Edward Rolle

Rolle was one of a little group of New College men whose essays in verse enjoyed a temporary existence in miscellany, including fellow Wykehamists Christopher Pitt, Edward Young, and Joseph Spence.

[2] Published in the Egerton Collection are several letters of correspondence between Rolle and Joseph Spence during the latter's three travels abroad, from December 1730 to July 1733, and from May 1737 to November 1741 (with a break).

"[2][3] In another letter to his mother dated from Florence, 7 November 1740, Spence gave an amusing description of Rolle: "A Lazy, Lath-gutted Fellow, with a Wezel-Face.

[citation needed] A letter from Sophia Bentinck, Duchess of Kent to Rolle refers to painter Jacopo Amigoni, whom she commissioned, and suggests that King George II also sat to him, but there is no corroborating evidence for this statement.

Until his wife's death, in 1788, when his curates began assisting him, Rolle had for thirty years discharged all the duties of the parish without a prolonged holiday.

A manuscript volume in the care of a future rector exhibits Rolle as a devoted clergyman, noting customs of the place, his services to the church, and his role in educating the village children.

[2] Of the seven poems under Joseph Spence's name which are reprinted from the Oxford University sets of verses in Nichols's collection of poetry, the second pair were by Rolle.