ROM 
RON 
35 i 
commonalty of Romney Marsh ; but the inhabitants exer¬ 
cised many privileges for several centuries, anterior to that 
era. Under the above charter the bailiff, jurats, and com¬ 
monalty, are empowered to hold a court every three weeks, 
and to decide on all pleas of action real and personal, civil 
and criminal. They are likewise empowered to choose four 
justices of the peace of their own, yearly, besides the bailiff, 
who possesses similar authority ex officio. They have 
nothing, however, to do with the superintendence or manage¬ 
ment of the embankments and drainage, which by ancient 
custom is vested in the lords of twenty-three neighbouring 
manors, who appoint a bailiff as chief supervisor of the works, 
who is commonly, though not always, the same person with 
the bailiff under king Edward’s charter. The courts are held 
in a new hall, in Dimchurch ; and at a general one holden 
on Whit-Thursday, all scots and levies, which on an average 
of years amount to two shillings annually, are paid. Romney 
Marsh is protected from encroachments of the sea by a wall 
of great strength, called Dimchurch wall, which extends 
somewhat more than three miles in length. This wall forms 
the only highway for carriages along its whole extent, on 
the road between Hithe and Romney. It measures from 
twelve to twenty feet in height above the level of the Marsh; 
and from fifteen to thirty feet in breadth at its summit. 
“ The drainage,” says Marshall in his Rural Economy of the 
Southern Counties, “ is effected by arched sluices passing 
under the bank; each having two pair of flood-gates, one 
on the outside, the other on the inside, to provide against 
accidents to the outer pair. These gates permit the interior 
waters to pass off when the tide is low ; and prevent those 
of the sea from entering at high tide.” The History and To¬ 
pographical Survey of the County of Kent, by Edward 
Hasted, Esq. Beauties of England and Wales, vol. iii. by 
E. W. Brayley. 
ROMNEY, a post-town of America, the capital of Hamp¬ 
shire county, in Virginia, situated on the west bank of the 
south-west branch of the river Patowmac; 50 miles west-by¬ 
north from Winchester. It contains about 30 houses, a 
brick court-house, and a stone gaol. 
ROMNEY, or Rumney, a township of the United States, 
in Grafton county, New Hampshire. Population 794. 
ROMORANTIN, a town in the central part of France, 
department of the Loir and Cher. It stands on the Saudre, 
and contains 6100 inhabitants, who carry on extensive 
manufactures, chiefly of coarse woollens. In 1356, the year 
of the famous battle of Poitiers, a party of French who had at¬ 
tempted to cut off the advanced guard of the Black Prince, 
shutting themselves up in the castle near this place, were 
obliged to surrender at discretion; 25 miles south-east of 
Blois. 
ROMP, s. [From the verb ramp, signifying both to rage, 
and to sport or play.]—A rude, awkward, boisterous, untaught 
girl. “ Fy on thee, thou rampe, thou rig!” Com. of 
Gamm. Gurton’s Needle, 1551.—“ Although she were a 
lusty bouncing rampe" Harvey, Pierce’s Supererogat.1593. 
—She was in the due mean between one of your affected 
courtesying pieces of formality, and your romps that have no 
regard to the common rules of civility. Arbuthnot .—Rough 
rude play. 
Romp -loving miss 
Is haul’d about in gallantry robust. Thomson. 
To ROMP, v. n. To play rudely, noisily, and bois¬ 
terously.—In the kitchen, as in your proper element, you 
can laugh, squall, and romp in full security. Swift. 
ROMPEE, or Rompu, in Heraldry, is applied to ordi¬ 
naries that are represented as broken; and to chevrons whose 
upper points are cut off. 
RO'MPISH, adj. Inclined to rude or rough play. Ash. 
RO'MPISHNESS, s. Disposition to rude sport. (Used 
by Addison). 
ROMPNEY, a small river of Wales, in Glamorgan¬ 
shire. 
ROMRA,_a town on the west coast of the island of 
Lombock. Lat. 8 15. S. long. 115. 54. E. 
