”

Similar services were rendered by him in the founding of the Hull Botanic Garden. On this subject he entered into a correspondence with Mr. Spence, of Drypool, who, in a letter dated 13th August, 1811, thus notices the assistance derived from Mr. Roscoe’s suggestions:—

“I feel very much indeed indebted to you for your polite attention to my request. I had the pleasure of reading the letter with which you honoured me to a general meeting of the subscribers to our proposed Botanic Garden (Dr. Alderson in the chair), which took place on Friday last, when a vote of thanks to you for your valuable information and friendly offers of assistance was unanimously passed, which I was commissioned to communicate on behalf of the meeting. Your encouragement to proceed, though on a smaller scale than at Liverpool, was of no small service to our cause. Coming from such authority, it at once silenced the few who were disposed to throw cold water on the project, with the plausible objection of the impossibility of our raising any thing like your funds, and, in consequence, the business of the meeting proceeded with great spirit and unanimity.”

The most valuable quality of Mr. Roscoe’s mind was the rare and inestimable faculty of generalisation—the power of applying great principles, on a large scale, to all the most important transactions of life. Following out all the leading truths of religion, of morals, and of politics, to their ultimate results, he was able to detect the errors of those who have shaped their schemes of human conduct upon more narrow and confined views. Yet, in upholding only that which was strictly correct in principle, he never abandoned the expedient, being well convinced that Providence has not disjoined the useful from the good, and that the true interests of man can never be served by a deviation from rectitude. These views guided him in safety through every difficulty, giving strength and confidence to all his opinions; and it is from the exhibition of the same principles that his life and his writings must derive their real value.

In reviewing Mr. Roscoe’s literary character, it is impossible not to be struck with the sum of exertion which it displays. With the exception of the last few years of it, and of the interval between his abandoning the profession of an attorney, and becoming a partner in the bank, he was incessantly engaged in the management of an extensive and laborious business, which occupied the whole of his mornings, and frequently of his evenings also. The only time, therefore, which it was in his power to devote to literature, were the evenings not required by his business, and those vacant spaces of time which occur in the course of the busiest day, and which are so often wasted, even by the diligent. By the careful and unremitting use of the leisure thus obtained, he accomplished those extensive literary tasks, which, by common observers, might be supposed to have required the labour of a life. To this industry was added a singular energy of character, which increased in proportion to the calls upon him for exertion, and which seemed unaccountable even to himself. “I know not how it is,” he says in a letter to Sir James Smith, “I can never accomplish any thing unless I have a great many other things that call for my attention at the same time, when I am as diligent in what I am about as obstinacy and perseverance can make me. Whether this arises from an attachment one acquires for a particular subject, or from a perversity of disposition, which delights to be employed in any thing but what it ought to be, I shall not venture to determine.” Other persons would have concluded that it arose from that energy which is only roused and inspirited by circumstances which would depress other minds, and is not fully put into action unless under the pressure of difficulties.

The same spirit must be regarded as the instrument of all that he accomplished in other ways; of his continued and resolute exertions in attempting to inculcate his own political opinions, of his constant endeavours to promote education and liberal institutions in his native town, of his ardent labours in penal jurisprudence, of his eager pursuit of botanical science. Each of these objects he prosecuted with a zeal which seemed to engross his whole mind, and by its very ardour to promise success. This active employment of his energies had become so habitual to him, that, instead of being inimical, it appeared to him to be necessary to his health and life. “I rejoice,” he says in a letter written in 1826, “in the disposition you feel for the continuation of your labours, it being a strong impression upon my mind, that nothing is more conducive to life and health, than some employment which calls for our continued attention, and prevents a moment from being irksome on our hands. For my own part, I feel as if my existence were twined round my employments, and that, when those have finished, I shall have finished too.” The latter years of his life verified this sentiment; when released from his literary engagements, he still found employments which occupied and delighted his mind to the last.

It is the advice of the Abbé Maury, that in relating the history of an eminent man, the writer should add to the interest of his narrative “by surrounding the subject of it with his contemporaries.” Few persons have been more highly favoured than Mr. Roscoe in the possession of a numerous body of intelligent and attached friends, many of whose names have been mentioned in the course of the present narrative. Yet it may not, perhaps, be uninteresting to present in this place a more connected view of those amicable associations, which, while they added so greatly to the happiness of his life, enabled him, at the same time, to perform much, that, unassisted and alone, he could never have accomplished. How sincerely he valued the pleasures of friendship the whole tenor of his correspondence shows; and he has himself expressed this feeling in the following passage of a letter, written, in the decline of life, to Sir James Smith:—“Above all, I delight to preserve and cultivate those feelings of friendship and affection which have been the charm and happiness of my life, and few of which have returned me so ample a harvest as those in which I am at present employed.”

In his early youth he was particularly fortunate in the selection of companions whose tastes and acquirements led him to the cultivation of those intellectual pursuits by which, in his after life, he became so much distinguished. In the society of Francis Holden, of William Clarke, of Robert Rigby, and of the other youthful friends with whom the leisure hours of his early days were passed, he acquired that relish for literary pursuits, which neither the discipline of schools, nor the exhortations of the learned can confer. In their society also he sought and found the pleasures which natural scenery inspires; and their morning studies and evening walks present a pleasing picture of the manner in which their vacant time was employed.

