and exegetical commentary on the Pentateuch, Isaiah, the Psalms, Job, Ezekiel, the minor prophets, Jeremiah, the writings of Solomon, Daniel, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth. The first edition was published 1795-1826, the second 1823-34. In the second edition several Rationalistic interpretations which appeared in the first are greatly modified. Rosenmüller's profound oriental learning and untiring industry have made this work one of the most valuable commentaries upon the Old Testament. In some cases he leans too much to the interpretations of the Jewish Rabbis. A Compendium of the Scholia,' in 5 vols. 8vo, containing the Pentateuch, Isaiah, the Psalms, Job, Ezekiel, and the minor prophets, has been executed by Dr. J. C. S. Lechner, under the author's superintendence. Rosenmüller did not live to complete his larger work. 2,‘Handbuch der Biblischen Alterthumskunde,' 4 vols. Svo, 1823-31. This work was also left incomplete at the author's death. The volumes published were three on the geography and one on the natural history of the Bible. Translations of parts of this work are published in the Biblical Cabinet,' namely, The Geography of Central Asia,' 2 vols., and The Mineralogy and Botany of the Bible,' 1 vol. 3, Institutiones Linguæ Arabicæ,' the best manual of Arabic grammar, chiefly founded upon De Sacy's 'Grammaire Arabe.' 4, Analecta Arabica.' 5, 'Vocabularium Veteris Testamenti.' 6, 'Das Alte und das Neue Morgenland,' 6 vols. 8vo. ROSMI'NI, CARLO DE' was born in 1758 at Roveredo, in the Italian Tyrol. He studied first at Innsbruck, and then in his native town, where he began early to show his aptitude for literary composition by writing several disquisitions on poetry. He afterwards removed to Ferrara, where he published in 1789 a Life of Ovid:- Vita di Ovidio Nasone,' to which were added a letter by Vannetti on the style and the language of Ovid, and a parallel between the Orpheus of Ovid and the same character in Virgil. This work obtained for Rosmini the honour of being inscribed among the members of the Florentine academy. He next wrote 'Della Vita di L. Anneo Seneca libri quattro,' Roveredo, 1793. In 1801 he wrote an account of Vittorino da Feltre, a celebrated preceptor of the 15th century, and of his system of education, 'Idea dell' ottimo Precettore nella Vita e Disciplina di Vittorino da Feltre e de' suoi Discepoli.' This book may be called a treatise on pedagogy, as well as the next work published by Rosmini on Guarino Veronese, a contemporary of Vittorino da Feltre, and upon his school, 'Vita e Disciplina di Guarino Veronese e de' suoi Discepoli,' 3 vols. 8vo, Brescia, 1805-6. In 1808 Rosmini published an elaborate biography of the learned Filelfo, Vita di Francesco Filelfo da Tolentino,' 3 vols. 8vo. His next work was a Life of Trivulzio, a great captain of the 16th century, Dell' Istoria intorne alle Militari Imprese ed alla Vita di Gian Jacopo Trivulzio detto il Magno Libri XV.,' 2 vols. 4to, 1815, a biography enriched with handsome engravings and valuable documents. The last work of Rosmini was his history of Milan, 'Dell' Istoria di Milano Libri XVIII.' This history embraces the period from the reign of Frederic Barbarossa down to 1535, when Milan was annexed to the dominions of Charles V. The author wrote a continuation of it down to the beginning of the reign of the Empress Maria Theresa in 1740, which continuation is still inedited. Rosmini ranks among the principal Italian biographers of our times. He died at Milan in 1827. ROSS, REAR-ADMIRAL SIR JOHN, Knight, was born June 24, 1777, at Balsarroch, Wigtownshire, Scotland. He was the fourth son of the Rev. Andrew Ross, of Balsarroch, minister of the parish of Inch. He entered the navy as a first-class volunteer November 11, 1786, on board the Pearl, 32 guns, and served in the Mediterranean till 1789. From November 7, 1790 till 1791, he served on board the Impregnable, 98 guns, in the English Channel. After being some years in the merchant-service he became, in September 1799, a midshipman on board the Weazel, sloop-of-war, which in that year formed part of the expedition to the coast of Holland. After having served on board several other king's ships, he received his commission as lieutenant, March 13, 1805. While attached to the Surinam, 18 guns, in 1806, he was severely wounded in four places in cutting out a Spanish vessel under the batteries of Bilbao, for which, in 1808, he was granted a pension of 987. a year, increased in 1815 to 1501. He attained the rank of commander February 1, 1812, and was appointed to the Briseis, sloop-of-war, and afterwards to other vessels, till the termination of the war in 1815, during which period he performed several valuable services. He married his first wife in 1816.

In December 1817, while in command of the Driver, sloop-of-war, in Loch Ryan, on the coast of Scotland, he received a letter from Sir George Hope, one of the Lords of the Admiralty, informing him that two ships were to be sent out, to "ascertain the existence or nonexistence of a north-west passage;" and inquiring whether he was disposed to undertake the command of the expedition. Having expressed his willingness to do so, he was directed to repair to London, where he arrived on the 30th of December. On the 15th of January 1818, he received his commission as commander of the Isabella, 385 tons, Lieutenant W. E. Parry being appointed to the command of the Alexander, 252 tons. The two ships departed from the Thames, April 25, 1818. They sailed up the eastern side of Davis's Strait and Baffin's Bay, and returned by the western side. They entered Lancaster Sound, and after proceeding some distance up it, Ross and the officer of the watch thought that they saw "land round the bottom of the Bay, forming a chain of mountains connected with those which

