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French ships that had escaped into La Hogue, with the loss on his side of only ten men. For this important service he was rewarded with a pension of £1000 a year and the honour of knighthood, and was also made vice-admiral of the red. In 1697 he was elected member for Portsmouth, and on the accession of Queen Anne in 1702 he was appointed vice-admiral and lieutenant of the admiralty, and also lieutenant of the fleets and seas of this kingdom. In the war of the Spanish Succession the combined English and Dutch fleets, under the command of Admiral Rooke, took and destroyed seventeen vessels of the Spanish-Plate fleet, which had taken shelter in Vigo while the duke of Ormond stormed the town. The value of the specie and goods captured on this occasion, was estimated at four millions of dollars. Having been reinforced by Sir Cloudesley Shovel, Sir George resolved now to attack Gibraltar, and after a brief but resolute assault they obtained possession of this far-famed fortress (24th July, 1704), which, though it has since endured sieges of many months' continuance, has ever been found impregnable. On the 9th of August Sir George fell in with a powerful French fleet off Malaga and brought it to action, but after a severe and bloody fight the enemy were off to leeward in the evening, and the weather being hazy, escaped. On his return to England the admiral was received with great distinction by the queen, but the government regarded him with dislike on account of his political opinions. He in consequence resigned his office, and passed the remainder of his life in retirement. He died in 1709, aged fifty-nine. He was thrice married, and left one son by his second wife. "I do not leave much," he said on his deathbed, "but what I leave was honestly gotten—it never cost the sailor a tear, or the nation a farthing."—J. T.

ROOKE, Lawrence, an English astronomer and mathematician, was born at Deptford in Kent in 1623, and died in London on the 27th of June, 1662. He studied at Eton, Oxford, and Cambridge, and in 1652 was appointed professor of astronomy at Gresham college in London, from which chair he was transferred in 1657 to that of mathematics in the same college. A series of meetings of men of science at his house gave rise to the formation of the Royal Society of London, of which he was one of the original fellows.—W. J. M. R.

ROOKWOOD, Ambrose, one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot, was the head of one of the most ancient and opulent families in the kingdom. His ancestors had been in possession of the manor of Stanningfield, Suffolk, from the time of Edward I., and they had repeatedly represented the county of Suffolk in parliament. At the time of the Reformation the family adhered to the Roman catholic religion, and had in consequence suffered severe persecution. Ambrose Rookwood had been carefully trained by his parents in their hereditary faith, and had received his education at one of the Roman catholic universities in Flanders. On his succession to the family estates his mansion of Coldham hall in Suffolk became a common asylum for priests and persecuted Romanists. He married a daughter of Sir William Tyrwhit of Kettleby in Lincolnshire, who bore him several children, and, possessing an ample estate, might have lived respected and happy. But unfortunately his friendship for Catesby, the author of the plot, whom he says "he loved and respected as his own life," combined with religious enthusiasm, drew him from his retirement when he was in his twenty-seventh year, and involved him in this rash and desperate conspiracy. He seems to have expressed great scruples of conscience respecting the lawfulness of the action; but his objections were ultimately overcome by Catesby. On the discovery of the plot he fled from London, along with the greater part of his associates, and took refuge in Holbeach house, near Stourbridge. Here he was severely burned by the explosion of some gunpowder, and was subsequently wounded in resisting the attack of the sheriff. He was taken prisoner, committed to the Tower, brought to trial 27th January, 1606, found guilty, condemned, and executed. On the scaffold he confessed his offence, and humbly entreated forgiveness from God and the king, lamenting the stain his guilt had left on his name and blood, at the same time declaring that he died in the Roman catholic faith. His estates are still in the possession of his lineal descendants. A person bearing the same name, and probably belonging to the same family, was executed in 1690 for his complicity in a plot to assassinate King William.—J. T.

