June 1839 he was appointed examiner in physiology and comparative anatomy.
After 1840 he retired from professional practice and at first mainly devoted himself to compiling his useful ‘Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, classified and arranged so as to facilitate the expression of ideas, and assist in literary composition’ (1852, 8vo). During his life the work reached its twenty-eighth edition, and it is still widely used. Many generations of literary men and journalists have testified to its practical utility. An edition of 1879, embodying Roget's latest corrections, was edited by his son.
Roget always used Feinaigle's system of mnemonics, and spent much time in his last years in attempts to construct a calculating machine. He also made some progress towards the invention of a delicate balance, in which, to lessen friction, the fulcrum was to be within a small barrel floating in water. He was fond of exercising his ingenuity in the construction and solution of chess problems, of which he formed a large collection. Some of these figured in the ‘Illustrated London News.’ In the ‘London and Edinburgh Philosophical Magazine’ for April 1840, there is a ‘Description of a Method’ which he invented, ‘of moving the knight over every square of the chessboard without going twice over any one, commencing at a given square and ending at any other given square of a different colour.’ The complete solution of this problem was never effected before. To assist persons interested in chess, he contrived and published in 1845 a pocket chessboard, called the ‘Economic Chessboard.’
He died at West Malvern, in the ninety-first year of his age, on 12 Sept. 1869. In 1824 he married the only daughter of Jonathan Hobson, a Liverpool merchant. Mrs. Roget died in the spring of 1833, leaving two children. One of them, John Lewis Roget, is author of the ‘History of the Old Water Colour Society’ (1890). A portrait of Roget was engraved by Eddis.
Besides the works mentioned, Roget was author of many able papers in encyclopædias, notably in the sixth and seventh editions of the ‘Encyclopædia Britannica,’ in the ‘Encyclopædia Metropolitana, ‘Rees's Cyclopædia,’ and the ‘Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine’ (1832). He contributed important articles to the ‘Edinburgh Review,’ especially those upon Hüber's works on ants and bees (vols. xx. and xxx.), and wrote in the ‘Quarterly’ on Ampère's ‘Observations’ (1826). His paper on the ‘Optical Deception in the Appearance of the Spokes of a Wheel seen through Vertical Apertures’ was published in the ‘Philosophical Transactions’ (1825), and essays on ‘Quarantine’ and ‘Pauper Lunatics’ in the ‘Parliamentary Review’ (1826 and 1828). Many memoirs by him appeared in the ‘Annals of Philosophy’ and ‘Medico-Chirurgical Transactions,’ and other periodicals.
[Jackson's Guide to the Literature of Botany; Britten and Boulger's Biogr. Index of British and Irish Botanists; Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature; Lancet, 25 Sept. 1869; Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, vol. xviii. 1869–70.]
ROKEBY Barons. [See Robinson, Richard, first baron 1709-1794; Robinson-Morris, Matthew, second baron, 1713-1800.]
ROKEBY, JOHN (d. 1573?), canonist, was probably second son of Sir Robert Rokeby of Rokeby Morton (Harl. Soc. Publ. xvi. 268). He joined St. Nicholas's Hostel, Cambridge, where he graduated bachelor of civil law in 1530, and doctor in 1533. He was engaged as a tutor at Cambridge (Ellis, Original Letters, 3rd ser. ii. 243). On 11 Feb. 1536–7 he was admitted a member of Doctors' Commons (Coote, Civilians, p. 33), and practised in the court of arches and the exchequer court of York. According to the statement of his nephew, Ralph Rokeby (d. 1596), (see under Rokeby, Ralph, 1527?–1596; and Whitaker, Richmondshire, i. 173), he was counsel for Henry VIII in the divorce, and so confounded the pope by his canon law that Henry offered him the bishopric of London, which he declined. He became vicar-general of York. According to his nephew, he held for thirty-two years the post of ‘justice’ in York. During that period no sentence of his was annulled on appeal (ib.) In May 1541 he was appointed a commissioner for the visitation of All Souls' College, Oxford (Strype, Cranmer, p. 130). In 1545 he became chaunter or precentor of York, with the prebend of Driffield attached. On 7 Sept. 1558 he was admitted prebendary of Dunham in Southwell Cathedral. Both these preferments he held till his death (Wood, Athenæ Oxon. ii. 719; Le Neve, Fasti). From the accession of Edward VI to 1572 he was a member of the king's council in the north (Thomas, Hist. Notes, i. 461). In later years he was sent as commissioner into Scotland with Sir Thomas Gargrave and others to reform the law of the marches. Rokeby probably died before 10 Dec. 1573 (cf. Le Neve, iii. 156 with p. 419).
[Authorities as in text; Burnet's Reformation, ii. 331–3; Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr.; Grindal's Remains (Parker Soc.), p. 151; Retrospective Review, new ser. ii. 484; Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. pt. iv. p. 84.]
