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NE of John Foster's celebrated Essays, forming part of his correspondence with his lady-love at Bourton-onthe-Water, is on "A Man's Writing Memoirs of Himself." In this work he indicates some of the advantages which may be gained by one who would attempt not merely a faithful record of the events of his life, but also an intelligent review of the influences by which his character has been formed. Any life thus written would contain some points of interest and instruction. In the case of men eminent in character and remarkable in career this might be expected in a high degree. It may, therefore, be regretted that so few of this class benefit themselves and supply entertainment and profit to others by autobiographies, which, steering between offensive egotism and morbid reserve, would mark the salient points of life's history and describe the chief processes of mental development.

The eminent lawyer-Sir JOHN ROLT-the subject of this sketch, was one of the few who in the eventide of an active life was disposed not only to look back, but also to record some particulars of the course he had travelled and the means by which he had become what he was. Shortly after his elevation to the Bench, Sir John commenced an autobiography which he carried to a conclusion during his last illness. A writer, "J. W.," in the "Law Magazine," Vol. lxiii., 1871, who had been favoured with the use of this document, compiled from it an admirable biographical article. From this

account the present "Notes" will be in great part prepared, but some facts have been gathered from other sources.

One of the little band of missionaries who became colleagues of William Carey and John Thomas in India, was a young man named Samuel P. Brunsdon, of Defford, in Worcestershire. He had married a Gloucestershire lady, Ann Hirons, a member of the Baptist Church at Fairford, who accompanied him to Calcutta. Mr. Brunsdon's early death in 1801 left her a widow with an infant son.

Among the few Europeans in Calcutta who avowed their Christianity and identified themselves with the missionary enterprise was a Mr. James Rolt, an English merchant. This gentleman married Mrs. Brunsdon, by whom he had three sons. John, who was the second of these, was born in the great Bengal capital on the 5th of October, 1804. Of his parents he says:-"My father was always called a merchant. by those amongst whom I lived, but my own impression, from all I heard and recollect, was and is that he was a trader, supplying wealthy natives in the interior of India with furniture and other European commodities. He was, however, in good circumstances, and sent his children at an early age to Europe for education.1 My mother was a native of Fairford, in Gloucestershire, the child of an old but decaying family of that town, the next generations of which have for the most part fallen into the condition of mechanics and labourers."

Mr. Rolt died in 1813, and his wife, who was then in England with her young family, died the following year, shortly after receiving news of her husband's death. The children appear to have been left dependent upon their Fairford relatives. John was at this time at school with the Rev. William Gray, Baptist minister at Chipping Norton. In their maternal grandmother the orphans found a loving friend, whose kindness was long and gratefully remembered. lived," wrote Sir John about 1868, "till a comparatively recent period, and her house (at Fairford) was generally my

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resort and home in my holidays while at school, and for some years afterwards-and hence my connection with, and strong attachment to, the country. The property belonging to her--a few cottages and a little land, in and on which she lived-I have since acquired, and it serves not unfrequently to raise a smile by the description of 'my ancestral property.'

Among the incidents of his first schooling years and his delightful holidays at Fairford, he remembered with great pleasure occasional visits to a great uncle at Cirencester, and strolls in Earl Bathurst's Park. "The occasional free enjoyment," he says "of Cirencester Park, was of incalculable service to me. The recollections and associations of its scenery, and especially its wood have influenced my tastes, and, in all probability, my career through life. I can certainly understand why Pope asked Who plants like Bathurst ?' and it may now truly be added Who maintains like Bathurst, that which has been planted?''

In 1814 he was removed from Chipping Norton to a school at Islington, where his educational advantages were far from great, and his life was dull and monotonous. Health and good spirits preserved him from actual unhappiness, while the friendship of the usher, and his own efforts at selfeducation contributed to his enjoyment. "Paradise Lost," and "Cowper's Poems," were among the books which he was "fortunate enough to get hold of," by purchase out of his pocket-money.

