[Rouher, Eugène], French Bonapartist statesman, born at Riom, where he became a barrister; entered the Constituent Assembly in 1848, and in the following year became Minister of Justice; was more or less in office during the next 20 years; he became President of the Senate in 1869; fled to England on the fall of the Empire; later on re-entered the National Assembly, and vigorously defended the ex-emperor Napoleon III. (1814-1884).
[Roulers] (20), a manufacturing town in West Flanders, 19 m. SW. of Bruges; engaged in manufacturing cottons, lace, &c.; scene of a French victory over the Austrians in 1794.
[Roulette], a game of chance, very popular in France last century, now at Monaco; played with a revolving disc and a ball.
[Roumania] (5,800), a kingdom of SE. Europe, wedged in between Russia (N.) and Bulgaria (S.), with an eastern shore on the Black Sea; the Carpathians on the W. divide it from Austro-Hungary; comprises the old principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which, long subject to Turkey, united under one ruler in 1859, and received their independence in 1878, in which year the province of Dobrudja was ceded by Russia; in 1881 the combined provinces were recognised as a kingdom; forms a fertile and well-watered plain sloping N. to S., which grows immense quantities of grain, the chief export; salt-mining and petroleum-making are also important industries; the bulk of the people belong to the Greek Church; peasant proprietorship on a large scale is a feature of the national life; government is vested in a hereditary limited monarch, a council of ministers, a senate, and a chamber of deputies; [Bucharest] (q. v.) is the capital, and [Galatz] (q. v.) the chief port.
[Roumelia], a former name for a district which embraced ancient Thrace and a portion of Macedonia; the territory known as East Roumelia was incorporated with Bulgaria in 1885.
[Round Table, The], the name given to the knighthood of King Arthur: a larger, from including as many as 150 knights; and a smaller, from including only 12 of the highest order.
[Round Towers], ancient towers, found chiefly in Ireland, of a tall, round, more or less tapering structure, divided into storeys, and with a conical top, erected in the neighbourhood of some church or monastery, and presumably of Christian origin, and probably used as strongholds in times of danger; of these there are 118 in Ireland, and three in Scotland—at Abernethy, Brechin, and Eglishay (Orkney).
[Roundheads], the name of contempt given by the Cavaliers to the Puritans or Parliamentary party during the Civil War, on account of their wearing their hair close crept.
[Rous, Francis], provost of Eton, born in Cornwall; sat in the Westminster Assembly, and was the author of the metrical version of the Psalms, as used in Presbyterian churches (1579-1659).
[Rousseau, Jean Baptiste], French lyric poet, born in Paris, the son of a shoemaker; gave offence by certain lampoons ascribed to him which to the last he protested were forgeries, and was banished; his satires were certainly superior to his lyrics, which were cold and formal; died at Brussels in exile (1670-1741).