extended along the north and south sides." The Alexander, being a slow-sailing vessel, was a considerable distance behind the Isabella. Parry however and his officers could see no mountains, and were greatly surprised and disappointed when the Isabella turned her head eastwards, and gave the signal for the Alexander to follow the example. Ross named the supposed high land the Croker Mountains, and has laid them down in his chart as a continuous chain closing up the bottom of the supposed bay. This was a mistake, as Parry believed at the time, and as he proved the following year when he sailed through Lancaster Sound into Barrow's Strait. [PARRY, SIR WILLIAM EDWARD.] The ships arrived in the Thames on the 14th of November, 1818. On the 7th of December, the same year, Ross was advanced to the rank of post-captain. In 1819 he published A Voyage of Discovery, made under the Orders of the Admiralty, in his Majesty's ships Isabella and Alexander, for the purpose of exploring Batlin's Bay, and enquiring into the Probability of a North-West Passage,' 2 vols. 8vo. After the unsuccessful attempt of Captain Parry to reach the north pole, in 1827, Captain Ross submitted to the Lords of the Admiralty and to the Lord High Admiral the plan of another voyage of discovery to the Arctic seas. The government however did not undertake it; but after some delay a steam-ship was equipped at the expense of Mr. Felix Booth (afterwards Sir Felix Booth), then sheriff of London. The ship was named the Victory, and was fitted with an engine, invented and patented by Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson, which proved to be so bad as to be almost useless. Commander James Clark Ross, nephew of Captain Ross, was chosen as second in command. They had an attendant vessel of 16 tons burden, granted to them by the Admiralty, named the Krusenstern. The Victory, with its attendant, left the Thames May 24, 1829, and using partly her sails, and partly her "execrable machinery," as Ross calls it, entered Davis's Straits, July 5. Captain Ross expected to find a north-west passage through Prince Regent Inlet, which Parry had discovered, and in which one of his ships, the Fury, had been wrecked. The Victory and the Krusenstern entered the Inlet on the 12th of August, and on the following day discovered the wreck of the Fury. They afterwards took such of her stores as they required, passed farther down the Inlet, and on the 8th of October were frozen up in Felix Harbour, on the west side of the Gulf of Boothia. They were not released from the ice till the 17th of September 1830, and were able to advance but a very short distance before they were again frozen up on the 31st of October. On the 29th of August 1831, the Victory was again released from the ice, but on the 25th of September was forced by the pressure into another harbour. In April 1832 the sailors commenced carrying northwards two boats, with sledges and provisions, and on the 29th of May the vessels were finally abandoned. Captain Ross, in his journal, observes, "In the evening I took my own adieu of the Victory. It was the first vessel that I had ever been obliged to abandon, after having served in thirty-six, during a period of forty-two years." Some of the crew had died, and the rest were much weakened, but they struggled on till the 15th of August 1833, when the ice broke, and they were enabled to set sail in the boats. On the 26th of August, when near the entrance of Lancaster Sound, they came in sight of the Isabella, which was out on a whaling voyage. The mate in command of a boat that was sent to them, on Captain Ross asking him the name of the vessel, said it was the Isabella of Hull, once commanded by Captain Ross, "on which I stated that I was the identical man in question, and my people were the crew of the Victory." Unshaven as they all were, dirty, dressed in tattered skins, and wasted almost to the bones, the man doubted the statement, and said that Captain Ross had been dead two years. He was easily convinced of his error, and they were received on board the Isabella, with the yards and rigging manned, and with three hearty cheers. The Isabella arrived at Hull on the 18th of September 1833, and on the 19th Captain Ross reached London by steamer.

While the ships were frozen up in the Gulf of Boothia, many journeys and surveys were made by Commander Ross, and some by Captain Ross himself, chiefly of the coasts and country which they named Boothia Felix. During one of these journeys Commander Ross discovered, June 1, 1831, a spot which he considered to be the north magnetic pole, 70° 5' 17" N. lat., 96° 46′ 45" W. long., where the dipping needle indicated a dip of 89° 59′, or within one minute of the vertical.

In

On the 24th of December 1834, Captain Ross received the honour of knighthood, together with the companionship of the Bath. Many other honours and several rewards were conferred upon him. 1835 he published a 'Narrative of a Second Voyage in Search of a North-West Passage, and of a Residence in the Arctic Regions during the years 1829, 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833, by Sir John Ross, C.B., &c., Captain in the Royal Navy, including the Reports of Commander (now Captain) James Clark Ross, R.N., F.R.S., F.L.S., &c., and the Discovery of the Northern Magnetic Pole,' 4to, with Maps and Plates. In the same year was published an Appendix to the Narrative,' &c., also in 4to, chiefly consisting of accounts of the Esquimaux, and of the zoology, the meteorology, and similar matters. On the 8th of March, 1839, Sir John Ross was appointed consul at Stockholm, where he remained till February 1845. In 1850 he went out in search of Sir John Franklin, in a small vessel of 90 tons, named the Felix, and remained one winter in the ice. The government lent him no assist

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other prizes from the same society in 1808 the silver medal and 201. for an original drawing of the Judgment of Solomon;' in 1809 the large silver palette for a miniature of Venus and Cupid;' in 1810 the silver medal and 207. for an original drawing of Samuel presented to Eli; and in 1811 the silver medal for an original drawing of the

ROSS, SIR JAMES CLARK, Knight, Captain in the Royal Navy, was born April 15, 1800, in London. He is a son of George Ross, Esq., of London and Balsarroch, and is nephew of the late Rear-Admiral Sir John Ross, treated of in the preceding article. He entered the royal navy April 5, 1812, as a first-class volunteer, on board the Briseis, commanded by his uncle Captain John Ross. He continued to serve under his uncle as midshipman and master's mate, in other ships, in the Baltic, the White Sea, and on the coast of Scotland. He accompanied Captain John Ross in the Isabella, as an admiralty midshipman, on his first voyage in search of a north-west passage. [Ross, REARADMIRAL SIR JOHN.] On his return he joined the Severn, 40 guns, lying in the Downs. From January 1819 to October 1825 he was engaged under Captain Parry in bis three voyages in search of a north west passage, and while absent on the second was promoted, Dec. 26, 1822, to the rank of lieutenant. In the third voyage he was on board the Fury when that ship was wrecked in Prince Regent Inlet. In 1827 he again accompanied Captain Parry in his attempt to reach the North Pole. [PARRY, SIR WILLIAM EDWARD.] On his return to England he received a commission as commander, Nov. 8, 1827. From 1829 till 1833 he served under his uncle Captain John Ross, in his second voyage in search of a north-west passage; and his valuable services during that period, including the discovery of the northern magnetic pole, were rewarded by his elevation to the rank of post-captain, Oct. 28, 1834. In 1835 he proceeded to Baffin's Bay for the purpose of searching for some missing whalers, and conveying relief to them. He was subsequently, till 1838, employed by the Admiralty in making a magnetic survey of Great Britain and Ireland.

