ROC 



Maximes," many times printed, and tranfLted. Voltaire 

 fpeaks thus of it : " This little collection, written with that 

 delicacy and finefle which render a ftyle to captivating, liad 

 the rare merit of accuftoming readers to think, and to give 

 a lively and precife expreffion to their thoughts." The 

 fundamental principle of this work is, that felf-love is the 

 motive of all our actions. It is therefore, perhaps, lefs the 

 hiflory than the fatirc of the human race : but it is a fatire 

 which, fays a writer, pleafes, becaufe it flatters malignity, 

 and becaufe it excufes men from the admiration of virtue, 

 by giving it a principle in common with vice, and thereby 

 flripping it of the heroifm attributed to it. It feems al- 

 lowed, lays Dr. Aikin, that the writer painted very exactly 

 the world in which he lived, but a lover of mankind will 

 fcarcely admit that world to have been a fair example of the 

 fpecies. Mifanthropes have taken pleafure in his ientiments, 

 and Swift has made one of his thoughts the baiis of his 

 molt iinifhed piece, the poem on his own death. The duke 

 alfo wrote " Memoircs de la Regence d'Anne d'Autnche," 

 2 vols. 1 2 mo. 1 713, an energetic and faithful* reprefentation 

 of that llormy period, in which he was himfelf an actor. 

 Gen. Biog. 



Rochefoucault, ha, in Geography, a town of France, 

 in the department of the Charente, and chief place of a 

 canton, in the diftrift of Angouleme ; 1 2 miles N.E. of 

 Angouleme. The place contains 25S6, and the canton 

 14,574 inhabitants, on a territory of 252^ kiliometres, in 

 17 communes. N. lat. 45° 46'. E. long. o° 28'. 



ROCHELLE, La, a fea-port town of France, and 

 principal place of a diltrift, in the department of the Lower 

 Charente, with a good harbour. The place contains in the 

 E. and W. divifions 18,000 inhabitants: the canton of the 

 former has 14,636, on a territory of 77 A kiliometres, in 

 7 communes; and that of the latter 13,642 inhabitants, on 

 a territory of 75 kiliometres, in 7 communes. In the mid- 

 dle age it was called Rupella and Portus Santonum : it 

 was, before the revolution, the capital of Aunis, and a 

 bifliop's fee. It was the birth-place of Reaumur, Defagu- 

 liers, Sec. The town is conliderable, having an academy 

 of fciences eft abliflicd in 1732, an hofpital, and two fuburbs. 

 It is regularly built in a marfhy fituation ; the entrance of 

 its harbour is narrow, and is defended by two towers. The 

 circumference of its ramparts is about three miles. Its ma- 

 nufactures are delft ware, glafs, refining of fugar, &c. and 

 its commerce, particularly to the French colonies in Africa 

 and America, wa6, before the lall war, very conliderable. 

 In 1361 Rochelle was given up to the Englifh. In the 

 1 6th century, the inhabitants joined in the reformation, for- 

 tified the town, and held out a fiege. In 1622 Louis XIII. 

 in order to compel them to lurrender, ordered Fort Louis 

 to be conftru&ed at the entrance of the harbour, and in 

 1628 a mole was raifed which furrounded it, in order to pre- 

 vent the town from receiving any fuccour by fea. The be- 

 fieged were at length compelled by famine to furrender ; in 

 confequence of which it was deprived of its privileges and 

 its fortifications dcmolifhcd ; but in the reign of Louis XIV. 

 they were repaired by Vauban. N. lat. 46 9'. W. long. 



Rociiklle, Nt-w, a town of America, belonging to the 

 ftate of New York, in Long ifland found ; 6 miles N.N.E. 

 of Weft Chefter. N. lat. 41 54'. VV. long. 73 46'. 



Rochki-lk Salt. See Rupellknsis Sal. 



ROCHEMAURE, in Geography, a town of France, in 

 the department of the Ardeche, and chief place of a can- 

 ton, in the diftrifct of Privas ; 9 miles S.E. of Privas. The 

 place contains 11 10, and the canton 4372 inhabitant';, on a 

 territory of 1073 kiliometres, in 8 communes. 



