i CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH 9 



but the completion of the great work of Parliamentary 

 reform. 



The eulogium passed on the character of my grand- 

 father by Washington Irving in his Sketch-book speaks 

 for itself : 



I was told (says Irving) that Roscoe had been unfor- 

 tunate in business. I could not pity him, as I heard some 

 rich men do. I considered him far above the reach of my 

 pity. Those who live only for the world, and in the world, 

 may be cast down by the frowns of adversity ; but a man 

 like Roscoe is not to be overcome by the reverses of fortune. 

 They do but drive him in upon the resources of his own 



mind He lives with antiquity and posterity ; with 



antiquity, in the sweet communion of studious retirement ; 

 and with posterity, in the generous aspirings after future 



renown The man of letters who speaks of Liverpool, 



speaks of it as the residence of Roscoe. The intelligent 

 traveller who visits it inquires where Roscoe is to be seen. 

 He is the literary landmark of the place, indicating its exist- 

 ence to the distant scholar. He is, like Pompey's column at 

 Alexandria, towering alone in classic dignity. 



My maternal grandfather, Thomas Fletcher, was a 

 man of quite another stamp. He was a respected 

 Liverpool merchant, though not a slave-owning one, 

 chairman of the West- Indian Committee, and he, too, 

 lost his money by the failure of a Liverpool bank. He 

 lived to a good old age, and I can remember him well. 

 He always wore black broadcloth and a frilled shirt. 

 Though an intelligent and most upright man, he had 

 few literary and no scientific tastes or tendencies, and 

 he always used to remark that the fossil remains of 

 saurians and elephants found in England were merely, 

 as he termed them, " freaks of nature." " How," said 

 he, " is it possible that an elephant can have lived in the 

 valley of the Thames ? How could it cross the Channel ? 

 The whole thing is ridiculous." I suppose I used to 

 trouble the old gentleman by frequent questions which 

 he was unable to answer. On one occasion he said to 