ROOS, Johann Heinrich, German painter, was born at Ottendorf in the Palatinate in 1631. The son of a poor weaver, he was taken at the age of nine to Amsterdam, and placed with a painter named Dujardin. At the age of seventeen he became a pupil of A. de Bye, under whom he acquired great skill. He settled in Frankfurt, and soon became the most popular animal painter of his time. His pictures chiefly consisted of landscapes with Italian villas, ruins, and fountains; the foreground being occupied with cleverly-composed groups of animals. These works—somewhat in the manner of Berghem or Weenix—are all "compositions," very elegantly arranged, and painted with great care and neatness, but essentially conventional in character, and wanting the truth and freshness of nature. During his life his pictures were eagerly sought, and examples are met with in most of the German galleries. In England they are comparatively rare. Heinrich Roos perished in a fire in his dwelling-house at Frankfurt in 1685. There are about forty etchings by him, chiefly of sheep, goats, and cows, of singular excellence.—His younger brother and scholar, Theodor Roos—born 1638; died 1698—painted like subjects, but more decorative in style; also portraits. He visited and found employment at most of the German courts. His pictures are seldom seen out of Germany.—J. T—e.

ROOS, Philipp Peter, called Rosa da Tivoli, son and scholar of J. H. Roos, was born at Frankfurt in 1655. He at first imitated the manner of his father; but having been sent by the landgrave of Hesse to study in Italy, he there formed a style of his own, painting animals of the size of life in a broad free manner with extraordinary facility. He settled at Tivoli, whence the name by which he is generally known, and there painted from nature; keeping, as is said, almost a menagerie in order to have at hand subjects for his pencil. But painting quickly and carelessly, he soon became a mannerist. He painted a large number of pictures, and his works being popular, they are met with in most of the galleries of Germany, and are not uncommon in those of Italy. His compositions are mostly pastoral, but occasionally he introduced scriptural figures. He led a dissipated life, and died at Rome in 1705.—His younger brother, Johann Melchior Roos—born in 1659; died in 1731—also studied in Italy, but returned to Germany and painted pictures similar in subject and manner, but of inferior excellence to those of Rosa da Tivoli.—J. T—e.

ROPER, William, the author of a remarkable piece of biography, "The Life of Sir Thomas More," was the son of John Roper, prothonotary of the king's court and of an ancient family of St. Dunstan's in the suburbs of Canterbury. Apart from the biography, he owes his celebrity mainly to the learning and accomplishments of his wife, Margaret, the eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More, whom he married in 1528, and lived happily with for sixteen years. The Ropers occupy prominent places in those family pictures which Sir Thomas had painted by Holbein in the chancellor's house at Chelsea; and they are represented with a simple art, hardly less graphic, in the biography they wrote together, and in a work entitled The Household of Sir Thomas More, written by a lady now living. The best edition of Roper's Life of More is that of 1817, with notes by Mr. Singer.—R. H.

ROQUEPLAN, Camille-Joseph-Etienne, a celebrated French painter, was born at Mallemort, Bouches-du-Rhone, in February, 1802. He was a pupil of Gros, and of Abel do Pujol, and first exhibited at the Salon in 1819. He painted landscape and genre; a large proportion of his pictures being illustrations of favourite authors. Roqueplan early took a prominent place among the adherents of the new romantic school of France. He designed well and vigorously, was correct in drawing, and a good colourist. Among the more noteworthy of his pictures were those taken from the Confessions of Rousseau, and the novels of Scott. Others are such as "Le Lion Amoureux," "Le Violon du Diable," and "Les Filles d'Eve." He also painted some battle-pieces for Versailles; some ceilings in the Luxembourg; made designs for books, and a few water-colour drawings. Roqueplan was created knight of the legion of honour in 1824, and officer in 1852. He died October, 1855.—J. T—e.

RORARIO, Girolamo (Rorarius), ecclesiastic and author, born at Pordenone in Friuli, 1485; died in 1556. He has left a curious treatise, entitled "Quod animalia bruta sæpe ratione utantur melius homine," in which he awards to brutes the preference over men; and a pamphlet in favour of rats.—C. G. R.

RORE, Cipriano de, one of the most renowned musicians of the sixteenth century, was born at Mechlin in Flanders, 1516. In the title-page of a book published at Venice in 1549, he is