OpenLLM-France/wikimedia huggingface dataset:
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parsons, Eliza

​PARSONS, Mrs. ELIZA (d. 1811), novelist and dramatist, was the only daughter of a wine merchant of Plymouth named Phelp. At an early age she married Mr. Parsons, a turpentine merchant of Stonehouse, near Plymouth. In consequence of losses in business caused by the American war, Parsons moved to London, where, at a house near Bow Bridge, formerly known as the Bow China House, he built warehouses and workmen's dwellings, and for three years had every prospect of success. In 1782, however, his property was destroyed by fire, and it is said that only Mrs. Parsons's presence of mind saved the whole of Bow from destruction. She courageously ordered the workmen's houses to be pulled down, and thus the spreading of the fire was prevented. Parsons was thereupon obliged to relinquish business, and obtained an appointment in the lord-chamberlain's office at St. James's. Through the favour of the Marchioness of Salisbury, Mrs. Parsons was granted a small place in the same department.
At her husband's death Mrs. Parsons turned to novel-writing as a means of providing for her children. Her first book, ‘The History of Miss Meredith,’ in two volumes, appeared in 1790. It was dedicated to the Marchioness of Salisbury, and among the subscribers were the Prince of Wales, Mrs. Fitzherbert, Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu [q. v.], and Horace Walpole.
In 1792 she produced a play, ‘The Intrigues of a Morning; or an Hour at Paris.’ It was acted at Covent Garden on 18 April, for the benefit of Mrs. Mattocks, and repeated for Mr. Hull's benefit at the same theatre. Munden and Fawcett took part in the representation. The play, a poor version of Molière's ‘Monsieur de Pourceaugnac,’ is a farce in two acts (Genest, Hist. of the Stage, vii. 70).
She died on 5 Feb. 1811, at Leytonstone in Essex. Of her eight children, three sons and one daughter died before her; four daughters, all married, survived her.
Mrs. Parsons wrote above sixty volumes of novels, but not one of them rises above mediocrity. Besides the works already mentioned, she wrote:
* ‘The Errors of Education,’ 2 vols. 1792.
* ‘Woman as she should be; or the Memoirs of Mrs. Menville,’ 4 vols. 1793.
* ‘The Castle of Wolfenbach: a German Story,’ 2 vols. 1793.
* ‘Lucy,’ 3 vols. 1794.
* ‘The Voluntary Exile,’ 5 vols. 1795.
* ‘The Mysterious Warning,’ 4 vols. 1796.
* ‘Women as they are,’ 4 vols. 1796.
* ‘Murray House,’ 3 vols. 1804.
* ‘The Convict; or Navy Lieutenant,’ 4 vols. 1807. Baker (Biogr. Dramatica, i. 561–3) gives the following titles, but omits the dates of publication: 10. ‘Ellen and Julia,’ 2 vols.
* ‘The Girl of the Mountains,’ 4 vols.
* ‘An Old Friend with a New Face,’ 3 vols.
* ‘Anecdotes of Two well-known Families,’ 3 vols.
* ‘The Valley of St. Gothard,’ 3 vols.
* ‘The Miser and his Family,’ 4 vols.
* ‘The Peasant of Ardenne Forest,’ 4 vols.
* ‘The Mysterious Visits,’ 4 vols.
She also translated in 1804 six of La Fontaine's ‘Tales,’ under the title of ‘Love and Gratitude.’
[Baker's Biogr. Dramatica, i. 561–3, ii. 328; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iv. 373, 7th ser. i. 113; Gent. Mag. 1811 pt. i. p. 195.]
E. L.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Parsons, Bartholomew

