The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-01 00:00:00

MEMOIR OF WILLIAM ROSCOE.

The following is a brief sketch of the life and writings
of William Roscoe, condensed from the once popular
memoir of that illustrious man written by his son,
Henry Roscoe, and published by Cadell, in two volumes,
in 1833. This memoir was chiefly derived from the ex-
tensive correspondence of the father, whose frequently
expressed opinion was in favour of deriving the history of
an author's life from his writings. And it is a graceful
and well-executed work, written by one who was prompted
to the execution of the task by a strong feeling of filial
duty—one who had long enjoyed the privileges of study.
ing his father's character, through not a few of the
changes of his eventful life, and to whom his mind and
heart were ever open in the confidence of domestic in-
tercourse—one who had been impressed by the beauty of
his character, and had deeply felt the importance of the
principles by the operation of which that character was
formed.

The Roscoe family, who bad settled for a considerable
period in the central part of Lancashire, could neither
boast of wealth nor antiquity. Indeed, they were in very
humble circumstances, and had not even the consolation
sometimes afforded to poverty by a long pedigree. When
William Roscoe had become famous, Sir Isaac Heard,
Garter Principal King at Arms, expressed a wish to
trace the origin of the family. " I told him," said
Roscoe relating the circumstance to a friend, " that I was
a good patriarch, and the proper person to begin a family,
as I had six sons !"

William Roscoe was the only son of William Roscoe,
and Elizabeth, his wife, who had also an only daughter,
Margaret, afterwards the wife of William Daulby, Esq.
At the period of William's birth, which event took place
on the Bth of March, 1753, Mr. Roscoe, senior, kept the
Old Bowling Green public-house, on Mount Pleasant,
Liverpool, which is now taken down. He was a
native of Charnock, where he spent the latter part of his
life, supported for many years by his son. Two years
before his death he was removed by his son to Birchfield,
where he died at an advanced age in 1796. Like so many
men of genius, William Roscoe was blessed with a mother
of superior mind and warm affections, and the influence
whichslie exercised over hischaracter wasnever obliterated.
Before he had the honour of being breeched, he was sent
to a dame's school, and at six years of age he was taken
from under the care of his old schoolmistress and placed
under the tuition of Mr. Martin, in Paradise-street. Two
years afterwards he was removed to Mr. Sykes, who dis-
missed him at the age of twelve years, with the assurance
that be had learned all he was capable of teaching him.
At this time he had made the acquaintance of one Hugh
Mulligan, a kind of general genius, employed in a
manufactory of British chinaware adjoining Roscoe's
home, and who was not only a painter but like-
wise an engraver and a poet. The incipient bard,
according to his own account, was a lad of a wild,
rambling, and unsocial disposition, passing many of
his hours in strolling along the shores of the Mersey,
or in fishing, or in long solitary rambles. On one
occasion the tide closed in upon him unawares while
he was musing on a sand bank in the river, and he only
escaped at the peril of his life. His father, however, had
a large market-garden as well as a public-house, and so
William had to assist in the cultivation of potatoes, and
in carrying them to market for sale. He became a capital
salesman, and was soon entrusted with the entire control
of this department. And right happily went the time, for
lie had sufficient leisure to study ; and while his out-door
mode of life gave health and vigour to his body, the
perusal of the best English classics afforded amusement
andinstruction to his mind. And, as he had learned
little at school, and afterwards learned much, so, with
Pope, might he be appropriately ranked " amongst that
class of remarkable persons who have been their own
instructors." In his fifteenth year he was placed with
Mr. Gore, bookseller, Liverpool ; but not relishing
attendance in a shop, he returned in a month to
his rural labours. In the following year, 1769, he
was articled for six years to Mr. John Eyes, jun.,
attorney and solicitor, Liverpool ; and while pursuing the
profession of a lawyer, he first committed what Burns
His especial favourite among
the
called
poets ' t "the sin inShoefnrsit'oynmee,.7hose style he sought to imitate.
But, though devoted to literary pursuits, he did not fall
into the too-frequent error of neglecting the graver
nese of his profession ; the peculiar character of his mind,
and the circumstance that his father and sister depended
wholly Upon his future exertions, afforded powerful
motives for assiduity. After the death of Mr. Eyes, he
served the remainder of his clerkship with Mr. Peter
tElile oc lasmeise,t an eminent attorney of this town. Having lost
his mother at an early age, he spent much of his time in
of friends of '
his own years, and of kindred
mind ; especially of one Francis Holden, whose genius
and acquirements stimulated his literary ambition,
and by whose advice he devoted much of his leisure
to the acquirement of languages, a pursuit which he
subsequently prosecuted with two other friends, William
Clarke and Richard Lowndes. Another of the friends to
whom Roscoe was attached was Robert Rigby, a young
man of fine talents, who. devoted himself to poetry, and
who it jug early age was drowned while crossing U Irish

