129 



RODRIGUEZ, VENTURA. 



ROELAS, JUAN DE LAS. 



130 



fleet was rather more in number, but much less in weight of metal. 

 The general action commenced on the 12th of April 17-82, at seven 

 o'clock in the morning, and lasted till half-past six in the evening. 

 Rodney, in the Formidable, broke through the French line, and 

 engaged the ViHe-de-Paris, De Grasse's flag-ship, and compelled her 

 to strike. The result was, that seven ships of the line and two 

 frigates were taken by the British. 



About this time the Whigs had come into office, and Rodney having 

 been always opposed to them, an officer was appointed to succeed him, 

 who had only just sailed when the news of this great victory reached 

 England, and the Admiralty immediately sent an express to overtake 

 and bring back the officer, but it was too late. Rodney reached 

 Euglaud, September 21, 1782. He was raised to the peerage with 

 the title of Baron Rodney, and received an additional pension of 20001. 

 a-year. He lived chiefly in the country, till May 23, 1792, when he 

 died, in his seventy-fifth year. He was twice married, and left a 

 numerous family. A monument was erected to his memory in 

 St. Paul's Cathedral, London, at the national expense. His portrait 

 by Reynolds was in the royal collection at St. James's Palace, but has 

 since been sent to Greenwich Hospital. 



(Mundy, Life and Correspondence of Lord Rodney, London.) 



RODRIGUEZ, VENTURA, the most eminent Spanish architect of 

 the eighteenth century, was born at Cienpozuelos, July 14, 1717, and 

 commenced his first studies in his profession under Esteban Marchand, 

 who was then employed on the works carrying on at Aranjuez. After 

 the death of Marchand, in 1733, he still continued at Araujuez, until 

 Juvara engaged him as his assistant in making drawings for the design 

 of the new palace at Madrid ; and after the death of Juvara, he was 

 similarly engaged by his successor Sachetti, with whom he was subse- 

 quently associated in the execution of that vast pile, as aparejador, or 

 principal clerk of the works, 1741. In 1747 he was made honorary 

 member of the Academy of St. Luke at Rome ; and on that of St. 

 Fernando being established at Madrid, in 1752, he was appointed 

 chief director or professor of architecture in it, an office for which he 

 was peculiarly fitted, not only by his talents, but by his zeal for his 

 art, and his solicitude[for the improvement of the pupils. Commissions 

 poured in upon him from every quarter; for there was scarcely a 

 work of any importance throughout the country on which he was not 

 either engaged or consulted. He was employed on various cathedrals, 

 churches, colleges, hospitals, and other structures at Zaragoza, Malaga, 

 Toledo, Granada, Valladolid, and numerous other places ; and a mere 

 list of the works designed or executed by him would be one of con- 

 siderable extent. We can here merely point out, as being among the 

 more remarkable for their design, the sanctuary at Cobadonga, the 

 church of San Felipe Neri at Malaga, that of the hospital at Oviedo, 

 and the palace of the Duque de Liria at Madrid. 



These multiplied engagements, and the frequent journeys which 

 they occasioned him, prevented his visiting Italy ; but he collected 

 all works of engravings relative both to its ancient and modern 

 buildings. He also carefully studied the various monuments of 

 Roman, Moorish, and Gothic architecture in his own country. He 

 died at Madrid in 1785, in his sixty-eighth year, and was buried in 

 the church of San Marcos, the only one in that capital erected by 

 himself. Rodriguez has been honoured with an Elogio by the cele- 

 brated Jovellanos, to which we must refer those who wish for a more 

 detailed notice of his character and works. He is also repeatedly, 

 mentioned with high commendation by Ponz, in his ' Viage de 

 Espaiia ; ' and he doubtless deserves the title he received from his 

 contemporaries, of the Restorer of Architecture in Spain. 



ROEBUCK, JOHN, M.D., the son of a Sheffield manufacturer, was 

 born in 1718. He received a liberal education at Northampton under 

 Dr. Doddridge, and subsequently in the University of Leyden, and 

 settled in Birmingham as a physician. Pursuing an early taste for 

 chemistry, he introduced some improvements in the processes of 

 refining gold and silver, and established, in connection with Mr. 

 Samuel Garbet, an extensive refinery and chemical manufactory at 

 Birmingham. He there effected such improvements in the manufac- 

 ture of sulphuric acid (formerly called vitriolic acid, or oil of vitriol), 

 by the use of leaden instead of glass vessels, and by other modifica- 

 tions of the process, as enabled him to reduce its price from sixteen- 

 pence to four-pence per lb., and thus to render it available for many 

 new and important purposes in connection with manufactures ; and, 

 in conjunction with Mr. Garbet, he established, in 1749, vitriol-works 

 at Preston-pans for the purpose of bringing these improvements into 

 practice, thereby rendering a great service to our rising manufactures, 

 and securing to himself and his partner a handsome return. He is 

 said to have tried bleaching with sulphuric acid, but the subsequent 

 introduction of this valuable process does not appear to be traceable 

 to his experiments. Abandoning his medical practice, Roebuck 

 henceforward resided chiefly in Scotland, where he perfected improved 

 methods of smelting and manufacturing iron with pit-coal instead of 

 charcoal, and founded the great iron-works at Carron, for which he 

 chiefly designed the furnaces and machinery, calling in the aid of 

 Smeaton, and subsequently of Watt. The first furnace at this great j 

 establishment, the formation of which constitutes an era in the history ! 

 of British manufactures, was blown on the 1st of January 1760. Un- I 

 fortunately for himself, Roebuck subsequently became the lessee of 

 extensive coal and salt-works at Borrowstowness, belonging to the 



EIOQ. DIV. VOL. V. 



