ROB 
Torricelli gave the name of Robervallian Lines. Moferi. 
■Nouv. Diet. Hist. Hutton's Math. Diet. 
ROBERVALLIAN LINES, a name -given to certain 
lines, used for the transformation of figures: thus called 
from their inventor M. de Roberval. It is said, that these 
lines bound spaces infinitely extended in length, which are 
nevertheless equal to other spaces terminated on all sides, 
which we consider impossible. 
The abbot Gallo is, in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy, 
anno 1693, observes, that the method of transforming figures, 
explained at the latter end of M. de Roberval’s Treatise of 
Indivisibles, is the same with that since published by Mr. 
James Gregory, in his Universal Geometry, and afterwards 
by Barrow, in his Lectiones Geometric®; and that, by a 
letter of Torricelli, it appears that Roberval was the inventor 
of this manner of transforming figures, by means of certain 
lines, which Torricelli therefore called Robervallian lines. 
He adds, that it is highly probable, that J. Gregory first 
learned the method in the journey he made to Padua in 
] 668; the method itself having been known in Italy from 
the year 1646, though the book was not published till the 
year 1692. 
This account Dr. David Gregory has endeavoured to refute, 
in vindication of his brother. His answer is inserted in the 
Phil. Trans, an. 1694. 
ROBES, Master of the, is an officer of the household, 
with an appointment of 500/. a-year, who has the ordering 
of all his Majesty’s robes. 
He has several officers under him, as a clerk of the robes, 
a yeoman, three grooms, a page, a brusher, furrier, semp¬ 
stress, laundress, starcher, and standing wardrobe-keepers at 
St. James’s, Windsor-castle, Hampton-court, &c. There is 
also in the establishment of his Majesty’s household a mis¬ 
tress of the robes, with an appointment of 500/. a-year, anti 
two keepers of the robes. 
ROBESON, a county of the United States, in the south 
part of North Carolina. Population 7528, including 1340 
slaves. Lumberton is the chief town. 
ROBESON, a township of the United States, in Berks 
county, Pennsylvania. Population 1807. 
ROBESPIERRE (Maximilian-Isidore), a conspicuous 
character in the French Revolution, distinguished by the 
sanguinary ferocity with which he exercised a temporary 
supremacy, was born in 1759, at Arras. His father was a 
lawyer of good reputation, but so negligent of his affairs that 
he left his three children in a state of absolute indigence. 
The bishop of the city humanely took care of the education 
of the two sons, and Maximilian obtained, through his means, 
an exhibition at the college of Louis le Grand, at Paris. He 
there distinguished himself by his exercises; and his destina¬ 
tion being to the profession of the law, he was afterwards 
entered as a pupil with an advocate of eminence. His pro¬ 
gress in legal studies, however, was inconsiderable, and he 
returned to Arras rather qualified for a declaimer than a 
practitioner at the bar. Some popular causes, and a prize 
which he gained by a discourse on a subject proposed by 
the Academy of Metz, excited an advantageous idea of his 
abilities; while a gloomy thoughtful air, a disposition to 
censure, rigid sentiments of morality, and an appearance of 
ardent patriotism, inspired a confidence in his principles. 
Such was the opinion of him entertained by the majority of 
bis fellow-citizens, that when the states-general of France 
were convoked in 1789, he was returned as a representative 
of the tiers-etat, and intrusted with drawing up the instruc¬ 
tions for himself and his fellow-deputies. That he really 
partook of the enthusiasm of the time, need not be question¬ 
ed ; and his connecting himself with the most violent of the 
popular party was, at first, probably as much the result of 
Iris feelings and convictions, as of a systematic plan to raise 
himself into consequence. He took pains to improve his 
Style in writing and speaking, and in his oratory copied 
Mirabeau, though with so much inferiority, that whilst the 
original was called the torch of Provence, the imitator ob¬ 
tained' the appellation of the taper of Arras. By courting 
Vol. XXII. No. 1490* 
ROB 141 
the people, and displaying a determined hostility to the 
royal prerogatives, he laid a foundation for future influence 
in the democratic party; but upon the whole he was ra¬ 
ther regarded as a well-intentioned patriot, than an able 
politician: it is remarkable that one frequent topic of his de¬ 
clamation was the injustice of capital punishment in any case. 
