orders, but afterwards dismissed in disgrace. Under Alexander, he obtained the important post of governor of Moscow, and exercised an important influence over the campaign of 1812, even if the assertion of the French, that the burning of the city was his work, should be untrue. He himself decidedly denied this charge in his Vérité sur l'Incendie de Moscow (Paris, 1824). It is certain, however, that he caused his villa near Moscow to be burnt, and took measures for the destruction of the magazines in that city. Buturlin calls him the author of the conflagration, and the public voice in Russia coincides with this opinion. In 1814, he accompanied the emperor Alexander to the congress at Vienna. He afterwards travelled, and spent several years in Paris, where he became acquainted with some of the most distinguished families, and united his daughter in marriage to a grandson of the celebrated count Ségur (French ambassador to the court of Catharine II). He returned to Russia, and died in Moscow, at the commencement of the year 1826.

ROSTRA (incorrectly rostrum); a tribunal (suggestus) in the forum in Rome, whence the orators used to harangue the people, so called from the beaks (rostra) of the ships taken from the Antiates, with which it was adorned.

ROT, DRY. (See Dry Rot.)

ROTA or RUOTA ROMANA; the highest papal court of appeal, whose jurisdiction extends over all Catholic Christendom, and which decides not only spiritual controversies, but all questions concerning ecclesiastical benefices of a value above five hundred scudi; and the decisions thereof have the highest authority, derived from the doctrine of the pope's infallibility. The rota Romana has a collegiate constitution, and consists of twelve prelates, of whom three must be Romans, one a German, one a Frenchman, and one a Spaniard. They collectively bear the title of auditori della rota, or auditors of the holy apostolical palace, because their sessions are held semi-weekly in the palace of the pope. The name of this court is derived, perhaps, from the circumstance that the floor of their hall is overlaid with marble slabs in the form of wheels (rota): according to some, it is so named because, in ancient Rome, a round public building stood upon the place where this tribunal was first established. Other supreme courts, as, for example, at Genoa, have borne the same name. This court ceased with the papal government, but is now reestablished. (See Curia, Papal.)

ROTATION. The motion of the different parts of a solid body about an axis is called rotation, being thus distinguished from the progressive motion of a body about some distant point or centre; thus the diurnal motion of the earth is a motion of rotation, but its annual motion one of revolution.

ROTATION OF CROPS. Some sorts of crops exhaust the soils on which they grow, much less than others, as is the case with many of what are called green crops, when compared with the white or corn kind; so that it is highly advantageous to alternate them. Moreover, certain sorts of green crops are well suited, by the shade of their leaves and the kind of culture which they require while growing, for keeping the ground clean from weeds, and in a mellow and suitable state for the reception of the more valuable sorts of grain crops. All the culmiferous plants injure the ground in a high degree, which probably depends upon their having but few, and those small, leaves, so that they are obliged to draw their nourishment chiefly from the soil; also from their seeds ripening all at the same time, and the plants ceasing to grow when they begin to ripen, so that the roots cease to penetrate into the ground, and, of course, to move or loosen it. The green crops, and those of the root kind, being opposite to the white in each of the respects just mentioned, serve, generally speaking, when alternated with them, to counteract their injurious effects. The alternation of crops is a matter of vast importance in agriculture, and one in which great improvements have been made within the last century.

ROTH; German for red, and found in many geographical names, as Rothwell (red village).

ROTHSCHILD. This celebrated European house has raised itself from an humble sphere to an unexampled degree of wealth and importance by judicious enterprise, a sagacious and systematic series of operations, which thousands of others had the same opportunities to take advantage of, a reputation for fair dealing, and a correct estimate of men and events. The father of the five brothers now living, Mayer Anselm, was born at Frankfort on the Maine, in 1743, and died in 1812. His parents died when he was but eleven years old, and he was, as is common with poor Jews in Germany, educated for a teacher. This occupation not suiting his taste, Rothschild engaged in trading, in a small way, and was not long after employed in a banking house in Han

