The Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S. T. E. Thorpe
in 1796. The work was received with a chorus of approval. The critics declared there had been nothing like it since Gibbon. Horace Walpole was delighted with it. Men of taste like Lord Lansdowne and Lord Bristol were equally charmed. It even became fashionable, and new editions were speedily called for. The book has been frequently reprinted, and was translated into French, German, and Italian. In Italy it was received with especial favour as a noble tribute to the national genius.
Its literary quality has gained for it an assured place in our literature. As a permanent contribution to Italian history it has less merit. It must be admitted it lacks features demanded by modern and more scientific methods of historical treatment. Roscoe, we may assume, made the best possible use of the material that was available to him. His business prevented him from visiting Italy, but his friend William Clarke, who had access to Florentine libraries, supplied him with such information as he asked for or could obtain. It is obvious from the work that what mainly interested him was the literary and artistic side of Lorenzo’s career, and in particular his influence on Italian art and learning. He had apparently less sympathy with, because he had less knowledge of, his social and political activities. He was imperfectly acquainted with the influences which affected him, or which at times he sought to control. He was sometimes uncritical in his use of authorities, and his judgment was occasionally at fault. But whatever may be its value as a serious contribution to history, there is no doubt of its merit as a piece of literary craftsmanship. It was written under the influence of an enthusiastic sympathy with and admiration for its subject, to which no reader could be wholly insensible, and there is much in Roscoe’s subsequent career, both in his pursuits and in his civic activities, to show that he was largely inspired by the example of his hero.
In 1798 appeared his translation of Tansillo’s “Nurse,” with a dedication to his wife; and in 1805 his “Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth”—the son of Lorenzo, and the Pope who saw the rise of the Reformation. Although this latter book brought its author more money, it was less favourably received than his “Life of Lorenzo,” mainly on account of his treatment of the Reformation. But apart from this it is less satisfactory as a historical work. His knowledge of the contemporary state of intellectual Europe was too limited to enable him to deal adequately with a subject of so wide a scope. Nevertheless the book had a large sale, in spite of, or possibly in consequence of, the fact that the Italian translation was placed in the “Index.”
Shortly after the publication of his first great work Roscoe renounced his practice as an attorney. Having a competent fortune, he purchased Allerton Hall, a fine old Jacobean house in a beautiful situation on the banks of the Mersey. He now turned his attention to agriculture, set up a model farm near his estate, cultivated the friendship of Coke of Holkham, read papers on agricultural subjects to local societies, and worked at the reclamation of Chat Moss. He also set in order the affairs of a banking house in which his friend Clarke, who lived in Italy, was a partner, and he thereby became involved in its direction and management. But he had still leisure for literary pursuits. He had one of the largest and most valuable private libraries in the district, especially rich in Italian history and literature. He interested himself in typography and induced John M’Creery—a well-known printer of his day—to settle in Liverpool, where his works were printed. He was a generous lover of the fine arts, and has the credit of discovering the genius of John Gibson, the sculptor, originally an apprentice to a marble mason in Liverpool, whom he sent to Rome. Gibson executed for Roscoe a basso-rilievo in terra-cotta, now in the Walker Gallery in Liverpool, the patron in his turn making his protégé free of the treasures of his library at Allerton Hall. It was in this way that Gibson first became acquainted with the designs of the great Italian masters. The acquaintance thus formed with the Roscoe family was continued in the case of Mrs. Sandbach, a granddaughter of the Italian historian, who possessed many of Gibson’s works, and was in frequent correspondence with him. Indeed most of the details of Gibson’s life were only to be gleaned from his letters to Mrs. Sandbach, who was a very accomplished woman of considerable literary ability.
Mr. William Roscoe was fond of horticulture, and interested in botanical pursuits generally. In the words of the late Professor Asa Gray, he was one of the Patres conscripti of the botany of his time, as the author of a monograph on the monandrian plants, and of other contributions on botanical subjects to the Transactions of the Linnean Society. Roscoe’s influence on the intellectual life of his native town may be seen in the various educational and artistic institutions which he created or with which he was concerned in founding. In 1773, when only twenty years of age, he was one of the projectors of a Society for the Encouragement of the Arts of Painting and Design, the first public artistic society in Liverpool. It had only a short existence, but was revived ten years later, and ultimately developed into the Liverpool Academy, of which Roscoe became President. He designed and etched the admission card to its exhibitions, contributed drawings and read papers to its members. It was the first organization of its kind in the provinces. It not only encouraged local talent, but served to familiarize Liverpool with the work of Reynolds, Gainsborough, and other notable painters of the period. He was a founder and President of the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical Society; an active member of the Liverpool Library, afterwards known as the Lyceum, and the first public collection of books in the town. He was the means of establishing the Liverpool Atheneum, an institution more especially concerned with the interests of learning and scholarship. His love of horticulture led him to take an active part in the creation of a public Botanic Garden; he drew up the plan of its administration, and at its opening in 1802 gave a thoughtful address on the obligation which rests upon a commercial community to encourage the study of abstract science.
But perhaps Roscoe’s greatest service to Liverpool was his share in the foundation of its Royal Institution. He was chairman of the Committee which drew up the scheme of its establishment, and wrote the Report for publication concerning its objects; and at its opening in 1817 gave an address on the part it was calculated to play in fostering the connection which ought to exist between the intellectual and the business life of a city devoted to trade. “It is to the union,” he declared, “of the pursuits of literature with the affairs of the world that we are to look for the improvement of both; for the stability and foundation of the one, and the grace and ornament of the other.” He was no less mindful of the claims of science: “imperfect indeed would be the civilization of that people who, devoted to the accumulation of wealth by industry, should, from an apprehension of expending their means on useless objects, refuse to encourage scientific inquiries.” He pointed out that all improvements in the mechanical arts and in manufactures were to be attributed to the labours and discoveries of those who had applied themselves to the enlargement of the boundaries of science. Even at that time he was able to show that many occupations hitherto pursued empirically were being practised under a growing recognition that they were based on scientific principles, and that it was only by a wider appreciation of that fact, combined with increased facilities for the acquisition and diffusion of scientific knowledge, that the improvement and expansion of such industries could be secured.
More than sixty years afterwards it fell to his grandson’s lot to dilate upon the same theme in the same place, and to indicate how the intervening time of scientific and industrial progress had served to confirm the wisdom and accuracy of his grandfather’s insight.
Mr. William Roscoe, however eminent he might be in civic virtue, was precluded from taking any part in the municipal affairs of the town, as he was not a freeman of the borough. Nor, for the same reason, was he able to exercise the Parliamentary franchise. But whilst he himself had no vote, there was nothing to prevent the voters from sending him to the House of Commons as their representative if he and they were so minded. In 1806 a swing of the political pendulum brought the Whigs into general favour, and the burgesses of Liverpool returned him at the head of the poll. By speech and vote he threw all his influence on the side of Clarkson and Wilberforce in their successful efforts to abolish England’s participation in the slave trade. Although those who sent him to the Legislature must have known his views on this subject, his constituents were highly incensed at his action in thus seeking to destroy, as they imagined, one of the chief sources of the prosperity of the town. Moreover, he had added to the enormity of his offence by speaking and voting in favour of Catholic Emancipation. Accordingly, a mixed and muddled mob of ardent Protestants and drunken sailors, crews of slave-ships, were gathered together