Captain James Clark Ross, on the 8th of April 1839, was appointed to the command of the Erebus, bomb, 370 tons, and of an expedition to the Antarctic Seas. He was accompanied by Commander Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier, in command of the Terror, 340 tons. The chief purpose of the expedition was magnetic investigation, as to the lines of variation, the dip, and the intensity, and also as to the position of the southern magnetic pole or poles. The two ships sailed from the mouth of the Thames Sept. 30, 1839, and anchored off Folkestone, on their return, Sept. 4, 1843. During this voyage of four years, besides the investigations in magnetism and meteorology, many valuable additions were made to the previous knowledge of the Antarctic Regions and Seas in geography, geology, zoology, and botany. Three persevering attempts were made to reach the South Pole, and the ships succeeded in reaching the latitude of 78° 10′, or about 157 miles from the Pole. A vast continent was discovered, bordered with a barrier of ice 150 feet high, to which they gave the name of Victoria Land. An active volcano was seen, which they named Mount Erebus, in 77° 32′ S. lat., 167° E. long., 12,000 feet in height, and in the midst of perpetual snow. Only four men were lost during the voyage-three by accident and one by illness. Captain James Clark Ross after his return married Oct. 8, 1843. In 1844 he received the honour of knighthood, and also the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford. In 1847 was published 'A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions, during the years 1839-43, by Captain Sir James Clark Ross, Knt., R.N., D.C.L. Oxon., F.R.S., &c., with Plates and Woodcuts,' 2 vols. 8vo. On the 31st of January 1848, Sir James C. Ross was appointed to the Enterprise, and made a voyage to Baffin's Bay in search of Sir John Franklin, which was, like the other searching voyages, unsuccessful.

Sir James C. Ross, who is skilled in astronomy, magnetism, meteorology, zoology, botany, and other sciences, has received many testimonials of his merits. In 1823 he was elected a Fellow of the Linnæan Society, and Dec. 11, 1828, a Fellow of the Royal Society. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal Geographical Society, and is a corresponding member of several foreign societies. In 1833 he received the thanks of the common council of the city of London; in 1841 he was presented with the founder's gold medal by the London Geographical Society, and in 1842 with the gold medal of the Geographical Society of Paris. (See SUPPLEMENT.]

ROSS, SIR WILLIAM CHARLES, R.A., was born in London June 3, 1794. From his birth he was in a measure dedicated to art. His father was a miniature-painter and teacher of drawing; his mother, the sister of Anker Smith the engraver, was also an artist of some ability. Under their instruction and influence he had made sufficient progress to enter the Royal Academy as a student when only ten years old. In his thirteenth year (1807) he gained a silver palette at the Society of Arts for a copy in chalk of Smith's engraving of the Death of Wat Tyler;' and in each of the four following years he received

Mr. Ross commenced his professional career as a painter of portraits and historical and poetical subjects of the order indicated in the titles just given. But he soon felt that only the promise of extraordinary success would justify him in devoting his life to the higher departinent of art, while there appeared to be a favourable opportunity for the application of superior knowledge and technical skill to what was generally regarded as a very inferior though popular branch-that of miniature. He accordingly became a miniature-painter, and he soon found his reward in a steady influx of patronage, which went on increasing until he became the admitted head of that line of art. During his long career as the favourite painter of the court and aristocracy, it has fallen to his lot to paint most of the members of the royal family from the Queen downwards, and the élite of the aristocratic and fashionable world, as well as many members of foreign royal and noble families; it would therefore be idle to attempt to enumerate his works. As to their style it may suffice to say, that bringing to miniature-painting the knowledge acquired in the study of the higher walks of art, he was able to do something to elevate its general character; and though in Sir William Newton, Thorburn, and a few others, he has found worthy rivals, it may fairly be said that to his example even his most successful competitors owe not a little of their own excellence. The miniatures of Sir William Ross invariably exhibit admirable drawing and careful execution; a good, though it may be somewhat refined likeness; charming general colour, while the carnations are almost unequalled among miniature-painters; and the utmost taste in the arrangement of the whole.

Sir William Ross was appointed miniature painter to the Queen in 1837; in 1838 he was elected A.R.A.; in February 1842 he became R.A.; and in the following June he received the honour of knighthood. It should be mentioned that though Sir William early abandoned historic for miniature painting, he did not lose either his interest or his skill in the former. When the first great Cartoon competition in connection with the decoration of the new houses of parliament was announced, Sir William sent to Westminster Hall a cartoon 10 feet 8 inches square, representing The Angel Raphael discoursing with Adam,' which attracted considerable notice, and obtained one of the additional premiums of 100l. [See SUPPLEMENT.]

*ROSSE, WILLIAM PARSONS, THIRD EARL OF, was born in 1800. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and graduated first class in mathematics in 1822. As Lord Oxmantown, he represented King's County in parliament from 1821 to 1834. His father, the second earl, died in 1841, when Lord Oxmantown succeeded to the peerage. In 1845 he was elected one of the representative peers for Ireland. Lord Rosse's chief distinction however has arisen from his service to astronomical science, by the series of researches and experiments which resulted in the construction of the magnificent telescope set up on the lawn in front of his residence, Birr Castle, near Parsonstown, in King's County. The lenses of this enormous instrument were formed and the whole of the instrument constructed under his lordship's personal superintendence. The very beautiful contrivances for insuring the perfect stability and at the same time the easy movement of the vast instrument were also invented by his lordship. Years of anxious experiments, and a large amount of money, were expended by Lord Rosse in preparing the specula, on the perfection of which depended the accuracy of the observations which might be made by the telescope, and in constructing and fitting up the instrument. This unrivalled telescope has been found, as was expected, to possess a far greater amount of space penetrating power than any previous instrument, and several nebulæ, which had hitherto proved imperineable, have been readily resolved by it, and great advance has consequently been made in our knowledge of these objects. A much more minute and specific knowledge has also been obtained of the visible surface of the moon. The prospect of new observations of many other celestial phenomena and remarkable appearances of the heavenly bodies is also of course opened up by the adoption of instruments of such vast power as the results of Lord Rosse's experiments have shown to be practicable.

