With his prism and silent face,
The marble index of a mind for ever
Voyaging through strange seas of Thought, alone—
which Wordsworth (from whose ‘Prelude’ the lines are taken) used to watch on moonlight nights from his window at St. John's; and in Worcester Cathedral there are notable monuments to Bishops Hough and Hurd. In the church of Walton-on-Thames is a monument to Richard Boyle, second lord Shannon, who died in 1740, and there are many scattered busts, e.g. Mead (College of Physicians), Hogarth (National Portrait Gallery), Garrick (Garrick Club), Handel (Foundling Hospital), Wilton (Royal Academy), and so forth. But the Nightingale monument must have been practically his last work, for on 11 Jan. 1762 he died, and was buried four days later in St. Martin's churchyard, ‘under the window of the Bell Bagnio.’ His funeral was attended by Hogarth, Reynolds, Hayman, and the leading members of the St. Martin's Lane Academy. Although he must have had a fair amount of work, he died poor, and his effects, when all needful expenses were discharged, produced to his creditors no more than eighteenpence in the pound (Smith, Nollekens, 1828, ii. 99).
Roubiliac is said to have been a friendly, loquacious, gesticulating little man, who never shook off, even after long residence in England, his characteristics as a foreigner. He sometimes dabbled in verse (French, of course), a specimen of which is to be found in the ‘St. James's Chronicle’ for 1761. He was well known to the artist community of St. Martin's Lane, and was an habitué of Old Slaughter's and cognate houses of call. Several anecdotes of him are related in Smith's ‘Nollekens’ (pp. 89–99). As a sculptor he bears the stamp of his French training in a certain restless and theatric treatment of his subjects. But although his style is mannered and somewhat affected, it is also full of grace, spirit, and refinement. Character rather than beauty seems to have been his aim, and his busts from the life or masks are his best, e.g. Pope, Mead, Hogarth (though Hogarth is a little gallicised). Of his sepulchral efforts the monuments to the Duke of Argyll and the Nightingales are most notable; of his statues, the Newton at Cambridge has perhaps the largest number of admirers.
A portrait of Roubiliac by his Swiss friend, Adrien Carpentiers, was exhibited in the Spring Garden exhibition of 9 May 1761, and is now in the National Portrait Gallery London. This was engraved in mezzotint, in 1765, by David Martin. The same exhibition also contained a portrait of Roubiliac by himself, described as his ‘first attempt’ in oil (afterwards, according to Walpole, in the possession of Mr. Smith of Crown Court, Westminster), and there was also a bust of him by Wilton, the mask of which was sold at Wilton's sale (ib. ii. 184).
[The chief authority for Roubiliac's life is the rare Vie et Ouvrages de L. F. Roubiliac, Sculpteur Lyonnais, 1882, by Le Roy de Sainte-Croix, who died in the year of its publication. There is a copy in the Art Library at South Kensington. Among other sources of information are Northcote's Reynolds, Hill's Boswell, Forster's Goldsmith, Redgrave, and Allan Cunningham.]
ROUCLIFFE, Sir BRIAN (d. 1494), judge, was eldest of the four sons of Guy Roucliffe, by his wife Joan, daughter of Thomas Burgh of Kirtlington, Nottinghamshire. His grandfather was Sir Robert de Roucliffe (d. 1381), and his father was recorder of York. Brian adopted the legal profession, and probably practised in the court of exchequer, though his name does not appear in the yearbooks. On 2 Nov. 1458 he was raised to the bench as third baron of the exchequer. His judicial functions did not prevent his undertaking other legal work, and he frequently acted as counsel to Sir William Plumpton [q. v.] His appointment was confirmed on Edward IV's accession in 1461, and again on Henry's restoration in 1470. He officiated at the coronation of Richard III on 26 June 1483, and was on that occasion promoted second baron of the exchequer. His commission as second baron was renewed on 24 Sept. 1485, and on 12 Oct. following he was granted custody of the manor of ‘Forset,’ Yorkshire. He died on 24 March 1494. Through his mother he acquired the manor of Cowthorp, Yorkshire, which he made his seat. In 1458 he founded and built the parish church, where he lies buried. A curious monument, representing Roucliffe and his wife holding the model of a church between them, was extant, though much defaced, in 1840 (Archæol. Journal, i. 69). Roucliffe's will, which shows him to have been a man of wealth and intelligence, as well as piety, is printed in ‘Testamenta Eboracensia,’ iv. 102–7. Several of his letters are printed in the ‘Plumpton Correspondence.’ He married Jane, daughter of Sir Richard Hamerton, and his son, Sir John Roucliffe (d. 1531), married Margaret, granddaughter and heir of Sir William Plumpton, and was thereby involved in the protracted litigation over the Plumpton estates [see Plumpton, Sir William].
[Plumpton Corr. (Camden Soc.) passim; Testamenta Eboracensia (Surtees Soc.), vols. i. ii. iv.
