Man of Ross's House

AN 18th CENTURY INN THAT WAS ONCE THE HOME OF A PHILANTHROPIST CELEBRATED BY POPE

[TRADE CARD]. [LODGING HOUSE IN ROSS-ON-WYE, 18th CENTURY]. Edw[ar]d Wall Roos, Commonly called the Man of Ross's House. Fine late 18th century intaglio printed trade card on thick paper, 3 x 4 ¾", title surmounted with royal arms. N.p., n.d., ca. 1780.

Flanking the legend are two men holding rifles, hunting dogs at their side, a dead rabbit and two dead birds at the feet of one of them. Under the legend is a coach-and-four racing past a sign reading "122 to Lond[on]", under which is "Post Chaises &c." In the distance on the left side is a manor house, and on the right a man is shooting at a bird in flight, his dog looking on. The balloon from the man on the left says the house has a "Post Office", the man on the right says it has "A Bowling Green." "Here [Ross-on-Wye] lived long doing good, John Kyrle Esq., celebrated by Pope, as The Man of Ross, who spent his income (about ₤500 a year) in acts of utility and benevolence…The King's Arms inn, which was the house he lived in, is known by the name of The Man of Ross's House…He died at the age of 84, in the year 1724."-Mark Willet, An Excursion from the source of the Wye (1810), p. 36. There is a copy of this card at Bryn Mawr.