other colored flowers in different sorts. This species is very extensive in supposed varieties, bearing the above specific distinction, several of which have been formerly considered as distinct species, but are now ranged among the varieties of the Galician rose, consisting of the following noted varieties: common red officinal rose, grows erect, about three or four feet high, having small branches, with but few prickles, and large spreading half-double deep red flowers. Rosa mundi (rose of the world) or striped red rose is a variety of the common red rose, growing but three or four feet high, having large spreading semidouble red flowers, beautifully striped with white and deep red. York and Lancaster variegated rose grows five, six, or eight feet high, or more; bearing variegated red flowers, consisting of a mixture of red and white; also frequently disposed in elegant stripes, sometimes in half of the flower, and sometimes in some of the petals. Monthly rose grows about four or five feet high, with green very prickly shoots; producing middle-fixed, moderately double, delicate flowers, of different colors in the varieties. The varieties are, common red-flowered monthly rose, blush-flowered, white-flowered, and stripeflowered. All of which blow both early and late, and often produce flowers several months in the year, as May, June, and July; and frequently again in August or September, and sometimes, in fine mild seasons, continue till November or December: hence the name monthly rose. Double-virgin rose grows five or six feet high, having greenish branches with scarcely any spines; and with large double palered and very fragrant flowers. Red damask-rose grows eight or ten feet high, having greenish branches, armed with short aculea; and moderately double, fine soft red, very fragrant flowers. White damask-rose grows eight or ten feet high, with greenish very prickly branches, and whitishred flowers, becoming gradually of a whiter color. Blush Belgic rose grows three or four feet high, or more; having greenish prickly branches, five or seven-lobed leaves, and numerous, very double, blush-red flowers, with short petals, evenly arranged. Red Belgic rose, having greenish and red shoots and leaves, and fine double deep-red flowers. Velvet rose grows three or four feet high, armed with but few prickles, producing large velvet-red flowers comprising semi-double and double varieties, all very beautiful roses. Marbled rose grows four or five feet high, having brownish branches, with but few prickles; and large, double, finely-marbled, red flowers. Red-and-yellow Austrian rose grows five or six feet high, having slender reddish branches, armed with short brownish aculea; and with flowers of a reddish copper-color on one side, the other side yellow. Yellow Austrian rose grows five or six feet high, having reddish very prickly shoots, and numerous bright-yellow flowers. Double yellow rose grows six or seven feet high; with brownish branches, armed with numerous large and small yellowish prickles; and large very double yellow flowers. Francfort rose grows eight or ten feet high, is a vigorous shooter, with brownish branches thinly armed with strong prickles, and produces largish double purplish-red flowers, that blow irregularly, and have but little fragrance. 9. R. moschata, the musk-rose, supposed to be a variety only of the ever-green musk-rose, has weak smooth green stalks and branches, rising by support from six to eight or ten feet high, or more thinly armed with strong spines, pinnated seven-lobed smooth leaves, with prickly footstalks, hispid peduncles, oval hispid germen; and all the branches terminated by large umbellated clusters of pure-white musk-scented flowers, in August, &c. 10. R. pimpinellifolia, the burnet-leaved rose, grows about a yard high, aculeated sparsedly; small neatly pinnated seven lobed leaves, having obtuse folioles and rough petioles, smooth peduncles, a globular smooth germen, and small single flowers. There are varieties with red flowers, and with white flowers. They grow wild in England, &c., and are cultivated in shrubberies for variety. 11. R. sempervirens, the ever-green musk rose, has a somewhat trailing stalk and branches, rising by support five or six feet high or more, having a smooth bark armed with prickles; pinnated five-lobed smooth shining ever-green leaves, with prickly petioles, hispid pedunculi, oval hispid germen; and all the branches terminated by clusters of pure white-flowers of a musky fragrance; appearing in the end of July, and in August. The ever-green property of this elegant species renders it a curiosity; it also makes a fine appearance as a flowering shrub. There is one variety, the deciduous musk-rose. This species and variety flower in August, and are remarkable for producing in numerous clusters, continuing in succession till October or November. 