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ROT 



ROTH! KH1THK, a village of Kn-land, in the 

 counlv of Surrey, and <>w connected l>y buildings 

 w j t | 1 l | u , i, lir j,|) of Southwark along with which it IMS 

 been considered as part of L.-tmion. See LONDON, 

 Vol. XIII. 



UO rilKSAY, a royal burglt of Scotland, is situat- 

 ed on a hay of the same name, on the north-east side 

 of the Island of Bute, and is the chief town of the 

 county of Bute. It is governed by a provost, two 

 bailies, a dean of guild, a treasurer, and twelve ordi- 

 nary councillors, and unites with Ayr, Irvine, Iti- 

 vciary and Campbelltown, in sending a member to 

 the British parliament. Besides the burgh courts, the 

 sheriff and justice-of-peace courts, and county meetings 

 are held here. 



Rothesay castle, now a noble ruin, was probably 

 one of those erected by Mngnus Barefoot, king of 

 Norway, in 1098, to secure his conquest of the wes- 

 tern i>lun<U of Scotland. A village gradually arose 

 around the walls, and under the protection of the 

 castle. Bute being one of the ancient possessions of 

 the House of Stuart, the castle of Kothesay continued 

 to be an occasional place of their residence after they 

 came to the throne, and on the 12th January 1401, 

 King Robert III. erected the village into a royal burgh, 

 and endowed it with a considerable landed terri- 

 tory. Its privileges were confirmed and extended 

 by King James VI. by charter dated 19th February 

 1585. 



Rothesay was one of the principal seats of the Ca- 

 tholic bishops of the Isles, and after the Reformation 

 it became the chief seat of the Protestant bishops of 

 that diocese. 



The town of Rothesay necessarily shared the fate 

 of its castle, in the various wars in which Scotland 

 was engaged, and has been repeatedly taken and plun- 

 dered by the Norwegians, by the lords of the Isles, by 

 the English, and by the different parties during the 

 civil wars. Notwithstanding of which, the town seems 

 to have attained some degree of prosperity, as it en- 

 joyed the advantage of being a mart, at which the 

 Highlanders and western islanders met with the Low- 

 landers to exchange their various commodities; and 

 hence arose the opinion, still prevalent, that Bute is a 

 kind of neutral ground, neither belonging properly 

 to the Highlands nor Lowlands. About the tune that 

 Campbelltown was erected into a royal burgh (1700,) 

 the family of Argyle offered great inducements for 

 people to settle at that place, and many of the traders 

 of Rothesay availed themselves of those tempting of- 

 fers. Having thus lost not only a great part of her 

 traders, but her trade also, the town fell greatly into 

 decay, insomuch, that by the year 17t>0, nearly one 

 half of the houses had been allowed to fall, into ruin, 

 and the population was greatly reduced. It conti- 

 nued in this languishing state till 17t>5, when a cus- 

 tom-house was established here, for the accommoda- 

 tion of the Irish colonial trade, (all colonial produce 

 requiring at that time to be landed in Britain before 

 it could be imported into Ireland.) The inhabitants 

 of Rothesay then engaged in the herring fishery, in 

 which they were very successful ; the town arose 

 from its ruins, and the harbour was enlarged. An 

 English company having, about the year 1778, esta- 

 blished a coiton manufactory here, the first in Scot- 

 land, (which was soon afterwards transferred into 

 Scotch hands,) contributed much to the prosperity of 



the place, by affording employment for the poor, * 

 and bringing n. i.\ | ople to settle in the town. 

 These mills have been recently enlarged, and greatly 

 improved by Mr. Thorn, particularly by his variouk 

 inventions, whereby he has superseded the steam- 

 engines formerly emplo)cd there, by water-power; 

 and that by means at once so simple, economical, ami 

 effectual, us to bid fair to render their application uni- 

 versal.* Besides those branches of industry, and the 

 trades necessarily connected with them, there are two 

 tan-works and a distillery ; and a steam loom factory 

 has been lately established. The harbours being found 

 insufficient for the accommodation of the increased 

 number and size of the vessels belonging to the place, 

 they were lately rebuilt and improved at an expence 

 of above L.5000 sterling. 



For many years past, Rothesay has been resort- 

 ed to by such sea-bathers as were fond of retire- 

 ment ; but the general adoption of steam navigation, 

 in 1814 and 1815, having rendered the access to this 

 place so easy, it soon became a fashionable water- 

 ing place; the demand for houses has increased so 

 much, that new streets have been laid off on each side 

 of the bay, and additional houses are continually erect- 

 ing. 



According to the statistical account, by the mini- 

 ster, the population of the town was, in 1766, 1158 ; 

 in 1771, 1411 ; in 1781, 1701 ; and in 1790, 2607. 

 When the government census was taken in 1801, the 

 population of the town was 4000; but in 1811, it 

 had, from various causes, declined to .3544; in 1821, 

 it was 4107, and it has since considerably increased, 

 and is now estimated at above 5000. t 



ROTTERDAM, a city and sea-port town of Hol- 

 land, situated on the north bank of the Maese, about 

 20 miles from its mouth. The town is traversed in a 

 nor th- west direction by the Rotter, a small river which 

 here falls into the Maese. Rotterdam is built in the 

 shape of a triangle, the longest side of which stretches 

 for about a mile and a half along the banks of the 

 Maese, which has here the appearance of an arm of the 

 sea. The city is encircled v/ith a moat, and has six 

 gates, two of which enter from the water. The streets 

 are long, and generally narrow, and the foot pavement 

 consists of a line of bricks. The principal streets are 

 the Boomtjied, which contains the finest buildings in 

 the city ; and the Haringvliet. The houses, which are 

 more convenient than elegant, are four, five, and six 

 stories high, and in some places the upper stories pro- 

 ject over the lower ones. The windows are unusually 

 large, and the ground floor is generally occupied only 

 by an arched gateway to the back warehouses. 



The principal public buildings are the town house, 

 the exchange, completed in 17^6, the East and West 

 India houses, the arsenal, the church of St. Lawrence, 

 and other churches, including an Episcopalian chape), 

 and a Scotch Presbyterian church. The top of the 

 church of St. Lawrence commands a view of the Hague, 

 Leyden, and Dort. There is also here an academy, a 

 theatre, and toe college of the Lords of the Admiralty. 

 Among the monuments in Rotterdam are the tombs of 

 Admirals Dewit and Von Braakd, and a bronze statue 

 of Erasmus, who was born in that city. Among the 

 literary collections and institutions are a cabinet of na- 

 tural history and of antiquities, a public library, and 

 an academy of sciences, instituted in 1771. 



Rotterdam has long been celebrated as a commercial 



Several of the ingenious inventions by which M*. Thorn has effected this change, will be found described in Dr. Brews'et's Edinburgh 

 Journal of Science, vol. i. ii. iii. and iv. 

 t The Editor has been indebud for thu article to John M'Xirlay, Esq. 