As he grew into manhood, additional friendships were formed, distinguished, no less than those of his youth, by the strength of their ties and the worth of their objects. That mutual interchange of opinion, and that association of mental powers, which had before been directed to individual improvement, had now a higher aim, and Mr. Roscoe and his friends, in maturer life, united their efforts to promote the public good. Amongst those whom he more particularly regarded as his associates in these labours, were Mr. Rathbone, Dr. Currie, and the Rev. William Shepherd; to these names may be added that of the late Edward Rushton, a man of high moral qualities, of great intellectual endowments, and of the most inflexible strength of principle. In conjunction with these excellent persons he concerted and carried into execution his plans for disseminating, in the community amongst whom he lived, right sentiments upon all questions of public interest; and for opposing the frequent attempts made to mislead the people, by those whose interests or whose prejudices were hostile to the general good. No meeting upon any subject of public importance was held in Liverpool, at which these faithful supporters of the people’s cause did not appear, to advocate the interests of the many against those of the few. Nor was it only when the principles of freedom and of a liberal and enlarged policy were popular with the crowd, that they stood forward in their support: upon more than one occasion they maintained the cause of the people’s happiness against the voice of the people themselves.

In the promotion of institutions of public utility in his native town, Mr. Roscoe acted not only in conjunction with his own personal friends, but gladly co-operated with all who were willing to lend their assistance. On these occasions he never suffered party feelings to prevent him from combining his efforts with those of others; and all the most useful institutions of the town have been erected by the zeal and resources of individuals of the most varied political sentiments.

As his character became more generally known, the number of his political friends was much extended; and he had the happiness to secure the regard of some of the most estimable and distinguished persons of his day. With the late Marquis of Lansdowne he enjoyed a long and very confidential correspondence on political subjects. With the Duke of Gloucester he corresponded, not only on the subject of the slave trade and the abolition of slavery, but upon various questions of public interest. He was in the habit also of communicating upon political subjects with Lord Holland, Lord Erskine, Sir Samuel Romilly, Mr. Brougham, Mr. Whitbread, Sir James Mackintosh, Mr. William Smith, Sir Philip Francis, and many others of the active supporters of liberal principles in both houses of parliament. If amongst these excellent persons there was any one for whom he entertained a superior respect and a higher esteem, it was Mr. Whitbread, whose principles seemed to accord more nearly with his own than those of any other of his friends. Though he had been personally introduced to Mr. Fox, he had unfortunately no opportunity of cultivating the friendship of that consummate statesman. Had such an opportunity been afforded, there can be little doubt that the character of Mr. Roscoe would have won the warm and lasting esteem of Mr. Fox.

The exertions of Mr. Roscoe in the abolition of the slave trade, in the reformation of crimi-nals, and in other philanthropic objects, procured him a new band of friends. Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Clarkson, Mr. William Allen, Mr. Macaulay, and Mr. Basil Montagu were connected with him by this bond. In the decline of life he acquired the friendship of many excellent persons in the United States, by his writings on prison discipline, and by the deep interest he displayed in the progress of the penitentiary system in America.

But it was to his literary character that Mr. Roscoe owed the greatest number of his friends. Having first admired him as an author, they afterwards learned to love him as a man.* To enumerate all the friends whom his literary reputation created would be to name nearly all the most distinguished men of his day.

Of his extensive correspondence on literary subjects, it is impossible in the present narrative to give any thing like an adequate idea. It includes the names of Lord Orford, Lord Carlisle, Lord Holland, Rogers, Campbell, Sotheby,

* “An innate love of sincerity and truth; simplicity combined with a playful vivacity, yet suavity of manners; a generous belief in the integrity of others, the consequence of his own rectitude of purpose; an anxiety to do justice to the merits of others; a liberal and judicious patronage of modest talent struggling to escape from obscurity, joined to a natural cheerfulness of disposition; all united to convert into devoted and enthusiastic admirers those who first sought his friendship from his literary reputation.”—Dr. Traill’s Memoir.

Montgomery, Professor Wilson, Hogg, Charles Lloyd, Hector Macneill, the Rev. James Graham, Mr. Bernard Barton, Dr. Symmons, Dr. Parr, Dr. Aikin, Charles Butler, Dr. Dibdin, the Rev. W. P. Greswell; Miss Aikin, Miss Edgeworth, Mrs. Barbauld, Mrs. Wolstoncraft, and many others.*

One person there was, who, in the latter part of Mr. Roscoe’s life, may almost be said to have stood alone in his regard, and his attachment for whom partook of all the enthusiasm which distinguishes youthful affection. The character of Mr. Coke was no sooner known to him than it won his warmest admiration. His sincerity and manly frankness, his ardent love of liberty, the consistent tenor of his long public life, his attachment to agricultural pursuits, his open hospitality, and his truly friendly heart, were qualities which could not fail to attract Mr. Roscoe’s regard. He seldom spoke of him

