R O % 
with the last, which they called umbilicus, and to which 
they fastened an ivory or boxen stick, to sustain the roll. 
To the other extremity they pasted a piece of parchment, 
to cover and preserve it. , 
These rolls were placed in the libraries perpendicularly 
to the horizon. The Jews still preserve the ancient usage of 
rolls for the books they read in the synagogues, 
ROLL, in Antiquity. From the time of Anastasius, we 
find in the hands of the emperors, on medals, a kind ot 
narrow long roll, or sac he!; the meaning of which has 
greatly puzzled the antiquaries. 
Some imagine it to be a roll or bundle of papers, me¬ 
moirs, petitions, &c. presented occasionally to princes, 
consuls, and the like. Others take it to be a plaited hand¬ 
kerchief, which the person's who presided at the games cast 
forth as a signal for their beginning. Others will have it a 
hag of dust and ashes, presented the emperor at the cere¬ 
mony of his coronation, and called akakia, q. d. a means of 
preserving innocence, by the remembrance otdust, &c. 
ROLL of Tobacco, is tobacco in the leaf, twisted in the 
mill, and wound twist over twist, about a stick or roller. 
The generality of tobacco in America is there sold in 
rolls of various weights; and it is not till after its arrival in 
England, Spain, France, and Holland, that it is cut. Roll 
tobacco is what is chiefly used, both for chewing and rasping. 
A ROLL of Parchment contains 20 skins. 
ROLL, Pot ulus, in Law, denotes a schedule of paper or 
parchment, which may be wound up by the hand into the 
fashion of a pipe. 
Of these there are, in the Exchequer, several kinds; viz. the 
great wardrobe-roll, the cofferer s-roll, the subsidy-roll, &c. 
The word is formed from the French rolle, of the Latin 
rotulus ; because most instruments and expeditions in law 
were anciently written on papers, or parchments, sewed or 
glued together, and thus rolled up; whence the word enrol, 
and the like. 
. ROLLS of Parliament, are the manuscript registers of the 
proceedings of our ancient parliaments. 
Before the use of printing, and till the reign of Henry VII. 
our statutes were all engrossed in parchment, and (by virtue 
of the king’s writ for that purpose) proclaimed openly in 
every county. 
In these rolls we have also a great many decisions of 
difficult points in law, which were frequently, in former 
times, referred to the decision of that high court. 
ROLL, liider, a schedule, or small piece of parchment, 
frequently sewed, or added to some part of a roll, or record. 
Noy observes, that the court ex-officio may award a 
certiorari ad informandam conscientiam; and that which 
is certified shall be annexed to the record, and called a 
rider-roll. 
ROLL is also used for a list of the names of several persons 
of the same condition, or entered in the same engagement. 
ROLL, Size, a list containing the names of all the men 
belonging to a troop or company, with the height or stature 
of each specifically marked. Every serjeant keeps a regular 
size-roll, and every captain of a troop or company ought to 
have one likewise. 
ROLL, Squad, a list containing the names of each parti¬ 
cular squad. Every non-commissioned officer and corporal, 
who are entrusted with the care and arrangement of a squad, 
must have a roll of this kind. 
ROLL -Calling, is the calling over of the soldiers of a 
troop, or company, by their names, to see that they are all 
present. 
This necessary duly is performed by the serjeants of com- 
S anies, morning and evening, in every well-regulated corps. 
[ence we have “ morning roll call ,” and “ evening roll-call,” 
on critical occasions; and in services that require prompti¬ 
tude and exertion, frequent roll-calls should be made. 
ROLL, Calves-head, is a roll in the two Temples, in 
which every bencher is taxed yearly at 2s., every barrister 
at Is. 6d., and every gentleman under the bar at Is. to the 
eook, and other officers of the house, in consideration of a 
dinner of calves-heads, provided in Easter term. 
Vol. XXII. No-1493. 
E O L 193 
ROLL, Ragman's or RagimuntTs Roll, is a roll denomi¬ 
nated from Ragbnund, a papal legate in Scotland; who, 
calling before him all the people who held benefices in that 
kingdom, caused them, upon oath, to give in the value of 
their estates, according to which they were taxed in the court 
of Rome. 
ROLLS, or Office of Rolls, in Chancery-lane, London, is 
an office appointed for the custody of the rolls and records 
in chancery. 
The master of this office is the second person in that court; 
and, in the absence of the lord chancellor, he sits as judge. 
This house, or office, was anciently called Domus Con- 
versorum, as being appointed, by king Henry III., for the 
use of converted Jews; but their irregularities occasioned 
king Edward II. to expel them thence: upon which, the 
place was deputed for the custody of the rolls. 
ROYiL-rich Stones, a series of huge stones, ranged in a 
circle, in Oxfordshire, near Moreton-Hen-Marsh. There are 
many fabulous traditions aboutthem. Among the antiquaries, 
some take them to be a monument of a victory ; others, a bury¬ 
ing place; and others a place for the coronation of the Danish 
kings. 
Near Penros, in Cornwall, is a like monument. 
ROLLAMPONT, a large village of France, depart¬ 
ment of the Upper Marne. 
ROLLAND, an island in the Southern Indian sea, 
discovered by Kerguelen in the year 1773, who named it 
after the vessel in which he sailed. It is about 9 miles in 
circumference. Lat. 48. 37. N. long. 68. 43. E. 
ROLLE (Michael), an eminent French mathematician in 
the 17th and early part of the 18th century, was born at 
Ambert, a small town in Auvergne, in the year 1652. His 
father, who was a petty tradesman, after having had him 
taught to write a good hand, and a little arithmetic, placed 
him to gain his livelihood as a writer, at first with a notary, 
and afterwards with different country attorneys. Disgusted 
with an occupation so little suited to his genius, at the age of 
23 he went to Paris, depending on no other recourse than his 
fine penmanship, and supported himself for some time by 
teaching writing and the first rules of arithmetic. From an 
originally slight acquaintance with the science of numbers, 
finding the study of it congenial to his taste, he by degrees 
advanced further and further, till unintentionally, and almost 
without perceiving it, he arrived at algebra. No sooner had 
he made himself master of the first principles of this science, 
than he became passionately attached to the study of it; and 
though the demands of a growing family required an assidu¬ 
ous attention to his professional engagements, yet all the 
leisure time which he could find, and many hours which he 
redeemed from sleep, he devoted to this favourite pursuit, till 
he had become intimately conversant in the most abstract 
analyses. In 1682, the learned M. Ozanam having proposed 
a difficult mathematical problem to exercise the ingenuity of 
mathematicians, M. Rolle, who was then in his 30th year, 
soon sent him a very able and clear solution of it, accompanied 
by methods which he had invented of solving other problems, 
attended with still greater difficulty. Informed of his merits, 
the minister Colbert, who delighted in encouraging men of 
extraordinary genius and abilities, determined to draw him 
out of the obscurity in which he had hitherto been concealed, 
and presented him with a handsome gratuity, which was 
afterwards settled on him as a regular pension. Animated 
by such distinguished patronage, he gave up his profession 
of w'riting-master, and devoted himself wholly to the study 
of algebra, and the other branches of the pure mathematics. 
So great was his success, that in 1685, three years only after 
his name was first known in the mathematical world, he 
was chosen a member of the Ancient Academy of Sciences. 
Some time after this, having taught the elements of the 
mathematics to a son of M. de Louvois, that minister re¬ 
compensed him for his services by a place in the War-office, 
of much greater emolument than his seat in the academy. 
For a while he endeavoured to discharge the duties of both 
situations; but finding at length that a proper attention to 
his new appointment was incompatible with his scientifi* 
3 D engagements 
