22 



ROSES ROSS. 



the lectures of Morus, Plainer, Beck, &r. In 1795, 

 he was extraordinary professor of Arabic, and, in 

 1813, ordinary professor of Oriental literature. 

 Amoug his works are his valuable Scholia ' l'< t. 

 Testameittum ; Scholia in Nov. Testamentum ; the 

 East, in Ancient and Modern Times (6 vols., 1818 

 -!ii); Manual of Biblical Antiquities, and Manual 

 of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis (4 vols., in Ger- 

 man). These works contain a great mass of valua- 

 ble matter, critical, exegetical, geographical, and 

 historical. Roscnmuller has also rendered import- 

 ant services to Oriental literature by his Institu- 

 titincs Lingua Arabics (1818); Arabum Adagia; 

 Analecta Arabica (1820, 2 vols.), &c. A second 

 son, John Christopher (born 1771, died 1820), was 

 an eminent anatomist, and (1802) professor of ana- 

 tomy and surgery at Leipsic. Besides some writ- 

 ings on subjects of natural histoqf, he was the 

 author of Anatomico-Surgical Delineations (German 

 and Latin, 1804 12, 3 parts), Manual of Anatomy, 

 and of several articles in Pierer's Medical Diction- 

 ary, and other periodicals, and of various other 

 literary works. 



ROSES, WAR OF THE, from the reign of Henry 

 VI. (1452) to that of Henry VII. (1486). See 

 Britain and England: also Edward IV. and V., 

 Richard III., and Henry VI. and VII. 



ROSETTA; a city of Egypt, near the mouth 

 of that branch of the Nile anciently called the Bol- 

 bitic, now commonly called the canal of Rosetta 

 (see Nile}; lat. 31 24' N.; Ion. 3028'E.; popu- 

 lation, 13,500, principally Copts. Rosetta is thought 

 to have been built by the caliphs, in the ninth 

 century. It is important as a depot of goods brought 

 down the river, and forms the medium of commu- 

 mcation between Alexandria and Cairo. The 

 city is more neatly built than the other Egyptian 

 cities, and is particularly distinguished for the 

 beauty and luxuriant vegetation of its environs. 

 The streets are not, however, broad ; and, as the 

 houses are of several stories, each projecting over 

 that beneath, they nearly meet at the top, which 

 promotes coolness, but gives a gloomy appearance 

 to the place. The celebrated Rosetta stone was 

 found here during the French campaign in Egypt. 

 See Hieroglyphics. 



ROSETTA STONE. See Hieroglyphics; also 

 the work of the marquis Spineto on Hieroglyphics, 

 mentioned in that article. In his work, a full ac- 

 count is given of the discovery of the art of deci- 

 phering the hieroglyphics, for which this stone 

 furnished the first means. There is also a transla- 

 tion of the curious decree, which is partly reprinted 

 in Stuart's Translation of Greppo's Essay on the 

 Hieroglyphic System. 



ROSICRUCIANS; members of a society the 

 existence of which became known, unexpectedly, 

 at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Its 

 object was, ostensibly, the reformation of state, 

 church, and individuals; but closer examination 

 showed that the discovery of the philosopher's stone 

 was the true object of the fully initiated. A cer- 

 tain Christian Rosenkreuz, who was said to have 

 lived long among the Bramins, in Egypt, &c., was 

 pretended to have founded the order, in the four- 

 teenth century; but the real founder is believed 

 to have been Andrea, a German scholar, of the be- 

 ginning of the sixteenth century, whose object, as 

 is thought, was to purify religion, which had been 

 degraded by scholastic philosophy. Others think that 

 he only gave a new character to a society founded 

 before him, by Agrippa von Nettesheim. Krause 



(mentioned in the article Masonry, Free) says that 

 Andrea occupied himself from early youth with the 

 plan of a secret society for the improvement of man- 

 kind. In 1614, he published his famous Refor- 

 mation of the whole wide World, and 1'ama 

 Fratcrnitatis. Christian enthusiasts and alchemist s 

 considered the society poetically described in I hose- 

 books as one really existing ; and thus Andrea be- 

 came the author of the later Rosicrucian fraterni- 

 ties, which extended over Europe, and were even 

 brought into connexion with free-masonry. After 

 a number of books had been written on the Rosi- 

 crucian system, and the whole exploded, the inte- 

 rest in the Rosicrucians was revived, in the latter 

 half of the eighteenth century, in consequence of 

 the abolition of the order of Jesuits, and the stories 

 of their secret machinations, as well as of the frauds 

 of Cagliostro and other notorious impostors. 



ROSIERE, LA. See .Rose Feasts. 



ROSIN. See Resin. 



ROSKOLNICIANS.alsoRASKOLNICIANS; 

 schismatics of the Russian Greek church. They 

 call themselves Starowerzi (i. e. following the old 

 faith), or Isbraniki (i. e. elected). They suffered 

 much persecution under Peter the Great. Catha- 

 rine II. gave them religious liberty. Many tribes 

 of Cossacks and a great part of the inhabitants of 

 Siberia belong to this sect. 



ROSLIN; a small village, in the county of Mid 

 Lothian, parish of Lasswade, distant from Edin- 

 burgh, seven miles south-west. The village is in- 

 habited only by families engaged in agricultural 

 pursuits. It was formerly a place of some import- 

 ance, made a burgh of barony by James II. (of 

 Scotland), and privileged with the right of holding 

 markets and fairs, but is now chiefly remarkable 

 on account of its ruined castle and collegiate chapel. 

 Roslin Castle is of uncertain origin, but it was the 

 ancient seat of the St Glairs or Sinclairs, who lived 

 here in great splendour in the fifteenth century. It 

 is situated on a detached rock, in a deep glen, on 

 the north side of the river North Esk; but the 

 station, though highly pleasant and romantic, seems 

 by no means adapted for a fortress, as it is com- 

 manded by hills on both sides of the river. 

 The access to it is by a bridge over a deep gulley, 

 and through a gate, originally of great strength. In 

 1554, it was burned by the forces of Henry VIII., 

 and the present buildings were chiefly erected since 

 that period. Roslin Chapel was founded in 1446 

 by William St Clair, prince of Orkney and duke 

 of Odenborough, for a provost, six prebendaries, 

 and two singing boys ; and dedicated to St Matthew 

 the Evangelist. This structure is incomplete, con- 

 sisting only of the chancel, and part of the transept. 

 It is in the Gothic style, richly ornamented. The 

 interior, sixty-nine feet in length and thirty-four in 

 breadth, is divided into a centre and aisles by two 

 ranges of clustered pillars, adorned with sculptured 

 foliage, and figures of exquisite workmanship. 

 Roslin was created a British earldom in 1801. 



ROSOGLIO,OR ROSOLI; originally sometimes 

 used as a generic term for the creams, or superfine 

 liqueurs (see Liqueurs), but is more generally up- 

 plied to a certain species of these. 



ROSS, MAN OF. (See Kyrel.) The village 

 of Ross is in Herefordshire, twelve miles south- 

 east of Hereford, and a hundred and fifteen north- 

 west of London. 



ROSS, ALEXANDER; a very voluminous writer, 

 on political, religious, and philosophical subjects, 

 was born in Aberdeen in 1590, and died in 1654. 