over; and in a few years his industry and frugality made him master of a small capital. Returning to Frankfort, he married, and established the banking house, which is still in existence. His activity, intelligence and integrity in a short time procured him a continually increasing credit, particularly after his nomination as agent to the landgrave of Hesse, in 1801. In 1802, 1803 and 1804, his affairs continued to prosper so much, that at this period he was able to contract for a Danish loan of four million dollars. The house now consists of his five sons; Anselm, born in 1773, the head of the house, resides at Frankfort; Solomon, born in 1774, resides alternately at Berlin and Vienna, principally at the latter place; Nathan, born in 1777, has lived in London since 1798; Charles, born in 1788, is at Naples; and James, born in 1792, at Paris. In 1813 occurred those political events which raised the house of Rothschild to the position it has since occupied in the commercial and financial concerns of the world. In a period of twelve years, about 500 million dollars were raised by the house for different powers, by way of loan or subsidy, which were distributed in nearly the following proportion: for England two hundred millions, for Austria fifty millions, for Prussia forty millions, for France eighty millions, for Naples fifty millions, for Russia twenty-five millions, for several German courts four millions, for Brazil twelve millions, exclusive of various other large sums. The remarkable success of the Rothschilds, setting aside the great opportunities which they have enjoyed from favorable circumstances, may be attributed to their strict adherence to two fundamental maxims. The first of these, in compliance with the dying injunctions of their father, is their conducting all their operations entirely in common. Every proposition of magnitude made to one of them is submitted to the deliberations of all; no project is adopted until thus fully discussed, and it is then executed by united efforts. A second principle is, not to aim at exorbitant profits, to set definite limits to every operation, and, so far as human prudence and oversight can do, to render it independent of accidental influences: in this maxim lies one of the main secrets of their strength. The reasonableness of their terms, the punctuality with which they execute their contracts, the simplicity and clearness of their plans, and their judicious manner of carrying them into effect, fortify their credit. A constant exchange of couriers is kept up between them, who are fre

quently in advance of those of the government. Several princes have publicly acknowledged their obligations by conferring nobility and other honors upon the different members of the family. In the latter part of 1831, the Rothschilds contracted for a loan of 15 million francs for the court of Rome, which may be increased to 25 millions.

ROTROU, Jean, a French tragic poet, born at Dreux, in 1609, was the most distinguished dramatic writer among the predecessors of Corneille. (q. v.) Öf his thirty-six tragedies, tragi-comedies and comedies, only one-the tragedy of Venceslas (as revised by Marmontel)-keeps the stage; the plot of this piece is borrowed from the Spanish of Roxas. Rotrou endeavored to elevate the tone of the drama by giving it a moral purpose, and his heroes and heroines are made to utter Christian sentiments. Richelieu, who granted him a pension, could not prevail upon him to assist in decrying the Cid of Corneille. In 1650, Rotrou fell a victim to a pestilential disease, to which he nobly exposed himself in the discharge of his official duties, as one of the principal magistrates of his native place. His Euvres appeared at Paris in 1820, in 5 vols. (See France, Literature of, division Dramatic Poetry.)

ROTTECK, Charles von, a distinguished German historian, professor at the Catholic university of Freiburg, in Baden, was born in Freiburg, in 1775. In 1798, he was appointed professor of universal history. În 1818, he exchanged the chair of history for that of natural law and politics. He is a member of the academy of sciences in Munich. Rotteck is distinguished from almost all other German historians, by the circumstance that his works, in addition to deep research and critical acuteness, display a civic spirit, if we may call it so. Though born in a country where civil liberty was so little understood in the time of his education, he has, nevertheless, learned to understand it, and to trace its developement in history. His chief work is his Universal History, the ninth volume of which appeared in 1826. The sixth edition is probably published by this time. As a recommendation of this work, we would mention that the subscription for an abridgment of it was prohibited in Prussia in 1831. His work on Standing Armies and a National Militia was translated into English and French, and Benjamin Constant translated his Ideas on Representative Estates. Rotteck has been likewise active as a representative in the chamber

of Baden. Besides his more extended works, he has written several important articles in periodicals and encyclopedias, and Manual of Natural Law and Politics. He would have found a noble field, had he been born in a country where the activities of men were unchecked by arbitrary institutions, or at a time of a warm struggle for freedom in his own country.

