B3 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY, WRITTEN BY HIMSELF; WITH A SELECTION FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE. EDITED BY HIS SONS. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. THIRD EDITION. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1841. Br 2118. 24.51860, July 13. Pickman Bequest. LONDON: Printed by WILLIAM CLOWES and SONS, 26-86 43-2 PREFACE. THE publication of the "Memoirs of Sir Samuel Romilly edited by his Sons" requires some explanation of what is included under this title, and of the motives which have led to this undertaking. From the great mass of papers left by Sir S. Romilly, those have been selected which furnish, in some measure, a connected history of his life. They begin with a narrative, in two parts, of the events of his earliest years, from 1757 to the close of 1789. The former of these bears date 1796, two years previous to his marriage: it appears to have been carefully revised and corrected, and a fair copy was made of it, of which no other instance is to be found amongst these papers. The latter part, dated in 1813, seems to have been more hastily written; the rough draft, consisting of loose sheets, is the only copy; and the alterations and corrections which are to be found in it appear to have been made when it was originally written. With the exception of two passages, both parts have been published entire. This narrative is followed by a series of letters written to his brother-in-law, the Rev. Mr. Roget, who was then residing at Lausanne: they commence in 1780, and continue till the death of Mr. Roget in 1783. Besides many domestic details, most of which are omitted, these letters contain an account of the principal events which took place in England during those years, and much criticism on the books he was then reading. Such of them have been selected as present the most faithful picture of his mind and disposition at that period of his life. No original materials exist from which alone it would have been possible to continue the history of Sir Samuel Romilly's life during the sixteen years which elapsed from 1789 to the beginning of 1806. This interval has been filled up with a selection from such letters, either from his correspondents or himself, as seems best calculated to supply this deficiency. To this correspondence has been added the diary of a visit to Paris in 1802, and an unfinished narrative of certain events belonging to the history of his life which took place in 1805. The next and principal part of this work is a journal of his parliamentary life, extending from the beginning of the year 1806 to the close of it in 1818. The original manuscript is contained in three small quarto volumes. Except a few references to subsequent passages, and some pages inserted in the middle of the second volume, containing letters relating to the Bristol election, no addition appears to have been made to any part of it after it was first written; and, except two lines which are effaced in the second volume, no passage is erased, and very few corrections are to be found, throughout this manuscript. The Editors have added several notes, some to furnish explanations and references, and some for the purpose of introducing at the proper dates a few contemporaneous letters: all the other notes and the marginal abstracts which appear here, together with a copious index, exist in the original. A few passages have been omitted, but no attempt has been made to remove any of those marks of haste which show the manner in which this journal was written from day to day, as the occasion prompted. Four papers, which are entitled "Letters to C.," to which is prefixed a separate explanatory introduction, constitute the last portion of these Memoirs. |