Chapter 24

Wife.I cannot be in two places at once.Husband(Rowland). Surely no, unless thou wert a bird.

Wife.I cannot be in two places at once.

Husband(Rowland). Surely no, unless thou wert a bird.

Rochecliffe(Dr. Anthony), formerly Joseph Albany, a plotting royalist.—Sir W. Scott,Woodstock(time, commonwealth).

Rochester(The earl of), the favorite of Charles II., introduced in high feather by Sir W. Scott inWoodstock, and inPeveril of the Peakin disgrace.

Rochester(Edward). Brusque, cynical lover ofJane Eyre. Having married in his early youth a woman who disgraces him and then goes crazy, he shuts her up at Thornhill, and goes abroad. He returns to find a governess there in charge of his child-ward; falls in love with her, and would marry her, but for the discovery of his insane wife.Jane Eyreleaves him, and is lost to him until he is almost blind from injuries received in trying to rescue his wife from burning Thornhill.Janemarries and ministers unto him.—Charlotte Bronté,Jane Eyre(1847).

Rock(Dr. Richard), a famous quack, who professed to cure every disease. He was short of stature and fat, wore a white three-tailed wig, nicely combed and frizzed upon each cheek, carried a cane, and halted in his gait.

Dr. Rock, F.U.N., never wore a hat.... He and Dr. Franks were at variance.... Rock cautioned the world to beware of bog-trotting quacks, while Franks called his rival “Dumplin’ Dick.” Head of Confucius, what profanation!—Goldsmith,Citizen of the World(1759).

Oh! when his nerves had received a shock,Sir Isaac Newton might have gone to Rock.Crabbe,Borough(1810).

Rocket.He rose like a rocket, and felllike the stick.Thomas Paine said this of Mr. Burke.

Roderick, the thirty-fourth and last of the Gothic kings of Spain, son of Theod´ofred and Rusilla. Having violated Florinda, daughter of Count Julian, he was driven from his throne by the Moors, and assumed the garb of a monk with the name of “Father Maccabee.” He was present at the great battle of Covadonga, in which the Moors were cut to pieces, but what became of him afterwards no one knows. His helm, sword, and cuirass were found, so was his steed. Several generations passed away, when, in a hermitage near Viseu, a tomb was discovered, “which bore in ancient characters King Roderick’s name;” but imagination must fill up the gap. He is spoken of as most popular.

Time has beenWhen not a tongue within the PyreneesDared whisper in dispraise of Roderick’s name,Lest, if the conscious air had caught the sound,The vengeance of the honest multitudeShould fall upon the traitorous head, and brandFor life-long infamy the lying lips.Southey,Roderick, etc., xv. (1814).

Roderick’s Dogwas called Theron.

Roderick’s Horsewas Orel´io.

Roderick(The Vision of Don). Roderick, the last of the Gothic kings of Spain, descended into an ancient vault near Toledo. This vault was similar to that in Greece, called the cave of Triphōnios, where was an oracle. In the vault Roderick saw a vision of Spanish history from his own reign to the beginning of the nineteenth century.Period I.The invasion of the Moors, with his own defeat and death.Period II.The Augustine age of Spain, and their conquests in the two Indies.Period III.The oppression of Spain by Bonaparte, and its succor by British aid.—Sir W. Scott,The Vision of Don Roderick(1811).

Roderick Dhu, an outlaw and chief of a banditti, which resolved to win back the spoil of the “Saxon spoiler.” Fitz-James, a Saxon, met him and knew him not. He asked the Saxon why he was roaming unguarded over the mountains, and Fitz-James replied that he had sworn to combat with Roderick, the rebel, till death laid one of them prostrate. “Have, then, thy wish!” exclaimed the stranger, “for I am Roderick Dhu.” As he spoke, the whole place bristled with armed men. Fitz-James stood with his back against a rock, and cried, “Come one, come all, this rock shall fly from its firm base as soon as I.” Roderick, charmed with his daring, waved his hand, and all the band disappeared as mysteriously as they had appeared. Roderick then bade the Saxon fight, “For,” said he, “that party will prove victorious which first slays an enemy.” “Then,” replied Fitz-James, “thy cause is hopeless, for Red Murdock is slain already.” They fought, however, and Roderick was slain (canto v.).—Sir W. Scott,The Lady of the Lake(1810).

Roderick Random, a child of impulse, and a selfish libertine. His treatment of Strap is infamous and most heartless.—Smollett,Roderick Random(1748).

Rod´erigoorRoderi´go(3syl.), a Venetian gentleman, in love with Desdemona. When Desdemona eloped with Othello, Roderigo hated the “noble Moor,” and Ia´go took advantage of this temper for his own base ends.—Shakespeare,Othello(1611).

