Page:A cyclopaedia of female biography.djvu/679

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ROP. ROS.
667

who send me there will follow themselves ere long. I go there innocent, but they will go as criminals; and you, who now applaud, will also applaud then." When she arrived in front of the statue of liberty, she bent her head to it, exclaiming, "Oh liberty, how many crimes are committed in thy name!" At the foot of the scaffold, she said to her companion, an old and timid man, whom she had been encouraging on the way, "Go first; I can at least spare you the pain of seeing my blood flow." She died at the age of thirty-nine.

She had predicted that her husband would not survive her; her prediction was fulfilled. The body of Roland was found seated beneath a tree, on the road to Rouen, stabbed to the heart. Fastened to his dress was a paper, upon which a few lines were inscribed, asserting that "upon learning the death of his wife, he could not remain a day longer in a world so stained with crime." That M. Roland was unable to survive his wife, is the strongest proof of the powerful influence which she exercised over him. It has been aptly said, that of all modern men, Roland most resembled Cato. It was to his wife that he owed his courage, and the power of his talents.

They left one daughter, Eudora, who was brought up by Madame Champayneux, a friend of Madame Roland; and the son of this friend married Eudora.

ROPER, MARGARET,

Eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More, was a woman of fine mind and charming disposition, the delight and comfort of her celebrated father. The greatest care was taken in her education; and she became learned in Greek, Latin, many of the sciences, and music. Erasmus wrote a letter to her, As a woman famous not only for virtue and piety, but for solid learning. Cardinal Pope was so delighted with the elegance of her Latin style, that he could not believe it was the production of a woman. She married William Roper, Esq., of Well-hall, in the parish of Eltham, in Kent; she died in 1544, and was buried at St. Dunstan's church, in Canterbury, with her father's head in her arms; for she had procured it after it had remained fourteen days on London bridge, and had preserved it in a leaden box, till there was an opportunity of conveying it to Canterbury, to the burial-place of the Ropers. She had five children, one of whom, Mary, was nearly as famous as herself.

Mrs. Roper wrote, in reply to Quintilian, an oration in defence of the rich man, whom he accuses of having poisoned, by venomous flowers in his garden, the poor man's bees. This performance, is said to have rivalled Quintilian's in eloquence. She also wrote two declamations, and translated them into Latin, and composed a treatise "Of the Four Last Things," in which she showed so much strong reasoning and justness of thought, as obliged Sir Thomas to confess its superiority to a discourse which he was himself composing on the same subject. The ecclesiastical history of Eusebius was translated by this lady from the Greek into Latin.

ROSALBA, CARRIERA,

Was born in 1676, at Chiozza, near Venice; and was instructed