Lord Rosse married in 1836 the eldest daughter of John Wilmer Field, Esq., of Heaton Hall, Yorkshire. In 1843 he was president of the British Association; and in 1849 he was elected president of the Royal Society. He is also a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, and of other learned societies. At the close of the French Exhibition of 1855, the decoration of a Knight of the Legion of Honour was conferred on Lord Rosse in consideration of his services to astronomical science.

Lord Rosse has published the following:- The Monster Telescope erected by the Earl of Rosse, Parsonstown, with an account of the Manufacture of the Specula, and full descriptions of the Machinery, printed at Parsonstown in 1844; Letters on the State of Ireland,'

1847; 'Memorandum presented to the Council of the Royal Society for rendering the Council of the Society more efficient,' in a letter of Sir J. South to the Royal Society, privately printed in 1856. ROSSI, JOHN CHARLES FELIX, R.A., was born in 1762 at Nottingham, where his father, a native of Siena, though not a licensed practitioner, practised as a medical man. Young Rossi was apprenticed very early to a sculptor of the name of Luccatella, with whom he remained, after he had served his time, as a journeyman, at 188. per week; but being employed by his master to correct some work on which Luccatella's principal assistants had been engaged, he suspected that his own abilities were of a superior class, and he demanded and obtained higher wages. It was now however, having once felt the longing for praise, impossible for him to remain in his then subordinate situation, and he determined upon trying to better himself in London. There, still a boy, he entered himself as a student of the Royal Academy; and in 1781 he obtained the silver medal, and in 1784 the gold one, which entitled him to three years' maintenance at Rome. He went to Rome in 1785; in 1788 he returned to London; in 1800 he was elected an associate of the academy; and only two years afterwards, a very short interval, he was elected an academician. He was subsequently appointed sculptor to the Prince Regent, and he was employed in decorating Buckingham Palace. He was afterwards sculptor to William IV. But his celebrity had passed away, and he had little to do after the completion of his great public monuments in St. Paul's cathedral. In the latter years of his life he depended chiefly upon a pension from the Royal Academy. He died February 21, 1839. He was twice married, and had eight children by each wife. Rossi was both a classical and a monumental sculptor, and his style was manly and vigorous, especially in his monumental works, but they are not remarkable for any refinement either of sentiment or execution. Of the first class the following may be mentioned:-A Mercury in marble, executed in Rome; a recumbent figure of Eve, in marble; Edwin and Eleanora; Celadon and Amelia; Musidora; Zephyrus and Aurora; and Venus and Cupid. A statue of Thomson the poet by him is in the possession of Sir Robert Peel; and there is a large colossal statue of Britannia on the Exchange at Liverpool. His best works however, and those by which he is and will be known, are the following monuments in St. Paul's cathedral:-The Marquis Cornwallis, in the nave; Captain Faulkner and Lord Heathfield, in the south transept; and Captains Mosse and Riou, and Lord Rodney, in the north transept. The principal of these are those to Lords Cornwallis, Heathfield, and Rodney, and Captain Faulkner; all of which, except the second, are groups of three or more figures of the heroic size. That to Lord Cornwallis is placed opposite to Flaxman's monument to Nelson, and is in a similar style of composition and on a similar scale: it is a pyramidal group, the Marquis, as a Knight of the Garter, on a pedestal forming the apex; below are three allegorical figures-Britannia, and impersonations of the Begareth and Ganges, representing the British empire in the East. The sitting male figure or Ganges has much grandeur of form. Lord Heathfield is a single statue, represented in his regimentals: on the pedestal is an alto-rilievo of Victory descending from a castellated rock to crown a warrior on the sea-shore with laurel. Against the same pier is the monument to Captain Faulkner, R.N., who was killed on board the Blanche frigate in 1795: Neptune, seated on a rock, is in the act of catching the naked figure of a dying sailor; Victory is about to crown him with a laurel. Lord Rodney's monument is a pyramid group, the statue of the admiral forming the apex; below is Fame communicating with History. As will be seen, he depended mainly for religious sentiment and poetic effect on the admixture of allegory borrowed from classical mythology with literal fact, which was so favourite a practice with the sculptors of the 18th and early part of the present century, but which appears very difficult to reconcile with the requirements of monumental works in a Christian temple, or with common-sense.

ROSSI, ROSSO DE', or IL ROSSO, called in France, 'Maître Roux,' a celebrated Florentine painter, was born in Florence in 1496. He studied the works of Michel Angelo, and was distinguished for the boldness and freedom of his style. He executed several works in various cities of Italy, but his paintings are not numerous in Italy, as he passed the best portion of his career from about 1538 in the service of Francis I. at Fontainebleau, where he superintended all the works of the palace, with a princely allowance, and a house in Paris, given to him by Francis. In the year 1541 however, while still at Fontainebleau, a few hundred ducats were stolen from him, and he accused his friend and assistant Francesco Pellegrini of the theft, who was put to the torture and was declared to be innocent. Rosso's sorrow for what had happened, and the taunts of Pellegrini and his friends together, annoyed him to that extent that he poisoned himself, to the great astonishment and grief of Francis and his own pupils and assistants. He is said to have been called Il Rosso on account of his red hair: he was remarkable for his large and handsome person and general accomplishments and acquirements. Rosso was the boldest painter that had appeared in Italy up to the time of Vasari. Very few of his works were left at Fontainebleau; many of them were destroyed by his successor Primaticcio. Many of his works have been engraved. (Vasari, Vite de Pittori, &c.; Lettere Pittoriche; D'Argenville, Vies des Peintres.)

