Roscommon (114), an inland county of Connaught, SW. Ireland; is poorly developed; one-half is in grass, and a sixth mere waste land; crops of hay, potatoes, and oats are raised, but the rearing of sheep and cattle is the chief industry; the rivers Shannon and Suck lie on its E. and W. borders respectively; there is some pretty lake-scenery, interesting Celtic remains, castle, and abbey ruins, &c. The county town, 96 m. NW. of Dublin, has a good cattle-market, and remains of a 13th-century Dominican abbey and castle.

Roscrea (3), an old market-town of Tipperary, 77 m. SW. of Dublin; its history reaches back to the 7th century, and it has interesting ruins of a castle, round tower, and two abbeys.

Rosebery, Archibald Philip Primrose, Earl of, born in London; educated at Eton and Christ's Church, Oxford; succeeded to the earldom in 1868; was twice over Secretary for Foreign Affairs under Mr. Gladstone, in 1885 and 1892; was first Chairman of London County Council; became Prime Minister on March 1894 on Mr. Gladstone's retirement, and resigned in June 1895; he is one of the most popular statesmen and orators of the day, and held in deservedly high esteem by all classes; b. 1847.

Rosecrans, William Starke, American general, born at Kingston, Ohio; trained as an engineer, he had settled down to coal-mining when the Civil War broke out; joined the army in 1861, and rapidly came to the front; highly distinguished himself during the campaigns of 1862-63, winning battles at Iuka, Corinth, and Stone River; but defeated at Chickamauga he lost his command; reinstated in 1864 he drove Price out of Missouri; has been minister to Mexico, a member of Congress, and since 1885 Registrar of the U.S. Treasury; b. 1819.

Rosenkranz, Karl, philosopher of the Hegelian school, born at Magdeburg; professor of Philosophy at Königsberg; wrote an exposition of the Hegelian system, a "Life of Hegel," on "Goethe and his Works," &c. (1805-1879).

Roses, Wars of the, the most protracted and sanguinary civil war in English history, fought out during the reigns of Henry VI., Edward IV., and Richard III. between the adherents of the noble houses of York and Lancaster—rival claimants for the throne of England—whose badges were the white and the red rose respectively; began with the first battle of St. Albans (1455), in which Richard, Duke of York, defeated Henry VI.'s forces under the Duke of Somerset; but not till after the decisive victory at Towton (1461) did the Yorkists make good their claim, when Edward (IV.), Duke of York, became king. Four times the Lancastrians were defeated during his reign. The war closed with the defeat and death of the Yorkist Richard III. at Bosworth, 1485, and an end was put to the rivalry of the two houses by the marriage of Henry VII. of Lancaster with Elizabeth of York, 1486.

Rosetta (18), a town on the left branch of the delta of the Nile, 44 m. NE. of Alexandria, famous for the discovery near it by M. Boussard, in 1799, of the Rosetta stone with inscriptions in hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek, and by the help of which archæologists have been able to interpret the hieroglyphics of Egypt.

Rosicrucians, a fraternity who, in the beginning of the 15th century, affected an intimate acquaintance with the secrets of nature, and pretended by the study of alchemy and other occult sciences to be possessed of sundry wonder-working powers.

Rosinante, the celebrated steed of Don Quixote, reckoned by him superior to the Bucephalus of Alexander and the Bavieca of the Cid.

Roslin, a pretty little village of Midlothian, by the wooded side of the North Esk, 6½ m. S. of Edinburgh; has ruins of a 14th-century castle, and a small chapel of rare architectural beauty, built in the 16th century as the choir of a projected collegiate church.

Rosmini, Antonio Rosmini-Serbati, distinguished Italian philosopher, born at Rovereto, entered the priesthood, devoted himself to the study of philosophy, founded a system and an institute called the "Institute of the Brethren of Charity" at Stresa, W. of Lake Maggiore, on a pietistic religious basis, which, though sanctioned by the Pope, has encountered much opposition at the hands of the obscurantist party in the Church (1797-1865).

Ross, Sir John, Arctic explorer, born in Wigtownshire; made three voyages, the first in 1811 under Parry; the second in 1829, which he commanded; and a third in 1850, in an unsuccessful search for Franklin, publishing on his return from them accounts of the first two, in both of which he made important discoveries (1777-1856).

