The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 379

ROCKING STONES or LOGANS, large stones, numerous in Cornwall, Wales, Yorks.h.i.+re, &c., so finely poised as to rock to and fro under the slightest force.

ROCKINGHAM, CHARLES WATSON WENTWORTH, MARQUIS OF, statesman, of no great ability; succeeded to the t.i.tle in 1750; opposed the policy of Bute, and headed the Whig opposition; in 1762 became Prime Minister, and acted leniently with the American colonies, repealing the Stamp Act; was a bitter opponent of North's American policy of repression; held the Premiers.h.i.+p again for a few months in 1782 (1730-1782).

ROCKY MOUNTAINS, an extensive and lofty chain of mountains in North America, belonging to the Cordillera system, and forming the eastern b.u.t.tress of the great Pacific Highlands, of which the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains form the western b.u.t.tress, stretching in rugged lines of almost naked rock, interspersed with fertile valleys, from New Mexico through Canada to the Arctic Ocean, broken only by a wonderfully beautiful tract of elevated plateau in southern Wyoming, over which pa.s.ses the Union Pacific Railroad; reaches its greatest height in Colorado (Gray's Peak, 14,341 ft.); gold, silver, &c., are found abundantly.

ROCOCO, name given to a debased style of architecture, overlaid with a tasteless, senseless profusion of fantastic ornamentation, without unity of design or purpose, which prevailed in France and elsewhere in the 18th century.

ROCROI (2), a small fortified town of France, about 3 m. from the Belgian frontier, in the dep. of Ardennes; memorable for a great victory of the French under Conde over the Spaniards in 1643.

RODBERTUS, JOHANN KARL, Socialist, born in Greifswald; believed in a Socialism that would in course of time realise itself with the gradual elevation of the people up to the Socialistic ideal (1815-1875).

RODERIC, the last king of the Visigoths in Spain, was slain in battle with the Moors, who had invaded Spain during a civil war, and his army put to flight in 711.

RODERICK RANDOM, the hero of a novel of Smollett's, a young Scotch scapegrace, rough and reckless, and bold enough.

RODEZ (15), a town of France, in the dep. of Aveyron; crowns an eminence at the foot of which flows the Aveyron, 80 m. NE. of Toulouse; has a beautiful Gothic cathedral, interesting Roman remains; manufactures textiles, leather, paper, &c.

RODIN, AUGUSTE, eminent French sculptor, born in Paris, distinguished for his statues and busts; _b_. 1840-1917.

RODNEY, LORD, English admiral, born at Walton-on-Thames; entered the navy at the age of 12, and obtained the command of a s.h.i.+p in 1742; did good service in Newfoundland; was made Admiral of the Blue in 1759, and in that year destroyed the stores at Havre de Grace collected for the invasion of England; in 1780 defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St.

Vincent; in 1782 defeated the French fleet under Count de Gra.s.se by breaking the enemy's line; was first made a baronet and then a peer, with a pension of 2000, for his services to the country (1718-1792).

RODOSTO (19), a Turkish town on the N. coast of the Sea of Marmora, 60 m. W. of Constantinople; is the seat of an archbishop of the Greek Church, has many mosques; fruitful vineyards in the vicinity produce excellent wine.

RODRIGUEZ (2), an interesting volcanic island lying far out in the Indian Ocean, 380 m. NE. of Mauritius, of which it is a dependency; agriculture is the chief employment; has a good climate, but is subject to severe hurricanes.

ROE, EDWARD PAYSON, American novelist, born in New Windsor, New York; studied for the ministry and served as a chaplain during the Civil War; settled down as a pastor of a Presbyterian church at Highland Fells; made his mark as a novelist in 1872 with "Barriers Burned Away"; took to literature and fruit-gardening, and won a wide popularity with such novels as "From Jest to Earnest," "Near to Nature's Heart," &c.

(1838-1888).

ROEBUCK, JOHN ARTHUR, English Radical politician, born at Madras; represented first Bath and then Sheffield in Parliament, contributed to the downfall of the Aberdeen Government, and played in general an independent part; his vigorous procedure as a politician earned for him the nickname of "Tear 'em" (1802-1879).

ROERMOND (12), an old Dutch town in Limburg, at the confluence of the Roer and the Meuse, 29 m. N. by E. of Maestricht; has a splendid 13th-century cathedral; manufactures cottons, woollens, &c.

ROESKILDE, an interesting old Danish city, situated on a fjord, 20 m. W. by S. of Copenhagen, dates back to the 10th century; has a fine 13th-century cathedral, the burying-place of most of the Danish kings.