* ROSSINI, GIOACCHINO, the greatest dramatic composer of the

present century, was born on the 29th of February, 1792, at Pesaro, a little town near Bologna. His father was a horn-player in the orches tras of strolling theatrical companies, and his mother was a secondrate actress and singer. Young Rossini began his career by playing second horn to his father when he was only ten years old, and thus gained an acquaintance with opera music and opera business. Having a beautiful voice, his father had him taught singing by an eminent professor. He sang the treble parts as a choir-boy in the Bologna churches, and very soon became an excellent singer and a skilful accompanist. The breaking of his voice put an end to his occupation as a chorister; and at the age of fifteen he was admitted into the Lyceum of Bologna, and received lessons in counterpoint from the learned Padre Mattei. He did not take kindly to the severe duties imposed on him by his master; his temperament was too ardent and volatile for the drudgery of double counterpoint, fugues, and canons. Mattei, having told his pupils one day, that simple counterpoint, which they had been hitherto studying, might suffice for music in the free style, but that deeper knowledge was necessary for the composition of ecclesiastical works, the quick-witted youth instantly caught at the remark: "Do you mean to say, Padre, that, with what I have learned already, I could write operas?" "Why, yes," was the answer. "Well, then," rejoined Rossini, "I mean to write operas: and I don't want any more lessons." And thus ended the young musician's scholastic education. But, in truth, he educated himself, and was indefatigable in his labour of self-instruction. He gave his days and nights not only to the great composers of the Italian musical stage, but to the German masters, who were then neither appreciated nor understood in Italy. To Mozart he especially devoted himself, and he retains to this day the deepest veneration for his illustrious predecessor. In this way he made himself a musician; and his works show his mastery of all the resources of art which are necessary for that branch of it to which he applied himself. He continued this process of self-tuition during the whole of his career. It was a course of constant progress; a progress which may be measured by comparing his first great work with his last-his Tancredi' with his 'Guillaume Tell.'

Before the beautiful opera which made him at once famous, he had produced several juvenile pieces, which obtained some degree of success; but they need not now be enumerated, as they have all passed into oblivion except 'L'Inganno Felice,' performed at Venice in 1812. This opera became known beyond the confines of Italy, and we once (many years ago) witnessed its representation in London. It contains some beauties; but, as a whole, it is feeble, and not worthy of preservation.

Tancredi' was produced at Venice in 1813. No work of genius ever excited in a higher degree that sensation which the Italians so emphatically designate by the term furore. The susceptible Venetians were enchanted with its freshness and spirit, its noble chivalrous tone, its beautiful melodies, and brilliant yet simple accompaniments. The dilettanti exclaimed that Cimarosa had come back to the world. Nothing was to be heard in the saloons, the streets and public walks, the places of amusement-nay, even the courts of justice, but snatches of airs from Tancredi.' Its renown flew over all Italy, and over all Europe. In Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal, there was not a musical theatre, great or small, where it was not performed and received with enthusiasm, within a year or two of its first production; and in a very few years more it had crossed the Atlantic, and pursued its triumphant course over the great American continent. In short, Rossini, with his "Tancredi,' speedily made the conquest of the whole world of music. This work indeed raised him at once to the summit of fame, and all his subsequent labours could do no more than sustain him at the same elevation.

Rossini now produced opera after opera with astonishing rapidity, but he was not for some time able again to reach the level of "Tancredi.' 'L'Italiana in Algieri,' 'La Pietra di Paragone,'' Demetrio e Polibio,' 'Il Turco in Italia,' and 'Aureliano in Palmira,' were all favourably received at the different theatres where they were brought out, but none of them has kept possession of the stage. L'Italiana in Algieri,' and 'Il Turco in Italia,' were performed at Her Majesty's Theatre; and the former was revived at the Royal Italian Opera during Mademoiselle Alboni's first season at that theatre; but neither of them proved attractive in England: as to the others, they appear to be entirely forgotten. Aureliano in Palmira' was successful at first, the principal character having been performed by Velluti, then in the height of his popularity. This celebrated singer, who was a great master of the 'florid' style, covered his airs with such a profusion of brilliant embellishments, that Rossini exclaimed, "Non conosco più la mia musica" ("I do not know my own music "), and, it is said, was induced by this circumstance to write his airs with all their ornaments, so as to prevent them from being spoiled by the presumption and bad taste of singers; though his expedient has not been very successful, for the favourite warblers of the day cannot be restrained from embellishing even his embellishments.

In the year 1815 Rossini was appointed musical director of the great theatre of San Carlo at Naples; a situation which he held for seven years. The first opera composed by him for Naples was Elisabetta Regina d'Inghilterra,' which had great success; owing, it would seem, to the manner in which the character of the queen was performed by Mademoiselle Colbrand, one of the greatest

tragedians and singers of her time, who was then in the highest favour with the Neapolitans; for the success of the opera was shortlived. No other prima-donna has distinguished herself in it; and indeed it is now almost forgotten. This lady had gained a large fortune during her brilliant career, and Rossini married her before the termination of his engagement at Naples. This engagement did not preclude him from producing operas at other places; and accordingly two pieces, Torvaldo e Dorliska,' and 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia,' were brought out by him, in 1816, at Rome. The first made no impression; the second is the most popular and the most charming of all his works. The drama, founded on the well-known comedy of Beaumarchais, had already been clothed with beautiful music by the celebrated Paisiello; [PAISIELLO, G.] and Rossini's adoption of the same subject was regarded as a piece of no small audacity. Under this prepossession the Roman audience, the first night, treated the new opera harshly, and would scarcely hear it to an end. On a second hearing however they reversed their hasty judgment, and did justice to the beauties of the piece. It flew over all Europe, and was received, as "Tancredi' had been, with unbounded enthusiasm. For forty years it has enjoyed a success unparalleled in the annals of the Opera. It has been performed numberless times in every European language, and in every musical theatre, great and small, in the world; and to this day it is found to be as fresh, as delightful, and as attractive as ever.

