24 



ROSTRA ROTHESAY. 



travelled into foreign countries. He was afterwards 

 highly promoted under Paul I., and loaded with 

 orders, but afterwards dismissed in disgrace. Un- 

 der Alexander, he obtained the important post of 

 governor of Moscow, and exercised an important 

 influence over the campaign of 1812, even if the 

 a->ertion of the French, that the burning of the city 

 w;!> his work, should be untrue. He himself decid- 

 edly denied this charge in his Vt-rite sur I'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 maga- 

 zines in that city. Buturlin calls him the author 

 of the conflagration, and the public voice in Russia 

 coincides with this opinion. In 1814, he accom- 

 panied 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 

 lus daughter in marriage to a grandson of the cele- 

 brated count Segur (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 

 (sugyestus) in the forum in Rome, whence the ora- 

 tors 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 Romano, has a 

 collegiate constitution, and consists of twelve pre- 

 lates, of whom three must be Romans, one a Ger- 

 man, 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 

 (rotee) : 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 re-established. 

 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 mo- 

 tion 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 

 tailed 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 

 culuiiferous plants injure the ground in a high de- 



gree, which probably depends upon their having but 

 ti \v. and those small, leaves, so that they art- 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 op- 

 posite to the white in each of the respects just 

 mentioned, serve, generally speaking, when alter- 

 nated with them, to counteract their injurious ef- 

 fects. The alternation of crops is a matter of vast 

 importance in agriculture, and one in which great 

 improvements have been made within the last cen- 

 tury. 



ROTH; German for red, and found in many 

 geographical names, as Rothweil (red village). 



ROTHERHITHE; a parish and village on the 

 south bank of the Thames, now connected with 

 Southwark. Here are several dock-yards for 

 building East Indiamen and vessels for the mer- 

 chant service, wharfs for boat-building, anchor- 

 wharfs, ship-breakers' wharfs, timber wharfs, deal- 

 yards, and a multitude of warehouses for articles 

 necessary for naval purposes. The Commercial- 

 dock at this place is sufficiently capacious to receive 

 two hundred vessels of burden ; and near it is the 

 East Country Dock. Population of parish in 

 1841, 13,917. See London. 



ROTHESAY; a royal burgh of Scotland, is 

 situated on a beautiful bay on the north-east side 

 of the island of Bute, at the distance of fifty-two 

 miles from Glasgow, and is the capital of the county 

 of Bute. The town owes its origin to the castle 

 of Rothesay, the ruins of which still remain. This 

 castle is of great antiquity, and is supposed to have 

 been erected during the warlike expeditions of the 

 Norwegians against Scotland. In Haco's first ex- 

 pedition, it was attacked by the Norwegians, with 

 eighty ships, when it was taken, by a sap and 

 assault, with the loss of 300 men. It was retaken 

 by the Scots, soon after the battle of Largs. It 

 was taken possession of by the English, during the 

 reign of John Baliol; but, in 1311, it was surren- 

 dered to Robert Bruce. In 1334, Edward Baliol 

 took the castle and fortified it; but it was again, 

 shortly afterwards, taken by Bruce, the steward of 

 Scotland. King Robert II. visited this castle in 

 1376, and again in 1381. Robert III. acceded to 

 the throne in 1390, and, in 1398, his eldest son, 

 David, earl of Carrick, prince and steward of Scot- 

 land, was created duke of Rothesay, in a solemn 

 council held at Scone, being the first introduction 

 of the ducal dignity into Scotland. It still gives 

 the title of duke to the heir-apparent of the 

 British crown. In 1685, the castle was seized by 

 the marquis of Argyle, and burnt and destroyed. 



The town of Rothesay was erected into a royal 

 burgh in 1401, by king Robert III., who endowed 

 it with a considerable landed territory. Its privi- 

 leges were confirmed and extended by James VI., 

 in 1585. About the year 1700, the family of Ar- 

 gyle offered great inducements for people to settle 

 at Campbeltown, and many of the traders of Rothe- 

 say availed themselves of these offers. The town 

 from that date fell greatly into decay, and continued 

 in a languishing state till about 1765, when a cus- 

 tom-house was erected, and the inhabitants engaged 

 in the herring fishery, in which they were very 

 successful. About the year 1778, a considerable 

 cotton factory was established here; and there is 

 now also a manufactory for weaving by power 



