Abel Roper

[1] He was adopted in 1677 by his uncle, Abel Roper, who published books from 1638 at the Spread Eagle, opposite St. Dunstan's Church, Fleet Street, and was master of the Stationers' Company in that year.

on the completion of his apprenticeship, with all the elder Roper's copyrights; and having married, when he was 30, the widow of his last master, he set up business in one side of a saddler's shop near Bell Yard, opposite Middle Temple Gate.

A warrant was issued for his arrest in May 1696, on an information that, under the name of John Chaplin, he had printed a paper, on the Jacobite assassination plot of George Barclay and others, called An Account of a most horrid Conspiracy against the Life of his most sacred Majesty, with intent to give notice to the people mentioned in it to fly from justice.

John Dunton said that the Post Boy was written by a man named Thomas, and on his death by Abel Boyer, compiler of the Annals of Queen Anne, which Roper published.

Next year (November 1711) Roper gave offence by papers printed in the Post Boy on behalf of the proposed peace in the War of Spanish Succession, and, upon complaint of diplomats from the king of Portugal and the Duke of Savoy, he was arrested on a warrant from Lord Dartmouth, and bound over to appear at the court of queen's bench.

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, was a satire against Roper; the Tory Annals, faithfully extracted out of Abel Roper's famous writings, vulgarly called “Post Boy and Supplement,” appeared in 1712.

[3] The Ipswich MP William Thompson threatened to cut his throat to get a retraction from Roper of remarks about his property ownership and qualification, which was not forthcoming.