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 Mayer Anselm (1743–1812), the son
of Anselm Moses Bauer, a small Jewish merchant of Frankfort-
on-the-Main. His father wished him to become a rabbi, but he
set up as a money-lender at the sign of the “Red Shield”
(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, Anselm Mayer (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 Solomon (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, Nathan Mayer (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
