ROTHENBURG 



ROTHSCHILDS 



821" 



sidered in relation to the world and to man. Here 

 in his pursuit of analogies into the world of science 

 Rothe too often leaves behind him the solid earth 

 of reality, and ventures on hypotheses that are 

 little better than visionary, and, moreover, his 

 style is not seldom abrupt, obscure, and perplex- 

 ing. His Dogmatik, posthumously edited by 

 Schenkel (3 vols. 1870-71), completes his ethics. 

 Here he distinguishes sharply between Revelation 

 itself and the Bible its documentary record. The 

 former is not so much a supernatural communica- 

 tion of a religious doctrine as a particular form of 

 God's redemptive activity, strengthening and recti- 

 fying the religious consciousness of man disturbed 

 by sin. The true object of Revelation is the know- 

 ledge of God ; its mode of operation is not magical, 

 but is accompanied by an internal action on the 

 consciousness producing a special receptivity by 

 means of which the external manifestations in 

 history and nature may be understood. It is 

 supernatural in its cause, but natural in its 

 method, although admitting alike of inspiration, 

 of miracle, and of prophecy not contradictions of 

 nature, but rather inherently constituent elements 

 of a Revelation, subserving higher laws of nature 

 unknown to man's limited faculties, but perfectly 

 homogeneous with a divine order. 



During his last ten years, after the formation of 

 the Protestantenverein, Rothe took an active part 

 in ecclesiastical affairs, as a leader in the School of 

 Conciliation. He was an admirable preacher, but 

 with characteristic modesty could hardly be in- 

 duced to publish his sermons. Schenkel edited 

 three volumes in 1869, but took unwarrantable 

 liberties with the text, in the way of modifying 

 the supernaturalism. A fourth and reliable volume 

 was edited by W. Hiibbe in 1872. 



The Prolegomena which Rothe had contributed to 

 Studien und Kritiken he collected under the title Zur 

 Dogmatik (186:J). After his death, besides the books 

 already named, there were edited from his papers Varies- 

 umien iiber Kirchenyeichichtt, by Weingarten (2 vols. 

 1875-76); Abendandackten uber die Pastoralbriefe, by 

 Palmie (2 vols. 1876-77); Der erste Brief Jahannis, by 

 Muhlliausser ( 1878) ; Theoloyiiche Encyklopiidie, by Kup- 

 pelios ( 1880) ; Oetchichte der Predigt, by Triimpelmann 

 < 1881 ) ; Gaammelte Vortrage u. Abhandlunyen, by Nip- 

 pold ( 1886 ). Nippold also edited the Stille Stunden ( 1872 ; 

 Eng. trans. 1886) and wrote his Life ( 2 vols. 1873-74). 



Rothenbnrg, a town of Bavaria, on the 

 Tauber, 36 miles W. by S. of Nuremberg, preserves 

 its mediaeval character in great part unaltered. 

 Pop. 6221. The town produces a periodic pro- 

 cession and historic play in memory of its escape 

 from beingsacked in the Thirty Years' War, during 

 which the town ( then a place of 18,000 inhabitants ) 

 was repeatedly taken and retaken. 



Rotherham, a busy manufacturing town in 

 the West Riding of Yorkshire, on the right bank 

 of the Don, here joined by the Rother, 5 miles 

 ENE. of Sheffield by a railway opened in 1838. 

 Its chief glory is the magnificent cruciform church, 

 Perpendicular in style, with crocketted spire and 

 fine west front. It is probably somewhat earlier 

 than its reputed founder, Thomas de Rotherham, 

 Archbishop of York (1423-1500); in 1875 it was 

 restored by Sir G. G. Scott at a cost of 9000. A 

 handsome edifice in the Collegiate Gothic style, 

 built for an Independent College in 1875 at a cost 

 of 26,000, has been bought for 8000, and applied 

 to the purpose of a grammar-school (1483), at which 

 Bishop Sanderson was educated. There are also a 

 mechanics' institute (1853); a free library (1881 ); 

 an infirmary (1870); a covered market (1879); 

 public baths ( 1887) ; a park ( 1876) of 20 acres, 300 

 feet above the town ; and the Clifton Park of 

 57 acres, which, costing 2,"),000, contains a fine 

 mansion-house, and was opened by the Prince of 



Wales on 25th June 1891. The manufactures in- 

 clude stoves, grates, chemicals, pottery, glass, rail- 

 way-carriages, &c. Ebenezer Elliott was a native 

 of the suburb of Masborough, which is included 

 within the municipal boundary, incorporated in 

 1871. Roche Abbey, a ruin, 8 miles ESE., was a 

 Cistercian foundation ( 1 147 ) ; and 8 miles NE. is 

 Conisborough Castle, noticed at DONCASTER. Pop. 