' Channel. But the young bard had the privilege of
friendship with a young and accomplished lady, Miss
Maria Done, of Westmoreland, with whom he spent many
; happy hours while she paid occasional visits to some of
his friends in Liverpool, and with whom he corresponded
'while she was at home, the youthful couple frequently
exchanging the productions of their muse. This lady was
3 married to John Barton, and her poetical talents des-
cended to her son, Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet, as
well as to her daughter, Mrs. Hack, the author of many
books for children. Inspired by precious friendships and
ardent study, William Roscoe had produced some poems
of merit betbre he had attained the age of twenty. tln
'1773, he aided in the formation of a society for the encou-
ragement of the arts of painting and design in Liverpool,
and he commemorated the event by an Ode, which was
his first-published piece. It was reprinted, with the
poem of "Mount Pleasant," in 1777, and favourably
noticed in some of the reviews. In the poem of "Mount
Pleasant" he celebrates the growing importance of his
native town ; but attempts, as he often did in after life,
to divert the attention of his townsmen to the liberal
pursuits 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." "Mount Pleasant" likewise contains his
first protest against the slave trade.
At an early age Roscoe wrote a small volume on
" Christian Morality," from which it was evident that he
had devoted much time to the study of the sacred writings;
and it seas to the operation of divine principles incul-
cated in the Bible upon his conduct and temper through-
out life, to which must be attributed all that was most
attractive and most exalted in his mind and character.
In 1774, having completed his clerkship, Roscoe was
admitted an attorney of the Court of King's Bench. In
the same year he entered into partnership with Mr.
Bannister, but this connexion lasted only a short time.
A second engagement of the same kind (with Mr.
Aspinall) was more lasting. In 1777 he began a corre-
spondence with Miss Jane Griffies, the daughter of a
Liverpool tradesman, and a young lady tasteful and accom-
plished. Though both parties resided in the same town, a
correspondence by letter was maintained for many years,
and at length, on the 22nd pf February, 1781, the lovers
were united at St. Ann's Church, and never, certainly,
in the course of a long life, had either party cause to
regret the connexion. In 1784, Mr. Roscoe, in con-
junction with Mr. Daulby and others, resuscitated the
" Society for Promoting Painting and Design," which
had became defunct shortly after its formation. Daring
the first year he was vice-president, and afterwards one
of the committee. He ventured even to introduce into
the exhibition one or two of his own drawings, and the
ticket of admission was etched by his hand. In
1785 he delivered several lectures on the fine arts,
and during the same year he was visited by Fuseli,
a friendship having sprung up between them in
London. About this time, too, Roscoe produced a poem
on " The Origin of Engraving," and also contributed
valuable matter to Joseph Strutt's " Biographical Dic-
tionary of Engravers." In 1784 he was elected an hono-
rary member of the Literary and Philosophical Society
of Manchester. In 1787 he published the first part of the
" Wrongs of Africa," a poem, the preface to which was
written by Dr. Currie. In the following year the second
part appeared, and twenty years afterwards the entire
poem was translated into German. In 1787 Roscoe pub-
lished " A General View of the African Slave Trade, de-
monstrating its injustice and impolicv ; with Hints to-
wards a-Bill for its Abolition." In 1788 he sent to the
press " A Scriptural Refutation of a Pamphlet lately pub.
lished by the Rev. Raymond Harris, entitled Scriptural
Researches on the Licitness of the Slave Trade,' in Four
Letters from the Author to a Friend." In 1792 he issued
another pamphlet, entitled "An Inquiry into the Causes
of the Insurrection of the Negroes, in the Island of St.
Domingo," &e. In 1788 he took part in the Centenary
of the Revolution, for which he composed a "secular
song ;" in the following year he published "An Ode to
the People of France," which was greatly admired by
Fox ; and at a meeting held on the 14th of July, 1790, to
celebrate the taking of the Bastile, he produced his song
" Unfold, Father Time." Indeed, he took a great
interest in the progress of the French Revolution, in which, '
for a time, he imagined that he saw the birth of continental
freedom. In 1796 he published " Strictures on Mr.
Burke's Two Letters, addressed to a Member of the Pre- 1
sent Parliament," having some years previously issued a
ballad, containing " The Life, Death, and Wonderful
Achievements of Edmund Burke,"which was accompanied
by a frontispiece executed by himself. In the midst of
the strong political excitement consequent on the state of
affairs on the Continent, Roscoe, in public and private,
advocated what was called the cause of Reform ; and, 1
being opposed to the war, he, in 1793, published a pam.
Oda entitled " Thoughts on the Causes of the Present i
Failures," which was mentioned by the Marquis of Lans-
downe, with commendation, in the House of Peers.