ROTTEN BOROUGHS. (See Great Britain, division English Constitution, p. 610, and Parliamentary Reform, at the close of the last volume of this work.)

ROTTERDAM; a city of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, on the right bank of the Meuse, which is here above a mile in width, twenty miles from its mouth; lat. 51° 55′ N.; lon. 4° 28′ E.; twelve miles south-east of the Hague, thirty-three southwest of Amsterdam. Rotterdam is the second city in the Dutch provinces, for commerce and wealth, and contains 63,093 inhabitants. The form of Rotterdam is triangular, its longest side (above a mile and a half in extent) stretching along the bank of the Meuse. The town is surrounded by a moat, and entered by six gates towards the land, and four towards the water. It is traversed by the Rotte, a broad canal, which here joins the Meuse. Rotterdam is intersected, even more than other towns in Holland, by canals, which divide the half of the town, near the river, into several insulated spots, connected by drawbridges. These canals are almost all bordered with trees. The row called the Boomtjes is the finest in the city, as well in regard to buildings as for its pleasant prospect across the Meuse. Next to the Boomtjes comes the Haring-vliet. The other streets are, in general, long, but narrow. The houses of Rotterdam are rather convenient than elegant: their height is of four, five or six stories. Of the public buildings of Rotterdam, the principal are the exchange, finished in 1736, the great church of St. Lawrence, from the top of which there is a most extensive prospect. After these come several other churches, the whole number of which is fifteen, the town-house (an old edifice), the admiralty, the academy, the theatre, the extensive buildings of the East India company, a number of large ware-houses, and a few manufactories. Rotterdam has an active transit trade; the manufactures are not extensive; sugar refineries and distilleries furnish the chief articles of industry. There are several learned societies. It is the birth-place of the celebrated Erasmus. Rotterdam received the title and privileges of a city in 1270. Its commerce suffered

severely from the French revolution; and, in 1825, an inundation of the Meuse did great damage to the city. (See Netherlands.)

ROTUNDA (rotonda); every building round within and without, as the Pantheon, in Rome.

ROUBILLIAC, Louis Francis, a sculptor, was a native of Lyons, in France, who settled in England, in the reign of George I; and, in the absolute dearth of native talent which prevailed at that period, he long stood at the head of his profession. He executed a statue of Händel for Vauxhall gardens, and another of sir Isaac Newton, erected at Trinity college, Cambridge; but was chiefly employed on sepulchral monuments. He wrote satires in his native language. He died, in London, in 1762.

ROUBLE; a Russian coin. (For the silver rouble, see Coin, division Russian; for the paper rouble, see Assignation.) By the official valuation of the paper rouble, in the payment of taxes, a few years since, one silver rouble was equal to three roubles sixty copecks paper.

Roucou. (See Annotto.)

ROUÉ. This term is applied to a person, in the fashionable world, who is devoted to a life of pleasure and sensuality, and regardless of the restraints of moral principle. Philip, duke of Orleans, who, during the minority of Louis XV, was regent of France, and had a low opinion of men in general, and his friends in particular, applied the name of roués to his favorites and boon companions, to signify that they were fit to be broken on the wheel.

ROUEN (Rothomagus); a city of France, formerly capital of the province of Normandy, at present of the department of the Lower Seine, on the right bank of the river Seine, eighty-six miles north-west of Paris, forty-five south-east of Havre. The population, by the official enumeration of 1827, was 90,000: it is now estimated to exceed 100,000. Rouen is an archiepiscopal see, and the seat of various judicial and administrative authorities, and is one of the richest commercial cities of France. The Seine is crossed by a bridge of boats, which is paved, and rises and falls with the tide, and a new stone bridge, recently erected. The city is not prettily built, the streets being mostly narrow and dark, and the houses chiefly of wood. The quays along the river are handsome. The principal public buildings are the great cathedral, the church of the ancient abbey of St. Ouen,

remarkable for its lofty tower, the palais de justice, and the theatre. In the market-place aux veaux is a statue of the maid of Orleans, who was burnt here by the English, in 1430. Rouen has several literary and scientific institutions and societies, and seminaries of education, a public library, a mint, fourteen churches, several hospitals, &c. The transit trade of Rouen is considerable. The city is seventy miles from the sea, including the windings of the river, and, with the aid of the tide, vessels of 150 or 200 tons come up to the quays. It is more important as a manufacturing place, having manufactures of cotton, linen, woollen, iron ware, paper, hats, pottery, sugar-refineries, &c. Dyeing is also extensively carried on.