Roderigo’s suspicious credulity and impatient submission to the cheats which he sees practised on him, and which, by persuasion, he suffers tobe repeated, exhibit a strong picture of a weak mind betrayed by unlawful desires to a false friend.—Dr. Johnson.

Rodilardus, a huge cat, which attacked Panurge, and which he mistook for “a young, soft-chinned devil.” The word means “gnaw-lard” (Latin,rodĕre lardum).—Rabelais,Pantagruel, iv. 67 (1545).

***Themarquis de Carabas.” (SeePuss in Boots.)

Rodrigo, king of Spain, conquered by the Moors. He saved his life by flight, and wandered to Guadaletê, where he begged food of a shepherd, and gave him in recompense his royal chain and ring. A hermit bade him, in penance, retire to a certain tomb full of snakes and toads, where, after three days, the hermit found him unhurt; so, going to his cell, he passed the night in prayer. Next morning, Rodrigo cried aloud to the hermit, “They eat me now; I feel the adder’s bite.” So his sin was atoned for, and he died.

***This Rodrigo is Roderick, the last of the Goths.

Rodrigo, rival of Pe´dro, “the pilgrim,” and captain of a band of outlaws.—Beaumont and Fletcher,The Pilgrim(1621).

Rodri´go de Mondragon(Don), a bully and tyrant, the self-constituted arbiter of all disputes in a tennis-court of Valladolid.

Don Rodrigo de Mondragon was about 30 years of age, of an ordinary make, but lean and muscular; he had two little twinkling eyes that rolled in his head, and threatened everybody he looked at; a very flat nose, placed between red whiskers that curled up to his very temples; and a manner of speaking so rough and passionate that his words struck terror into everybody.—Lesage,Gil Bias, ii. 5 (1715).

Rodhaver, the sweetheart of Zal, a Persian. Zal being about to scale her bower, she let down her long tresses to assist him, but Zal managed to fix his crook into a projecting beam, and thus made his way to the lady of his devotion.—Champion,Ferdosi.

Rodman(Keeper, The), an ex-colonel of the Federal army, who has become the keeper of a national cemetery at the south. “At sunrise, the keeper ran up the stars and stripes, and ... he had taken money from his own store to buy a second flag for stormy weather, so that, rain or not, the colors should float over the dead.... It was simply a sense of the fitness of things.” He deviates so far from his rule as to fall in love with a Southern girl, whose nearest relative he has nursed through his last illness. She despises him as a Yankee too much to suspect this; she will not even write her name as a visitor to the National Cemetery. She goes to Tennessee to teach school, and Rodman offers to buy the uprooted vines discarded by the new owner of her cottage. “Wuth about twenty-five cents, I guess,” said the Maine man, handing them over.—Constance Fenimore Woolson (1880).

Rodmond, chief mate of theBrittania, son of a Northumbrian, engaged in the coal trade; a hardy, weather-beaten seaman, uneducated, “boisterous of manners,” and regardless of truth, but tender-hearted. He was drowned when the ship struck on Cape Colonna, the most southern point of Attica.

Unskilled to argue, in dispute yet loud,Bold without caution, without honors proud,In art unschooled, each veteran rule he prized,And all improvement haughtily despised.Falconer,The Shipwreck, i. (1756).

Ro´dogune,Rhodogune, orRho´dogyne(3syl.), daughter of Phraa´tês,king of Parthia. She married Deme´trius Nica´nor (the husband of Cleopat´ra, queen of Syria) while in captivity.

***P. Corneille has a tragedy on the subject entitledRodogune(1646).

Rodolfo(Il conte). It is in the bedchamber of this count that Ami´na is discovered the night before her espousal to Elvi´no. Ugly suspicion is excited, but the count assures the young farmer that Amina walks in her sleep. While they are talking Amina is seen to get out of a window and walk along a narrow edge of the mill-roof while the huge wheel is rapidly revolving. She crosses a crazy bridge, and walks into the very midst of the spectators. In a few minutes she awakens and flies to the arms of her lover.—Bellini,La Sonnambula(opera, 1831).

Rodomont, king of Sarza or Algiers. He was Ulien’s son, and called the “Mars of Africa.” His lady-love was Dor´alis, princess of Grana´da, but she eloped with Mandricardo, king of Tartary. At Rogero’s wedding Rodomont accused him of being a renegade and traitor, whereupon they fought, and Rodomont was slain.—Orlando Innamorato(1495); andOrlando Furioso(1516).

Who so meek? I’m sure I quake at the very thought of him; why, he’s as fierce as Rodomont!—Dryden,Spanish Fryar, v. 2 (1680).