12. R. spinosissima, the most spinous, dwarf burnet-leaved rose, commonly called Scotch rose, grows but two or three feet high, very closely armed with spines; small neatly pinnated sevenlobed leaves, with prickly foot-stalks, prickly pedunculi, oval smooth germen, and numerous small single flowers, succeeded by round darkpurple heps. The varieties are common whiteflowered, red-flowered, striped-flowered, and marble-flowered. They grow naturally in England, Scotland, &c. The first variety rises nearly a yard high, the others about one or two feet, all of which are single-flowered; but the flowers, being numerous all over the branches, make a pretty appearance in the collection. 13. R. villosa, the villose apple-bearing rose, grows six or eight feet high, having strong erect brownish-smooth branches, aculeated sparsedly; pinnated seven-lobed villose or hairy leaves, downy underneath, with prickly foot-stalks, hispid peduncles, a globular prickly germen; and large single red flowers, succeeded by large round prickly heps, as big as little apples. This species merits admittance into every collection as a curiosity for the singularity of its fruit, both for variety and use; for it, having a thick pulp of an agreeable acid relish, is often made into a tolerably good sweetmeat. The above thirteen species of rosa, and their respective varieties, are of the shrub kind; all deciduous except R. sempervirens, and of hardy growth, suc ceeding in any common soil and situation, and flowering annually in great abundance from May till October, in different sorts, though the general flowering season for the principal part of them is June and July; but in a full collection of the different species the blow is continued in constant succession several months, even sometimes from May till nearly Christmas; producing their flowers universally on the same year's shoots, rising from those the year before, generally on long pedunculi, each terminated by one or more roses, which in their characteristic state consist each of five large petals and many stamina; but in the doubles the petals are very numerous; and in some sorts the flowers are succeeded by fruit ripening to a red color in autumn and winter, from the seed of which the plants may be raised but the most certain and eligible mode of propagating most of the sorts is by suckers and layers; and by which methods they may be increased very expeditiously. The white and red roses are used in medicine. The former distilled with water yields a small portion of a butyraceous oil, whose flavor exactly resembles that of the roses themselves. This oil and the distilled water are very useful and agreeable cordials. These roses also, besides the cordial and aromatic virtues which reside in the volatile parts, have a mild purgative one, which remains entire in the decoction left after distillation. The red rose, on the contrary, has an astringent and corroborating virtue. ROSA, MOUNT, one of the Alpine heights, and next to Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe. It stands between the canton of the Valais and Piedmont, to the east of Mont Cervin, Switzerland. Saussure calculated it to be 15,600 feet above the sea, or only seventy feet lower than Mont Blanc; Sir George Shuckburgh calls it 15,240 feet above the Mediterranean. It consists of a number of lofty peaks, all rising from a centre somewhat like the leaves of a rose. ROSALBA (Cariera), a Venetian lady, born in 1675, who became an eminent paintress. She painted portaits in crayons and miniatures, and was greatly employed by the English nobility. She died in 1755, aged eighty. ROSAMOND, the daughter of Walter lord Clifford, and concubine of Henry II., was a lady of exquisite beauty, educated in the nunnery of Godstow. The popular story of her is as follows: -Henry II. loved her, and triumphed over her honor. To avoid the jealousy of his queen Eleanor he kept her in a labyrinth at Woodstock, and by his connexion with her had William Longsword earl of Salisbury, and Geoffrey bishop of Lincoln. On Henry's absence in France, however, the queen discovered and poisoned her. The queen, it is said, discovered her apartment by a thread of silk. Some assert that she died a natural death; and the story of her being poisoned is by them said to have arisen from the figure of a cup on her tomb. She was buried in the church of Godstow, opposite to the high altar, where her body remained till it was ordered to be removed with every mark of indignity by Hugh bishop of Lincoln in 1191. She was, how ever, by many considered as a saint after her death, and fabulous legends were invented about her. ROSCIUS (Quintus), an eminent Roman actor, so highly celebrated in comedy that his name