11. Address of Camille Jourdan to his Constituents, from the French, 8vo. 1798.

12. History of the Political Life of the Right Hon. William Pitt, and of the Times in which he lived, 3 vols. royal 4to. and 6 vols. 8vo. 1809.

13. Mr. G. was Editor, and principal Writer in the AntiJacobin Review, commenced in 1806.

14. Also Editor of an English Edition of “the Bloody Buoy,” originally published in America, and of

15.“ A Bone to gnaw for the Democrats,” by Peter Porcupine, to which he prefixed : “ A Rod for the Backs of the Critics,” by Humphry Hedgehog.”

SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY, KNIGHT.

ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S COUNSEL LEARNED IN THE LAW, LATE SOLICITOR-GENERAL, AND M.P. FOR THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER.

"Munere."

VIRG.

THE Civic virtues are the growth of particular states, and according to some, of particular climates. England has ever been deemed peculiarly felicitous in this respect; for in addition to equal laws, distinctions are confined to no cast; honours are restricted to no order of society. The son of a plebeian behold his brow encircled with a mitre, or his person digmay nified by the embroidered robe of a chancellor. Thus, both wealth and fame are the sure concomitants of distinguished excellence, more especially when, as in the present instance, the accomplished orator, the profound lawyer, and the enlightened patriot, are united in one and the same person!

Samuel Romilly, a name that will be long remembered with mingled sensations of esteem and regret, was born in Frith-street, Soho, Westminster, on the 1st of March, 1757. His family and history are closely connected with civil and religious liberty; for his ancestors, both by his father and mother's side, were driven by the flaming sword of persecution from the kingdom of France.*

From his earliest years he was distinguished by the possession of all those qualities, both of the understanding and of the heart, which give the promise of future excellence, and bear the stamp of a superior mind. He was ever remarkable for the benevolence of his disposition, his deep and generous sensibility, his high sense of honour, the quickness of his apprehension, and the extraordinary maturity of his judgment. Young Romilly had received from nature that happy temperament, which united great vivacity and a constant flow of animal spirits with a powerful imagination, a retentive memory, and the strongest and most durable affections. He possessed a correct taste in literature and the fine arts, and retained through life a keen relish for the beauties of nature. In the selection of his friends, he was peculiarly fortunate. His intimacy with the Reverend Mr. Roget, in particular, who was endeared to him by congeniality of tastes and dispositions, and who afterwards became nearly related to him by marrying his sister, had a very material influence in giving a direction to his talents, and a steady impulse to his exertions. Sir Samuel has frequently declared, that he owed much of the success which has attended

His great-grandfather, who possessed a large estate near Montpellier, which had descended to him from a long line of ancestors, was zealously attached to the Protestant faith, and to that conscientious principle he did not hesitate to sacrifice his patrimony, his connections, and his country, on the memorable revocation of the Edict of Nantz. He sought with his family an asylum in England, choosing for himself and his descendants, that country where freedom had established her seat, and where virtue and industry were secure from molestation, and might aspire to honourable distinction. The father of the subject of this memoir was born in London, where applying himself to business, he acquired great eminence as a jeweller, and realised a handsome fortune. His mother's maiden name was Garnault; she was aisu descended from a family of French Refugees. Sir Samuel Romilly was the youngest of nine children, only three of whom reached the age of maturity.

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him through life, to this bosom friend of his youth, who discerned in his character the elements of future greatness, and urged him, by judicious encouragement, to cultivate those powers which were destined to raise him to the lofty station he afterwards attained.

Amidst a variety of obstacles, some of which appeared almost insurmountable, this youth, as yet unconscious of the extent of his abilities, was destined to become the architect of his own fortune, and the founder of a family. Accordingly, without the aid of a patrimonial estate, the assistance of an university, or even of a great public school, he exhibited early proofs of that mental superiority, which insures, in every walk of life, the certainty of future eminence to its possessor. The abnormis sapiens was fully realised in respect to him: at least, he soon evinced what it was in the power of a self-taught student, gifted with extraordinary parts, and an original mode of thinking, to achieve. It now became necessary to choose a profession, and luckily, that of the law was selected. The Inns of Court, at one of which his name was enrolled, no longer affords either the means or the opportunity of obtaining a legal education. The Tyro is left entirely to himself: the ancient mootings are forgotten; and even the Term Lectures have been suspended for nearly half a century. Happily for Mr. Romilly, his habits, even then, were duly formed to study and application; and he had already acquired some little notion of business, in one of the public offices *, connected with that tribunal, in which he intended to practise.

He was called to the bar in 1783, and first distinguished himself, by his accuracy and precision, as an Equity Draughtsman ; but he soon aspired to the highest branches of the profession, and succeeded in no common degree. The Court of Chancery was the arena in which he was to combat, and a Scott, and a Mitford, were the legal gladiators with whom he was destined to contend in presence of a Thurlow. These were great names, and they have left few equals behind them ; it was,

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therefore, glorious that he should, in so short a time, be selected as their opponent: but he had drawn his knowledge from the fountain head, and disdained mediocrity of all kinds.

At length one of these succeeded to the woolsack, in England; while another became Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Mr. Romilly's stuff gown was now deemed a match for all the remaining silk ones at the bar; he accordingly became a leader, and was retained in almost every cause.

His indefatigable industry, his unwearied patience, his comprehensive acuteness, his deep knowledge of the law, his correct notions of the practice of the court; were all calculated to give due weight to arguments selected with skill, propounded with modesty, and enforced by a chastened eloquence.

He now began to feel himself raised to independence; but his efforts did not relax by prosperity; and fortune, as well as honour, attended his career. In the profession he had chosen, the best portion of life has often passed away before this degree of success is attained; and even the subject of this memoir had reached the age of 40 before he had formed a domestic establishment. At length, in the year 1798, he led to the altar a blooming bride, with whom for many years he enjoyed great domestic happiness. She was the daughter of Francis Garbett, Esq. of Knill Court, in the county of Hereford. It was during the summer of 1797 that he first beheld this lady, while arrayed in all the charms of youth and beauty, at the seat of the Marquis of Lansdowne, formerly Lord Shelburne, a nobleman of great discernment, who not only foretold the future honours and reputation that awaited his guest, but seemed desirous to connect his own fame with that of one seemingly destined to attain the highest dignities of his profession. He had fostered the talents of a Dunning, a Barré, and a Pitt; and, had opportunity been given, to these splendid characters he would have added the name of a Romilly.

Become a husband and a father, the subject of this memoir applied to business with additional eagerness and industry; and when Mr. Fox and Lord Grenville assumed the reins of

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