***Rodomontade (4syl.), from Rodomont, a bragging although a brave knight.

Rogel of Greece(The Exploits and Adventures of), part of the series calledLe Roman des Romans, pertaining to “Am´adis of Gaul.” This part was added by Feliciano de Silva.

Roger, the cook who “cowde roste, sethe, broille, and frie, make mortreux, and wel bake a pye.”—Chaucer,Canterbury Tales(1388).

Roger(Sir), curate to “The Scornful Lady” (no name given).—Beaumont and Fletcher,The Scornful Lady(1616).

Roger Armstrong, clerical lover of Faith Gartney, and her preferred suitor.—A. D. T. Whitney,Faith Gartney’s Girlhood.

Roger Bontemps, the personation of contentment with his station in life, and of the buoyancy of good hope. “There’s a good time coming, John.”

Vous pauvres, pleins d’enviè;Vous rich, désireux;Vous dont le char dévieAprès un cours heureux;Vous qui perdrez peut-êtreDes titres éclatans;Eh! gai! prenez pour maitreLe gros Roger Bontemps.Béranger (1780-1856).

Ye poor, with envy goaded;Ye rich, for more who long;Ye who by fortune loadedFind all things going wrong;Ye who by some disasterSee all your cables break;From henceforth, for your masterSleek Roger Bontemps take.

Roger Chillingworth, deformed husband of Hester Prynne. He returns to Boston from a long sojourn with the Indians, and sees his wife in the pillory with a baby—not his—in her arms. From that instant he sets himself to work to discover the name of her seducer, and, suspecting Arthur Dimmesdale, attaches himself to the oft-ailing clergyman as his medical attendant. He it is who first suspects the existence of the cancer that is devouring the young clergyman’s life, and when the horrible thing is revealed, kneels by thedying man with the bitter whisper, “Thou hast escaped me!”—Nathaniel Hawthorne,The Scarlet Letter(1850).

Roger de Coverley(Sir), an hypothetical baronet of Coverley or Cowley, near Oxford.—Addison,The Spectator(1711, 1712, 1714).

***The prototype of this famous character was Sir John Pakington, seventh baronet of the line.

Roge´ro, brother of Marphi´sa; brought up by Atlantês, a magician. He married Brad´amant, the niece of Charlemagne. Rogero was converted to Christianity, and was baptized. His marriage with Bradamant and his election to the crown of Bulgaria concludes the poem.—Ariosto,Orlando Furioso(1516).

Who more brave than Rodomont? who more courteous than Rogero?—Cervantês,Don Quixote, I. i. (1605).

Rogero, son of Roberto Guiscardo, the Norman. Slain by Tisaphernês.—Tasso,Jerusalem Delivered, xx. (1575).

Rogero(3syl.), a gentleman of Sicilia.—Shakespeare,The Winter’s Tale(1604).

***This is one of those characters which appear in thedramatis personæ, but are never introduced in the play. Rogero not only does not utter a word—he does not even enter the stage all through the drama. In the Globe edition his name is omitted. (SeeViolenta.)

Rogers(Mr.), illiterate, tender-hearted, great-souled old father ofLouisiana. When she begs his pardon for having been ashamed of, and having disowned him, he tells her, “It’syouas should be a-forgivin’me... I hadn’t done ye no sort o’ justice in the world, an’ never could.”—Frances Hodgson Burnett,Louisiana(1880).

Roget, the pastoral name of George Wither in the four “eglogues” calledThe Shepheards Hunting(1615). The first and last “eglogues” are dialogues between Roget and Willy, his young friend; in the second pastoral Cuddy is introduced, and in the third Alexis makes a fourth character. The subject of the first three is the reason of Roget’s imprisonment, which, he says, is a hunt that gave great offence. This hunt is in reality a satire calledAbuses Stript and Whipt. The fourth pastoral has for its subject Roget’s love of poetry.

***“Willy” is his friend, William Browne, of the Inner Temple (two years his junior), author ofBritannia’s Pastorals.

Roi Panade(“king of slops”), Louis XVIII. (1755, 1814-1824).

Roister Doister(Ralph), a vain, thoughtless, blustering fellow, in pursuit of Custance, a rich widow, but baffled in his endeavor.—Nicholas Udall,Ralph Roister Doister(the first English comedy, 1534).

Rokesmith(John),aliasJohn Harmon, secretary of Mr. Boffin. He lodged with the Wilfers, and ultimately married Bella Wilfer. John Rokesmith is described as “a dark gentleman, 30 at the utmost, with an expressive, one might say, a handsome face.”—Dickens,Our Mutual Friend(1864).