ROGATION DAYS, the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday preceding Ascension Day, on which special litanies are sung or recited by the Roman Catholic clergy and people in public procession; has its origin in an old custom dating from the 6th century. In England the practice ceased after the Reformation.

ROGER I., the youngest of the 12 sons of Tancred of Hauteville; conquered Sicily from the Saracens after a war of 30 years, and governed it under the t.i.tle of count in part from 1071 and wholly from 1089 to 1101.

ROGER II., son and successor of the preceding, was crowned king of the two Sicilies by the Pope; waged war advantageously against the Emperor of the East and the Saracens of North Africa; ruled the country well and promoted industry (1097-1154).

ROGER OF WENDOVER, an early English chronicler, lived in the 13th century; was a monk of St. Albans and subsequently prior of Belvoir; wrote a history of the world down to Henry III.'s reign, the only valuable portion of it being that which deals with his own times.

ROGERS, HENRY, English essayist; contributed for years to the _Edinburgh Review_; author of the "Eclipse of Faith" (1806-1877).

ROGERS, JAMES E. THORWOLD, political economist, born in Hamps.h.i.+re; became professor of Political Economy at Oxford; author of a "History of Agriculture and Prices in England" and "Six Centuries of Work and Wages,"

an abridgment of it (1823-1890).

ROGERS, JOHN, the first of the Marian martyrs, born at Birmingham; prepared a revised edition of the English Bible, preached at Paul's Cross against Romanism the Sunday after Mary's entrance into London, and was after a long imprisonment tried for heresy, and condemned to be burned at Smithfield (1505-1555).

ROGERS, SAMUEL, English poet, born in London, son of a banker, bred to banking, and all his life a banker--took to literature, produced a succession of poems: "The Pleasures of Memory" in 1792, "Human Life" in 1819, and "Italy," the chief, in 1822; he was a good conversationalist, and told lots of good stories, of which his "Table-Talk," published in 1856, is full; he issued at great expense a fine edition of "Italy" and early poems, which were ill.u.s.trated by Turner and Stothard, and are much prized for the ill.u.s.trations (1763-1855).

ROGET, PETER MARK, physician, born in London; was professor of Physiology at the Royal Inst.i.tution; wrote on physiology in relation to natural theology; was author of a "Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases" (1779-1869).

ROHAN, PRINCE LOUIS DE, a profligate ecclesiastic of France who attained to the highest honours in the Church; became archbishop and cardinal, but who had fallen out with royalty; was debarred from court, tried every means to regain the favour of Marie Antoinette, which he had forfeited, was inveigled into buying a necklace for her in hope of thereby winning it back, found himself involved in the scandal connected with it, and was sent to the Bastille (1783-1803). See "Diamond Necklace" in CARLYLE'S "MISCELLANIES."

ROHILKHAND (5,343), a northern division of the North-West Provinces, British India; is a flat, well-watered, fertile district, crossed by various railways; takes its name from the Rohillas, an Afghan tribe, who had possession of it in the 18th century.

ROHILLAS (i. e. hillmen), a tribe of Afghans who settled in a district N. of Oudh, called Rohilkhand after them, and rose to power in the 18th century, till their strength was broken by the British in 1774.

ROHLFS, F. GERARD, German traveller, born near Bremen, travelled in various directions through North Africa; undertook missions to Abyssinia, and has written accounts of his several journeys; _b_. 1832.

ROKITANSKY, BARON, eminent physician, born at Koniggratz, professor of Pathological Anatomy at Vienna, and founder of that department of medicine (1804-1878).

ROLAND, one of the famous paladins of Charlemagne, and distinguished for his feats of valour, who, being inveigled into the pa.s.s of Roncesvalles, was set upon by the Gascons and slain, along with the flower of the Frankish chivalry, the whole body of which happened to be in his train.

ROLAND, MADAME, a brave, pure-souled, queen-like woman with "a strong Minerva face," the n.o.blest of all living Frenchwomen, took enthusiastically to the French Revolution, but when things went too far supported the Moderate or Girondist party; was accused, but cleared herself before the Convention, into whose presence she had been summoned, and released; but two days after was arrested, imprisoned in Charlotte Corday's apartments, and condemned; on the scaffold she asked for pen and paper "to write the strange thoughts that were rising in her," which was refused; looking at the statue of Liberty which stood there, she exclaimed bitterly before she laid her head on the block, "O Liberty, what crimes are done in thy name!" (1754-1793).