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ROSETTA STONE

1635

ROSSETTI

at Westminster as Edward IV. A few years after Edward became king, the earl of Warwick, who had been one of his most active adherents, took offense at his marriage with Elizabeth Woodville and formed an alliance with Queen Margaret, on account of which Edward was compelled to leave England for a time, and Henry VI was once more invested with the royal" authority. But Edward returned in 1471, defeated and slew Warwick at Barnet, and defeated the queen at Tewkesbury. The murder of Prince Edward, Henry's son, after the battle and the death of Henry himself in the Tower (1471) left Edward to reign in peace until 1483, when he died and was succeeded by his son Edward V, the unfortunate prince who, with his brother Arthur, was murdered in the Tower by order of his uncle Richard III. Richard's reign, however, was a short one, as he was defeated and slain at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 by the earl of Richmond, who then became King Henry VII.

Roset'ta Stone, a slab of black basalt (now in the British Museum, London), found by some French engineers, in 1799, near Rosetta, a town on the delta of the Nile, and famous as having furnished the first key for the interpretation of Egyptian hieroglyphics. Despite its present mutilated appearance, it has been judged that the slab was erected in honor of one of the Ptolemies in 196 B. C. On it are carved three equivalent inscriptions — the first in hieroglyphics (or picture-writing of a sacred character), the second in demotic (enchorial or epistolo-

e-aphic) characters, and the third in uncial reek letters.    The   mutilations  have   destroyed a considerable portion of the inscriptions.    In its present broken condition the stone  measures  three  feet  nine  inches  in height, two feet four and one half inches in width and eleven inches in thickness. Ros'in.    See RESIN.

Ros'lin, a Midlothian Scottish village, near the wooded glen of the North Esk, seven miles south of Edinburgh. Its castle was the seat of the St. Clairs, earls of Orkney from 1379 to 1471, afterwards earls of Caithness and hereditary grandmaster-masons of Scotland from 1471 to 1736. The exquisite chapel, built about 1446, was much damaged by an Edinburgh mob in 1688, but was restored by the third earl of Rosslyn at a cost of $25,000, and since 1862 it has been used as an Episcopal church. Its Spanish pillar is a marvel of beauty. On Roslin Moor the Scots are said to have twice defeated the English in one day — Feb. 24,

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Ross, George W., was born in Middlesex County (Ontario) in 1841. He became a teacher and inspector of schools and was elected to the House of Commons (Canada) in 187 2. In 1883 he was elected to the Legislature of Ontario. He was appointed minister of education in 1883, and held this posi-

tion until 1899. He became premier of Ontario in that year, accepting the portfolio of treasurer, which he resigned in 1905. Appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1906, he stands in the first rank of public men as debater and lecturer.

Ross, James Clark, British navigator, nephew of Sir John Ross, was born at London, April 15, 1800, and died near Ayles-bury, England, April 3, 1862. In June, 1831, he determined the approximate position of the northern magnetic pole. In 1839-43 we find him in command of the Erebus, which, with the Terror, roamed the antarctic seas and reached the furthest southern latitude hitherto explored (78° 10' S.). On this voyage Mt. Erebus was discovered and named, the volcano having a height of 13,000 feet. He also discovered icebound Victoria Land. Subsequently Ross was honored with knighthood, and published A Narrative of the Antarctic Regions.

Ross, John, British navigator and Arctic explorer, was born in Scotland, June 24, 1777, the son of a minister of Inch, Wigtownshire, and was little more than nine when he entered the navy, serving with distinction in the French wars. His most important services were rendered in the arctic regions in 1818 as second in command under Commander Parry, the object of the expedition being to explore Baffin Bay and attempt a northwest passage. In 1829 he commanded an expedition to the arctic regions, fitted out by Sir Felix Booth, and discovered the peninsula of Boothia Felix. In 1850 he made yet another voyage to the polar regions — an unsuccessful attempt to find Sir John Franklin. He died at London, Aug. 30, 1856.

Rossetti (ros-set't$), Christina Qeorgina, a prominent modern English poet, sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was born at London, Dec. 5, 1830, and died on Dec. 29, 1894. She was of Italian origin, daughter of Gabriele Rossetti, a well-known commentator on Dante, and began early to write verse. Her mood was religious and reflective, though inclined somewhat to mysticism, and she had a woman's soulfulness, insight and grace. Her chief productions are The Prince's Progress, Goblin-Market and Other Poems, with a volume of children's stories, entitled Speaking Likenesses, and a collection of nursery rhymes, entitled Sing-Song, etc. See Memoir by Ellen A. Proctor, edited by-W. M. Rossetti.

Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, English painter and poet, was born at London, May 12, 1828, and died near Margate, April 9, 1882. His first picture was The Childhood of the Virgin (1849). About this time Rossetti joined Hunt, Millais and others in forming the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. This coterie powerfully influenced modern art. Rossetti early showed genius in poetry as well as in painting. His literary work con-