sinecures imposed no duty upon him; but it was understood, when he accepted them, that he was to compose from time to time for the French opera, retaining, however, the right to his author's fees from the theatre, and his indemnification from the publisher. The revolution of 1830 annulled his appointments, but it was a condition in these that, should they be discontinued, he was to receive a pension of six thousand francs; and the fact of his engagement having been signed by Charles X., which gave this the nature of a personal liability of the ex-king, enabled Rossini to enforce his claim, though all other offices held under the Bourbon dynasty were rendered void by the change of government. The legal process by which he substantiated his right to the pension lasted for six years; and during this time he inhabited a mean lodging, and pretended that he was reduced to the utmost necessity by the incertitude of his pending suit, although the large fortune he had accumulated yielded him a princely income. Further than this, he had interest to obtain the grant of the patent of the Italian opera, and the management of that establishment was therefore obliged to accept him as a partner, which proved another source of revenue to him. His dispute with the government seems to have been his pretext for writing no more operas; his disinclination to labour—amply proved throughout his Parisian career, and sufficiently corroborated by his procrastination of the toil of composing, even in the most active period of his life—is, coupled with his affluent circumstances, the only assignable cause for "Guillaume Tell" having been his last dramatic work, though not thirty-eight years of age when he produced it. He was roused from his indolent lethargy by persuasion to set the "Stabat Mater" for a monastery near Madrid, and this he did in 1832. Nine years later he sold this work to his Paris publisher, and it was in the season of 1841-42 first publicly performed, being given at the Theatre Italien with enormous success. Shortly after the close of his lawsuit in 1836, Rossini returned to Italy, and took up his residence at Bologna; and from that time till the present, with the exception of some occasional visits of a few months to Paris, he has lived in his native country. The "Soirées Musicales" (a collection of songs and duets, published before he left Paris), "La Fede," "La Speranza," and "La Caritá" (three choruses for female voices, with pianoforte accompaniment, published in 1844), and some pianoforte pieces (played by Thalberg at his London concerts in 1862) are the only compositions of Rossini, besides those which have been named, that have come before the world. He had however, during these thirty years of retirement, occasionally written; and a cantata on the subject of Joan of Arc, is a production of this period. Rossini's very important influence upon music was wholly exercised during the thirteen years of his labours as a composer in Italy. This is to be observed in the writings of his imitators, the chief of whom are Pacini and Mercadante in his own country, Meyerbeer in Germany, and Auber and Hérold in France—the last three of whom, after a while, rendered themselves independent of their model; but the indirect effect of Rossini's manner is to be traced much further than in such appropriation of style and form as is exemplified in the productions of these composers. Rossini died on the 14th November, 1868.—G. A. M.
ROSSLYN, Earl of. See Wedderburn.
ROSSO. See Primaticcio.
ROSTOPCHIN, Theodor, Count, whose name is linked historically with the burning of Moscow by its inhabitants in 1812, was born in 1765, at Livna, in the government of Orel. He entered the army early, and became a lieutenant at the age of twenty-one. Travelling abroad he gained by his wit and liveliness the favour of Count Romantzoff, ambassador at Berlin, and brother of the Russian minister of foreign affairs. On his return to Russia he attracted the notice of the heir-apparent, who on his accession to the throne as Paul I. loaded Rostopchin with marks of his goodwill, and then, with the caprice of an autocrat, suddenly dismissed him from court. After having been postmaster-general, and for a short time minister of foreign affairs, he retired to his country seat with the title of count, and the military rank of a general. As to him was attributed the Emperor Paul's sudden enthusiasm in favour of the first consul Bonaparte, so his retirement may have resulted from a return of English influence to the councils of St. Petersburg. After the accession of Alexander, Rostopchin returned to court, but though he soon declared himself violently anti-Gallican by the publication of a pamphlet against Bonaparte and the French revolutionists, he remained without any important employment till 1812, when he was appointed governor of Moscow. The history of his government is a strange mixture of grandeur and buffoonery, of levity and severity. His address to the people and to the garrison are passionate yet punning. His preparations for the conflagration that was to greet the French occupation of the city were deliberate and unfaltering. The Russian government, profiting by the terrible act which led to the destruction of the French army and the ruin of their emperor, were unwilling openly to countenance a measure so extreme; and although Rostopchin retained his office of governor till 1814, he remained in a species of disgrace. He appeared for a moment at the congress of Vienna, after which he travelled about the continent, staying for a considerable period at Paris, where his chief pleasure consisted in visiting the theatre. He returned to Russia, and died at Moscow, the 12th February, 1826. He published "La verité sur l'incendie de Moscow," 1823, and "Memoires ecrits en dix minutes."—R. H.