 (1851)6325; (1871) 25,892; (1881) 34,782; (1891) 

 42,050. See John Guest's huge Historical Notices 

 offiotherham(l879). 



Rothesay, a favourite Scotch watering-place, 

 the capital of Buteshire, is beautifully situated on 

 the north-east shore of the island of Bute (q.v.), 40 

 miles by water W. of Glasgow and 19 SSW. of 

 Greenock. ' Sweet Rothesay Bay,' rimmed by hills 

 400 to 530 feet high, offers safe anchorage in any 

 wind, and is spacious enough to contain the largest 

 fleet. Its charming scenery, its bathing facilities, 

 its sheltered position, and the extreme mildness of 

 its climate have rendered Rothesay a resort alike of 

 holiday-makers and of invalids, especially those 

 affected with pulmonary disease. Its linen and 

 cotton manufactures, tanning, and boat-building 

 are almost or quite extinct ; and the herring-fishery 

 is now the principal industry. A score of the 

 Clyde steamers touch regularly at Rothesay, whose 

 commodious harbour was constructed ( 1822-84) at 

 a cost of over 30,000. An esplanade was formed 

 in 1870 ; and among the chief edifices are the county 

 buildings (1832-67), public hall (1879), aquarium 

 (1876), academy (1869), and Glenburn hydropathic 

 (1843; burned down in 1891, and' rebuilt). 

 In the middle of the town are the ruins of 

 Rothesay Castle, founded about 1098, taken by 

 Haco of Norway ( 1263), the death-place of Robert 

 III. (1406), reduced to ruin (1685), and repaired in 

 1871-77 by the Marquis of Bute, at a cost of 8000. 

 Rothesay since 1398 has given the title of duke to 

 the eldest son of the Scottish sovereign. Created a 

 royal burgh in 1400, it returned a member from the 

 Union till 1832. Pop. ( 1821 ) 4107 ) ; ( 1881 ) 8329 ; 

 ( 1891 ) 9108. See books by J. Wilson ( 1848) and 

 Thorns (1870). 



Rothschilds, the well-known family of bankers, 

 take their name from the sign of the house ( ' Zum 

 Rothen Schilde,' or 'red shield'), in the Jews' 

 quarter of Frankfort, in which their ancestors lived. 

 The real founder of the family as financial magnates 

 was MEYER AMSCHEL ROTHSCHILD, who was born 

 at Frankfort in 1743. Although educated for a 

 rabbi, he embarked in the banking business at 

 Hanover, and, having saved a little money, started 

 for himself as a money-lender and dealer in old 

 coins in the family home at Frankfort. He won the 

 confidence of the landgrave of Hesse, who entrusted 

 his finances to the Jew's management. The current 

 story, that he successfully hid the fortune of the 

 landgrave from the French invaders in 1806, and 

 was through his patron's gratitude allowed to have 

 the almost free use of it for some years, and so by 

 tliis means laid the foundation of a large fortune, 

 is extremely doubtful. The beginnings of his 

 fortune were in all probability less romantic : the 

 Rothschild house got a heavy commission for 

 transmitting money from the English government 

 to Wellington in Spain during the eight years of 

 the Peninsular war ; they managed the large 

 private fortune of the landgrave ; through them 

 the British government made its payments of 

 subsidies to continental princes ; they negotiated 

 large loans for Denmark between 1804 and 1812. 

 At his death, on 13th September 1812, Meyer 

 Amschel Rothschild left five sons, all of whom 

 were made barons of the Austrian empire in 1822. 

 ANSELM MEYER, the eldest son, born in 1773, died 

 1855, succeeded as head of the firm at Frankfort. 