At Christmas 1818, his schoolmaster, who was a Baptist minister, and acted as a kind of guardian to him, placed him with a son and nephew of his own, who were in business as woollen drapers in Oxford Street. His employers were kind and considerate; and during the four years he was with them he had some opportunities for mental improvement of which he made good use. His review of this period of his life is very interesting, and his narrative of the progress of his selfeducation may afford instruction and encouragement to youths. similarly situated. Rising four or five times a week at five in

the morning, he secured two hours for reading and study before commencing the business of the day, which did not close till nine at night. On Sundays he availed himself of opportunities to hear some of the chief preachers of the day. Among others whom he thus heard he mentions Robert Hall, Dr. Chalmers, and Edward Irving. He joined the congregation of the latter, whom he never ceased to regard as being as good a Christian man and as remarkable a preacher as the world has ever seen."

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In 1822 a pedestrian tour which he took in Wales greatly developed his energies; and, aiming to improve his position, he obtained a situation in a wholesale house of business in Newgate Street. Before he was two and twenty he married. Shortly afterwards he met with an old schoolfellow, who was then articled in a solicitor's office. Occasional intercourse led him to believe that he possessed some of the mental qualities out of which a good lawyer could be made. Secretly, but deliberately and firmly, he resolved to look in that direction. for a career; and in 1827, at the age of twenty-three, he had become clerk in the office of Mr. William Pritchard, a brother of the solicitor to whom his friend was articled.

Working carefully in the office and studying diligently at home, he soon mastered all of Doctors' Commons lore that could be usefully learned by a proctor's clerk. His funds were helped by two small secretaryships, one being that of Mill Hill Congregational School.

His determination to be called to the Bar had now acquired distinctness and force. The difficulties were boldly confronted: fresh efforts at self-education were successfully made, and the generous and efficient help of some well-educated friends was obtained. In 1888 he resigned his employment at

Doctors' Commons and entered as a student at the Inner Temple. The industrious habits he had formed were still practised, and his studentship was a success.

In Trinity Term, 1837, Mr. Rolt was called to the Bar by the Society of the Inner Temple. He took Chambers in

Chancery Lane, and commenced regular attendance in the Vice-Chancellor's Court. For two or three years his expenses were barely met by his receipts. Then came, about 1842, such success that he says his fees within a twelvemonth reached what was to him "a fabulous amount of wealth."

He became known for sound and effective argument in court, rose high in the esteem of his brother barristers, and attracted the favourable notice of those in authority. He continued to work hard. "I took," he says, "to early rising instead of sitting up late-and adhered to this to the end of my working days-from four or five o'clock in the morning till dinner at six or seven in the evening, was the extent of my power of endurance." His skill in tracing pedigrees and unravelling the facts of complicated cases often astonished even those who were themselves experts in such matters. In 1845 Mr. Rolt was offered the appointment of AdvocateGeneral in Bengal. He might thus have returned to the city of his birth and held an office with a salary of £3,800 a year, and the lead at the Calcutta Bar. This splendid offer was declined. In 1846 he was promoted to the rank of Queen's Counsel by Lord Chancellor Lyndhurst. The same year he sought Parliamentary honours by offering himself as candidate for Stamford. Though early associated with reformers, yet in 1831 he became alarmed by the introduction of the Reform Bill, imagining, like many others, that its principles were subversive of a limited monarchy. He was thus led into Conservatism, and as a Conservative he now unsuccessfully. opposed Mr. Herries.

One of the tastes which his early life at Fairford and his visits to Cirencester had developed was an innate and ardent love for rural scenery and employment. Those who are familiar with these beautiful localities will readily understand what charms such a boy would find on the green banks of the Coln, or in the glades and woods of Oakley Park. He now gratified his love of the country by the purchase, in 1849, of Ozleworth Park. This estate, about two miles east of Wotton

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