number of Indian plants, and made extensive collections and drawings. Among his works may be mentioned, his "Coromandel Plants," superintended by Sir Joseph Banks; and his "Flora Indica," which was published after his death. A genus of plants has been named Roxburghia.—J. H. B.
ROXBURGHE, Dukes of: are descended from an Anglo-Norman family, two members of which, brothers, settled in Scotland in the thirteenth century, and became the founders respectively of the Kers of Cessford, and Ferniehirst. Cessford, the first seat of the Roxburghe branch, is a tower within the frontier range of the Cheviots. Its possessors were for many generations border chieftains, taking a prominent part in the inroads of the Scottish borderers into England, and in the feuds by which the country was then distracted. The most protracted and bloody of these was the quarrel with the Scotts of Buccleuch, which arose out of the slaughter of Sir Andrew Ker of Cessford at the battle of Melrose in 1526. The Kers in revenge murdered Sir Walter Scott in the streets of Edinburgh in 1552. The first man of great public eminence in the Cessford family was Sir Robert Ker, who was born in 1570. He is described in Sir Robert Cary's Memoirs as a brave, active young man; and the archbishop of York termed him "wise and valiant, but somewhat haughty and resolute." As a reward for his remarkable activity and fidelity in the discharge of his duties as warden of the Marches, he was raised to the peerage before the year 1600, under the title of Lord Roxburghe. He was held in such esteem by King James VI. that he was one of the few Scotch noblemen whom he took with him to London on his accession to the English throne. He was created Earl of Roxburghe in 1616, and was made lord privy seal in 1637. When the civil war broke out he espoused the royal cause, but does not appear to have rendered himself obnoxious to the opposite party. He died in 1650, in the eightieth year of his age. His sons having all died before him his titles and estates were inherited by his daughter's son. Sir William Drummond, son of the earl of Perth, who, as required by the entail, married his cousin Lady Jean Ker, a granddaughter of the earl by Harry Lord Ker, one of his sons. The son of this couple, Robert, third earl, was drowned in 1682, in coming down to Scotland with the duke of York. His widow, who survived him for the long period of seventy-one years, is said to have been the heroine of the Scottish song called—"John Hay's Bonnie Lassie."—Her two sons, Robert and John, enjoyed the title in succession. The latter, who was described by Lockhart of Carnwath as probably the most accomplished young man of quality in Europe, was created Duke of Roxburghe in 1707, as a reward for his services in promoting the Union. He was afterwards secretary of state for Scotland, and was a distinguished member of Walpole's administration.—His grandson, John, third duke, was remarkable both for his fine person and his mental accomplishments; but his principal celebrity arises out of the curious and splendid library which he collected, and with the literary treasures of which he was intimately acquainted. His grace's name was in consequence assumed by the earliest of the great book clubs which have sprung up in the course of this century. The duke never married. He had formed an attachment to the eldest daughter of the duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, by whom it was reciprocated. But the absurd etiquette of the German court forbade the match. The younger sister of the lady just at this time married George III., and it was deemed improper that the elder should be the subject of the younger sister.—The duke was succeeded by his cousin. Lord Bellenden, who died next year.—The title and estates then devolved, after a protracted lawsuit, upon Sir James Innes Ker, descended from Margaret, third daughter of Lord Harry, the son of the first earl, who became fifth duke. The titles and estates of the family are now possessed by his son.—J. T.
ROXELANA, the favourite wife of Soliman the Great, emperor of the Turks, and mother of Djiham Ghir, Bajazet, and Selim II. To remarkable beauty she united great ambition and spirit. Raised from the rank of a slave to that of sultana, she employed her influence to procure the downfall of all who opposed her ambitious projects. The grand vizier Ibrahim was the first to feel the effects of her enmity. She persuaded Soliman that his eldest son, Mustapha, was cherishing treasonable designs against him, and thus procured the execution of the innocent prince. She died in 1557, having to the last retained her ascendancy over her husband.—J. T.
