ROM 
ROM 
349 
yet whenever the public interest required his attendance in 
the house, he never absented himself on account of any 
personal engagements. His practice and his parliamentary 
duties occupied the whole of the day from the morning 
dawn frequently till midnight; and his publications were 
the productions of those hours that ought to have been de¬ 
voted to rest and sleep. It is not at ail surprising that 
talents like his, and so employed, should command general 
notice and respect. At the general election, he was pro¬ 
posed as a fit representative for Westminster, his native 
city; and he was chosen in the most honourable manner, 
without trouble, expense, and solicitation, by a decided 
majority, and amidst the applauses of an immense body 
of electors. But a circumstance occurred which rendered 
the closing period of his life gloomy and distressing, and 
which disappointed the expectations of his constituents. 
Lady Romilly, to whom he was affectionately attached, and 
with whom he had enjoyed a high degree of connubial 
felicity, had been for some time in a state of declining 
health, and his mind was agitated by very disquieting 
and depressing apprehensions on her account. During 
their residence at their country house at Tanhurst, in 
Surrey, in August, 1818, her complaint seems to have abated, 
and with the flattering hope that her convalescence would 
be confirmed by the mild air of the Isle of Wight, they 
accepted an invitation from Mr. and Mrs. Nash, to spend 
the remainder of his vacation at their hospitable castie 
at East Cowes, whither they removed in the month of 
September. Here lady Romilly’s disorder recurred with 
circumstances of peculiar aggravation; and Dr. Roget, 
the nephew of Sir Samuel, was summoned to her relief. 
Her complaint, however, was irremediable; and after va¬ 
rious fluctuations, which excited alternate hope and alarm, 
she died of a dropsy in the chest, in the night of the 29th 
of October. During the progress of her disorder to its 
fatal termination. Sir Samuel’s mind was kept in a state of 
constant suspense and anxiety, until at length his sympathy 
with the amiable sufferer, and an apprehension of the uncer¬ 
tain issue of her complaint, disordered his whole frame, 
deprived him of sleep, or scared him with frightful dreams; 
and it is said, that on one occasion, after having been in a 
state of great distress, he intimated to a friend, that he felt a 
burning sensation in his head; and this seems to have been the 
only occasion on which he made a complaint of this kind. 
Alarmed about himself, he sought relief, and tried a variety 
of medicines without any permanent effect. “ He frequently 
expressed his surprise, that his want of sleep did not inter¬ 
fere with his bodily health, that his appetite and digestion 
continued in full vigour, that no indication of fever existed, 
and that he felt no uneasy sensation in his head. In con¬ 
versing with Dr. Roget and Mr. Dumont, he dwelt much 
on this apparent anomaly, and drew from it the most omin¬ 
ous presage, as to the probability of its ending in insanity 
—an apprehension which unfortunately took deep root in 
his mind. A striking instance of this feeling appears in one 
of the testamentary papers written by him about this time, in 
which he gave particular directions as to the management of 
his property, the care of his children, and the custody of 
his person and estate, in the event of his becoming a lunatic. 
It may be remarked also, that the circumstance of his losing 
sight, in a great measure, of the primary cause of his 
grief, and of fixing his attention so much upon his own 
feelings, was so opposite to his natural disposition, as in 
itself to constitute a strong feature of aberration.” Other 
circumstances, which occurred on his interviews with his 
friends, confirm the same observation. 
On the morning after lady Romilly’s death, when Dr. 
Roget informed him of the event, he received the intelli¬ 
gence with calmness and resignation, and without any effu¬ 
sion of grief; and prepared to quit the scene of his sorrows at 
the suggestion of his friends, without hesitation or demur. 
At Murrel- green, where they lodged in their way to Lon¬ 
don, we learn from Dr. Roget, who passed the night in the 
same room with him, that, although he was in general 
VOL. XXII. No. 1506. 
restless, yet, at intervals, he enjoyed tranquil sleep: nor 
did he betray, at any period, the smallest sign of impatience 
or irritability. As he approached London, however, on 
the following day, his agitation increased, and he once 
complained to his daughter that his head was disturbed. 
