The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-11-08 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Although wa of the STANDARD were not among those
who were favoured with a copy of the Life of William
Roscoe, by his Son, Henry Roscoe," yet, to show that we
- are not influenced by any party prejudices in doing jus-
tice to talent wherever it appears, we borrow from the
'Edinburgh Review, just published, the following remarks
. upon the work, and condensed biography of our late dis-
•tinguished townsman :

Mr. Roscoe was horn in Liverpool in 175.3. To Sir Isaac
Heard, who, on forming an acquaintance with the author of
Lorenzo de' Medici, had expressed a wish to trace and record
his pedigree, he thus replied :—" From all that I can learn, it
appears, that whilst other families have rolled on for centuries
in disLinct 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 Guelficce occupy five folio volumes, whilst the Oriyines
in question will find ample space in five lines." At the period
of his birth, his father was the master of a public-house, with
. gardens and a well frequented bowling-green; but this situation,
however unfavourable sit appearance, was not destitute to him of
some advantages, with respect both to moral and intellectual
culture, which his happy disposition enabled him to turn to the
best account. At the age of six he was placed at a school where
the master frequently admitted bins to the use of his little book-
• case, tilled with the best authors of the time. "To his care,"
• says his pupil, in an interesting sketch of his early days, inserted
in the present work, "and the instructions of a kind and affec-
tionate mother, I believe I may safely attribute any good prin...
reiples which may have appeared in my conduct during my
-future life. It is to her I owe the inculcation of those senti-
ments 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 imprtheement."
Ile was-removed in due tfihe to a higher school, which he
quitted at twelve years old, having, by the confession of the;mas-
, ter, learned all that• he could teach him, that is, the &rumen
branches of a r. urcly Eaglish edutrition. Instruction of &higher
kind came neither within the plan, nor probably within' the means
of his -parerts ; and from this time all his acquirements were to be
the fruit of his own voluntary and strenuous exertions. "Having
quitted school," he says, "and committed my English grammar
to the flames, I now began to assist my father in his agricultu-
ral 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 bv the spade; and,
when raised early, they were considered in that part of Lanca-
shire as a favou'rite esculent. When they had attained their
proper growth, we were accustomed to carry them to the mar-
het on our heads, in large baskets, for sale, where 1 was gene-
rally 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 ray body, and amusement and instruc-
t:on to my mind; and to this day I well remember the delicious
sleep which succeeded my labOura, from which I was again
railed at an early hour. If I were asked whom I consider to
be happiest of the'human race, I should answer, those who cul-
tivate 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 reconcileablo to my disposition, I quitted him, and re-
turned to my. labours. 111 the following year, (1769,) I was
articled, for six years, to Mr. John Eyes, Jun., a young attorney
and solicitor in Liverpool; and thus entered upon an anxious
and troublesome profession."
His leisure hours, however, were still, as in the nnskackled
freedom of his boyhood, devoted to literature, and particularly
to English poetry; for it was one of those periods of political
calm when elegant literature, and especially verse, was enabled
to take its station highest amongst the objects of public atten-
tion and individual ambition. In the present day, a youth in
humble life, gifted with his abilities and energies, would natu-
rally become the orator of a political union, and oblige the
world with his sentiments on tithes, poor laws, and an "eqrsi-
- :table adjustment;" in those, he as naturally becaine an ad-
znirer and imitator of Shenstone and of 'Goldsmith. Mr.
Roscoe's attachment to these favourites and models of his youth
-was deep and lasting. To the end of his career, he continued
to prefer their mild and polished strains, both to the simplicity
and the intensity of later schools of poetry. Whatever may be
thought of the correctness of his judgment iu this respect, it
can scarcely be doubted that it was to this predilection for the
elegant and refined in composition, which accorded well with
the spirit of humanity breathed into him by his mother, that he
owed the remai kable amenity and dignity of manners by which
be was early distinguished, and which, as we have been in-
formed, often gained fort. in society the appellation of
s' Nature's alllneman•Al'''^
With less rectitude of mi '
nd Mel manliness of character, such
tastes might have diverted him from the sober aims of life, and
rendered hifn an idler and a dreamer; but these qualities, joined
to the consideration that his exertions formed the sole reliance
of a father and sister, were sufficient to preserve him from undue
influence in any pursuits not likely to lead to an bonoutable in-
dependence; and his professional diligence and acquirements
"we such as to give full satisfaction to his employer.
A. friendship whir.h he formed with an accomplished young
man of the name of Holden, then an assistant in a school, was
the means of stimu!ating him to the acquisition of foreign lan-
guages. His friend gave him instructions in French; and, in
concert with other congenial associates, he always devoted
some hours, before the bessiness of the day commenced, to the
study of Latin; to'which, at a much later period, he added a
slight acquaintance with Greek. It was by Holden also that,
a few years subsequently. his attention was drawn to the lite-
rature of modern Italy. From passages of the. celebrated poets
of that country, recited by his friend, he imbibed a taste for the
-.language, tecarne a proficient in it by degrees, and, it is re-
marka: le very conceived such an idea of the extraor-
dinary talents and merits et Lorenzo do' Medici, ars to /WM the