n o s 



R O S 



92 and 95' E. long., and 21 and 23 N. lat. ; about 

 120 miles in length, and 80 in breadth. See AllR.vcw. 



ROSHEIM, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Lower Rhine, and chief place of a canton, in the ditlrict 

 of Barr ; 15 miles S.W. of Stralburgh. The place con- 

 tains 3355, and the canton 12.017 inhabitants, on a ter- 

 ritory of 22 7A kiliometres, in 15 communes. 



ROSHOVER, a townfhip of Pennfylvania, in Weft- 

 minlter county, containing 1786 inhabitants. 

 ROSICRUCIANS. See Rosycrucians. 

 ROSIF.MNE, in Geography, a town of Samogitia, in 

 which the diet and court of judicature are held ; 76 miles 

 S of Mittaw. N. lat. 55" 30'. E. long. 41 57'. 



ROSIERE, La, a fmall' ifland near the S.W. coaft of 

 the ifland of Jerfey ; I mile E.S.E. of Noirmont Point. 



Rosieuk, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Somme, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 

 Montdidier. The place contains 2760, and the canton 

 13,812 inhabitants, on a territory of 120 kiliometres, in 21 

 communes. 



ROSIERES aux Salines, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Meurte, on the Meurte, formerly celebrated 

 for its falt-works ; 6 miles W. of Luneville. 



ROSIERS, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Mayne and Loire, on the Loire ; 7 miles N. W. of Saumur. 

 Rosiers, Cape, the S. limit of the mouth of the river 

 St. Lawrence ; being the eafternmoft point of the diftrift 

 of Gafpee, in Lower Canada. N. lat. 48 56'. W. long. 

 6f 40'. 



ROSIGNANA, a town of Etruria ; 13 miles S.E. of 

 Pifa. 



ROSIL, in Rural Economy, a term applied to fuch land 

 as is neither light nor heavy, being a medium between 

 fand and clav ; it is fometimes written rofills. 



ROSILLY Bay, in Geography, a bay on the S. coaft of 

 Wales. N. lat. 51 32'. W. long. 4 16'. 



ROSIN, John, in Biography, an antiquary, was born 

 at Eifnach in 1551, and died of the plague in 1626. He 

 was author of " Antiquitatum Romanarum," a work of 

 high reputation, of which the belt edition is that of Utrecht, 

 in 1 70 1. 



Kosin, Rejina, in Pharmacy. See Resin - . 

 ROSIN is particularly ufed for a refinous matter prepared 

 from the juice of the pine-tree ; in ordinary ufe for the mak- 

 ing of ointments, plallers, and for other purpoies. 



For the method of procuring it, fee Pine, and Turpen- 

 tine. 



ROSITO, in Geography, a town of Naples, in Calabria 

 Citra ; 16 miles N.E. of CafTano. 



ROSITO, Cape, a cape on the eaft coaft of Calabria. N. 

 lat. 40° 5'. E. long. 1 6° 40'. 



ROSKOPF, a mountain of Auftrian Svvabia ; 1 mile 

 S.E. of Schonau. 



ROSLAND, in our Old Writers, heathy land, or 

 ground full of ling : alfo watery and moorifh land. 



ROSLAVL, in Geography, a town of Ruflia, in the 

 government of Smolenlk. N. lat. 54 . E. long. 32° 50'. 



ROSLAW, a river of Saxony, which runs into the 

 Elbe, oppoiite to Deflau. 



ROSLDORF, a town of Auftria ; 6 miles S.W. of 

 Ehrnfprunn. 