​PARSONS, BARTHOLOMEW (1574–1642), divine, was a native of Somerset, and of the same family as Robert Parsons (1546–1610) [q. v.], the jesuit. He entered Oriel College, Oxford, in 1590, being then aged sixteen or thereabouts, and graduated B.A. on 29 Jan. 1599–1600, M.A. on 9 July 1603, and B.D. on 28 May 1611. He took holy orders, and preached frequently ‘in the parts about Oxford, being much followed and admired for his hospitality and preaching.’ He was appointed chaplain to the bishop of Salisbury, and in 1605 rector of Manningford-Bruce, Wiltshire. In 1611 he became rector of Collingbourne-Kingston, on the presentation of the dean and chapter of Winchester, and in 1620 rector of Ludgershall, both in Wiltshire, holding the latter incumbency till his death (cf. State Papers, Dom. cccxxvii, 29 June 1636). He died in February 1641–2, and was buried under the south wall of the chancel of Ludgershall church on 27 Feb. 1641–2.
Of his sons, Bartholomew matriculated from Gloucester Hall on 7 Nov. 1634, and proceeded B.A. from Balliol on 31 Jan. 1637–8. On 11 July 1648 it was reported to the committee of both kingdoms at Derby House that he was committed prisoner to Peterhouse, Cambridge, for raising arms against the parliament. On 16 Nov. following he was discharged (State Papers, Interregnum, D xvi.) Another son, John, matri​culated from Queen's College, Oxford, on 6 April 1638.
Bartholomew the elder published eight sermons between 1616 and 1637; the earliest, dedicated to William Herbert, earl of Pembroke, was entitled: ‘The Barren Trees Doome. A Sermon preached at Newberg on the 5th day of August, being the day of his majesties most happy deliverance from the bloody conspiracy of the Earle of Gowry and his brother Alexander,’ London, 1616. Another, entitled ‘Boaz and Ruth blessed, or a Sacred Contract honoured with a solemne benediction,’ Oxford, 1633, which was dedicated to ‘my much respected friends Mr. Peregrine Thistlethwaite the Yonger, esq., and Mrs. Dorothy Thistlethwaite, his wife,’ was reprinted in vol. ii. of ‘Conjugal Duty set forth in a Collection of … Wedding Sermons,’ London, 1736, 12mo. A third was ‘preached at the funerall of Sir Francis Pele, baronet, at Collingbourne-Kingston in the county of Wilts, on the 8 day of December 1635,’ Oxford, 1636. Two were published at Oxford in 1637.
[Foster's Alumni; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ii. 25, and Fasti, i. 299, 343; Shadwell's Registrum Orielense, p. 95; Watt's Bibl. Brit. In the church of Collingbourne-Kingston there is a monument to the memory of Parsons's infant daughter, died 25 Feb. 1620. Information kindly sent by the Rev. H. F. Gibson, rector of Collingbourne-Kingston.]
W. A. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rooker, Edward

​ROOKER, EDWARD (1712?–1774), engraver and draughtsman, born in London about 1712, was a pupil of Henry Roberts, a landscape engraver. He became celebrated for his architectural plates, which he executed in an extremely rich and artistic style. Walpole termed him the Marc Antonio of architecture. Among Rooker's early works are a view on the Thames from Somerset House (1750), and a view of Vauxhall Gardens (1751), both after Canaletti; a view of the Parthenon for Dalton's ‘Views of Sicily and Greece’ (1751), and a section of St. Paul's Cathedral, decorated according to the original intention of Sir Christopher Wren, from a drawing by J. Gwyn and S. Wale (1755). He also contributed plates to Sir W. Chambers's ‘Civil Architecture’ (1759) and ‘Kew Gardens’ (1763), Stuart's ‘Athens’ (1762), and Robert Adam's ‘Ruins of the Palace of Diocletian at Spalatro’ (1764). Rooker's finest work is a set of six views of London, engraved in the manner of Piranesi from drawings by P. and T. Sandby, which he published himself in 1766. In that year he also drew and engraved a large view of Blackfriars Bridge, then in course of construction. He engraved many landscapes after W. Pars, P. Sandby, R. Wilson, and others; and, in conjunction with Sandby, etched three of the set of six large plates of subjects from Tasso, designed by John Collins. The headings of the ‘Oxford Almanacks’ ​from 1769 to 1775 were all the joint work of Rooker and his son Michael [q. v.] Rooker was an original member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and exhibited with them from 1760 to 1768. His latest work was done for the ‘Copper Plate Magazine,’ forming a series of landscapes and portraits, which began to appear a few months before his death. He died on 22 Nov. 1774. Strutt (Dict. of Engravers) states that Rooker was a clever harlequin, and performed at Drury Lane Theatre, but his name does not occur in theatrical records.
F. M. O'D.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roome, Edward