In the following year, 1817, La Cenerentola' was produced at Rome, and 'La Gazza Ladra' at Milan. The former, as a whole, does not hold a very high place among the author's works. The dramatist has spoiled the pretty nursery tale of Cinderella, by divesting it of all its fanciful fairy machinery; and the heroine's part, being for a low mezzo-soprano voice, seldom finds a fitting representative. But there are highly comic scenes and pretty things in the music, so that this opera, when well-acted and sung, still continues to please. The 'Gazza Ladra' (founded on the interesting tale of the 'Maid and the Magpie') has always been one of Rossini's most favourite pieces. From this time to the termination of Rossini's engagement at Naples in 1823, were composed his principal operas for that city. Passing over some minor pieces which have fallen into oblivion, they were 'Otello,' 'Mosè in Egitto,' 'La Donna del Lago,' 'Maometto Secondo,' and 'Zelmira. Otello' notwithstanding the wretched way in which Shakspere is mangled by the Italian playwright, has high merit as a musical work; and, with two great performers in the characters of Othello and Desde mona, never fails to succeed even in England. In 'Mosè in Egitto' there is probably more real grandeur than in any of Rossini's other productions; the famous prayer of the Hebrews when about to effect the miraculous passage of the Red Sea, is a sublime inspiration of genius. This opera has always produced a great effect, not only in its original form but in French and German versions, and it has also been received with favour in England, though, in consequence of the prohibition of Scriptural subjects on our stage, it was performed under the title of Pietro l'Eremita,' and more recently (at the Royal Italian Opera) under that of 'Zorah;' both transformations being equally absurd and preposterous. La Donna del Lago' was at first unsuccessful; but the merits of this splendid opera were soon recognised, and it still keeps possession of the stage. Maometto Secondo,' also failed at first, and likewise when it was reproduced three years afterwards at Venice. But a French version of it under the title of Le Siege de Corinthe,' was well received at Paris in 1826; and in this form, but with Italian words, it has been repeatedly performed both at Paris and London, under the title of L'Assedio di Corinto.' Zelmira' was another failure, though it contains some of Rossini's finest music, the libretto being contemptibly silly.

In 1823 Rossini left Italy, and remained for many years absent from his native country. The last opera composed by him before his departure was 'Semiramide,' which, in that year, was produced at Venice. This is the most gorgeous of his works. Its pomp and splendour are somewhat ponderous, though highly imposing, and the strength of the orchestral accompaniments is carried to an overpowering excess. But it has much real grandeur, and the character of the Assyrian queen in the hands of a great tragedian, such as Pasta or Grisi, has never failed to make a strong impression.

After a brief stay in Paris, Rossini arrived in London in 1824, in consequence of an engagement at the Italian Opera, whereby he was to be the musical director, and to produce a new opera composed for the theatre. Madame Colbrand Rossini (whom he had married before leaving Naples) was also engaged as prima donna. Immense curiosity was excited by the arrival of the far-famed maestro. But 'Zelmira,' the opera which began the season, did not please; and Madame Rossini was so coldly received that she did not re-appear. The season was attended with enormous loss, and Rossini abruptly quitted England without having fulfilled his engagement to compose an opera. If however his engagement was disastrous to the theatre, his sojourn in London was profitable to himself. He was the lion of the day; and his manners and talents as an accomplished singer 'de société,' completed the popularity in the fashionable world which his music had gained. The aristocracy loaded him with attentions, and paid him richly for accepting their invitations. Two subscription-concerts for his benefit were got up at Almacks'; the admission to both was two guineas; and, as if this were not sufficient to render them exclusive, the tickets were limited to persons approved by a committee

of lady-patronesses. The concerts were of the most trivial kind, but the fashionable crowd could boast that they had heard the famous maestro himself sing a couple of comic songs. A popular idol is always subject to hostility and detraction. Many stories were industriously circulated of Rossini's arrogant and presumptuous behaviour even in the presence of royalty. They were effectually refuted at the time, and indeed were quite inconsistent with his general deportment, which has always been that of a well-bred gentleman and man of the world. The absurd homage he received from the fashionable world was no fault of his, but of those who paid it. On his return to Paris, Rossini became manager of the Italian Opera, to which office he was appointed by the Vicomte de Rochefoucauld, the minister of the royal household; and he held it till the revolution of 1830. His indolence and want of administrative capacity made him quite unfit for the situation, and the theatre during his régime fell from a prosperous state to the brink of ruin. He neglected his art as much as his business. He composed a little opera for the coronation of Charles X., called 'Il Viaggio a Reims;' and, when it had served its temporary purpose, he employed the greater part of the music in the concoction of another opera, on a totally different subject, called Il Conte Ory; a worthless piece in a dramatic point of view, though, on account of its light and pretty music, it is still occasionally performed. He adapted his old opera, 'Maometto Secondo,' to the French stage under the title of 'Le Siège de Corinthe,' as has been already mentioned; and he did the same thing with his 'Mosè in Egitto,' which was performed under the title of Moïse.' These were the whole of his labours from 1824 to 1829, when he produced his last and greatest opera, Guillaume Tell;' a work so original, so unlike anything he had ever done before, that it seemed the production of a different author. We recognise Rossini's graceful Italian melody; but in depth and solidity of style, richness of harmony, and variety of orchestral effects, 'Guillaume Tell' emulates the greatest masterpieces of the German school. This opera however has not had all the success which it deserves. The drama is ill-constructed and without interest, so that the audience become weary, notwithstanding the beauties or the music. Hence it happens that, while the airs and concerted pieces of 'Guillaume Tell' are performed at every concert, and found on every lady's pianoforte, it is seldom represented on the stage. With this opera, at the age of seven-and-thirty, Rossini closed his career. His doing so was the result of a deliberate resolution. To his friends, who pressed him to resume his pen, he was wont to say, "An additional success would add nothing to my fame; a failure would injure it: I have no need of the one, and I do not choose to expose myself to the other." And to this determination he has adhered; for the composition of his pretty and popular, but slight 'Stabat Mater,' cannot be regarded as a departure from it.

