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R 0 A 
she favoured him too much. Henry Stewart Darnley, the 
queen’s husband, had him arrested in the music-room of 
this princess. But it is said, in some accounts, that he 
was actually at supper with her majesty and the countess of 
Argyle in her cabinet. Some say he was massacred in her 
presence; others assert, that the duke of Rothsay dragged 
him out of the room and murdered him at the door. There 
is no doubt but that the queen made useless efforts to save 
his life. However, it is added, that she revenged his death 
afterwards on several of his assassins. Laburde. 
His instrument seems to have been the lute, the general 
favourite at that time all over Europe. 
Sir John Melvil, in his Memoirs, tells us that “the 
queen had three valets of her chamber, who sung in three 
parts, and wanted a base to sing the fourth part; there¬ 
fore, telling her majesty of this man, Rizzio, as one fit 
to make the fourth in concert, he was drawn in some¬ 
times to sing with the rest” This was about the year 1564. 
He quickly crept into the queen’s favour; and her 
French secretary happening at that time to return to his 
own country, he (Rizzio) was preferred by her majesty to 
that office. He began to make a figure at court, and to 
appear as a man of weight and consequence. Nor was he 
careful to abate that envy which always attends such an 
extraordinary and rapid change of fortune. On the con¬ 
trary, he seems to have done every thing to increase it; 
yet it was not his exorbitant power alone which exas¬ 
perated the Scots; they considered him as a dangerous 
enemy to the protestant religion, ajid held for this purpose 
a constant correspondence with tfie court of Rome. His 
prevalence, however, was very short lived; for, in 1566, 
certain nobles, with lord Darnley at their head, conspired 
against him, and dispatched him in the queen’s presence 
with fifty-six wounds. Biog. Diet. 
RIZZUTO, Cape, a promontory of the south of Italy, on 
the coast of Calabria. Lat. 38. 57. N. long. 17. 25. E. 
RJASK, a town of the interior of European Russia, in the 
government of Riazan, on the river Riazan. Population 900; 
70 miles-south-south-east of Riazan. 
RO, or Rho, a small town of Austrian Italy, in the 
delegation of Milan, remarkable for its elegant church; 7 
miles north-west of Milan. 
ROA, a town of Spain, province of Burgos, on the north 
side of the Douro. It is defended by a castle, and has 2500 
inhabitants, with a splendid mansion belonging to the counts 
of Sizuela, who are, in a great measure, proprietprs of the 
town. Cardinal Ximines died here in 1517; 25 miles north 
of Segovia. 
ROACH, a parish of England, in Cornwall; 5 miles from 
St. Austle. Population 1164. 
ROACH, s. [peohche. Sax.] A fish.—A roach is a 
fish of no great reputation for his dainty taste: his spawn is 
accounted much better than any other part of him : he is 
accounted the w'ater sheep, for his simplicity and foolishness; 
and it is noted, that roaches recover strength, and grow in 
a fortnight after spawning. Walton. 
If a gudgeon meet a roach. 
He dare not venture to approach; 
Yet still he leaps at flies. Swift. 
As sound as a Roach, [roche, Fr. a rock.] Firm; 
stout.—Ray has the expression, as sound as a trout; but 
sometimes people will express it, as sound as a roach, 
which is by no means a firm fish, but rather otherwise; 
and on- that account Mr. Thomas surmises it should rather 
be sound as a roche, or rock: and it is certain, the abbey 
of De Rupe, in Yorkshire, was called Roche-abbey, 
implying that roche was formerly the pronunciation of rock 
here, in some places at least. Pcgge. 
ROACH1NG of Alum, one of the last processes used 
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 sufficiently shot, they drain it out; and tak- 
R O A 
ing out the alum, they wash it in a cistern of alum water 
so strong, that it can scarcely take up any more of that salt, 
but only cleanses it of its accidental foulnesses. After 
this washing the alum is put into large pans, and a quantity 
of water added to it. It is set over the fire to melt in this 
water and boil a little; then it is scooped into a great cask, 
where it is suffered to stand 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 shoots more alum. See Alum. 
ROAD, s. fade, Fr. What is ridden over.] Large 
way ; path.—Would you not think him a madman, who, 
whilst he might easily ride on the beaten road way, should 
trouble himself with breaking up of gaps > Suckling .— 
There is but one road by which to climb up. Addison. 
[Rade, Fr. This also, according to Skinner, is from ride; 
ships riding at anchor.] Ground where ships may 
anchor. 
I should be still 
Peering in maps for ports and roads; 
And every object that might make me fear 
Misfortune to my ventures. Shakspeare. 
Inroad; incursion. 
The Volscians stand 
Ready, when time shall prompt them, to make road 
Upon’s again. . Shakspeare 
He mote travel for worship, 
And make many hasty rodef . 
Sometime in Pruis, sometime in Rhodes. Gower 
With easy roads he came to Leicester, 
And lodg’d in the abbey. Shakspeare. 
The act or state of travelling.—Some taken from their 
shops and fanns, others from their sports and pleasures, 
these at suits at law, those at gaming tables, some on the 
road, others at their own fire-sides. Law. 
The great value of roads is evident to all. Previous to 
their establishment, no regular traffic could exist between dif¬ 
ferent parts of a country, in the important articles of food 
and clothing. The occupants of lands, even a few miles dis¬ 
tant, would be unable to interchange commodities, and even 
the due cultivation of extensive farms must be prevented. 
Of course, the like disadvantages follow, in a minor degree, 
badly formed roads, and, at the present day, inattention to 
this very obvious fact, destroys, especially on the continent, 
much of the comfort and prosperity of mankind. Of all the 
effects that the great Roman dominion produced in Europe, 
none are so permanent and useful as the roads which has in 
every direction marked its progress. In this country espe¬ 
cially, they seem to have been no slight assistance to the com¬ 
bination of the distant countries into one kingdom, and they 
performed for internal traffic that which our fortunate maritime 
position has secured to us in respect to foreign commerce. 
In the observations we have to make on roads, it will be 
proper to consider, firstly, common roads, and secondly, rail¬ 
roads. 
I. Of Common Roads. 
These may be divided into paved and unpaved. As to the 
former, the theory ofpavement appears to be extremely simple; 
the stones, however, may be either small or large; the former 
being understood to be employed without previous prepara¬ 
tion of their shape, as in the inferior kind of work which is 
called “ pitching” in the west of England; the latter being 
more or less cut to fit each other whether in the form of thick 
rough blocks, not very remote from cubes, or of flat and smooth 
flagstones. In the cities of Great Britain the former are com¬ 
monly used for horse pavements, and the latter for foot-pas¬ 
sengers ; but in Florence the whole breadth of the street is 
paved with flag-stones placed diagonally, and in Naples the 
surfaces are nearly as smooth; in both these cases it is neces¬ 
sary to roughen the stones frequently with chisels wherever 
there is a hill or a bridge, in order to prevent the horsesslip- 
ping, but in both cities the horses from habit are sufficiently 
sure- 
