Robin or Redbreast 



W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S. 



ROBINET 



the lining of hair or feathers. 

 There are from five to seven eggs 

 of a buffy-white freckled with pale 

 red, and there 

 p may be two or 

 j three batches 

 I in the year. 

 ..& 1 The food con- 

 sists mainly 

 of insects, 

 worms, and 

 spiders, occa- 

 sional berries, 

 and in winter 

 household 

 scraps. The 

 robin is a 

 notorious 

 fighter with his own kind when 

 they trespass upon his special terri- 

 tory. The sweet but limited song 

 may be heard at all seasons. Many 

 of the birds of the year migrate in 

 autumn. See Eggs, colour plate. 



Robinet. Ancient military en- 

 gine used for hurling stones and 

 other missiles. See Ballista ; Cata- 

 pult ; consult also History of Pro- 

 jectile Throwing Engines, R. Payne 

 Gallwey, 1907. 



Robin Goodfellow. English 

 name of a familiar, mischievous 

 fairy who has now come to be 

 better known as Puck (q.v. ). The 

 Mad Pranks and Merry Jests of 

 Robin Goodfellow were set forth 

 in a black-letter tract of 1628. 



Robin Hood. Central figure in 

 romantic stories told in old English 

 ballads and songs of a robber out- 

 law, head of a band which dwelt in 

 Sherwood Forest. He was a famous 

 bowman, and robbed the rich that 

 he might give to the poor, and is 

 variously said to have been a 

 goodly yeoman and a certain 

 Robert who claimed to be earl of 

 Huntingdon. Whether there is any 

 historical basis for the legends is 

 matter of dispute. The ballads 

 and poems concerning Robin Hood 

 were collected by Joseph Ritson 

 in 1795, and have been published 

 in many forms. The outlaw is in- 

 troduced into Scott's Ivanhoe as 

 Locksley, and on this account he is 

 supposed to have been born at 

 Loxley in Staffordshire. His story 

 has been told most recently in 

 poetic plays, Tennyson's The 

 Foresters, 1891, and Alfred Noyes's 

 Sherwood, 1911. See Quarterstaff ; 

 Sherwood. 



Robin Hood's Bay. Watering- 

 place of Yorkshire (N.R.), Eng- 

 land. It stands at the N. end of 

 Robin Hood's Bay, an opening of 

 the North Sea, 6 m. from Whitby, 

 with a station on the N.E. Rly. 

 Known also as Bay Town, it con- 

 sists of an old fishing village on 

 the cliffs, and of modern houses 

 built somewhat inland. The chief 

 building is a fine 19th century 



6649 



church. According to legend, 

 Robin Hood sought refuge at 

 Fylingdales, a village near. 



Robins, ELIZABETH (b. 1855). 

 Maiden name of Elizabeth Robins 

 Pennell, American author. Born at 

 Philadelphia, Feb. 21, 1855, she 

 received part of her education at 

 the Convent of the Sacred Heart, 

 Paris. In 1884 she married Joseph 

 Pennell (q.v. ), who illustrated many 

 of her books, which include Life of 

 Mary Wollstonecraft, 1884; Life of 

 Charles Godfrey Leland, 1906; 

 French Cathedrals, Monasteries, 

 and Abbeys, 1909; London Out 

 of Our Windows, 1912; Nights, 

 1915; The Lovers, 1917. She 

 collaborated with her husband in 

 the authorised Life of J. McNeill 

 Whistler, 1910. 



Robins, ELIZABETH (b. 1865). 

 British- American actress and novel- 

 ist, known in private life as Mrs. 

 George R i c h- 

 mond Parks. 

 Born at Louis- 

 ville,Kentucky, 

 she first came 

 into promi- 

 nence as an 

 actress in 

 Ibsen's plays, 

 but later 

 devoted her- 

 self with 

 much suc- 



*"*"* cess to the 



writing of novels, frequently under 

 the pseudonym of C. E. Raimond. 

 These include The Open Question, 

 1898; The Magnetic North, 1904, 

 a fine description of the Klondyke 

 rush ; Where Are You Going To ?, 

 1913, in which she deals with the 

 White Slave Traffic ; and The Mills 

 of the Gods, 1920. She was also 

 the author of a play, Votes for 

 Women, 1907, and actively sup- 

 ported the Women's Movement. 



Robins, GERTRUDE (d. 1917). 

 British actress and dramatist. Her 

 stage experience was gained chiefly 

 in the pro- 

 vinces, and she 

 was for a time 

 associated with 

 the Gaiety 

 Theatre, Man- 

 chester. Her 

 short plays 

 include Make- 

 shifts, 1908; 

 The Point of 

 View, 1910; 

 Pot Luck, a Neanu 



short farce, 1910; Realities, 1911; 

 Loving As We Do, and The Play- 

 thing, 1914. She died Dec. 25, 191 7 ; 

 Robinson, SIR HARRY PERRY 

 (b. 1859). British war correspon- 

 dent. He was born in the W. Indies, 

 and educated hi England, at West- 

 minster and Oxford. He engaged 



Gertrude Robins, 

 British actress 



Sir H. P. Robinson, 

 British war corre- 

 spondent 



Elliott Jb Fry 



ROBINSON 



at first in liter- 

 ary work, but 

 in 1883 went 

 to America, 

 where he 

 became an 

 authority o n 

 railway 

 matters, o n 

 which he 

 wrote much. 

 In 1900 he re- 

 turned to Eng- 

 land, and was for four years man- 

 aging-director of the publishing firm 

 of Isbister. He later j oined the staff 

 of The Times, which he represented 

 in the W. Indies, 1909-10, becoming 

 its American correspondent in the 

 latter year. He served as war 

 correspondent in Belgium, 1914, 

 Serbia, 1915, and on the Western 

 front from 1916-18. His books 

 include Men Born Equal, 1895 ; 

 The Autobiography of a Black Bear, 

 1905 ; Of Distinguished Animals, 

 1911 ; The Turning Point : the 

 Battle of the Somme, 1917. He 

 was created K.B.E. in 1920. 



Robinson, HEISTRY CRABB (1775- 

 1867). British journalist and 

 diarist. Born at Bury St. Edmunds, 

 March 13, 1775, 

 and educated 

 at private 

 schools, he was 

 articled to an 

 attorney. H e 

 gave up the 

 law on coming 

 into some 

 money, and tra- 

 velled abroad, 

 meeting Goethe 

 and Schiller at Weimar, and 

 studying for a time at the univer- 

 sity of Jena. He became corre- 

 spondent of The Times at Altona, 

 then foreign editor, and subse- 

 quently represented his paper 

 during the Peninsular War. In 

 1813 he was called to the bar, and 

 practised for 13 years. He was a 

 conversationalist of the first order, 

 and his breakfasts became famous. 

 Robinson's great tribute to pos- 

 terity is to be found in his Diary 

 and Correspondence, of which se- 

 lections were edited and published 

 by Sadler, 1869. Robinson died 

 in London, Feb. 5, 1867. See 

 Dandies and Men of Letters, L. H. 

 Vincent, 1913. 



Robinson, JOHN (c. 1576-1625). 

 English Puritan. Born probably in 

 Nottinghamshire, he was educated 

 at Cambridge, most likely at 

 Corpus Christi College. Having 

 been ordained, he worked in Nor- 

 wich, but his Puritan opinions 

 brought him into disfavour. He 

 joined the separatists and preached 

 to them at Gainsborough and then 

 at Scrooby, and in 1608, to escape 



H. Crabb Robinson, 

 British journalist 



