202 Memoir of WiUiam Roscoc, Esq. 



human race, the ardour of a patriot, and the enthusiasm of a 

 poet. To those who recollect the flattering commencement of 

 that extraordinary movement, it is unnecessary to observe, that 

 it was viewed with unmixed satisfaction by a great majority of 

 the people of this country, as affording the prospect of vast im-» 

 provements in the social institutions of the European common- 

 wealth. In various places meetings of the friends of liberty 

 were held, similar to those of the preceding year, to celebrate 

 another triumph of a great people over an unjust and tyrannical 

 government ; and at one of those assemblies Roscoe produce^ 

 his two admirable lyrics — .^ 



" 0*er the vine-cover*d hills and gay valleys of France," 

 and, 



" Unfold, Father Time, thy long records unfold.'* 



These brilliant and exulting strains were poured forth in the 

 year 1789, while " the Genius of French freedom," in the ner- 

 vous language of Currie," appeared on our southern horizon with 

 the countenance of an angel," — and ere she had yet " assumed 

 the features of a demon, and vanished in a shower of blood." 



Mr Roscoe had, on several occasions, made himself conspicu- 

 ous by his attachment to the cause of civil and religious liberty, 

 in such a degree as to attract the notice of several eminent states- 

 men, and particularly of the late Marquis of Lansdowne, with 

 whom he maintained a close correspondence until the death of 

 that nobleman. Literature, and especially politics, were the 

 subjects of their correspondence ; and the letters show how con- 

 siderable were the parliamentary reforms advocated by the Whig 

 statesmen of that period. 



The violence of the second French National Assembly, in the 

 two succeeding years, alienated a great many of their admirers 

 in this country ; but many good men still hoped that the fer- 

 ment would subside into rational liberty, and deprecated the 

 evident hostility which our government began in 1792 to exhi- 

 bit. Among the latter was Mr Roscoe. On the appearance of 

 Mr Pitt's famous proclamation against sedition, the minds of 

 men were much agitated, and greatly divided. The friends of 

 the minister in Liverpool convened a meeting to thank his Ma- 

 jesty for the proclamation. Mr Roscoe, seconded by the late 

 William Rathbone, succeeded in carrying a counter-address; 