After his arrival at his own house in town, he ate his dinner 
with his usual appetite ; he then sent for Dr. Marcet, who 
inquired particularly concerning the state of his head, and 
was informed by Sir Samuel, “ that he had no head-ache, 
nor any uneasy sensation whatever in his head.” The 
symptoms present were those of a high degree of nervous 
irritation, unaccompanied by fever or any inflammatory 
action; but they were of a nature to excite considerable 
alarm as to the state of his mind. During the greatest 
part of the night. Dr. Roget, who slept in the same room, 
reports that he was perfectly tranquil and apparently asleep; 
though in the morning Sir Samuel assured him, that he had 
never, for an instant, dropped asleep. 
The next morning the restlessness returned, and was 
attended with symptons of fever; the tongue became white 
during the night, and the pulse at one time rose to 130 in 
a minute. Upon consulting Dr. Marcet, it was proposed, 
at his suggestion, to apply ice to the head, and to have re¬ 
course to cupping; but before these measures were adopted. 
Dr. Babington was sent for, and before he arrived the 
excitement had subsided, and Sir Samuel was much relieved 
by a copious perspiration. Upon consultation, it was agreed, 
that the measures proposed by Dr. Marcet, in existing 
circumstances, would not be expedient; and other medi¬ 
cines of an active nature were prescribed. These were 
taken by Sir Samuel without reluctance; and he continued 
tranquil and apparently asleep till about two o’clock. His 
daughter remained at the side of his bed, who observed 
upon his awaking, that he became restless and agitated. 
Upon being asked whether Dr. Roget should be called, 
he replied in the negative; but upon a second inquiry, 
he faintly assented. During the short interval of Miss 
Romilly’s absence, a sudden paroxysm had seized him, 
hurried him from the bed, and armed his hand against his own 
life. The razor with which he had inflicted the fatal wound 
was in his hand when Dr. Roget entered his apartment. 
Before he expired, as his biographer proceeds in the rela¬ 
tion of the melancholy catastrophe, he made signs that he 
wished to write, but though supplied with pen and ink, 
nothing intelligible could be collected from his attempts. 
He then desisted from making them, and joining his hands, 
appeared, from the movements of his lips and eyes, to be 
absorbed in fervent prayer. It is hardly necessary to state, 
that the jury summoned on the coroner’s inquest brought 
in a verdict, “ that the deceased had destroyed himself in a 
state of temporary mental derangement.” 
Sir Samuel and his lady were interred at the same time, 
in the same grave, at Knill, the seat of her ancestors, in 
Herefordshire. The funeral, agreeably to the instructions 
of his will, was private; being attended only by his nearest 
relations and most intimate friends. Six sons and one 
daughter survived to lament the irreparable loss which they 
sustained. The calamitous event, which thus awfully ter¬ 
minated the life of Sir Samuel Romilly on the 2d of No¬ 
vember, 1818, in the 62d year of his age, made a deep 
impression, not only in the circle of his family and friends, 
but through the country in general. So highly was he 
respected and esteemed, that on this melancholy occasion, 
“ the solicitors suspended their practice; the counsel aban¬ 
doned the courts; while the judge forsook the bench, after 
he had shed a torrent of tears!” 
ROMILLY, a small town in the east of France; depart¬ 
ment of the Aube, near the Seine. It has manufactures of 
caps, stockings, and tricots, and some iron works. The body 
of Voltaire lay interred in the church of this place, until 
removed to the pantheon at Paris. Population 2000; 12 
miles east of Nogent-sur-Seine, and 23 north-east of Troyes. 
ROMILLY SUR ANDELLE, a small town in the north 
of France, department of the Eure, near Pont de l’Arche. It 
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