fore, at all acquainted with Liverpool politics, and whose judgment was left calm and unbiassed by the passing events, especially the late victory against the Orders in Council, had any very sanguine expectation that the Whig interest could defeat entirely all the Tory power, the Corporation interest, and the Government influence; and the total defeat of the opposition party seemed inevitable, unless one of their candidates should be withdrawn.

Mr. Roscoe was the principal advocate of the measure now under consideration, and certainly there was no man whose opinion better deserved to be consulted, whose wishes had more claims to compliance, or whose errors, if such they were, had a greater right to indulgence. He was in some respects one of the most remarkable persons that have of late years appeared in either the political or the literary world. Born in the most humble station, for his parents were menial servants in the fine country mansion which afterwards was his own, he had risen to the highest rank in a laborious and useful profession, having become one of the most eminent of the Lancashire Solicitors, a class of practitioners distinguished among those of the kingdom at large by great knowledge of their profession, and admirable skill in the conduct of their clients' affairs. Struggling with all the disadvantages of narrow circumstances, and of an education necessarily restricted, he had not only accomplished himself in the legal walks of his profession, but educated himself in more classical studies, so as to have become a great proficient in pursuits seldom if ever before combined with the practice of an attorney. His taste was cultivated and refined by familiarity with

Roman literature, and his mind was still farther enriched by a thorough acquaintance with the monuments of Italian genius. He devoted himself, notwithstanding the constant interruption of his business, to the study of all modern, as well as of Latin poetry; and with the rare exception of Mr. Mathias, it may be affirmed, that no one on this side the Alps has ever been more intimately acquainted with the writers, especially the poets, of modern Italy. The natural elegance of his mind, connected in a great measure with his honest simplicity of character, and the unruffled gentleness of his bland and kindly temper, was soon displayed in some poetical productions, among which his celebrated song on the early progress of the French Revolution acquired the greatest reputation.

But he united with the exercise of this talent a love of historical research, and an exercise of critical power, which combined with his poetical resources and his knowledge of languages, to form in him the most accomplished cultivator of literary history that ever appeared in any age. For although Muratori first, and afterwards Tiraboschi, in Italy, some others in France, and many in Germany, have left monuments of greater research-have thoroughly traced the progress of letters in various ways-have compiled their annals with that industry which can hardly be said to have survived them-and have bequeathed to after ages rich mines wherein to quarry, rather than galleries of finished works to gaze at,-we shall in vain search their numerous volumes for that grace and ease, that mixture of history and anecdote, that interspersion of philosophy with narrative, that combination of sagacity in

commenting upon characters and events with taste in describing and in judging the productions of the fine arts, which lend such a charm to the Lives of Lorenzo de Medici and Leo X; while their interest is still further heightened by the rich vein of the most felicitous poetical translation which runs through the whole of these admirable works, and leaves the less learned reader hardly a right to lament, because it scarcely lets him feel, his ignorance of the original tongues. The sensation caused by the life of the great Prince-Merchant of Tuscany suddenly appearing to enlighten the literary hemisphere, is still remembered by many. It seemed as if a new pleasure had been invented, a new sense discovered. Criticism was dumb; men had only time to be pleased and to be gratified; and at a period when the dignity of the Senate, even of its Lower Chamber, never allowed any allusion to the contemporary productions of the press, a Peer who had twice been minister, and was still a great party chief,* begged their Lordships to devote as much time as they might be able to spare from Lorenzo de Medici, to the study of an important state affair. By these works Mr. Roscoe not only laid deep and solid the foundations of an enduring fame for himself, but founded also a school, in which Dr. Shepherd, author of the Life of Poggio Bracciolini, and others have since distinguished themselves, and enriched the republic of letters.

Although it is by the productions of his pen that Mr. Roscoe's name has been made famous throughout Europe, yet were his merits and his claims to the

Marquis of Lansdowne, father of the present Lord.

gratitude of mankind of a more various kind. An ardent devotion, from pure principle, to the best interests of humanity, was the unvarying and the constant guide of his public conduct, as the most strict discharge of every duty marked each step of his walk in private life. A solicitor in extensive practice, he was the advocate of all sound law reform. An attorney in the Borough Courts, he was the stern uncompromising enemy of chicanery, the fearless defender of the oppressed. A man of business under a wealthy and powerful corporation, he was ever the implacable denouncer of jobs and abuses. A confidential adviser among the aristocracy of the most Tory county in England, he was the most uncompromising enemy of tyranny, the friend of the people, the apostle of even democratic opinions. A leader among the parties who most gained by the war, he was throughout its whole course the zealous preacher of peace; and standing high among the traders of Liverpool, and at the head of its society, he was the unflinching enemy of the African Slave Trade, the enthusiastic advocate of its abolition. When he rose in fame, and throve in wealth-when he became one of the great bankers of the place, and was courted by all the leading men in its society-when his fame was spread over the world, and his native town became known in many remote places, as having given him birth-when he was chosen to represent her in Parliament, and associated with the first statesmen of the age,-this truly excellent person's unaffected modesty, his primitive simplicity of manners, never deserted him. As his rise in life had been rapid and easy, he bore his good fortune with an equal mind; and when the commercial

distresses of the country involved his affairs in ruin, the clouds which overcast the evening of his days disturbed not the serenity of his mind; the firmness which could maintain itself against the gales of prosperity, found the storms of adverse fortune, though more boisterous, much louder in their noise, yet not at all deceitful, and really less rude in their shock. His latter years were passed in his much loved literary leisure, consoled by the kindness of his friends,-happy in the bosom of his amiable family,-universally respected by his countrymen,-by all the wise admired,-beloved by all the good.

Mr. Roscoe had satisfied his own mind that if Liverpool only sent one Whig with one Tory member to Parliament, the votes of the two neutralizing each. other, she would be unrepresented-a fallacy plausible enough when thus stated, but easily exposed, by reflecting that if each constituency had been so represented, the Tory government must be at once overthrown. His councils, however, assisted by the great victory recently obtained in Parliament, and with which this contest was intimately connected, prevailed with the party. Mr. Creevey was brought into the field, and the contest proceeded with a violence until then unprecedented.

Of Mr. Canning, the champion of the Tory party, it is unnecessary here to speak. His great talents, his extensive accomplishments-the happy events which connected him with the liberal party, first upon the question of religious toleration, then upon foreign policythe accident of his becoming the instrument by which mainly the old Tory party in this county was broken up, are all fresh in any reader's recollection. His con