The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S., by Edward Thorpe This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. Title: The Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S. A Biographical Sketch Author: Edward Thorpe Release Date: February 14, 2018 [EBook #56569] Language: English Character set encoding: UTF-8 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIR HENRY ENFIELD ROSCOE *** Produced by Sonya Schermann and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR HENRY ENFIELD ROSCOE P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S. Henry E. Roscoe [i] [ii] Photograph of Henry E. Roscoe Photo. E.H. Mills. Walter L. Colls. Sc. The Right Honourable Sir Henry Enfield Roscoe P.C., D.C.L., F.R.S. A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BY SIR EDWARD THORPE, C.B., F.R.S. LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON FOURTH AVENUE & 30th STREET, NEW YORK BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS 1916 [All rights reserved] [iii] [iv] ADVERTISEMENT THIS SKETCH OF THE LIFE AND ACTIVITIES OF SIR HENRY ENFIELD ROSCOE IS BASED, TO A LARGE EXTENT, UPON AN OBITUARY NOTICE PREPARED AT THE REQUEST OF THE COUNCILS OF THE ROYAL AND CHEMICAL SOCIETIES, OF WHICH ITS SUBJECT WAS A DISTINGUISHED MEMBER, WITH A VIEW TO PUBLICATION IN THEIR RESPECTIVE Proceedings AND Transactions. IN ITS PRESENT MORE EXTENDED FORM IT IS OFFERED TO A WIDER PUBLIC AS THE RECORD OF “A LIFE IN CIVIC ACTION WORN,” AND AS A SLIGHT TRIBUTE FROM A GRATEFUL PUPIL, AN ATTACHED CO-WORKER, AND A LIFELONG FRIEND TO THE MEMORY OF A STRENUOUS HIGH-MINDED MAN, OF LARGE AIMS AND GENEROUS IMPULSES, WHO SPENT HIS ABILITIES AND ENERGIES UNSTINTINGLY IN PROMOTING THE WELFARE OF SCIENCE AND THE GOOD OF his kind. CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER I WILLIAM ROSCOE—HENRY ROSCOE 1 CHAPTER II HENRY ENFIELD ROSCOE—BIRTH AND EDUCATION 16 CHAPTER III OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER 28 CHAPTER IV THE YORKSHIRE COLLEGE 53 CHAPTER V THE VICTORIA UNIVERSITY 77 CHAPTER VI ROSCOE AS A TEACHER 97 CHAPTER VII ROSCOE AS AN INVESTIGATOR 110 CHAPTER VIII ROSCOE AND CHEMICAL LITERATURE 138 CHAPTER IX ROSCOE AND THE ORGANIZATION OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES 146 CHAPTER X PUBLIC SERVICES—POLITICAL AND PROFESSIONAL WORK 152 CHAPTER XI UNIVERSITY OF LONDON—ETON COLLEGE—UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF DUNDEE— SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES COMMISSION—ROYAL COMMISSION OF THE 1851 EXHIBITION—CARNEGIE TRUST: SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES—SCIENCE AND ART DEPARTMENT: SCIENCE MUSEUMS—LISTER INSTITUTE OF PREVENTIVE MEDICINE 161 CHAPTER XII DIGNITIES AND HONOURS—THE DEUTSCHE REVUE—GERMANY AND ENGLAND—WORLD SUPREMACY OR WAR 175 CHAPTER XIII HOME LIFE—LADY ROSCOE—WOODCOTE LODGE—PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS— DEATH 190 INDEX 204 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR HENRY ENFIELD ROSCOE [v] [vi] [vii] [viii] [1] CHAPTER I WILLIAM ROSCOE—HENRY ROSCOE THE SUBJECT OF THIS MEMOIR HAD NO PARTICULAR PRIDE OF ANCESTRY. Stemmata quid faciunt? ALTHOUGH WITH NO CONVICTIONS ON THE SUBJECT, HE WAS WILLING TO BELIEVE THAT HIS LINE STRETCHED AT LEAST AS FAR BACK AS ADAM AND EVE, AND HE doubted whether any man could with certainty claim—pace Darwin—a more ancient lineage.[1] AS HE HAS TOLD US IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, HIS FAMILY WAS ONE OF THE MANY THAT COULD NOT TRACE ITS ORIGIN FOR MORE THAN THREE OR FOUR GENERATIONS BACK. ALL HE KNEW WAS THAT HE CAME OF A NORTH-COUNTRY STOCK, MEMBERS OF WHICH—VILLAGE HAMPDENS AND MUTE INGLORIOUS MILTONS—HAD BEEN SETTLED IN THE COUNTY PALATINE AND IN THE VICINITY OF LIVERPOOL FOR MANY YEARS. HE HAD A DISTINGUISHED GRANDFATHER, A MAN OF MARK AND PUBLIC WEIGHT IN HIS NATIVE TOWN, AND WHO BEARS AN HONOURED NAME IN OUR LITERATURE. OF HIM IT IS RELATED THAT WHEN A CERTAIN GARTER PRINCIPAL KING-AT-ARMS DESIRED TO TRACE HIS PEDIGREE (WHICH HAD HITHERTO BAFFLED HIS RESEARCHES), HE REPLIED THAT HE WAS A GOOD PATRIARCH, AND THE PROPER PERSON to begin a family, as he had a quiverful of sons. “Accordingly the whole descent is registered, and the Roscoes may now go on in sæcula sæculorum. Amen.” MR. WILLIAM ROSCOE—GRANDFATHER ROSCOE AS HE WAS CALLED IN THE FAMILY CIRCLE—WAS JUSTLY CLAIMED BY HIS GRANDSON TO BE THE FIRST MAN OF DISTINCTION THAT LIVERPOOL HAD PRODUCED. ALTHOUGH MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE HIS BIRTH HIS NAME STILL REMAINS ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT IN ITS HISTORY. HIS STORY IS ONE OF THE ROMANCES OF Literature. BORN IN 1753, HE WAS THE SON OF A MARKET GARDENER WHO KEPT A BOWLING-GREEN, ATTACHED TO A TAVERN, IN WHAT WAS then a rural district of Liverpool known as Mount Pleasant. He learned to read and write, and that was practically all the SCHOOLING HE RECEIVED, FOR AT THE AGE OF TWELVE HE WAS REQUIRED TO HELP HIS FATHER IN THE CULTIVATION OF HIS GARDEN, AND TO CARRY CABBAGES AND POTATOES ON HIS HEAD TO MARKET. BUT HE HAD AN INSATIABLE APPETITE FOR KNOWLEDGE, AND SUCH LEISURE as he could secure he gave to reading and study. His love of literature led him to take service in a bookseller’s shop, but FINDING THAT HIS DUTIES WERE THOSE OF A DRUDGE, LEAVING HIM LITTLE OPPORTUNITY FOR GRATIFYING HIS PASSION, HE ARTICLED HIMSELF WHEN FIFTEEN YEARS OLD TO AN ATTORNEY. HE WORKED HARD AT HIS PROFESSION, BUT STILL FOUND TIME TO CULTIVATE THE MUSES, AND, WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF A GIFTED FRIEND OF HIS OWN AGE WHO TAUGHT LANGUAGES IN A SCHOOL, HE READ THE CLASSICS AND BEGAN THE STUDY OF THE LITERATURE OF ITALY. HE EARLY TRIED HIS HAND AT POETRY—IMITATIONS OF GOLDSMITH AND SHENSTONE, OR TRANSLATIONS FROM THE ITALIAN. WHEN HE WAS TWENTY-FOUR HE PUBLISHED A LONG POEM—“MOUNT PLEASANT”—A CHARACTERISTICALLY STILTED EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY PRODUCTION OF NO GREAT MERIT AND NOW FORGOTTEN, BUT WHICH ON ITS APPEARANCE WAS PRAISED BY SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS, LESS, PERHAPS, FOR ITS POETRY THAN FOR ITS PASSIONATE PROTEST AGAINST THE INIQUITIES OF “THAT EXECRABLE SUM OF ALL VILLAINIES COMMONLY CALLED THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE”—AT THAT TIME ONE OF THE SOURCES OF THE COMMERCIAL PROSPERITY OF LIVERPOOL. THE COURAGE