is applied as the best encomium to all modern comedians of great merit. He was intimate with Cicero and Esop the comedian; and was so much admired by the Romans that they gave him a pension for life. His eyes being distorted he wore a mask at first on the stage; but the Romans caused him to lay it aside, that they might enjoy his oratory more fully. Being calumniated by his enemies, Cicero, who had been his pupil, defended him in an elegant oration, which is still extant. Roscius wrote a treatise, in which he compared, with great talent, the profession of the orator with that of the comedian; of both which he was a competent judge. He died about A. A. C. 60. ROSCOMMON (Wentworth Dillon), earl of, a celebrated poet of the seventeenth century, born in Ireland, under the administration of the first earl of Strafford, who was his uncle, and from whom he received the name of Wentworth at his baptism. He passed his infancy in Ireland; after which the earl of Strafford sent for him into England, and placed him at his own seat in Yorkshire, under the tuition of Dr. Hall, afterwards bishop of Norwich, who instructed him in Latin. On the earl of Strafford's impeachment he went to complete his education at Caen in Normandy; and after some years travelled to Rome. He returned to England soon after the Restoration, and was made captain of the band of pensioners; but a dispute with the lord privy-seal obliged him to resign his post, and revisit Ireland, where the duke of Ormond appointed him captain of the guards. Being attacked one night when coming out of a gaming house by three ruffians, he had despatched one of them, when a disbanded officer coming past generously took his part and disarmed the other, on which the third fled. The earl next day rewarded his brave assistant by resigning to him his post of captain of the guards. He returned to London, was made master of the horse to the dutchess of York, and married the lady Frances, eldest daughter of Richard earl of Burlington. He here distinguished himself by his writings. In 1683 he was seized with the gout; and, being too impatient of pain, he permitted a French empiric to apply a repelling medicine to give him relief; which drove the distemper into his bowels, and put a period to his life in January 1684. He was buried with great pomp in West minster-abbey. His poems, which are not numerous, are in the body of English poetry collected by Dr. Johnson. His Essay on Translated Verse, and his translation of Horace's Art of Poetry, have great merit. ROSCOMMON, a county of Ireland, in the province of Connaught, bounded on the east by the counties of Leitrim, Longford, and Meath; on the north by Sligo and Leitrim; on the south by Galway; and on the west by part of Galway and Mayo, being about forty-seven miles in length, and nine to twenty-nine in breadth. It is very fruitful, and in general level, having but few hills. It yields excellent corn, as well as pasturage; but there are some extensive bogs. The chief town is Athlone, but the assizes are held at Roscommon the shire town, situated sixty-nine 6 miles W. N. W. of Dublin. Was trimly woven, and in tresses wrought, But crowned with a garland of sweet rosier. Spenser. Shakspeare. Can you blame her, being a man yet rosed over with the virgin crimson of modesty, if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy?" Id. Bedlam beggars, with roaring voices, Strike in their numb'd and mortified bare arms Pins, wooden pricks, nails, sprigs of rosemary; And with this horrible object, from low farms, Inforce their charity. Id. King Lear. Attend him with a silver bason Full of rosewater. Shakspeare. The succeeding kings coined rose-nobles and double rose-nobles, the great sovereigns with the same inscription, Jesus autem transiens per medium eorum ibat. Camden's Remains. Grind ceruss with a weak water of gum-lake, roset, and vermillion, which maketh it a fair carna tion. Here without thorn the rose. A smile that glowed Peacham. Milton. Calestial rosy red, love's proper hue. Fairest blossom! do not slight which you may know so soon; That age, Id. Waller. The rosy morn resigns her light, And milder glory to the noon. This way of procuring autumnal roses will in most rose bushes fail; in some good bearers it will succeed. Boyle. Here pride has struck her lofty sail Has left the power to wound. VOL. XIX. Id. with rosewater and sugar of roses. His drink should be cooling; as fountain water Wiseman. For her the unfaded rose of Eden blooms. Pope. I come, ye ghosts! prepare your roseate bow'rs, Celestial palms and ever blooming flow'rs. Id. The flower of the rose is composed of several leaves, which are placed circularly, and expand in a beautiful order, whose leafy flower-cup afterwards becomes a roundish or oblong fleshy fruit inclosing several