Duke of Hamilton. For the carrying on of these works, on which he 

 employed nearly a thousand persons, he was obliged to withdraw his 

 capital successively from his other undertakings, and he nevertheless 

 became so involved as to derive only a bare subsistence from the col- 

 lieries, although his improved modes of working were highly beneficial 

 to the country. While engaged in this speculation he became con- 

 nected, as stated under JAMES WATT, with some of the early experi- 

 ments of the author of the modern steam-engine, in the first patent 

 for which he had a share. He died on the 17th of July 1794. In a 

 copious memoir in the fourth volume of the 'Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh,' of which he was a Fellow, he is stated 

 to have been the author of a few papers read before that and the Royal 

 Society of London, and to have published two political pamphlets. 



* ROEBUCK, JOHN ARTHUR, M.P., was born at Madras in 1801. 

 He was the son of E. Roebuck, Esq., of that place, who was the 

 son of the eminent Dr. Roebuck of Birmingham, the subject of 

 the preceding article. Mr. Roebuck can also trace his descent 

 from the poet Tickell. When very young Mr. Roebuck went to 

 Canada, whence he came over in 1824 to become an English bar- 

 rister. He was called to the bar at the Inner Temple in 1831, 

 and went on the Northern circuit. He is now a Queen's Counsel 

 and a bencher of the Inner Temple. In 1832 he was returned as 

 member for Bath to the first Reformed House of Commons; and 

 since that time he has been known as one of the ' advanced liberals ' 

 of that House, and as one of the most resolute and effective advocate? 

 of the various measures which from time to time have formed or 

 still form the policy of the party so designated. He sat for Bath till 

 1837, having in the meantime (1834) married a daughter of the Rev. 

 Thomas Falconer of Bath, who is known as an author, and as having 

 been Bampton lecturer at Oxford. During this early part of his 

 parliamentary career, Mr. Roebuck made his reputation as one of the 

 chiefs of what has been called the ' school of philosophical radicalism,' 

 in which capacity he was also a contributor to the 'Westminster 

 Review ' in its early days. He was agent in England for the House of 

 Assembly of Lower Canada in the actual time of the Canadian 

 rebellion, and zealously defended the interests of the colony in her 

 dispute with the executive. At this time also he won that 

 character for independence and incorruptibility, touched with some- 

 thing of asperity, which he has ever since retained. As a Radical he 

 was very severe on the Whigs, both in parliament and out of it ; and 

 he had a quarrel which led to a duel with Mr. Black, editor of the 

 ' Morning Chronicle/ the Whig journal. His hostility to the Whigs 

 cost him his seat in 1837 ; but he was again elected for Bath in 1841, 

 and continued to represent it till the general election of 1847, when he 

 was again thrown out. He was first returned for Sheffield which con- 

 stituency he still represents in May 1849, and then without opposition. 



As member for Sheffield, Mr. Roebuck has kept up his peculiar 

 character as an independent critic of the proceedings of all parties 

 from the point of view of an extreme patriotic liberalism. Occasional 

 ill-health has interfered with his parliamentary labours; but he has 

 taken a prominent part in many important debates, and he almost 

 always brings a large amount of valuable and suggestive information 

 to bear upon the subject in hand, and he enforces it, notwithstanding 

 his feeble physical powers, with much energy. He has also on one or 

 two occasions originated important motions. It was he who, in Janu- 

 ary 1855, moved for inquiry into the conduct of the Russian war, and 

 by carrying the motion against the Aberdeen government by a large 

 majority, forced that government to resign. Mr. Roebuck acted as 

 chairman of the celebrated committee of inquiry appointed in pur- 

 suance of his motion. In December 1855 Mr. Roebuck was a candi- 

 date for the office of chairman of the new Metropolitan Board of 

 Works, but he was third in the list of candidates when the final vote 

 was taken. He has since then become chairman of the Administrative 

 Reform Association, founded by some merchants of London and others 

 after the exposures of the state of our administrative machinery to 

 which the inquiry into the Russian war led. The association, after 

 starting with great promises, was thought to fail in accomplishing 

 its aspirations ; and Mr. Roebuck has recently been trying to re-invigo- 

 rate it and give it distinct practical aims. Mr. Roebuck is also chair- 

 man of the Western Bank of London, and also of the Acadian 

 Charcoal-Iron Company of Nova Scotia. Mr. Roebuck, besides his 

 scattered letters, manifestoes, &c., and his contributions to the 

 ' Westminster ' and ' Edinburgh ' Reviews, &c., is the author of the 

 following separate works: 'Pamphlets to the People,' 1835; 'The 

 Colonies of England : a Plan for the Government of some portion of 

 our Colonial Possessions,' 1849 ; and ' The History of the Whig 

 Ministry of 1830 to the passing of the Reform Bill,' 2 vols., 1852. 



ROE'LAS, JUAN DE LAS, one of the most distinguished of the 

 Spanish painters, commonly known among Andalusian artists as El 

 Clerigo Roe'las, was born at Seville of a distinguished family, about 

 1558 or 1560 : his father, Pedro de las Roelas, was a Spanish admiral, 

 and died in 1566. Roe'las is styled in documents and in books ' el 

 licenciado Juan," which signifies probably merely that he was a 

 graduate of the University of Seville. Little is known about his 

 education : he is supposed to have studied in Italy, and from his style 

 with some of the scholars of Titian in Venice. In 1603 he painted 

 four pictures for the college of Olivares. From 1607 until 1624 he 

 lived chiefly at Seville and Madrid; and in 1616, after the death of 