ROMROD, a small town of the west of Germany, in 
Hesse-Darmstadt; 22 miles north-west of Fulda, with 900 
inhabitants. 
ROMSDAL, a district in the central part of Norway, in 
the bishopric of Drontheim, the chief town of which is 
Christiansand. It gives name to a number of small islands 
in the German ocean, lying on its coast. 
ROMSEY, or Rumsey, a market town of England, in 
the county of Hants, situated on the river Test, on the road 
between Salisbury and Southampton. It is surrounded by 
pleasant meadows, which are rendered very productive by 
the overflowings of the river It is divided into two 
parishes, Infra and Extra. The church, which is common 
to both, is a very venerable and interesting structure. It 
is the only remains of the abbey which was founded here by 
Edward the Elder. It is a spacious building, in the form of 
a cross, with a low tower rising from the intersection of the 
nave and transept. It bears various marks of the period of 
its erection, but it has since received various alterations and 
additions, and now exhibits a very instructive series of ex¬ 
amples of the different styles of architecture. It contains 
several ancient memorials of abbesses, and other monuments. 
On the roof is an apple tree, which has for many years 
borne fruit of different kinds. The abbey was enlarged by 
king Edgar; all the first abbesses were of royal birth, and 
so distinguished for their piety, as to be regarded as saints. 
The subsequent benefactors of the abbey were numerous, 
and at the dissolution, its revenues were estimated at £.330 
10s. Besides the church, there is in the towm a large 
meeting-house for Presbyterians, an alms- house for six wi¬ 
dows, a charity school for thirty boys, and afree school for ten. 
The town-hall is a small old building, near the Hundred 
Bridge. The audit-house is a large square building, near 
the centre of the town, standing on piers, and having an 
open space below for the market people. Romsey had for¬ 
merly a considerable clothing trade, but this is now reduced 
to the manufacture of shalloons and sacking ; some trade in 
beer is also carried on, and there are several paper and corn 
mills in the vicinity. Romsey is a corporation, consisting of 
a mayor, recorder, six aldermen, and twelve capital burgesses. 
Sir William Petty, the ancestor of the Marquis of Lands- 
downe, was born here in 1623. Market on Saturday, very 
large, for corn. Population 5217 ; 8 miles north-north¬ 
west of Southampton, and 74 west-by-south of London. 
Lat. 50. 59. N. long. 1. 31. W. 
ROMSLEY, a village of England, in Salop; 8| miles 
south-east from Bridgenorth. 
ROMSOE, a small island of Denmark, in the Great Belt, 
belonging to Funen, overgrown with wood, and full of 
rabbits. Lat. 55. 30. N. long. 10. 48. E. 
ROMULEA, a name given by Maratti, in honour of the 
founder of Rome, to the Linnaean Ixia Bulbocodium. See 
Ixia. 
ROMULUS, the founder of Rome : see Rome, p. 215. 
ROMULUS, a township of the United States, in Seneca 
county. New York, on the west side of Cayuga lake; 200 
miles west of Albany. Population 2766. 
ROMZEE, a small town of the interior of the Nether¬ 
lands. Population 1000; 5 miles from Liege. 
RON, Lynder, a cluster of small islands in the Cattegat; 
12 miles south of Lessoe. 
RON A, one of the western islands of Scotland, is situated 
about sixteen leagues north-west from the Butt of Lewis, and 
is supposed to lie farthest to the north-west of any land in 
Europe. It is about a mile in length, and half a mile in 
breadth; and is included in the parish of Barvas, in the isle 
of Lewis. In this island is an ancient chapel, which is 
fenced round with a stone wall, and is kept clean and in 
good repair by the inhabitants. On the altar lies a large 
plank of wood about ten feet long, having as many holes 
in it, each pegged with a stone, to which the natives ascribe 
many virtues, particularly the promotion of speedy delivery 
to a woman in travail. The products of Rona are a few 
cows and sheep, and a small quantity of barley and oats 
The custom of walking round a person sunways, to whom 