angular hairy seeds; to which may be added, it is a weak pithy shrub, for the most part beset with prickles, and hath pinnated leaves. Miller. Sleep'st thou, or wak'st thou, fairest creature? Rosy morn now lifts his eye, Numbering ilka bud with Nature Waters wi' the tears o' joy. ROSE, in botany. See Rosa. ROSE, CHINA. See HIBISCUS. ROSE, DOG. See ROSA. Burns. ROSE, GUELDER. See VIBURNUM. ROSE, ROCK. See SISTUS. ROSE ROOT. See RHODIOLA. ROSEMARY. See ROSMARINUS. ROSEMARY, WILD. See LEDUM. ROSES, CONSERVE of. See PHARMACY. ROSES, ESSENTIAL OIL OF, or OTTO OF ROSES, an essential oil obtained from roses. It may be made in the following manner:-A quantity of fresh roses, for example forty pounds, are put in a stiil with sixty pounds of water, the roses being left as they are with their calyxes, but with the stems cut close. The mass is then well mixed under the still; when the water begins to grow together with the hands, and a gentle fire is made hot, and fumes to rise, the cap of the still is put on, and the pipe fixed; the chinks are then well luted with paste, and cold water put on the refrigeratory at top: the receiver is also adapted at the end of the pipe; and the fire is continued under the still, neither too violent nor too weak. When the impregnated water begins to come over, and the still is very hot, the fire is lessened by gentle degrees, and the distillation continued till thirty pounds of water are come over, which is generally done in about four or five hours; this rose-water is to be poured again on a fresh quantity (forty pounds) of roses, and from fifteen to twenty pounds of water are to be drawn by distillation, following the same process as before. The rose-water thus made and cohobated will be found, if the roses were good and fresh, and the distillation carefully performed, highly scented E with the roses. It is then poured into pans either of earthenware or of tinned metal, and left exposed to the fresh air for the night. The otto or essence will be found in the morning congealed, and swimming on the top of the water; this is to be carefully separated and collected either with a thin shell or a skimmer, and poured into a vial. When a certain quantity has thus been obtained the water and fæces must be separated from the clear essence, which, with respect to the first, will not be difficult to do, as the essence congeals with a slight cold, and the water may then be made to run off. If, after that, the essence is kept fluid by heat, the fæces will subside, and may be separated; but if the operation has been neatly performed these will be few. The remaining water should be used for fresh distillations instead of common water, at least as far as it will go. The following is the method commonly pursued in India, whence great quantities have been exported-Take a very large glazed earthen or stone jar, or a large clean wooden cask; fill it with the leaves of the flowers of roses, very well picked, and freed from all seeds and stalks; pour on them as much pure spring water as will cover them, and set the vessel in the sun in the morning at sun-rise, and let it stand till the evening; then take it into the house for the night; expose it, in this manner, for six or seven successive days, and at the end of the third or fourth day a number of particles, of a fine yellow oily matter, will float on the surface, which, in two or three days more, will gather into a scum, which is the otto of roses. This is taken up by some cotton, tied to the end of a piece of stick, and squeezed with the finger and thumb into a small phial, which is immediately well stopped; and this is repeated for some successive evenings, or while any of this fine essential oil rises to the surface of the water.' Dr. Donald Monro, who communicated this receipt to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, says, that he has been informed, that some few drops of this essential oil have more than once been collected by distillation in London, in the same manner as the essential oils of other plants. The ROSE-NOBLE was first struck in the reign of Edward III. It was formerly current at 6s. 8d., and so called because stamped with a rose. See COINS. ROSEAU, or Charlotte Town, the capital of Dominica, in the West Indies, about seven leagues from Prince Rupert's Bay. It stands on a point of land on the south-west side of the island, which here forms Woodbridge's Bay on the north, and Charlotteville Bay to the south. Roseau contains more than 500 houses, besides negro cottages. It was once a much larger place. Long. 61° 27′ W., lat. 15° 25′ N. ROSETTA, a town of Egypt, on that branch of the Nile called by the ancients the Bolbitine, and which forms now one of the two great channels by which it enters the sea. It is called the canal of Rosetta. This