* To Sir Walter Scott Mr. Roscoe was, unfortunately, only known by a short but very interesting interview, in the year 1823, at the house of Mr. Thomas Campbell. He was much struck with the appearance and animated conversation of that celebrated man, and often recurred with pleasure to the circumstance of their meeting. With Mr. Southey, Mr. Wordsworth, and Mr. Coleridge, his acquaintance was imperfect, nor was it kept up by letter. Jeremy Bentham was one of the few very distinguished men with whom Mr. Roscoe was not so fortunate as to have had any intercourse.

without some epithet demonstrative of his respect and affection; and the long labour which he underwent in arranging and cataloguing the Holkham manuscripts, became a source of the highest pleasure to him, from the consciousness that he was serving and gratifying the friend whom he loved. These feelings of affection and respect were warmly returned on the part of Mr. Coke, who neglected no opportunity of manifesting his regard for Mr. Roscoe, and who conferred upon him obligations of no ordinary nature.

The constant resort of intelligent foreigners to the house of Mr. Roscoe was a striking testimony to the estimation in which his character was held abroad, and afforded him many opportunities, by the friendships which these casual visits often created, of extending, in other lands, the influence of his principles and opinions. Men of science and of letters, from Italy, from Germany*, and from France, seldom visited the

* “An Englishman would not readily forgive me, if, when speaking of Liverpool, I were to pass over altogether in silence the banker William Roscoe. His histories of ‘Lorenzo de’ Medici’ and of ‘Pope Leo X.’ have procured him general consideration in the British empire. In Liverpool he is distinguished as the patriot and the man of taste. A stranger who has an introduction to him may certainly esteem himself very fortunate; but the polite hospitalities of the merchants of Liverpool gave me but too few opportunities of

northern parts of England without bearing with them an introduction to him; nor did he hesitate, on these occasions, to devote a portion of his valuable time to their service, promoting, to the utmost of his power, the objects of their visit. Still more numerous were the introductions which were brought to him by travellers from the United States, with a great number of whom he afterwards maintained a friendly correspondence. Amongst those to whom he thus became personally known, were President Monroe, Dr. Channing, Mr. Jared Sparks, Mr. Verplanck, Judge Jackson, the Rev. W. P. Greenwood, Professor Norton, Dr. Kirkland, Professor Silliman, Mr. Everett, Mr. Christopher Hughes, Mr. Audubon, the late Bishop Hobart, and others.

In addition to these there were many distinguished foreigners, with whom Mr. Roscoe’s intercourse was only by letter. With the principal scholars of Italy he thus maintained an occasional communication; and amongst his correspondents in that country are to be found the learned names of Fabroni, Bandini, Morelli, Moreni, Bossi, Mecherini, and others. But the person whose correspondence he most highly esteemed,

availing myself of the kind invitations of this excellent man.”—P. A. Nemnich’s Neueste Reise dutch England, Schottland, und Ireland. Tubingen. 1807.

and with whom he regarded it as an honour to communicate, was M. La Fayette. His other correspondents in France were not numerous.

His attachment to botany and to agricultural pursuits procured him the friendship of Sir James Edward Smith, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir John Sinclair, Dr. Wallich, Dr. Carey of Calcutta, Dr. Maton, Dr. Hooker, the Hon. W. Herbert, Lord Mountnorris, Mr. Colebrooke, Mr. Lambert, and other scientific persons. It would be unjust to omit in this place the name of Mr. John Shepherd, the excellent and intelligent curator of the Botanical Garden at Liverpool, in whose agreeable society Mr. Roscoe took great pleasure, and who was indefatigable in assisting him in his botanical pursuits. To Mr. Henry Shepherd, also, the sub-curator of the same establishment, he was under great obligations, for the friendly services rendered by him in the publication of the Monandrian plants.

As the friendship of the distinguished and exalted persons whose regard he had won, was acquired by no unworthy arts or mean compliances, so it was never made use of by Mr. Roscoe for any sordid or selfish ends. From the rank, the wealth, or the influence of his friends, he never looked for benefits either to himself or his family; but, on the contrary, he scrupulously refrained from taking advantage of those oppor-tunities of personal advancement, which his situation and connections not unfrequently afforded him. He found the reward of this disinterested spirit in the confidence which marked the intercourse of his friends, in the absence of all feeling of constraint from obligations received or desired, and in the generous consciousness that his views and aims rendered him not unworthy of the friendship which he cultivated.

In society Mr. Roscoe displayed a cheerfulness and vivacity, which, coupled with the courtesy of his manners, rendered his conversation very generally acceptable. He expressed himself with much force and fluency, and entered with eagerness into the passing topics of the day, as well as into those graver discussions in which he felt so sincere an interest. Though he frequently took a prominent and decided part in conversation, it was not the result of an exaggerated idea of his self-consequence, but the effect of that natural ardour which distinguished him on all occasions. The benevolence of his heart led him to treat with kindness and observance the feelings of all; and the humblest person in company received, in proportion to his claims, the same courtesy and deference as the most distinguished. It was this spirit of social impartiality and justice, which rendered him so popular in society; and which left so pleasing an impression upon the minds of those with whom he associated. The simplicity which characterised his mind distinguished his manners also; and there have probably been few persons of any celebrity, in whose demeanour less consciousness of their station appeared.

