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 386 ROEBUCK ROGER dropped after the breeding season in Novem- ber, and are reproduced during the winter. The period of gestation is five months. From their strong scent they are easily hunted, though they frequently escape by their speed, doublings, springing to cover, and other arti- fices to baffle the hounds. In northern Asia is found the aha or Tartarian roebuck (C. py- gargus, Sundev.); this is larger, with longer and more prickly horns, and coarser and long- er hair ; the color is brownish above and yel- lowish below ; there is no tail. The roebucks are represented in North America by the Vir- ginia deer (cariacus, Gray), and in South Amer- ica by the brockets (coassus, Gray). ROEBUCK, John ArthBT, an English politician, born at Madras in December, 1802. From 1815 to 1824 he resided in Canada, and in 1832 he was admitted as a barrister in London. In the same year he was elected to parliament for Bath, and he soon became prominent as a radi- cal reformer. In 1835 he was appointed agent for the assembly of Lower Canada during the contest between that house and the executive. He soon after published a series of political pamphlets, which involved him in a bloodless duel with the editor of the " Morning Chroni- cle," Nov. 19, 1835. In 1837 he lost his seat in parliament in consequence of his attack upon the wings, but was reflected in 1841. In 1847 he was defeated again, and in 1849 was elected for Sheffield, which he represented till 1869. In the election of February, 1874, he was again returned as a liberal from Sheffield. On Jan. 29, 1855, the passage of his motion to inquire into the state of the army in the Crimea caused the resignation of the Aberdeen ministry ; and he was chairman of the committee subsequent- ly appointed for that purpose, and also of the short-lived " Administrative Reform Associa- tion," organized in 1856. He is the author of "Plan for the Government of our English Colonies" (1849), and of a "History of the Whig Ministry of 1830 " (2 vols. 8vo, 1852). ROERMOXD (Fr. Rurcmonde), a town of the Netherlands, in the province of Limburg, at the junction of the Maas and Roer, 27 m. N. N. E. of Maestricht; pop. about 9,000. It is the seat of a bishop, and contains a handsome cathedral of the middle ages and a parochial church with fine works of art. Its manufac- tures include woollens, cotton, and paper, and a considerable trade is carried on. The town has been frequently taken in various wars. ROESKILDE. See ROSKILDE. ROGATION DAYS (Lat. royare, to ask), in the Roman Catholic ecclesiastical calendar, the three days immediately preceding Ascen- sion day, when public litanies or supplications are made for a blessing on the fruits of the earth. The custom of assembling in public to recite litanies or solemn supplications existed in the primitive church ; but Mamertus, bishop of Vienne (died about 474), was chiefly instru- mental in fixing for this purpose the three days before Ascension, and in giving them an unusual degree of solemnity. They were thenceforward called litanioe majores, the great litanies, were accompanied with solemn pro- cessions, and were held throughout the Latin church. A remnant of this custom in the cities and towns of England consists in the parochial clergy's visiting some part of the parish boundaries accompanied by the church wardens and people. ROGER I., count of Sicily, 12th son of Tan- cred de Hauteville, born in Normandy in 1031, died in Mileto, Calabria, early in the summer of 1101. In 1058 he undertook, in conjunction with his brother Robert Guiscard, the conquest of Calabria, and afterward that of Sicily. In 1060 he took Messina, and in 1061 defeated the Saracens at Enna with great slaughter. A dis- agreement between Roger and Robert, owing to the refusal of the latter to divide the coun- try, was settled in 1071 by the acknowledg- ment of Roger as count of Sicily ; but it was not till 1072 that he came into possession of the island, by the conquest of Catania and Pa- lermo. In 1085 he succeeded Robert as chief of the Normans in Italy. In 1090 he subdued Malta. He established Christianity throughout Sicily in 1096, but allowed his Saracen subjects liberty of conscience. In 1098 Urban II. made him apostolic legate. ROGER II., first king of Sicily, son of the pre- ceding, born in Mileto, Calabria, about 1095, died Feb. 26, 1154. He succeeded his father under the guardianship of his mother, Adelaide of Montferrat. On assuming the government, Roger reduced the barons to obedience, and brought Malta back to allegiance. In 1121 he took from his cousin William, duke of Apulia and Calabria, part of his possessions, and on bis death in 1127 seized all his dominions in southern Italy. In 1130 he sustained his broth- er-in-law Annclotus as antipope, received from him the title of king of Sicily, and was crowned at Palermo the same year ; and he established Anacletus in Rome, driving out Innocent II. In 1137 he was defeated by the German em- peror Lothaire II., who had been called in by his revolted vassals ; but he at once recovered his ground on the emperor's departure. Inno- cent II. falling into his power in 1139, Roger compelled him to remove his excommunication and to confirm his kingly title, in return rec- ognizing his right to the papacy. He took Na- ples from Duke Sergius, and Capua and A ver- sa from Prince Robert. In consequence of insults from the Greek emperor Manuel Com- nenus in 1146, he ravaged Epirus and Dalma- tia, captured Corfu, and devastated Greece, bringing back an immense booty. In 1147 he attacked the empire of the Zoraides in Africa, and extended his sway over a large part of the Barbary coast. He introduced the sugar cane and the manufacture of silk into Sicily. ROGER, Gnstave Hippolyte, a French singer, born near Paris, Aug. 27, 1815. He studied at the conservatory, and was engaged as a tenor at the opera comique from 1838 to 1846,