ROB 



which yields a difagreeable oil in diftillation, and is alio apt 

 to burn to the ftill, and fpoil the fpirit. It is poffible that 

 a fpirit purer and finer than that from treacle might this 

 way be procured from malt, prudently managed. Shaw's 

 Left. p. 219. 



ROBALI, in Geography, a town of Abyffinia ; 75 miles 

 S. of Mine. 



ROBALO, in Ichthyology, a name by which fome have 

 called the camuri. 



ROBARES, in Geography, rocks near the S. coaft of 

 Ireland ; three miles S.E. of Gaily Head. N. lat. 51 31'. 

 'W. long. 8° 50'. 



ROBASOME, a town of France, in the government of 

 the Po ; eight miles N.N.W. of Turin. 



ROBBEN, or Seal, IJland, an ifland on the coalt of 

 Africa, near the Cape of Good Hope, at the entrance into 

 Falfe bay, about fix miles in circumference. It ferves as a 

 place of exile for criminals fent from the Cape or the Indies, 

 who are compelled to labour, and are guarded by twenty- 

 four foldiers under the command of a ferjeant. No women 

 are permitted to live upon the ifland. Within this ifland and 

 the continent there is excellent anchorage, where fhips driven 

 out by the S.E. winds, which blow from September to the 

 end of April, the feafon when all fhips bound for the 

 Cape refort to Table Bay, ufually bring up. Here, too, 

 fhips intending to come into Table Bay ufually wait the 

 abatement of the S.E. wind, if it fhould happen to be too 

 ftrong for their working up againft it. This ifland ic too 

 fmall, and at too great a diftance, to afford the leaft fhelter 

 to Table Bay in the N.W. winds that blow in the winter 

 months. S. lat. 33- 40'. E. long. 18 20'. 



ROBBERY, Robberia, or Roberta, in Law, a felo- 

 nious and forcible taking away another man's goods or 

 money, from his perfon, prefence, <sr eftate, by putting him 

 in fear, &c. 1 Hawk. P. C. 95. 



A mere attempt to rob was held to be felony, fo late as 

 Henry the Fourth's time (1 Hal. P. C. 532.); and after- 

 wards it was only a mifdemeanor, and punifhable with fine 

 and imprifonment, till the flat. 7 Geo. II. cap. 21. which 

 makes it a felony, tranfportable for feven years, unlawfully 

 and malicioufly to afi'ault another, with any offenfive weapon 

 or inftrument, or by menaces, or by other forcible or violent 

 manner, to demand any money or goods, with a felonious 

 intent to rob. If the thief, having once taken a purfe, 

 returns it, ftill it is a robbery. The'previous putting in fear 

 is the criterion that diftinguifhes robbery from other larce- 

 nies ; and yet this putting in fear does not imply any great 

 degree of terror or affright in the party robbed ; it is fuffi- 

 cient that fo much force, or threatening by word or gefture, 

 be ufed, as might create an apprehenfion of danger, or 

 oblige a man to part with his property without or ao-ainft 

 his confent. (Foft. 128.) Thus, if a man be knocked 

 down without previous warning, and (tripped of his property 

 while fenfelefs, though itriftly he cannot be faid to be put 

 in fear, yet this is undoubtedly a robbery ; or, if a perfon 

 with a fword drawn beg an alms, and I give it him through 

 miftruft and apprehenfion of violence, this is a felonious 

 robbery. 1 Hawk. P. C. 96. 



This is fometimes alfo called violent theft, and its punifh- 

 rnent, be the value of the thing taken ever fo fmall, is 

 death. 



This fpecies of larceny is debarred of the benefit of cleroy 

 by 23 Hen. VIII. cap. 1. and other fubfequent ftatutes ; 

 not indeed in general, but only when committed in or near 

 the king's highway. A robbery, therefore, in a diftant 

 field or foot-path, was not punifhed with death (1 Hal. 

 P - C- 535-)» but was open to the benefit of clergy, till the 



K O JJ 



fiat, v & 4 W. & M. cap. 9. which lakes away clergy 

 froni robbery wherefoever committed. 



The word is faid to have taken its rife hence, that an- 

 ciently robbers only took away the robes or clothes from 

 travellers. Though lord Coke, in the third of his Initi- 

 tutes, takes the name to have had its rife from Robin 

 Hood, who lived under Richard I. in the borders of Eng- 

 land and Scotland, by robbery, burning houfes, rape, and 

 fpoil. Hence, alfo, 



Robbers-men, or roberds-men, mentioned in feveral ftatutes 

 for great thieves. 



ROBBING. See HovsE-Robbmg. 



ROBBINS, or Robands, i.e. rope-bands, in a Ship, 

 fmall lines, or braided cordage, which make the upper 

 edges of the great fails faft to their refpective yards, being 

 reeved into eyelet-holes in the head of the fail under the 

 head-rope for that purpofe. They are generally of a fuf- 

 ficient length to pal's two or three times about the faid yard. 

 The word is, make fq/2 the roblins ; for at fea they do not 

 fay, tie, but make fqft. 



ROBE, Roba. See Gown. 



Robes, Mqfttr of the, is an officer of the houfehold, with 

 an appointment of 500/. a-year, who has the ordering of all 

 his majefty's robes. See Master of the Wardrobe. 



He has feveral officers under him, as a clerk of the robes, 

 a yeoman, three grooms, a page, a brufher, furrier, femp- 

 ftrefs, laundrefs, ftarcher, and Handing wardrobe-keepers at 

 St. James's, Windfor caftle, Hampton-court, &c. There 

 is alfo in the eftablifhment of his majefty's houfehold a mif- 

 trefs of the robes, with an appointment of 500/. a-year, and 

 two keepers of the robes. See Wardrobe. 



Robes to Minflrels. Innumerable bands of tumblers, 

 buffoons, rope-dancers, muficians, players on inftruments] 

 and aftors, were formerly retained in the courts of princes, 

 who, by their gambols, farces, fports, and fongs, diverted 

 the company. Thefe were called in Tufcany Giullare and 

 Giocolari, and, by thofe who mentioned them in Latin, Jo- 

 culares and Joculatores. Thefe fabricators of amufement 

 never departed without being well rewarded. But what 

 appears the mofl extraordinary and different from our pre- 

 sent cultoms is, that the coftly and gorgeous robes, which 

 it was ufual for princes to receive from other great per- 

 fonages who vifited their courts at feafts, or upon their 

 marriage, as marks of their friendfhip and refpeel, were 

 beftowed on thefe people. Benvenuto Aliprando, an old 

 ruftic poet, in his Chronicle, defcribes a marriage at the 

 great court of Mantua, in the year 1340, while under the 

 dominion of the Gonzaga family. " At that time," fays 

 he, " the different princes and nobles of Italy, whofe names 

 he mentions, prefented the Gonzaghi with a variety of rich 

 and precious veflments, which were called robe, robes, and 

 which were afterwards given to muficians and buffoons,' 1 

 as the old poet informs us in the following lines: 



" Tutte le robe fopra nominate, 



Furon in tutto trent' otto e trecento, 

 A buffoni e fonatori donate." 



" And all thefe coftly robes of dates, 

 In all three hundred thirty-eicht, 

 To fidlers and buffoons were given." 



The family of Gonzaga, in return, reciprocally exercifed 

 munificence towards the nobles who vifited them, as the fame 

 old poet informs us in the following rude verfes : 



" Otto giorno la corte fi durare 

 Torni eri, gioftri, bagordi facia, 



Bellar, 



