Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/58

194 am so for from repenting any share I had in this, that to this hour it is satisfying to me. I am persuaded the wise Maker of the world has tied the church and state together with a brotherly and adamantine chain; and it hath been my great care to advance the good of both: and yet the love of peace hath not so far bewitched me, that I could not distinguish between genuine and adulterous peace; neither hath my affection to my sovereign carried me that length, that to please him I should submit to the least stain on my conscience. I hope the integrity and candour of my conduct shall appear when I am dead. In a word, brethren, join together with the most intimate love and concord in the work of the Lori Let me put you in mind to pay every obedience to the king. You live in happy times, and enjoy a singular felicity. You are blessed with a prince who drank in religion with his milk; who hath guarded your doctrine with a right discipline, and covers both the doctrine and discipline of religion with his protection; who hath taken the church so much into his care, as by open and plain unanswerable documents, to make it evident, that he will never desert her while he breathes. Therefore, what you may easily and pleasantly enjoy, it will be folly to seek after by harsh methods. You will, then, take particular care, that the church be not ruined by a fall from such high happiness." Mr Rollock died on the 8th of January, 1598, in the forty-third year of his age. His remains were attended to the place of interment by nearly the whole population of Edinburgh, who considered him as their spiritual father, and regarded his death as a public calamity. The town council had paid his house rent for many years, and they allowed his widow the one half of his salary for five years, and to his posthumous daughter they gave, from the city funds, one thousand merks, by way of dowry. He published several works, chiefly commentaries on parts of Scripture, several of which were printed at Geneva, and obtained the warm approbation of the learned and judicious Beza. These works are still to be met with, and, though tinged with the scholastic theology of the times, discover great natural acuteness, a full acquaintance with his subject, and very extensive learning. His whole life seems, indeed, to have been devoted to literature.

ROSK,, an eminent modern political character, was born at Brechin, June 11, 1744. He was the son of a poor non-jurant clergyman of the Scottish episcopal communion, who, through the persecution which his order en- dured from the government after the insurrection of 1745, seems to have lost the means of supporting his family. Under these unfortunate circumstances, George Rose was received by an uncle who kept an academy near Hampstead, by whom he was, at a very early period of life, placed in a surgeon's shop. Not liking this employment, he had the good fortune to attract the attention of the earl of Marchmont, who, from sympathy for the cause of his father's distresses, and other considerations, procured him a situation on board a ship of war. Here the office of purser, to which George soon attained, enabled him to display his qualities of activity, industry, and punctuality in so extraordinary a manner, as to attract the notice of the earl of Sandwich, then at the head of the admiralty. After occupying several subordinate situations in the public offices, he was appointed keeper of the records, for which his qualifications were entirely suited. The confused mass of papers which filled this office, were by him arranged and classed in such a manner, that any one could be found immediately when wanted. This achievement was attended with such extreme convenience to the ministry, that it attracted the particular attention of lord North, and established Mr Rose as the man whose services were to be resorted to for all such systematic and laborious work.

In 1767, he was appointed to complete the Journals of the House of Lords in