Rossano (19), a town of Southern Italy, in Calabria, 2 m. from the SW. shore of the Gulf of Taranto; has a fine cathedral and castle; valuable quarries of marble and alabaster are wrought in the vicinity.

Rossbach, a village in Prussian Saxony, 9 m. SW. of Merseburg, where Frederick the Great gained in 1767 a brilliant victory with 22,000 men over the combined arms of France and Austria with 60,000.

Rosse, William Parsons, third Earl of, born in York; devoted to the study of astronomy; constructed reflecting telescopes, and a monster one at the cost of £30,000 at Parsonstown, his seat in Ireland, by means of which important discoveries were made, specially in the resolution of nebulæ (1800-1867).

Rossetti, Charles Dante Gabriel, poet and painter, born in London, the son of Gabriele Rossetti; was as a painter one of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (q. v.), and is characterised by Ruskin as "the chief intellectual force in the establishment of the modern romantic school in England,... as regarding the external world as a singer of the Romaunts would have regarded it in the Middle Ages, and as Scott, Burns, Byron, and Tennyson have regarded it in modern times," and as a poet was leader of the romantic school of poetry, which, as Stopford Brooke remarks, "found their chief subjects in ancient Rome and Greece, in stories and lyrics of passion, in mediæval romance, in Norse legends, in the old English of Chaucer, and in Italy" (1828-1882).

Rossetti, Christina Georgina, poetess, born in London, sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and of kindred temper with her brother, but with distinct qualities of her own; her first volume, called the "Goblin-Market," contains a number of very beautiful short poems; she exhibits, along with a sense of humour, a rare pathos, which, as Professor Saintsbury remarks, often "blends with or passes into the utterance of religious awe, unstained and unweakened by any craven fear" (1830-1894).

Rossetti, Gabriele, Italian poet and orator, born at Vasto; had for his patriotic effusions to leave Italy, took refuge in London, and became professor of Italian in King's College, London; was a man of strong character, and student of literature as well as man of letters himself; was the father of Dante Gabriel and Christina (1783-1854).

Rossi, Pellegrino, an Italian jurist and politician, born at Carrara, educated at Bologna, where he became professor of Law in 1812; four years later was appointed to a chair in Geneva, where he also busied himself with politics as a member of the Council and deputy in the Diet; settled in Paris in 1833, became professor at the Collège de France, was naturalised and created a peer, returned to Rome, broke off his connection with France, won the friendship of Pius IX., and rose to be head of the ministry; was assassinated (1787-1848).

Rossini, Gioacchino, celebrated Italian composer of operatic music, born at Pesaro; his operas were numerous, of a high order, and received with unbounded applause, beginning with "Tancred," followed by "Barber of Seville," "La Gazza Ladra," "Semiramis," "William Tell," &c.; he composed a "Stabat Mater," and a "Mass" which was given at his grave (1792-1868).

Rostock (44), a busy German port in Mecklenburg, on the Warnow, 7 m. from its entrance into the Baltic; exports large quantities of grain, wool, flax, &c., has important wool and cattle markets; shipbuilding is the chief of many varied industries, owns a flourishing university, a beautiful Gothic church, a ducal palace, &c.

Rostoff, 1, a flourishing town (67) of South Russia, on the Don, 34 m. E. of Taganrog; manufactures embrace tobacco, ropes, leather, shipbuilding, &c. 2, One of the oldest of Russian market-towns (12), on the Lake of Rostoff, 34 m. SW. of Jaroslav, seat of an archbishop; manufactures linens, silks, &c.

Rostopchine, Count, Russian general, governor of Moscow; was charged with having set fire to the city against the entrance of the French in 1812; in his defence all he admitted was that he had set fire to his own mansion, and threw the blame of the general conflagration on the citizens and the French themselves (1763-1826).

Rostrum (lit. a beak), a pulpit in the forum of Rome where the orators delivered harangues to the people, so called as originally constructed of the prows of war-vessels taken at the first naval battle in which Rome was engaged.