OF THE STRUGGLING YOUNG LAWYER IN THUS INVEIGHING AGAINST THIS VICIOUS TRAFFIC ROUSED THE ANGER OF SOME OF THE WEALTHIEST AND MOST INFLUENTIAL OF HIS FELLOW-CITIZENS. HE FOLLOWED UP HIS ATTACK BY ANOTHER POEM ON THE “WRONGS OF AFRICA,” AND HE HAD A FIERCE CONTROVERSY WITH AN APOSTATE ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST WHO HAD PUBLISHED A SERMON ON THE “LICITNESS OF THE SLAVE TRADE” AS PROVED FROM THE BIBLE, FOR WHICH HE HAD BEEN FORMALLY thanked by the Liverpool Corporation. THE COMING OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION WAS RECEIVED WITH ENTHUSIASM BY ALL EAGER LOVERS OF CIVIL AND POLITICAL LIBERTY IN ENGLAND. ROSCOE, WHO WELCOMED ITS ADVENT WITH INSPIRITING SONGS AND ODES, CHAMPIONED ITS CAUSE IN PAMPHLETS, ONE OF THEM DIRECTED AGAINST BURKE, WHO HAD BITTERLY ATTACKED THE JACOBINS. THE ARDENT YOUNG LIBERAL WAS NOW IDENTIFIED WITH the Whig party in Liverpool, and was in frequent communication with its Parliamentary chiefs. BUT HE WAS NOT AT HEART A POLITICIAN, AND HAD BUT LITTLE LIKING FOR THE TURMOIL AND VIOLENCE OF PARTY STRIFE. “PARTY,” HE HAD DECLARED WITH POPE, “IS THE MADNESS OF MANY FOR THE GAIN OF A FEW.” HIS STRONGEST INCLINATIONS WERE INTELLECTUAL, AND AS HIS MEANS INCREASED AND HE WAS ABLE TO PROCURE BOOKS HE BECAME MORE AND MORE DRAWN TO THE STUDY OF ITALIAN LITERATURE AND HISTORY. THE STORY OF THE RISE OF THE MEDICI FAMILY, AND ESPECIALLY THE CHARACTER AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF ONE OF ITS ABLEST MEMBERS, LORENZO, SURNAMED THE MAGNIFICENT, STRONGLY INTERESTED AND EVENTUALLY FASCINATED HIM. THESE STUDIES BORE FRUIT IN HIS WELL-KNOWN “LIFE OF LORENZO DE’ MEDICI,” PUBLISHED IN 1796. THE WORK WAS RECEIVED WITH A CHORUS OF APPROVAL. THE CRITICS DECLARED THERE HAD BEEN NOTHING LIKE IT SINCE GIBBON. HORACE WALPOLE WAS DELIGHTED WITH IT. MEN OF TASTE LIKE LORD LANSDOWNE AND LORD BRISTOL WERE EQUALLY CHARMED. IT EVEN BECAME FASHIONABLE, AND NEW EDITIONS WERE SPEEDILY CALLED FOR. THE BOOK HAS BEEN FREQUENTLY REPRINTED, AND WAS TRANSLATED INTO FRENCH, GERMAN, AND ITALIAN. In Italy it was received with especial favour as a noble tribute to the national genius. ITS LITERARY QUALITY HAS GAINED FOR IT AN ASSURED PLACE IN OUR LITERATURE. AS A PERMANENT CONTRIBUTION TO ITALIAN HISTORY IT HAS LESS MERIT. IT MUST BE ADMITTED IT LACKS FEATURES DEMANDED BY MODERN AND MORE SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF HISTORICAL TREATMENT. ROSCOE, WE MAY ASSUME, MADE THE BEST POSSIBLE USE OF THE MATERIAL THAT WAS AVAILABLE TO HIM. HIS BUSINESS PREVENTED HIM FROM VISITING ITALY, BUT HIS FRIEND WILLIAM CLARKE, WHO HAD ACCESS TO FLORENTINE LIBRARIES, SUPPLIED HIM WITH SUCH INFORMATION AS HE ASKED FOR OR COULD OBTAIN. IT IS OBVIOUS FROM THE WORK THAT WHAT MAINLY INTERESTED HIM WAS THE LITERARY AND ARTISTIC SIDE OF LORENZO’S CAREER, AND IN PARTICULAR HIS INFLUENCE ON ITALIAN ART AND LEARNING. HE HAD APPARENTLY LESS SYMPATHY WITH, BECAUSE HE HAD LESS KNOWLEDGE OF, HIS SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ACTIVITIES. HE WAS IMPERFECTLY ACQUAINTED WITH THE INFLUENCES WHICH AFFECTED HIM, OR WHICH AT TIMES HE SOUGHT TO CONTROL. HE WAS SOMETIMES UNCRITICAL IN HIS USE OF AUTHORITIES, AND HIS JUDGMENT WAS OCCASIONALLY AT FAULT. BUT WHATEVER MAY BE ITS VALUE AS A SERIOUS CONTRIBUTION TO HISTORY, THERE IS NO DOUBT OF ITS MERIT AS A PIECE OF LITERARY CRAFTSMANSHIP. IT WAS WRITTEN UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF AN ENTHUSIASTIC SYMPATHY WITH AND ADMIRATION FOR ITS SUBJECT, TO WHICH NO READER COULD BE WHOLLY INSENSIBLE, AND THERE IS MUCH IN ROSCOE’S SUBSEQUENT CAREER, BOTH IN HIS PURSUITS AND IN HIS CIVIC ACTIVITIES, TO SHOW THAT HE WAS LARGELY INSPIRED [2] [3] [4] [5] by the example of his hero. IN 1798 APPEARED HIS TRANSLATION OF TANSILLO’S “NURSE,” WITH A DEDICATION TO HIS WIFE; AND IN 1805 HIS “LIFE AND PONTIFICATE OF LEO THE TENTH”—THE SON OF LORENZO, AND THE POPE WHO SAW THE RISE OF THE REFORMATION. ALTHOUGH THIS LATTER BOOK BROUGHT ITS AUTHOR MORE MONEY, IT WAS LESS FAVOURABLY RECEIVED THAN HIS “LIFE OF LORENZO,” MAINLY ON ACCOUNT OF HIS TREATMENT OF THE REFORMATION. BUT APART FROM THIS IT IS LESS SATISFACTORY AS A HISTORICAL WORK. HIS KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONTEMPORARY STATE OF INTELLECTUAL EUROPE WAS TOO LIMITED TO ENABLE HIM TO DEAL ADEQUATELY WITH A SUBJECT OF SO WIDE A SCOPE. NEVERTHELESS THE BOOK HAD A LARGE SALE, IN SPITE OF, OR POSSIBLY IN CONSEQUENCE OF, THE FACT that the Italian translation was placed in the “Index.” Shortly after the publication of his first great work Roscoe renounced his practice as an attorney. Having a competent FORTUNE, HE PURCHASED ALLERTON HALL, A FINE OLD JACOBEAN HOUSE IN A BEAUTIFUL SITUATION ON THE BANKS OF THE MERSEY. HE NOW TURNED HIS ATTENTION TO AGRICULTURE, SET UP A MODEL FARM NEAR HIS ESTATE, CULTIVATED THE FRIENDSHIP OF COKE OF HOLKHAM, READ PAPERS ON AGRICULTURAL SUBJECTS TO LOCAL SOCIETIES, AND WORKED AT THE RECLAMATION OF CHAT MOSS. HE ALSO SET IN ORDER THE AFFAIRS OF A BANKING HOUSE IN WHICH HIS FRIEND CLARKE, WHO LIVED IN ITALY, WAS A PARTNER, AND HE THEREBY BECAME INVOLVED IN ITS DIRECTION AND MANAGEMENT. BUT HE HAD STILL LEISURE FOR LITERARY PURSUITS. HE HAD ONE OF THE LARGEST AND MOST VALUABLE PRIVATE LIBRARIES IN THE DISTRICT, ESPECIALLY RICH IN ITALIAN HISTORY AND LITERATURE. HE INTERESTED HIMSELF IN TYPOGRAPHY AND INDUCED JOHN M’CREERY—A WELL-KNOWN PRINTER OF HIS DAY—TO SETTLE IN LIVERPOOL, WHERE HIS WORKS WERE PRINTED. HE WAS A GENEROUS LOVER OF THE FINE ARTS, AND HAS THE CREDIT OF DISCOVERING THE GENIUS OF JOHN GIBSON, THE SCULPTOR, ORIGINALLY AN APPRENTICE TO A MARBLE MASON IN LIVERPOOL, WHOM HE SENT TO ROME. GIBSON EXECUTED FOR ROSCOE A BASSO-RILIEVO IN TERRA-COTTA, NOW IN THE WALKER GALLERY IN LIVERPOOL, THE PATRON IN HIS TURN MAKING HIS protégé FREE OF THE TREASURES OF HIS LIBRARY AT ALLERTON HALL. IT WAS IN THIS WAY THAT GIBSON FIRST BECAME ACQUAINTED WITH THE DESIGNS OF THE GREAT ITALIAN MASTERS. THE ACQUAINTANCE THUS FORMED WITH THE ROSCOE FAMILY WAS CONTINUED IN THE CASE OF MRS. SANDBACH, A GRANDDAUGHTER OF THE ITALIAN HISTORIAN, WHO POSSESSED MANY OF GIBSON’S WORKS, AND WAS IN FREQUENT CORRESPONDENCE WITH HIM. INDEED MOST OF THE DETAILS OF GIBSON’S LIFE WERE ONLY TO BE GLEANED FROM HIS LETTERS TO MRS. Sandbach, who was a very accomplished woman of considerable literary ability. MR. WILLIAM