Chapter Roads to Robespierre's Weavers of R by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Robert, a servant of sir Arthur Wardour at Knockwinnock Castle.—Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary (time, George III.).

Robert (Mons., a neighbour of Sganarelle. Hearing the screams of Mme. Martine (Sganarelle’s wife), he steps over to make peace between them, whereupon madame calls him an impertinent fool, and says, if she chooses to be beaten by her husband, it is no affair of his; and Sganarelle says, “Je la veux battre, si je le veux; et ne la veux pas battre, si je ne le veux pas;” and beats M. Robert again.—Molière: Le Médecin Malgré Lui (1666).

Robert Macaire, a bluff, free-living libertine. His accomplice is Bertrand, a simpleton and a villain.—L’Auberge des Adrets, by Antier, etc.

There is a melodrama by B. Antier, St. Amand, and Polyanthe; a continuation by Antier, St. Amand, and Maurice Alroy, called Robert Macaire: and subsequently Daumier published drawings or sketches of it, which he called Les cent-et-un Robert Macaire.

Robert Street, Adelphi, London. So called from Robert Adams, the builder.

Robert duke of Albany, brother of Robert III. of Scotland.—Sir W. Scott: Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Robert duke of Normandy sold his dominions to Rufus for 10,000 marks, to furnish him with ready money for the crusade. He joined the crusade at the head of 1000 heavy-armed horse and 1000 light- armed Normans.—Tasso: Jerusalem Delivered (1575).

Robert earl of Huntingdon (The downfall of), a drama by Munday (1601). Robin Hood is made to die in the first act, and king John falls in love with his widow Matilda, a daughter of lord Fitzwalter.

(Davenport wrote a tragedy called King John and Matilda (1651), which covers the same ground. Matilda was poisoned by king John.)

N.B.—Maid Marian or Matilda is always spoken of as “the chaste Matilda or fair maid Marian.”

Robert III. of Scotland, introduced by sir W. Scott in the Fair Maid of Perth (time, Henry IV.).

Robert le Diable, son of Bertha and Bertramo. Bertha was the daughter of Robert duke of Normandy, and Bertramo was a fiend in the guise of a knight. The opera shows the struggle in Robert between the virtue inherited from his mother and the vice inherited from his father. His father allures him to gamble till he loses everything, and then claims his soul, but his foster-sister Alice counterplots the fiend, and rescues Robert by reading to him his mother’s will.—Meyerbeer: Roberto il Diavolo (libretto by Scribe, 1831).

(Robert le Diable was the hero of an old French metrical romance (thirteenth century). This romance in the next century was thrown into prose. There is a miracle-play on the same subject.)

Robert of Paris (Count), one of the crusading princes. The chief hero of this novel is Hereward, one of the Varangian guard of the emperor Alexius Comnenus. He and the count fight a single combat with battle-axes; after which Hereward enlists under the count’s banner, and marries Bertha also called Agatha.—Sir W. Scott: Count Robert of Paris (time, Rufus).

Robert the Devil or Robert the Magnificent, Robert I. duke of Normandy, father of William “the Conqueror” (*, 1028–1035).

Robert François Damiens, who tried to assassinate Louis XV., was popularly so called (*, 1714–1757).