[Rohan, Prince Louis de], a profligate ecclesiastic of France who attained to the highest honours in the Church; became archbishop and cardinal, but who had fallen out with royalty; was debarred from court, tried every means to regain the favour of Marie Antoinette, which he had forfeited, was inveigled into buying a necklace for her in hope of thereby winning it back, found himself involved in the scandal connected with it, and was sent to the Bastille (1783-1803). See "Diamond Necklace" in [Carlyle's] "Miscellanies."
[Rohilkhand] (5,343), a northern division of the North-West Provinces, British India; is a flat, well-watered, fertile district, crossed by various railways; takes its name from the Rohillas, an Afghan tribe, who had possession of it in the 18th century.
[Rohillas] (i. e. hillmen), a tribe of Afghans who settled in a district N. of Oudh, called Rohilkhand after them, and rose to power in the 18th century, till their strength was broken by the British in 1774.
[Rohlfs, F. Gerard], German traveller, born near Bremen, travelled in various directions through North Africa; undertook missions to Abyssinia, and has written accounts of his several journeys; b. 1832.
[Rokitansky, Baron], eminent physician, born at Königgrätz, professor of Pathological Anatomy at Vienna, and founder of that department of medicine (1804-1878).
[Roland], one of the famous paladins of Charlemagne, and distinguished for his feats of valour, who, being inveigled into the pass of Roncesvalles, was set upon by the Gascons and slain, along with the flower of the Frankish chivalry, the whole body of which happened to be in his train.
[Roland, Madame], a brave, pure-souled, queen-like woman with "a strong Minerva face," the noblest of all living Frenchwomen, took enthusiastically to the French Revolution, but when things went too far supported the Moderate or Girondist party; was accused, but cleared herself before the Convention, into whose presence she had been summoned, and released; but two days after was arrested, imprisoned in Charlotte Corday's apartments, and condemned; on the scaffold she asked for pen and paper "to write the strange thoughts that were rising in her," which was refused; looking at the statue of Liberty which stood there, she exclaimed bitterly before she laid her head on the block, "O Liberty, what crimes are done in thy name!" (1754-1793).
[Roland de la Platière, Jean Marie], husband of Madame Roland, was Inspector of Manufactures at Lyons; represented Lyons in the Constituent Assembly; acted with the Girondists; fled when the Girondist party fled, and on hearing of his wife's fate at Rouen bade farewell to his friends who had sheltered him, and was found next morning "sitting leant against a tree, stiff in the rigour of death, a cane-sword run through his heart" (1732-1793).
[Rollin, Charles], French historian, born in Paris; rector of the University; wrote "Ancient History" in 13 vols., and "Roman History" in 16 vols., once extremely popular, but now discredited and no longer in request (1661-1741).