ROD 



K C) E 



with his brother, by which he ceded to him Hungary and 

 Auitria, and Matthias was folemnly inaugurated as Sovereign 

 of thofe countries. 



Soon atter, disturbances arofe in the empire on account of 

 the difputed fuccefiion to the duchies of Juliers and Cleves, 

 with which were aiTociated tlie caufes of diiiention between 

 the Catholics and Proteltants of Germany. Confederations 

 were formed, and both parties prepared for war. The em- 

 peror convoked diets, and diligently exerted himfelf, in order 

 to prevent extremities. He, however, gave his chief con- 

 hdence to his coufin the archduke Leopold, who, at length, 

 marched into Bohemia, to awe the Proteltants that had 

 been rendered difcontented, by attempts to introduce the 

 infernal inquilition into the country, and by violations of 

 their privileges. In this emergency they applied for aflilt- 

 ance to Matthias, who entered •Bohemia, and obliged Leo- 

 pold to dilband his troops. Not content with this fuccefs, 

 he lo wrought upon his brother, that Rodolph refigned 

 to him his remaining kingdom of Bohemia, of which Mat- 

 thias received the crown in 1611. Rodolph was, at that 

 time, in a declining itate of health ; he died in January ifii2, 

 in the iixticth year of his age, and thirty-fixth of his reign. 

 It is faid, that the predictions of the celebrated but fuper- 

 ititious altronomer Tycho Brahe, had rendered him diftruft- 

 ful of all his relations, io that he finally (hut himfelf up in 

 his palace, which he never quitted either for exercife or 

 amufement. Among his various itudies was that of altro- 

 nomy, his attachment to which induced him to invite Tycho 

 Brahe to Prague, where he was patronized till his death ; 

 and the iame patronage was afterwards given to the more 

 eminent Kepler. The Rodolphine tables, commenced by 

 the former, and completed by the latter, have perpetuated 

 the name of this emperor as a promoter of fcience. Mod. 

 Univ. Hilt. Gen. Biog. 



RODOLPHE, , one of the moll celebrated pro- 



feflbrs on the French horn that ever exiiled. Though he 

 ufually played the fecond horn, he mounted as high as the 

 hrlt ever went. His execution was truly wonderful ! and 

 he had found the means of producing founds with his inllru- 

 ment that were never heard before. 



This able mufician was equally powerful in compolition 

 as in performance. In 1773 he fet " Jetnona," a ferious 

 opera, for the marriage of the compt d'Artois. For the 

 Italian theatre lie had previoufly fet, in 1765, the comic 

 opera called "Man ige by Capitulation ;" and, in 1767, 

 " The blind Man of P; 



RODOME, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Aude ; <; miles S.W. of Quillan. 



RODON, a town of Sweden, 111 Jamptland, on lake 

 •Storfio ; 7 miles N.VV. of Ofterfund. — Alfo, a fmall 

 ill. 'iid on tli- v., ;• fide ol the gulf of Bothnia. N. lat. 62 ' 

 23'. E. long. 1 •_ 



RODONDA, a fmall illand at the entrance of the har- 

 bour ut Rio ,1.1 



RODONI, Cape, a cape on the coal! of Albania, in the 

 Adriatic. N. lal . 41 5^'. i . 



RODOPE, u mountain of Romania; 50 miles S. of 

 Filippopoli. 



RODOSTO, a town of European Turkey, ■ the pro- 

 vince of Romania, on the north coall of the fea of Mar- 

 mora, where the Armenians have one church, and the 

 Greel . : '.. nvin rtile in com and wine; 



53 mile; N.E. of Gallipoli. 



RODRIGO. SeeClv»AD Rodr, 



RODRIGUEZ. SeeDiEGO Rui,. 



Rodiugi 1./. Key, a fmall ifland on the coalt of Florida. 

 N. hit. 25 . 



RODR1GUEZIA, in Botany, a genus io named in the 

 Flora Peruviana, p. 105, after Emanuel Rodriguez, a 

 Spanilh botanift, apothecary to the king of Spain. Dt 

 Theis. 



