Born: Dr. William
Vincent, scholar and miscellaneous writer, 1739; Marie
Antoinette, queen of Louis XVI, 1755, Vienna;
Field-Marshal Radetzky, celebrated Austrian commander,
1766, Castle of Trebnilz, Bohemia; Edward, Duke of
Kent, father of Queen Victoria, 1767.
Died: Dr. Richard
Hooker, author of the Ecclesiastical Polity, 1600,
Bishop's Bourne; Richard Bancroft, archbishop of
Canterbury, 1610, Lambeth; Sophia Dorothea, consort of
George I of England, 1726, Castle of Ahlen, Hanover;
Alexander Menzikoff, Russian statesman and general,
1729, Siberia; Princess Amelia, daughter of George
III, 1810, Windsor; Sir Samuel Romilly, eminent lawyer
and philanthropist, 1818; Sir Alexander Burnes,
diplomatist, murdered at Cabal, 1841; Esaias Tegner,
Swedish poet, 1846, Wexio, Sweden; Dr. Richard Mant,
theological and miscellaneous writer, 1848, Ballymoney,
Antrim.
Feast Day: All Souls,
or the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. St.
Victorinus, bishop and martyr, about 304. St. Marcian,
anchoret and confessor, about 387. St. Vulgan,
confessor, 7th century.
ALL
SOULS DAY
This is a festival celebrated
by the Roman Catholic Church, on behalf of the souls
in purgatory, for whose release the prayers of the
faithful are this day offered up and masses performed.
It is said to have been first introduced in the ninth
century by Odilon, abbot of Cluny; but was not
generally established till towards the end of the
tenth century. Its observance was esteemed of such
importance, that in the event of its falling on a
Sunday, it was ordered not to be postponed till the
Monday, as in the case of other celebrations, but to
take place on the previous Saturday, that the souls of
the departed might suffer no detriment from the want
of the prayers of the church. It was customary in
former times, on this day, for persons dressed in
black to traverse the streets, ringing a dismal-toned
bell at every corner, and calling on the inhabitants
to remember the souls suffering penance in purgatory,
and to join in prayer for their liberation and repose.
At Naples, it used to be a
custom on this day to throw open the charnel-houses,
which were lighted up with torches and decked with
flowers, while crowds thronged through the vaults to
visit the bodies of their friends and relatives, the
fleshless skeletons of which were dressed up in robes
and arranged in niches along the walls. At Salerno,
also, we are told, that a custom prevailed previous to
the fifteenth century, of providing in every house on
the eve of All-Souls-Day, a sumptuous entertainment
for the souls in purgatory who were supposed then to
revisit temporarily, and make merry in, the scene of
their earthly pilgrimage. Every one quitted the
habitation, and after spending the night at church,
returned in the morning to find the whole feast
consumed, it being deemed eminently inauspicious if a
morsel of victuals remained uneaten. The thieves who
made a harvest of this pious custom, assembling, then,
from all parts of the country, generally took good
care to avert any such evil omen from the inmates of
the house by carefully carrying off whatever they were
unable themselves to consume. A resemblance may be
traced in this observance, to an incident in the story
of Bel and the Dragon, in the Apocrypha.
SIR SAMUEL ROMILLY
The
revocation in 1685, by
Louis XIV, of Henry IV's Edict of Nantes, by which for
nearly a hundred years Protestants had enjoyed at
least toleration, cost France dearly, but greatly
enriched England by the immigration of a multitude of
skilful artisans, who introduced to the land of their
adoption many forms of useful and elegant industry.
Nor did these noble exiles profit England only by
their manual skill. The names of their descendants
appear with distinction in almost every department of
our national life, but few with a more radiant glory
than encircles the head of Sir Samuel Romilly.
His grandfather came from
Montpellier, and settled in the neighbourhood of
London as a wax-bleacher. His father was a jeweller,
and in Frith Street, Soho, he was born on the 1st of
March 1757. As a boy, he received an indifferent
education at the French Protestant school, but as soon
as he had left it, he diligently applied himself to
self culture. What business he should follow, he could
not decide. A solicitor's was thought of, a merchant's
office was tried, and then his father's shop, but none
pleased him. Meanwhile, he studied hard and became a
good Latin scholar. Eventually, he was articled for
five years to one of the sworn clerks in Chancery.
In
his leisure, he read extensively, but with method,
governing himself with a strict rein. At the
expiration of the five years, it had been his
intention to purchase a seat in the Six Clerks'
Office, and there quietly settle for life; but his
father needed the requisite funds in his business, and Romilly, deprived of this
resource, determined to
qualify himself for the bar. Severe mental application
brought on ill health, and to recruit his strength he
made a journey to Switzerland. In Paris, he formed the
acquaintance of D'Alembert, Diderot, and other
thinkers of their school, and their influence had
considerable effect in moulding his opinions towards
liberalism and reform.
In 1783, Romilly was called to
the bar, but he had to wait long ere he was rewarded
with any practice. When briefs did at last fall to his
lot, it very soon became manifest that they were held
by a master; he gave his conscience to all he
undertook, and wrought out his business with
efficiency. Solicitors who trusted him once were in
haste to trust him again, and a start in prosperity
being made, success came upon him like a flood. His
income rose to between �8000 and �9000 a year, and in
his diary, he congratulates himself that he did not
press his father to buy him a seat in the Six Clerks'
Office. Lord Brougham says:
'Romilly, by the force of
his learning and talents, and the most spotless
integrity, rose to the very heights of professional
ambition. He was beyond question or pretence of
rivalry the first man in the courts of equity in this
country.'