Rothe, Richard, eminent German theologian, born at Posen, professor eventually at Heidelberg; regarded the Church as a temporary institution which would decease as soon as it had fulfilled its function by leavening society with the Christian spirit; he wrote several works, but the greatest is entitled "Theological Ethics" (1799-1867).

Rotherham (42), a flourishing town in Yorkshire, situated on the Don, 5 m. NE. of Sheffield; its cruciform church is a splendid specimen of Perpendicular architecture; manufactures iron-ware, chemicals, pottery, &c.

Rothesay (9), popular watering-place on the W. coast of Scotland, capital of Buteshire, charmingly situated at the head of a fine hill-girt bay on the NE. side of the island of Bute, 19 m. SW. of Greenock; has an excellent harbour, esplanade, &c.; Rothesay Castle is an interesting ruin; is a great health and holiday resort.

Rothschild, Meyer Amschel, the founder of the celebrated banking business, born at Frankfort-on-the-Main, a Jew by birth; began his career as a money-lender and made a large fortune (1743-1812); left five sons, who were all made barons of the Austrian empire—Amselm von R., eldest, head of the house at Frankfort (1773-1855); Solomon von R., the second, head of the Vienna house (1774-1855); Nathan von R., the third, head of the London house (1777-1836); Karl von R., the fourth, head of the house at Naples (1755-1855); and Jacob von R., the fifth, head of the Paris house (1792-1868).

Rotrou, Jean de, French poet, born at Dreux; was a contemporary of Corneille and a rival, wrote a number of plays, almost all tragedies, on romantic and classical subjects, some of which have kept the stage till now (1609-1650).

Rotterdam (223), the chief port and second city of Holland, situated at the junction of the Rotte with the Maas, 19 m. from the North Sea and 45 m. SW. of Amsterdam; the town is cut in many parts by handsome canals, which communicate with the river and serve to facilitate the enormous foreign commerce; the quaint old houses, the stately public buildings, broad tree-lined streets, canals alive with fleets of trim barges, combine to give the town a picturesque and animated appearance. Boymans' Museum has a fine collection of Dutch and modern paintings, and the Groote Kerk is a Gothic church of imposing appearance; there is also a large zoological garden; shipbuilding, distilling, sugar-refining, machine and tobacco factories are the chief industries.

Rotti (60), a fertile hilly island in the Indian Archipelago, SW. of Timor, a Dutch possession.

Roubaix (115), a busy town in the department of Nord, N. of France; situated on a canal 6 m. NE. of Lille; is of modern growth; actively engaged in the manufacture of all kinds of textiles, in brewing, &c.

Roubilliac, Louis François, sculptor, born at Lyons; studied in Paris, came to London; executed there statues of Shakespeare in the British Museum, Sir Isaac Newton at Cambridge, and Händel at London (1693-1762).

Rouble, a silver coin of the value of 3s. 2d.; the unit of the Russian monetary system; a much depreciated paper rouble is also in circulation; the rouble is divided into 100 copecks.

Rouen (112), the ancient capital of Normandy, a busy manufacturing town on the Seine, 87 m. NW of Paris; a good portion of the old, crowded, picturesque town has given place to more spacious streets and dwellings; the old ramparts have been converted into handsome boulevards; has several Gothic churches unrivalled in beauty, a cathedral (the seat of an archbishop), &c.; the river affords an excellent waterway to the sea, and as a port Rouen ranks fourth in France; is famed for its cotton and other textiles; Joan of Arc was burned here in 1431.

Rouget de Lisle, officer of the Engineers, born at Lons-le-Saulnier; immortalised himself as the author of the "Marseillaise" (q. v.); was thrown into prison by the extreme party at the Revolution, but was released on the fall of Robespierre; fell into straitened circumstances, but was pensioned by Louis Philippe (1760-1836).

Rouge-et-Noir (i. e. red and black), a gambling game of chance with cards, so called because it is played on a table marked with two red and two black diamond-shaped spots, and arranged alternately in four different sections of the table.

