Roalfe (Matilda), a brave woman, b. 1813. At the time of the blasphemy prosecutions in 1843, she went from London to Edinburgh to uphold the right of free publication. She opened a shop and circulated a manifesto setting forth her determination to sell works she deemed useful “whether they did or did not bring into contempt the Holy Scriptures and the Christian Religion.” When prosecuted for selling The Age of Reason, The Oracle of Reason, etc., she expressed her intention of continuing her offence as soon as liberated. She was sentenced to two months imprisonment 23 Jan. ’44, and on her liberation continued the sale of the prosecuted works. She afterwards married Mr. Walter Sanderson and settled at Galashiels, where she died 29 Nov. 1880.
Robert (Pierre François Joseph), French conventionnel and friend of Brissot and Danton, b. Gimnée (Ardennes) 21 Jan. 1763. Brought up to the law he became professor of public law to the philosophical society. He was nominated deputy for Paris, and wrote Republicanism adapted to France, 1790, became secretary to Danton, and voted for the death of the king. He wrote in Prudhomme’s Révolutions de Paris. Died at Brussels 1826.
Robertson (A. D.), editor of the Free Enquirer, published at New York, 1835.
Robertson (John Mackinnon), Scotch critic, b. Arran, 14 Nov. 1856. He became journalist on the Edinburgh Evening News, and afterwards on the National Reformer. Mr. Robertson has published a study of Walt Whitman in the “Round Table Series.” Essays towards a Critical Method, ’89, and has contributed to Our Corner, Time, notably an article on Mithraism, March, ’89, The Westminster Review, etc. He has also issued pamphlets on Socialism and Malthusianism, and Toryism and Barbarism, ’85, and edited Hume’s Essay on Natural Religion, ’89.
Roberty (Eugène de), French positivist writer, of Russian birth, b. Podolia (Russia), 1843; author of works on Sociology, Paris, ’81, and The Old and the New Philosophy, an essay on the general laws of philosophic development, ’87. He has recently written a work entitled The Unknowable, ’89.
Robin (Charles Philippe), French physician, senator member of the Institute and of the Academy of Medecine, b. Jasseron (Aix), 4 June, 1821. Became M.D. in ’46, and D.Sc. ’47. In company with Littré he refounded Nysten’s Dictionary of Medicine, and he has written many important medical works, and one on Instruction. In ’72 his name was struck out of the list of jurors on the ground of his unbelief in God, and it thus remained despite many protests until ’76. In the same year he was elected Senator, and sits with the Republican Left. He has been decorated with the Legion of Honor.
Robinet (Jean Baptiste René), French philosopher, b. Rennes, 23 June, 1735. He became a Jesuit, but gave it up and went to Holland to publish his curious work, De la Nature, 1776, by some attributed to Toussaint and to Diderot. He continued Marsy’s Analysis of Bayle, edited the Secret Letters of Voltaire, translated Hume’s Moral Essays, and took part in the Recueil Philosophique, published by J. L. Castilhon. Died at Rennes, 24 March, 1820.
Robinet (Jean Eugène François), French physician and publicist, b. Vic-sur-Seille, 1825. He early attached himself to the person and doctrine of Auguste Comte, and became his physician and one of his executors. During the war of ’70 he was made Mayor of the Sixth Arrondissement of Paris. He has written a Notice of the Work and Life of A. Comte, ’60, a memoir of the private life of Danton, ’65, The Trial of the Dantonists, ’79, and contributed an account of the Positive Philosophy of A. Comte and P. Lafitte to the “Bibliothèque Utile,” vol. 66, ’81.
Roell (Hermann Alexander), German theologian, b. 1653, author of a Deistic dissertation on natural religion, published at Frankfort in 1700. Died Amsterdam, 12 July, 1718.
Rogeard (Louis Auguste), French publicist, b. Chartres, 25 April, 1820. Became a teacher but was dismissed for refusing to attend mass. In ’49 he moved to Paris and took part in the revolutionary movement. He was several times imprisoned under the Empire, and in ’65 was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for writing Les Propos de Labienus (London, i.e. Zürich), ’65. He fled to Belgium and wrote some excellent criticism on the Bible in the Rive Gauche. In ’71 he assisted Pyat on Le Vengeur, and was elected on the Commune but declined to sit. An incisive writer, he signed himself “Atheist.” Is still living in Paris.