Mirabean visited London in
1784, and introduced Romilly to the Marquis of
Lansdowne, who was so impressed with the young man's
genius, that he twice offered him a seat in
parliament; but Romilly was too proud to sit under
even such liberal patronage. Not until 1806 did he
enter the House of Commons, and then as Solicitor
General in the Whig government, styled 'All the
Talents,' formed after the death of Pitt. That
administration lasted little more than a year, but
Romilly remained a member of the House for one borough
or another to the end of his life. In parliament, he
was felt as a great power, and his speeches and votes
were invariably on the Whig and progressive side. His
oratory, which some competent judges pronounced the
finest of his age, was usually listened to with rapt
attention; a passage in his speech in favour of the
abolition of the slave-trade received the singular
honour of three distinct rounds of applause from the
House.
Romilly's grand claim to
remembrance, however, rests on his humane efforts to
mitigate the Draconic code of English law. Nearly
three hundred crimes, varying from the most frightful
atrocity to keeping company with gipsies, were
indiscriminately punishable with death. As a
consequence, vice flourished, for, as Lord Coke long
ago observed, ' too severe laws are never executed.'
He had long meditated over the matter, and after
discus-sing various schemes of procedure, he
cautiously ventured, in 1808, to bring in a bill to
repeal the statute of Elizabeth, which made it a
capital offence to steal privately from the person of
another. This he succeeded in getting passed.
He next,
in 1810, tried a bolder stroke, and introduced three
bills to repeal several statutes, which punished with
death the crimes of stealing privately in a shop goods
to the value of 5s., and of stealing to the amount of
40s in dwellinghouses, or in vessels in navigable
rivers. All three were lost! He did not despair,
however, but kept agitating, and renewed his motions
session after session. He did not live to reap
success, but he cleared the way for success after him.
Romilly had married, in his
forty-first year, Miss Garbett, a lady of rare
intelligence, whom he first met at the Marquis of
Lansdowne's, and their union proved eminently happy.
After twenty years of conjugal felicity, she fell into
delicate health. In 1818 there was a dissolution of
parliament, and as an evidence of the respect in which
Romilly was held, the electors of Westminster placed
his name at the head of the poll, although he declined
to spend a shilling or solicit a vote. Never, alas!
was he destined to sit for Westminster. Public honours
were vapid whilst his beloved partner lay nigh unto
death. On the 29th of October she died. The shock was
dreadful to Romilly. In his agony he fell into a
delirium, and in a moment, when unwatched, he sprang
from his bed, cut his throat, and expired in a few
minutes. The sad event took place in his house,
Russell Square, London, 2nd November 1818. When Lord
Eldon, next morning, took his seat on the bench, and
saw the vacant place within the bar where for years Romilly had pleaded before
him, iron man though he
was, his eyes filled with tears. 'I cannot stay here'
he exclaimed, and rising in great agitation, broke up
his court.
In one grave the bodies of
husband and wife were laid at Knill, in Herefordshire.
It is a singular circumstance, that in the parish
church of St. Bride, Fleet Street, there is a tablet
on the wall with an inscription to the memory of Isaac
Romilly, F.R.S., who died in 1759 of a broken heart,
seven days after the decease of a beloved wife.
Romilly's style of speech was
fluent, yet simple, correct and nervous, and without
ornament of any kind. His reasoning was clear and
accurate, and seemed to the hearer intelligible
without an effort. His voice was deep and sonorous,
and his presence full of severe and solemn dignity. To
these oratorical powers he brought great earnestness;
what-ever he undertook, he fulfilled with all his
might. The cause of his client he made his own, and he
was reckoned to run the fairest chance of victory who
had Romilly for his advocate.
FUNERAL OF A
JEWISH RABBI
There are not often
opportunities, in England, of witnessing the funeral
obsequies of the great priests or rabbis among the
Jews; because that peculiar people do not form so
large a ratio to the whole population here as in many
continental countries, and consequently do not
comprise so many sacerdotal officers. One of the few
instances that have occurred, took place on the 2nd of
November 1842. Dr. Herschel, who had been chief rabbi
of England for forty-two years, was buried on this
day. At ten o'clock in the morning, the body, in a
plain deal-coffin covered with a black cloth, was
removed from his residence in Bury Court, St. Mary
Axe, to the chief synagogue in Duke's Place, Houndsditch.
It was supported and followed by
twenty-four leading members of the Hebrew persuasion,
including Sir Moses Montefiore. During the progress
from the door of the synagogue to the ark, a special
service was chanted by the Rev. Mr. Asher, the
principal reader; and after the bier had been placed
before the ark, an impressive ceremonial took place.
The ark was covered with black cloth; the whole of the
windows were darkened; the synagogue was illuninated
by wax-tapers; and the whole place assumed a sombre
and imposing aspect. This portion of the religious
ceremony having been completed, a procession was
formed to convey the remains of the venerable rabbi to
their last resting-place, the Jews' burial-ground, at
Mile End. In the procession were the boys and girls of
the German, Spanish, and Portuguese Jewish schools;
the youths training up for the priesthood; the readers
of the various metropolitan synagogues; and the
carriages of the principal Jewish laity.
There were nearly a hundred
carriages in all. In accordance with a wish expressed
by the deceased, there were no mourning-coaches. On
arriving at the burial-ground, at Heath Street, Mile
End, the body was carried into a sort of hall, in the
centre of which it was placed. The reader, then,
taking his position at the head of the coffin,
repeated a burial-service. At the conclusion of the
prayers, the coffin was borne to the grave. Several
brown-paper parcels, sealed with wax, containing
papers and documents, were thrown into the grave, in
obedience to instructions left by the deceased; and a
large box, containing one of the laws of Moses,
written by Rabbi Herschel himself on parchment, was
also, at his special request, consigned to the grave
with him. The shops of the Jewish tradesmen along the
line of route were closed as the procession passed,
the ceremony altogether occupying five hours.