Rouher, Eugène, French Bonapartist statesman, born at Riom, where he became a barrister; entered the Constituent Assembly in 1848, and in the following year became Minister of Justice; was more or less in office during the next 20 years; he became President of the Senate in 1869; fled to England on the fall of the Empire; later on re-entered the National Assembly, and vigorously defended the ex-emperor Napoleon III. (1814-1884).

Roulers (20), a manufacturing town in West Flanders, 19 m. SW. of Bruges; engaged in manufacturing cottons, lace, &c.; scene of a French victory over the Austrians in 1794.

Roulette, a game of chance, very popular in France last century, now at Monaco; played with a revolving disc and a ball.

Roumania (5,800), a kingdom of SE. Europe, wedged in between Russia (N.) and Bulgaria (S.), with an eastern shore on the Black Sea; the Carpathians on the W. divide it from Austro-Hungary; comprises the old principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which, long subject to Turkey, united under one ruler in 1859, and received their independence in 1878, in which year the province of Dobrudja was ceded by Russia; in 1881 the combined provinces were recognised as a kingdom; forms a fertile and well-watered plain sloping N. to S., which grows immense quantities of grain, the chief export; salt-mining and petroleum-making are also important industries; the bulk of the people belong to the Greek Church; peasant proprietorship on a large scale is a feature of the national life; government is vested in a hereditary limited monarch, a council of ministers, a senate, and a chamber of deputies; Bucharest (q. v.) is the capital, and Galatz (q. v.) the chief port.

Roumelia, a former name for a district which embraced ancient Thrace and a portion of Macedonia; the territory known as East Roumelia was incorporated with Bulgaria in 1885.

Round Table, The, the name given to the knighthood of King Arthur: a larger, from including as many as 150 knights; and a smaller, from including only 12 of the highest order.

Round Towers, ancient towers, found chiefly in Ireland, of a tall, round, more or less tapering structure, divided into storeys, and with a conical top, erected in the neighbourhood of some church or monastery, and presumably of Christian origin, and probably used as strongholds in times of danger; of these there are 118 in Ireland, and three in Scotland—at Abernethy, Brechin, and Eglishay (Orkney).

Roundheads, the name of contempt given by the Cavaliers to the Puritans or Parliamentary party during the Civil War, on account of their wearing their hair close crept.

Rous, Francis, provost of Eton, born in Cornwall; sat in the Westminster Assembly, and was the author of the metrical version of the Psalms, as used in Presbyterian churches (1579-1659).

Rousseau, Jean Baptiste, French lyric poet, born in Paris, the son of a shoemaker; gave offence by certain lampoons ascribed to him which to the last he protested were forgeries, and was banished; his satires were certainly superior to his lyrics, which were cold and formal; died at Brussels in exile (1670-1741).

Rousseau, Jean Jacques, a celebrated French philosopher, and one or the great prose writers of French literature, born in Geneva, the son of a watchmaker and dancing-master; was apprenticed to an engraver, whose inhuman treatment drove him at the age of 16 into running away; for three years led a vagrant life, acting as footman, lackey, secretary, &c.; during this period was converted to Catholicism largely through the efforts of Madame de Warens, a spritely married lady living apart from her husband; in 1731 he took up residence in his patroness's house, where he lived for nine years a life of ease and sentiment in the ambiguous capacity of general factotum, and subsequently of lover; supplanted in the affections of his mistress, he took himself off, and landed in Paris in 1741; supported himself by music-copying, an occupation which was his steadiest means of livelihood throughout his troubled career; formed a liaison with an illiterate dull servant-girl by whom he had five children, all of whom he callously handed over to the foundling hospital; acquaintance with Diderot brought him work on the famous Encyclopédie, but the true foundation of his literary fame was laid in 1749 by "A Discourse on Arts and Sciences," in which he audaciously negatives the theory that morality has been favoured by the progress of science and the arts; followed this up in 1753 by a "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality," in which he makes a wholesale attack upon the cherished institutions and ideals of society; morosely rejected the flattering advances of society, and from his retreat at Montlouis issued "The New Héloïse" (1760), "The Social Contract" (1762), and "Émile" (1762); these lifted him into the widest fame, but precipitated upon him the enmity and persecution of Church (for his Deism) and State; fled to Switzerland, where after his aggressive "Letters from the Mountains," he wandered about, the victim of his own suspicious, hypochondriacal nature; found for some time a retreat in Staffordshire under the patronage of Hume; returned to France, where his only persecutors were his own morbid hallucinations; died, not without suspicion of suicide, at Ermenonville; his "Confessions" and other autobiographical writings, although unreliable in facts, reflect his strange and wayward personality with wonderful truth; was one of the precursive influences which brought on the revolutionary movement (1712-1778).

