Rokeby

“ This Ralph Rokeby's son, also named Ralph Rokeby (d. 1575) , was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, and then became a member of Lincoln's Inn, where he formed a friendship with John Stubbe (1543–1600?) [q. v.] ; he was subsequently appointed secretary of the council of the north, and was described as ‘the most learned canonist of his time’ (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1598–1601, p. 205) . He was buried at the Belfrey church, York, on 12 March 1594–5. By his second wife, Joan, daughter of John Portington, he left a daughter, Anne, who became second wife of Sir John Hotham [q. v.] ”

“ It makes Charlotte and Aggie quite savage, because they know they're talking about them, only they can't understand a word."
"What's the club going to do to-day?" asked Bertie Rokeby one morning, looking somewhat damp and moist after his swim. ("He never will dry himself properly," said Mrs. Rokeby; "he just gets into his clothes as he is, and he's sitting down on the old boat just where the sun has melted the pitch, and it will be sure to stick to his trousers.") ”

“ Ralph Rokeby, who gave the sow to the Franciscan Friars of Richmond, is believed to have been the Ralph who lived in the reign of Henry VII. Tradition represents the Baron as having been ‘a fellow of infinite jest,’ and the very man to bestow so valuable a gift on the convent! The Mistress Rokeby of the ballad was, according to the pedigree of the family, a daughter and heiress of Danby, of Yafforth. ”

“ ROKEBY, WILLIAM (d. 1521) , archbishop of Dublin, born at Kirk Sandall or Halifax, was the eldest of the five sons of John Rokeby of Kirk Sandall, near Doncaster. Both his parents died in 1506; his brother Sir Richard Rokeby, comptroller to Wolsey's household and treasurer of Ireland, is buried in the Savoy Chapel, London (Œconomia Rokebeiorum, f. 311) . William was educated at Rotherham and at a hostel in St. ”

“ Yet Rokeby and Childe Harold are both in sad disgrace with modern critics, and Old Mortality stands gathering dust upon our bookshelves. Mr. Howell's, who ought to know, tells us that fiction has become a finer art in our day than it was in the days of our fathers, and that the methods and interests we have outgrown can never hope to be revived. So if the masterpieces of the present, the triumphs of learned verse and realistic prose, fail to lift their readers out of themselves, like the masterpieces of the past, the fault must be our own. ”

“ Combat, perilous fight.
[86] This stanza, with the two following, and a fragment of a fourth, are not in Dr. Whitaker's edition.
[87] The residence of this facetious baron. Leland says, that "Mr. Rokeby hath a place called Mortham, a little beneath Grentey-bridge, almost on the mouth of Grentey." "This place and Rokeby," says Hutchinson, "were, in very distant ages, in the possession of the Rokebies; Robert de Rokeby lived in the time of the Conqueror. By the arms and date on Mortham tower, it appears that it was built in 1166 by the Rokebies." ”

“ He refused medical advice, and is said to have threatened to disinherit his nephew if he called in a doctor during one of his fits. He understood grazing both in theory and practice, and had most of his land laid down in grass with a view to keeping live stock on it. He was an excellent landlord, ‘generous but whimsical.’ He took long walks, ‘such as would tire a quadruped.’ A portrait and also a miniature of Rokeby were engraved by Heath.
Matthew's nephew, Morris Robinson-Morris (d. 1829) , son of his brother Morris, succeeded to the Irish peerage as third baron Rokeby. ”

“ To reproduce a departed age with such minute and lifelike accuracy as this tale exhibits, demanded a far more energetic sympathy of imagination than had been called for in any effort of his serious verse. It is indeed most curiously instructive for any student of art to compare the Roundheads of Rokeby with the Bluebonnets of Old Mortality. ”

“ The poem was not more popular than Rokeby in England, and it was even less so in Scotland, chiefly for the reason, only to be mentioned with all but silent amazement, that it was 'not bitter enough against England.' Its faults are, of course, obvious enough. Central story there is simply none; the inconvenience that arises to the hero from his being addressed by two young ladies cannot awake any very sympathetic tear, nor does either Edith of Lorn or Isabel Bruce awaken any violent desire to offer to relieve him of one of them. ”

