| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 43 |
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
| 44 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
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
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 45 |
“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,
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“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
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 47 |
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
| 48 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
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:—
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 49 |
“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
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“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.” |
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 51 |
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
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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
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 53 |
The next letter communicates the account of Mrs. Wilson’s death.
“It is now my painful office to give you the
| 54 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“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-
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 55 |
“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
| 56 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“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
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 57 |
“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
| 58 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“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
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 59 |
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
| 60 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
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,
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 61 |
“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
| 62 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“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.
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 63 |
“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 |
| 64 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
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. |
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 65 |
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
| 66 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
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:—
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 67 |
“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.” |
| 68 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
“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.”
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 69 |
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
| 70 | LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. |
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,
| LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE. | 71 |
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.
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