20 



ROSCELLTNUS ROSE. 



of the victory obtained over the Turks at Lcpanto 

 (Oct. 7, 1571), pope Gregory X11I., in I.j73, insti- 

 tuted the festival of tin m-ary, which is annually 

 solemnized on the first Sunday of October. Pope 

 Clement XI. extended this festival through all the 

 Catholic part of Western Europe, in honour of the 

 victory gained over the Turks at Peterwardein, 

 Aug. 5, 1716. The Asiatic worshippers of the 

 Grand Lama, and the Mohammedans, make use of 

 a similar string, provided with heads, for saying 

 their prayers. The string of the Mohammedans has 

 ninety-nine small beads, which they, in their pray- 

 ers, drop through their fingers, one after the other, 

 while they recount the ninety-nine qualities of the 

 Deity mentioned in the first part of the Koran. 

 Their beads are generally made of holy earth, from 

 -Mecca or Medina. 



ROSCELLINUS. See Nominalists. 

 ROSCOE, WILLIAM, the well-known author of 

 the Lives of Lorenzo de' Medici, and Leo the Tenth, 

 horn in 1752. His parents were in an humble sphere 

 of life, and could only afford him a common school 

 education ; and even this was interrupted. At an 

 early age he was articled to an attorney in Liver- 

 pool, and this obliged him to study the Latin lan- 

 guage ; but he did not confine himself to what 

 was necessary to his profession ; by dint of hard 

 study, he read and made himself master of the most 

 distinguished Latin classics. In this he was assisted 

 by a friend. He next studied the Italian and French 

 languages, and in the former he became uncommonly 

 proficient. He still found time to attend to his 

 business, and to peruse the English poets. At the 

 age of sixteen, he commenced poet, and composed 

 Mount Pleasant, a descriptive poem. Having fin- 

 ished his clerkship, he was taken into partnership, 

 Dy Mr Aspinall, an attorney of considerable prac- 

 tice ; and he carried on the whole of the business, to 

 which he paid a strict attention. During this period 

 he contracted a friendship with Doctor Enfield and 

 Doctor Aikin. Painting and statuary were also 

 objects of his attention, and in 1773, he read, at the 

 society in Liverpool, an ode on those subjects, and 

 also sometimes read lectures there. When the 

 question of the slave trade was brought before the 

 public, Mr Roscoe took a warm part in favour of 

 the abolition, and most cordially joined Mr Clark- 

 son in his endeavours. He also wrote a reply to a 

 Spanish Jesuit on that subject. His Scriptural Re- 

 futation of a Pamphlet on the Licitness of the 

 Slave Trade, and his Wrongs of Africa, appeared in 

 1788 ; and, in 1795, he brought out the work which 

 has gained him so much celebrity the Life of Lo- 

 renzo de' Medici (2 vols. 4to, 1795). About the 

 year 1797, Mr Roscoe retired from the practice of 

 an attorney, and entered himself as a student of 

 Gray's Inn, with a view to the bar. During this 

 period he had leisure for other studies, and pub- 

 lished the Nurse, a poem, from the Italian, and wrote 

 the Life and Pontificate of Leo X. (4 vols. 1805.) 

 Though the Life of Leo is not equal to his Lorenzo, 

 it is a composition which displays talent and exten- 

 sive research. Mr Roscoe being attached to the 

 whig party, they supported him as a candidate to 

 represent Liverpool, and he was successful, but at 

 the next election was thrown out. He had some time 

 before, entered into business at Liverpool as a bank, 

 er, but was unsuccessful. He died in June, 1831. 

 Mr Roscoe was the author of several political pam- 

 phlets, and the great mover and supporter of several 

 public works in Liverpool. To the botanic garden 

 and to the Atheneum he lent much effective assist- 



ance. His Life and Correspondence were pulmMicd 

 ( 1 cS;W, 2 vols. 8vo.) by his son, Henry lioscoe, a 

 liarrister-at-Liw, who himself died in 1836, in his 

 thirty-seventh year. Mr Henry Roscoe was the 

 author of several important professional works, 

 particularly a Treatise on Real Property, and, like 

 his father, possessed an extensive acquaintance with 

 polite literature, and was favourably known as an 

 elegant and accomplished writer. 



ROSCOMMON ; an inland county of Ireland, in 

 the province of Connaught, about sixty miles in lengt h 

 from north to south, and thirty-seven broad fro i . 

 to west. Its surface is in general flat, except at the 

 northern extremity, and is varied with extent ve 

 bogs, rocky tracts, and intermediate pastures. The 

 hills on the north are called the Carlow Mountains. 

 The Shannon is navigable in its passage by Ros- 

 common. The Suck, its tributary, flows between 

 this county and Galway. Lough Key is the prin- 

 cipal lake. Agriculture constitutes the chief occu- 

 pation of the inhabitants ; and the fertile limestone 

 soil of the district seconds the industrious exertions 

 of the husbandman. Wheat, barley, oats, rye, of 

 prime quality, are grown here ; and no county in 

 Connaught exceeds this in sweetness of pasture. 

 There is an excellent breed of horses here, adapted 

 to the saddle or to draught. To this county also 

 belongs a portion of the valuable coal-field, under- 

 lying the western counties, and usually termed the 

 Connaught coal district. The manuifactures here 

 are not extensive ; they consist of linen and coarse 

 woollens, the latter principally for home consump- 

 tion. The baronies are Athlone, Ballymore, Ilan, 

 Boyle, Ballintobber, and Moycarne. The princi- 

 pal towns are Athlone, a borough, part of which is 

 situated in the county of Westmeath; Roscommon, 

 the capital of the shire ; Elphin, an ancient city ; 

 Boyle, Stokestown and Athleague. Population of 

 the county in 1831, 239,903. 



ROSCOMMON, WENTWORTH DILLON, earl of, 

 was born in Ireland, in 1633, and was educated at 

 Caen, in Normandy. Returning to England on the 

 restoration, he plunged into the dissipation of the 

 dissolute court, ruined his estate by gaming, became 

 involved in quarrels, and found it necessary to go 

 to Ireland. Here he pursued nearly the same 

 course, and soon after returned to England-. From 

 this time he began to act with more discretion, and 

 became distinguished among the wits of the day. On 

 the accession of James II. he went to Italy, and 

 died at Rome in 1684. His principal production is 

 the poetical Essay on Translated Verse. Johnson 

 calls him the most correct writer of English verse 

 before Dry den. 



ROSE. The rose has always been the favourite 

 flower among civilized nations. The beauty of its 

 foliage, the elegance of its form, the large size and 

 agreeable tints of the flowers, together with their 

 delicious fragrance, have all conspired to acquire for 

 it the distinction of the queen of flowers. The 

 species of rose are numerous, and are extremely 

 difficult to distinguish. All seem to be exclusively 

 confined to the temperate and cold parts of the 

 northern hemisphere. They are spiny shrubs, with 

 pinnated leaves, provided with stipules at their 

 base, the flowers are very large, and are disposed, 

 in a greater or less number, at the summit of the 

 branches, or upon lateral branchlets ; the calyx is 

 enlarged below, and contracted at its orifice, where 

 it divides into five lanceolate segments ; the corolla 

 consists of five heart-shaped petals, and the stamens 

 are numerous; the seeds are very numerous, 