Rousseau, Pierre Étienne Théodore, an eminent French artist, born in Paris; at 19 exhibited in the Salon; slowly won his way to the front as the greatest French landscape painter; in 1848 settled down in Barbizon, in the Forest of Fontainebleau, his favourite sketching ground; his pictures (e. g. "The Alley of Chestnut Trees," "Early Summer Morning") fetch immense prices now (1812-1867).

Roveredo (10), an Austrian town in the Tyrol, pleasantly situated on the Leno, in the Lägerthal; is the centre of the Tyrolese silk trade.

Row, John, a Scottish reformer; graduated LL.D. in Padua; came over from the Catholic Church in 1558, and two years later helped to compile the "First Book of Discipline"; settled as a minister in Perth, and was four times Moderator of the General Assembly (1525-1580). His son, John Row, was minister of Carnock, near Dunfermline, and author of an authoritative "History of the Kirk of Scotland" (1568-1646).

Rowe, Nicholas, dramatist and poet-laureate, born at Barford, Bedfordshire; was trained for the law, but took to literature, and made his mark as a dramatist, "The Fair Penitent," "Jane Shore," &c., long maintaining their popularity; translated Lucan's "Pharsalia," which won Dr. Johnson's commendation; edited Shakespeare; became poet-laureate in 1715; held some government posts; was buried at Westminster Abbey (1674-1718).

Rowlandson, Thomas, caricaturist, born in London; studied art in Paris; gambled and lived extravagantly; led a roving life in England and Wales; displayed great versatility and strength in his artistic work, e. g. in "Imitations of Modern Drawings," illustrations to Sterne's "Sentimental Journey," "Munchausen's Travels," &c.; ridiculed Napoleon in many cartoons (1756-1827).

Rowley Regis (31), a flourishing town of Staffordshire, 3 m. SE. of Dudley; has large iron-works, potteries, &c.

Rowton Heath, in the vicinity of Chester, scene of a great Parliamentary victory over the forces of Charles I. in September 1645.

Roxburghshire (54), in Border pastoral county of Scotland, between Berwick (NE.) and Dumfries (SW.); the Cheviots form its southern boundary; lies almost wholly within the basin of the Tweed, which winds along its northern border, receiving the Teviot, Jed, &c.; includes the fine pastoral districts of Teviotdale and Liddesdale, where vast flocks of sheep are reared; agriculture and woollen manufactures are important industries; Hawick is the largest town, and Jedburgh the county town; near Kelso stood the royal castle and town of Roxburgh, which gave its name to the county, destroyed in 1460.

Royal Academy of Arts, in London; was instituted in 1768 by George III. as a result of a memorial presented to him by 29 members who had seceded from "The Incorporated Society of Artists of Great Britain" (founded 1765); for some years received grants from the privy purse, and was provided with rooms in Somerset House; removed to Trafalgar Square in 1836, and to its present quarters at Burlington House in 1869; receives now no public grant; holds yearly exhibitions, and supports an art school; membership comprises 42 Royal Academicians, besides Associates. The present President is Sir Edward John Poynter. The Royal Hibernian Academy (founded 1823) and the Scottish Academy (1826) are similar institutions.

Royal Society of Edinburgh, The, was incorporated by royal charter in 1783 through the efforts of Robertson the historian, and superseded the old Philosophical Society; held fortnightly meetings (December till June) in the Royal Institution; receives a grant of £300; publishes Transactions; has a membership of some 550, including foreign and British Fellows.