​ROOME, EDWARD (d. 1729), songwriter, the son of an undertaker for funerals in Fleet Street, was brought up to the law. He wrote ‘some of the papers called Pasquin, where by malicious innuendos he endeavoured to represent’ Alexander Pope ‘guilty of malevolent practices with a great man [Atterbury], then under prosecution of parliament.’ Pope retaliated by associating ‘Roome's funereal frown’ in the ‘Dunciad’ with the ‘tremendous brow’ of William Popple (1701–1764) [q. v.] and the ‘fierce eye’ of Philip Horneck (Dunciad, iii. 152). ​On 18 Oct. 1728 Roome succeeded his friend Horneck as solicitor to the treasury, and he died on 10 Dec. 1729. Fourteen months after his death was produced at Drury Lane (8 Feb. 1731) ‘The Jovial Crew,’ a comic opera, adapted from Broome's play of that name; the dialogue was curtailed, some parts omitted, and some excellent songs added (fifty-three in all), the work conjointly of Roome, Concanen, and Sir William Yonge. The opera, thus enlivened, had much success, and was frequently revived. Pope states that the following epigram was made upon Roome:
You ask why Roome diverts you with his jokes, Yet, if he writes, is dull as other folks? You wonder at it. This, Sir, is the case: The jest is lost unless he prints his face!
[Baker's Biogr. Dram. 1812, i. 606; Genest's Hist. of the Stage, iii. 287–8; Elwin's Pope, iii. 100, iv. 54, 172, 344; The Jovial Crew, 1731, 4to (Brit. Mus. copy, with manuscript note by Isaac Reed); Hist. Reg. 1729, Chron. Diary, p. 68.]
T. S.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Rooker, Michael

​ROOKER, MICHAEL, commonly called Michael Angelo Rooker (1743–1801), engraver and painter in watercolours, son of Edward Rooker [q. v.], was born in 1743. He was taught engraving by his father and drawing by Paul Sandby [q. v.] at the St. Martin's Lane school and at the Royal Academy. It was Sandby who called him Michael Angelo Rooker in jest, but the name stuck to him. In 1765 he exhibited some ‘stained’ drawings at the exhibition in Spring Gardens, and in 1768 a print by him of the ‘Villa Adriana,’ after Wilson, was published. In 1770 he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy. In 1772 he exhibited a painting of Temple Bar, and he contributed some illustrations to an edition of Sterne, published that year. Most of the landscapes in Kearsley's ‘Copperplate Magazine’ (1775–1777) were engraved by him, as well as a few plates in its successor, ‘The Virtuosi's Museum,’ and he both drew and engraved the headings of the ‘Oxford Almanack’ for several years, for each of which he received 50l. For a long time he was chief scene-painter at the Haymarket Theatre, and appeared in the playbills as Signor Rookerini; but a few years before his death he was discharged, in consequence, it is said, of his refusal to aid in paying the debts of Colman, the manager. In 1788 he began to make autumnal tours in the country, to which we owe most of those drawings which entitle him to an honourable place among the founders of the watercolour school. They are chiefly of architectural remains (in Norfolk, Suffolk, Somerset, Warwickshire, and other counties), which he drew well, and treated with taste and refinement. His figures and animals were artistically introduced. He became depressed after his discharge from the theatre, and died suddenly in his chair in Dean Street, Soho, on 3 March 1801. His drawings were sold at Squib's in Savile Row in the following May, and realised 1,240l. He exhibited one drawing at the Society of Artists, and ninety-eight at the Royal Academy.
C. M.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roper, Roper Stote Donnison

