Chapter Rostocostojambedanesse to Royal Mottoes of R by Brewer's Readers Handbook

Rowley (Thomas), the hypothetical priest of Bristol, said by Chatterton to have lived in the reigns of Henry VI. and Edward IV., and to have written certain poems, of which Chatterton himself was the author.

Rowley Overdees, a highwayman.—Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering (time, George II.).

Roxana, daughter of Oxy artês of Bactria, and wife or concubine of Alexander the Great. Proud, imperious, and relentless, she loved Alexander with a madness of love; and, being jealous of Statira, daughter of king Darius and wife of Alexander, she stabbed her and slew her.—Lee: Alexander the Great (1678).

(Daniel Defore wrote a romance called Roxana, 1724.)

Roxana and Statira. Dr. Doran says that Peg Woffington (as “Roxana”), jealous of Mrs. Bellamy (as “Statira”) because she was better dressed, pulled her to the floor when she left the stage, and pummelled her with the handle of her dagger, screaming as she did so—

Nor he, nor heaven, shall shield thee from my justice.
Die, sorceress, die! and all my wrongs die with thee!
   —Table Traits.

So now am I as great as the famed Alexander; but my dear Statira and Roxana, don’t exert yourselves so much about me.—Mrs. Centlivre: The Wonder, iii. I (1714).

Campbell tells a very similar story of Mrs. Barry (“Roxana”) and Miss Boutwell (“Statira”). The stage- man-ager had given to Miss Boutwell a lace veil, and Mrs. Barry out of jealousy actually stabbed her rival in acting, and the dagger went a quarter of an inch through the stays into the flesh.

Royal Colleges. There are three so called: Westminster, Trinity, and Christ Church. But King’s College and Eton are sometimes called “Royal Colleges.”

The collegiate character of the institution was… kept up by the close connexion which Elizabeth fostered between the college of Westminster and the two great collegiate houses of Christ Church and Trinity, founded or refounded by her father at Oxford and Cambridge. Together they formed “the three Royal Colleges.”—Memorials of Westminster Abbey, p. 419.

Royal Martyr, Charles I., who was beheaded January 30, 1649.

Royal Mottoes or Legends.

Dieu et mon droit, Richard I.
Honi soit qui mal y pense, Edward III.
Semper eadem, Elizabeth and Anne.