the rebellion has convinced me that he possessed a humane and generous heart, with an uncommon share of personal courage’ (Rebellion, pp. 148, 399). He displayed considerable military ability, and was probably the most formidable of all the rebel leaders.
[James Gordon's Hist. of the Rebellion in Ireland, pp. 137, 148, 166–9, 175, 188, 219, 399; Miles Byrne's Memoirs, i. 86, 167, 204–5; Ed. Hay's Insurrection of Wexford, pp. 185, 201, 205, 245, 251; Musgrave's Rebellions in Ireland, i. 464, 533, 536, ii. 43; Cloney's Personal Narrative, pp. 54–6, 81; Taylor's Hist. of the Rebellion in Wexford, pp. 73, 131; Narrative of the Sufferings and Escape of Charles Jackson, pp. 69, 70; Plowden's Hist. Review, ii. 735, 762, 767; Lecky's Hist. of England, viii. 136, 158, 164; Froude's English in Ireland.]
ROCHE, Mrs. REGINA MARIA (1764?–1845), novelist, born about 1764 in the south of Ireland, was daughter of parents named Dalton. In 1793 appeared her first novel, ‘The Vicar of Lansdowne,’ by Regina Maria Dalton, and it was at once followed by ‘The Maid of the Hamlet,’ in 2 vols. She soon afterwards married a gentleman named Roche. In 1798 she sprang into fame on the publication of her ‘Children of the Abbey’ (4 vols.), a story abounding in sentimentality, and almost rivalling in popularity Mrs. Radcliffe's ‘Mysteries of Udolpho,’ which was published in 1797. Many editions of it were called for, and until her death she industriously worked at a similar style of fiction. She died, aged 81, at her residence on the Mall, Waterford, 17 May 1845.
Her works are: 1. ‘The Vicar of Lansdowne,’ 2nd ed., 2 vols., London, 1793. 2. ‘The Maid of the Hamlet,’ 12mo, 3 vols., 1793. 3. ‘The Children of the Abbey,’ 4 vols. 1798 (numerous other editions). 4. ‘Clermont,’ 12mo, 4 vols. London, 1798. 5. ‘The Nocturnal Visit,’ 4 vols. 12mo, 1800 (a French version appeared in 1801 in 5 vols.). 6. ‘The Discarded Son, or the Haunt of the Banditti,’ 5 vols. 12mo, 1807. 7. ‘The Houses of Osma and Almeria, or the Convent of St. Ildefonso,’ 3 vols. 12mo, London, 1810. 8. ‘The Monastery of St. Colomba,’ 5 vols. 12mo, 1812. 9. ‘Trecothiek Bower,’ 3 vols. 12mo, 1813. 10. ‘London Tales’ (anonymously), 2 vols., 1814. 11. ‘The Munster Cottage Boy,’ 4 vols. 1819. 12. ‘The Bridal of Dunamore’ and ‘Lost and Won,’ two tales, 3 vols. 12mo, London, 1823. 13. ‘The Castle Chapel,’ 3 vols. 12mo, London, 1825 (a French version appeared the same year). 14. ‘Contrast,’ 3 vols., London, 1828. 15. ‘The Nun's Picture,’ 3 vols. 12mo, 1834. 16. ‘The Tradition of the Castle, or Scenes in the Emerald Isle,’ 4 vols. 12mo, London, 1824.
[Gent. Mag. 1845, ii. 86 (reprinting the Literary Gazette); Notes and Queries, 6th ser. ix. 509, x. 36, 119; Allibone's Dict. of Engl. Lit. vol. iii.; Brit. Mus. Cat.; Dict. of Living Authors, 1816.]
ROCHE, ROBERT (1576–1629), poetaster, born about 1576, a native of Somerset of lowly origin, was admitted of Magdalen Hall, Oxford, in November 1594, being then aged 18, and graduated B.A. 9 June 1599. He was presented to the vicarage of Hilton in Dorset in 1617, and held the benefice until his death on 12 May 1629. A Latin inscription in the aisle of Hilton church marks the common grave of Roche and a successor in the vicariate, John Antram; an English quatrain is appended. Roche's son Robert graduated B.A. from Magdalen Hall, 23 Jan. 1630, and became vicar of East Camel.
Roche was author of ‘Eustathia, or the Constancie of Susanna, containing the Preservation of the Godly, Subversion of the Wicked, Precepts for the Aged, Instructions for Youth, Pleasure with Profitte … Dominus mea rupes. Printed at Oxford by Joseph Barnes, and are to be sold in Paules Churchyard at the Sign of the Bible,’ 1599, b.l. 8vo. It contains seventy-four pages of didactic doggerel, of which a long specimen is given in Dr. Bliss's edition of Wood's ‘Athenæ,’ on the ground of its extreme rarity. The only copy known is in the Bodleian; it once belonged to Robert Burton.
[Univ. Reg. Oxf. Hist. Soc. ii. 206, iii. 215; Foster's Alumni Oxon.; Wood's Athenæ, ed. Bliss, i. 682; Bibl. Bodleiana, 1843; Hazlitt's Handbook, p. 516; Hutchins's Dorset, iv. 357, 359; Hunter's Chorus Vatum (Add. MS. 24491, f. 194); Madan's Early Oxford Press, p. 47.]
ROCHEAD, JOHN THOMAS (1814–1878), architect, son of John Rochead, chartered accountant, was born in Edinburgh on 28 March 1814. He was educated in George Heriot's hospital, and at the age of sixteen entered the office of David Bryce, architect. After seven years' apprenticeship there he became principal draughtsman in Harst & Moffatt's office, Doncaster, where he remained for two years. In 1840, among 150 competitors, he gained the first premium for a proposed Roman catholic cathedral in Belfast. In 1841 he started as an architect in Glasgow, where he resided till 1870. He soon became recognised as an architect of great ability and originality. He was a skilful draughtsman, and his designs, to their most minute details, were done by his own
