Page:A catalogue of notable Middle Templars, with brief biographical notices.djvu/227

 His Reports have a high reputation for accuracy. They are Reports in the King's Bench and Chancery during the Presidency of Lord Hardwicke, 1733—7; Reports upon Appeals and Writs of Error in the High Court of Parliament in Ireland (1795—8); Term Reports of Cases in the King's Courts, Dublin (1796); Reports of State Trials in Ireland, 1798—1803 (1803).

Admitted 21 October, 1738.

Son and heir of Richard Rigby of Misley (Mistley) Hall, Essex, and of the Middle Temple. He was born at Mistley, 1722. Inheriting a fortune he took up politics and entered Parliament and became secretary to the Duke of Bedford, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and in 1759 Master of the Rolls in Ireland. In 1765 he was appointed Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and in 1768 Paymaster of the Force. He took a prominent part against Wilkes, which made him the object of popular dislike, and he figured in the caricatures of the time as the "Essex Calf." He continued to be Paymaster till the Coalition Ministry of 1784, when he was succeeded by (q.v.). In 1785 he retired to Bath, where he died 8 April, 1788. He was stigmatized by his contemporaries as an "unblushing placeman," and the large fortune he left behind him as derived from "public money." His name is employed in Coningshj as the synonym of the political parasite.

Admitted 9 February, 1682-3.

On the Register he is described as "Prenobilis Joannes Bodvile, Vicecomes de Bodmin, pronepos et hseres apparens prenobilis Joannis Robartes, Comitis de Radnor, nuper custodis privati sigilli," etc.; but this must be a mistake, or rather a double mistake, for the heir apparent of the first earl at the date given was his grandson, Charles Bodvile Robartes, his eldest son Robert having died in the previous year (1681). He was admitted with a number of other men of rank and position the same day. He was called to the Privy Council by William III. and in the time of George I. made Treasurer of the Chamber and Constable of Carnarvon Castle. He died without issue in 1723.

Admitted 2 November, 1793.

Second son of William Roberts of Wandsworth Common. He was educated at Eton, at St. Paul's School, of which his uncle was master, and at Oxford, where he gained the English Essay Prize in 1788. In the Temple he studied law under (q.v.), but subsequently removed to Lincoln's Inn. He was a frequent contributor to periodical literature, particularly on religious topics, and for some years (1811—1822) was Editor of the British Review. An article in this brought him into controversy with Lord Byron, who refers to his periodical in Don Juan as "My Grandmother's Review." In 1812 he became a Commissioner in Bankruptcy, but resigned in 1831, when he was made secretary to the Ecclesiastical Commission. In 1835 he retired from public life and devoted himself entirely to literary and charitable work. He died at St. Albans, 21 May, 1849.

Besides his contributions to the periodical Press, he published several