Part 119 (1/2)

=Rokesmith= (_John_), _alias_ JOHN HARMON, secretary of Mr. Boffin. He lodged with the Wilfers, and ultimately married Bella Wilfer. John Rokesmith is described as ”a dark gentleman, 30 at the utmost, with an expressive, one might say, a handsome face.”--d.i.c.kens, _Our Mutual Friend_ (1864).

? For solution of the mystery, see vol. I. ii. 13.

=Ro'land=, count of Mans and knight of Blaives. His mother, Bertha, was Charlemagne's sister. Roland is represented as brave, devotedly loyal, unsuspicious, and somewhat too easily imposed npon.[TN-133] He was eight feet high, and had an open countenance. In Italian romance he is called Orlan'do. He was slain in the valley of Roncesvalles as he was leading the rear of his uncle's army from Spain to France. Charlemagne himself had reached St. Jean Pied de Port at the time, heard the blast of his nephew's horn, and knew it announced treachery, but was unable to render him a.s.sistance (A.D. 778).

Roland is the hero of Theroulde's _Chanson de Roland_; of Turpin's _Chronique_; of Bojardo's _Orlando Innamorato_; of Ariosto's _Orlando Furioso_; of Piccini's opera called _Roland_ (1778); etc.

_Roland's Horn_, Olivant or Olifant. It was won from the giant Jatmund, and might be heard at the distance of thirty miles. Birds fell dead at its blast, and the whole Saracen army drew back in terror when they heard it. So loud it sounded, that the blast reached from Roncesvalles to St. Jean Pied de Port, a distance of several miles.

Roland lifts Olifant to his month and blows it with all his might.

The mountains around are lofty, but high above them the sound of the horn arises [_at the third blast, it split in twain_].--_Song of Roland_ (as sung by Taillefer, at the battle of Hastings). See Warton, _History of English Poetry_, v. I, sect. iii. 132 (1781).

_Roland's Horse_, Veillantif, called in Italian _Velian'tino_ (”the little vigilant one”).

In Italian romance, Orlando has another horse, called Brigliado'ro (”golden bridle”).

_Roland's Spear._ Visitors are shown a spear in the cathedral of Pa'via, which they are told belonged to Roland.

_Roland's Sword_, Duran'dal, made by the fairies. To prevent its falling into the hands of the enemy, when Roland was attacked in the valley of Roncesvalles, he smote a rock with it, and it made in the solid rock a fissure some 300 feet in depth, called to this day _La Breche de Roland_.

Then would I seek the Pyrenean breach, Which Roland clove with huge two-handed sway, And to the enormous labor left his name.

Wordsworth.

? A sword is shown at Rocamadour, in the department of Lot (France), which visitors are a.s.sured was Roland's _Durandal_. But the romances says that Roland, dying, threw his sword into a poisoned stream.

_Death of Roland._ There is a tradition that Roland escaped the general slaughter in the defile of Roncesvalles, and died of starvation while trying to make his way across the mountains.--John de la Bruiere Champier, _De Cibaria_, xvi. 5.

_Died like Roland_, died of thirst.

Nonnulli qui de Gallicis rebus historias conscripserunt, non dubitarunt posteris significare Rolandum Caroli illius magni sororis filium, verum certe bellica gloria omnique fort.i.tudine n.o.billissimum, post ingentem Hispanorum caedem prope Pyrenaei saltus juga, ubi insidiae ab hoste collocatae fuerint, siti miserrime extinctum. Inde nostri intolerabili siti et immiti volentes significare se torqueri, facete aiunt ”Rolandi morte se perire.”--John de la Bruiere Champier, _De Cibaria_, xvi. 5.

_Roland_ (_The Roman_). Sicinius Dentatus is so called by Niebuhr. He is not unfrequently called ”The Roman Achilles” (put to death B.C. 450).

=Roland Blake.= Hero of a war-novel of the same name.--Silas Weir Mitch.e.l.l, M.D. (1886).

=Roland and Oliver=, the two most famous of the twelve paladins of Charlemagne. To give a ”Roland for an Oliver” is to give t.i.t for tat, to give another as good a drubbing as you receive.

Froissart, a countryman of ours [_the French_] records, England all Olivers and Rowlands bred During the time Edward the Third did reign.

Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 2 (1589).

=Roland de Vaux= (_Sir_), baron of Triermain, who wakes Gyneth from her long sleep of 500 years, and marries her.--Sir W. Scott, _Bridal of Triermain_ (1813).