In 1790, Roscoe removed from the town to reside at
Toxteth-park; but, having purchased some land at
Birchfield, he erected a house upon it for himself, to
which he removed in 1793.

In 1792, he obtained a lease of a portion of the unculti-
vated moss !and lying between Liverpool and Manchester,
for the purpose of improving it, and making it a source of
profit. _ _ _

The idea of writing the " Life of Lorenzo de Medici,"
which occurred to Roscoe when he first began to study
Italian literature with Francis Holden, resulted in the
accomplishment of a great work, which appeared in the
month of February, 1796, from the press of the estimable
John M'Creery. its success was so great and instanta-
neous, that soon after its appearance the author received
£1,200 for the copyright, from Cadell and Davies, of the
Strand. Lord Bristol urged Roscoe to visit Italy, and
take for his next theme Leo X. Lord Lansdowne pub-
licly referred to his work in the House of Lords ; and the
aged Lord Orford entered into a correspondence with one
whom all concurred in considering the very first of living
English historians, and whose work was not less favour.
ably received in Italy and on the continent than in his
own country.

Dissatisfied with his profession, Roscoe relinquished it
in 179'3, and in the February of the following-year became
a member of Gray's Inn, London, with a view, it was
supposed, of being called to the bar. He returned to
Liverpool in a few weeks, however, and published a trans-
lation of the " Balia" of Luigi Tonsillo. About this
time he assisted in the establishing of the Athenaeum,
which was first suggested by Edward Rogers. In 1799,
appeared a new edition of the " Life of Lorenzo." In
this year he purchased Allerton, adopted it as his resi-
dence, and devoted himself to the life of Leo X. In a
short time, however, he was called upon to arrange some
difficulties which had arisen between the Liverpool Bank
and their London correspondents; and, at the anxious re-
quest of the proprietors, he became a partner in the con-
cern. He aided in the establishment of the Botanic
Garden, and delivered an eloquent oration at its inaugu-
ration. In 1804, he was chosen a Fellow of the Linntean
Society, to whose transactions he afterwards contributed
several papers. Then, also, did he begin in conjunction
with Currie—