THE 



EDINBURGH NEW 

 PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL. 



Memoir of William Roscoe, Esq. By Dr Thomas Stewart 

 Teaill, F.R.S.E., &c. Communicated by the Author. 



" Clarorum Virorum facta moresque posteris tradere antiquitus usita- 

 tum, ne nostris quidem temporibus, quanquam incuriosa suorum 

 oetas omisit, quotiens magna aliqua ac nobilis virtus vicit ac super- 

 gressa est vitium, parvis magnisque Civitatibus commune, ignoran- 

 tiam recti et invidiam." — Taciti Vita Agricoke. 



In the sentence now quoted, Tacitus has justly indicated the 

 true objects of biography ; and, although in this humble notice 

 of our late illustrious President*, I do not profess the intention of 

 handing down his character and virtues to posterity (a task for- 

 tunately confided to abler hands f), yet I feel satisfied, that this 

 attempt will not be displeasing to a Society of which he was at 

 once the ornament and the head. As our age cannot be jusdy 

 accused of want of curiosity respecting our contemporaries, it 

 does not deserve to be characterized as ignorant or envious of 

 merit. If, in tracing the career of Mr Roscoe, we find him ris- 



* Read before the Literary and Pliilosophical Society of Liverpool in;Oc- 

 tober 1831. 



f The public will soon have the satisfaction of receiving from the pen of 

 Henry Roscoe, Esq. barrister^t-law, a life of his father, illustrated by selec- 

 tions from an extensive and interesting correspondence with many dislm- 

 i^uished characters of his age. 



VOL. XIII. NO. XXVI. — OCTOBER 1832. N 