​ROPER, ROPER STOTE DONNISON (1771–1823?), legal writer, born on 9 March 1771, was only son of the Rev. Watson Stote Donnison of Trimdon, Durham. Through his mother, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Jonathan Sparke, esq., of Hutton-Henry (by Elizabeth daughter of William Roper, esq., of Clayport), he became heir to the Trimdon estates, the property of the Roper family, and at the age of about twenty-five assumed the surname of Roper. On 29 March 1793 he was admitted at Gray's Inn, and on 6 Feb. 1799 was called to the bar. In 1805 he appeared in the ‘Law List’ as of 2 Lincoln's Inn Square, equity draughtsman. His name figured there for the last time in 1823. Roper Stote Donnison Rowe Roper of Trimdon, probably a son, married, 25 Oct. 1838, Jemima Margaret, daughter of the Rev. John Gilpin of Sedbury Park, Yorkshire (Burke, Landed Gentry).
Roper was the author of several legal works. The first, a ‘Treatise upon the Law of Legacies,’ appeared in 1799, and was reissued in 1805. It was commended by Lord Eldon, Story, and Kent. The author at his death left a portion of it thoroughly revised. The work was completed by Henry Hopley White, and issued in two volumes, 1828, as a third edition. A fourth edition appeared in 1847, and a second American edition in 1848. Roper also published ‘Treatise on the Revocation and Republication of Wills and Testaments, together with tracts upon the law concerning Baron and Ferme,’ 1800, 8vo (American edition, 1803), and ‘Treatise on the Law of Property arising from the Relation between Husband and Wife,’ 1820, 2 vols. 8vo. A second edition of the latter, with additions, was issued by E. Jacob in 1826, ​and American editions appeared in 1824, 1841, and 1850. J. E. Bright's ‘Treatise on the Law of Husband and Wife’ (1849) was largely founded on it.
[Surtees's Hist. of Durham, i. 105–7, ii. 205; Foster's Gray's Inn Register; Law Lists; Allibone's Dict. Engl. Lit. ii. 1863; Brit. Mus. Cat.]
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ros, John de

​ROS or ROSSE, JOHN de (d. 1332), bishop of Carlisle, was a member of a Herefordshire family, and is said to have been a son of Robert, first baron Ros of Hamlake or Helmsley [see under Ros, William de]. He held the living of Ross, Herefordshire, before 1307 (Roberts, Calendarium Genealogicum, ii. 742; Bliss, Cal. Pap. Reg. ii. 72), and on 17 May of that year, when he was canon of Hereford, had leave of absence while prosecuting his studies (ib. ii. 29). He held the prebends of Moreton Parva and Moreton Magna at Hereford (Le Neve, Fasti Eccl. Angl. i. 514, 516), and previously to 1308 was archdeacon of Salop (ib. i. 483). On 17 Oct. 1310, when he is described as clerk of Thomas Jorz [q. v.], cardinal of St. Sabina, he had license to visit his archdeaconry by deputy for three years (Cal. Pap. Reg. ii. 74). He was perhaps permanently attached to the Roman curia, and his name appears frequently in papal mandates down to his accession to the bishopric (ib. passim). On 25 March 1317 he is styled papal chaplain, and on 5 Nov. 1317 as papal auditor had license to enjoy his benefices although non-resident while in the papal service. He ceded his archdeaconry on 7 June 1318, but about the same time seems to have obtained canonries at Wells and Salisbury (ib. ii. 173–4, 187; Wells Cathedral MSS. p. 154). Previously to 16 Feb. 1325 he was provided to Carlisle by the pope, and on 24 April was consecrated at the papal court (ib. ii. 468, 470; Chron. de Lanercost, p. 253). He received the temporalities on 25 June. The diocese of Carlisle suffered much from the Scottish war, and Rosse seems to have been frequently non-resident, on which ground complaint was made in 1331, when he was living at Horncastle (Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland, ii. 742; cf. Nicolson and Burn, ii. 264). Rosse died in 1332 before 11 May, and was taken for burial to the south, whence he came (Chron. de Lanercost, p. 276).
C. L. K.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Room, Henry

​ROOM, HENRY (1802–1850), portrait-painter, born in 1802, was connected with a leading family of the evangelical following. He obtained some note as a painter of portraits, and received several commissions, some of his portraits being engraved. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1826. He practised for some time at Birmingham. He painted a portrait of Thomas Clarkson [q. v.] for the central negro emancipation committee, and also two groups of the ‘Interview of Queen Adelaide with the Madagascar Princes at Windsor,’ and ‘The Caffre Chiefs' Examination before the House of Commons Committee.’ Many of his portraits were executed for the ‘Evangelical Magazine.’ Room died in London on 27 Aug. 1850, aged 48.
L. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Roper, Samuel

