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felf with taking an officer of his recommendation (captain 

 Holmes), under whom the fqaadron was lent. He was an 

 aftive member of the council of trade. It was owing to his 

 folicitations, after being at great expence, not only in the 

 inquiry into the value, but in i nding fhips thither, that the 

 Hudfon's Bay Company , ol which he was the 



firft governor appointed by the charter. In nv n.ory of him, 

 a coniiderable opening on the call fide of that bay, in Terra 

 de Labrador, is called Rupert's river. In general, hishigh- 

 nefs was a great friend to ieamen, and to all learned, inge- 

 nious, and public-fpiritcd pcrfons, ?nd ulFilled them with his 

 purfe, as well as afforded them his countenance. He was 

 concerned in the patent for annealed cannon, in a glafs-houfe, 

 and other undertakings for acquiring or improving manu- 

 factures, for winch fome have ceniured him, as giving en- 

 couragement to projectors. But furely this cenfure is very 

 ill placed, fince, without iuch patrons, indullry and inge- 

 nuity would want fupport, and many ufeftil inventions, many 

 valuable difcoveries, barely emerge, and then fink again into 

 oblivion. But flri<£t juftice has been done to his highnefs's 

 many virtues, and amiable qualities, by abler and more im- 

 partial judges, efpecially in that excellent character of him 

 by the elegant pen of hilltop Sprat. In refpeft to his pri- 

 vate life, he was fo juft, fo beneficent, fo courteous, that his 

 memory remained dear to all who knew him. This, ob- 

 ferves Campbell, I fay of my own knowledge ; having often 

 heard old people in Berkfhire fpeak in raptures of prince 

 Rupert. 



He died at his houfe in Spring-Gardens, on the 29th of 

 November 1682, in his grand climatteric, leaving behind 

 him a natural fon, ufually called Dudley Rupert, by a 

 daughter of Henry Bard vifcount Bellemont, though ftyled 

 in his father's lalt will and teilament Dudley Bard. He 

 received the firft tin&ure of letters at Eton fchool, where 

 the gentlenefs of his temper, and the modefty and amiable- 

 ncis of his behaviour, procured him univerfal efteem. His 

 genius, however, inclining rather to arms than ftudy, he 

 was placed under the care of that celebrated mathematician 

 fir Jonas Moore at the Tower. Here he continued till the 

 demife of that prince, when he made a tour into Germany 

 to take polleflion of a confiderable fortune which had been 

 bequeathed to him. He was very kindly received by the 

 Palatine family, to whom he had the honour of being fo 

 nearly allied. In 1686 he made a campaign in Hungary, 

 and diftinguiuVd himfelf at the fiege of Buda, where he had 

 the misfortune to lofe his life, in the month of July or Au- 

 gult, in a defperatc attempt made by fome Englilh gentle- 

 men upon the fortifications of that city, in the 20th year of 

 his age, and, though fo young, he had fignalized his courage 

 in fuch an extraordinary manner, that his death was exceed- 

 ingly regretted. Hume. Campbell's Lives of the Ad- 

 mirals. 



Rupert, in Geography, the north-weflernmoft town- 

 ihipof Bennington county, in the itate of Vermont, Ame- 

 rica, containing 1630 inhabitants; 20 miles N. of Ben- 

 nington. 



RUPERT'S Bay, a bay on the N.W. coaft of the ill nd 

 of Dominica, which is deep, capacious, and fandy, and af- 

 fords good fhelter from the winds. It is the principal bay 

 of the ifland, and 011 it is crefted the town of Portimouth. 

 N. lat. 1 5 40'. W. long. 6l° 18'. 



Rupert's Fori, lies at the bottom of Hudfon's bay, in 

 North America, fituated on a river of the fame name, on 

 the E. fide of James's bay, between Slade river N., and 



Nordway river S. N. lat. 51 co'. \\ . long. 8cr 5' 



Alfo, a fort on ths W. coalt of the ifland of Barbadocs ; 

 1 mile N. of Speight's town. 