ROY, Julien David. See Leroy.
ROY, Rammohun, Rajah, a learned and enlightened Brahmin, was born about the year 1774 in the district of Burdwar in Bengal. His paternal ancestry was in a high degree reputable. Till the seventeenth century the Roys were engaged in religious avocations; and in the secular pursuits in which the family then became occupied they preserved their religious predilections. Early instructed by his father, Ram Haut Roy, in all the dogmas of the Brahminical religion, Rammohun displayed an aptitude for linguistic studies, ominous of his departure from the beaten track of orthodoxy. He first made himself master of Persian, and then successively applied himself to the study of Hindustanee, Bengalee, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, English, and French. Along with this ample store of linguistic knowledge, Rammohun acquired certain notions respecting "the validity of the idolatrous system of the Hindoos," which he expounded in a work published when he was at the age of sixteen. To his father this was a serious offence, and it was only after a long exile of travel that the heretical son was restored to the favour of Ram Haut Roy. During this period of banishment Rammohun made the acquaintance of several Europeans, and became eagerly interested in the study of European manners, customs, &c. On his return home he resumed his disputes with the Brahmins, inveighing particularly against the barbarity of the suttee, and again he was compelled to leave the paternal roof. On the death of his father in 1803, Rammohun published several works of a nature so offensive to the Brahmins that they instituted legal proceedings to deprive him of caste. After considerable delay, however, the case was decided in his favour. The most important of these publications was a translation into Bengalee and Hindustanee of the Vedant, an ancient summary of the rites and doctrines of the Hindoo religion. Rammohun soon commenced the study of the Bible; and finding himself perplexed by the discordant opinions of commentators, he determined to make himself master of Hebrew and Greek. In 1820, deeply impressed with the grandeur and beauty of christian ethics, he published in Sanscrit, Bengalee, and English, selections from the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, which he entitled "The precepts of Jesus, the guide to peace and happiness." In the controversies with the Brahmins which followed the publication of this work Rammohun exhibited a remarkable knowledge of the scriptures, as well as polemical talent of a high order. In the spring of 1831 he visited England as ambassador for the king of Delhi; and so well did he acquit himself in this capacity, that according to his majesty's desire he was to have had a pension of three or four thousand pounds per annum. After a brief sojourn in England he visited Paris, where he received much attention from King Louis Philippe. When he returned to England he busied himself in attending public meetings, especially those of a religious kind. He was anxious not to identify himself with any ecclesiastical sect. Most commonly, however, he attended the ministrations of Unitarian clergymen. While on a visit at Stapleton Grove, near Bristol, he was seized with illness which proved fatal on 27th September, 1833. That his children might not suffer in property or caste from the fanaticism of his countrymen he was buried without christian rites in the grounds of Stapleton Grove. The body was afterwards removed to the cemetery at Arno's Vale, near Bristol.
ROY, William, Major-general of the royal artillery, surveyor-general of the coasts of Great Britain, was one of the originators of the great trigonometrical survey of this country. The attention of the government was forcibly called to the necessity of obtaining accurate information with regard to the physical geography of the highlands of Scotland by the rebellion of 1745. A careful but not a very scientific map of that region was constructed by Colonel Watson, and was long known as the duke of Cumberland's map. This Roy reduced, and had engraved for private distribution, under the title of "Mappa Britanniæ Septentrionalis faciei Romanæ," &c., 1774. He collected many valuable details concerning the Roman camps of Scotland, and a work upon the subject, which he had nearly completed before his death, was published afterwards by the Antiquarian Society under the title of "The Military Antiquities of the Romans in North Britain," large folio, 1793. His portion of the great work of measuring the British arc of the meridian was completed in 1788, and he was preparing an account of these important labours for publication in the Philosophical Transactions, when he was seized with an illness that terminated fatally in two hours, on the 1st of
