EOST, PIERRE A. 



and one which has given him permanent fame, 

 Otello, Cenerentola (Cinderella), La Gazza 

 Ladra, Armida, Mose in Egitto, Maometto 

 Secondo, and Semiramide, still retain much of 

 their popularity. Thirteen other operas of 

 this period, 1815-'23, have gone into oblivion. 

 In February, 1823, Rossini left Italy, and spent 

 the next year and a half in Germany and Eng- 

 land. In the latter country he was warmly 

 received, and realized, it was said, $50,000 in a 

 few months for his vocal performances and 

 tuition. In October, 1824, he made Paris his 

 home, .and there produced Le Comte Ory, and 

 altered and rewrote his Maometto, which now 

 took the name of Le Siege de Corinth, and his 

 Mose in Egitto, which was christened anew 

 Molse en Egypt. He was naturally indolent and 

 epicurean in his taste, and having been ap- 

 pointed director of the Italian Opera in Paris, 

 he was inclined to do as little as possible, and, 

 for three or four years, merely retouched and 

 renamed his old operas. Stung by the re- 

 proaches of the musical world, he at last pro- 

 duced, in 1829, his Guillaume Tell, his great- 

 est masterpiece, a work of far higher elevation 

 of sentiment and heroic dignity than even his 

 admirers had given him the credit of being 

 able to produce. From that time till his death, 

 a period of almost forty years, he produced no 

 other opera, unless a mere collection of frag- 

 ments, under the title of Robert Bruce, may 

 be dignified with that name. He himself be- 

 lieved that he could not equal his Guillaume 

 Tell, and he was unwilling to try. He did, 

 however, produce an exquisite oratorio, the 

 Stdbat Mater, and several Soirees Musicales 

 (chamber pieces for one or two voices), and 

 some symphonies. But his later years were 

 given to society, to gastronomy, and to the 

 reception of homage. From 1836 to 1855 he 

 resided in Italy, first at Bologna and afterward 

 at Florence ; but in the latter year he returned 

 to Paris, where he spent the remainder of his 

 life. He was amiable and kindly in his na- 

 ture, especially to young and struggling musi- 

 cians. Several of the most eminent opera- 

 singers of the day had been his pupils. His 

 property, which was quite large, was left (sub- 

 ject to a life-interest to his widow) to found 

 and endow a conservatory of music at Pesaro, 

 his reputed birthplace. 



ROST, PIERRE A., an eminent Louisiana ju- 

 rist, born in France, about 1797 ; died in New 

 Orleans, La., September 6, 1868. He received 

 his academic and scientific education in Paris, 

 where he was, in the time of Napoleon I., a 

 pupil of the Polytechnic School. He emigrated 

 to the United States in 1824 or 1825, and at first 

 settled in the Red River district, where he en- 

 tered upon the practice of the law. Being of a 

 high order of intellect, of studious habits, and su- 

 perior education, he soon rose to a conspicuous 

 position at the bar. Afterward m arrying a lady 

 of one of the leading Creole families on the 

 coast, he removed to St. Charles Parish, and 

 entered largely into planting, in which pursuit 



ROTHSCHILD, JAMES. 677 



his ingenious and scientific mind rapidly made 

 him conspicuous and prosperous. Upon the re- 

 organization of the Supremo Court under the 

 constitution of 1845, ho was tendered by Gov- 

 ernor Isaac Johnson a scat upon that bench, 

 his associates being George Eustis, Thomas 

 Slidell, and George R. King. As a judge, he 

 ranked among the foremost Louisiana has ever 

 had, for he was not only versed in the learning 

 of the civil, but also in that of commercial law. 

 For clearness of diction and logical perspicaci- 

 ty in the application of legal principles to the 

 facts of the case in hand, his decisions will 

 stand comparison with those rendered by the 

 foremost jurists of the land. On the formation 

 of the Provisional Confederate Government he 

 was named as its commissioner to Spain, and 

 remained abroad until the war had termi- 

 nated. On his return he found his beautiful 

 plantation a scene of almost utter desolation ; 

 but, disheartening as the prospect before him 

 seemed to be, he set to work with all the native 

 energy of his nature to retrieve his shattered 

 fortunes. In person, Judge Rost was a remark- 

 ably fine-looking man, tall, erect in his car- 

 riage, and with a most striking head and face. 

 In manner he was habitually rather reserved, 

 and at times somewhat cynical; but in so- 

 ciety he could and frequently did unbend from 

 this reserve, and show a genial humor which 

 added greatly to the enjoyment of the company 

 in which he mingled. 



ROTHSCHILD, Baron JAMES, the youngest 

 and last surviving child of Meyer Anselm Roth- 

 schild, the founder of the great banking-house 

 of the Rothschilds, and himself for fifty-six 

 years past the head of the Paris house, born 

 at Frankfort-on-the-Main, May 15, 1792 ; died 

 in Paris, November 15, 1868. His early train- 

 ing in finance was under his brother Solomon 

 at Vienna, but in 1812, when but little past 

 twenty years of age, he was sent to Paris 

 to establish the French house. His manage- 

 ment here in concert with his brothers was- ad- 

 mirable, and the $200,000, which was his cap- 

 ital at starting, grew in the lapse of a little 

 more than fifty years to more than three hun- 

 dred millions of dollars. He had the confidence 

 of the Bourbons and their adherents after the 

 restoration, and was for many years the banker 

 of those of the ancien nollesse who had re- 

 gained their estates. At the Revolution of 

 1830, his liberal contributions for the wounded, 

 and the interest he manifested in the govern- 

 ment of Louis Philippe, gave him the confidence 

 of that monarch, and he was largely engaged 

 in public financial operations. He was also 

 interested in the construction of the principal 

 railways of France. In the Revolution of 1848, 

 in common with his brothers, he lost heavily. 

 His country-seat at Saresnes was sacked, and 

 he was for a time very unpopular ; but his lib- 

 erality to the wounded eventually produced 

 a revulsion of feeling in his favor. Still, he 

 had not during Napoleon III.'s administration 

 taken as active a part in public affairs as for- 



