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Rh lord president of the council in Scotland. He was lord treasurer of Scotland from 1663 till 1667, when he was made lord chancellor of Scotland for life. His estates having been sequestrated by the parliament in 1651, he received a re-grant in 1663 of the earldom of Rothes, together with the title of Lord Leslie and Ballinbreich, with remainders to his heirs male and female, providing that in every case where a female should succeed to the peerage the name of Leslie should be assumed by her husband. In 1680 the earl was advanced to the dignity of duke of Rothes and marquess of Ballinbreich, but these titles became extinct at his death without a son in the following year. The earldom of Rothes and the other older titles now passed, under the special remainder mentioned above, to his daughter Margaret, whose husband, Charles Hamilton, 5th earl of Haddington, accordingly took the name of Leslie, at the same time making an arrangement by which his own peerage should pass to a younger son in order to keep the two earldoms separate. Margaret's son John, who on her death became 9th earl of Rothes, was vice-admiral of Scotland from 1715 to 1722, and fought with distinction against the Tacobite rebels in 1715; and her grandson, the 10th earl, who sold the estates of Ballinbreich to the Dundas family, was commander-in-chief in Ireland in 1754, and became a general in 1765. The office of sheriE of Fife, which had been an hereditary right of the earls of Rothes since 1540, was sold by the 10th earl under the Heritable Act of 1747. On several subsequent occasions the earldom again passed through the female line, and in 1893 Mary Elizabeth, countess of Rothes in her own right, was succeeded by her grandson, Norman Evelyn Leslie (b. 1877), as 19th earl of Rothes.

See Sir R. Douglas, The Peerage of Scotland, edited by Sir J. B. Paul; and G. E. C., Complete Peerage.

ROTHESAY, a royal, municipal and police burgh, and the chief town of the county and island of Bute, Scotland. Pop. (1901) 9378. It is situated on a beautiful bay, 40 m. S.W. of Glasgow, with which there is regular communication by railway steamers from Wemyss Bay, Gourock, Greenock (Prince's Pier) and Craigendoran, as well as by many other steamers from Glasgow and the Clyde ports. It is apopular watering-place, and as the bay is sheltered by low wooded hills and aliords excellent anchorage, it is well patronized by yachts. Loch Striven, on the opposite shore of Argyllshire, is known as the “Rothesay weather-glass,” its appearance furnishing a certain clue to meteorological'conditions. The town is under the jurisdiction of a provost and council. Rothesay has ceased to be a manufacturing centre, fishing being now its chief industry. Owing to its mild and equable climate it is a resort of invalids. There is a tramway to Port Bannatyne, pleasantly situated on the east horn of Kames Bay, and Craigmore, about 1 m. west of Rothesay, is a fashionable suburb. Ardbeg Point, Loch Fad, Loch Ascog and Barone Hill (530 ft.) are all within a mile and a half of the town, and there are numerous excursions by road to other points of interest. The Kyles of Bute are within a short sail of Rothesay. In the centre of the town are the ruins of a castle erected in 1098 either by Magnus Barefoot, king of Norway, or by the Scots as a defence against the Norwegians, with whom during the 13th century, and earlier, there was constant strife. The village which grew up round the castle was made a royal burgh by Robert III., who, in 1398, created his eldest son David duke of Rothesay, a title which became the highest Scottish title of the heir-apparent to the crown of the United Kingdom. During the Commonwealth the castle was garrisoned by Cromwell's troops. It was burned by the followers of Argyll in 1685, and remained neglected till the rubbish was cleared away by the second marquess of Bute in 1816. It was repaired by the third marquess.

ROTHSCHILD, the name of a Jewish family which has acquired an unexampled position from the magnitude of its financial transactions. The original name was Bauer, the founder of the house being (1743–1812), the son of Anselm Moses Bauer, a small Jewish merchant of His father wished him to become a rabbi, but he set up as a money-lender at the sign of the &ldquo;Red Shield&rdquo; (Rothschild) in the Frankfort Judengasse. He had already acquired some standing as a banker when his numismatic tastes obtained for him the friendship of William, ninth landgrave and afterwards elector of Hesse-Cassel, who in 1801 made him his agent. In the following year Rothschild negotiated his first great government loan, ten million thalers for the Danish government. When the landgrave was compelled to flee from his capital on the entry of the French, he placed his silver and other bulky treasures in the hands of Rothschild, who, not without considerable risk, took charge of them and buried them, it is said, in a corner of his garden, whence he dug them up as opportunity arose for disposing of them. This he did to such advantage as to be able afterwards to return their value to the elector at 5% interest. He died at Frankfort on the 19th of September 1812, leaving ten children, five sons and five daughters. Branches of the business were established at Vienna, London, Paris and Naples, each being in charge of one of the sons, the chief of the firm always residing at Frankfort. By a system of co-operation and joint counsels, aided by the skilful employment of subordinate agents, they obtained unexampled opportunities of acquiring an accurate knowledge of the condition of the financial market, and practically embraced the whole of Europe within their financial network. The unity of the interests of the several members of the firm has been preserved by the system of intermarriages which has been the general practice of the descendants of the five brothers. Each of the brothers received in 1815 from Austria the privilege of hereditary landowners, and in 1822 they were created barons by the same country. The charge of the Frankfort house devolved on the eldest, (1773–1855), born on the 12th of June 1773, who was chosen a member of the royal Prussian privy council of commerce, and, in 1820, Bavarian consul and court banker. The Vienna branch was undertaken by (1774–1826), born on the 9th of December 1774, who entered into intimate relations with Prince Metternich, which contributed in no small degree to bring about the connexion of the firm with the allied powers. The third brother, (1777–1836), born on the 16th of September 1777, has, however, generally been regarded as the financial genius of the family, and the chief originator of the transactions which have created for the house its unexampled position in the financial world. He went to Manchester about 1800 to act as a purchaser for his father of manufactured goods; but at the end of five years he removed to London. The boldness and skill of his financial transactions, which caused him at first to be regarded as unsafe by the leading banking firms and financial merchants, later awakened their admiration and envy. By the employment of carrier-pigeons and of fast-sailing boats of his own for the transmission of news he was able to utilize to the best advantage his special sources of information, while no one was a greater adept in the art of promoting the rise and fall of the stocks. The colossal influence of the house dates from an operation of his in 1810. In that year Wellington made some drafts which the English government could not meet; these were purchased by Rothschild at a liberal discount, and renewed to the government, which finally redeemed at par. From this time the allied powers negotiated loans to carry on the war against Napoleon chiefly through the house of Rothschild. Rothschild never lost faith in the ultimate overthrow of Napoleon, his all being virtually staked on the issue of the contest. He is said to have been present at the battle of Waterloo. Being able to transmit to London private information of the allied success several hours before it reached the public, he effected an immense profit by the purchase of stock, which had been depressed on the news of Blucher's defeat two days previously. Rothschild was the first to popularize foreign loans in Britain by fixing the rate in sterling money and making the dividends payable in London and not in foreign capitals. Latterly he became the financial agent of nearly every civilized government, although persistently declining contracts for Spain or the American States. He did not confine himself to