ROXBURGH ROXBURGHSHIRE. 



29 



which was intended as a compliment to King Wil- 

 liam, who was figured under the conquering Tartar, 

 whilst Louis XIV., with almost equal want of veri- 

 similitude, ranked as the Turkish Bajazet. It was 

 however, a successful piece; and indeed, with lit- 

 tle nature, contains many elevated and manly senti- 

 ments. His next dramatic performance was the 

 Fair Penitent, remodelled from the Fatal Dowry of 

 Massinger. In 1706, he wrote the Biter, a comedy, 

 which being altogether a failure, he was prudent 

 enough to keep to his own line, and from that time 

 to 1715, produced his Ulysses, Royal Convert, 

 Jane Shore, and Lady Jane Grey. When the duke 

 of Queensbury was made secretary of state, he ap- 

 pointed Mr Rowe his under-secretary. This post 

 he lost by the death of his patron ; and, on the ac- 

 cession of George I., he was made poet-laureate, and 

 also obtained several posts, the emoluments of which 

 aided by his paternal fortune, enabled him to live 

 respectably. He died in 1718, in his forty-fifth 

 year, and was buried in Westminster abbey, where 

 his widow erected a monument to his memory. 

 Rowe was respectable, and possessed agreeable ta- 

 lents for society. His dramatic fables are generally 

 interesting, and the situations striking; his style 

 singularly sweet and poetical ; his pieces forcibly 

 arrest attention, although they but slightly affect 

 the heart. As an original poet, Rowe appears to 

 ad vantage in a few tender and pathetic ballads; but 

 as a translator he assumes a higher character, as in 

 his version of Lucan's Pharsalia, published after his 

 death, which, although too diffuse, was highly 

 praised by Johnson. The poetical works of Rowe 

 were published collectively, in 3 vols. 12mo, 1719. 



ROXANA. See Alexander. 



ROXBURGH ; a parish and village of Scotland, 

 in Roxburghshire, the former about eight miles long 

 and four broad, comprising an area of 7000 acres. 

 The surface of the land is inclined but level, and 

 the soil is chiefly a rich loam. It is watered by the 

 rivers Tweed and Teviot, on the banks of which 

 are beautiful plantations. Population in 1831, 962. 

 The ancient town and castle of Roxburgh are now 

 extinct. Old Roxburgh was situated over against 

 Kelso, on a rising ground at the west end of a fer- 

 tile plain, which was formed into a peninsula, by 

 the confluence of the rivers Tweed and Teviot. 

 The new town was built a little to the eastward of 

 the old, and hence in history is called the Easter 

 Roxburgh. In the time of David I. (1124-53), 

 the town was fortified by a wall and ditch, and 

 was even then famous for its schools, which 

 were under the superintendence of the abbot of 

 Kelso. It was also one of the first royal burghs 

 created by that monarch, and was governed by a 

 provost or alderman and bailies. Here was likewise 

 A mint ; for coins are still to be seen of William the 

 Lion, struck there ; and also some of James II. 

 Near old Roxburgh, on the Teviot side, there was 

 a convent for monks of the Franciscan order, of 

 which no remains are now to be seen ; but on its 

 site stands a hamlet called Friars. Roxburgh had 

 the privilege of an annual fair, called St James' Fair, 

 which till this day is held on the place where the 

 town stood. The ancient castle of Roxburgh, or 

 Rokesburgh, stood in the vicinity of the town on 

 an eminence near the termination of the peninsula, 

 and rising in an oblong figure to the height of forty 

 feet. At the south base of the eminence flows the 

 Teviot, which by a bend joins the Tweed, a short 

 way below. A few fragments of the wall, which 

 seem to have formed the exterior defence, are all 



that remains of this celebrated fortress. Roxburgh 

 gives the title of duke to the family of the Kers of 

 Cessford. John, the third duke of Roxburgh, was a 

 celebrated bibliomanist. His library of 9353 works, 

 which was particularly rich in old romances of chi- 

 valry and early English poetry, was sold by public 

 auction in London, in 1812. The catalogue was 

 made out by G. and W. Nicol. The prices paid for 

 some works were enormous. A copy of the first edi- 

 tion of Boccaccio (Venice, in 1471, folio) was bought 

 by the marquis of Blandford (duke of Marlborough") 

 for 2260 sterling; a copy of the first work 

 printed by Caxton, with a date, Recuyell of the 

 Historyes of Troye (1471, folio), was sold for 1000 

 guineas ; and a copy of the first edition of Shaks- 

 peare (1623, folio) for 100 guineas. The Roxburgh 

 Club, formed in commemoration of this triumph of 

 bibliomany, celebrates its anniversary (June 17), on 

 that of the sale of the Boccaccio. Every year, one 

 of the members is required to be at the expense of 

 an impression of some rare book, of which only 

 copies enough for the club are struck off. 



ROXBURGHSHIRE; a county in the south of 

 Scotland, bordering on England for many miles; is 

 bounded on the north by Berwickshire, on the east 

 and south-east by Northumberland and Cumberland, 

 on the south-west by Dumfriesshire, and on the west 

 by Selkirkshire. It extends from south-west to north- 

 east thirty-eight miles, and from south-east to north- 

 west, twenty-seven. The county is divided by its 

 waters into several districts, the chief of which is 

 Teviotdale, being that division drained by the river 

 Teviot and its tributary streams. Teviotdale com- 

 prehends 521 square miles. Liddisdale, which 

 forms the south-west corner of the county, on the 

 borders of Northumberland and Cumberland, com- 

 prehends the Alpine territory, which is drained by 

 the Liddel, and its tributaries, and contains 120 

 square miles. The third division is that portion 

 between the Gala and Leader, measuring twenty- 

 eight square miles. And the fourth district is that 

 part of the shire lying north of the Tweed, in- 

 cluded in the Merse, which comprehends twenty- 

 seven miles. Towards the north and west the 

 county is mountainous, but on the south and east 

 level and fertile. The scenery in general is highly 

 romantic, displaying hills, mosses, and mountains, 

 intermixed in beautiful variety with narrow valleys, 

 through which flow numerous streams, many of 

 them famed in pastoral song. Besides the Tweed, 

 the Teviot, and the Liddel, may be mentioned the 

 Ale, the Jed, the Slittrick, the 'Rule, and the Kail, 

 which fall into the Teviot, and the Hermitage, the 

 Tweeden, the Thirds, the Kershope, and the Black- 

 burn, which join the Liddel ; in Roxburghshire also 

 rise the Tyne and the Coquet, but they soon leave 

 this county and pass the English border. The 

 principal mountains are the Cheviot and the Cock- 

 raw, to which may be added the Wish, the Dunian, 

 and Ruberslaw. Sheep here form the chief stock 

 of the farmer; and the manufacture of woollens af- 

 fords employment to many of the inhabitants. An 

 ancient road, called the rugged causeway, supposed 

 to have been constructed by the Romans, may be 

 traced the whole distance from Hounam to the 

 Tweed. In this county are many border towers 

 and castles, and before the union between England 

 and Scotland they must have been very numerous 

 on the southern frontier, which formed a part of 

 the Debateable land, inhabited by freebooters and 

 maraude'rs almost incessantly engaged in predatory 

 warfare. Roxburghshire contains twenty-nine com- 