The picture of Mr. Roscoe’s life would be very imperfect, unless it represented him as he appeared in the society of his family, and in the numerous endearing relations of private life; and yet, when that picture is traced by one whose chief happiness was derived from these sources, it will be difficult to persuade others that it has not been overcoloured. Of his character as a husband something has already been said;—of his never-failing affection and goodness to his children, none but those children can judge; and to such feelings it is difficult to give expression. The attachment, gratitude, and respect, with which every member of his family regarded him, were occasionally manifested in the language which he loved; and some of these memorials of filial attachment are now introduced, to record, however faintly, the feelings which gave birth to them.

The following sonnet was addressed to him by one of his sons, soon after the publication of “Lorenzo de’ Medici:”— SONNET. Stay thy o’ershadowing wings, relentless Time! Nor shade those auburn locks with falling grey, That o’er my father’s frownless forehead stray, Graceful and fair, as in youth’s golden prime. Stay thy rude hand; and he through many a clime Shall teach thee to retrace thy distant way, To the bright regions of historic day; Or he shall charm thee with prophetic rhyme, Swept from the strings of Freedom’s holy lyre; Or call the Muses from the Ausonian land, And with the strains their breathing lips inspire, Win thy cold ear, and check thy ebbing sand! Vain is my prayer!—already o’er my sire Thou, ruthless Power! hast stretch’d thine iron hand.

Mr. Roscoe had adopted, on his seal, the motto of Lorenzo de’ Medici, “Stassi il lauro lieto” with the emblem of the laurel. In allusion to this legend, the following sonnet was addressed to him by another of his sons in the year 1816:— SONNET. Favour’d beyond each tree of field or grove, Glad and for ever green the laurel stands; Not to be pluck’d but by heroic hands, And sacred to the majesty of Jove. No lightning flash may smite it from above, No whirlwinds rend it from its rooted bands; Obedient to their Master’s high commands, They spare the chosen plant he deigns to love. So, ’midst the tumults of this mortal state, Whilst thunders burst around and storms assail, The good man stands with mind and brow serene; In cloud or sunshine still inviolate; Confiding in a trust that cannot fail, A sacred laurel, glad and ever green.

But it was from the pen of one of his daughters that these effusions most freely flowed, and were most warmly welcomed. No anniversary of his birthday passed without its due and accustomed offering from her hand,—that hand which ministered with devoted tenderness to the infirmities of his age. SONNET. Full seventy years, my father, on thy head Have shower’d their aged honours; yet thy sun Is bright and fresh as when it first begun, And on th’ admiring world its influence shed. O! long, and glad, and genial be its light, And calm and blessed be its setting ray; For thou hast in the labour of the day Obey’d thy Master’s call; and in the right Thy voice was ever heard, from youth’s green prime; And foremost was thy bosom in the strife, For all the good that can ennoble life, Against oppression, tyranny, and crime: Yes! freedom, virtue, and the good man’s fame Shall to the world descend with Roscoe’s name.

In his habits Mr. Roscoe was temperate, and was attentive to the regular observance of domestic arrangements. He did not rise unusually early, and the periods he devoted to study were those which remained after concluding the more serious labours of the day. He had no stated times set apart for his studies, which were often carried on in the midst of his family. He was seldom in the habit of intrenching upon the hours devoted to sleep. Even to the latest period of life, he usually enjoyed undisturbed repose. Though never in the possession of robust health, he very seldom suffered from severe illness; and few persons, during a long life, have been more exempt from pain. He was accustomed to take exercise frequently both on foot and on horseback, and felt a particular enjoyment in country occupations. He had few amusements beyond those which his usual employments afforded, or which he derived from the cultivation of his garden, and the contemplation of his prints and drawings. He took no pleasure in field sports, and other similar pursuits. In his youth he had a taste for theatrical performances, but in after-life he seldom entered into public amusements. From music he derived but little pleasure, although he was a great admirer of the works of Handel. To the latest period of his life Mr. Roscoe never disregarded the proprieties of dress and of manners. His personal appearance is thus described by his friend Dr. Traill:—

“In person Mr. Roscoe was tall, and rather slender. In early life he possessed much bodily activity. His hair was light auburn, almost inclining to red; his full grey eye was clear and mild; his face expressive and cheerful. As he advanced in life the benevolent expression of his countenance remained; but the vivacity of the features was tempered into a noble dignity, which it was impossible to see without respect and admiration; while the mouth bespoke taste and feeling, and the clustering hoary hair round his temples gave a venerable air to his manly features.”*

Various representations of him have been given to the public, and others exist in the possession of his family and friends. The portrait prefixed to the first of the present volumes, painted about the year 1791, by Williamson, an artist of considerable ability at Liverpool, presents a very pleasing idea of him at this period of his life, and has been selected to illustrate this work from its not having been before engraved. The profile at the commencement of the second volume is from the medallion executed by John Gibson in the year 1813, and is generally esteemed the best representation of him in later life. Three busts of him, by the same artist, exist: the marble bust already mentioned, executed for Mr. Watson Taylor, and now in the possession of Mr. Joseph Strutt of Derby; the marble bust presented by Gibson to the Liverpool Royal Institution; and a small bust modelled by him previously to his leaving England, from which many casts have been taken. Other busts have also been modelled,

* Dr. Traill’s Memoir.

amongst which those by Spence, an artist of Liverpool, have been considered by many as exhibiting a strong likeness.