ROUGET DE L'ISLE. (See Marseillaise Hymn.)

ROUM (i. e. the kingdom of the Romans); a name given to Natolia by Solyman, sultan of the Turks, when he invaded and became master of it, in the eleventh century. It is now chiefly applied to a part of Asiatic Turkey, extending from the Mediterranean to the Black sea, east of Caramania and Natolia, and west of Armenia and the government of Diarbekir, including the governments of Sivas, Adana and Marasch. (See Turkey in Asia.)

ROUMELIA. (See Romania.)

ROUND ROBIN (corruption of ruban rond, a round ribbon) was used, originally, by the French officers when signing a remonstrance. They wrote their names in a circular form, so that no one should be obliged to head the list.

ROUND TABLE. If we may believe tradition, towards the end of the fifth century, there reigned in Britain a Christian king, the British Uther-Pendragon, who had a most powerful and not less wise and benevolent enchanter, Merlin, for a counsellor. Merlin advised him to assemble all his knights, who were distinguished for piety, courage, and fidelity towards him, at feasts about a round table. It was calculated to receive fifty knights, and was to be occupied, for the present, only by forty-nine, one place remaining empty for an occupant yet unborn. This was Arthur, or Artus, son of the king by Igerna, whom the king, by the magic power of Merlin, was permitted to enjoy under the form of her husband. Merlin had exacted a promise that the education of the prince should be intrustedto him; and he accordingly instructed him in every thing becoming a brave, virtuous and accomplished knight. Arthur,

therefore, at a later period, occupied the empty seat at the round table, which, under him, became the resort of all valiant, pious and noble knights. (See Merlin, and Arthur.) This table, admission to which became the reward of the greatest virtues and feats of arms, afforded materials for the romantic poets of the Anglo-Normans, forming a distinct cycle of characters and adventures. (See Romance, and Chivalry.) According to another account, Arthur himself established the round table at York. Von Hammer thinks the fiction is of Eastern origin. The adventures of the knights of the round table are founded on the legend of the Sangreal, or Sangraal, which is probably a corruption of the Latin sanguis realis, or the French saing real (true blood). According to this legend, Joseph of Arimathea received into the cup from which Jesus drank at the last supper the blood which flowed from his side on the cross. By means of this cup, called graal, Joseph performed the most astonishing miracles, in different countries, particularly in Britain-a power which was also possessed by his descendants, who inherited the cup. In the course of time, however, it was lost; and, for the purpose of recovering it, Pendragon, father of Arthur, founded the order of the round table, the knights of which bound themselves to wander over the whole world in search of the sangraal. This legend was probably blended with the British traditions of king Arthur by the Trouvéres, or Anglo-Norman poets. Among the romances of the round table, are Tristan de Leonnois, Lancelot du Lac (see Lancelot), Perceforest, Sangraal, &c.

ROUSSEAU, Jean Baptiste, an eminent French lyric poet, born at Paris, in 1671, was the son of a shoemaker, but received a good education, and, at an early period, displayed a strong taste for poetry. In 1688, he obtained a situation in the service of the French ambassador at Copenhagen, and subsequently accompanied marshal Tallard to England, as his secretary. He wrote several pieces for the theatre, on the success of one of which, having, according to the Parisian custom, appeared on the stage to receive the congratulations of the audience, he is said to have had the ingratitude to disown his father, when the old man, rejoicing at his son's triumph, came forward to speak to him, before the friends who surrounded him. In 1701, he was admitted into the academy of inscriptions and belles-lettres, and his lyric compositions procured him