ROSCOE WAS FOND OF HORTICULTURE, AND INTERESTED IN BOTANICAL PURSUITS GENERALLY. IN THE WORDS OF THE LATE PROFESSOR ASA GRAY, HE WAS ONE OF THE Patres conscripti OF THE BOTANY OF HIS TIME, AS THE AUTHOR OF A MONOGRAPH ON THE MONANDRIAN PLANTS, AND OF OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS ON BOTANICAL SUBJECTS TO THE Transactions OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY. ROSCOE’S INFLUENCE ON THE INTELLECTUAL LIFE OF HIS NATIVE TOWN MAY BE SEEN IN THE VARIOUS EDUCATIONAL AND ARTISTIC INSTITUTIONS WHICH HE CREATED OR WITH WHICH HE WAS CONCERNED IN FOUNDING. IN 1773, WHEN ONLY TWENTY YEARS OF AGE, HE WAS ONE OF THE PROJECTORS OF A SOCIETY FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE ARTS OF PAINTING AND DESIGN, THE FIRST PUBLIC ARTISTIC SOCIETY IN LIVERPOOL. IT HAD ONLY A SHORT EXISTENCE, BUT WAS REVIVED TEN YEARS LATER, AND ULTIMATELY DEVELOPED INTO THE LIVERPOOL ACADEMY, OF WHICH ROSCOE BECAME PRESIDENT. HE DESIGNED AND ETCHED THE ADMISSION CARD TO ITS EXHIBITIONS, CONTRIBUTED DRAWINGS AND READ PAPERS TO ITS MEMBERS. IT WAS THE FIRST ORGANIZATION OF ITS KIND IN THE PROVINCES. IT NOT ONLY ENCOURAGED LOCAL TALENT, BUT SERVED TO FAMILIARIZE LIVERPOOL WITH THE WORK OF REYNOLDS, GAINSBOROUGH, AND OTHER NOTABLE PAINTERS OF THE PERIOD. HE WAS A FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT OF THE LIVERPOOL LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY; AN active member of the Liverpool Library, afterwards KNOWN AS THE LYCEUM, AND THE FIRST PUBLIC COLLECTION OF BOOKS IN THE TOWN. HE WAS THE MEANS OF ESTABLISHING THE LIVERPOOL ATHENEUM, AN INSTITUTION MORE ESPECIALLY CONCERNED WITH THE INTERESTS OF LEARNING AND SCHOLARSHIP. HIS LOVE OF HORTICULTURE LED HIM TO TAKE AN ACTIVE PART IN THE CREATION OF A PUBLIC BOTANIC GARDEN; HE DREW UP THE PLAN OF ITS ADMINISTRATION, AND AT ITS OPENING IN 1802 GAVE A THOUGHTFUL ADDRESS ON THE obligation which rests upon a commercial community to encourage the study of abstract science. BUT PERHAPS ROSCOE’S GREATEST SERVICE TO LIVERPOOL WAS HIS SHARE IN THE FOUNDATION OF ITS ROYAL INSTITUTION. HE WAS CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE WHICH DREW UP THE SCHEME OF ITS ESTABLISHMENT, AND WROTE THE REPORT FOR PUBLICATION CONCERNING ITS OBJECTS; AND AT ITS OPENING IN 1817 GAVE AN ADDRESS ON THE PART IT WAS CALCULATED TO PLAY IN FOSTERING THE CONNECTION WHICH OUGHT TO EXIST BETWEEN THE INTELLECTUAL AND THE BUSINESS LIFE OF A CITY DEVOTED TO TRADE. “IT IS TO THE UNION,” HE DECLARED, “OF THE PURSUITS OF LITERATURE WITH THE AFFAIRS OF THE WORLD THAT WE ARE TO LOOK FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF both; for the stability and foundation of the one, and the grace and ornament of the other.” He was no less mindful of the CLAIMS OF SCIENCE: “IMPERFECT INDEED WOULD BE THE CIVILIZATION OF THAT PEOPLE WHO, DEVOTED TO THE ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH BY INDUSTRY, SHOULD, FROM AN APPREHENSION OF EXPENDING THEIR MEANS ON USELESS OBJECTS, REFUSE TO ENCOURAGE SCIENTIFIC INQUIRIES.” HE POINTED OUT THAT ALL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANICAL ARTS AND IN MANUFACTURES WERE TO BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE LABOURS AND DISCOVERIES OF THOSE WHO HAD APPLIED THEMSELVES TO THE ENLARGEMENT OF THE BOUNDARIES OF SCIENCE. EVEN AT THAT TIME HE WAS ABLE TO SHOW THAT MANY OCCUPATIONS HITHERTO PURSUED EMPIRICALLY WERE BEING PRACTISED UNDER A GROWING RECOGNITION THAT THEY WERE BASED ON SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES, AND THAT IT WAS ONLY BY A WIDER APPRECIATION OF THAT FACT, COMBINED WITH INCREASED FACILITIES FOR THE ACQUISITION AND DIFFUSION OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE, THAT THE IMPROVEMENT AND expansion of such industries could be secured. MORE THAN SIXTY YEARS AFTERWARDS IT FELL TO HIS GRANDSON’S LOT TO DILATE UPON THE SAME THEME IN THE SAME PLACE, AND TO INDICATE HOW THE INTERVENING TIME OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS HAD SERVED TO CONFIRM THE WISDOM AND ACCURACY OF his grandfather’s insight. MR. WILLIAM ROSCOE, HOWEVER EMINENT HE MIGHT BE IN CIVIC VIRTUE, WAS PRECLUDED FROM TAKING ANY PART IN THE MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS OF THE TOWN, AS HE WAS NOT A FREEMAN OF THE BOROUGH. NOR, FOR THE SAME REASON, WAS HE ABLE TO EXERCISE THE PARLIAMENTARY FRANCHISE. BUT WHILST HE HIMSELF HAD NO VOTE, THERE WAS NOTHING TO PREVENT THE VOTERS FROM SENDING HIM TO THE HOUSE OF COMMONS AS THEIR REPRESENTATIVE IF HE AND THEY WERE SO MINDED. IN 1806 A SWING OF THE POLITICAL PENDULUM BROUGHT THE WHIGS INTO GENERAL FAVOUR, AND THE BURGESSES OF LIVERPOOL RETURNED HIM AT THE HEAD OF THE POLL. BY SPEECH AND VOTE HE THREW ALL HIS INFLUENCE ON THE SIDE OF CLARKSON AND WILBERFORCE IN THEIR SUCCESSFUL EFFORTS TO [6] [7] [8] [9] ABOLISH ENGLAND’S PARTICIPATION IN THE SLAVE TRADE. ALTHOUGH THOSE WHO SENT HIM TO THE LEGISLATURE MUST HAVE KNOWN HIS views on this subject, his constituents were highly incensed at his action in thus seeking to destroy, as they imagined, one OF THE CHIEF SOURCES OF THE PROSPERITY OF THE TOWN. MOREOVER, HE HAD ADDED TO THE ENORMITY OF HIS OFFENCE BY SPEAKING AND VOTING IN FAVOUR OF CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. ACCORDINGLY, A MIXED AND MUDDLED MOB OF ARDENT PROTESTANTS AND DRUNKEN SAILORS, CREWS OF SLAVE-SHIPS, WERE GATHERED TOGETHER IN ORDER TO ASSAIL HIM ON HIS RETURN FROM WESTMINSTER AT THE CLOSE OF THE SESSION. A RIOT BROKE OUT, BUT HIS FRIENDS HAD TAKEN TIMELY PRECAUTIONS, AND HE ESCAPED WITHOUT INJURY. BUT THE HOUSE OF COMMONS HAD FEW ATTRACTIONS FOR HIM. HE RESIGNED HIS SEAT, AND NOTHING WOULD INDUCE HIM TO SEEK RE- ELECTION. HE STILL MAINTAINED HIS INTEREST IN THE POLITICAL MOVEMENTS OF THE TIME, AND BECAME A BUSY PAMPHLETEER, WROTE IN FAVOUR OF THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY AS A LOGICAL CONSEQUENCE OF THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE; ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORM; penal jurisprudence and the treatment of criminals; and on national education. IN 1816 ROSCOE, WHOSE PROSPERITY HAD BEEN HITHERTO UNBROKEN, WAS OVERTAKEN BY SUDDEN DISASTER. THE DOWNFALL OF NAPOLEON AND THE TERMINATION OF THE CONTINENTAL WARS WERE FOLLOWED BY MUCH FINANCIAL UNREST, AND A SUDDEN PANIC SEIZED THE BANK IN WHICH HE WAS INTERESTED. ALTHOUGH