About the year 1822 Mr. Roscoe, at the request of his friend Mr. Coke, sat for his portrait to Sir Martin Archer Shee; and the picture, a whole length, now ornaments the Manuscript Library at Holkham. At the solicitation, also, of several of his friends at Liverpool, he was painted by Lonsdale, in the year 1825; and the picture was presented to the Liverpool Royal Institution. From this painting an engraving has been published. Two miniatures of him, by Haughton and Hargreaves,—the former in the possession of Mrs. M’Creery, and the latter of Mr. Coke,—have also been engraved. They represent him a little beyond the middle period of life.

Several notices* of Mr. Roscoe appeared, soon after his death, in the public prints and in various periodical works, of which by far the most interesting and authentic is that published by Dr. Traill, in the Twenty-sixth Number of “The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal,” from which many valuable passages have been extracted in the course of the present work.

* See Appendix, No. III.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

The following notice, on the subject of Mr. Roscoe’s Monument, appeared, shortly after his death, in one of the Liverpool newspapers:—

“THE FIRST NOTICE OF A MONUMENT TO ROSCOE.

“The grave has just closed over the remains of the most distinguished individual among us, and centuries may revolve before this place shall again produce a name so celebrated and illustrious as that of Roscoe. We have loved him; we have honoured him; we have valued his literary fame as our own; we have been proud of the distinction he secured to his native town, not only throughout England, but among nations. The learned of all countries have heard with surprise that Liverpool, once only known for its enormous commercial wealth, and its local and political importance, has given birth to the most distinguished of the historians of Europe; and that, from this great mercantile city, as from a second Florence, have issued works which have shed light upon the most important era in the annals of Italy, and which have illustrated the progress of the arts and of literature throughout all countries and all ages.

“Here he has lived and here he has died: here he commenced his literary labours, and pursued and perfected his historical researches. ‘Whatever his hand found to do’ has been accomplished; he has gone from us in the fulness of his days, and in the unalienated possession of his faculties: decay had touched him gently, had spared the fine qualities of his imagination and his heart; and the poem which he prefixed to the last of his works that issued from the press is marked with all the vigour of the maturity of genius. His long and useful life has been spent among those who loved him and those who honoured him; who would have valued his affectionate disposition, his lofty disinterestedness and independence, his fearless sincerity, and the pure and almost patriarchal simplicity of his character, if they had not been united to a mind capable of the most extensive, the most elevated views, if they had not been combined with the most brilliant literary attainments.

“We possess him no more, a treasure to our hearts and our society; we can no longer show him to our children as one whose name is to live when those of all around him are forgotten; we can no longer present him with pride to strangers of the highest rank and most distinguished celebrity; who were all, of whatever class, or sect, or country, unanimous in their desire to show respect to the moral worth and extended literary reputation of Roscoe.

“He is gone from among us; but let us be the first to offer some tribute to his name; to raise some memorial to the fame which will be awarded to him by the voices of thousands and the suffrages of nations. The meed assigned to his literary celebrity may be safely intrusted to surrounding countries and succeeding generations: let ours be the heartfelt testimony that may be paid by respect and affection; now, while his noble and vener-able image still bends before us, while the gracious and benevolent expression of his features is still present to us, while the remembrance of his mild worth and unassuming excellence is still vividly impressed upon our memories and our hearts.

“Let those, then, who knew him and loved him, assist in raising this memorial; let the humblest of his friends (and who ever had so many amid all classes and conditions among us?) be invited to offer their contributions. Let the erection of this monument be intrusted to one whom he loved, whose early talents he fostered, whose singular and perfect success in one of the noblest of the arts he was so proud to contemplate—to John Gibson; and to whom more efficient or more distinguished could it be assigned, even if he had not been the favourite of Roscoe and the pupil of Canova? if he had not been born in our town, and entitled to claim from us every recompense, every distinction which liberality and munificence can award to genius?

“The remains of our beloved fellow-citizen have been committed to a humble grave: he sleeps reunited to those he loved best in life; and the place of his rest has been assigned to him by feelings of filial love and affection too pure and too sacred to be blended for a moment with any thought of fame or distinction; but it is in the centre of our beautiful cemetery that a memorial of him will be sought by the traveller and stranger; it is near the relics of the most distinguished and lamented of those who rest among us, even near the grave of Huskisson, that must be raised the monument of Roscoe.

“L. “July 15th, 1831.” No. II.

The following letters, selected from a number of others, relating to various applications made to Mr. Roscoe for advice and assistance, are of so original a character, that the perusal of them cannot fail to amuse the reader.

The first letter must excite a feeling of no inconsiderable interest for the fate of the writer:—

“Honoured Sir,

“Knowing you to be a friend to those who are unjustly oppressed, and as a calamity is now threatened me, which will most certainly fall upon me, unless by your timely interference it is warded off, I have flown to you as a sure refuge and protector.