city appears to have been built by one of the caliphs. In the thirteenth century it was an inconsiderable place; but, as the canal of Alexandria became impassable, Rosetta rose into importance as a depôt, and now row; forms the medium point of communication between that city and Cairo. The streets are narand each story projects over that beneath till at the top the opposite houses nearly meet; but the houses are not, as in most other parts of Egypt, composed of mud, but of a dingy red brick, often plastered over and white-washed. Upon the whole, however, Rosetta has a neat compact appearance for an eastern town, and its environs are delightful, being completely embosomed in a grove of date, banana, and sycamore trees. The orange, pomegranate, and henne, here also blend their perfumes; and the palm towers over all, adding magnificence to luxuriance. The intervals are filled with esculent plants. Numerous birds inhabit these groves, particularly the turtle-dove, which is held sacred, and approaches the habitations of mankind without dread. The opposite side of the Nile exhibits the richest part of the Delta. The inhabitants of Rosetta and the neighbourhood are milder and more civilised than those of other parts of Egypt: they are chiefly employed in agriculture, and contain a smaller proportion of the Bedouin tribes. Though less turbulent, however, than the inhabitants of Alexandria or Cairo, yet, being less accustomed to Christians, they view them with more hatred. Rosetta manufactures red cotton yarn, flax, linen, and silk dyes, for the oriental dresses: and here is an extensive exportation of rice. The quay is large and well built; the merchants being chiefly Turks, and natives of Syria. Copts form a considerable proportion of the population. Long. 30° 28′ 35" E., lat. 31° 24′ 31" N. ROSICRUCIANS, a name assumed by a sect of hermetical philosophers, who arose in Germany in the beginning of the fourteenth century. They bound themselves together by some solemn secret, which they all swore inviolably to preserve; and obliged themselves, at their admission into the order, to a strict observ ance of certain established rules. They pre tended to a superior acquaintance with all sciences, and chiefly medicine. They pretended to be masters of many important secrets; and, among others, of the philosopher's stone; all which they affirmed to have received by tradi tion from the ancient Egyptians, Chaldeans, the Magi, and Gymnosophists. The denomination appears to be derived from chemistry. It is not compounded, says Mosheim, as many imagine, of the words rosa and crux, rose and cross, but of ros, dew, and crux. Of all natural bodies dew was deemed the most powerful solvent of gold; and the cross, in the chemical language, is equivalent to light, because the figure of a cross exhibits at the same time three letters, of which the word LVX, or light, is compounded. Hence a rosicrucian philosopher is one who, by the assistance of the dew, seeks for light, or the philosopher's stone. See Gassend's Examen Philosophiæ Fluddanæ, sect. 15, tom. iii. p. 261; and Renaudot's Conferences Publiques, tom. iv. p. 87. At the head of these fanatics were Robert Fludd, an English physician, Jacob Behmen, a mystic writer, and Michael Mayer. The principles which serve as a kind of centre of union to the rosicrucian society are the following:-They all maintained that the dissolu tion of bodies by fire is the only way by which men arrive at the first principles of things. They all acknowledged a certain analogy and harmony between the powers of nature and the doctrines of religion, and believed that the deity governed the kingdom of grace by the same laws with which he ruled the kingdom of nature; and hence they used chemical denominations to express the truths of religion. They all held that there is a sort of divine energy or soul, diffused through the frame of the universe, which some call the archeus, others the universal spirit, &c. They all speak in the most superstitious manner of what they call the signatures of things, of the power of the stars over all corporeal beings, and their particular influence upon the human race, of the efficacy of magic, and the various ranks and orders of demons. These demons they divided into two orders, sylphs and gnomes; from which system Pope borrowed his beautiful machinery of the Rape of the Lock. In fine, the rosicrucians and all their fanatical followers agreed in throwing out the most crude incomprehensible notions and ideas, in the most obscure, quaint, and unusual expressions.