PERFECTLY SOLVENT—ITS ASSETS EXCEEDED ITS LIABILITIES BY MORE THAN £60,000—IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO REALIZE THESE ASSETS WITHOUT GRIEVOUS LOSS; THE BANK’S CREDIT HAD BEEN SEVERELY SHAKEN, AND IT WAS COMPELLED TO STOP PAYMENT. ROSCOE CALLED THE BANK’S CREDITORS TOGETHER, EXPLAINED ITS CONDITION, AND CONVINCED THE MAJORITY THAT WITH TIME ITS POSITION MIGHT BE RESTORED. AFTER FOUR YEARS OF ANXIOUS EFFORTS TO REHABILITATE THE BANK HE WAS FORCED TO GIVE UP THE STRUGGLE OWING TO THE PERSISTENT ACTION OF A SMALL NUMBER, WHO INSISTED ON PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT, AND HE ALLOWED HIMSELF TO BE MADE BANKRUPT. ALLERTON, WITH ITS BEAUTIFUL GARDENS AND AMPLE WOODS, WITH ALL ITS REFINEMENTS AND DELIGHTS AS A HOME—THE HOME WHICH HAD WELCOMED GUESTS LIKE AIKIN AND HIS DAUGHTER MRS. BARBAULD, DR. PARR THE SCHOLAR, FUSELI THE PAINTER, COKE OF HOLKHAM, HENRY BROUGHAM, AND MANY OTHERS EMINENT IN POLITICS, LEARNING, AND SCHOLARSHIP—HAD TO BE GIVEN UP, TOGETHER WITH ALL ITS ARTISTIC AND LITERARY TREASURES. THANKS TO THE CARE HE SPENT IN CATALOGUING THESE WORKS FOR SALE THEY REALIZED GOOD PRICES. FRIENDS VIED WITH EACH OTHER IN PREVENTING THE DISPERSAL OF THE MORE VALUABLE BOOKS AND PICTURES. MANY OF THE FORMER WERE SECURED FOR THE ATHENEUM, ON CONDITION THAT HE SHOULD BE ALLOWED THEIR USE, AND THEY STILL REMAIN ON ITS SHELVES. HIS COLLECTION OF EARLY ITALIAN PAINTINGS was presented to the Royal Institution, and is now in the Walker Art Gallery. ROSCOE RECEIVED AN HONOURABLE DISCHARGE. HE WAS NOW SIXTY-SEVEN YEARS OF AGE. WITH SUCH RELICS FROM THE WRECK OF HIS FORTUNE AS COULD BE SAVED HE SET HIMSELF HEROICALLY TO RETRIEVE THE DISASTER WHICH HAD BEFALLEN HIM. LITERATURE, WHICH HAD BEEN THE DELIGHT OF HIS LEISURE, NOW BECAME HIS SOLE REMAINING PROP. ELEVEN YEARS WERE STILL LEFT TO HIM. HE REARRANGED THE FINE LIBRARY OF HIS FRIEND COKE, EDITED AN ISSUE OF POPE’S WORKS, COMPLETED THE FOLIO MONOGRAPH ON THE MONANDRIAN PLANTS, AND EXECUTED A NUMBER OF OTHER COMPILATIONS. HIS OLD AGE WAS SPENT IN A SERENE DIGNITY WHICH SECURED FOR HIM THE FRIENDSHIP OF A DEVOTED CIRCLE AND THE UNIVERSAL RESPECT OF HIS TOWNSMEN. HE HAD A PARALYTIC ATTACK A year or so before his death which partially incapacitated him. The end came peacefully on June 30, 1831. A SITTING STATUE OF HIM BY CHANTREY, AS ONE OF LIVERPOOL’S MOST DISTINGUISHED CITIZENS, IS IN THE ST. GEORGE’S HALL, AND his name is associated with the chair of Modern History in the University of Liverpool. Washington Irving, in the “Sketch-book,” thus spoke of him: 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 EXISTENCE TO THE DISTANT SCHOLAR. HE IS LIKE Pompey’s column at Alexandria, towering alone in classic dignity. HENRY ROSCOE, THE FATHER OF THE SUBJECT OF THIS BIOGRAPHY, WAS THE SEVENTH AND YOUNGEST SON OF MR. WILLIAM ROSCOE. HE WAS BORN AT ALLERTON HALL ON APRIL 17, 1799. IN PHYSICAL AND MENTAL CHARACTERISTICS HE MORE NEARLY RESEMBLED HIS FATHER THAN DID ANY OTHER MEMBER OF THE FAMILY. HE WAS EDUCATED ALMOST ENTIRELY AT HOME, AND IN CONSTANT COMPANIONSHIP WITH HIS FATHER, FROM WHOM HE ACQUIRED A LOVE FOR RARE AND CURIOUS BOOKS AND A TASTE FOR LITERATURE AND art. AT THE TIME OF THE PANIC OF 1816, IN WHICH HIS FATHER WAS SO DEEPLY INVOLVED, HENRY ROSCOE WAS SERVING AS A CLERK IN THE BANK. AFTER ITS COLLAPSE HE ENTERED A LAWYER’S OFFICE, BECAME A MEMBER OF THE INNER TEMPLE, AND IN 1826 WAS CALLED TO THE BAR. HE HAD ALREADY TURNED HIS ATTENTION TO LITERATURE, AND WAS SUPPORTING HIMSELF BY HIS PEN. IN 1825 HE GAINED A CONSIDERABLE SUCCESS IN LEGAL CIRCLES BY THE PUBLICATION OF AN ELABORATE TREATISE ON “THE LAW OF ACTIONS RELATING TO REAL PROPERTY,” AND BY THREE SMALL VOLUMES ENTITLED “WESTMINSTER HALL,” BY HIS “LAW AND LAWYERS,” AND OTHER works. IN 1828 APPEARED THE FIRST EDITION OF HIS “DIGEST OF THE LAW OF EVIDENCE IN THE TRIALS OF ACTIONS AT THE NISI PRIUS LAW,” WHICH IN THE NEXT TEN YEARS RAN THROUGH FIVE EDITIONS. DURING 1829 AND 1830 HE PRODUCED A “DIGEST OF THE LAW OF BILLS OF EXCHANGE,” WHICH ALSO PASSED THROUGH MANY EDITIONS, AND HE CONTRIBUTED TO LARDNER’S ENCYCLOPÆDIA A VOLUME OF “LIVES OF EMINENT BRITISH LAWYERS.” FOR SOME YEARS HE WAS ENGAGED IN THE PREPARATION OF PARLIAMENTARY BILLS, AND under the direction of Mr. Gregson drew up the original draft of the Reform Bills of 1831-1832. TWO YEARS AFTER THE DEATH OF HIS FATHER, HE PRODUCED THE “LIFE OF WILLIAM ROSCOE.” THIS WORK, UNDERTAKEN AT THE [10] [11] [12] [13] REQUEST OF THE FAMILY, WAS NO LIGHT TASK, ON ACCOUNT OF THE MASS OF CORRESPONDENCE, PAMPHLETS, ETC., WHICH HAD TO BE DEALT WITH. IT WAS COMPLETED DURING THREE OR FOUR MONTHS OF THE LEGAL VACATION, WHEN REST AND CHANGE WERE MUCH NEEDED. HE WAS ALREADY SUFFERING FROM OVERWORK, CONFINEMENT, AND LACK OF EXERCISE, AND THIS ADDITIONAL TAX UPON HIS strength and nervous energy seriously affected his health. BETWEEN 1830 AND 1835 HE PRODUCED OTHER LEGAL WORKS, AMONG THEM, “THE DIGEST OF THE LAW OF EVIDENCE IN CRIMINAL CASES,” AND A “GENERAL DIGEST OF LAW FROM 1835-6,” AND HE CONTRIBUTED TO MANY MAGAZINES AND JOURNALS. IN JANUARY 1836 HE PUBLISHED HIS LAST WORK, A PAMPHLET “ON PLEADING THE GENERAL ISSUE.” DURING THE PREVIOUS SUMMER THE SERIOUS STATE OF HIS HEALTH COMPELLED HIM TO ABANDON THE IDEA OF CONTINUING TO LIVE IN TOWN. HE THEREFORE GAVE UP HIS HOUSE IN LONDON AND WENT TO RESIDE AT GATEACRE, NEAR LIVERPOOL, IN THE HOPE THAT COUNTRY AIR AND RURAL LIFE MIGHT IMPROVE HIS CONDITION. HE HAD BEEN APPOINTED IN 1834 JUDGE OF THE COURT OF PASSAGE, LIVERPOOL, BY LORD BROUGHAM, then Lord Chancellor, and from that year until 1836 he omitted no weekly sitting. UNFORTUNATELY PERSISTENT ILL-HEALTH, AGGRAVATED BY YEARS OF OVERWORK AND CONSTANT STRAIN, HAD TAXED TO THE UTTERMOST A delicate constitution, and in March 1837, after a few weeks of suffering, he died at the age of thirty-six. BUT FOR HIS EARLY DEATH HE WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE RISEN TO HIGH DISTINCTION IN HIS PROFESSION. HIS TALENTS AND LEARNING, combined with his moral worth and charming personality, endeared him to his family and to a large circle of friends. AN APPRECIATION BY HENRY CHORLEY SPEAKS OF HIM AS THE MOST GIFTED OF THE SONS OF THE ITALIAN HISTORIAN—OF QUICK SYMPATHY AND SOLID JUDGMENT, AND WITH SUCH INSTANT JUSTICE AND STRENGTH OF DECISION AS BELONGS TO A TRUTHFUL, ACUTE, AND strong man. CERTAIN OF HIS LEGAL