Royal Society of London, incorporated by royal charter in 1662, but owing its origin to the informal meetings about 1645 of a group of scientific men headed by Theodore Haak, a German, Dr. Wilkins, and others; in 1665 the first number of their Philosophical Transactions was published which, with the supplementary publication, Proceedings of the Royal Society, begun in 1800, constitute an invaluable record of the progress of science to the present day; encouragement is given to scientific investigation by awards of medals (Copley, Davy, Darwin, &c.), the equipping of scientific expeditions (e. g. the Challenger), &c.; weekly meetings are held at Burlington House (quarters since 1857) during the session (November till June); membership comprises some 500 Fellows, including 40 foreigners; receives a parliamentary grant of £4000 a year, and acts in an informal way as scientific adviser to Government.

Royan (6), a pretty seaside town of France, on the estuary of the Gironde, 60 m. NW. of Bordeaux; trebles its population in the summer.

Royer-Collard, Pierre Paul, politician and philosopher, born at Sompuis; called to the Paris bar at 20; supported the Revolution, but refused to follow the Jacobins, and during the Reign of Terror sought shelter in his native town; was elected to the Council of the Five Hundred in 1797, retired in 1804, and betook himself to philosophic studies; became professor of Philosophy in Paris 1811, and exercised great influence; re-entered political life in 1815, and was actively engaged in administrative work till his retirement in 1842; was all through his life a doctrinaire and rather unpractical (1763-1842).

Royton (13), a busy cotton town in Lancashire, 2 m. NW. of Oldham.

Ruabon (18), a mining town in Denbighshire, 4½ m. SW. of Wrexham; has collieries and iron-works.

Rubens, Peter Paul, the greatest of the Flemish painters, born at Siegen, in Westphalia; came with his widowed mother in 1587 to Antwerp, where he sedulously cultivated the painter's art, and early revealed his masterly gift of colouring; went to Italy, and for a number of years was in the service of the Duke of Mantua, who encouraged him in his art, and employed him on a diplomatic mission to Philip III. of Spain; executed at Madrid some of his finest portraits; returned to Antwerp in 1609; completed in 1614 his masterpiece, "The Descent from the Cross," in Antwerp Cathedral; with the aid of assistants he painted the series of 21 pictures, now in the Louvre, illustrating the principal events in the life of Maria de' Medici during 1628-1629; diplomatic missions engaged him at the Spanish and English Courts, where his superabundant energy enabled him to execute many paintings for Charles I.—e. g. "War and Peace," in the National Gallery—and Philip IV.; was knighted by both; in all that pertains to chiaroscuro, colouring, and general technical skill Rubens is unsurpassed, and in expressing particularly the "tumult and energy of human action," but he falls below the great Italian artists in the presentation of the deeper and sublimer human emotions; was a scholarly, refined man, an excellent linguist, and a successful diplomatist; was twice married; died at Antwerp, and was buried in the Church of St. Jacques; his tercentenary was celebrated in 1877 (1577-1640).

Rubicon, a famous river of Italy, associated with Julius Cæsar, now identified with the modern Fiumecino, a mountain torrent which springs out of the eastern flank of the Apennines and enters the Adriatic N. of Ariminum; marked the boundary line between Roman Italy and Cisalpine Gaul, a province administered by Cæsar; when he crossed it in 49 B.C. it was tantamount to a declaration of war against the Republic, hence the expression "to cross the Rubicon" is applied to the decisive step in any adventurous undertaking.

Rubinstein, Anton, a famous Russian pianist and composer, born, of Jewish parents, near Jassy, in Moldavia; studied at Moscow, under Liszt in Paris, and afterwards at Berlin and Vienna; established himself at St. Petersburg in 1848 as a music-teacher; became director of the Conservatoire there; toured for many years through Europe and the United States, achieving phenomenal success; resumed his directorship at St. Petersburg in 1887; composed operas (e. g. "The Maccabees," "The Demon"), symphonies (e. g. "Ocean"), sacred operas (e. g. "Paradise Lost"), chamber music, and many exquisite songs; as a pianist he was a master of technique and expression; was ennobled by the Czar in 1869; published an autobiography; his works as well as his performances display both vigour and sensibility (1829-1894).

Rubrics, a name, as printed originally in red ink, applied to the rules and instructions given in the liturgy of the Prayer-Book for regulating the conduct of divine service, hence applied in a wider significance to any fixed ecclesiastical or other injunction or order; was used to designate the headings or title of chapters of certain old law-books and MSS., formerly but not now necessarily printed in red characters.