“Without premising further, my trouble is as follows:—It is my misfortune to have a father who is a rigid Roman Catholic. I have also been brought up to the same religion, but I don’t like it. My mother is dead; she was a Protestant. My father has lately discovered I had been to a Protestant church frequently; and he told me, on Thursday evening, for so doing, he would send me on board a man of war; and that he considered he should be doing God a good service by banishing a heretic for ever from his friends and country; that for his part he was so firm, he would die for the Catholic cause.

“O Sir! you are a man of knowledge and experience; and you must know how I am circumstanced from what I have said. I cannot express my trouble to you; for as I have a great desire to signalise myself in trade, and have pryed into that knowledge which is essential to a merchant; and as I am utterly averse to either army or navy, should my father succeed in his design, all my hopes in this world would be for ever blasted.

“I thought he was prompted to say what he did through passion; but I find (though not from himself, for he keeps it secret,) that he was yesterday (Friday) at a rendezvous house, and has actually engaged some of the press-gang to take me by surprise. I must also inform you, that, in consequence of the failure of a mercantile house in this town, I am now out of employment; but I am now engaging with a Portuguese house, in this town, to go out to the Brazils, there to remain, in the capacity of book-keeper.

“O Sir! if you will but protect me from so unjust a doom that I am menaced with, I will constantly offer up my prayers for your happiness.

“I will say no more, but conclude by hoping you will pardon the liberty I have taken; for I have been emboldened through hearing of your many acts of greatness, and which redounds eternal honour to you.

“P. S. Advise me, if you please, how to act.”

Amongst those who solicited his literary advice and assistance, was the writer of the ensuing letter:—

“Kind Sir I take this oportunity of wrighting to you being advised by a Ladey of Liverpool to do so in order to tell you i am a Brittich Sailor that as Lateley arived in England after aving maid moy escaape from the Cost of New Zeland ware i was ten years a prisner and is Most beautifull tatued over the face and bodey, and as wrote a manuscript of every think Consirning the interior of New Zeland, the wars, Mariges, Berings, and the Discriptions of every Animals of Birds Beasts and Reptiles and Menney others of the South Sceas, the Manuscript is valuable and wold make a Book of 200 Pages if wrote by a good Editor being such enformation as Never yet being in print not aving the menes of printing it moy Self i wish to Dispose of it and being advised to wright to you Concerning it i shold wish for you to send me a note wether i must atend at your house or whether you will whait on me at Mr. Calvert’s Exibition in the Market Liverpool where the are exibiting me as a curiosity your obedunt Sirvent

“John Rotherfoot.”

The following letter, displaying rather more scholarship than that of the New Zealand traveller, is no less remarkable in its way:—

“O tu, vir illustrissime, note quamvis mihi fama tantum virtutum, et lectione librorum tuorum, tibi clamo, opem petens ex faucibus averni. Ob trigenta et quinque libras incarceratus pereo. Semper pessimum malorum incarcerationem duxi; semper stabilissimâ mente statui, propriâ me manu ab isto malo, si unquam mihi accederit, memet liberaturum.”—“Tametsi re angustissimâ domi a primâ pueritia implicitus, ad doctrinam nihilominus haud vulgarem αυτοδιδακτος perveni. Semper cum fortunâ bellum gessi, internecionem vereor, et illa victoriâ evadet. Pater meus mortutis est—mater superstes, cujus solas sum ego divitiæ, sola voluptas, sola spes. Si ipse iti carcere maneam, illa morietur. Sed non manebo. Ipse, ipse me solvam, omni alio deficiente auxilio.”—“Multa pro te facere possum. Codices Græcos, Latinos, Italicos exarabo; libros evolvam; auctoritates colligam. Nihil est quod ferre aut facere recusem, modo ex hac rerum inquinatarum sentina et colluvie me in libertatem vitamque vindices. Nam libertas et vita unum idemque mihi. Responsum tuum, aut vitae aut mortis nuncium certissimum, anxius expecto. O serva me, te obsecro; non vilem animam servaveris.”

Amongst the many singular events in which Mr. Roscoe was called upon to bear a part, was one of great delicacy, the general outline of which may be gathered from the following letter. The young and accomplished lady to whom it was, nearly half a century ago, addressed, was indebted to Mr. Roscoe and his family for services of no ordinary kind, rendered under circumstances of peculiar difficulty:—

“Madam,

“As I have been unexpectedly led to take an interest in your concerns, I trust my addressing a few lines to you will not be thought impertinent. The commission intrusted to me was not a voluntary one on my part, and was only intended to suit the present occasion; but I should think I had ill discharged my duty were I to suffer you to return without endeavouring, as far as in my power, to promote your future happiness. Whatever may be the result, the motive is surely excusable. Though a stranger, I cannot but feel for the peculiarity of your situation; deprived of those relatives who would have been your protection, you have confided your happiness to others. It is a heavy misfortune to be friendless, but a still heavier to mistake an enemy for a friend: that this has been your lot I greatly suspect, and sincerely wish I may be mistaken in the supposition.