***For solution of the mystery, see vol. I. ii. 13.

Ro´land, count of Mans and knight of Blaives. His mother, Bertha, was Charlemagne’s sister. Roland is represented as brave, devotedly loyal, unsuspicious, and somewhat too easily imposednpon.He was eight feet high, and had an open countenance. In Italian romance he is called Orlan´do. He was slain in the valley of Roncesvalles as he was leading the rear of his uncle’s army from Spain to France. Charlemagne himself had reached St. Jean Pied de Port at the time, heard the blast of his nephew’s horn, and knew it announced treachery, but was unable to render him assistance (A.D.778).

Roland is the hero of Théroulde’sChanson de Roland; of Turpin’sChronique; of Bojardo’sOrlando Innamorato; of Ariosto’sOrlando Furioso; of Piccini’s opera calledRoland(1778); etc.

Roland’s Horn, Olivant or Olifant. It was won from the giant Jatmund, and might be heard at the distance of thirty miles. Birds fell dead at its blast, and the whole Saracen army drew back in terror when they heard it. So loud it sounded, that the blast reached from Roncesvallês to St. Jean Pied de Port, a distance of several miles.

Roland lifts Olifant to his month and blows it with all his might. The mountains around are lofty, but high above them the sound of the horn arises [at the third blast, it split in twain].—Song of Roland(as sung by Taillefer, at the battle of Hastings). See Warton,History of English Poetry, v. I, sect. iii. 132 (1781).

Roland’s Horse, Veillantif, called in ItalianVelian´tino(“the little vigilant one”).

In Italian romance, Orlando has another horse, called Brigliado´ro (“golden bridle”).

Roland’s Spear.Visitors are shown a spear in the cathedral of Pa´via, which they are told belonged to Roland.

Roland’s Sword, Duran´dal, made by the fairies. To prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy, when Roland was attacked in the valley of Roncesvallês, he smote a rock with it, and it made in the solid rock a fissure some 300 feet in depth, called to this dayLa Brêche de Roland.

Then would I seek the Pyrenean breach,Which Roland clove with huge two-handed sway,And to the enormous labor left his name.Wordsworth.

***A sword is shown at Rocamadour, in the department of Lot (France), which visitors are assured was Roland’sDurandal. But the romances says that Roland, dying, threw his sword into a poisoned stream.

Death of Roland.There is a tradition that Roland escaped the general slaughter in the defile of Roncesvallês, and died of starvation while trying to make his way across the mountains.—John de la Bruiere Champier,De Cibaria, xvi. 5.

Died like Roland, died of thirst.

Nonnulli qui de Gallicis rebus historias conscripserunt, non dubitarunt posteris significare Rolandum Caroli illius magni sororis filium, verum certe bellica gloria omnique fortitudine nobillissimum, post ingentem Hispanorum cædem prope Pyrenæi saltus juga, ubi insidiæ ab hoste collocatæ fuerint, siti miserrime extinctum. Inde nostri intolerabili siti et immiti volentes significare se torqueri, facete aiunt “Rolandi morte se perire.”—John de la Bruiere Champier,De Cibaria, xvi. 5.

Roland(The Roman). Sicinius Dentātus is so called by Niebuhr. He is not unfrequently called “The Roman Achillês” (put to deathB.C.450).

Roland Blake.Hero of a war-novel of the same name.—Silas Weir Mitchell, M.D. (1886).

Roland and Oliver, the two most famous of the twelve paladins of Charlemagne. To give a “Roland for an Oliver” is to give tit for tat, to give another as good a drubbing as you receive.

Froissart, a countryman of ours [the French] records,England all Olivers and Rowlands bredDuring the time Edward the Third did reign.Shakespeare, 1Henry VI.act i. sc. 2 (1589).

Roland de Vaux(Sir), baron of Triermain, who wakes Gyneth from her long sleep of 500 years, and marries her.—Sir W. Scott,Bridal of Triermain(1813).

Rolando(Signor), a common railer against women, but brave, of a “happy wit and independent spirit.” Rolando swore to marry no woman, but fell in love with Zam´ora, and married her, declaring “that she was no woman, but an angel.”—J. Tobin,The Honeymoon(1804).

The resemblance between Rolando and Benedick will instantly occur to the mind.

Rolandseck Tower, opposite the Drachenfels. Roland was engaged to Aude, daughter of Sir Gerard and Lady Guibourg; but the lady, being told that Roland had been slain by Angoulaffre, the Saracen, retired to a convent. The paladin returned home full of glory, having slain the Saracen, and when he heard that his lady-love had taken the veil, he built Rolandseck Castle, which overlooks the convent, that he might at leastseethe lady to whom he could never be united. After the death of Aude, Roland “sought the battle-field again, and fell at Roncevall.”—Campbell,The Brave Roland.

