In 1767, after popular tumult and violent opposition, a patent was obtained for a theatre at Edinburgh. Ross solicited the post of patentee and manager, and, although he was personally unknown in Edinburgh, the theatre was made over to him in the autumn of 1767. He is said to have paid a rental of 400l. a year. A strong and influential opposition to Ross as ‘an improper person’ originated, and led to a paper warfare, in which Ross, on account of his heaviness, was derided as Mr. Opium. He nevertheless opened the ‘old’ theatre in the Canongate on 9 Dec. 1767, playing Essex in the ‘Earl of Essex,’ which is noteworthy as being the first play legally performed in Scotland. Ross also recited a prologue by James Boswell, and he played the leading business through what, though it began unhappily, proved a prosperous season. Two years later, on 9 Dec. 1769, he opened, with the ‘Conscious Lovers,’ a new theatre at Edinburgh. He had succeeded, in spite of innumerable difficulties (including an indignant protest from Whitefield, part of whose former preaching ground was covered by the new edifice), in raising the building by subscription, but seems to have had inadequate capital to work it. At the close of a disastrous season he let it to Samuel Foote [q. v.], and returned to London. At the time of his death the ‘Scots Magazine’ described him as still holding the titular office of ‘Master of the Revels for Scotland’ (Notes and Queries, 8th ser. vols. viii. and ix. passim).
On 10 Oct. 1770 Ross reappeared at Covent Garden as Essex, this being announced as his first appearance for four years, and resumed at once his old characters. After a season or two, during which he was seen as Sciolto and Alcanor in ‘Mahomet,’ his name became infrequent on the bill. After the season of 1777–8 he had the misfortune to break his leg, and he did not reappear on the stage. He was for some years in extreme poverty. An unknown friend, subsequently discovered to be Admiral Samuel Barrington [q. v.], made him an annual present of 60l., which was continued until his death. He died in London on 14 Sept. 1790, and was buried three days later in St. James's, Piccadilly, James Boswell being chief mourner. He is said, at the instance of Lord Sp[ence]r, to have married, with an allowance of 200l. a year, the celebrated Fanny Murray, who ‘had been debauched’ by Lord Spencer's father.
He was a good actor, his great success being ‘in tragic characters of the mixed passions.’ He was, in his youth, a fashionable exponent of lovers in genteel comedy, but forfeited those characters through indolence and love of pleasure. His best parts seem to have been Castalio, Essex, Young Knowell, and George Barnwell. During many successive years he received on his benefit ten guineas as a tribute from one who had been saved from ruin by his performance of the last-named character. He was said to be the last pupil of Quin, whose Falstaffian qualities he perpetuated. Churchill, referring to the indolent habits of Ross, writes:
Ross (a misfortune which we often meet)
Was fast asleep at dear Statira's feet.
His extravagance kept him in constant trouble. He was a good story-teller and boon companion, and made many influential friends in Scotland and in England.
A portrait of Ross, as Hamlet, by Zoffany, and one by an unknown painter, as Kitely, are in the Mathews collection in the Garrick Club. One, by Roberts, as Essex, has been engraved.
[Genest's Account of the English Stage; J. C. Dibdin's Edinburgh Stage; Dibdin's History of the English Stage; Davies's Life of Garrick and Dramatic Miscellanies; Life of Garrick, by present writer, 1894; Georgian Era; Theatrical Review; Theatrical Biography, 1772; Gent. Mag. September 1790; Garrick Correspondence; Bernard's Retrospections of the Stage.]
ROSS, GEORGE (1814–1863), legal writer, born 17 July 1814, was grandson of Sir John Lockhart Ross [q. v.], and third and youngest son of George Ross (1775–1861), judge of the consistory court of Scotland, and author of ‘The Law of Vendors and Purchasers of Personal Property,’ 1816 (2nd ed. by S. B. Harrison in 1826; cf. reprint in Philadelphia Law Library, vol. xii. in 1836). His mother, Grace, was daughter of Andrew Hunter, D.D., of Barjarg, Dumfriesshire. His eldest brother, John Lockhart Ross (1811–1891) (a graduate of Oriel College, Oxford, B.A. in 1833, and M.A. in 1836), was well known as vicar of St. George's-in-the-East, London (1863–73), and of St. Dunstan's-in-the-East (1873–1891), and published many theological tracts and handbooks.
George was called to the Scottish bar in 1835, and practised as senior counsel, making conveyancing his speciality. He acquired a considerable practice, notwithstanding his bad health and small talents as a pleader. His knowledge of case law was extensive. His legal works secured for him a high reputation, and he was appointed in 1861 professor of Scots law at Edinburgh University. He was an able lecturer. He died of diphtheria at his house, 7 Forres Street, Edin-
