Rowley Lascelles

Lascelles, Rowley, an English barrister, born in Westminster about 1770, educated at Harrow, called to the Bar in 1797, practised about twenty years in Ireland, and died in London 19th March 1841, aged 70. Besides Letters of Publicola (Dublin, 1816) in defence of the Established Church, and minor works, his literary history is remarkable as connected with a turgid, unindexed book in two large folio volumes, Liber Munerum Publicorum Hiberniae, published at the expense of Government, and compiled chiefly from MSS. left by John Lodge. After he had drawn £4,000 as editor, the work was stopped in the autumn of 1830. and Mr. Lascelles bitterly complained at being put off with £500 in two instalments as a final settlement. The book was suppressed for twenty-two years, on account of the partizan tone of the History of Ireland, or as it is styled, Res Gestae Anglorum in Hibernia, written or compiled by Mr. Lascelles, and prefixed solely on his own authority.

At length, in 1852, the work, incomplete as it is, was given to the public at the price of two guineas. It is now very scarce. Containing much valuable matter, "it is in the main," says Dr. Cotton, "a great mass of curious information carelessly put together, and disfigured by flippant and impertinent remarks of the compiler, most unbefitting a government employe." For further information regarding this work, see Notes and Queries, 2nd Series, vol. vi., p. 350, and the Gentleman's Magazine, September 1829, September 1841, and September 1854. A partial index to the Liber Munerum is given in the Report of the Deputy-keeper of the Public Records in Ireland, 26th February 1877.

Sources

146. Gentleman's Magazine. London, 1731-1868.
Gilbert, John T., see Nos. 110, 335.

254. Notes and Queries. London, 1850-'78.
O'Callaghan, John C., see No. 186.