Roldan, “El encantado,” Roldan made invulnerable by enchantment. The cleft “Roldan,” in the summit of a high mountain in the kingdom of Valencia, was so called because it was made by a single back-stroke of Roldan’s sword. The character is in two Spanish romances, authors unknown.—Bernardo del CarpioandRoncesvalles.

This book [Rinaldo de Montalban], and all others written on French matters, shall be deposited in some dry place ... except one calledBernardo del Carpio, and another calledRoncesvalles, which shall certainly accompany the rest on the bonfire.—Cervantes,Don Quixote, I. i. 6 (1605).

Rolla, kinsman of the Inca Atali´ba, and the idol of the army. “In war a tiger chafed by the hunters’ spears; in peace more gentle than the unweaned lamb” (act i. 1). A firm friend and most generous foe. Rolla is wounded in his attempt to rescue the infant child of Alonzo from the Spaniards, and dies. His grand funeral procession terminates the drama.—Sheridan,Pizarro(altered from Kotzebue, 1799).

Rolleston(General), father of Helen, inFoul Play, by Charles Reade.

Rollo, duke of Normandy, called “The Bloody Brother.” He caused the death of his brother, Otto, and slew several others, some out of mere wantonness.—Beaumont and Fletcher,The Bloody Brother(1639).

Rollo, boy who is the hero of Jacob Abbott’s celebrated and delightful “Rollo Books,” embracingRollo Learning to Read,Rollo Learning to Work,Rollo at School,Rollo’s Vacation, etc., etc. (1840-1857).

Roman(The), Jean Dumont, the French painter,Le Romain(1700-1781).

Stephen Picart, the French engraver,Le Romain(1631-1721).

Giulio Pippi, calledGiulio Romano(1492-1546).

Adrian von Roomen, mathematician,Adriānus Romānus(1561-1615).

Roman Achillês, Sicinius Dentātus (slainR.C.450).

Roman Brevity.Cæsar imitated laconic brevity when he announced to Amintius his victory at Zela, in Asia Minor, over Pharna´cês, son of Mithridatês;Veni, vidi, vici.

Poins.I will imitate the honorable Roman in brevity.—Shakespeare, 2Henry IV.act ii. sc. 2 (1598).

Sir Charles Napier is credited with a far more laconic despatch, on making himself master of Scinde, in 1843. Taking possession of Hyderabad, and outflanking Shere Mohammed by a series of most brilliant manœuvres, he is said to have written home this punning despatch:Peccāvi(“I have sinned” [Scinde]).

Roman Father(The), Horatius, father of the Horatii and of Horatia. The story of the tragedy is the well-known Roman legend about the Horatii and Curiatii. Horatius rejoices that his three sons have been selected to represent Rome, and sinks the affection of the father in love for his country. Horatia is the betrothed of Caius Curiatius, but is also beloved by Valerius, and when the Curiatii are selected to oppose her three brothers, she sends Valerius to him with a scarf, to induce him to forego the fight. Caius declines, and is slain. Horatia is distracted; they take from her every instrument of death, and therefore she resolves to provoke her surviving brother, Publius, to kill her. Meeting him in his triumph, she rebukes him for murdering her lover, scoffs at his “patriotism,” and Publius kills her. Horatius now resigns Publius to execution for murder, but the king and Roman people rescue him.—W. Whitehead (1741).

***Corneille has a drama on the same subject, calledLes Horaces(1639).

Roman des Romans(Le), a series of prose romances connected with Am´adis, of Gaul. So called by Gilbert Saunier.

Romans(Last of the), Rienzi, the tribune (1310-1354).

Charles James Fox (1749-1806).

Horace Walpole,Ultimus Romanorum(1717-1797).

Caius Cassius was so called by Brutus.

The last of all the Romans, fare thee well!It is impossible that ever RomeShould breed thy fellow.Shakespeare,Julius Cæsar, act v. sc. 3. (1607).

Romans(Most Learned of the), Marcus Terentius Varro (B.C.116-28).

Romance of the Rose, a poetical allegory, begun by Guillaume di Lorris in the latter part of the thirteenth century, and continued by Jean de Meung in the former half of the fourteenth century. The poet dreams that Dame Idleness conducts him to the palace of Pleasure, where he meets Love, whose attendant maidens are Sweet-looks, Courtesy, Youth, Joy, and Competence, by whom he is conducted to a bed of roses. He singles out one, when an arrow from Love’s bow stretches him fainting on the ground, and he is carried off. When he comes to himself, he resolves, if possible, to find his rose, and Welcome promises to aid him; Shyness, Fear, and Slander obstruct him; and Reason advises him to give up the quest. Pity and Kindness show him the object of his search; but Jealousy seizes Welcome, and locks her in Fear Castle. Here the original poem ends. The sequel, somewhat longer than the twenty-four books of Homer’sIliad, takes up the tale from this point.

