We have no information of Romley’s origin, except that he studied divinity under Samuel Wesley; graduated at Lincoln College, Oxford; and was for a time Mr Wesley’s curate. He was a member of the Gentleman’s Society at Spalding; and, in 1730, presented to that society an “Account of the Manors, Villages, Seats, and Church of Althorp, in Lincolnshire.”[[241]] It is also stated, in Nicholl’s “Literary Anecdotes,” that he was schoolmaster at Wroote. Seven years after Mr Wesley’s death, he was curate of Epworth, and refused to allow John Wesley either to read the prayers or to preach in Epworth church, and, in Wesley’s presence, delivered a florid and oratorical sermon on enthusiasts, which led Wesley to preach the same evening on his father’s tombstone to such a congregation as Epworth had never seen.[[242]] Seven months afterwards, John Wesley preached again on the same sacred spot, and, on asking Romley’s permission to receive the sacrament, received as an answer, “Tell Mr Wesley I shall not give him the sacrament, for he is not fit.”[[243]] In August 1744, he was again at Epworth, and heard Romley preach two sermons so “exquisitely bitter and totally false” as he had never heard before. In May 1745, when he was again present, Romley’s “sermon, from beginning to end, was another railing accusation.”[[244]] Three years after this, Romley had lost his “soft, smooth, tuneful[tuneful] voice, without hope of recovery, and spoke in a manner so shocking to hear that it was impossible for him to make himself heard by one quarter of his congregation.”[[245]] He also became a tippler, and was sometimes “so drunk that he could scarce stand or speak.”[[246]] In 1751, he became mad, and had to be confined. During the first week of his confinement, he was for constraining every one that came near him to kneel down and pray; and frequently cried out, “You will be lost, you will be damned, unless you know your sins are pardoned.” Two or three weeks afterwards he died.[[247]] Such was one of the men who helped Samuel Wesley in the preparation of his great work, “Dissertationes in Librum Jobi.”

The other amanuensis was John Whitelamb, who was born in the neighbourhood of Wroote, and received the rudiments of his education at an endowed school, established there in 1706, in accordance with the will of Mr Travers, who bequeathed three hundred and seventy-nine acres of land for the support of schools at Wroote, Hatfield, and Thorne. The school was placed under the care of Romley, who recommended Whitelamb to the notice of Mr Wesley as a lad of promising abilities. Mr Wesley took Whitelamb to his house at Epworth, where he became his amanuensis in place of Romley, and, for four years, was employed in transcribing his “Dissertations on the Book of Job;” and in designing the illustrations for it, several of which were engraved with his own hand.

Under the care of the Rector of Epworth, young Whitelamb obtained a sufficient knowledge of Latin and Greek to enter the university; and at the expense, chiefly, of Mr Wesley’s family, he was maintained at Lincoln College, Oxford, where he obtained his education gratis under Mr John Wesley, then a fellow of that seat of learning. In a letter to his father, dated “June 11, 1731,” John Wesley says: “John Whitelamb reads one English, one Latin, and one Greek book alternately; and never meddles with a new one in any of the languages till he has ended the old one. If he goes on as he has begun, I dare take upon me to say, that, by the time he has been here four or five years, there will not be such a one of his standing in Lincoln College, perhaps not in the University of Oxford.”[[248]]

Mrs Wesley used to call Whitelamb “poor starveling Johnny,” and no wonder; for John Wesley writing to his brother, Samuel, a few months after the date just given, says; “John Whitelamb wants a gown much, and I am not rich enough to buy him one at present,”[[249]] and he then states his purpose to use his influence among his friends to beg the money requisite to make the purchase.

In 1733, Whitelamb became Samuel Wesley’s curate, and was married to his daughter, Mary. In one short year he became a widower, and was so overwhelmed with grief that he wished to get away from the scene of his sorrows, and to embark in the contemplated mission to Georgia.

On the 6th of June 1742, John Wesley, being refused the use of the Epworth church, preached standing upon his father’s tombstone. Whitelamb, who was then the rector at Wroote, was one of his congregation, and, five days after, wrote him a most touching letter. He says: “I saw you at Epworth. Fain would I have spoken to you, but that I am quite at a loss how to address you. Your way of thinking is so extraordinary that your presence creates awe, as if you were an inhabitant of another world. I retain the highest veneration and affection for you. The sight of you moves me strangely. My heart overflows with gratitude. I feel, in a high degree, all that tenderness and yearning of bowels with which I am affected towards every branch of Mr Wesley’s family. I cannot refrain from tears, when I reflect this is the man who at Oxford was more than a father to me.

“I am quite forgot. None of the family ever honours me with a line! Have I been ungrateful? I appeal to sister Patty; I appeal to Mr Ellison whether I have or no. I have been passionate, fickle, a fool; but I hope I shall never be ungrateful.

“Dear sir, is it in my power to serve or to oblige you in any way? Glad I should be that you should make use of me. God open all our eyes and lead us into truth, whatever it be.

“John Whitelamb.”[[250]]

John Wesley did make use of him, for, two days after, he preached twice in Whitelamb’s church[[251]]; a circumstance which gave great offence to the High Church party, and was likely to involve Whitelamb in considerable trouble at the approaching triennial visitation.[[252]]