“Before I proceed farther give me leave to say, once for all, that your own situation was the sole inducement with me to interfere on your account, and not any recommendation from any person. The commission was not, indeed, personally to me, as I have not the pleasure of your friend’s acquaintance; but I cheerfully accepted it, and am happy it has hitherto been favourable—whatever I can do further on your account I will willingly comply with; but the idea that your friend had the most distant right to expect a compliance with a request of this kind is not pleasing to me, and I have therefore thought it necessary to place this matter in its proper light.

“In some of the short conversations we have had on your concerns, you will possibly have thought my enquiries might proceed from an idle curiosity; but I trust they sprung from a better motive. Was it possible for a man of any feeling to know so much of your history as you have thought proper to intrust me with, and not be deeply interested on your account? With family, with fortune, with accomplishments which promise more than a common share of happiness to their possessor, is it possible to stand by and see them become useless, or, rather, perverted into the means of misery, without one endeavour to prevent it? To be silent on such an occasion would be to become accessary to your ruin. In making an attempt to serve you, I have nothing to fear from any of the parties concerned; but from your prudence and good sense I have much to hope, that the language of truth, though from the pen of a stranger, will not be without its effect.

“I will candidly own my questions were directed to obtain information, whether the unfortunate event we were speaking of was the result of an attachment in which your heart was engaged, or not, and whether it was probable the evil might be speedily remedied by a union with some person whose future attention might in some degree compensate you for the danger and distress you have suffered on his account; but on this point no light was thrown; and possibly, as this was foreign to the business on which we met, you might not think this subject alluded to.

“In what I have to say I must, therefore, proceed on supposition; only leaving it to yourself to apply it, in case any observations I may make should have a reference to your situation.

“Give me leave, then, Madam, to express my wonder and astonishment, that in your rank of life, with your fortune and endowments, any man, whatever his quality might be, who had so far engaged your affections, should have chosen to contribute to your destruction and disgrace, rather than to your true interest and happiness. From what has happened, I am almost authorised to suppose you would have honoured him with your hand. Could he refuse it? Whatever his pretence might be, rest assured he is not only undeserving of your confidence and esteem, but merits your contempt and aversion. Avoid him more than death; for depend upon it you are a sacrifice to his gratification; that instead o being your friend, he is your most unpardonable enemy, and pursues his selfish aims, at the risk of every thing that is dear and honourable to you in life. To see him again would be a circumstance of regret; but, still more, to listen to him, even so far as to give him an opportunity of apology for that which cannot possibly admit of apology, would be a degradation of which I cannot think you capable. Relax from your resolution of eternally discarding him, and you are lost for ever.

“But perhaps your heart may feel an attachment, against which reason and argument are of little avail. Love, it is said, is involuntary. I should, however, suppose (and, as a married man, I may be allowed to have had some experience), that the passion of love at least expects mutuality; and that it must be an un-accountable disposition that could continue to love after unequivocal proofs had been given of the unworthiness of the object. Now, if there be in nature a monster to be avoided and dreaded beyond all others, it is the person who, under the sacred names of love and of friendship, inflicts a wound which he has neither inclination nor ability to heal. To love such a being is not only unaccountable, but preposterous; it is a prostitution of body and of mind which nothing can excuse. To be deceived is sometimes the lot of the wisest and best of mankind; but to remain enchanted by hypocrisy after she has dropped the mask, is a degree of culpability which can only be accounted for by a total extinction of every principle of goodness.

“I should be happy to think that these remarks are not in any degree applicable to your situation. Perhaps your future prospects in life are more favourable than, from want of information, they appear to me; and a short time may place you in a happy and respectable situation with a person deserving your esteem. If that be the case, you will have the goodness to consider this as a well-meant, though mistaken attempt to be serviceable to you in a point of the highest importance.

“Supposing, then, that there is some ground for my apprehensions (without which my letter may be considered as blank paper), give me leave to suggest to you a few considerations which may possibly assist you in your future conduct. That any further connection can subsist between you and the author of your misfortune, whoever he may be, I will not believe. But your unprotected situation, an attention to your character, a regard to your helpless infant, and, perhaps, other considerations, will still require no small degree of prudence and fortitude. In these, however, you have shown you are not deficient; and I am convinced that, by directing them properly, you will surmount your difficulties. What more particularly strikes me is as follows:—

“If the person alluded to be resident in your neighbourhood, assert your own dignity, and immediately end all connection, at whatever risk it may be. Have no apprehension that the real object of your journey here may by these means be known. Your conduct in spurning your deceiver from you will, even in that case, exculpate you from the disgrace in the eyes of the world, and place it where it ought to rest.

“Attach yourself, as much as circumstances will admit, to your relatives and some of the most respectable of your friends; and whilst you remain at your house, never be without their company.

“Make a confidant of some person of worth of your own sex, in whom you can confide; this will be an inexpressible relief to your mind, and will probably preserve you from many dangers.