Roma´no, the old monk who took pity on Roderick in his flight (viii.), and wentwith him for refuge to a small hermitage on the sea-coast, where they remained for twelve months, when the old monk died.—Southey,Roderick, The Last of the Goths, i., ii. (1841).

Rome Does(Do as). The saying originated with Saint Ambrose (fourth century). It arose from the following diversity in the observance of Saturday:—The Milanese make it a feast, the Romans a fast. St. Ambrose, being asked what should be done in such a case, replied, “In matters of indifference, it is better to be guided by the general usage. When I am at Milan, I do not fast on Saturdays, but when I am at Rome, I do as they do at Rome.”

Rome Saved by Geese.When the Gauls invaded Rome, a detachment in single file scaled the hill on which the capitol stood, so silently that the foremost man reached the summit without being challenged; but while striding over the rampart, some sacred geese were disturbed, and by their cackle aroused the guard. Marcus Manlius rushed to the wall, and hustled the Gaul over, thus saving the capitol.

A somewhat parallel case occurred in Ireland in the battle of Glinsaly, in Donegal. A party of the Irish would have surprised the Protestants if some wrens had not disturbed the guards by the noise they made in hopping about the drums and pecking on the parchment heads.—Aubrey,Miscellanies, 45.

Ro´meo, a son of Mon´tague (3syl.), in love with Juliet, the daughter of Cap´ulet; but between the houses of Montague and Capulet there existed a deadly feud. As the families were irreconcilable, Juliet took a sleeping draught, that she might get away from her parents and elope with Romeo. Romeo, thinking her to be dead, killed himself; and when Juliet awoke and found her lover dead, she also killed herself.—Shakespeare,Romeo and Juliet(1598).

Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy by Shakespeare (1598). The tale is taken fromRhomeo and Julietta, a novel by Boisteau, in French, borrowed from an Italian story by Bandello (1554).

In 1562 Arthur Brooke produced the same tale in verse, calledThe Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet. In 1567 Painter published a prose translation of Boisteau’s novel.

Romola, superb woman, high-spirited, pure and single of heart, the idol and co-laborer of her scholarly father. She wrecks her life by the marriage with the fascinating Greek, Tito Melema.—George Eliot,Romola.

Romp(The), a comic opera altered from Bickerstaff’sLove in the City. Priscilla Tomboy is “the romp,” and the plot is given under that name.

A splendid portrait of Mrs. Jordan, in her character of “The Romp,” hung over the mantelpiece in the dining-room [of Adolphus Fitzclarence].—Lord W. P. Lennox,Celebrities, etc., i. 11.

Rom´uald(St).The Catalans had a great reverence for a hermit so called, and hearing that he was about to quit their country, called together a parish meeting, to consult how they might best retain him amongst them, “For,” said they, “he will certainly be consecrated, and his relics will bring a fortune to us.” So they agreed to strangle him; but their intention being told to the hermit, he secretly made hisescape.—St. Foix,Essais Historiques sur Paris, v. 163.

***Southey has a ballad on the subject.

Romulus(The Second and Third), Camillus and Marĭus. Also called “The Second and Third Founders of Rome.”

Romulus and Remus, the twin sons of Silvia, a vestal virgin, and the god Mars. The infants were exposed in a cradle, and the floods carried the cradle to the foot of the Palatine. Here a wolf suckled them, till one Faustulus, the king’s shepherd, took them to his wife, who brought them up. When grown to manhood, they slew Amulius, who had caused them to be exposed.

The Greek legend of Tyro is in many respects similar. This Tyro had an amour with Poseidon (as Silvia had with Mars), and two sons were born in both cases. Tyro’s mother-in-law confined her in a dungeon, and exposed the two infants (Pelias and Neleus) in a boat on the river Enīpeus (3syl.). Here they were discovered and brought up by a herdsman (Romulus and Remus were brought up by a shepherd), and when grown to manhood, they put to death their mother-in-law, who had caused them to be exposed (as Romulus and Remus put to death their great-uncle, Amulius).

Ron, the ebony spear of Prince Arthur.

The temper of his sword, the tried Excalibor,The bigness and the length of Rone his noble spear,With Pridwin his great shield.Drayton,Polyolbion, iv. (1612).

Ronald(Lord), in love with Lady Clare, to whom he gave a lily-white doe. The day before the wedding nurse Alice told Lady Clare she was not “Lady Clare” at all, but her own child. On hearing this, she dressed herself as a peasant girl, and went to Lord Ronald to release him from his engagement. Lord Ronald replied, “If you are not the heiress born, we will be married to-morrow, and you shall still be Lady Clare.”—Tennyson,Lady Clare.