“ Between Blanche and herself she recognized there was [226] an instinctive hostility. Blanche had been so openly rude, and had treated both her and the Sea Urchins with such evident contempt, that Isobel, not usually a quarrelsome child, had felt all her spirit rise up within her in passionate indignation.
"Why does she come here to make fun of us?" she asked herself hotly. "We had such jolly times before. None of the others were ever nasty like this—not even Aggie Wright or Hugh Rokeby. Why can't she keep with her own family? And why, oh, why does Belle seem to like her so much?" ”

“ There were quite enough older people to keep the children in order, which seemed a fortunate thing, to judge from the effervescing nature of their spirits. Mrs. Stuart had invited several of her friends, among the number an athletic young curate named Mr. Browne, who tucked both Arnold and Bertie Rokeby easily under one arm, and held them there as in a vice, while he dangled Charlie Chester in mid-air with the other hand—a feat of prowess which so excited their admiration that they clung to him like burrs for the rest of the afternoon. ”

“ The ancient town of Barnard Castle, Eggleston Abbey, and Rokeby Hall, well known through Sir Walter Scott's poem, are passed; and then the valley begins to open out, and the river traverses in sweeping curves the rich plain east and south of Darlington. The course of the valley hitherto has been generally E.S.E., but it now turns N.E. and, nearing the sea, becomes an important commercial waterway, having on its banks the ports of Stockton-on-Tees, Thornaby-on-Tees and Middlesbrough, and forming an outlet for the rich ironworking district of Cleveland in the North Riding of Yorkshire. ”

“ Charlotte and Aggie Wright and five of the Rokebys were all standing upon the bars, hanging over the top rail and gazing at the metals with such deep and intense interest that you would have thought they expected a railway accident at the very least, and were looking out for the smash.
"What is the matter?" cried Belle and Isobel, racing up to share in whatever excitement might be on hand. "Do you see anything? Is it a cow on the line?"
"No," said Bertie Rokeby, balancing himself rather insecurely upon the gate post; "we're only waiting for the train to pass. ”

“ The scene of Rokeby is English, and of the characters Lockhart says that, in a prose romance “they would have come forth with effect hardly inferior to any of all the groups Scott ever created.” Scott told Miss Edgeworth that Matilda was drawn from “a lady who is now no more,” his lost love, and that most of the other personages “are mere shadows.” The poet never left much for his critics to say in the way of disapproval.
The poem, enfin, was in no way a success. Mocking birds of song had wearied the public of Scott by endless imitation. ”

“ In the mean while, the snow, which is now falling so fast as to make it dubious when this letter may reach Rokeby, is likely to forward these important avocations, by keeping me a constant resident in Edinburgh, in lieu of my plan of going to Abbotsford, where I had a number of schemes in hand, in the way of planting and improving. I believe I told you I have made a considerable addition to my little farm, and extended my domains towards a wild lake, which I have a good prospect of acquiring also. It has a sort of legendary fame ”

“ We are in a jolly wax," said Bertie. "You're as bad as a cat with her back up. All the same, I don't want my shells smashed, so please to mind where you're stepping."
"Bother your shells!" said Belle. "You shouldn't leave them lying about in people's way. There! you've torn a slit in my dress. I knew you would! Let me go, Bertie Rokeby, you mean coward!" And jerking her skirt with an effort from his grasp, she started at a run along the beach, and fled as fast as she could in the direction of Silversands. ”

“ And Belle tossed back her curls as if indignant yet at the remembrance.
"She really is fond of me," said Isobel to her mother. "And it's so nice of her, because, you see, although she doesn't care for Winnie Rokeby, she might have had Aggie Wright or Ruth Barrington for her special friend; she knows them both at home, and goes to all their parties. Charlotte Wright says it's too hot to last, but that's just because Aggie was jealous that Belle didn't ask her to go to tea the day I went ”

“ It's downright murder. The poor things die directly in the smoke. Look at these splendid roots that have been growing here since I was a boy! I would rather they had destroyed every flower in my garden than have worked such wanton havoc in the spot I value most in all my grounds."
"It's most unfortunate we came this particular walk," said Isobel, almost crying with regret. "You see, the Rokebys aren't used to the country, so they don't seem to think about spoiling things. ”