-Mosh. Eccl. Hist. ROS'IN, n. s. & v. a. Properly resin. Fr. ROS'INY, adj. resine; Lat. resina. Inspissated turpentine; a juice of the pine: the adjective corresponding. The best soil is that upon a sandy gravel or rosiny Temple. sand. The billows from the kindling prow retire, Pitch, rosin, searwood on red wings aspire. Garth. Bouzebeus who could sweetly sing, Or with the rosined bow torment the string. Gay. Tea contains little of volatile spirit; its rosin or fixed oil, which is bitter and astringent, cannot be extracted but by rectified spirits. Arbuthnot. ROSINUS (John), a learned German antiquary, born at Eisenach, in Thuringia, about 1550. He was educated at the university of Jena; became rector of a school at Ratisbon, in 1579; and afterwards minister of a Lutheran church at Wickerstadt, in Weimar. In 1592 he was called to Naumburgh cathedral, in Saxony, and died there of the plague in 1626. He published several works, the chief of which is his Antiquitatum Romanarum, libri x.; Basil, 1583; folio. ROSMARINUS, rosemary, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, and diandria class of plants; natural order forty-second, verticillatæ COR. unequal, with its upper lip bipartite; the filaments are long, curved, and simple, each having a small dent. There are two species, viz. :— 1. R. angustifolia, the narrow-leaved rosemary; and, 2. R. latifolia, the broad-leaved rosemary. This last has larger flowers and a stronger scent than the other. There are two varieties; one of the first sort with striped leaves, called the silver rosemary; and the other with yellow, called the gold-striped rosemary. These plants grow naturally in the south of France, Spain, and Italy; where, upon dry rocky soils near the sea, they thrive prodigiously, and perfume the air in such a manner as to be smelt at a great distance from the land. However, they are hardy enough to bear the cold of our ordinary winters, provided they be planted upon a poor, dry, gravelly soil, on which they will endure the cold much better than in a richer ground, where, growing more vigorously in summer, they are more apt to be injured by frost in winter; nor will they have such a strong aromatic scent on a dry and barren soil. They are propagated either by slips or cuttings. Rosemary has a fragrant smell, and a warm pungent bitterish taste, approaching to that of lavender; the leaves and tender tops are strongest; next to these the cup of the flower; the flowers themselves are considerably the weakest, but most pleasant. Aqueous liquors extract a great share of the virtues of rosemary leaves by infusion, and elevate them in distillation; along with the water arises a considerable quantity of essential oil, of an agreeable penetrating smell. Pure spirit extracts in great perfection the whole aromatic flavor of the rosemary, and elevates very little of it in distillation; hence the resinous mass left upon extracting the spirit proves an elegant aromatic, very rich in the peculiar qualities of the plant. The flowers of rosemary give over great part of their flavor in distillation with pure spirit; by watery liquors their fragrance is much injured; by beating destroyed. The The ROSS, or RosS-SHIRE, a county of Scotland, miles in length, and seventy-eight in breadth, including Tayne and Cromarty, stretching eighty bounded on the north and north-east by Strathnaver and Sutherland; on the east by Cromarty and the Murray Frith; on the south by Inverness; and on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. county of Ross takes up the whole breadth of the island; and, being much indented with bays and inlets from both seas, appears of a very irregular form. These bays afford safe harbours for shipping, especially that of Cromarty. valleys are fertilised by several rivers, among which are the Beauly, the Conon, the Ockel, the Charron, and the Braan; besides a number of fresh water lakes, which abound in this county. The valleys are generally covered with wood; and near Alfrag there are forests of fir, well stocked with game. Great numbers of black cattle, horses, sheep, and goats, are fed upon the mountains; and the sea, rivers, and lakes, abound with fish and fowl. The lakes on the west coast abound with herrings, particularly Loch Eu, about nine miles long and three broad; one part of this is formed by a bay or inlet of the sea; and the other is a lake of fresh water. Though the middle part of Ross, called Ardross, is mountainous and barren, the northeast part on the river Charron, and Frith of Tayne, are fruitful and abound with villages. Ardmeanach, part of the peninsula, betwixt the bays of Cromarty and Murray, is a barony, which of old bestowed a title on the king of Scotland's second son. The district of Glenelchaig, on the south-west, belonged to the earl of Seaforth, chief of the Mackenzies; but the last earl, having joined in the rebellion, was in 1719 defeated at Glenshiel in this quarter, with a small body of Spaniards. His auxiliaries were taken; he escaped to the continent; but his |