high reputation among the French literati; but his turn for satire, and his quarrelsome temper, at length involved him in disgrace. Some abusive and indecent verses were circulated at Paris, which Rousseau was accused of having written, but which he disclaimed, and professed to have discovered the author in the person of his enemy, Saurin. To relieve himself from the obloquy under which he labored, he commenced a prosecution of that academician, for composing the defamatory couplets in question, and having failed in substantiating the allegation, he was exiled from France in 1712. He went to Switzerland, and afterwards resided at Vienna, under the patronage of prince Eugene. The latter part of his life was spent in the Netherlands, where he obtained a pension from the duke of Aremberg, which he resigned on having forfeited the favor of that nobleman. His death took place at Brussels, in 1741. An edition of his works was published under his own inspection, by Tonson (London, 1723,2 vols., 4to.); and since his death they have been often printed, in various forms. The best edition is that of Amar, with a commentary and life of the author (5 vols. Paris, 1820). The same editor has also published his Euvres Poétiques, with a commentary (2 vols., 1824). Rousseau's works are 1. Four books of Odes, the first book containing odes from the Psalms: purity and elegance of expression are here combined with beauty and dignity of versification; but the lyric enthusiasm is of ten wanting; 2. cantatas, of which he was the creator, and in which he is very distinguished; 3. epistles in verse, the least pleasing of his works, but highly popular in their day, on account of their satirical allusions; 4. allegories, forced and monotonous; 5. epigrams, which, next to his odes and cantatas, are the best of his works, and, with some exceptions, are witty, finely turned, and well expressed; 6. four comedies in verse, and two prose; 7. his operas have no merit. ROUSSEAU, Jean Jacques, born at Geneva, in 1712, was the son of a watch-maker. His mother died in bringing him into the world, and he therefore calls his birth his first misfortune. In his Confessions, he tells us that at the age of seven he was very devout; that at this time he was a great reader of romances; and at the age of eight knew Plutarch's Lives by heart. He also became acquainted with Tacitus and Grotius, which lay about in his father's shop, while quite a boy, and his musical taste was displayed at the same

in

early age. In his tenth year, he was placed with a clergyman in the country, and in his fourteenth was articled to an engraver, whose severity disgusted him with his situation. He therefore ran away from his master, and, after wandering about for some time in Savoy, became a convert to the Catholic religion, to save himself from starvation. Being placed in a monastery to receive the necessary instruction, the young convert soon made his escape, and, after a series of adventures, was recommended, by a clergyman, to the notice of madame de Warens, in Annecy, who caused him to be instructed in science and musie, and treated him with the greatest affection. At the age of twenty, Rousseau went to France, with the expectation of being able to maintain himself by giving lessons in music. In Besançon, he sang at some concerts with success, and received the promise of a place; but after teaching music some time at Chamberry, he went, on account of ill health, to Montpellier. Here, finding the sea air not to agree with him, he returned to his benefactress, and remained with her until 1742, when he received the place of secretary to the French ambassador in Venice. After remaining there a year and a half, he went to Paris, and made his living by copying music, employing his leisure hours in the study of natural science. In 1750, he gained the prize offered by the academy of Dijon, on the question, whether the revival of learning has contributed to the improvement of morals, taking the negative side of the question, it is said, at the suggestion of Diderot. He soon after brought out his Devin du Village, a comic opera, of which he had himself composed the music. This piece was received with general favor, and the author was almost worshipped by the French; but the appearance of his celebrated Letter on French Music (1753), in which he pointed out its defects, excited a general storm. Singers and connoisseurs, who could not wield the pen, contributed to spread calumnies, pasquinades and caricatures against the author, who retired to Geneva. By his change of religion he had lost the rights of a citizen. He now again embraced Protestantism, and was formally reinstated in the privileges of a free citizen of Geneva. From Geneva, Rousseau went to Chamberry, where he wrote his essay Sur l'Inégalité parmi les Hommes. This work excited still more sensation than his prize essay. In it he compares the wild and civilized man, represents the former as the state of nature and innocence, and treats