"We have the honour to be, "My Lords and Gentlemen, "Your most obedient and very humble servants,
(Signed) BRAYBROOKE, President. JOHN BRUCE, Director. C. PURTON COOPER. J. PAYNE COLLIER, Treas. W. R. DRAKE. EDWD. FOSS. PETER LEVESQUE. STRANGFORD. W. H. BLAAUW. W. DURRANT COOPER. BOLTON CORNEY. HENRY ELLIS. LAMBERT B. LARKING. FREDK. OUVRY. WM. J. THOMS, Sec.
_25. Parliament Street, Westminster,_ _January, 1853._"
A Report from that Commission has been laid before Parliament; and a Bill for carrying into effect the recommendations contained in such Report, and transferring the powers of the Prerogative Court to the Court of Chancery, has been introduced into the House of Lords. The Bill contains no specific enactments as to the custody of the Wills.
Now, therefore, is the time for all who are interested in Historical Truth to use their best endeavours to procure the insertion of such clauses as shall place the Wills under the same custody as the other Judicial Records of the country, namely, that of Her Majesty's Keeper of Records.
With Literature represented in the House of Lords by a Brougham and a Campbell, in the Commons by a Macaulay, a Bulwer, and a D'Israeli, let but the real state of the case be once made public, and we have no fear but that the interests of English Historical Literature will be cared for and maintained.
My gifted and lamented countryman "The Roscoe of Cork"[1] 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 is 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 distinguished 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.