IIOMNKY 



RONDEAU 



Amndel. Ho now devoted himself, liy pamphlet 

 and jiarliaiiicntary agitation, to ameliorate the 

 evenly of tin- oriiiiinnl law, which at dial time 

 inflicted Capital Punishment (q.v. ) on over 200 

 dillcicnt ollences. His hills weie M^-inn after see- 

 Mi. n rejected, luit Koinilly nevertheless pel severed, 

 ami, if IIP saw little fruit of his labours in hi* life 

 time. MI. nl' his name famous over Europe, He 

 took an active part in the anti-slavery agitation, 

 and in op|x>sing the tnspension of the Habeas 

 Corpus Act, tin- spy system, and the dcs|iotic act* 

 of the government. In July ISIS lit- was S|M>H. 

 taneously chosen bv the electors of Westminster 

 as their representative. His wife died I.M the 29th 

 Octolx-r of that same year, and the shock so preyed 

 upon hi< mind that three days after (NoveiiHier 2, 

 1818) lie put an end to his life. See liis S/irrr/iet in 

 Parliament (2 vols. 1820), and his Autobiography 

 (3 vols. 1840). His second son, JOHN, BAKON 

 ROMILLY, liorn in 1802, was educated at Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, and called to the bar at Gray's 

 Inn in 1827. He was made Solicitor-general in 

 1848, Attorney-general in 1850, Master of the Rolls 

 in 1851, and created a Baron in 18(>(i. As Master 

 of the Rolls Koinilly incidentally rendered great 

 services to his country, by superintending the pub- 

 lication of public records tending to throw much 

 light upon English history and events. He died 

 on Decemlier 23, 1874. 



RollllU'V. NKW, a municipal liorough and 

 Cinque Port in the south of Kent, 8 miles S\V. 

 of Hythe. It ceased to l>e a port in tin- days of 

 Edward, and is not now either on the seashore or 

 on a navigable river. Pop. (1881) 1007; (1891) 

 1306. Old Komney, a small village, is H mile 

 further inland. New Roinuey is the capital of the 

 Komnev Marsh district of fertile pastures, has a 

 great sheep fair, and is connected with Lydd bv a 

 railway line 3 miles long. Of its live churches 

 only one (St Nicholas) remains. 



Komney, GKOKCK, painter, was born at Beck- 

 side, near Dalton-in Kin-ness, Lancashire, on l.'iili 

 December (o.s.) 1734. He was the second in a 

 family of ten song and one daughter, his father a 

 clever carpenter and cabinet-maker ; and after a 

 very brief schooling he worked for ten years at his 

 father's trade. Meanwhile he saw much of one 

 Williamson, a watchmaker, philosopher, and al- 

 chemist ; and meanwhile also he carved wood and 

 drew. In 1755 he was articled to a ' Count' Steele 

 at Kendal to be taught ' the art or science of a 

 painter;' in 1756 married Mary Abbot of Kirk 

 land ; in 1757 set up as a portrait-painter on liis 

 own account; and in 1762 came up to London 

 .ilone, leaving behind wife, lioy, and baby girl 

 the last died a twelvemonth after. Of Romney's 

 next thirty-five years there is little to record, be- 

 voinl his two visit* to France ( 1764 ; 1790) and his 

 t wo years' residence in Italy ( 1773-75 ), after which, 

 for twenty twoycars, lie lived in Cavendish Square. 

 He slaved at hi- art, ami his art so far rewarded 



him that Lord Thurlow said, ' Reynolds and I! 



ney divide I lie Town : I am of tin' Itomney fuel ion,' 

 and that in I lie single year 1786 he made by port rait 

 painting 3500 guineas. Of all his sitters the most 

 celebrated U Lady Hamilton (q.v.), the 'divine 

 lady,' MI Itomney called her. He painted her as 

 ' St Cecilia,' as '.Joan of Arc,' as 'A Magdalene," 

 and in fully thirty other characters. The loveliest 

 of them all, ' A Bacchante,' was lost at sea on its 

 way back from Naples; but 'Sensibility.' sold 

 originally for KM) guineas, fetched 3045 in IV"'. 

 Mi-* Sneyd ax 'Serena' is another of his master- 

 piece*, and so also in 'The Parsons Daughter' 

 (since 1879 in the National Callery ). 



