Rita
(See Materialisation and Spiritualism.) Robert the Devil was son of a Duke and Duchess of Normandy. He was endowed with marvellous physical strength, which he used only to minister to his evil passions. Explaining to him the cause of his wicked impulses, his mother told him that he had been born in answer to prayers addressed to the devil. He now sought religious advice, and was directed by the Pope to a hermit who ordered him to maintain complete silence, to take his food from the mouths of dogs, to feign madness and to provoke abuse from common people without attempting to retaliate. He became court fool to the Roman Emperor and three times delivered the city from Saracen invasions, having, in each case, been prompted to fight by a heavenly message. The emperor's dumb daughter was given speech in order to identify the saviour of the city with the court fool, but he refused his due recompense, as well as her hand in marriage, and went back to the hermit, his former confessor. The. French Romance of Robert le Diable is one of the oldest forms of this legend.
Roberts, Mrs.: (See Spiritualism.) Robes, Magical: (See Magic.) Robsart, Amy: (See Haunted Houses.)