ROCKING STONES or LOGANS, large stones, numerous in Cornwall, Wales, Yorkshire, &c., so finely poised as to rock to and fro under the slightest force.

ROCKINGHAM, CHARLES WATSON WENTWORTH, MARQUIS OF, statesman, of no great ability; succeeded to the title in 1750; opposed the policy of Bute, and headed the Whig opposition; in 1762 became Prime Minister, and acted leniently with the American colonies, repealing the Stamp Act; was a bitter opponent of North’s American policy of repression; held the Premiership again for a few months in 1782 (1730-1782).

ROCKY MOUNTAINS, an extensive and lofty chain of mountains in North America, belonging to the Cordillera system, and forming the eastern buttress of the great Pacific Highlands, of which the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains form the western buttress, stretching in rugged lines of almost naked rock, interspersed with fertile valleys, from New Mexico through Canada to the Arctic Ocean, broken only by a wonderfully beautiful tract of elevated plateau in southern Wyoming, over which passes the Union Pacific Railroad; reaches its greatest height in Colorado (Gray’s Peak, 14,341 ft.); gold, silver, &c., are found abundantly.

ROCOCO, name given to a debased style of architecture, overlaid with a tasteless, senseless profusion of fantastic ornamentation, without unity of design or purpose, which prevailed in France and elsewhere in the 18th century.

ROCROI (2), a small fortified town of France, about 3 m. from the Belgian frontier, in the dep. of Ardennes; memorable for a great victory of the French under Conde over the Spaniards in 1643.

RODBERTUS, JOHANN KARL, Socialist, born in Greifswald; believed in a Socialism that would in course of time realise itself with the gradual elevation of the people up to the Socialistic ideal (1815-1875).

RODERIC, the last king of the Visigoths in Spain, was slain in battle with the Moors, who had invaded Spain during a civil war, and his army put to flight in 711.

RODERICK RANDOM, the hero of a novel of Smollett’s, a young Scotch scapegrace, rough and reckless, and bold enough.

RODEZ (15), a town of France, in the dep. of Aveyron; crowns an eminence at the foot of which flows the Aveyron, 80 m.  NE. of Toulouse; has a beautiful Gothic cathedral, interesting Roman remains; manufactures textiles, leather, paper, &c.

RODIN, AUGUSTE, eminent French sculptor, born in Paris, distinguished for his statues and busts; b. 1840-1917.

RODNEY, LORD, English admiral, born at Walton-on-Thames; entered the navy at the age of 12, and obtained the command of a ship in 1742; did good service in Newfoundland; was made Admiral of the Blue in 1759, and in that year destroyed the stores at Havre de Grace collected for the invasion of England; in 1780 defeated the Spanish fleet off Cape St. Vincent; in 1782 defeated the French fleet under Count de Grasse by breaking the enemy’s line; was first made a baronet and then a peer, with a pension of L2000, for his services to the country (1718-1792).