“Consider whether it would not be more advisable to fix your residence in some large town—as London, or Bath. A country residence cannot be favourable to you. But, above all, let me most earnestly advise you to accept of some of those offers of a connection for life, which, I am convinced, will be made to you. On this head I have only one thing to say. Never live in apprehension that your husband may discover a secret; never entertain the consciousness that you have in any manner misled him. The constant and habitual practice of deception will embitter your life and degrade your mind. An avowal of this transaction before marriage would, I confess, operate differently on different men; but it will be a test of affection, and his love of you and your sincerity will be the best pledges of your future happiness.

“May I be allowed, before I conclude, to request you will call to mind who you are, from whom you are descended, and to whom you are accountable. Possessed, in point of fortune, of whatever you can wish, you are the absolute mistress of your own conduct. Let no person control you till you think proper publicly to authorise him; and consider all attempts to interfere with your property or your actions, as a web spread for your destruction. You had the misfortune of losing your father whilst you were young; you have lately lost a brother, who, had he lived a short time longer, might have been your guardian and protector;—but think! had they been spared to this day, how would their spirits have been roused against the author of your indignity! What they would have felt on such an occasion it is your duty to feel; and be assured, the false step you have taken is yet retrievable, and that there is an immense difference between an unpremeditated error and a wilful continuance in guilt.

“Let me then once more entreat you, Madam, if there be any veneration due to your lost relatives; if there be any respect of family and connections; if there be any thing honourable in female conduct; or any choice between innocence and guilt, lasting happiness or eternal misery,—to exert every power of your mind to disengage yourself from a connection which has already so deeply injured you, and which, if continued, can only prey upon your spirits, injure your health, impair your future hopes, and inevitably expose you to the pity or contempt of those who, with infinitely less advantages in every respect, have either resisted, or not experienced, the dangers to which you have been exposed.

“That a determined resolution of correcting the errors of your present conduct may be a consolation to your mind, and may accompany you, like a good angel, on your long and fatiguing journey; and that God may give you prudence to judge what is for your true happiness, and strength of mind to attain it, is the very sincere wish of, Madam,” &c.

No. III.

The following character of Mr. Roscoe was introduced by the Hon. G. C. Verplanck, of New York, in a lecture delivered by him on the opening of a new institution for the encouragement of literature and science in that city:—

“I cannot refrain from adding to these memorable examples in the two most modern of the sciences, another, of eminence in literature, gained under similar circumstances. It is one that, whilst it illustrates my argument, affords me a most fitting occasion to pay a passing tribute to the memory of a venerable friend, the late William Roscoe of Liverpool. He has long ago received the richer offering of American eulogy. The praise which Washington Irving has bestowed upon him*, as a scholar and a gentleman, must be familiar to most of you. With his accustomed graceful and polished eloquence of style, he has painted Roscoe as having almost created his own mind, springing up and forcing its way through a thousand obstacles; as self-prompted, self-sustained, and almost self-educated; conquering every obstacle, and making his own road to fame and fortune; and, after becoming one of the ornaments of the nation, turning the whole force of his talents and

* Sketch Book.

influence to advance and embellish his native town. He has pointed out ‘his private life as peculiarly worthy the attention of the citizens of our young and busy country, where literature and the elegant arts must grow up side by side with the coarse plants of daily necessity, and must depend for their culture, not on the exclusive devotion of time or wealth, but on hours and seasons snatched from the pursuits of worldly interests, by intelligent and public-spirited individuals.’

“He has alluded to the dignity with which Roscoe sustained the reverses of fortune in his old age, and the solace he then found in the company of those much loved associates, whom his muse has hailed as the ‘teachers of wisdom, chiefs of elder art.’

“To the justice or the beauty of Irving’s eulogy in these regards I could add nothing; but it was my own good fortune to have viewed Roscoe under yet another aspect.

“The circumstance of my having, as a member of the legislature of this state, been officially engaged upon the improvement of the penitentiary system, which subject had attracted much of Mr. Roscoe’s attention, led to the renewal of a slight personal acquaintance that I had formed with him several years before, and to a correspondence that lasted till his death. I can bear testimony to the philanthropic zeal with which he entered into the examination of that and of every question of improvement on this side of the Atlantic; to the warm interest he took in every thing that concerned the cause of civil and religious liberty, of education, and of humanity; to his zeal, his courage, and his unwearied efforts in promoting the success of all of them.

“As teaching by his own example and by his writings the value of a union of commerce with intellectual pursuits; as showing, by his life, how they may be made to harmonise, and benefit each other; as the founder of the Athenæum of Liverpool, upon which this and similar establishments in America were modelled,—we may most justly regard him as one of the fathers of this institution. Such, I am sure, would have been his own feeling toward it. He would have joyed over the advantages that it now affords to the youth of New York, with a truly paternal fondness.

“He died during last summer, at the venerable age of eighty years; retaining to the very last his activity of mind, his love of letters, and his zeal for the service of mankind. His death was mourned, by the intelligent and the good of Great Britain, as a public loss. Upon us, too, his memory has claims. I have therefore thought that this place, and the occasion of opening a course of varied instruction, before a commercial audience of New York, demanded this public tribute to the talents and worth of William Roscoe.”

THE END. London: Printed by A. Spottiswoode, New-Street-Square.