ROBSHART, Amy (1532-1560). Married Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester in 1550, but soon separated from him. She was found dead, and it was never discovered whether she had committed suicide or if Leicester had killed her in the hope of marrying Queen Elizabeth. She is the heroine of Sir Walter Scott's novel Kenilworth.
RODIL, Marquis de (1789-1853). Don José Ronion Rodil joined the battalion called the "literary cadets" in 1808, at the time of the French invasion of Spain. In 1816 he sailed for the revolted South American colonies, and distinguished himself at the defence of Callao. He returned to Spain in 1825, and in 1833 assisted Dom Pedro in Portugal against Dom Miguel and Don Carlos. In 1836 he was Minister of War for a few months. From 1840 till 1843 he was President of the Council in the last Ministry of the Espartero Regency.
ROGERS, Samuel (1763-1855). An English poet. He was a man of a good and generous nature, but his sarcasm spared no one.
ROLAND, Madame (1754-1793). Manon Philipon, a woman of a distinguished intellect, who married a member of the Convention. She died on the scaffold.
ROMERO-ALPUENDE. A Spanish Deputy. He was an extreme Radical of an extravagant temperament, but of little importance.
ROSS, Sir John (1777-1856). Son of the Rev. Andrew Ross, and a Captain in the British Navy. He made himself famous by his two expeditions to the Polar Sea along with Sir Edward Parry in 1818 and 1819. Sir John Ross made the second expedition at his own expense and found the Northern magnetic pole. He lost his ship, and it was not until the fourth winter after his departure that he was rescued by a Hull vessel and brought back to England.
ROTHSCHILD, Nathan (1777-1826). Third son of Mayer Anselme Rothschild, founder of the famous banking house. He was head of the London Branch.
ROTHSCHILD, Madame Salomon de (1771-1855). Wife of Salomon Rothschild, who founded a branch of the business at Vienna, and divided the German business with his brother Mayer. Towards 1835 he left the management of the Viennese business to his son and came to Paris with his wife to join his brother James.
ROUSSIN, Admiral (1781-1854). Post-Captain in 1814; corrected the charts of the coasts of Africa and Brazil; Rear-Admiral in 1822, he was a member of the Admiralty Council in 1824. In 1831 he commanded the French Squadron sent to demand satisfaction from Portugal for the insults offered to French residents. He forced the entrance to the Tagus, reputed impregnable, and obtained all that he demanded. At the close of this brilliantly successful expedition Louis-Philippe, in 1832, raised him to the Peerage with the title of Baron.
ROYER-COLLARD, Pierre Paul (1763-1845). A French philosopher and statesman. He was a lawyer, and in 1797 a member of the Conseil des Cinq Cents. Under the First Empire he gave up politics and occupied himself entirely with the study of philosophy. He was made a member of the Académie française in 1827. M. Royer-Collard lived at Châteauvieux, near Valençay, and was a great friend of the Prince de Talleyrand and the Duchesse de Dino.