It was suspected that men of greater importance were behind the scenes and made use of Roper's paper for party purposes (Boyer, Political State of Great Britain, 1711, pp. 670–8; Wentworth Papers, pp. 212, 215). We know that Swift sometimes sent paragraphs to the ‘Post Boy,’ ‘as malicious as possible, and very proper for Abel Roper, the printer of it’ (Journal to Stella, 17 Nov. and 12 Dec. 1712, 26 Jan. 1713). The pamphlet ‘Cursory but Curious Observations of Mr. Abel R—er, upon a late famous Pamphlet entitled “Remarks on the Preliminary Articles offered by the F. K. in hopes to procure a general Peace,”’ 1711, appears to be mainly a satire upon Roper, who is made to say, ‘I am called Abel, without the least respect to the station I bear in the present ministry.’ Another piece, ‘Tory Annals, faithfully extracted out of Abel Roper's famous writings, vulgarly called “Post Boy and Supplement,”’ 1712, is in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh (cf. Ashton, Queen Anne, ii. 67–74).
‘The Character of Richard St[ee]le, Esq., with some remarks by Toby, Abel's kinsman,’ appeared on 12 Nov. 1713, and was often mentioned in the ‘Post Boy.’ This libel was either by Dr. William Wagstaffe, in whose ‘Miscellaneous Works’ it appeared in 1726, or by Swift; it was certainly not by Roper (Aitken, Life of Steele, i. 410–15, ii. 302; Dilke, Papers of a Critic, i. 366–82; Notes and Queries, 3rd and 6th ser.) The writer of a well-informed but hostile pamphlet called ‘Some Memoirs of the Life of Abel, Toby's Uncle, by Dr. Andrew Tripe,’ which appeared on 11 Dec. 1725, says that ‘Toby’ was Roper's nephew, Edward King, son of Thomas King, a farrier of Coventry, and Ruth Roper, Abel's sister; King helped in his uncle's business.
Soon after Queen Anne's death the ‘Post Boy’ gave offence to the whig government, and Roper was examined on 27 Aug. 1714. He said he had for some time not been concerned in the paper; and John Morphew, the publisher of it, said he did not know the author of the offending articles, but that it was long since he had accounted to Roper for the profits (State Papers, Dom. George I, bdle. i. Nos. 33, 36). Subsequently Roper sank into obscurity, and he died on 5 Feb. 1726, the same day as his old opponent Ridpath, leaving behind in the ‘Post Boy’ ‘abundant testimonials of his zeal for indefeasible hereditary right, for monarchy, passive obedience, the church, the queen, and the doctor’ (Read's Weekly Journal, 12 Feb.; Daily Post, 7 Feb. 1726). By his will, dated 19 Aug. 1725 (P. C. C. 57 Plymouth), his property was to be divided into three equal parts, according to the custom of the city of London, one part going to his wife, Mary Roper, and the second to his son Francis. Out of the third portion of his property he left to his son his right and title to the copy of certain books, and small legacies to his brother, John Roper of Atherstone, and others. There is an engraving of Roper, with his nephew Toby, by Vandergucht (published in March 1713), and a mezzotint by G. White, after H. Hysing.
[Some Memoirs of the Life of Abel, Toby's Uncle, by Dr. Andrew Tripe, 1726; Noble's Continuation of Granger, 1806, ii. 308–11; Caulfield's Portraits of Remarkable Persons (Revolution to George II), i. 142–5; Bromley's Portraits, p. 241; Nichols's Lit. Anecd.]
ROPER, MARGARET (1505–1544), daughter of Sir Thomas More. [See under More, Sir Thomas and Roper, William.]
ROPER, ROPER STOTE DONNISON (1771–1823?), legal writer, born on 9 March 1771, was only son of the Rev. Watson Stote Donnison of Trimdon, Durham. Through his mother, Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Jonathan Sparke, esq., of Hutton-Henry (by Elizabeth daughter of William Roper, esq., of Clayport), he became heir to the Trimdon estates, the property of the Roper family, and at the age of about twenty-five assumed the surname of Roper. On 29 March 1793 he was admitted at Gray's Inn, and on 6 Feb. 1799 was called to the bar. In 1805 he appeared in the ‘Law List’ as of 2 Lincoln's Inn Square, equity draughtsman. His name figured there for the last time in 1823. Roper Stote Donnison Rowe Roper of Trimdon, probably a son, married, 25 Oct. 1838, Jemima Margaret, daughter of the Rev. John Gilpin of Sedbury Park, Yorkshire (Burke, Landed Gentry).
Roper was the author of several legal works. The first, a ‘Treatise upon the Law of Legacies,’ appeared in 1799, and was reissued in 1805. It was commended by Lord Eldon, Story, and Kent. The author at his death left a portion of it thoroughly revised. The work was completed by Henry Hopley White, and issued in two volumes, 1828, as a third edition. A fourth edition appeared in 1847, and a second American edition in 1848. Roper also published ‘Treatise on the Revocation and Republication of Wills and Testaments, together with tracts upon the law concerning Baron and Ferme,’ 1800, 8vo (American edition, 1803), and ‘Treatise on the Law of Property arising from the Relation between Husband and Wife,’ 1820, 2 vols. 8vo. A second edition of the latter, with additions, was issued by E. Jacob in 1826,
