The Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S. T. E. Thorpe
friends had taken timely precautions, and he escaped without injury. But the House of Commons had few attractions for him. He resigned his seat, and nothing would induce him to seek re-election. He still maintained his interest in the political movements of the time, and became a busy pamphleteer, wrote in favour of the abolition of slavery as a logical consequence of the abolition of the slave trade; on Parliamentary reform; penal jurisprudence and the treatment of criminals; and on national education.
In 1816 Roscoe, whose prosperity had been hitherto unbroken, was overtaken by sudden disaster. The downfall of Napoleon and the termination of the Continental wars were followed by much financial unrest, and a sudden panic seized the bank in which he was interested. Although perfectly solvent—its assets exceeded its liabilities by more than £60,000—it was impossible to realize these assets without grievous loss; the bank’s credit had been severely shaken, and it was compelled to stop payment. Roscoe called the bank’s creditors together, explained its condition, and convinced the majority that with time its position might be restored. After four years of anxious efforts to rehabilitate the bank he was forced to give up the struggle owing to the persistent action of a small number, who insisted on preferential treatment, and he allowed himself to be made bankrupt. Allerton, with its beautiful gardens and ample woods, with all its refinements and delights as a home—the home which had welcomed guests like Aikin and his daughter Mrs. Barbauld, Dr. Parr the scholar, Fuseli the painter, Coke of Holkham, Henry Brougham, and many others eminent in politics, learning, and scholarship—had to be given up, together with all its artistic and literary treasures. Thanks to the care he spent in cataloguing these works for sale they realized good prices. Friends vied with each other in preventing the dispersal of the more valuable books and pictures. Many of the former were secured for the Atheneum, on condition that he should be allowed their use, and they still remain on its shelves. His collection of early Italian paintings was presented to the Royal Institution, and is now in the Walker Art Gallery.
Roscoe received an honourable discharge. He was now sixty-seven years of age. With such relics from the wreck of his fortune as could be saved he set himself heroically to retrieve the disaster which had befallen him. Literature, which had been the delight of his leisure, now became his sole remaining prop. Eleven years were still left to him. He rearranged the fine library of his friend Coke, edited an issue of Pope’s works, completed the folio monograph on the monandrian plants, and executed a number of other compilations. His old age was spent in a serene dignity which secured for him the friendship of a devoted circle and the universal respect of his townsmen. He had a paralytic attack a year or so before his death which partially incapacitated him. The end came peacefully on June 30, 1831.
A sitting statue of him by Chantrey, as one of Liverpool’s most distinguished citizens, is in the St. George’s Hall, and his name is associated with the chair of Modern History in the University of Liverpool.
Washington Irving, in the “Sketch-book,” thus spoke of him:
Those who live only for the world and in the world may be cast down by the frowns of adversity; but a man like Roscoe is not to be overcome by the reverses of fortune. They do but drive him in upon the resources of his own mind. … He lives with antiquity and posterity; with antiquity in the sweet communion of studious retirement, and with posterity in the generous aspirings after future renown. … The man of letters who speaks of Liverpool, speaks of it as the residence of Roscoe. The intelligent traveller who visits it inquires where Roscoe is to be seen. He is the literary landmark of the place, indicating its existence to the distant scholar. He is like Pompey’s column at Alexandria, towering alone in classic dignity.
Henry Roscoe, the father of the subject of this biography, was the seventh and youngest son of Mr. William Roscoe. He was born at Allerton Hall on April 17, 1799. In physical and mental characteristics he more nearly resembled his father than did any other member of the family. He was educated almost entirely at home, and in constant companionship with his father, from whom he acquired a love for rare and curious books and a taste for literature and art.
At the time of the panic of 1816, in which his father was so deeply involved, Henry Roscoe was serving as a clerk in the bank. After its collapse he entered a lawyer’s office, became a member of the Inner Temple, and in 1826 was called to the Bar. He had already turned his attention to literature, and was supporting himself by his pen. In 1825 he gained a considerable success in legal circles by the publication of an elaborate treatise on “The Law of Actions relating to Real Property,” and by three small volumes entitled “Westminster Hall,” by his “Law and Lawyers,” and other works.
In 1828 appeared the first edition of his “Digest of the Law of Evidence in the Trials of Actions at the Nisi Prius Law,” which in the next ten years ran through five editions. During 1829 and 1830 he produced a “Digest of the Law of Bills of Exchange,” which also passed through many editions, and he contributed to Lardner’s Encyclopædia a volume of “Lives of Eminent British Lawyers.” For some years he was engaged in the preparation of Parliamentary Bills, and under the direction of Mr. Gregson drew up the original draft of the Reform Bills of 1831–1832.
Two years after the death of his father, he produced the “Life of William Roscoe.” This work, undertaken at the request of the family, was no light task, on account of the mass of correspondence, pamphlets, etc., which had to be dealt with. It was completed during three or four months of the legal vacation, when rest and change were much needed. He was already suffering from overwork, confinement, and lack of exercise, and this additional tax upon his strength and nervous energy seriously affected his health.
Between 1830 and 1835 he produced other legal works, among them, “The Digest of the Law of Evidence in Criminal Cases,” and a “General Digest of Law from 1835–6,” and he contributed to many magazines and journals. In January 1836 he published his last work, a pamphlet “On Pleading the General Issue.” During the previous summer the serious state of his health compelled him to abandon the idea of continuing to live in town. He therefore gave up his house in London and went to reside at Gateacre, near Liverpool, in the hope that country air and rural life might improve his condition. He had been appointed in 1834 Judge of the Court of Passage, Liverpool, by Lord Brougham, then Lord Chancellor, and from that year until 1836 he omitted no weekly sitting.
Unfortunately persistent ill-health, aggravated by years of overwork and constant strain, had taxed to the uttermost a delicate constitution, and in March 1837, after a few weeks of suffering, he died at the age of thirty-six.
But for his early death he would certainly have risen to high distinction in his profession. His talents and learning, combined with his moral worth and charming personality, endeared him to his family and to a large circle of friends.
An appreciation by Henry Chorley speaks of him as the most gifted of the sons of the Italian historian—of quick sympathy and solid judgment, and with such instant justice and strength of decision as belongs to a truthful, acute, and strong man.
Certain of his legal books were standard works long after his death. Somebody once asked Sir Henry Roscoe if “Roscoe on Evidence” was any connection of his. “No nearer than that of father,” was the reply.
In 1831 he married Maria Fletcher, second daughter of a respected Liverpool merchant, and chairman of the West Indian Committee,
An honest man …
Broadcloth without and a warm heart within,
who also was ruined by the failure of a Liverpool bank. Her maternal grandfather, Dr. William Enfield, author of a “History of Liverpool” and of the well-known “Speaker,” a man distinguished for elegance of taste and sound literary judgment, was the last rector of the famous Warrington Academy, where he had as colleagues at one time or another, Joseph Priestley, the chemist; Taylor of Norwich; Aikin, the father of Mrs. Barbauld; John Reinhold Forster, the naturalist to one of Cook’s expeditions; and Gilbert Wakefield, the editor of “Lucretius.”
CHAPTER II
HENRY ENFIELD ROSCOE—BIRTH AND EDUCATION