“ Isobel, of course, will be only too delighted to accept. I believe the very thought of it is chasing away her headache."
"We're to drive there on two coaches," said Belle, "and have tea in the ruins, and afterwards we can play games or ramble about in the woods. There'll be twelve grown-up people and twenty children. We didn't invite the Wrights' baby, because mother said it was too young, an [122] d she really couldn't stand it. She's asked all the Rokebys, even Cecil, though he is rather a handful sometimes ”

“ On damp nights when the wind hauled to the southeast, men stood still in their tracks, and said, simply, "There's the Old Roke," as if it was the Old Man of the Sea himself. The sound was a living personality in their ears.—Women whom the sea had widowed shivered and rattled irons when the Old Roke came close to their windows; but the men listened, as if they had been called—each by his own name.
"What's the ringle jingle of feet by the side of that?" Rackby said, his mystified face turned toward the water. "I'm a man for slow tunes, Peter. ”

“ Old Lochbuy does not seem to have been a bad fellow, though he was slow in learning that he had lost his right to imprison his tenants. “May not a man do what he likes with his own?” we can fancy him asking in the words used more than seventy years later by an English duke. Much as his descendant has done, there is one thing more which I would ask him to do. He dreads, no doubt, the throng of noisy tourists, but he might surely build a modest inn where the pensive wanderer could find lodging, and enjoy the scenery of Lochbuy. ”

“ Are you two coming with us?"
"No, I think not," replied Belle. "It's too hot [78] to walk so far. Isobel and I just want to stroll about."
"Then good-bye. We're off.—Come along, Cecil. For goodness' sake don't go grubbing in the hedge now after caterpillars. Even if it is a woolly bear, you'll find plenty more another day.—Here, Arnold, you young monkey, give me my cap." And the Rokebys tore away up the road with a characteristic energy that even the blazing August heat could not quench. ”

“ I grieve to say that the Rokebys simply threw themselves upon it, pulling it up by the roots, and destroying as much as they gathered by trampling it in their frantic haste.
[139] "O Cecil!" cried Isobel, in an agony, "you're spoiling the ferns. They looked so lovely growing [138] there by the waterfall. Please don't take them all. Haven't you got enough now?"
"But he hasn't given me any yet," protested Belle. "And I must have some."
"One doesn't often get the chance to find maidenhair," declared Cecil, "so I shall make the most of it, you bet.—Here, Belle, you may have this piece. Catch! ”

“ What was keeping Rocco? What a pity about that man, condemned to pass the rest of his life in a prison of infinite earth and sky. He looked around at the few primitive comforts of the cave. There were some books, all on political economy or sociology. Yes, a great pity! A man of force and ability sacrificed because of a youthful excess of ardour. His friends said that Rocco had fired in self-defence; but the friends of the [389] dead man were in power. All at once Hugh had an idea, a fantastic idea. ”

“ Just at this time Rokycana was engaged in a controversy with the Franciscan Capistran; and, as he had completely triumphed over the Taborites, he felt ready to sympathise with a new ally against Rome. He even recommended the writings of Peter to many of his hearers in the Teyn Church; and Peter was suffered to found a community which took the name of the Chelc̆ic Brothers. Many of those who were desiring [345] to lead a purer and more self-denying life drew near to the Brotherhood; and the protection and encouragement of Rokycana gave the Society for a time the means of easy development. ”

“ Rookwood, and they immediately flew to their husbands. The rest of the conspirators walked away, and averted their gaze from the painful scene. After an ineffectual attempt to speak, Lady Digby swooned away, and was committed by her husband, while in a state of insensibility, to the care of an attendant. Mrs. Rookwood, however, who was a woman of high spirit, and great personal attractions, though the latter were now wasted by affliction, maintained her composure, and encouraging her husband to bear up manfully against his situation, tenderly embraced him, and withdrew. ”

“ But after all, life is full of uncertainties; perhaps one day some unforeseen circumstance would bring her into his life once more.
The fame of Lady Rokujō brought many spectators to view the procession and the streets were thronged with coaches. The Palace Gates were entered at the hour of the monkey. [10] Lady Rokujō, sitting in the sacred palanquin by her daughter’s side, remembered how her father, the late Minister of State, had brought her years ago to these same gates, fondly imagining that he would make her the greatest lady in the land. ”