Vtw.. XXX. 



R O C 



ROCHESTER, a city in the hundred of Rochefter, 

 lathe of Aylesford, and county of Kent, England, is 

 Utuated on an angle of land formed by the current of 

 the river Medway, at the dillar.ee of 8A miles N. from 

 Maidftone, and zo miles E. by S. from London. Accord- 

 ing to the population cenfus of 1811, it contained, in con- 

 junction with the adjoining town of Chatham, 3838 houfes, 

 and 21,722 inhabitants. 



Hijiorical Events. — Rochefter is faid to have been origin- 

 ally founded by the ancient Britons, who gave it the appel- 

 lation of Dwr-bryf, which fignifies " a iwift ilream," in 

 allufion to the rapidity of the Medway at this part of its 

 courfe. When the Romans eftablilhed themfelves in Albion, 

 it became one of their flipendiary Rations, and was denomi- 

 nated by them Durobrivae, or Durobrivis, afterwards con- 

 tracted to Roibis. Thefe fads are evidenced by the Itine- 

 rary of Antoninus, as alfo by the Peutingerian Tables, and 

 receive ftrong confirmation from the frequent difcoveries ot 

 Roman remain*, which have been made at different periods 

 within the area of the prefent city. During the govern- 

 ment of that people, however, its hiflory is completeh 

 barren ; nor did it attain any celebrity for more than a cen- 

 tury after the arrival of the Saxons, who altered its name 

 to Hrof-ceafter, whence its modern deiignation is derived. 

 Ethelbert, king of Kent, who was converted to the Chnt- 

 tian faith A.D. 597, firft erected a church here, and confti- 

 tuted the town a bifliop's lee. Still, however, it war- 

 regarded chiefly as a military ftation, and hence is flyled by 

 Bede " a cattle of the Keiuifh men." In the year 676, 

 Ethelred, king of Mercia, pillaged Rochefter, as did Cead- 

 walla, king of Wefl'ex, within a few years of the fame 

 period. The Danifh invaders likewife frequently plundered 

 it, particularly in 839, when they facked the city and com- 

 mitted many cruelties. In 885 they belieged it again, but 

 were effectually kept in check by the inhabitants, till the great 

 Alfred arrived with his army, and drove them back to their 

 mips. About a century afterwards, Ethelred, king of Kent, 

 met with a limilar reception, and being fruftratcd in his attempt 

 upon the city, gratified his vengeance by laying walk all 

 the lands belonging to the fee. But thefe lieges were trivial 

 to what the inhabitants fuffered from the Danes in 999, 

 when the city was pillaged to the uttermoll, and all the in- 

 habitants who remained in it were put to death. From that 

 period Rochefter feems to have continued moftly in pof- 

 leffion of the Danes till the death of Canute the Great. In 

 the time of Edward the Confeflbr it belonged to the crown ; 

 and as part of the royal domains was feized by the Con- 

 queror, by whom it was granted to his half-brother, Odo, 

 bifhop of Baieux, on whofe difgracc, in 1083, it reverted 

 to the monarch. Henry I. farmed it out to the citizens at 

 the yearly rent of 20/., which was paid by the praepofitus or 

 bailiff. He alfo granted to bifhop Gundulph, and to the 

 church of Rochefter, an annual fair to be held on the eve 

 and day of St. Paulinus, together with various rights and 

 immunities. In the fame reign, on the tith of May 1130, 

 while Henry himfelf, the archbilhop of Canterbury, and 

 other prelates, and many of the nobility were at Rochefter, 

 moft of its buildings were confumed by fire. A fimilar mif- 

 fortune befell it in the year 1 137, and again in April 1379. 

 Thefe feveral calamities retarded the profperity of the city ; 

 and the intelline commotions happening loon afterwards, it 

 did not regain any great degree of conlequence till the reign 

 of Henry III. This monarch repaired, or rebuilt, the city- 

 walls, and inverted it belides with a deep folic. In 1251 

 the fame prince held a folemn tournament here, which was 

 attended by moll of the Englifh nobility, and by a great 

 concourfe of foreign knights. In the time of the wart be- 

 3 C twcea 