BOOKS WERE STANDARD WORKS LONG AFTER HIS DEATH. SOMEBODY ONCE ASKED SIR HENRY ROSCOE IF “Roscoe on Evidence” was any connection of his. “No nearer than that of father,” was the reply. IN 1831 HE MARRIED MARIA FLETCHER, SECOND DAUGHTER OF A RESPECTED LIVERPOOL MERCHANT, AND CHAIRMAN OF THE WEST Indian Committee, An honest man … Broadcloth without and a warm heart within, WHO ALSO WAS RUINED BY THE FAILURE OF A LIVERPOOL BANK. HER MATERNAL GRANDFATHER, DR. WILLIAM ENFIELD, AUTHOR OF A “HISTORY OF LIVERPOOL” AND OF THE WELL-KNOWN “SPEAKER,” A MAN DISTINGUISHED FOR ELEGANCE OF TASTE AND SOUND LITERARY JUDGMENT, WAS THE LAST RECTOR OF THE FAMOUS WARRINGTON ACADEMY, WHERE HE HAD AS COLLEAGUES AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER, JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, THE CHEMIST; TAYLOR OF NORWICH; AIKIN, THE FATHER OF MRS. BARBAULD; JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER, THE naturalist to one of Cook’s expeditions; and Gilbert Wakefield, the editor of “Lucretius.” CHAPTER II HENRY ENFIELD ROSCOE—BIRTH AND EDUCATION HENRY ROSCOE BROUGHT HIS YOUNG WIFE TO 10 POWIS PLACE, GREAT ORMOND STREET, LONDON, AND HERE ON JANUARY 7, 1833, his only son, Henry Enfield Roscoe, first saw the light. A daughter, Harriet, was born in 1836. THE YOUNG JUDGE HAD LITTLE OPPORTUNITY OF MAKING PROVISION FOR HIS FAMILY, AND ON HIS DEATH THEY WERE LEFT WITH VERY STRAITENED MEANS. HIS WIDOW MOVED WITH HER CHILDREN INTO A SMALL COTTAGE AT GATEACRE, AND AS SHE HAD CONSIDERABLE ARTISTIC GIFTS SOUGHT TO ADD TO HER SLENDER INCOME BY TEACHING WATER-COLOUR PAINTING AT A GIRLS’ SCHOOL IN THE VICINITY. SHE ALSO POSSESSED SOME OF THE LITERARY POWER OF HER DISTINGUISHED GRANDFATHER, AND IN 1868 PUBLISHED A “LIFE OF VITTORIA COLONNA,” WITH ADMIRABLE TRANSLATIONS OF THE SONNETS. SHE WAS A STRONG, VIGOROUS CHARACTER, DEVOTEDLY ATTACHED TO HER SON AND PROUD OF HIS SUCCESS IN LIFE. HER MANCHESTER FRIENDS USED PLAYFULLY TO REFER TO HER AS “THE MOTHER OF OWENS COLLEGE,” AND THE ALLUSION TO HER ASSOCIATION WITH ITS FORTUNES GAVE HER PLEASURE. SHE WAS ALWAYS DEEPLY INTERESTED IN ITS progress and rejoiced in its success. She died at the age of eighty-seven, falling “like autumn fruit that mellowed long.” YOUNG ROSCOE WENT FOR A FEW YEARS TO A PREPARATORY SCHOOL IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD OF HIS HOME. IN 1842 HIS MOTHER MOVED HER SMALL CHARGES TO LIVERPOOL, WHEN HE WAS SENT TO THE HIGH SCHOOL OF THE LIVERPOOL INSTITUTE, AMONG THE EARLIEST OF THE SO-CALLED “MODERN” SCHOOLS. HE REMAINED HERE SEVEN YEARS, TAKING THE USUAL ENGLISH SUBJECTS— MATHEMATICS, FRENCH, A LITTLE LATIN AND LESS GREEK, AND SOME ELEMENTARY PHYSICAL SCIENCE. THE SCHOOL WAS FURNISHED WITH A CHEMICAL LABORATORY—A VERY UNUSUAL PROVISION IN THOSE DAYS—AND IN IT HE OBTAINED HIS FIRST LESSONS IN CHEMICAL MANIPULATION FROM WILLIAM H. BALMAIN, THE DISCOVERER OF “LUMINOUS PAINT” AND OF BORON NITRIDE. BALMAIN, WHO WAS ONE OF THE EARLY CONTRIBUTORS TO THE THEN NEWLY FOUNDED CHEMICAL SOCIETY, IN HIS PUBLISHED ACCOUNT OF THE LATTER SUBSTANCE APOLOGIZES FOR HIS INABILITY TO STATE ITS EXACT COMPOSITION, AS HE WAS UNABLE TO OBTAIN A BETTER BALANCE THAN SUCH AS HE COULD CONSTRUCT HIMSELF “OF WOOD AND PAPER”—A CIRCUMSTANCE WHICH THROWS SOME LIGHT UPON THE MEANS OF INSTRUCTION IN THE LABORATORY WHICH INTRODUCED ROSCOE TO THE STUDY OF PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY. HE ALWAYS HAD A GRATEFUL RECOLLECTION OF HIS FIRST INSTRUCTOR, WHOM HE DESCRIBED AS A GENIAL FELLOW, AND A STIMULATING AND ORIGINAL TEACHER. THE BOY ALSO CAME UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF HUGO REID—A NOTEWORTHY MAN, AND OF SOME REPUTATION AT THE TIME AS A WRITER AND TEACHER OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY—AND OF W. B. HODGSON, AN EXCELLENT TEACHER OF ENGLISH, WHO AFTERWARDS BECAME PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL Economy in the University of Edinburgh. [14] [15] [16] [17] YEARS AFTERWARDS, WHEN THE “OLD BOY” HAD BECOME A PERSON OF SOME CONSEQUENCE IN THE WORLD, HE WAS INVITED TO DISTRIBUTE THE PRIZES AT HIS SCHOOL, AND TOLD HIS AUDITORS, IN THE COURSE OF A SHORT ADDRESS, THAT HE HAD COME ACROSS ONE OF HIS SCHOOL REPORTS, ADDRESSED TO HIS MOTHER, IN WHICH IT WAS STATED: “ROSCOE IS A NICE BOY, BUT HE LOOKS ABOUT HIM TOO much, and does not know his irregular verbs.” He added that he thought this early habit of looking about him, which had persistently clung to him through life, had possibly done more for him than the irregular verbs. ROSCOE’S MOTHER ENCOURAGED HIS INCLINATION TOWARDS CHEMICAL PURSUITS BY PROVIDING HIM WITH A ROOM AT HOME IN WHICH HE COULD MAKE HIS EXPERIMENTS, AND SUCH SPARE CASH AS HE HAD WAS DEVOTED TO THE PURCHASE OF CHEMICALS AND APPARATUS. IN THIS MANNER HE EARLY OBTAINED FAMILIARITY WITH THE SIMPLER OPERATIONS OF PRACTICAL CHEMISTRY AND LAID THE foundations of that dexterity in manipulation which contributed so greatly to his success as a lecturer. ROSCOE’S FORBEARS ON BOTH SIDES WERE OF PRESBYTERIAN OR UNITARIAN STOCK, AND THE HOUSEHOLD NATURALLY MOVED MAINLY in Nonconformist circles. These comprised some of the most respected and cultured families in the district—the Booths, YATESES, MARTINEAUS, TAYLORS, SANDBACHS: ALL WELL-KNOWN NAMES IN LANCASHIRE—WITH SOME OF WHOM HIS PEOPLE WERE connected by marriage. IN 1848 HE WAS ENTERED AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LONDON, AT THAT TIME THE ONLY SEAT OF HIGHER LEARNING AND RESEARCH IN ENGLAND OPEN TO MEN WHO WERE REFUSED ADMITTANCE TO THE OLDER UNIVERSITIES ON DENOMINATIONAL GROUNDS. AMONG THE TEACHERS IN GOWER STREET AT THIS PERIOD WERE DE MORGAN, FRANCIS NEWMAN, MALDEN, SHARPEY, GRAHAM, LINDLEY, WILLIAMSON, JENNER, AND LISTON. NO MORE REMARKABLE GROUP WAS TO BE FOUND IN ANY INSTITUTION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION IN ENGLAND. AMONG ROSCOE’S CONTEMPORARIES AS STUDENTS WERE LISTER, LANGTON-SANDFORD, FARRER-HERSCHELL, BAGEOT, JESSEL, RICHARD HUTTON (WHO MARRIED AS FIRST AND SECOND WIVES TWO OF HIS COUSINS), OSLER, HENRY THOMPSON, AND Edward Fry—all names afterwards distinguished in law, literature, and medicine. OF HIS TEACHERS AT THIS TIME, THE ONE WHO HAD MOST INFLUENCE IN SHAPING HIS CAREER WAS UNDOUBTEDLY THOMAS GRAHAM, THE CHEMIST. GRAHAM HAD BEEN ELECTED IN 1837, LARGELY THROUGH THE ACTION OF LORD BROUGHAM, AS SUCCESSOR TO EDWARD TURNER