157 



EOSCIUS, QUINTUS. 



KOSCOMMON, EARL OF. 



168 



common to the whole. The activity and firmness of Rosas were pro- 

 ductive of some immediate good results, civil war was. for a time 

 quenched, industry promoted, and commerce extended ; but his great 

 object was to extend and uphold the predominance of Buenos Ayrcs 

 over the whole confederation, and by tyrannical measures to make the 

 trade of La Plata a monopoly to Buenos Ayres. This desire led to 

 an attempt to force Paraguay to join the Confederation, and to an 

 attack on Monte Video. The first produced a war with Brazil, the 

 second a war with England and France. He was of course beaten, 

 but resisted stubbornly from 1845 to 1850. He did not even then 

 submit, but his rule having become intolerable to the* subject states, 

 they revolted, chose Don J. J. Urquiza as their president and general, 

 and on February 2, 1851, Rosas and his army were utterly routed at 

 Moron in Buenos Ayres, and Rosas was indebted for his escape with 

 his life to the disguise of a peasant and the assistance of the British 

 consul. He sought refuge in England, aud Urquiza's authority, 

 though it was nob peacefully maintained, still subsists. 



RO'SCIUS, QUINTUS, a celebrated Roman actor, was born near 

 Lauuvium (Cic., ' De Div.,' i. 36), but at what period is uncertain. He 

 is frequently mentioned in the writings of Cicero, who was his friend 

 and warm admirer. His talents also obtained for him the friendship 

 of Sulla, who, during his dictatorship, presented him with a gold ring, 

 the mark of equestrian rank (Macrob., ' Sat.,' ii. 10), which honour was 

 the more remarkable, as many passages in the Roman writers prove 

 that the histrioiies were generally held in great contempt. So perfect 

 however was Roscius in his art, that his name became almost synony- 

 mous with excellence in any other branch ; and thus when an orator 

 produced a great impression on his audience, it was customary to say, 

 " a Roscius is oa the stage." (Cic., ' De Orat.,' i. 28 ; ' Brut.,' 84.) 

 Actors frequently received instruction from Roscius, who used to say 

 however that he had never had any pupil with whom he was satisfied. 

 (' De Orat.,' i. 28.) Macrobius relates (1. c.) that Cicero and Roscius 

 used to try which of the two could more frequently express the same 

 thought the one by his eloquence, the other by his gestures; and 

 that Roscius derived from this exercise such a high opinion of his own 

 art, that he wrote a work, in which he compared eloquence with the 

 art of acting. Macrobius also states that Roscius received about a 

 thousand denarii (upwards of 351.) a day for his acting. He died about 

 B.C. 61 ; since Cicero, in his oration for Archias, which was delivered 

 in that year, speaks of his death as quite recent (c. 8). There is an 

 extant oration of Cicero, though considerably mutilated, in defence of 

 Roscius. The subject of the oration is a claim of 50,000 sesterces 

 against Roscius by C. Fannius Chaerea (' Ueber die Rede des Cicero fur 

 Q. Roscius,' Zeitschrift, i. 248). 



ROSCOE, WILLIAM, was born March 8, 1753, at a public house 

 called the Old Bowling Green, on Mount Pleasant, near Liverpool, 

 which was kept by his father, who also followed the business of a 

 market gardener. He received a common school education till he was 

 twelve years of age, when he was removed from school to assist his 

 father in his gardening business; but he continued to improve himself 

 by reading. When in his fifteenth year he was placed with a book- 

 seller, but disliking the shop, he was in the following year apprenticed 

 to an attorney in Liverpool. In 1774 he was admitted an attorney of 

 the Court of King's Bench, and began to practise as such, but during 

 these years he had steadily prosecuted his studies in the Greek and 

 Latin languages, and made himself master of French and Italian. He 

 had also paid a good deal of attention to the fine arts, and written 

 some poems, among others one on the origin of the art of engraving, 

 which made him known to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Fuseli, and other 

 distinguished artists. In 1784 he was elected honorary member of 

 the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. He also turned 

 his attention to the subject of the slave-trade, and wrote several 

 pamphlets recommending its suppression. When the French Revolu- 

 tion first began, Roscoe was one of its warmest partisans in this 

 country. He wrote 'Strictures' on Burke's ' Two Letters addressed 

 to a Member of the present Parliament,' reflecting in severe terms 

 upon what Roscoe considered as an apostacy in Burke's political 

 conduct. In 1796 Roscoe published the ' Life of Lorenzo de' Medici, 

 called the Magnificent,' a work which established bis literary reputa- 

 tion. The subject was happily chosen, and the author treated it well. 

 The work went through several editions, and was translated into 

 Italian, German, and French. It was generally well received on the 

 Continent, but its spirit was criticised by two classes of writers : one of 

 them, of which Sismoudi may be considered as the representative, see 

 nothing but perfection in a republican government, and cannot forgive 

 Lorenzo for having controlled and curbed the Florentine democracy. 

 Sismondi charged Roscoe with having deceived himself and others 

 with regard to the character of his hero, who in Sismondi's eye was an 

 insidious and crafty tyrant. It is curious to see Roscoe, who at one 

 time was the advocate of the French Revolution, accused of being the 

 panegyrist of the tyranny of the Medici. Another class of critics was 

 angry with Roscoe for having exposed the part which Pope Sixtus IV. 

 took in the conspiracy of the Pazzi, which led to the murder of 

 Giuliano, Lorenzo's brother, and also for having spoken unfavourably 

 of Cardinal Barbo, afterwards Paul II. On the subject of the Pazzi, 

 Sismondi joined the papal advocates in representing that conspiracy as 

 a laudable deed, justifiable under the circumstances in which it took 

 place. After many years Roscoe replied to his various critics in 



pointed though temperate language in his ' Illustrations, Historical and 

 Critical, of the Life of Lorenzo de' Medici,' 4 to, London, 1822. He 

 inserted in the appendix, among other documents, an important letter 

 written to Sixtus IV. by the signoria, or executive, of Florence after 

 the failure of the Pazzi conspiracy, which letter was discovered in the 

 archives of Florence by the Rev. F. H. Egerton, and printed at Paris 

 in 1814. 