After the dissolution of the National or Constituent 
Assembly, followed by the election of the Legislative 
Assembly, the members of which were all new, Robes¬ 
pierre’s chief theatre of action was the famous Jacobin 
club, at which he was a principal speaker. He also pub¬ 
lished a weekly paper entitled “ Le Defenseur de la Con¬ 
stitution.” He now adopted the republican party, and 
though he did not appear as an actor in the insurrection of 
August 10th, or the horrid prison-massacres of September, 
it is supposed that he favoured them, but declined taking 
an open part, from that pusillanimity which belonged to 
his character. In the new assembly, called the National 
Convention, which met in September 1792, Robespierre 
was returned as a member for Paris ; a proof that he had 
been gradually gaining in the popular esteem. He soon 
became the head of the party called the Mountain, which 
was opposed to that of the Brissotines, who then possessed 
the ministerial power. He underwent an accusation of 
aspiring to the dictatorship, from Louvet, one of that par¬ 
ty, which he repelled by a long and artful speech; and 
in the end, the Convention passed to the order of the day. 
The printing of Robespierre’s speech was a means of ex¬ 
tending his popularity; and his subsequent exertions to 
bring the unfortunate Lewis to a trial, and procure his con¬ 
demnation, greatly augmented his influence with the violent 
part of the nation. At this time, the war in which the 
Brissotines had imprudently engaged with England and 
Spain, joined to the ill success of the French arms in Flan¬ 
ders, the defection of Dumouriez, and the rebellion in 
La Vendee, brought the public affairs into a very critical 
state, and filled men’s minds with alarm. Suspicions of 
all public men were readily listened to, and vigorous mea¬ 
sures were loudly called for. Scenes of tumult and intrigue 
succeeded, which terminated in the overthrow of the Bris¬ 
sotines, against whom a decree of arrestation passed in the 
summer of 1793. 
Robespierre, assisted by Danton and Marat, now gained a 
decided supremacy in the National Convention, and the period 
which has been emphatically termed the reign of terror com¬ 
menced. It was a period of the most dreadful tyranny that 
has been exercised in any country in modern times, but also of 
the most extraordinary energy against the foreign enemies 
of the state; and though Robespierre deserves the execration 
of all posterity for the unparalleled atrocities of his domestic 
administration, it ought to be acknowledged, that to the un¬ 
relenting severity with which he exacted the performance of 
their duty from all who were entrusted with command, 
France in great measure owed her preservation from the dan¬ 
gers which surrounded her, and her wonderful successes. 
This administration, however, was conducted upon princi¬ 
ples not less subversive of all freedom, law, and justice, than 
those of any tyranny the world has witnessed. A permanent 
committee of safety, of which he was the head, engrossed all 
the public authority, and the terrible revolutionary tribunal 
devoted to death, at his beck, all who were the objects of his 
suspicion or hatred. The Girondist deputies, to the number 
of 21, with their leader Brissot, were among the first victims. 
The Queen and the Duke of Orleans followed. The scaffold 
daily streamed with the blood of nobles, priests, and all who 
by character and condition could but be suspected of being- 
attached to the ancient government. In the provinces, 
massacres were perpetrated against whole orders of men with¬ 
out distinction, and towns were desolated of the greater part 
of their inhabitants. The levelling principle was extended 
to all superiority of science and talent, and it seemed the 
tyrant’s object to bring back an age of barbarism. At length 
his own confederates were not spared. Danton himself, 
with Desmoulins, Fabre d’Eglantine, and others, were accused 
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