Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 7.djvu/71

Rh No record has been discovered of the early career of general Roy. He was first brought into notice in 1746, when he was employed by government to make an actual survey of Scotland. This arduous and difficult duty he performed in a meritorious manner, and gave the world the result in what goes under the name of the " Duke of Cumberland's Map." Upon this map, which is a very large sheet, the sites of all ascertainable Roman camps or stations were accurately and distinctly laid down. It was afterwards reduced by the general to a smaller size, under the title of "Mappa Britannia Septentrionalis," &c.

The first geodesic survey executed in England was undertaken with the immediate object of establishing a trigonometrical connection between the observations of Paris and Greenwich, in order to determine the difference of longitude. This was executed by 'general Roy, who began his operations by measuring a base of 27,404 feet on Hounslow Heath, in the summer of 1784. Amongst the numerous and valuable papers contributed to the Transactions of the Royal Society by general Roy, was an account of these operations, which obtained for him the Copley medal. To this paper was appended an account of the mode proposed to be followed in determining the relative situations of the Greenwich and Paris observatories, which led to the author's being employed by royal command to ascertain this point by the method thus suggested, from actual experiment. In obedience to his majesty's mandate, the general completed an exceedingly curious, accurate, and elaborate'set of trigonometrical experiments and observations, to determine the true and exact latitude and longitude of the two observatories, illustrated by tables computed from actual measurement; to enable him to accomplish which, he was furnished by the king with several costly trigonometrical instruments. General Roy presented an account of these interesting proceedings to the Royal Society, and was employed in superintending its publication in the Society's Transactions, when he was seized with an illness which carried him off in two hours. He died at his house, Argyle Street, London, July 1, 1790. General Roy's investigations laid the ground-work of the trigonometrical survey of the three kingdoms, which is still in progress. In the History of the Royal Society by Weld (1848), it is expressly stated that this survey was commenced by general Roy in 1784. It was subsequently conducted, under the direction of the master-general of the ordnance, by colonel Williams, and captain, afterwards general Mudge, of the Royal Engineers, and Mr Dalby, who had previously assisted general Roy. Three years after his death, general Roy's elaborate antiquarian work was published at the expense of the Antiquarian Society of London, under the title of "Military Antiquities of the Romans in Britain." General Roy was deputy quartermaster-general of his majesty's forces; surveyor of the coasts and batteries; colonel of the 30th Regiment of Foot; F.R.S., &c.

RUDDIMAN,, a celebrated philologist and Latin grammarian, was born in the month of October, 1674, in the parish of Boyndie, county of Banff. His father, James Ruddiman, was a respectable farmer, and was at the period of his son's birth tenant of the farm of Raggel, in Banffshire. He was esteemed by his neighbours as a man profoundly skilled in agricultural matters, and was besides greatly respected for the benevolence of his disposition. He was strongly attached to monarchy, an attachment which he evinced in a remarkable manner by bursting into tears on first hearing of the death of Charles II. This ebullition of loyal feeling made a strong impression on his son, who witnessed it, and although he was then only in the tenth year of his age, it is thought to have influenced the opinions of his after life on similar subjects. Young Ruddiman commenced his initiatory course of learning at the parish