ROYSTON, RICHARD (1599–1686), bookseller to Charles I, Charles II and James II, born in 1599, was charged by John Wright, parliamentary printer, on 31 July 1645, as being the 'constant factor for all scandalous books and papers against the proceedings of parliament' (Houses of Lords Papers, ap. Hist. MSS. Comm 6th Rep. pp. 71-2). Royston was confined to the Fleet prison, and petitioned on 15 Aug. for release (ib. p. 74). In 1646 he published Francis Quarles's 'Judgment and Mercie for afflicted Soules,' and wrote and signed the dedication addressed to Charles I. In 1648 appeared, 'printed for R. Royston in Ivie Lane,' the first edition of Εἰκών Βασιλική, of which about fifty impressions were issued six months (cf. Almack, Bibliography of the King's Book, 1896, and art. Gauden, John). On 23 May 1649 Royston had entered to him in the register of the Company of Stationers 'The Papers which passed at Newcastle betwixt his sacred Majesty and Mr. Henderson concerning the change of church government' (E. Almack, p. 18). He was examined in October 1649 for publishing a 'virulent and scandalous pamphlet,' and bound in sureties to 'make appearance when required and not to print or sell any unlicensed and scandalous books and pamphlets' (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1649-50, pp. 362, 524). He came before the council of state again in 1653 for a similar offence (ib. 1653-4, pp. 191, 195, 437). On 29 Nov. 1660 Charles granted to him the monopoly of printing the works of Charles I, in testimony of his fidelity and loyalty, and 'of the great losses and troubles he hath sustained in the printing and publishing of many messages and papers of our said Blessed Father, especially those most excellent discourses and soliloquies by the name of Εἰκών Βασιλική' (Almack, pp. 119, 137). On 6 May 1663 Charles II took the unusual course of addressing a letter to the Company of Stationers to request the admission as an assistant of 'Mr. R. Royston, an ancient member of this company and his Majesty's bookseller, but not of the livery' (ib. p. 20). As king's bookseller Royston caused the stock of Richard Alleine's 'Vindiciæ Pietatis' (1664, &c.) to be seized in 1665 for being published without license, but afterwards purchased the stock as waste-paper from the royal kitchen, bound the copies, and sold them. For this he was reprimanded by the privy council (Timperley, Encyclopœdia, p. 543). Royston had a further proof of the goodwill of the king on 29 Sept. 1666, when he had a grant of 300l. in compassion for losses sustained in the late fire (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1666-7, p. 167).
'Orthodox Roystone,' as Dunton calls him (Life and Errors, 1818, i. 292), was master of the Company of Stationers in 1673 and 1674, and bequeathed plate to the company. He died in 1686 in his eighty-sixth year, and was buried in Christ Church, Newgate Street. An inscription in the south aisle of the church describes him as 'bookseller to three kings,' and also commemorates his granddaughter Elizabeth and daughter Mary (d. 1698), who married Richard Chiswell the elder, the bookseller.
[Timperley's Encyclopædia, 1842, pp. 543, 569; Wood's Athenæ Oxon. ed. Bliss, iii. Iv.; Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, i. 522, 524, iii. 598; cf. art. Quarles, Francis]
RUADHAN (d. 585?), Irish saint, son of Fergus, was a native of the south of Ireland, and seventh in descent from Eoghan Mor, son of Oilioll Olum, king of Munster. He studied at Clonard, co. Meath, in the school of St. Finnian [q. v.], and his chief fellow-students were Ciaran [q.v.] of Clonmacnoise, Ciaran [q.v.] of Saigir, Columba [q. v.] of Iona, Brandan of Birr, and Cainnech. Ruadhan's place was after Cainnech (De Tribus Ordinibus Sanctorum Hiberniæ e codice Salmanticensi, col. 164; Acta Sancti Finniani, col. 200). After wandering for a time, he settled in a wood from which a wild boar had darted out on his approach, and there founded the religious community of Lothra. The ruins of a Dominican abbey which succeeded his foundation may still be seen there, about three miles from the Shannon, in the barony of Lower Ormond, co. Tipperary. St. Brandan of Birr was so near that each saint could hear the other's bell, and Brandan consented to remove. Ruadhan perambulated the country bell in hand, and was reported to have raised the dead (cap. 5), healed the sick (cap. 6), discovered hidden treasure (cap. 6), fed his community miraculously (cap. 11), imparted a knowledge of medicine by his blessing (cap. 9), and performed many other wonders. His protection of a fugitive who had slain, after just provocation, the herald of Diarmait Mac Cearbhaill, king of Ireland, led to a dispute with the king, who carried the malefactor to Tara from Lothra, where he was in sanctuary. Ruadhan and his community followed, and the king and saint entered upon a disputation, in which each cursed the other four times. The saint's second imprecation was that Tara