Ronaldson(Neil), the old ranzelman of Jarlshof (ch. vii.).—Sir W. Scott,The Pirate(time William III.).

Rondib´ilis, the physician consulted by Panurge, on the knotty question, “whether he ought to marry, or let it alone.”—Rabelais,Pantagruel(1545).

***This question, which Panurge was perpetually asking every one, of course refers to the celibacy of the clergy.

Rondo(The Father of the), Jean Baptiste Davaux.

Rope of Ocnus(A), profitless labor. Ocnus was always twisting a rope with unwearied diligence, but an ass ate it as fast as it was twisted.

***This allegory means that Ocnus worked hard to earn money, which his wife squandered by her extravagance.

The work of Penelopê’s web was “never ending, still beginning,” because Penelopê pulled out at night all that she had spun during the day. Her object was to defer doing what she abhorred but knew not how to avoid.

Roper(Margaret), was buried with the head of her father, Sir Thomas More, between her hands.

Her who clasped in her last tranceHer murdered father’s head.Tennyson.

Roque(1syl.), a blunt, kind-hearted old servitor to Donna Floranthe.—Colman,The Mountaineers(1793).

Roque Guinart, a freebooter, whose real name was Pedro Rocha Guinarda. He is introduced by Cervantês inDon Quixote.

Rosa, a village beauty, patronized by Lady Dedlock. She marries Mrs. Rouncewell’s grandson.—C. Dickens,Bleak House(1853).

Rosabelle(3syl.), the lady’s-maid of Lady Geraldine. Rosabelle promised to marry L’Eclair, the orderly of Chevalier Florian.—W. Dimond,The Foundling of the Forest.

Rosalind(i.e.Rose Daniel), the shepherd lass who rejected Colin Clout (the poet Spenser) for Menalcas (John Florio, the lexicographer, 1579). Spenser was at the time in his twenty-sixth year. Being rejected by Rosalind, he did not marry till he was nearly 41, and then we are told that Elizabeth “was the name of his mother, queen and wife” (Sonnet, 74). In theFaëry Queen, “the country lass” (Rosalind) is introduced dancing with the Graces, and the poet says she is worthy to be the fourth (bk. vi. 10, 16). In 1595 appeared theEpithala´mion, in which the recent marriage is celebrated.—Ed. Spenser,Shepheardes Calendar, i., vi. (1579).

“Rosalinde” is an anagram for Rose Daniel, evidently a well-educated young lady of the north, and probably the “Lady Mirabella” of theFaëry Queen, vi. 7, 8. Spenser calls her “the widow’s daughter of the glen” (ecl. iv.), supposed to be either Burnley or Colne, near Hurstwood, in Yorkshire. Ecl. i. is the plaint of Colin for the loss of Rosalind. Ecl. vi. is a dialogue between Colin and Hobbinol, his friend, in which Colin laments, and Hobbinol tries to comfort him. Ecl. xii. is a similar lament to ecl. i. Rose Daniel married John Florio, the lexicographer, the “Holofernês” of Shakespeare.

Rosalind, daughter of the banished duke who went to live in the forest of Arden. Rosalind was retained in her uncle’s court as the companion of his daughter, Celia; but when the usurper banished her, Celia resolved to be her companion, and, for greater security, Rosalind dressed as a boy, and assumed the name of Ganymede, while Celia dressed as a peasant girl, and assumed the name of Aliēna. The two girls went to the forest of Arden, and lodged for a time in a hut; but they had not been long there when Orlando encountered them. Orlando and Rosalind had met before at a wrestling match, and the acquaintance was now renewed; Ganymede resumed her proper apparel, and the two were married, with the sanction of the duke.—Shakespeare,As You Like It(1598).

Nor shall the griefs of Lear be alleviated, or the charms and wit of Rosalind be abated by time.—N. Drake, M.D.,Shakespeare and His Times, ii. 554 (1817).

Rosaline, the niece of Capulet, with whom Romeo was in love before he saw Juliet. Mercutio calls her “a pale-hearted wench,” and Romeo says she did not “grace for grace and love for love allow,” like Juliet.—Shakespeare,Romeo and Juliet(1598).

***Rosaline is frequently mentioned in the first act of the play, but is not one of thedramatis personæ.

Rosaline, a lady in attendance on the princess of France. A sharp wit was wedded to her will, and “two pitch balls were stuck in her face for eyes.” Rosaline is called “a merry, nimble, stirring spirit.” Biron, a lord in attendance on Ferdinand,king of Navarre, proposes marriage to her, but she replies:

You must be purged first, your sins are racked ...Therefore if you my favor mean to get,A twelvemonth shall you spend, and never rest,But seek the weary beds of people sick.Shakespeare,Love’s Labor’s Lost(1594).

