Rochester, John Wilmot (2nd Earl of) (1647-1680).—Poet, s. of the 1st Earl, b. at Ditchley in Oxfordshire, and ed. at Oxf., saw some naval service when he showed conspicuous bravery. He became one of the most dissolute of the courtiers of Charles II., and wore himself out at 33 by his wild life. He was handsome, and witty, and possessed a singular charm of manner. He wrote a number of light, graceful poems, many of them extremely gross. Bishop Burnet, who attended him on his deathbed, believed him to have been sincerely repentant. In addition to his short pieces he wrote a Satyr against Mankind, and a tragedy, Valentinian, adapted from Beaumont and Fletcher.
Rogers, Henry (1806-1877).—Critic and theologian, was a minister of the Congregationalist Church, and ultimately Prof. of English Literature in Univ. Coll., London. He was a contributor to the Edinburgh Review, and is best known by his Eclipse of Faith (1852), a reply to F.W. Newman's Phases of Faith. This work, which displays remarkable acuteness and logical power, had great popularity.
Rogers, Samuel (1763-1855).—Poet, s. of a banker in London, received a careful private education, and entered the bank, of which, on his father's death, he became the principal partner. From his early youth he showed a marked taste for literature and the fine arts, which his wealth enabled him to gratify; and in his later years he was a well-known leader in society and a munificent patron of artists and men of letters, his breakfasts, at which he delighted to assemble celebrities in all departments, being famous. He was the author of the following poems: The Pleasures of Memory (1792), Columbus (1810), Jacqueline (1814), Human Life (1819), and Italy (1822). R. was emphatically the poet of taste, and his writings, while full of allusion and finished description, rarely show passion or intensity of feeling; but are rather the reflections and memory-pictures of a man of high culture and refinement expressed in polished verse. He had considerable powers of conversation and sarcasm. He was offered, but declined, the laureateship.
Rolle, Richard (1290?-1349).—Hermit and poet, b. at Thornton, Yorkshire, was at Oxf. Impressed by the uncertainty and the snares of life he decided to become a hermit, a resolution which he carried out with somewhat romantic circumstances. He wrote various religious treatises in Latin and English, turned the Psalms into English verse, and composed a poem—The Pricke of Conscience—in 7 books, in which is shown the attitude of protest which was rising against certain Papal pretensions and doctrines.
Rollock, Robert (1555?-1599).—Theologian and scholar, b. in Stirlingshire, was first a Prof. in St. Andrews, and then the first Principal of the Univ. of Edin. He also held office as Prof. of Theology, and was one of the ministers of the High Church. He was one of the earliest of Protestant commentators. He wrote chiefly in Latin, but some of his sermons and commentaries are in vernacular Scotch.