IN WHAT WAS THEN KNOWN AS THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, FOUNDED SOME NINE YEARS PREVIOUSLY. ALTHOUGH NERVOUS AND HESITATING IN MANNER, AND WITH LITTLE FLUENCY OF SPEECH, GRAHAM WAS A SOUND AND SUGGESTIVE TEACHER, WHOSE LECTURES WERE CHARACTERIZED BY A PHILOSOPHIC METHOD OF EXPOSITION, AND BY ACCURACY AND BREADTH OF KNOWLEDGE. THESE WERE ALWAYS CAREFULLY PREPARED AND WELL ILLUSTRATED BY EXPERIMENTS. THE GREATER NUMBER IN THE CLASS WERE, OF COURSE, MEDICAL STUDENTS, FOR IN THOSE DAYS THERE WERE FEW FOLLOWERS OF PURE SCIENCE, AND SCIENCE FACULTIES AND DEGREES IN SCIENCE WERE unknown. ROSCOE, IN ENTERING GRAHAM’S CLASS-ROOM, FOUND HIMSELF, AS HE SAYS, IN A NEW WORLD. ONE INDICATION OF THE EAGERNESS WITH WHICH HE EXPLOITED IT MAY BE GLEANED FROM THE CIRCUMSTANCE THAT THE ENTHUSIASTIC YOUNG TYRO AT THE END OF THE SESSION CAME OUT THE HEAD OF THE CLASS AND GAINED THE SILVER MEDAL. HIS MOTHER AND SISTER SOON FOLLOWED HIM TO TOWN, AND THE FAMILY LIVED FIRST IN TORRINGTON SQUARE AND NEXT IN CAMDEN TOWN, WHERE HIS COUSIN, STANLEY JEVONS, THE ECONOMIST, AND AFTERWARDS ONE OF HIS COLLEAGUES AT OWENS COLLEGE, CAME TO RESIDE WITH THEM. ONE OF HIS UNCLES WAS MR. JUSTICE CROMPTON, WHO HAD MARRIED INTO THE FLETCHER FAMILY, AND WAS A GREAT FRIEND OF HIS FATHER. THE JUDGE ALWAYS TOOK A STRONG PATERNAL INTEREST IN HIS NEPHEW, AND WOULD HAVE SENT HIM TO CAMBRIDGE HAD HE BEEN DISPOSED TO GO THERE. THE CROMPTON COUSINS WERE, HE SAYS, LIKE BROTHERS AND SISTERS TO HIM. IT WAS IN THEIR DRAWING-ROOM IN HYDE PARK Square that he first met Miss Lucy Potter, his future wife, then a girl of seventeen. ROSCOE NOW ELECTED TO FOLLOW CHEMISTRY AS A CAREER, SOMEWHAT TO THE DISMAY OF HIS RELATIVES, WHO, HE TELLS US, IMAGINED HE INTENDED “TO OPEN A SHOP WITH RED AND BLUE GLASS BOTTLES IN THE WINDOW,” SUCH BEING THE EXTERNAL INDICATIONS OF THE CALLING OF A CHEMIST IN THIS COUNTRY. AND NO WONDER THEY WERE PERTURBED, FOR ANY ONE NOT BEING REGISTERED AS A “PHARMACEUTICAL CHEMIST,” OR AS A “CHEMIST AND DRUGGIST,” WHO SHOULD PRESUME TO STYLE HIMSELF A CHEMIST WAS PUNISHABLE WITH A FINE. LIEBIG WAS NOT ALTOGETHER WELL INFORMED OF THE FACTS WHEN HE WROTE TO BERZELIUS THAT THE ENGLISH CHEMISTS WERE ASHAMED TO CALL THEMSELVES SUCH BECAUSE THE APOTHECARIES HAD APPROPRIATED THE NAME. IT WAS NOT SO MUCH THAT THEY WERE ASHAMED AS THEY WERE ACTUALLY PROHIBITED BY LAW. ALTHOUGH NEARLY TWO GENERATIONS HAVE PASSED SINCE THOSE DAYS, IT MAY BE DOUBTED WHETHER EVEN NOW THE PUBLIC MIND HAS QUITE GRASPED THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN A CHEMIST properly so-called and an apothecary. HAVING SETTLED UPON HIS LIFE’S WORK, ROSCOE ENTERED THE BIRKBECK LABORATORY AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, THEN UNDER THE DIRECTION OF WILLIAMSON, WHOM GRAHAM HAD JUST BROUGHT OVER FROM PARIS, WHERE HE HAD BEEN WORKING WITH LAURENT AND GERHARDT. ROSCOE HAD THE HIGHEST APPRECIATION OF THE GENIUS AND POWER OF WILLIAMSON, AND PAYS GRATEFUL HOMAGE TO HIS memory in the following extract from his Autobiography: AT THE TIME I ENTERED THE LABORATORY WILLIAMSON WAS ENGAGED IN THE RESEARCHES WHICH HAVE MADE HIS NAME A HOUSEHOLD WORD TO CHEMISTS ALL THE WORLD OVER. HIS WAS A MIND OF GREAT ORIGINALITY, AND HIS PERSONALITY WAS A MOST ATTRACTIVE ONE. AND, DESPITE HIS PHYSICAL DISABILITIES— FOR HE LOST AN EYE AND THE PROPER USE OF HIS LEFT ARM IN EARLY CHILDHOOD—HE WAS A DILIGENT AND ACCURATE WORKER. ARDENTLY DEVOTED TO HIS SCIENCE, HE INFECTED ALL WHO WORKED UNDER HIM WITH THE SAME FEELING. AND HIS PUPILS WILLINGLY OWN THAT MUCH OF THE SUCCESS THAT THEY MAY HAVE MET WITH IN AFTER YEARS WAS DUE TO HIS TEACHING AND EXAMPLE. I WELL REMEMBER THE FEELINGS OF INTEREST HE AROUSED AS HE EACH DAY CAME DOWN TO THE LABORATORY BRIMFUL OF NEW IDEAS. FIRST IT WAS HIS EXPLANATION OF THE THEORY OF ETHERIFICATION, OF WHICH HE PROVED THE TRUTH BY PREPARING THE MIXED ETHERS, THEREBY ASCERTAINING THE GENERAL CONSTITUTION OF ALCOHOLS AND ETHERS, AND LAYING ONE OF THE FOUNDATION-STONES OF MODERN CHEMISTRY. NEXT IT WAS HIS WELL-KNOWN PAPER ON THE CONSTITUTION OF [18] [19] [20] [21] SALTS, IN WHICH HE ENUNCIATED PRINCIPLES WHICH HAVE SINCE BEEN GENERALLY ADOPTED. THEN CAME HIS VIEWS ON ATOMIC MOTION AND INTERCHANGE, THE FIRST DEFINITE STATEMENT OF A SERIES OF CHEMICAL PHENOMENA WHICH IN THE HANDS OF VAN ’T HOFF AND OTHERS HAVE BECOME OF THE HIGHEST IMPORT.… HE CLEARLY FORESAW THE PRINCIPLES UPON WHICH THE MODERN DEVELOPMENT OF THE STEAM-ENGINE DEPENDS, AND THOUGH HE FAILED FOR WANT OF CONSTRUCTIVE SKILL, HE POINTED THE WAY WHICH ENGINEERS have since followed with conspicuous success. IN HIS SECOND YEAR IN THE BIRKBECK LABORATORY ROSCOE BECAME WILLIAMSON’S PRIVATE ASSISTANT, AND TOOK PART IN HIS RESEARCHES, AND WHEN GRAHAM ACCEPTED THE MASTERSHIP OF THE MINT, AND WILLIAMSON SUCCEEDED TO THE CHAIR AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, ROSCOE WAS MADE LECTURE ASSISTANT. WILLIAMSON HAD THE IDEA AT THAT TIME OF PUBLISHING AN ABRIDGED TRANSLATION OF GERHARDT’S Chimie Organique, FOR THE BENEFIT OF ENGLISH STUDENTS, WHICH ROSCOE WAS TO PREPARE, BUT nothing came of the project. GRAHAM, WHO HAD BEEN COMMISSIONED TO SEND OUT AN ASSAYER TO THE SYDNEY MINT, OFFERED ROSCOE THE POSITION. THE SALARY WAS VERY TEMPTING, BUT AS HIS MOTHER AND SISTER HAD NO DESIRE TO GO TO AUSTRALIA, THE OFFER WAS DECLINED, AND HIS cousin Stanley Jevons, who had passed through the Birkbeck Laboratory, was sent in his stead. IT WAS IN RECOGNITION OF ROSCOE’S ASSOCIATION WITH WILLIAMSON THAT NEARLY FORTY YEARS AFTERWARDS HE WAS DEPUTED, ON behalf of the subscribers, to present the portrait of his master which now hangs in University College. ROSCOE TOOK HIS DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF ARTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON, WITH HONOURS IN CHEMISTRY, IN 1853, AND AS HE WAS NOW MORE THAN EVER DETERMINED TO FOLLOW A CAREER OF SCIENCE, HE DECIDED TO ENLARGE HIS EXPERIENCE BY A COURSE OF STUDY IN A CONTINENTAL LABORATORY, AS WAS THEN THE USUAL CUSTOM. OF THE GREAT LEADERS OF BRITISH CHEMICAL SCIENCE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY—DALTON, THOMSON, DAVY, FARADAY, GRAHAM—ONLY THOMSON AND GRAHAM, AND TO A LIMITED EXTENT DALTON, WERE IN A POSITION TO EXERT ANY INFLUENCE AS TEACHERS, AND EVEN IN THEIR CASE THERE WAS LITTLE provision of instruction in practical chemistry. THE OLDER ENGLISH UNIVERSITIES