ROSWEIDE, Heribert, born at Utrecht in 1569, and educated among the Jesuits at Douay, filled in succession the chairs of philosophy and divinity, first at Douay and afterwards at Antwerp. He died in 1629. He laid the foundation of the Acta Sanctorum of the Billandists in his "Fasto Sanctorum quorum vitæ in Belgicis Bibliothecis manuscriptæ asserventur." He published several other works relating to ecclesiastical antiquities, particularly "Vindiciæ Kempenses" (in support of the claims of Thomas à Kempis to the authorship of the De Imitations Christi), and an "Account of the Hermits of Egypt and Palestine."
ROTA, Martin, an eminent engraver, a native of Sebenico in Dalmatia, who flourished in the last half of the sixteenth century. The dates of his birth and death are not known, but Malpe fixes the former at 1532: his latest dated engraving is 1592. He studied at Rome and Venice. Rota designed as well as engraved with great spirit and correctness, and hence perhaps much of the painter-like feeling of his engravings. These are executed entirely with the burin in a somewhat slight manner, but with admirable taste. His most famous print is the "Last Judgment" of Michelangelo, which is signed by him, and dated 1569. He also engraved the Peter Martyr of Titian; Raphael's Christ appearing to St. Peter, and many other important works of the great Italian masters; several of his own designs, and some excellent portraits. In all one hundred and eighteen prints are ascribed to him. They are highly prized by collectors.—J. T—e.
ROTGANS, Luke, a Dutch poet, author of an epic poem in eight books on the life of William III., and of some moral and miscellaneous pieces, was born at Amsterdam in 1645, and died in 1710. His works were collected at Lewarden in 1715.
ROTHENHAMER. See Rottenhammer.
ROTHERHAM, Thomas, Archbishop of York and Lord-chancellor of England, "sometimes," say the Messrs. Cooper in their Athenæ Cantabrigienses (the memoir given in which we follow), "for a reason which does not distinctly appear, called Scot, son of Sir Thomas Rotheram, Knight, and Alice his wife, was born at Rotherham in Yorkshire on the feast of St. Bartholomew, 1423." He was educated in his native town and at King's college, Cambridge, of which, one of the original fellows, he was afterwards so great a benefactor. After receiving various ecclesiastical preferments, he became chaplain to Edward IV., secretary of state, keeper of the privy seal, in 1468 bishop of Rochester, and was employed on embassies abroad. In 1474 he was appointed lord-chancellor, and in 1480 archbishop of York. He was one of the executors of Edward IV., and suffered a brief imprisonment in the Tower from Richard III., after which he retired from official life. He died at Cawood in 1500. Among his many benefactions the best remembered are those to Lincoln college, Oxford—so great that he was considered its second founder, endowing it with revenues by which the fellowships were increased from seven to twelve, finishing the buildings, and giving it a code of statutes.—F. E.
ROTHES, Earls of, are descended from Bartholomew, a Fleming, who settled in the district of Garioch, Aberdeenshire, in the reign of William the Lion. His posterity took the surname of De Lesley from the place where he fixed his residence. They received extensive grants of lands from David I. and his successors, and about the beginning of the fourteenth century obtained by marriage large estates in the shires of Perth, Moray, and Fife; in the last of these they ultimately fixed their principal residence. The Lesleys from this time onward took a prominent part in public affairs, and allied themselves with the principal