The second historical work of Roscoe is his ' Life and Pontificate of 

 Leo X.' In this also the author has been charged with undue partiality 

 for his subject. He has reflected with much severity upon the great 

 reformers of the 16th century, because, while they struggled against 

 the overgrown absolutism of papal Rome, they could not divest them- 

 selves at once of the habit of intolerance which they had derived from 

 early education. Count Bossi translated the ' Life of Leo' into Italian, 

 adding notes in which he rebutted several of the charges brought 

 against Roscoe's former work concerning Lorenzo : ' Vita e Pontificate 

 di Leone X., di Guglielmo Roscoe, tradotta e corredato di annotazioni 

 ed altri dpcumenti inediti, dal Conte Luigi Bossi, Milanese,' Milan, 1817. 



Considered as works of erudition and of general interest, the lives 

 of Lorenzo and Leo by Roscoe stand deservedly high. They introduce 

 the reader to a splendid period of modern history, among a chosen 

 society of scholars, poets, statesmen, and artists, who gathered round 

 the hospitable board of Lorenzo, and afterwards in the more pompous 

 court of his son Leo. Numerous anecdotes and other particulars 

 concerning those individuals make the reader familiar with their 

 persons ; and poetical extracts and valuable historical documents add 

 to the value of the work. The style is remarkably pleasing and 

 fluent. These merits of Roscoe's biographies have been universally 

 acknowledged, even by those who have censured the general spirit of 

 his works. 



Roscoe contributed greatly to encourage among his countrymen a 

 taste for Italian literature and the fine arts. In his own town of Liver- 

 pool, the Royal Institution owes its formation to Roscoe's exertions. 



Roscoe was returned to parliament for Liverpool in the Whig 

 interest. In the latter part of his life he became partner in a banking- 

 house, in which however he was not successful. He died at Liverpool, 

 in June 1831. A biographical notice of him was appended to a new 

 edition of his Life of Lorenzo, by his son Henry. The Life of Lorenzo, 

 with this biography of the author, has been published as a volume of 

 Bohn's ' Standard Library,' and ' The Life and Pontificate of Leo X.' 

 forms two more volumes of that series. 



Three of Mr. Roscoe's sons have secured an honourable name in 

 literature. HENRY, the author of the Memoir of his father, was a 

 barrister, and the author of several legal works. He also wrote the 

 ' Lives of Eminent Lawyers ' for Lardner's ' Cyclopaedia.' He died 

 March 25, 1836, aged thirty-seven. ROBERT, the third son, also a 

 member of the legal profession, wrote some pleasing poem?, and com- 

 pleted 'Alfred,' an epic (remarkable rather for its extent than its 

 grandeur) begun by Mr. Fitchett : he died in December 1850, aged 

 sixty. THOMAS, who is still living, has been however the most prolific 

 writer: the list of his productions includes several poems and tales, a 

 ' Tour in the Isle of Wight,' Tours in North and South Wales, and 

 other illustrated works, and several translations, the most valuable, 

 perhaps, being an excellent one of Sismondi's ' Historical View of the 

 History of the South of Europe.' 



ROSCOMMON, WENTWORTH DILLON, EARL OF, was born 

 in Ireland about 1633. He was the son of James Dillon, third earl of 

 Roscorntnon, and Elizabeth Wentworth, sister to the Earl of Strafford, 

 who was godfather to his nephew, and gave him his own family name. 

 Upon the breaking out of disturbances in Ireland, Strafford sent for 

 him, and placed him at his own seat in Yorkshire, where he had him 

 instructed in Latin, which Dillon is said to have learned so as to write 

 it with purity and elegance, though he was never able to retain the 

 rules of grammar. When the storm had overtaken Strafford, Dillon 

 was sent to Caen, where he prosecuted his studies under Bochart. He 

 afterwards travelled into Italy, where he examined with care the most 

 valuable remains of classical antiquity, and he acquired uncommon 

 skill in the knowledge of medals. He returned to England at the 

 Restoration, and was made captain of the band of pensioners, a prefer- 

 ment which led him into the habit of gaming and the loss of much 

 of his fortune. He was subsequently master of the horse to the 

 Duchess of York, and he married the Lady Frances, daughter to the 

 Earl of Burlington, and widow of Colonel Courtney. 



Wood says of Roscommon that he was "educated from his youth 

 in all kinds of polite learning," and that he " was accounted most 

 excellent in the art of poetry." He was nominated at Oxford to be 

 created LL.D., May 23rd, 1683, but did not appear at the time 

 appointed. Whether he had previously been connected with the 

 University is uncertain. He formed the intention of escaping appre- 

 hended evils at homo by retiring to Rome, but he was delayed by 

 the gout, which, through improper medical treatment, occasioned his 

 death. At the moment in which he expired, he uttered, with an 

 energy of voice that expressed the most fervent devotion, two lines of 

 his own version of 'Dies Irso : ' 



" My God, my Father, and my Friend, 

 Do not forsake me in my end." 



He died in 1684, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster 

 Abbey. 