HAD PRACTICALLY NOTHING OF THE KIND; THEIR DISCIPLINES OFFERED NO ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE STUDY OF CHEMICAL SCIENCE. THE UNIVERSITY WHICH PRIDES ITSELF ON HAVING AFFORDED A HOME TO BOYLE EXTENDED NO OPPORTUNITY TO A MAN TO MAKE ANY RESEARCH UNLESS HE FOUND HIS OWN LABORATORY AND APPARATUS. DR. LIVEING STARTED THE FIRST LABORATORY FOR STUDENTS IN CAMBRIDGE AT HIS OWN EXPENSE IN 1852, HIRING A COTTAGE IN THE TOWN FOR THE PURPOSE. ON THE OTHER HAND, AT THAT TIME, THANKS TO THE INFLUENCE OF THE FRENCH SCHOOL OF CHEMISTS; OF BERZELIUS IN SWEDEN; LIEBIG, WÖHLER, MITSCHERLICH, AND THE TWO ROSES IN GERMANY, SYSTEMATIC INSTRUCTION IN CHEMISTRY WAS BEING ACTIVELY PURSUED ON THE CONTINENT, AND NEARLY EVERY LEADING UNIVERSITY ABROAD COULD SHOW A MORE OR LESS WELL-EQUIPPED LABORATORY, AND A BODY MORE OR LESS LARGE OF EAGER AND ENTHUSIASTIC INVESTIGATORS. ACCORDINGLY, AT THIS PERIOD, ASPIRANTS FOR CHEMICAL FAME IN THIS COUNTRY NATURALLY TURNED TO ONE OR OTHER OF THE CHEMICAL SCHOOLS IN FRANCE OR GERMANY TO SEEK THERE WHAT THEY were unable to find at home. ROSCOE ELECTED TO GO TO BUNSEN, WHO HAD RECENTLY BEEN CALLED FROM BRESLAU TO HEIDELBERG IN SUCCESSION TO LEOPOLD GMELIN, THE AUTHOR OF THE WELL-KNOWN “HANDBUCH.” BUNSEN HAD ALREADY WON FOR HIMSELF A EUROPEAN REPUTATION BY HIS MASTERLY INVESTIGATION OF THE CACODYL COMPOUNDS, BY THE IMPROVEMENTS HE HAD EFFECTED IN GASOMETRIC METHODS, BY HIS INVESTIGATIONS ON THE CHEMISTRY OF THE BLAST-FURNACE, HIS INVENTION OF THE CARBON-ZINC BATTERY AND PHOTOMETER, AND HIS inquiries into the chemical aspects of the volcanic and pseudo-volcanic phenomena of Iceland. IT IS PERHAPS IDLE TO SPECULATE WHY ROSCOE SHOULD HAVE LEFT WILLIAMSON AT THE MOST FRUITFUL PERIOD OF HIS CAREER, AND WHEN, UNDER HIS STIMULUS, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY WAS APPARENTLY ABOUT TO ENTER UPON A GREAT DEVELOPMENT IN THIS COUNTRY. BUT THE PROBABILITY IS THAT THEN, AS AFTERWARDS, THE PROBLEMS OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY AND THE PURELY SPECULATIVE ASPECTS OF THE SCIENCE HAD FEW ATTRACTIONS FOR HIM, AND THAT HE SAW IN THE MANY-SIDED NATURE OF BUNSEN’S WORK, IN ITS EMINENTLY PRACTICAL CHARACTER, AND THE PRECISION OF ITS QUANTITATIVE METHODS, MUCH THAT APPEALED TO HIS INCLINATION TOWARDS THE OPERATIVE, AND ESPECIALLY THE DETERMINATIVE SIDE OF CHEMISTRY, FOR BUNSEN WAS PRE-EMINENTLY A MASTER OF MANIPULATION, AS EVERY ONE WHO ASPIRED TO A PROFESSIONAL CAREER IN CHEMISTRY AND WHO HOPED TO DIRECT A CHEMICAL LABORATORY FULLY recognized. ROSCOE, WITH HIS MOTHER AND SISTER, WHO ELECTED TO KEEP HOUSE FOR HIM, REACHED HEIDELBERG IN THE AUTUMN OF 1853 WITH AN INTRODUCTION TO VON MOHL, THE PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL LAW, WITH WHOSE FAMILY THEY BECAME WELL ACQUAINTED. ONE OF THE DAUGHTERS, ANNA VON MOHL, WAS THE SECOND WIFE OF HELMHOLTZ. BY VON MOHL HE WAS MADE KNOWN TO Bunsen. I SHALL NEVER FORGET (SAYS ROSCOE IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY) MY FIRST SIGHT OF HIM—THE MAN WHO AFTERWARDS BECAME ONE OF MY DEAREST FRIENDS, AND TO WHOM I OWE MORE THAN I CAN TELL.… HE WAS THEN AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS MENTAL AND PHYSICAL POWERS. HE STOOD FULLY SIX FEET HIGH, HIS MANNER WAS SIMPLE YET DIGNIFIED, AND HIS EXPRESSION ONE OF RARE INTELLIGENCE AND GREAT KINDNESS. THIS FIRST IMPRESSION OF HIS BEARING AND CHARACTER ONLY BECAME STRONGER AS MY KNOWLEDGE OF HIM INCREASED, AND THE FEELINGS OF RESPECT AND AFFECTION WITH WHICH I REGARDED HIM WERE THOSE OF ALL WITH WHOM HE CAME IN CONTACT. HIS SINGULAR AMIABILITY WAS NOT A SIGN OF WEAKNESS, BUT OF STRENGTH OF CHARACTER. HIS MODESTY WAS NATURAL AND IN NO DEGREE ASSUMED. IN HIS LECTURES, WHEN GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF SOME DISCOVERY HE HAD MADE, OR SOME NEW APPARATUS OR METHOD OF WORK WHICH HE HAD INVESTIGATED, I NEVER HEARD HIM MENTION HIMSELF. IT WAS ALWAYS “MAN HAT DIES gefunden,” or “es hat sich so herausgestellt.” [22] [23] [24] [25] IN THE CLOISTERS OF THE OLD MONASTERY WHICH THEN DID DUTY AS THE HEIDELBERG LABORATORY, ROSCOE WAS FIRST INDOCTRINATED INTO THE ART AND MYSTERY OF QUANTITATIVE CHEMICAL ANALYSIS, AND HE THERE ACQUIRED THE FAMILIARITY WITH BUNSEN’S METHODS AND WITH HIS SYSTEM OF LABORATORY INSTRUCTION THAT HE WAS TO TURN TO SUCH SIGNAL ACCOUNT IN THE ESTABLISHMENT AND DIRECTION OF THE MANCHESTER SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY. AMONG HIS FELLOW-WORKERS WERE LOTHAR MEYER, PAULI, BEILSTEIN, PEBAL, SCHISCHKOFF (A RUSSIAN OFFICER WHO INVESTIGATED WITH BUNSEN THE COURSE OF DECOMPOSITION OF FIRED GUNPOWDER), QUINCKE, BAHR, LANDOLT, BAEYER, LOURENÇO, AND, AMONGST ENGLISHMEN, RUSSELL, ATKINSON, AND MATTHIESSEN—A GROUP OF WELL-KNOWN NAMES CONSTITUTING A STRIKING TESTIMONY TO THE INFLUENCE AND POWER OF ATTRACTION OF THE GREAT GERMAN chemist. ONE OF ROSCOE’S EARLIEST QUANTITATIVE EXERCISES WAS IN SILICATE ANALYSIS, AND HIS FIRST PUBLISHED PAPER, WHICH APPEARED in Liebig’s Annalen for 1854, was a joint production with Schönfeld on the composition of certain samples of gneiss. AT THE CLOSE OF HIS SECOND SESSION HE PASSED HIS DOCTOR’S EXAMINATION summa cum laude, AND THEN EMBARKED UPON THE WELL-KNOWN INQUIRY IN ASSOCIATION WITH BUNSEN ON THE MEASUREMENT OF THE CHEMICAL ACTION OF LIGHT, WHICH OCCUPIED much of his time and energy during the next eight years. IN THE OBITUARY NOTICES HE WROTE FOR Nature OF AUGUST 31, 1899, AND FOR THE Proceedings OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, AND more especially in the admirable MEMORIAL LECTURE WHICH HE GAVE TO THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY, ROSCOE HAS DONE FULL JUSTICE TO THE MEMORY OF BUNSEN AS A GREAT CHEMIST, PRE-EMINENT AS A DISCOVERER AND TEACHER, AND LOVABLE AS A TRUE AND NOBLE- HEARTED MAN. THE MEMORIAL LECTURE WAS REPRINTED IN AMERICA BY THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE, AND TRANSLATED INTO GERMAN TO BE PREFIXED TO THE COLLECTION OF BUNSEN’S WORKS PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY—THE BUNSEN-GESELLSCHAFT—FOUNDED IN HIS HONOUR. IN COURSE OF THEIR LONG AND UNINTERRUPTED FRIENDSHIP HE RECEIVED MANY LETTERS FROM HIS ILLUSTRIOUS MASTER. THESE, 126 in number, were suitably bound and presented by him to the Bunsen Society. Roscoe took advantage of the opportunity afforded by his residence in Germany to study its university