R O A 



prevalence, however, was very fhort lived; for, in 1566, 

 certain nobles, with lord Darnly at their head, confpired 

 againft him, and difpatched him in the queen's prefence 

 with fifty-fix wounds. Biog. Did. vol. xi. p. 94. 



RIZZUTO, Cape, in Geography, a cape on the coad 

 cf Calabria. N. lat. 38 57'. E. long, if 25'. 



ROA, a town of Spain, in Old Caltile, on the Duero ; 

 25 miles N. of Segovia. 



ROACH, in Ichthyology, the Englifli name of a well- 

 known fi(h, called by the generality of authors the rutiliu 

 and rubiculus, by fome the rubellio. It is a fpecies of the 

 cvprinus according to the new fyftem of Artedi, and the 

 cyprinus rutilus of Linnxus. It has been deemed, though 

 ■» ithout much reafon, remarkable for its livclinefs and viva- 

 city ; whence the proverb, found as a roach. 



In fome parts of the world this fifh will only live in 

 {landing waters ; with us it equally thrives in ponds and 

 in deep dill rivers, and is remarkable for its numerous pro- 

 geny ; a pond being much fooner ftocked with this than 

 with any other fifh. 



Roach Fifbing. See Fishing. 



RoACH-Leech, in Sail-mating, the mad-leech of fails cut 

 with a curve, or roach. 



ROACHING of Alum, one of the lad precedes ufed 

 in the alum making, and is what renders it fit for the 

 market. 



After the alum liquor has been left four days in the 

 cooler, and is fufficicr.tly ihot, they drain it out ; and tak- 

 ing out the alum, they wafh it in a cidern of alum water 

 fo drong, that it can fcarcely take up any more of that fait, 

 but only cleanfes it of its accidental foulnedes. After 

 this warning the alum is put into large pans, and a quantity 

 of water added to it. It is fet over the fire to melt in this 

 water and boil a little ; then it is fcooped into a great cadi, 

 where it is fuffered to dand about ten days ; and it is then 

 fit for the market under the name of roach alum, or roached 

 alum; the liquor let out of the cooler is boiled up again, 

 and fhoots more alum. See Alum. 



ROAD, Via, an open way or padage, forming a com- 

 modious communication between one place ar.d another. 



The Romans, of all people, took the mod pains in their 

 roads ; the labour and expence they were at to render them 

 fpacious, draight, fmooth, and agreeable, to the very ex- 

 tremities of their empire, are incredible. 



Ufually, they drengthened the ground by ramming it, 

 laying it with flints, pebbles, or fand ; fometimes by a 

 lining of mafonry, rubbilh, bricks, potdireds, &c. bound 

 together with mortar. 



F. Menedrier obferves, that in fome places in the Lyon- 

 nois he has found huge cluders of flints cemented with 

 lime, reaching ten or twelve feet deep, and making a mafs 

 as hard and compaft as marble itfelf ; and which, after re- 

 fitting the injuries of time for fixteen hundred years, is 

 ftill fcarcely penetrable by all the force of hammers, mat- 

 tock^ &c. and yet the flints it confids of are not bigger 

 than eggs. 



Sometimes they even paved their roads, regularly, with 

 large fquare free-dones : fuch are the Appian and Ffaminian 

 ways, &c. 



The roads paved of very hard dones, they ufually called 

 vi£ ferrex, either becaufe they refembled iron, or becaufe 

 they refided the iron of the horfes feet, chariots, &c. 



Roads are either natural or artificial, terrejlrial or aquatic, 

 public or private. 



Road, Natural, is that which has been frequented for 

 a long fucceflion of time, and fubfifts witk little expence 

 by re»fo» of ki difpofftion, &c. 



ROA 



Road, Artificial, is that made by labour of the hand, 

 either of earth or mafonry ; and in the making of which, 

 feveral difficulties were to be furmounted ; fuch are mod 

 of thofe along the banks of rivers, and through marlhes, 

 lakes, &c. 



Roads, Terrejlrial or Land, are not only thofe made 

 upon the ground, but alfo thofe formed of earth heaped 

 up in manner of a bank, and fuftaincd by fpurs, buttreffes, 

 and counterforts. 



Road, Aquatic, is a road made in the waters, whether 

 current, as thofe of rivers, &c. or dagnant, as banks and 

 caufeways, or over morafles, &c. 



Under this denomination are alfo comprehended navi- 

 gable rivers, and artificial canals. See Canal. 



Road, Public, or grand road, is any common road, 

 whether draight or acrofs, military or royal, &c. Private 

 road is that made for the convenience of fome particular 

 houfe, &c. See Highway. 



Roads, Military, fo called among the Romans, were 

 grand roads appointed for the marching of their armies into 

 the provinces of the empire, for the alfiflance of their 

 allies &c. 



The principal of thefe roads, in England, are Watling- 

 dreet, Ikenild-dreet, Fofs-way, and Erminage-llreet. See 

 Way. 



Roads, Double, among the Roman?, were roads for car^ 

 riages, having two pavements or caufeways, the one for 

 thofe going one way; the other for thofe returning the 

 other, to prevent clafhing, Hopping, and confulion. 



Thefe two ways were feparated from each other by a 

 bank raifed in the middle, paved with bricks, for the con- 

 venience of foot people, with borders and mounting done* 

 from fpace to fpace, and military columns to mark the dif- 

 tance. Such was the road from Rome to Oilia, called 

 Via Portuenjis. 



Road, Subterraneous, is that dug in a rock with a chiflel, 

 and left vaulted. Such is that of Puzzuoli, near Naples, 

 which is near half a league long ; and is fifteen feet broad, 

 and as many high. 



Strabo fays, it was made by one Cocceius, a relation 

 probably of Nerva ; but it has fince been widened by Al- 

 phonfus, king of Arragon and Naples, and made draight 

 by the viceroys. There is another of the fame kind in the 

 fame kingdom, between Bail and Cumse, called the Grotto 

 of Virgil, becaufe mentioned by that poet in the fixth 

 book of his iEneid. 



Road, in Rural Economy, a track or way condru&ed 

 with fome fort of hard materials for the purpofe of travel- 

 ling upon, with carriages, horfes, and other animals. Roads 

 are of different kinds, as public and private, or parochial. 

 The fird fort may be fubdivided into toll and free- 

 roads, and the latter into lanes or bye-roads : there are 

 likewife other forts of roads, as carriage and horfe tracks, 

 &c. It has been remarked by a writer, in the fird volume 

 of " Communications to the Board of Agriculture," that 

 the conveniencies and beneficial confequences which refult 

 from a free and eafy communication between different parts 

 of a county and didrift are fo various, and the advan- 

 tages of them fo generally and extenfively felt by every 

 defcription of individuals, from the highed to the lowed ; 

 that no labour or expence fhould be fpared in providing 

 them ; as, without fuch ready means of intercourfe, all 

 forts of internal commerce and improvement are either much 

 embarraffed, or wholly at a dand. And it is, indeed, well 

 added, that roads and canals, or navigable rivers, may 

 juftly be confidered as the veins and arteries through which 

 all improvements flow. To internal commerce and agri- 

 culture, 



