ROBERTS 



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ROBERTS 



adorned churches at Arezzo, Prato, Siena and 

 Florence, but only his earliest work embodies 

 the dignity which always characterized the 

 achievements of his uncle. His five sons con- 

 tinued the activities of the family, but they 

 contributed nothing to the development of art. 



ROB'ERTS, CHARLES GEORGE DOUGLAS (1860- 

 ), a Canadian poet and novelist, one of 

 Canada's most Versatile men of letters. Though 

 he is best known for his poems and for his 

 stories about animals, Roberts has been at 

 various times a newspaper and magazine editor 

 and a college professor. In his poems he shows 

 imagination and artistic finish; in his novels 

 he displays to excellent advantage his powers 

 of description of natural scenery; and in his 

 animal sketches reveals a remarkable knowl- 

 edge of, and sympathy for, animals. The ani- 

 mals to him are all but human. His master- 

 piece in this field is Red Fox. 



Roberts laid the scene of most of his literary 

 productions in New Brunswick and Nova Sco- 

 tia. He was born at Douglas, near Fredericton, 

 N. B., was educated at the University of New 

 Brunswick, and made his home in that prov- 

 ince and in Nova Scotia for many years. He 

 lived in Toronto from 1883 to 1884 as editor of 

 Goldwin Smith's newspaper The Week, and 

 from 1885 to 1895 taught in King's College 

 (Windsor, N. S.), first as professor of English 

 and French literature and later of English and 

 economics. In 1897-1898 Roberts was associate 

 editor of the Illustrated American, published at 

 New York. 



Of his poetry, probably the best is Ave: An 

 Ode for the Shelley Centenary, a poem which 

 is regarded as one of the finest ever written by 

 a Canadian. His first published volume, which 

 appeared when he was twenty, was Orion and 

 Other Poems. In Divers Tones, Songs oj the 

 Common Day, The Book oj the Native and 

 New York Nocturnes are other volumes of 

 verse. Of his many novels and sketches the 

 following are most important: The Raid from 

 Beausejour; Around the Camp Fire; The Forge 

 in the Forest; By the Marshes of Minas, a vol- 

 ume of short stories; The Heart of the Ancient 

 Wood; The Kindred of the Wild; Red Fox, 

 already mentioned above; Barbara Ladd, an 

 historical novel; Neighbors Unknown; Feet oj 

 the Furtive, and Hoof and Claw, these last 

 three all being stories of animals. Roberts also 

 wrote- an excellent one-volume History of 

 Canada. 



For examples of his verse, consult Oxford 

 Book of Canadian Verse. 



ROBERTS, FREDERICK SLEIGH, Earl of Kan- 

 dahar, Pretoria and Waterford (1832-1914), a 

 British soldier known affectionately throughout 

 the world as "Boes," was born at Cawnpore, 

 India. Educated at Eton, the Royal Military 

 College at Sandhurst and the East India Com- 

 pany's military college at Addiscombe, he re- 

 ceived a commission in the Bengal artillery in 

 1851. For twenty-five years he served with the 

 Indian army, becoming noted for his great 

 military ability and genius in transporting and 

 supplying troops, and became commander-in- 

 chief in 1885. For gallantry in action at Khu- 

 dajaiij he obtained the much-prized award of 

 the Victoria Cross. During his varied and effi- 

 cient service in India Roberts performed a re- 

 markable and memorable march to Kandahar. 

 With a force of 10,000 men he marched 313 

 miles through hostile territory in twenty-two 

 days and on the twenty-third day gained a 

 complete victory over the rebels who besieged 

 Kandahar, though his force was far outnum- 

 bered and had suffered terribly on the march. 

 He was officially thanked by Parliament and 

 created a baronet. For his further services 

 while commander-in-chief in India he was 

 raised to the peerage as Baron Roberts of Kan- 

 dahar and Waterford. 



After the opening disasters of the South 

 African War (Boer War), in which Lord Rob- 

 erts lost his only son, he was sent to Africa to 

 take supreme command. Arriving at Cape 

 Town in January, 1900, he quickly changed the 

 aspect of affairs. War was carried into the 

 enemy's country, Mafeking and Ladysmith 

 were relieved, and Bloemfontein, Johannesburg 

 and Pretoria fell into the hands of the British. 

 The whole of Roberts' march through South 

 Africa was a series of brilliant flanking move- 

 ments avoiding the fearful loss of men due to 

 the frontal attacks previously delivered. The 

 war assuming a guerilla aspect, the command 

 was handed over to Lord Kitchener, and Rob- 

 erts returned to England where he was awarded 

 an earldom, a grant of $500,000 and was made 

 commander-in-chief of the British army. 



On the outbreak of the European War in 

 August, 1914, Lord Roberts, although then 

 eighty-two years of age, was appointed to the 

 command of the British expeditionary force 

 during mobilization at Aldershot. He did not 

 assume charge of the British columns on the 

 Continent, that command being assigned to Sir 

 John French and later to General Haig. In 

 November of the same year Lord Roberts vis- 

 ited the battle front in Northern France; while 



