at Harvard College in 1729, and settled in Branford, Conn., Feb. 7, 1732. About 1740 the Legislature of Connecticut, with a view to arrest the progress of New- Lightism, passed a law forljiddiiig any minister to preach within the limits of any other minister's parish. The people of Wallingford ap|ilicd to Mr. Robbins to hold meetings for them. He consented, was arraigned by the Consociation, and formally deposed. The mass of his congregation adhere<l to him, and he continued to preach. There was some interference of the civil au- thority, but he pleaded his case so well before the Legis- lature that his penalty was remitted. He died Aug. 13, 1781. His publications are, A Plain Narrative of the Proceedings of the Per. Association and Consociation of Neio Haven, etc. (1743): — Ordination Sermons (17G0- 61). See '&\>rag\xe, Annals of the A mer. Puljnt, i, 367.
Robbins, Royal, a Congregational minister, was born at Wetherstield, Conn., in 1787, graduated at Yale College, and settled in the ministry at Kensington, a parish of Berlin, Conn., in 1816. He continued to hold this post until his death, in 1861. His works are, The World Displayed; Outlines of Ancient and Modern His- tory (last ed. Hartford, 1851, 2 vols, in 1). He was also the author of History of American Contributions to the English Language, etc. (ibid. 1837, 12rao), besides several Sermons and articles for periodicals. See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A uthors, s. v.
Robbins, Thomas, D.D., secretary and librarian to, and benefactor of, the Connecticut Historical Society, was a native of Norfolk, Conn. He graduated at Yale College in 1796, was minister at East Windsor, 1809-27, of Stratford, 1830-31, and subsequently at Mattapoisett and Rochester, Mass. He died in 1856. He published. Historical Vieiv of the First Planters of New England (Hartford, 1815, 12mo), also a number of Sermons, See Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A uthors, s. v.
Robe (the rendering of several Heb. and Gr. words, but especially of 7'^V'i^, meil', aroXt)), a long garment with fringed or flowered borders, usually white, though sometimes purple, and worn by the great as a mark of distinction (Luke xv, 22; xx, 46). The ancient Assyr- ians and Babylonians were celebrated for their manu- factures of beautiful garments of divers colors (Josh, vii, 21 ; Ezek. xxvii, 24). Their splendid robes appear to have been embroidered with figures of animals and flow- ers. According to Plutarch, Cato received as a legacy a Babylonian garment, and sold it because it was too costly for a citizen to wear. Some suppose that a sa- cred robe was preserved from early times, and handed down among the patriarchs as a badge of the birth- right, and that " the goodly raiment" which Rebekah put upon Jacob was the birthright robe. This view is given in the Targum of Jonatlian on Gen. xxvii, 15: " And Rebekah took the desirable robes of her elder son Esau, which had belonged to Adam the first parent." The coat of Joseph, the possession of which excited the envy of his brethren, is thus regarded, like the good rai- ment of Jacob, as a badge of the birthright, which, we are expressly taught, having been forfeited by Reuben, was transferred to Joseph (xxxvii, 3; 1 Chron. v, 1). The robe appears also to have been, among the Hebrews, a species of vestment appropriated to the sacerdotal office, the holy garment. It was made entirely of blue, woven throughout, and on which neither knife nor needle wrs to be used ; on the lower border was a row of artificial pomegranates and golden bells, alternating with each other (Exod. xxviii, 2, 4, 31-33). The robes of Aaron symbolized the dignity and glory of our great high- priest, "the heir of the whole creation" (Rev. iii, 4, 5; vi, 9-11 ; vii, 9-14). See Dukss.
ROBE, Ecclesiastical. See Robes.
Robert (/) bbe), a French historian, was born near Rheims, about 1055. He was educated in the Abbey of St. Remi at Rheims, and in 1095 became its abbot; but on account of a dispute with the abbot of Mannoutiers,
ROBERT
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ROBERT
retired to the Priory of St. Oricle de Sennc, where he re- mained tiU he j(>ine<l the Crusaders in 1096. On his re- turn from Palestine, the Council of Poitiers (Nov. 23, 1100) declared his deposition from Rheims unjust and his life irreproachable; but he was not reinstated, and remained at Senuc. He was accused of maladministra- tion, and Calixtus II deprived him of his office (April 16, 1121). He died at Senuc Aug. 23, 1122. He left two works, entitled Historia Ilkrosolymitann Lihris VIII Erpiiccita (Cologne, 1470-74; Basle, 1533) :— and La Chroniqiie et Hiftoire faite par le R. P. en Dieu Tur- jnn, etc. (Paris, 1527). See Kivet, Nist. Litter: de la France ; Gallia Christiana, — Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Gene- rale, 8. V.
Robert {St.), founder of the Order of Citeaux, was born at Champagne in 1018. At the age of fifteen he entered the Convent of Moutier-la-Celle, near Troves, of which he afterwards became prior. Later he was ab- bot of St. Michel de Tonnerre ; and while prior of St. Ayrul de Provins, Alexander II ordered him to take charge of the hermits of Colan. Finding this solitude very unhealthful, Robert conducted tlie recluses to the desert of Molesne, where in 1075 he founded a convent in honor of the Virgin. The laxity of discipline and decline of piety, however, causefl him to leave Molesne, with twenty companions, and establish himself at Ci- ' teaux, near Dijon. In 1098 he erected a monastery, and was its first abbot. He was recalled to jVIolesne, and succeeded in reviving the spirit of asceticism. He died March 21, 1110. Sermons, Letters, and a Chi-onicle of Citeaux are attributed to Robert. His festival is cel- ebrated April 29. — Hoefer, Xouv. Bio(j. Generale, s. v.