·

By the revolution of 1830 Rossini was deprived of the management of the Italian Opera, and of his places of superintendant of his majesty's music, and inspector-general of singing in France-two lucrative sinecures, which he held under government. He continued nevertheless to reside in Paris, occupied in claiming compensation for the losses he had sustained, in which to some extent he succeeded. During this time he lived in a miserable lodging in the purlieus of the theatre, pretending that the utmost parsimony was necessary from the loss of his income. Nobody was duped by this piece of comedy, as his opulent circumstances were well known. In 1836 he returned to Italy, intending merely to visit his property there; but he prolonged his stay, and at length resolved to fix his permanent residence in his native country. Since that time, we believe, Rossini has lived constantly in Bologna or its neighbourhood till 1855, when he returned to Paris, where he still remains. For more than thirty years his life, though he is now only sixty-five, has been a blank, spent in self-indulgence and indolence; his habits of this kind having been increased latterly by infirm health. He is described as being still lively, kind, and goodhumoured; but he takes little interest in his old pursuits, and, it is said, since his return to Paris, has never been within the doors of a theatre.

ROSTOPCHIN or RASTOPCHIN, COUNT FEDOR VASILEVICH, a Russian nobleman whose name will be always associated with one of the most striking events of modern history, was born on the 12th of March 1765, as he himself informs us in his 'Memoirs written in ten minutes.' The family of Rostopchin which established itself in Russia about three hundred years before is of Tartar origin and descended in a direct line from one of the sons of Genghis Khan. Fedor, after completing his education by a tour in Europe, became officer of the guards and gentleman of the chamber to the Empress Catherine, but attached himself to the Grand Duke Paul, with whom he became a favourite, from his sallies of somewhat eccentric humour. When the Grand-Duke became Emperor, Rostopchin rose to be adjutant-general, minister of foreign affairs, and director general of the post, and was made a count, but he lost favour before the close of the Emperor's reign from opposing the alliance with France, was dismissed from his offices and was absent from St. Petersburg in disgrace at the time of the sudden termination of Paul's career. Under the Emperor Alexander Rostopchin became Grand-Chamberlain and was appointed GeneralCommander in Chief of the city and government of Moscow, and he held that post at the time when the eyes of all Europe were turned towards Moscow, on the French invasion of Russia in 1812. It was under his government that Moscow was burned,

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ROSTOPCHIN, FEDOR VASILEVICH.

In Napoleon's bulletins Rostopchin was denounced as having kindled the conflagration by means of three hundred incendiaries who set fire to the city in five hundred places at once, and it was stated that some hundreds of these incendiaries were taken and shot. In some French historians there are numerous details of the event, chiefly however taken from or founded on the bulletins. The belief was for years unquestioned and uncontradicted in France. At length in 1823 Rostopchin who had resided in Paris since 1817 published a pamphlet entitled 'La Vérité sur l'incendie de Moscou (The Truth on the conflagration of Moscow'). "Ten years have elapsed," he commences, "since the conflagration of Moscow, and I am still pointed out to history and posterity as the author of an event which according to the received opinion was the principal cause of the destruction of Napoleon's army, of his consequent fall, the preservation of Russia, and the deliverance of Europe. Certainly there is something to be proud of in such splendid claims as these, but having never usurped anybody's rights and being tired of hearing the same fable constantly repeated I am going to make known the truth which alone ought to dictate history." "It would be unreasonable," he afterwards says, not to believe me, since I give up the finest part in the drama of our times, and pull down the edifice of my own celebrity." The gist of his statements is, that the fire was not produced by a preconcerted plan, but by the patriotism of some isolated Russians, and the negligence and violence of the French soldiers, who acted in the spirit which was shown by Napoleon's acknowledged attempt to blow up the Kremlin. The principal feature in the Russian character," says Rostopchin, "is disinterestedness and propensity to destroy rather than give up to an antagonist-to terminate a dispute with the words, Then nobody shall have it.' In the frequent conversations that I had with the shopkeepers, the artisans, and the lower classes of Moscow, I often heard them say, when they expressed their fears that the city would fall into the enemy's hand, We ought to burn it rather.' When I was staying at the head-quarters of Prince Kutuzov, I saw many persons escaped from Moscow after the conflagration who boasted that they had set their houses on fire." It is singular that when speaking on this head the Count does not advert to his own destruction of his country-seat at the village of Voronov on the Kaluga road-a fact which admits of no doubt, for the French on arriving there found a manifesto addressed to them in French, which was made public at the time, and is reprinted in the collection of Rostopchin's writings. "During eight years," the manifesto ran, "I have been embellishing this estate, and I have lived here in happiness in the bosom of my family. The inhabitants of this village, 1720 in number, quit it at your approach, and I myself set fire to the house that it may not be polluted by your presence. Frenchmen! I abandoned to you my two houses in Moscow, with furniture in them to the value of half a million rubles-here you will find nothing but ashes." Rostopchin concludes his pamphlet, which is dated from Paris, March 5th, 1823, with the words, "I have told the truth and nothing but the truth," avoiding, it will be observed, to assert that he had told "the whole truth." "His tardy denial," remarks the writer in the 'Biographie | Universelle,'"bears no character of truth about it, and has convinced no one." Such indeed appears to be the general opinion in France; but as Rostopchin's assertions are against the interest of his own reputation, as they come into collision with no established fact, and as he had the reputation of a man of honour though a man of eccentricity, there seems no sufficient reason to reject his testimony, and it will probably be accepted by future historians unless some evidence to the contrary come to the light which is at present unknown. It is an important historical point, of more consequence than the part that Rostopchin took in the matter, that the conflagration was not the great national act that Byron represented it :

"To this the soldier lent his kindling match,
To this the peasant gave his cottage thatch,
To this the merchant flung his hoarded store,
The prince his hall-and Moscow was no more!"