Ruby, a gem which in value and hardness ranks next to the diamond; is dichroic, of greater specific gravity than any other gem, and belongs to the hexagonal system of crystals; is a pellucid, ruddy-tinted stone, and, like the sapphire, a variety of corundum, also found (but rarely) in violet, pink, and purple tints; the finest specimens come from Upper Burmah; these are the true Oriental rubies, and when above 5 carats exceed in value, weight for weight, diamonds; the Spinel ruby is the commoner jeweller's stone; is of much less value, specific gravity and hardness, non-dichroic, and forms a cubical crystal.

Rückert, Friedrich, German poet, born at Schweinfurt, in Bavaria; at Würzburg University showed his talent for languages, and early devoted himself to philology and poetry; was for 15 years professor of Oriental Languages at Erlangen; introduced German readers, by excellent translations, to Eastern poetry; filled for some time the chair of Oriental Languages in Berlin; takes rank as a lyrist of no mean powers; essayed unsuccessfully dramatic composition (1788-1866).

Ruddiman, Thomas, author of a well-known Latin grammar, a Banffshire man, and graduate of Aberdeen University; was school-mastering at Laurencekirk, where his scholarly attainments won him an assistantship in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh; spent a busy life in that; city in scholarly occupation, editing many learned works, the most notable being Buchanan's works and the "immaculate" edition of Livy; his famous Latin grammar was completed in 1732; in 1730 became principal keeper of the Advocates' Library (1674-1757).

Rudolf I., of the House of Hapsburg, founder of the Austrian dynasty; born, the son of a count, at Schloss Limburg (Breisgau); greatly increased his father's domain by marriage, inheritance, and conquest, becoming the most powerful prince in S. Germany; acquired a remarkable ascendency among the German princes, and was elevated to the imperial throne in 1273, and by friendly concessions to the Pope, Gregory IX., terminated the long struggle between the Church and the empire; shattered the opposition of Ottocar, king of Bohemia, and brought peace and order to Germany (1218-1291).

Rudolf II., German Emperor, son of Maximilian II., born at Vienna; became king of Hungary in 1573, and of Bohemia three years later; ascended the imperial throne in 1576; indolent and incapable, he left the empire to the care of worthless ministers; disorder and foreign invasion speedily followed; persecution inflamed the Protestants; by 1611 his brother Matthias, supported by other kinsmen, had wrested Hungary and Bohemia from him; had a taste for astrology and alchemy, and patronised Kepler and Tycho Brahé (1552-1612).

Rudolf Lake, in British East Africa, close to the highlands of S. Ethiopia, practically an inland sea, being 160 m. long and 20 broad, and brackish in taste; discovered in 1888.

Rudra, in the Hindu mythology the old deity of the storm, and father of the Marutz.

Rugby (11), a town in Warwickshire, at the junction of the Swift and the Avon, 83 m. NW. of London; an important railway centre and seat of a famous public school founded in 1567, of which Dr. Arnold (q. v.), and Archbishops Tait and Temple were famous head-masters, is one of the first public schools in England, and scholars number about 450.

Ruge, Arnold, a German philosophical and political writer, born at Bergen (Rügen); showed a philosophic bent at Jena; was implicated in the political schemes of the Burschenschaft (q. v.), and was imprisoned for six years; taught for some years in Halle University, but got into trouble through the radical tone of his writings in the Halle Review (founded by himself and another), and went to Paris; was prominent during the political agitation of 1848, and subsequently sought refuge in London, where for a short time he acted in consort with Mazzini and others; retired to Brighton, and ultimately received a pension from the Prussian Government; his numerous plays, novels, translations, &c., including a lengthy autobiography, reveal a mind scarcely gifted enough to grasp firmly and deeply the complicated problems of sociology and politics; is characterised by Dr. Stirling as the "bold and brilliant Ruge"; began, he says, as an expounder of Hegel, and "finished off as translator into German of that 'hollow make-believe of windy conceit,' he calls it, Buckle's 'Civilisation in England'" (1802-1880).

