ROCKET 
 
 
In the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, it 
was a roe which carried Sindbad the sailor 
from the island on which he had been de- 
serted by his companions (" Second Voy- 
age"). And it was a roe which carried 
Agib from the castle grounds of the ten 
young men who had lost their right eyes 
(" The Third Calender's Story"). Sindbad 
says one claw of the roe is as "big as the 
trunk of a large tree," and its egg is "fifty 
paces [150feet] in circumference." 
  *** The "rukh" of Madagascar, lays an 
egg equal to 148 hen's eggs.- Comptes 
Rendus, etc., xxxii. 101 (1851). 
 
  Rocco, the jailer sent. with Fidelio 
(Leonora) to dig the grave of Fernando 
Florestan (q.v.)-Beethoven, Fidelio (1791). 
 
  Roch'dale (Sir Simon), of the manor- 
house. He is a J.P., but refuses to give 
justice to Job Thornberry, the old brazier, 
who demands that his son, Frank Roch- 
dale, should marry Mary [Thornberry], 
whom he has seduced. At this crisis, 
Peregrine appears, and tells Sir Simon he 
is the elder brother, and, as such, is heir to 
the title and estates. 
  Frank Rochdale, son of the baronet, who 
has promised to marry Mary Thornberry, 
but Sir Simon wants him to marry Lady 
Caroline Braymore, who has £4000 a year. 
Lady Caroline marries the Hon. Tom 
Shuffieton, and Frank makes the best re- 
paration he can by marrying Mary.-G. 
Colman, Jr., John Bull (1805). 
  Roche's Bird (Sir Boyle), which was 
"in two places at the same time." The 
tale is that Sir Boyle Roche said in the 
House of Commons, "Mr. Speaker, it is 
impossible I could have been in two places 
at once, unless I were a bird." This is a 
quotation from Jevon's play, The Devil of 
a Wife (seventeenth century). 
 
 
Wife. I cannot be in two places at once. 
Husband (Rowland). Surely no, unless thou 
wert a bird. 
 
  Rochecliffe (Dr. Anthony), formerly 
Joseph Albany, a plotting royalist.-Sir 
W. Scott, Woodstock (time, common- 
wealth). 
 
  Rochester (The earl of), the favorite 
of Charles II., introduced in high feather 
by Sir W. Scott in Woodstock, and in Peveril 
of the Peak in disgrace. 
 
  Rochester (Edward).  Brusque, cynical 
lover of Jane Eyre. Having married in 
his early youth a woman who disgraces 
him and then goes crazy, he shuts her up 
at Thornhill, and goes abroad. He re- 
turns to find a governess there in charge 
of his child-ward; falls in love with her, 
and would marry her, but for the dis- 
covery of his insane wife.   Jane Eyre 
leaves him, and is lost to him until he is 
almost blind from injuries received in try- 
ing to rescue his wife from burning 
Thornhill. Jane marries and ministers 
unto him.-Charlotte Bront6, Jane Eyre 
(1847). 
 
  Rock (Dr. Richard), a famous quack, 
who professed to cure every disease. He 
was short of stature and fat, wore a white 
three-tailed wig, nicely combed and friz- 
zed upon each cheek, carried a cane, and 
halted in his gait. 
  Dr. Rock, F.U.N., never wore a hat .... He 
and Dr. Franks were at variance .... Rock 
cautioned the world to beware of bog-trotting 
quacks, while Franks called his rival "Dumplin' 
Dick." Head of Confucius, what profanation!- 
Goldsmith, Citizen of the World (1759). 
  Oh! when his nerves had received a shock, 
  Sir Isaac Newton might have gone to Rock. 
                  Crabbe, Borough (1810). 
 
  Rocket. He rose like a rocket, and fell 
                                   IlI 
 
 
ROC 
 
 
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