In the series of Rostopchin's proclamations to the peasantry of his government, the last commences in a strange mixture of coarse humour and fierce patriotism, which seems to have been natural to him. "The enemy of the human race, God's scourge for our sins, the devil's manure, the wicked Frenchman, has got into Moscow, and has given it to sword and flame." Whatever might be the patriotism of individuals, it was evidently thought expedient to inculcate the belief in the masses that the conflagration was the work of the French.

In taking this notice of the pamphlet on the history of 1812, some of Rostopchin's biography has been anticipated. His governorship of Moscow ceased in 1814, and he accompanied the Emperor Alexander to the Congress of Vienna. In 1817 he came to Paris, where he lived for some time at what had formerly been the residence of Marshal Ney, Prince of the Moskwa, and while he was at that city in 1819 his daughter Sophia was married to Count Eugene de Ségur, grandson of the count of that name who had been ambassador at St. Petersburg, and nephew of the Count Philippe, who wrote the famous history of the invasion of Russia. Rostopchin finally returned to Russia, and died at Moscow on the 12th of February 1826.

A volume of Rostopchin's collected writings was published at St. Petersburg in 1853 in Smirdin's 'Polnoe Sobranie Sochineny Russkikh Avtorov (Complete Collection of the works of Russian Authors');

they are chiefly connected with the events of his life, and derive most of their interest from that circumstance. A vein of flippancy runs through the French part of his writings, and a vein of coarseness through the Russian. His daughter-in-law, Countess Elena Rostopchin, by birth of the family of Sushkov, is a Russian poetess of some reputation. ROTHSCHILD, MEYER ANSELM, the founder of the wealth and influence of the great commercial family of the Rothschilds, was born at Frankfurt-am-Main about the year 1750. He was originally intended for the Jewish priesthood, but was placed in a countinghouse at Hanover. He returned to Frankfurt, married, and commenced business in a small way as an exchange broker and banker. His ability and industry procured him the office of banker to William, Landgrave (afterwards Elector) of Hesse. During the time that the Emperor Napoleon had undisputed possession of Germany, the landgrave's private fortune was saved by the shrewdness of his banker. Meyer Rothschild died in 1812, leaving to his five sons a large fortune, boundless credit, and an unimpeachable character. Of these the eldest, Anselm, settled at Frankfurt, Solomon at Vienna, Nathan Meyer, the third, in London, Charles at Naples, and James at Paris. They remained united, in accordance with their father's advice, and the result has been that for nearly half a century they have taken the leading part in all the financial affairs of England, France, Austria, and most other kingdoms of Europe. The rise of the Rothschilds' fortunes dates from the outbreak of the war with Spain in 1808, when the resources of NATHAN ROTHSCHILD for making the necessary remit. tances to the British army in that country were first brought into full play. He had come to England in 1800, and had acted as his father's agent in the purchase of Manchester goods for the Continent, and shortly afterwards through his father he had large sums entrusted to him for the Elector of Hesse Cassel and for other German princes, and these he employed with such great judgment that his means began rapidly to increase. His financial transactions pervaded the whole Continent, and he came to be consulted upon almost every speculation and undertaking. His brothers looked to his judgment on all matters of a pecuniary character. He may be said to have been the first introducer of foreign loans into this country; for though such securities had been dealt in before, yet the dividends being payable abroad, and subject to a constant fluctuation in the rate of exchange, had made them too inconvenient an investment for the multitude. It is said that such was Mr. Rothschild's judgment and good management that not one of those with whom he entered into contracts ever failed in their engagements. His loan contracts however were not always successful in the first instance; for example, he is said to have lost 500,000l. by Lord Bexley's loan or funding of Exchequer Bills; the vast resources at his command however enabled him to bear these and all other losses, which would have sunk a house of less gigantic means. To such a height however did he carry his reputation for loan operations that it became almost a matter of rivalry between different states which should obtain his co-operation. He always avoided entering into any money contracts with Spain or the Spanish settlements in America; he also refused to connect himself with the various Jointstock Companies of the day, with the single exception of the Alliance Insurance Company, in the formation of which he took a leading part. He was distinguished alike by his accuracy and correctness in matters of business and his liberality of dealing with all who were brought into the sphere of his monetary negociations, and by his private and personal charities, which he distributed on a large scale, more especially among the poor of his own religion. He received letters patent of denization in England in 1804, and in 1822 was advanced by letters Imperial, dated Vienna, September 29, 1822, to the dignity of a Baron of the Austrian Empire. This title however he never assumed, and was justly more proud of his high commercial and untitled name. He died at Frankfurt, July 28, 1836, leaving by his wife, the daughter of Mr. Levi Cohen, a London merchant, three daughters and four sons. Of the former, two are married to their cousins, and the third to the Right Honourable Henry Fitz Roy, M.P. His eldest son, the Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, has been elected on four different occasions to represent the city of London, but has never taken his seat in the House of Commons, because as a Jew he cannot conscientiously take the oaths on the true faith of a Christian.' His second son, Anthony, was created a Baronet in 1846. [See SUPPLEMENT.]

ROTTECK, KARL WENCESLAUS RODECKER VON, was born on the 18th of June, 1775, at Freiburg-im-Breisgau, which now belongs to the Grand Duchy of Baden, but at that time was subject to the House of Austria. His father, Anton Rodecker, was ennobled by the Emperor Joseph II. under the name Rodecker von Rotteck, on account of the eminent services which he had done to his country and the emperor as perpetual dean of the Medical Faculty in the University of Freiburg, and as one of the councillors in the board of administration of Austrian Suabia. His mother, Charlotte Poirot d'Ogeron, a native of Remiremont in Lorraine, is described as a lady of rare virtue and attainments. Karl von Rotteck received a very careful education, and as early as 1790 was admitted a student in the faculty of law in the university of his native town. He took the degree of Doctor of Civil Law in 1797, yet he always preferred history to law, and in 1798 was appointed professor of history at Freiburg.

Although he did not appear as a writer before 1811, except as the author of a few minor productions, he nevertheless devoted all his