Rügen (45), a deeply-indented island of Germany, in the Baltic, separated from the Pomeranian coast by a channel (Strela Sund) about a mile broad; the soil is fertile, and fishing is actively engaged in. Bergen (4) is the capital.

Ruhr, an affluent of the Rhine, which joins it at Ruhrort after a course of 142 m.; navigable to craft conveying the product of the coal-mines to the Rhine.

Rule of Faith, the name given to the ultimate authority or standard in religious belief, such as the Bible alone, as among Protestants; the Bible and the Church, as among Romanists; reason alone, as among rationalists; the inner light of the spirit, as among mystics.

Rum, a mountainous, forest-clad island in one of the Inner Hebrides, lies 15 m. off Ardnamurchan Point; a handful of inhabitants cultivate a very small portion of it; the rest is mountain, wood, and moorland; forms a deer-forest.

Rumford, Count, Benjamin Thompson, soldier, philanthropist, and physicist, born at Woburn, Massachusetts; a fortunate marriage lifted him into affluence, relieving him from the necessity of teaching; fought on the British side during the American War; became a lieutenant-colonel, and for important services was knighted in 1782 on his return to England; entered the Bavarian service, and carried through a series of remarkable reforms, such as the suppression of mendicity, the amelioration of the poorer classes by the spread of useful knowledge, culinary, agricultural, &c.; was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, and placed in charge of the War Department of Bavaria; was a generous patron of science in England and elsewhere; retired from the Bavarian service in 1799, and five years later married the widow of Lavoisier the chemist; his later years were spent in retirement in a village near Paris, where he devoted himself to physical research, especially as regards heat (1753-1814).

Rump, The, name of contempt given to the remnant of the Long Parliament in 1659.

Runcorn (20), a flourishing river-port of Cheshire, on the Mersey, 12 m. SE. of Liverpool, at the terminus of the Bridgewater Canal; is an old place dating back to the 10th century; has excellent docks; industries embrace shipbuilding, iron-founding, &c.

Runeberg, Johan Ludwig, the national poet of Finland, born at Jacobstad; educated at, and afterwards lectured in, the university of Abo; published his first volume, "Lyric Poems," in 1830; edited a bi-weekly paper; for forty years (till his death) was Reader of Roman Literature in the College of Borga; his epic idylls, "The Elk Hunters," "Christmas Eve," his epic "King Fjalar," &c., are the finest poems in the Swedish language; are characterised by a repose, simplicity, and artistic finish, yet have withal the warmth of national life in them (1804-1877).

Runes, a name given to the letters of the alphabet by heathen Teutonic tribes prior to their coming under the influence of Roman civilisation; are formed almost invariably of straight lines, and scarcely exist except in inscriptions dating back to A.D. 1; found chiefly in Scandinavia, also in Britain. There are three runic alphabets (much alike), the oldest being the Gothic of 24 letters or runes. They are now believed to have first come into use among the Goths in the 6th century B.C., and to be a modified form of the old Greek alphabet introduced by traders.

Runnimede, a meadow on the right bank of the Thames, 36 m. SW. of London, where King John signed the Magna Charta, 15th June 1215.

Rupee, a silver coin, the monetary unit of India, whose face value is 2s., but which, owing to the depreciation of silver, is now valued in outside markets at about 1s. 2½d.; a lac of rupees equals 100,000.

Rupert, Prince, son of Frederick V., Elector Palatine, and grandson of James I. of England; received an excellent education; took part in the Thirty Years' War, and suffered three years' imprisonment at Linz; in England, at the outbreak of the Great Rebellion, he was entrusted with a command by Charles I., and by his dash and daring greatly heartened the Royalist cause, taking an active part in all the great battles; finally surrendered to Fairfax at Oxford in 1646; but two years later took command of the Royalist ships and kept up a gallant struggle till his defeat by Blake in 1651; escaped to the West Indies, where he kept up a privateering attack upon English merchantmen; came in for many honours after the Restoration, and distinguished himself in the Dutch War; the closing years of his life were quietly spent in scientific research (physical, chemical, mechanical), for which he had a distinct aptitude (1619-1682).