ROBIN ROBINSON CRUSOE. 



author of all the enormities with which he has 

 been charged. .Among his colleagues of the com- 

 mittees, and especially those who were sent into 

 the departments, many exercised cruelties which 

 far exceeded their instructions. Those who con- 

 tributed most to his overthrow, and were loudest 

 in their accusations against him, had profited by 

 Ins crimes i which they were deeply involved ; 

 and, like the scape-goat of the Jews, he was charged 

 with the sins of the whole nation, or rather of the 

 Jacobin government. In the Memorial from St 

 Helena, Napoleon is stated to have said that Robe- 

 spierre displayed in his conduct more extensive 

 and enlightened views than have been generally 

 ascribed to him ; and that he intended to re-esta- 

 blish order, after he liad overturned the contending 

 factions ; but, not being powerful enough to arrest 

 the progress of tde revolution, he suffered himself 

 to be carried away by the torrent, as was the case 

 with all before Napoleon himself, who engaged 

 in a similar attempt. As a proof of this, the 

 emperor asserted that, when with the army at Nice, 

 he had seen, in the hands of the brother of Maxi- 

 milian Robespierre, letters in which he expressed 

 an intention to put an end to the reign of terror. 

 On the whole, it is reasonable to conclude that 

 something like principle and genuine enthusiasm 

 guided this hateful and unhappy man in the first 

 instance ; but, wholly unable to govern the elements 

 of wild disorder afloat around him, the character- 

 istic cruelty of perplexed cowardice at length became 

 his only instrument, either of action or self-defence. 

 However stimulated, his career exhibits one of the 

 most signal instances of cruelty upon record. 



Among the published works of Robespierre are, 

 Plaidoyer pour le Sieur fissery, in favour of the 

 right of setting up electrical conductors against 

 lightning (1783, 8vo.); Discours couronne par la 

 Soc. Roy. de Metz sur les Peines infamantes (1785, 

 8vo.); Eloge de Cresset, in which the author dis- 

 plays an attachment to monarchical goverment and 

 religious institutions ; Eloge de Pres. Duparty ; 

 and a political journal, called Le Defenseur de la 

 Constitution. The Mimoiret of Rioufte, and the 

 Papier s trouves chez Robespierre, &c., contain much 

 curious information concerning him.* 



ROBIN, AMERICAN, OR MIGRATING 

 THRUSH (turdus migratorius, Lin); specific cha- 

 racter, dark ash-colour; beneath rufous; headandtail 

 black ; the two exterior feathers of the latter white at 

 the inner tip. The robin is found in summer through- 

 out North America, from the desolate regions of 

 Hudson's bay, in the fifty-third degree, to the table 

 land of Mexico. These birds retire from higher 

 latitudes only as their food begins to fail, and they 

 make their appearance in Massachusetts, feeding 

 on winter berries, till driven to the south by inun- 

 dating snows. At this season, they are numerous 

 in the Southern States. Even in the vicinity of 

 Boston, flocks of robins are sometimes seen assem- 

 bling round the open springs in the depth of winter. 

 Towards the close of January, the robin, in South 

 Carolina, still tunes his song, and about the second 

 week of March begins to appear in the Middle 

 States. By the 10th of that month, they may also 

 be heard in Massachusetts. Their nests are often 

 seen on the horizontal branch of an apple-tree, or 

 in a bush or tree in the woods, and so large as 

 seldom to be wholly concealed. The eggs, about 

 five, are of a bluish-green, and without spots. To 

 avoid the attacks of the cuckoo, the robin, says Mr 

 Nuttall (see his Ornithology, from which these re- 



* The iiter of Robespierre still enjoys, or at least, up to 

 a Terr recent period enjoyed, a pension from the French 

 government. 



marks are taken), has been known to build his nest 

 within a few yards of the blacksmith's anvil, and 

 even in the stern timbers of an unfinished vessel, in 

 which men were constantly at work, and to take 

 the materials of his nest from the pine shavings on 

 the carpenter's bench. They raise several broods 

 in a season. They seem content in a cage, sing 

 well, and readily learn lively parts of tunes, and 

 have even been taught " Old Hundred." They 

 also, in this situation, imitate the notes of most of 

 the birds about them. 



ROBIN GOODFELLOW. See Brownie. 



ROBIN HOOD. See Hood, Robin. 



ROBIN REDBREAST. See Redbreast. ' 



ROBINIA. See Locust. 



ROBINSON, JOHN, minister of the English 

 church in Holland, to which the first settlers of 

 New England belonged, was born in 1575, and 

 educated at Cambridge. He for some time held a 

 benefice in the established church, but, in 1602, 

 became pastor of a dissenting congregation in the 

 north of England, and, in consequence of persecu- 

 tion, went with them to Holland in 1608. After a 

 short residence at Amsterdam, they removed to 

 Leyden. His talents and reputation were such, 

 that he held a public disputation with Episcopius 

 in 1613. A part of his church emigrated to Ply- 

 mouth, New England, in 1620, and it was his 

 intention to follow them with the remainder ; but 

 his sudden death, March 1, 1625, prevented. He 

 was distinguished for learning, liberality, and piety. 



ROBINSON, ROBERT, an eminent dissenting 

 divine, was born in Norfolk, in 1735, and educated 

 at a grammar-school in his native county ; but, 

 owing to the loss of his father, and the humble cir- 

 cumstances of his mother, he was apprenticed, at 

 the age of fourteen, to a hair-dresser in London. 

 Having attached himself to George Whitefield, 

 he became a preacher among the Calvinistic 

 Methodists, but subsequently relinquished his con- 

 nexion with the Methodists, and established an 

 independent congregation at Norwich, over which 

 he presided. H e was afterwards chosen pastor to 

 a small Anabaptist congregation at Cambridge, 

 and retained this situation during the remainder of 

 his life. In 1773, he removed to Chesterton, near 

 Cambridge, where he engaged in trade as a farmer, 

 corn-dealer, and coal-merchant. His learning and 

 abilities procured him much respect from the 

 members of the university, and other persons 

 belonging to the established church ; and he re- 

 ceived offers of promotion if he would become a 

 conformist, which he declined. In 1774, he pub- 

 lished a translation of the sermons of Saurin, with 

 memoirs of the reformation in France, and the life 

 of Saurin. In 1776, was published his Plea for the 

 Divinity of Jesus Christ, &c. Among his other 

 works are his Plan of Lectures on Non-conformity ; 

 the General Doctrine of Toleration ; Slavery incon- 

 sistent with Christianity; and sixteen Discourses, 

 which had been delivered extempore to illiterate 

 audiences in the vicinity of Cambridge. These 

 were very liberal on doctrinal points ; and his ten- 

 dency to Unitarian principles soon became known, 

 although he still continued his ministerial labours 

 at Cambridge. He died in 1790, in the fifty-fifth 

 year of his age. 



ROBINSON CRUSOE. This celebrated ro- 

 mance, written by the well-known Defoe, was pub- 

 lished in 1719, under the title of the Life and Sur- 

 prising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, 

 Mariner, who lived eight and twenty Years all alone, 

 &c., written by himself. The favourable reception 

 this attempt met with induced the author to pursue 

 the subject, and, a few months later, appeared the 