 1 



Rupert's Head, a cape on the \V. coaft 'of the ifland of 

 Dominica. N. lat. I5°4i'. W. long. 6i° 19'. 



Rupert's Ifland, the molt wefterly of four iflands in the 

 (traits of Magellan, forming the S. fide of Royal Reach ; 3 

 miles S. of Paflage Point. 



Rupert's River, a river of North America, which runs 

 from lake M'ftaiin into James's bav, Hudfon's bay. N. lat. 

 51-28'. W. long. 78 56'. 



RUPERT'S Drops, lacrynw Batavica, a fort of glafs drops 

 with long and (lender tails, which burlt to pieces on the 

 breaking off thofe tails in any part, faid to have been in- 

 vented by prince Rupert, and therefore called after his 

 name. 



The hiltory of thefe drops is this : they were firft brought 

 into England by prince Rupert out of Germany, and fhewn 

 to king Charles II. who communicated them to the Royal 

 Society at Grefham College ; and a committee, appointed 

 on this occalion by the fociety, gave the following account 

 of them. They muftbe made of green glafs well refined, for 

 till the metal, as the glafs-men call it, is perfectly refined, 

 they never fucceed if made of it ; but always crack and 

 break foon after they are dropped into the water. 



The beft way of making them is to take tip fome of the 

 metal out of the pot upon the end of an iron rod, and im- 

 mediately let it drop into cold water, and there lie till it is 

 cold. If the metal be too hot when it is dropped into the 

 water, the bufinefs does not fucceed, but the drop frofts and 

 cracks all over, and falls to pieces in the water, and every 

 one that does not crack in the water, but lies in it whole 

 till it is quite cool, is fure to be good. There is great 

 nicety in the hitting a due degree of heat in the metal, and 

 the workmen who beft know their bufinefs cannot promife 

 before hand which (hall fucceed, but often two fail for one 

 that hits right. Some of them froft over the furface with- 

 out falling to pieces, and others break into pieces before 

 the red heat is quite over, and that with a fmall noife ; others 

 break foon after the red heat is over and make a great 

 noife, and fome neither break nor crack till they feem to 

 be quite cold ; and others hold together while they arc in 

 the water, but fly to pieces with a fmart noifevvheu they 

 are taken out of it ; fome do this on the inftant, others an 

 hour or two after, and others will keep fevcral days, nay 

 weeks, and at laft fall to pieces without being touched. 



Thefe drops, thus formed, are fo hard, that they will 

 bear fmart blows of a hammer, on the rounded end, without 

 breaking ; and yet if you grind the iurface, or break off 

 the tip of the tail, they will ihatter, with a loud report, into 

 powder ; and in an exhaulted receiver, with greater impe- 

 tuofity than in the open air, and into a finer powder, exhi- 

 biting light, when the experiment is made in the dark. 

 But if the drops are ground with powder of emery and oil, 

 or annealed by the fire, they will efcape breaking. 



This furprifing phenomenon is luppofed to ariie from 

 hence ; that while the glafs is in fufion, or in a melted ftate, 

 the particles of it are in a ftate of repulliou ; but being 

 dropped into cold water, it fo condenfes the particles in the 

 external parts of their luperlicics, that they are thereby re- 

 duced within the power of each other':; attraction, and by 

 that means they form a fort of hard cafe, which keeps con- 

 fined the before-mentioned particles in their repulfive Itate ; 

 but when this outer cafe is broke by the breaking off the 

 tail of the drop, the faid confined particles have then liberty 

 to exert their force, which they do byburfting tin- body of 

 the drop, and reducing it to a very peculiar form ol powder. 

 See a paper on the phenomena and explication of thefe glafs- 

 drops, by Dr. LeCat.in the Philof. Tranf. vol. xlvi. \>. 175, 

 &c. See /Inncal'mv of Glass. 



RUPERTS- 