​ROPER, SAMUEL (d. 1658), antiquary, was eldest son of Thomas Roper of Heanor, Derbyshire, by his second wife, Anne, daughter and coheir of Alvered Gresbrooke of Middleton, Warwickshire. About 1615 Dugdale made the acquaintance of Roper, and afterwards became connected with him by marriage. Roper, who lived for some time at Monk's-Kirby, Warwickshire, aided Dugdale in his history of the county, making investigations which resulted in the discovery of ‘foundations of old walls and Roman bricks.’ Dugdale, in his ‘Antiquities of Warwickshire,’ mentions him as ‘a gentleman learned and judicious, and singularly well seen in antiquities.’ Roper also had chambers in Lincoln's Inn, and there Dugdale first met, in 1638, Roger Dodsworth [q. v.], his future collaborator in the ‘Monasticon Anglicanum’ (Life of Dugdale, ed. Hamper, p. 10). Roper worked out the genealogy of his own family with great industry, and his pedigree fills several pages in the ‘Visitation of Derbyshire’ of 1654. It is illustrated by numerous extracts from deeds and drawings of seals; but the proofs are usually taken from private muniments, which are seldom corroborated by public records. It satisfied Dugdale, who repeated it in his ‘Visitation of Derbyshire’ of 1662. In the ‘Visitation’ of 1654 Roper is called ‘collonell for the parlament.’ He died on 1 Sept. 1658.
Roper married Elizabeth, daughter and coheir of Sir Henry Goodere of Polesworth, Warwickshire, and had issue two sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Samuel Roper (1633–1678), who inherited his father's antiquarian tastes (cf. Life of Dugdale), died unmarried.
[Dugdale's Life, ed. Hamper, pp. 8, 10, 103, 166–7, 286, 287, and Antiquities of Warwickshire, ed. Thomas, pp. 74, 286–7 n.; Chester Waters's Chesters of Chichely (giving Roper pedigree).]
G. Le G. N.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/James, Francis

​JAMES, FRANCIS (1581–1621), Latin poet, born in 1581, was a native of Newport, Isle of Wight, and near kinsman of Thomas James (1573?–1629) [q. v.] He was a queen's scholar at Westminster School, and was elected in 1598 to a studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, graduating B.A. in 1602, M.A. 1605, B.D. 1612, and D.D. in 1614 (Oxf. Univ. Reg. ii. i. 210, ii. 231, iii. 235). He distinguished himself as a writer of Latin verse. A Latin poem by him appears in the university collection issued on James I's visit to Christ Church in 1605, and he published in 1612 ‘Threnodia Henricianarum Exequiarum, sive Panolethria Anglicana et Apotheosis Henrici Ducis Glocestrensis,’ &c. He was appointed preacher or reader at the Savoy Chapel, London, and in 1616 was made by King James rector of St. Matthew's, Friday Street. Wood states that he died in 1621, and was buried at Ewhurst, Surrey.
[Wood's Fasti, ed. Bliss, i. 359; Welch's Alumni Westmonast. p. 67; W. Hazlitt's Collections and Notes, 1867–76, p. 234; Newcourt's Repertorium, i. 475.]
R. B.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/James, Charles

