Roll, Size. In the British service, is a list containing the names of all the men belonging to a troop or company, with the height or stature of each specifically marked.
Roll-call. The act or time of calling over a list of names; as, tattoo roll-call. To call the roll, to call off or recite a list or roll of names of soldiers belonging to a company or troop, in order to ascertain, from the responses, who are present and who are absent.
Rollers, Friction. See [Ordnance, Carriages for, Sea-coast Carriages].
Rolling Barrels. See [Caking].
Rolling Fire. A discharge of musketry by soldiers in line, in quick succession, and in the order in which they stand. See [Fire].
Rolling-hitch. Pass the end of a rope round a piece of timber; take it round a second time, riding the standing part; then carry it across and up through the bight.
Romagna. A province of the Papal States, comprised in the legations of Forli and Ravenna. It was conquered by the Lombards; but taken from them by Pepin, and given to the pope, 753. Cæsar Borgia held it as a duchy in 1501, but lost it in 1503. In 1859 the Romagna threw off the temporal authority of the pope, and declared itself subject to the king of Sardinia, who accepted it in March, 1860. It now forms part of the kingdom of Italy.
Romainville and Belleville. Heights near Paris, where Joseph Bonaparte, Mortier, and Marmont were defeated by the allies after a vigorous resistance, March 30, 1814. The next day Paris capitulated.
Roman Candles. See [Pyrotechny].
Roman Walls. One was erected by Agricola (79 to 85) to defend Britain from the incursions of the Picts and Scots; the first wall extended from the Tyne to the Solway Frith (80 miles); the second from the Frith of Forth, near Edinburgh, to the Frith of Clyde, near Dumbarton (36 miles). The former was renewed and strengthened by the emperor Adrian (121) and by Septimus Severus (208). It commenced at Bowness, near Carlisle, and ended at Wallsend, near Newcastle. It had battlements and towers to contain soldiers. The more northern wall was renewed by Lollius Urbicus in the reign of Antoninus Pius, about 140. Many remains of these walls still exist, particularly of the southern one.