Rosalu´ra, the airy daughter of Nantolet, beloved by Belleur.—Beaumont and Fletcher,The Wild-goose Chase(1652).

Ros´amond(The Fair), Jane Clifford, daughter of Walter, Lord Clifford. The lady was loved, not wisely, but too well, by Henry II., who kept her for concealment in a labyrinth at Woodstock. Queen Eleanor compelled the frail fair one to swallow poison (1777).

She was the fayre daughter of Walter, Lord Clifford.... Henry made for her a house of wonderfull working, so that no man or woman might come to her. This house was named “Labyrinthus,” and was wrought like unto a knot, in a garden called a maze. But the queen came to her by a clue of thredde, and so dealt with her that she lived not long after. She was buried at Godstow, in a house of nunnes, with these verses upon her tombe:

Hic jacet in tumba Rosa mundi, non Rosa munda;Non redolet, sed olet, quæ redolere solet.

Here Rose the graced, not Rose the chaste, reposes;The smell that rises is no smell of roses.

***The subject has been a great favorite with poets. We have in English the following tragedies:—The Complaint of Rosamond, by S. Daniel (before 1619);Henry II.... with the Death of Rosamond, either Bancroft or Mountford (1693);Rosamond, by Addison (1706);Henry and Rosamond, by Hawkins (1749);Fair Rosamond, by Tennyson (1879). In Italian,Rosmonda, by Rucellai (1525). In Spanish,Rosmunda, by Gil y Zarate (1840). We have alsoRosamond, an opera, by Dr. Arne (1733); andRosamonde, a poem in French, by C. Briffaut (1813). Sir Walter Scott has introduced the beautiful soiled dove in two of his novels—The TalismanandWoodstock.

***Dryden says her name wasJane:

Jane Clifford was her name, as books aver:“Fair Rosamond” was but hernom de guerre.

We rede that in Englande was a king that had a concubyne whose name was Rose, and for hir greate bewtye he cleped hir Rose à mounde (Rosa mundi), that is to say, Rose of the world, for him thought that she passed al wymen in bewtye.—R. Pynson (1493), subsequently printed by Wynken de Worde in 1496.

TheRosemondeof Alfieri is quite another person. (SeeRosemond.)

Rosa´na, daughter of the Armenian queen who helped St. George to quench the seven lamps of the knight of the Black Castle.—R. Johnson,The Seven Champions of Christendom, ii. 8, 9 (1617).

Roscius(Quintus), the greatest of Roman actors (diedB.C.62).

What scene of death hath Roscius now to act?Shakespeare, 3Henry VI.act v. sc. 6 (1592).

Roscius(The British), Thomas Betterton (1635-1710), and David Garrick (1716-1779).

***The earl of Southampton says that Richard Burbage “is famous as our English Roscius” (1566-1619).

Roscius(The Irish), Spranger Barry, “The Silver Tongued” (1719-1777).

Roscius(The Young), William Henry West Betty, who, in 1803, made hisdébutin London. He was about 12 years of age, and in fifty-six nights realized £34,000. He died, aged 84, in 1874.

Roscius of France(The), Michel Boyron or Baron (1653-1729).

Roscrana, daughter of Cormac, king of Ireland (grandfather of that Cormac murdered by Cairbar). Roscra´na is called “the blue-eyed and white-handed maid,” and was “like a spirit of heaven, half folded in the skirt of a cloud.” Subsequently she was the wife of Fingal, king of Morven, and mother of Ossian, “king of bards.”—Ossian,Temora, vi.

***Cormac, the father of Roscrana, was great-grandfather of that Cormac who was reigning when Swaran made his invasion. The line ran thus: (1) Cormac I., (2) Cairbre, his son, (3) Artho, his son, (4) Cormac II., father-in-law of Fingal.

Rose, “the gardener’s daughter,” a story of happy first love, told in later years by an old man who had, in his younger days, trifled with the passion of love; but, like St. Augustin, was always “loving to love” (amans amāre), and was at length heart-smitten with Rose, whom he married. (SeeAlice.)—Tennyson,The Gardener’s Daughter.

Rose.Sir John Mandeville says that a Jewish maid of Bethlehem (whom Southey names Zillah) was beloved by one Ham´uel, a brutish sot. Zillah rejected his suit, and Hamuel, in revenge, accused the maiden of offences for which she was condemned to be burned alive. When brought to the stake, the flames burnt Hamuel to a cinder, but did no harm to Zillah. There she stood, in a garden of roses, for the brands which had been kindled became red roses, and those which had not caught fire became white ones. These are the first roses that ever bloomed on earth since the loss of paradise.

Back to Index Next