ROSLYN, Roslin, Rofclyn, or Rojkelyn, a village in 

 the parilh of Lafwade, and county of Midlothian, 8cot- 

 land, is about fix miles S.S.W. from Edinburgh. This 

 place is much celebrated on account of its calllc and chapel, 

 and for the romantic character of the fecnery in its im- 

 mediate vicinity. An excurfion to Roflyn is one of the fa- 



vourite fummer recreations of the inhabitants of the northern 

 metropolis ; and no traveller of tafte leaves that part of the 

 kingdom, without contemplating its beauties. The caflle 

 is ieated on a bold and lofty rock, overhanging the river 

 North-E(k, which dallies over a rugged channel at the bafe, 

 in a iemicircuiar fweep ; and the precipitous banks are 

 covered with a profulion of wood. Only a very fmall por- 

 tion of the ancient building is now Handing ; but a modern 

 manijon has been erected on part of the ojd walls. It is un- 

 certain when this caltle was built j but that event mod pro- 

 bably occurred about the commencement of the 1 2th century, 

 when William de Sanclo-Clere (fon to Waldernus de St. 

 Clere, who came to England with William the Conqueror) 

 obtained a grant of the barony of Roflyn from the Scoi.iih 

 king, Malcolm Canmore. No mention of it is made in hif- 

 tory, however, till the reign of James II. of Scotland, when 

 fir William Hamilton is Itated to have been confined here, 

 for joining the rebellious itandard of earl Douglas. In 

 1554 it was fet fire to, and in great part demolifhed, by 

 the forces of king Henry VIII. The St. Clere family, or, 

 as the name is now fpelt, St. Clair, was anciently of great 

 note in Scotland. Their poflefiions were very extenfive, 

 and their titles numerous, being earls of Caithnefs and 

 Orkney, lords of Nithfdale, and barons of Pentland, Couf- 

 lande, Cardain, Saint-Clair, Herbertfliire, Hertfoord, 

 Grahamthaw, Kirkton, Cavers, Newborough, and Rox- 

 burgh. Their affluence and power exceeded that of moll 

 contemporary nobles, either in England or Scotland ; and 

 they lived in a ftyle of magnificence and fplendour, which 

 even the Scottilh monarchs were fcarccly able to rival. 

 James II. conferred upon them the honour of being here- 

 ditary patrons and grand mailers of mafonry in Scotland ; 

 privileges which they continued to enjoy for feveral genera- 

 tions. 



The chapel of Roflyn occupies the fummit of a hill above 

 the cattle. It was founded in the year 1446, by William 

 Saint Clair, earl of Caithnefs and Orkney, for a provoft, fix 

 prebendaries, and two finging boys ; and was endowed by 

 him with confiderable landed pofleflions. He did not, how- 

 ever, live to complete his undertaking, notwithstanding he 

 fpared neither trouble nor expence to efTeft this purpofe be- 

 fore his death, which happened in 1479. From a manu- 

 re ript memoir of the houfe of Douglas, depofited in the 

 library of the Faculty of Advocates at Edinburgh, we learn 

 many curious particulars relative to the building of this 

 chapel. It is there faid, that the founder " caufed artificers 

 to be brought from other regions and torraigne kingdomes, 

 and caufd dayly to be abundance of all kinde of workemeu 

 prefent ;" and it is fubtcqucntly added, "and to the end 

 the workc might be more rare, he caufd the draughts to 

 be drawn upon Eallland bootds, and made tin' carpenters 

 to carve them according to the draughts, and then gave 

 them for patterns to the mafons, that they might thereby 

 cut the like in ftone." The prefent building is generally 

 fuppofed to have been intended only tor the choir ot a large 

 collegiate church, which, according to tradition and ; 

 bability, it was the defign of the founder to have erected. 

 Though in a mutilated ftate, its architecture is unique, and 

 combines, according to Mr. Gandy, " the Egyptian, 

 Grecian, Roman, and Saracenic ftyles;" and exhibits the 

 arch " in all its poflible forms and piinci) This 



ilru&urc meatures in the interior 68 feel in length, and 35 

 in breadth. The exterior is fupported by 21 buttrefles, 

 furmonnted by pinnacles, each dill the 1 herein 



its ornaments. Two of thefe buttrefles have double pin- 

 nacles, the outer (hafts of winch are in.aller than the inner, 

 with which they are connected by Hying abutment"-. Similar 

 i£l members 