RODSEG, in Geography, a town of Jllria; 16 miles 

 N.N.E. of Pedena. 



ROE, Sir Thomas, in Biography, a diilinguifhed tra- 

 veller and negociator, was born, in 1580, at Low Layton, 

 in Effex. He was fent at an early age to Magdalen col- 

 lege, in Oxford: after he had left that feminary of learn- 

 ing, he palled fome time at one of the inns of court. He 

 was made an efquire of the body to queen Elizabeth, to- 

 wards the clofe of her reign ; and in 1604 he was knighted 

 by king James. At the mitigation of Henry, prince or 

 Wales, he undertook an exploratory voyage to Guiana. 

 Having fitted out a (hip and pinnace at his own. charge, and 

 that of his friends, he failed in 1609 for the river Amazons, 

 up which he proceeded to the diftance of 3CO miles, landing 

 in various places to examine the country. Having fpent 

 thirteen months in a laborious furvey of this part of the 

 American continent, in fearch of gold, no doubt, he re- 

 turned to England in 161 1. In 1614 he was fent, at the 

 delire of the Eaft India Company, as ambaflador to the 

 Mogul emperor, for the purpofe of concluding a treaty of 

 peace and commerce. lie arrived at Surat in the autumn 

 of that year, and refidedat the Mogul court till the begin- 

 ning of 1618. His conduct in this Ration did honour to 

 himfelf and his country ; and he made a great number of 

 curious obfervations on the court and people, of which we 

 have fpecimens in Purchas's Pilgrims. On his departure 

 from this country, he vilited the court of Schah Abbas in 

 Perfia, with whom he made a treaty, by which the Eatt 

 India Company obliged itfelf to afiilt him with a fleet, for 

 the purpofe of expelling the Portuguefe from Ormus, on 

 condition of being allowed a free trade with Perfia. After 

 his. return; fir Thomas Roe was elected in 1620 a repre- 

 fentative in parliament for Cirenceiler ; and in the following 

 year he was nominated ambaflador to the Ottoman Porte, 

 which pod he occupied under the fultans Ofman, Muftapha, 

 and Amurath IV. He performed, 111 this capacity, fome 

 molt important fervices for his country ; and he was, at the 

 lame time, very ferviccable to the Greek church, by pro- 

 tecting it from the oppreffions of the Turkifh rmnifters, and 

 from the intrigues of the Jefuits, and other perfons attached 

 to the Papal fee. In return for his various fervices, he was 

 afliucd in his collection of manufcripts in the Greek and 

 Oriental languages, which he prefented to the Bodleian 

 library ; and to his care was cntrultcd tin- eel brated Alex- 

 andrian manufcript of the Bible, prefented to Charles I 

 by Cyril, patriarch of ConAantiuople. During his em- 

 bally, fir Thomas drew up " A true Relation of whal 

 lately happened in Conllantinople, concerning the Death of 

 Sultan Ofman, and the fetting up of Muftapha, hi. Uncle," 

 ecc. This was printed in London in 1622. He alfo kept 

 minutes of his negociations at the Porte, which remained 111 

 manufcript till 1740, when thrv v.. u publifhed by the lo- 

 ciety for promoting learning, under the title ol " The Ne- 

 gociations of fir Thomas Roc. in his F.mbally to the Otto- 

 man Porte, from the Year 1621 to 1628 incluJ 



After his return from Conllantinople, he was fent, in 

 1629, to mediate a peace between Poland and Sweden. 

 He was afterwards employed in negociating a treaty with 

 (lie king of Denmark at Copenhagen ; and he went a fecond 



time to that court, and alio to thofe o G rraan 



princes; and was prefent at the congrefs of I l.imhurgh, and 

 its removals to Rati(bon and Vienna. In 1640 he wi 

 representative in parliament for the uoiverfity ol" Oxford, 



and 