Tin- Iliiily live years went by, and at last, in 

 1799, Komney returned to Kendal, to die there on 



I .'nh NovemU-r 1802. t'lin^ ' No : the line finit i* 

 given by Kdward Fit/Cerald : 'How touchin 

 the close of Komncy's life. He married at twenty 

 one, ami. U-cause Sir Joshua and others hail said 

 that marriage spoilt an artist, almost immediately 

 left his wife in the north, and saw her but twice 

 till the end of his life, when old, nearly mad, 

 and quite desolate, he went back to her, ami she 

 received him, and nursed him till he died. This 

 quiet act of hers is worth all Komney 's pictures.' 



See Fitzgerald' Ltltfri (p. 182); Lord Tennyson's 

 'Romney's Remorse;' Liven of the painter jy II: 

 (18(10), and bin son, the Rev. John Romney (1830); 

 Hilda Gamlin'a Somne.v and kit Art ( 1894) ; Espinasse's 

 Laiifathire Worthitt (1877); and Lord Ronald f tower's 

 Somnry and Lawrence ( 'Great Artists' Series, 18X2 ), with 

 a catalogue by Algernon Graves of more than 300 of Rom- 

 ney's works, portraits mostly, but several aim 'fancy 

 subjects ' for Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, &c. 



Romorailtin, a town of France ulcpt. l.oir-et- 

 Cher), 4."i miles by tail K ol Tours. Top. (17 U. 



Romsdnl, the valley of the impetuous Kauma 

 in central Norway, which reaches the sea half-way 

 lietween Bergen and Trondhjem. li is celebrated 

 for its magnificent scenery ; the mountains rise 

 precipitously to 5000 feet the Tndltimler or Witch 

 Needles are 5880 feet high the Moor of the valley 

 is strewn in places with gigantic blocks from 

 mountain landslips ; and cascades dash 3000 feet 

 down the sides of the mountains. 



Roilisey, a municipal Imrongh of Hampshire, 

 on the Test. >H miles N\V. of Southampton. The 

 line cruciform abbey church, mainly Norman, but 

 with Transition, riirly English, and Decorated 

 features, was die church once of a I'.enedictine 

 nunnery, founded about 910 by Edward the Elder. 

 Sir \\ illiam Petty was the son of a Konisey clothier; 

 and Lord Palmerston, of whom there is a broil/.- 

 -i.uue ( IH08) in the market-place, lived close by at 

 Hioadlands. A corn exchange was built in ISli.'i, a 

 town-hall in 1800. Pop. ( is;, I JIIMI : ( 1891 ) 4276. 

 See Littlehales' lf,,,,ixry Abbey ( \- 



Roillllllis. legendary founder and fii-l king of 

 Koine, son by Mars of Khea Silvia, the daughter 

 of king Nnmitoi of Alba l.onga, was along with 

 his twin-brother Remus exposed by their uncle 

 Amulius, who had usurp>d Numitor's throne, but 

 was suckled by a she-wolf, and brought up by the 

 shepherd Kaustulus and his wife Acca Laiirentia. 

 In 7">3 B.C. he founded his ciiy on the Tiber, slew 

 his brother, and invited for his cili/.ens all homeless 

 fugitives around, who carried oil Sahinc maidens 

 for their wives. After Romulus had seen the 

 liomans and Sabines united, and lirinly estab- 

 lished his city, he \\.i~ canicd up to the heavens 

 in a chariot of fire (716 B.C.), and later worshipped 



Roiniihis \iiuiistnliis. See ODOACER ; and 

 ITALY, Vol. VI. p. .17. 



Roiiiildsliay. See ORKNEY ISLANDS. 

 RoiM'csvallcs. See ROLAND. 

 RonHjflione, a town of Central Italy, 30 miles 



\\\\. of Koine. Pop. .-.4.-M. 



Itomla. a Mixirish town of Spain, stands on 

 each side of a grand gorge through which flows 

 the Guadiaro, ami across which two bridges are 

 stretched, one 2.V5 feet from the water, 43 miles \V. 

 of Malaga, Pop. 19,181. 



Rondeau (Kr.), a form of poem characterised 

 by closely-knit rhymes and a refrain, ami, as 

 defined in the 17th 'rentun . consisting of thirteen 

 lines, iliviiled into three unequal strophes ; the iwc 

 or three first words of the first line serve as the 

 burden, .-mil recur after the eighth and thirteenth 

 lines. It has been brought into vogue by Swinburne. 



