Mar. 11. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



217 



$0tc£. 



J. R. OF CORK. 



My gifted and lamented countryman "The 

 Roscoe of Cork " * deserves more notice in these 

 pages, which he has enriched by his contributions, 

 than the handsome obituary of our Editor (Vol. 

 vii., p. 394.) ; so a few words with reference to him 

 may be acceptable. 



Mr. James Roche was born in Limerick some 

 eighty-three years ago, of an ancient and wealthy 

 family. At an early period of his life he was sent 

 to France, and educated in the Catholic College of 

 Saintes. After completing his studies, and paying 

 a short visit to Ireland, he settled in Bordeaux, 

 where he became acquainted with the most dis- 

 tinguished leaders of the Girondists. 



Mr. Roche was in Paris during the horrors of 

 the first Revolution, and in 1793 was arrested 

 there as a British subject, but was released on the 

 death of Robespierre. For some years after his 

 liberation, he passed his time between Paris and 

 Bordeaux. At the close of the last century, he 

 returned to Ireland ; and commenced business in 

 Cork as a banker, in partnership with his brother. 

 He resided in a handsome country seat near the 

 river Lee, and there amassed a splendid library. 



About the year 1816, a relative of mine, a 

 wealthy banker in the same city, got into diffi- 

 culties, and met with the kindest assistance from 

 Mr. Roche. In 1819 his own troubles came on, 

 and a monetary crisis ruined him as well as many 

 others. All his property was sold, and his books 

 were brought to the hammer, excepting a few with 

 which his creditors presented him. I have often 

 tried, but without success, to get a copy of the 

 auction catalogue, which contained many curious 

 lots, — amongst others, I am informed, Swift's 

 own annotated copy of Gulliver s Travels, which 

 Mr. Roche purchased in Cork for a few pence, 

 but which produced pounds at the sale. Mr. 

 Roche, after this, resided for some time in London 

 as parliamentary agent. He also spent several 

 years in Paris, and witnessed the revolution of 

 1830. Eventually he returned to Cork, where he 

 performed the duties of a magistrate and director 

 of the National Bank, until his death in the early 

 part of 1853. 



Mr. Roche was intimately acquainted with 

 many of the great men and events of his time, 

 especially with everything concerning modern 

 French history and literature. 



Mr. Roche was remarkable for accurate scholar- 

 ship and extensive learning : the affability of his 

 manners, and the earnestly -religious tone of his 

 mind, enhanced his varied accomplishments. 



* Mu. Roche is thus happily designated by the 

 Rev. Francis Mahony in The Prout Papers. 



For a number of years he contributed largely 

 to various periodicals, such as the Gentleman's 

 Magazine, the Dublin Revieiv, and the Literary 

 Gazette; and the signature of "J. R. of Cork" 

 was welcome to all, while it puzzled many. 



In 1851 he printed for private circulation, Essays 

 Critical and Miscellaneous, by an Octogenarian, 

 2 vols. ; printed by G. Nash, Cork. Some of these 

 Essays are reprints, others are printed for the first 

 time. The work was reviewed in the Dublin Re- 

 view for October, 1851. 



A " Sketch of J. R. of Cork" was published in 

 July, 1848, in Duffy's Irish Cutholic Magazine, 

 which I have made use of in this Note. My object 

 in the present Note is to suggest that Mr. Roche's 

 Reminiscences and Essays should be given to the 

 public, from whom I am well assured they would 

 receive a hearty welcome. Eirionnach. 



MARMORTINT0, OR SAND-PAINTING. 



There appeared in a late number of The Family 

 Friend, an article on the above process. The 

 writer attributes its invention to Benjamin Zobel 

 of Bavaria; and states, that although some few 

 persons have attempted its revival, in no instance 

 has success attended such efforts. This is not 

 correct. There was a German confectioner to 

 King George III. whom I knew well. His name 

 was Haas ; and those acquainted with Bristol will 

 recollect his well-frequented shop, nearly opposite 

 the drawbridge on the way to College Green, 

 where he resided forty years ago, after retiring 

 from his employment at Court. There he was 

 often engaged in decorating ceilings, lying on his 

 back for weeks together on a scaffold for the pur- 

 pose. He also ornamented the plateaus for the 

 royal table ; and he understood the art of sand- 

 painting, and practised it in the highest perfec- 

 tion. Whether he preceded Zobel, or came after 

 him, at Windsor Castle, I cannot tell ; but I can 

 testify that he was perfect master of the art in 

 question. I have seen him at work upon his sand- 

 pictures. He had the marble dust of every gra- 

 dation of colour in a large box, divided into small 

 compartments ; and he applied it to the picture 

 by dropping it from small cones of paper. 



The article in The Family Friend, describes the 

 process of Zobel to have consisted of a previous 

 coating of the panel for the picture with a gluti- 

 nous solution, over which the marble dust was 

 strewed from a piece of cord. Haas used small 

 cones of paper ; and my impression from seeing 

 him at work was, that he sprinkled the sand on 

 the dry panel, and fixed the whole finally at once 

 by some process which he kept a secret. For I 

 remember how careful he was to prevent the 

 window or door from being opened, so as to cause 

 a draught, before he had fixed his picture ; and I 



