218 Memoir of WiUiam Roscoe, Esq. 



sanguinary punishment would detract from the glory of the re- 

 volution, and what a noble opportunity the French people now 

 had of setting an example of mitigation of the criminal code to all 

 the nations of Europe. This letter, and another of gratulation 

 to the present Lord Chancellor, on his attaining that high office, 

 were the last public acts of his indefatigable and useful life *. 



In the month of June 1831, he was attacked with influenza ; 

 and his exhausted frame being unable to struggle with the dis- 

 ease, effusion into the chest took place, and he expired on the 

 SOth of that month, in the 78th year of his age. 



Besides his published works, Mr Roscoe has left behind him a 

 large mass of papers, and an extensive and valuable correspond- 

 ence. 



Among the former are various dissertations on the fine arts, 

 some of which appear in a finished state. In the year 1814, 

 Mr Roscoe had proposed to the writer of this memoir to under- 

 take the translation of Lanzi^s Storia Pitforica della Italia^ and 

 he engaged to furnish notes, and a preliminary dissertation. I 

 had made considerable progress in the translation, when Mr 

 Roscoe's misfortunes, and my own professional avocations, in- 

 terrupted the work ; which has since been well executed by his 

 son, Mr Thomas Roscoe. Among the papers of my venerable 

 friend, I find a very interesting introductory dissertation, in- 

 tended for our joint work, tracing the history of the art of 

 painting and sculpture to a much later period than their suppo- 

 sed extinction in the west, indeed almost to within 200 years of 

 their supposed revival by the Pisani and Cimabue. This trea- 

 tise is in such a state that it might be published, and it would 

 form an excellent introduction to Lanzi's work. It is entitled, 

 " An Historical SJcetch on the State of the Fine Arts during 

 the Middle Ages.'''' 



I find also a curious dissertation on Painters'* Drawings ; 

 another on the Origin of Engraving on Wood and on Copper ; 

 a third on the Engravings of the Early German School. There 



• A short while before his death, in a conversation with the writer of this 

 memoir, he spoke calmly of his increasing feebleness, and probable early dis- 

 solution. He " thanked the Almighty for having permitted him to pass a 

 life of much happiness, which though somewhat checkered by vicissitude, 

 had been on the whole one of great enjoyment : and he trusted that he would 

 be enabled cheerfully to resign it whenever it pleased God to call him." 