​JAMES, CHARLES (d. 1821), major and miscellaneous writer, was at Lisle at the outbreak of the French revolution, and made a solitary journey through France during its progress, which he described in his ‘Audi alteram Partem.’ He served as captain in the western regiment of Middlesex militia (since the 2nd royal Middlesex or Edmonton militia) in 1793–4, and as captain in the North York militia from 1795 to 1797. On 1 March 1806 he was appointed major of the corps of artillery drivers attached to the royal artillery. He was placed on half-pay when that rank was abolished in 1812. He died in London on 14 April 1821.
James, a very industrious writer, was author of: 1. ‘Petrarch to Laura: a Poetical Epistle,’ London, 1787, 4to. 2. ‘Tarere,’ an opera from the French of Beaumarchais, London, 1787, 8vo. 3. ‘Poems,’ 2 vols., 1789, dedicated to the Prince of Wales, including pieces written at school in 1775, at Liège in 1776, and elsewhere. 4. ‘Hints founded on Facts, or a View of our several Military Establishments,’ London, 1791, 8vo. 5. ‘Suicide rejected: a Poem,’ 1791, 4to. A reprint dedicated to Lady James was issued in 1797, for the benefit of the daughter and grandchildren of Colonel Frederick [q. v.] (cf. British ​Critic, x.). 6. ‘Poems,’ 1792, 8vo; 3rd edit. 1808. 7. ‘Audi alteram Partem: an Extenuation of the Conduct of the French Revolutionists from 14 July 1789 to 17 Jan. 1793, with Introduction and Postscript explanatory of the Author's reasons for the work,’ London, 1793, 8vo; a revised edition, 1796, and later. 8. ‘Extenuation and Sketch of Abuses … with a Plan for the better regulation of the Militia,’ London, 1794, 8vo. 9. ‘A Comprehensive View of Abuses in the Militia,’ London, 1797, 8vo. 10. ‘Regimental Companion, containing a relation of the Duties of every Officer in the British Army,’ London, 1799, 12mo; a useful little manual of regimental economy, which went through seven or more editions. 11. ‘New and enlarged Military Dictionary,’ with glossary of French terms, London, 1802, 4to; 1805, 8vo; 1811, 2 vols.; and 1817. 12. ‘Military Costumes of India, being an Exemplification of the Manual and Platoon Exercise for the Use of the Native Troops and British Army,’ London, 1813, 4to. 13. ‘Collection of Court-Martial Charges,’ London, 1820, 8vo, intended as a supplement to Tytler's ‘Treatise on Military Law.’
[Army and Militia Lists; Watt's Bibl. Brit.; Brit. Mus. Catalogues of Printed Books.]
H. M. C.
# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/James, Edward

​JAMES, EDWARD (1807–1867), barrister, born at Manchester in 1807, was second son of Frederick William James, merchant, by Elizabeth, daughter of William Baldwin. He is incorrectly said to have been educated at Manchester grammar school. He served in a Manchester warehouse for two years, where he acquired knowledge which was afterwards useful to him in conducting mercantile cases. He matriculated from Magdalen Hall, Oxford, on 3 Nov. 1827, was a scholar of Brasenose from 1829 to 1832, and graduated B.A. in 1831, and M.A. in 1834. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn on 16 June 1835, and went the northern circuit, of which he became leader in 1860. He settled in practice at Liverpool, and was assessor of the court of passage there from 1852 until his death. In November 1853 he was advanced to be a queen's counsel, became a bencher of his inn soon afterwards, and in 1863 was gazetted attorney-general and queen's serjeant of the county palatine of Lancaster. By that date he had removed to London. On 14 July 1865, after a severe contest among four liberals, he was elected member of parliament for Manchester, and sat until 1867, speaking occasionally on legal subjects and on the reform of the representation.
James was a sound practical lawyer, with a great knowledge of commercial law, especially in its relation to shipping. His arguments before the courts were always pointed, and his management of cases admirable. He was excellent in cross-examination. Too prone to take offence, he brooked no interference in court, and often had unseemly disputes with the judges. James died of typhoid fever, while returning from a holiday in Switzerland, at the Hôtel du Louvre, Paris, on 3 Nov. 1867, and was buried in Highgate cemetery, London, on 9 Nov. He married in 1835 Mary, daughter of Edward Mason Crossfield of Liverpool. James was the writer of a pamphlet entitled ‘Has Dr. Wiseman violated the Law?’ 1851, which went to a second edition.
[Law Mag. and Law Review, February 1868, pp. 293–300; Times, 5 Nov. 1867, p. 7, 12 Nov. p. 9; Law Times, 9 Nov. 1867, p. 28, 16 Nov. p. 43.]
G. C. B.