Memoirs of the Life of Sir Samuel Romilly, Volume 1J. Murray, 1840 - Great Britain |
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acquaintance administration admiration affectionate afterwards America appeared attended Baynes bien Bishop of Chartres brother Cicero circuit conduct court dear Roget dear sister death Diderot disposition doubt dreadful effect eloquence enemies England expect father formed fortune France French friendship Geneva give Gray's Gray's Inn greatest happiness heard honour hope House of Commons House of Lords imagination indulge justice King late Lausanne less letter lived London Lord George Lord George Gordon Lord Lansdowne Lord North Lord Sandwich Lord Shelburne melancholy ment mind Ministers Ministry Mirabeau misfortunes motion nation never night object obliged observed opinion Paris Parliament party passed peace persons pleasure political present prison profession published punishment qu'il religion Rodney Romilly Rousseau SAML seemed sent society soon speech suffer supposed talents thing thought tion town virtue vote write
Popular passages
Page 248 - I make it my humble and earnest prayer to Almighty God, that Great Britain may not feel the evils which might result from so great a dimemberment of the empire, and that America may be free from those calamities which have formerly proved, in the mother country, how essential monarchy is to the enjoyment of constitutional liberty. Religion, language, interest, affections may, and I hope will, yet prove a bond of permanent union between the two countries.
Page 258 - ... duties, which one must feel a satisfaction in discharging ; that, at least, my conscience will bear me the pleasing testimony of having intended well ; and that, after all, true happiness is much less likely to be found in the high walks of ambition than in the " secretum iter et fallentis semita vitae.
Page 69 - Of all the celebrated persons whom in my life I have chanced to see, Dr. Franklin, both from his appearance and his conversation, seemed to me the most remarkable. His venerable, patriarchal appearance, the simplicity of his manner and language, and the novelty of his observations, at least the novelty of them at that time to me, impressed me with an opinion of him as one of the most extraordinary men that ever existed.
Page 45 - At a later period of my life, after a success at the bar which my wildest and most sanguine dreams had never painted to me — when I was gaining an income of 8000/. or 9000/. ayear — I have often reflected how all that prosperity had arisen out of the pecuniary difficulties and confined circumstances of my father.
Page 222 - This House is not a representative of the people of Great Britain. It is the representative of nominal boroughs, of ruined and exterminated towns, of noble families, of wealthy individuals, of foreign potentates.
Page 248 - In thus admitting their separation from the crown of these kingdoms, I have sacrificed every consideration of my own to the wishes and opinions of my people.
Page 258 - I but realize the partial hopes and expectations of my friends, there could be no doubt of my success, almost beyond my wishes ; but in myself I have a much less indulgent censor, and, in this perhaps alone, I cannot suffer their judgment to have equal weight with my own. I have taught myself, however, a very useful lesson of practical philosophy...
Page 356 - I think of nothing else, and please myself with endeavouring to guess at some of the important consequences which must follow throughout all Europe. I think myself happy that it has happened when I am of an age at which I may reasonably hope to live to see some of those consequences produced. It will perhaps surprise you, but it is certainly true, that the Revolution has produced a very sincere and very general joy here. It is the subject of all conversations ; and even all the newspapers, without...
Page 180 - Causa finalis est virgo, Deo sacrata, quae nihil parit ; " that Plato, too, the author of all the good theology that ever existed on the earth, says, that there is a vast curtain drawn over the heavens, and that men must content themselves with what passes beneath that curtain, without ever attempting to raise it ; and in order to complete my conversion from my unhappy errors, he read me all through a little work of his own...
Page 142 - Americans not justified in continuing the war, after the offer of sue) favorable terms as the commissioners held out to them, why did he keep his command for two years afterwards ? . . . . " The arguments used by Clinton and Arnold in their letters to Washington, to prove that Andre...