system, and to MAKE HIMSELF FAMILIAR WITH THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF ITS WORKING, AND IN HIS VACATIONS HE SOUGHT THE ACQUAINTANCE OF ITS LEADING MEN OF SCIENCE, WITH SOME OF WHOM HE CONTRACTED LASTING FRIENDSHIPS. IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, WRITTEN IN 1906, HE GIVES EXPRESSION TO THE SENTIMENTS OF RESPECT AND ESTEEM WITH WHICH HE REGARDED THE GERMANY AND HIS GERMAN FRIENDS of half a century ago: MY KNOWLEDGE OF THE GERMANS AND GERMANY HAS LED ME TO LOVE THE FATHERLAND, AND, I VENTURE TO THINK, TO UNDERSTAND AS WELL AS TO RESPECT AND ADMIRE THE NATION. AS TO ANY FEELINGS ANTAGONISTIC TO ENGLAND AND THE ENGLISH EXISTING IN THE MINDS OF THE MANY GERMANS WITH WHOM I BECAME INTIMATE, I NEVER FOUND A TRACE, FOR TREITSCHKE I DID NOT KNOW. ALL WITH WHOM I EVER CAME IN CONTACT EXPRESSED A FEELING THAT ENGLAND WAS THE OLD HOME OF FREEDOM, THAT SHE HAD LED THE VAN IN SECURING THAT FREEDOM BY GRADUAL AND PEACEABLE MEASURES, AND, IN SHORT, THAT THE PATH IN WHICH THE ENGLISHMAN TROD WAS THAT IN WHICH THEY WISHED TO FOLLOW. “WE CANNOT,” MY FRIENDS SAID TO ME, “EXPRESS OUR OPINION ON POLITICAL MATTERS WITH THE FREEDOM TO WHICH YOU IN ENGLAND ARE ACCUSTOMED. HOW INDEED CAN THIS BE OTHERWISE, WHEN WE ARE GOVERNED BY AN AUTOCRATIC POWER WHICH BELIEVES IN THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS, AND HAVE TO SUBMIT TO A CONDITION OF THINGS IN which summary punishment for ‘Majestätsbeleidigung’ is possible?” IN THE AUTUMN OF 1856 ROSCOE RETURNED TO LONDON, AND WITH THE HELP OF FRIENDS SET UP A PRIVATE LABORATORY IN BEDFORD PLACE, RUSSELL SQUARE, WITH WILHELM DITTMAR TO ASSIST HIM IN RESEARCH WORK. HE ALSO OBTAINED EMPLOYMENT AS A SCIENCE LECTURER AT AN ARMY SCHOOL AT ELTHAM, AND DID SOME ANALYTICAL WORK ON VENTILATION FOR A DEPARTMENTAL Committee, the results of which were published in a Blue-book, and also in the Journal of the Chemical Society.[2] THE LONDON VENTURE WAS VERY SHORT-LIVED, FOR IN THE FOLLOWING YEAR FRANKLAND, THE FIRST PROFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY IN THE RECENTLY FOUNDED OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER, RESIGNED HIS APPOINTMENT, AND ROSCOE, WHO WAS ABLE TO PRODUCE SATISFACTORY TESTIMONIALS FROM BUNSEN, LIEBIG, GRAHAM, WILLIAMSON, AND OTHERS, OFFERED HIMSELF AS A CANDIDATE FOR THE vacant chair and was appointed. CHAPTER III OWENS COLLEGE, MANCHESTER OWENS COLLEGE HAD ITS ORIGIN IN A BEQUEST OF JOHN OWENS, A MERCHANT OF MANCHESTER, WHO LEFT THE BULK OF HIS FORTUNE TO TRUSTEES TO FOUND A COLLEGIATE INSTITUTION IN MANCHESTER, OPEN TO PERSONS OF EVERY VARIETY OF CREED AND FREE FROM EVERY RELIGIOUS TEST. HE WAS BORN IN 1790, THE SON OF OWEN OWENS, A FLINTSHIRE MAN, WHO SETTLED IN MANCHESTER IN EARLY LIFE AND ESTABLISHED A SMALL BUSINESS AS A HAT-LINING CUTTER AND FURRIER. SOME TIME AFTER 1815 OWEN OWENS TOOK HIS SON INTO PARTNERSHIP, WHEN THE FIRM EXTENDED THE SCOPE OF THEIR BUSINESS AND BECAME GENERAL MERCHANTS, SHIPPING CALICOES AND COARSE WOOLLENS TO CHINA, INDIA, SOUTH AMERICA, AND NEW YORK, AND IMPORTING HIDES, WHEAT, AND OTHER PRODUCE IN return. JOHN OWENS WAS DESCRIBED AS POSSESSING A GOOD DEAL OF HARD-HEADEDNESS AND PRACTICAL COMMON SENSE, A KEEN BUYER AND A GOOD PAYER, VERY METHODICAL IN HIS HABITS AND OPERATIONS, AND WHO ACTED UP TO HIS FAVOURITE MOTTO, [26] [27] [28] Honestas optima politia. HE WAS A STAUNCH DISSENTER AND A “STALWART” RADICAL, A SHY, SILENT MAN, KNOWN ONLY TO A FEW INTIMATES, A MISOGAMIST, IF NOT ACTUALLY A MISOGYNIST, OF NO GREAT INTELLECTUAL ABILITY, AND WITH FEW CULTURED TASTES, NOR, SO FAR AS CAN BE GATHERED, PARTICULARLY FRIENDLY TO LEARNING. THERE IS REASON TO BELIEVE THAT HIS FIRST INTENTION WAS TO LEAVE THE GREATER PART OF HIS FORTUNE TO HIS LIFELONG FRIEND AND FORMER SCHOOLFELLOW, GEORGE FAULKNER, A WELL-KNOWN AND PROSPEROUS MANCHESTER MERCHANT, WHO IN DECLINING IT APPEARS TO HAVE SUGGESTED THE IDEA OF FOUNDING A COLLEGE IN MANCHESTER. THE SUGGESTION TOOK ROOT. IN DEVELOPING IT OWENS SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN MAINLY MOVED BY A FEELING OF BITTERNESS AGAINST A SYSTEM WHICH IMPOSED SUBSCRIPTION TO ARTICLES AND CREEDS ON A YOUNG MAN BEFORE HE COULD BE admitted to the ancient Universities. HE WAS DETERMINED TO BREAK DOWN THIS INJUSTICE SO FAR AS HE WAS ABLE; HE THEREFORE MADE THE TRUST SUBJECT TO “THE FUNDAMENTAL AND IMMUTABLE RULE AND CONDITION … THAT THE STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, TEACHERS, AND OTHER OFFICERS AND PERSONS CONNECTED WITH THE SAID INSTITUTION SHALL NOT BE REQUIRED TO MAKE ANY DECLARATION AS TO, OR SUBMIT TO ANY TEST WHATSOEVER OF, THEIR RELIGIOUS OPINIONS, AND THAT NOTHING SHALL BE INTRODUCED IN THE MATTER OR MODE OF EDUCATION OR INSTRUCTION IN REFERENCE TO ANY RELIGIOUS OR THEOLOGICAL SUBJECT WHICH SHALL BE REASONABLY OFFENSIVE TO THE CONSCIENCE OF ANY STUDENT, OR OF HIS RELATIONS, GUARDIANS, OR FRIENDS, UNDER WHOSE IMMEDIATE CARE he shall be.”[3] JOHN OWENS DIED, UNMARRIED, IN JULY 1846, AT THE AGE OF FIFTY-FIVE. MR. GEORGE FAULKNER, WHO HAD BEEN NAMED AS ONE OF THE EXECUTORS, PROCEEDED TO CARRY OUT THE PROVISIONS OF THE WILL. THE ESTATE TOOK SOME YEARS TO REALIZE, AND THE ACCOUNTS WERE NOT FINALLY CLOSED UNTIL 1857, WHEN THE TOTAL SUM RECEIVED FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE COLLEGE AMOUNTED TO £96,942—NOT A VERY LARGE AMOUNT CONSIDERED AS ENDOWMENT, BUT STILL SUFFICIENT, VIEWED FROM THE STANDPOINT OF THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY, TO ENABLE A MODEST START TO BE MADE, WITH PRUDENT MANAGEMENT ON THE PART OF THE TRUSTEES, AND A reasonable amount of sympathy and goodwill on the part of the community that was to be benefited. THE EXECUTORS, WITHOUT WAITING FOR THE COMPLETE REALIZATION OF THE ESTATE, PROCEEDED TO EXECUTE THE PROVISIONS OF THE BEQUEST AS REGARDS THE PROJECTED COLLEGE. IN THE SELECTION OF THE TRUSTEES APPOINTED TO CARRY OUT HIS INTENTIONS JOHN OWENS ACTED WITH SOUND JUDGMENT AND A WISE LIBERALITY. IT IS EVIDENT FROM THE TERMS OF THE WILL THAT HE HAD GIVEN considerable thought to the character of the institution he wished to found. But in spite of all his care and of the legal skill WITH WHICH HIS WISHES WERE EXPRESSED, THE THEOLOGICAL DIFFICULTY MANAGED TO CREEP IN, AND INGENIOUS CASUISTS RAISED DOUBTS AND DIFFERENCES OF OPINION CONCERNING THE INTERPRETATION OF THE TESTATOR’S WILL IN REGARD TO RELIGIOUS INST...