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.

Such is a short account of the papers which compose this work. The reader must not expect to find in them any connected history of the times in which they were written, and scarcely any but an incidental reference to the great events which were then taking place on the continent of Europe. But to record public events did not enter into the views with which these Memoirs were written, neither does it constitute any part of those with which they are published. It should be borne in mind, throughout, that to give such a history of Sir Samuel Romilly's life as will illustrate his character, by describing his feelings and opinions as far as the production of original documents will accomplish it, is the exclusive object of this work. The Editors have accordingly strictly confined themselves to the task of selection and arrangement. They have sedulously abstained from comment or remark; and, with the exception of the few notes and references, not a word will be found in these volumes which has not been written by their father, or by one of his correspondents. They have, however, availed themselves, although very sparingly, of the power of suppression; but in no case has any passage been omitted which would have given a different colour to the observations in the text.

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Some passages will be found in the parliamentary diary in which the conduct of various persons is animadverted upon but wherever these have been retained they have been considered to relate exclusively to public character or public conduct, and to be such as the terms in which they are expressed, and the object for which they were written, entitled the Editors to publish, and would not have justified them in suppressing.

There are, however, many deficiencies in these Memoirs which, consistently with the plan adopted, the Editors are

The passages omitted from the parliamentary journal amount in the whole, to eight pages, of which five are a mere catalogue of places passed through in travelling.

unable to supply. Of one part, and that a most material one, of their father's life, they regret to say that no account is to be found in these pages. Of his labours in the study of the law, of his gradual rise and ultimate success in his profession, to which he owed the opportunities of doing all that is here recorded, these pages contain scarcely any mention. Although abundant materials remain which testify the intensity of his labours in his profession, he has left none which show the mode by which he rose, or the eminence which he reached. The Editors have not sought for information to supply this omission, being anxious that his character should appear as it is displayed by himself. If, in truth, they had departed from this course, it would have been, not to record his triumphs in his profession, or to relate the influence of his eloquence, but to describe some few of those scenes which live in the memories of them all, when, in the intervals of relaxation from his labours and in the midst of his children, he sympathised with their pursuits, partook of their enjoyments, added by his gaiety to their mirth, and to each, in his different way, was scarcely less a companion than a father. This gratification, however, they have not ventured to allow themselves; and as they neither pretend to write his life, nor affect to possess the impartiality which should belong to those who undertake that task, they have deemed it necessary, with whatever reluctance, to confine themselves strictly to the course they had laid down for their conduct, and to which alone they felt themselves to be equal. The portrait they present must, they are aware, be in many respects unfinished, and in some scarcely more than an outline; but many considerations, amongst which the following have had the greatest weight, have induced them to offer it, imperfect as it is, to the observation of the public:

In a codicil to Sir Samuel Romilly's will, after stating that he had prepared materials for a work on Criminal