Romilly would have been justified in considering himself tolerably well educated, and certainly knew a great deal more than most young men of his age with far greater educational advantages.

His home-life was of a sort well calculated to encourage and develop in him a love of culture. He drew a picture of it which I cannot but contemplate with pleasure, and I sometimes think it may have suggested an idea to the author of "Daniel Deronda " for her admirable description of the household of the Meyricks. Here it is:

"I love," he says, "to transport myself in idea into our little parlour, with its green paper, and the beautiful prints of Vivares, Bartolozzi, and Strange, from the pictures of Claude, Caracci, Raphael, and Correggio, with which its walls were elegantly adorned; and to call again to mind the familiar and affectionate society of young and old intermixed, which was gathered round the fire; and even the Italian greyhound, the cat, and the spaniel, which lay in perfect harmony looking before it." Here might be found "a lively, youthful, and accomplished society, blest with every enjoyment that an endearing home can afford, -a society united by a similarity of tastes, dispositions, and affections, as well as by the strongest ties of blood. They would have admired our lively, varied, and innocent pleasures; our summer rides and walks in the cheerful country, which was close to us; our winter evening occupations of drawing, while one of us read aloud some interesting book, or the eldest of my cousins played and sung to us with exquisite taste and expression; the little banquets with which we celebrated the anniversary of my father's wedding, and of the birth of every member of our happy society; and the dances with which, in spite of the smallness of our rooms, we were frequently indulged."

From such an atmosphere as this Romilly imbibed that refinement of taste and feeling which distinguished

him throughout his later life, and he also derived from it, perhaps, that keen susceptibility which became both his pleasure and his pain.

By the time that he was eighteen Romilly had ceased to think himself a genius, but he had formed a strong dislike to his father's business, and an earnest desire for a more intellectual employment. It was determined, therefore, that he should enter into some department of the law; and the office of the Six Clerks in Chancery being selected, he was duly articled to a Mr. Lally. He still continued to reside at home, and in his leisure, which was ample, to pursue his favourite studies and amusements. His scheme of life he had duly settled; he was to follow up his profession for a subsistence, and to aspire to fame by his literary pursuits. That he was no poet he had convinced himself, and, having given up versifying, he sought to exercise himself in prose composition; and judging translations to be exceedingly useful in forming a style, he rendered into English the finest passages in the Latin literature; almost all the speeches in Livy, very copious extracts from Tacitus, the whole of Sallust, and much of the best of Cicero. For the same purpose of improving his style, he read and studied the best English writers, Addison, Swift, Bolingbroke, Robertson, Hume, carefully noting down every curiosa felicitas of expression. No doubt these exercises were exceedingly useful in guiding his judgment and enlarging his vocabulary; but, after all, a man's style is as much a part of himself as his thoughts or feelings are, and if he have anything to say, he will find a way of his own in which to say it.

It was a fortunate circumstance for the young student that he made, while he was thus engaged, the acquaint

ance of the Rev. John Royet, a native of Geneva, who had left that city of the mountains, and been appointed minister of the French chapel attended by the Romilly family. He was an eloquent preacher, but he was something more he was a man of original mind, richly cultivated, and his hints and suggestions proved of great value to Romilly. I know not indeed of any circumstance of greater profit to a young man than that he should obtain the guidance of a trained and thoughtful intellect in his studies, to save him from wasting time by a fatal but enticing desultoriness of pursuit, to cheer him in his seasons of despondency, to control him in his moods of extravagant self-esteem and self-assertion, and to set before him an elevated ideal as that to which all his hopes and aspirations must be directed.

*

It was partly the influence of this valued friend which led Romilly into his true career. In the Six Clerks' office there was no room for the development of his higher capabilities; and that fame and fortune which sometimes coloured his dreams, could be obtained only

more important branch of the profession. He resolved, therefore, to study for the bar; and in May, 1778, became a member of Gray's Inn. Under the supervision of a Mr. Spranger, he pushed forward his legal reading with all the warmth of his nature. Writing to his friend, Royet, he thus details his daily order of work :

"At six or sooner I rise, go into the cold bath, walk to

*In his autobiography Romilly says that he was influenced also by his perusal of Thomas's "Eloge of Daguesseau;" the career of glory which he represents that illustrious magistrate to have run, had greatly excited his ardour and ambition, and opened to his imagination new paths of glory.

Islington to drink a chalybeate water (from which I have found great benefit); return and write or read to ten; then go to Mr. Spranger's, where I study till three; dine in Frith Street, and afterwards return to Mr. Spranger's. This is the history of every day, with little other variation than that of my frequently attending the courts of justice in the morning, instead of going to Mr. Spranger's, and of often passing my afternoons at one of the Houses of Parliament."

We shall see that Romilly became a great lawyer, but he was also much more than a lawyer, and this was owing to his incessant and extensive reading. He was always athirst for general knowledge. He read a great deal of history; he continued to improve himself in the classics; he translated, composed, and sedulously aimed at the formation of a correct and elegant style; the best passages of the best authors he assiduously rendered into English; he wrote political essays, which he sent anonymously to the newspapers, being not a little elated at their constant appearance in print; and he strove to obtain a great facility of elocution. Adopting a device, suggested by Quinctilian, he expressed to himself, in the best language he could, whatever he had been reading, using the arguments employed by Tacitus or Livy, and building them, mentally, into speeches of his own. Occasionally, too, he attended the two Houses of Parliament, and would recite in thought, or answer, the speeches he heard there. And for the better economy of his time, he reserved these exercises for the hour devoted to walking or riding; and before long, had so grown into the habit, that he would think these compositions as he was passing through the most crowded streets.

It is no marvel that intellectual labour so continuous,

and at such high pressure, eventually injured his health. He was naturally of a very nervous and sensitive temperament, which he ought to have managed with great care, and strengthened by adequate rest and open-air exercise; but throughout his life he put too great a strain upon it, with a result which should be a warning to all persons similarly constituted. In the spring of 1780 he spent six weeks at Bath, but without feeling any definite improvement. Then came the the "No Popery" riots, headed by Lord George Gordon; and the consequent excitement still further disturbed his nervous system. Fortunately for him, a pressing occasion-the ill-health of Royet, who had married his sister, and sought a residence in Lausanne--called him away from England; and a journey through Switzerland, followed by a visit to Paris, recruited both his physical and mental energies. While at Geneva, he formed the acquaintance of Dumont, afterwards the friend and editor of Bentham; and at Paris he was introduced to the philosophers of the Encyclopædia, D'Alembert and Diderot.* On a second visit to Paris, two years later, he had the satisfaction of conversing with Dr. Franklin, whose venerable patriarchal appearance, the simplicity of his manner and language, and the novelty of his observations, impressed Romilly with a conviction that he was "one of the most extraordinary men that ever existed."

On the 2nd of June, 1783, he was called to the bar. In a letter written a few weeks before to his friend,

* His letters at this time are marked by many interesting descriptions of the men and places he saw, and contain some curious sketches of a social order which was then unconsciously trembling on the brink of revolution.