ROC 
ROCHEFORT, a town of France, department of the Puy 
de Dome, on the river Sicule. Population 1400; 18 miles 
south-west of Glermont. 
ROCHEFORT, a small town of France, department of the 
Maine and Loire, on the small river Louet. Population 
2400; 9 miles south-west of Angers. 
ROCHEFORT EN ARDENNES. See Roche, La. 
ROCHEFORT SAMSON, a village of France, depart¬ 
ment of the Drome. Population 1000; 12 miles east-north¬ 
east of Valence. 
ROCHEFORTIA, [so named by Swartz, in memory of de 
Rochefort, author of “ Histoire naturelle et morale des Isles 
Antilles de l’Amerique.” Rotterdam, 1639], in botany, a 
genus of the class pentandria, order digynia, natural order 
of dumosee, rhamni, (Juss.) Generic Character.—Calyx : 
perianth one-leafed, five-parted; segments, ovate, blunt. 
Corolla: one-petalled, funnel-form; tube short; aperture 
open; border five-parted; segments ovate-oblong; spread¬ 
ing Stamina: filaments five, inserted in the throat of the 
corolla at the openings, awl-shaped. Anthers oblong. Pistil: 
germ superior, roundish, compressed. Styles two, awl- 
shaped. Stigmas simple. Pericarp subglobular, two-celled. 
Seeds a few, angular Essential Character. —Calyx five- 
parted. Corolla one-petalled, funnel-form, inferior, with the 
aperture open. Fruit two-celled, many-seeded. 
1. Rochefortia cuneata.—This is a shrub, three or four 
feet high, with a branching, upright, unarmed stem. Leaves 
in bundles, or threes, wedge-shaped. Peduncles commonly 
terminating axillary, subdiehotomous, clustered, cymed, 
shorter than the leaves. Flowers small, greenish or whitish: 
segments of the calyx upright, pubescent : tube of the 
corolla five-cornered.—Native of Jamaica, on dry rocky 
mountains. 
2. Rochefortia ovata.—This is a small tree, with round 
smooth branches. Leaves ovate, alternate, petioled, entire, 
somewhat villose, nerved and veined, an inch long. Pedun¬ 
cles five times shorter than the leaves, many-flowered with the 
flowers in pairs. Calyx divided to the base : segments 
villose at the edge, upright, incumbent. Tube of the corolla 
bell-shaped, the length of the calyx: segments blunt, a little 
longer than the tube. Anthers large, subincumbent. Germ 
smooth.—Native of Jamaica. 
ROCHEFOUCAULT (Francis, Duke of). Prince of 
Marsillac, a man of wit, and a well known writer in the age 
of Lewis XIV., was bom in 1613. He distinguished him¬ 
self as one of the most brilliant young noblemen about the 
court, and formed a connexion with the famous duchess of 
Longueville, which involved him in the civil war of the 
Fronde. At the battle of St. Antoine, in Paris, he signalized 
his courage, and received a musket shot which for sometime 
deprived him of sight. When these troubles were terminated, 
and he had made his peace with the government, he de¬ 
voted himself to the pleasures of society and literature. His 
house was the resort of the best company at Paris in point of 
talents and understanding, and his conversation was relished 
by such persons as Boileau, Racine, Sevigne, and La Fayette. 
Nor did he only shine by his wit and vivacity; he displayed 
great firmness of mind under domestic losses (having had one 
son killed, and another wounded at the passage of the Rhine), 
and under the pain of the gout, with which he was much afflict¬ 
ed in his latter years. Mad. de Sevigne'speaksof him as “ hold¬ 
ing the first rank in courage, merit, tenderness, and good 
sense.” In Mad. Maintenon’s. Letters is a portrait of the 
duke, in which there are some features not easily reconciled 
to each other. “ He had a happy physiognomy, a grand air, 
much wit, and little learning. He was intriguing, supple, 
and wary: I never knew a friend more solid, more open, or 
who gave better counsel. He loved to take the lead. Per¬ 
sonal bravery appeared to him a folly, and scarcely did he 
disguise this opinion ; yet he was very brave. He preserved 
till death the vivacity of his disposition, which was always 
very agreeable, though naturally serious.” Huet asserts that 
he cons f antly refused to take a seat in the French Academy, 
because he was timid and feared to speak in public. The 
Duke de Rochefoucault died with philosophical tranquil- 
Vot. XXII. No. 1491. 
ROC 153 
lity at Paris in 1680, in his 68th year. He made himself 
famous by a work entitled “ Reflexions et Maximes,” many 
times printed, and abundantly both praised and criticised. 
Voltaire speaks thus of it: “ This little collection, written 
with that delicacy and finesse which render a style so capti¬ 
vating, had the rare merit of accustoming readers to think, 
and to give a lively and precise expression to their thoughts." 
The fundamental principle of this work is, that self-love is 
the motive of all our actions. “ It is therefore (says M. Pa- 
lissot) less the history than the satire of the human race: 
but it is a satire which pleases, because it flatters malignity, 
and because it excuses men from the admiration of virtue, by 
giving it a principle in common with vice, and thereby strip¬ 
ping it of the heroism attached to it.” It seems allowed that 
the writer painted very exactly the world in which he lived, 
but a lover of mankind will scarcely admit that world to 
have been a fair example of the species. 
A book of unconnected aphorisms or maxims is tedious, 
and liable, of course, to great irregularities in execution- 
Nevertheless, there are few French works in our opinion, 
that betray so deep and original a train of thoughts as the 
maxims of Rochefoucault. It is said that they were the result, 
of extraordinary labour, the author having spent the greater 
part of his life, in correcting and re-writing them. The 
Duke also wrote “ Memoires de la Regence d'Anne d’Au- 
triche,” 2vols. 12ino., 1713, an energetic and faithful re¬ 
presentation of thatstormy period, in which he was himself an 
actor. Nouv. Diet. Hist. Voltaire's Siecle du Lewis XIV. 
ROCHEFOUCAULT, a town of France, department of 
the Charente, on the river Tardoire, with a castle, and 2400 
inhabitants. It has some manufactures of leather and linen; 
its chief traffic is in these articles and in wood. It conferred, 
before the Revolution, the title of duke; 20 miles north-east 
of Angouleme, and 58 south of Poitiers. 
ROCHELLE, La, a town of France, the capital of the 
department of the Lower Charente; situated in a plain at the 
bottom of a small gulf of the Atlantic. Its population is 
about 17,500 ; its form is nearly oval: its length from north 
to south, exclusive of the suburbs, is above three quarters of 
a mile; its breadth above half a mile. Its fortifications, the 
work of the famous Vauban, are in good condition, and 
consist of 19 large bastions, and eight half moons, inclosed 
by a moat and covered way. On the side of the sea it has a 
massy wall, flanked with large antique towers. The town 
is well built, the streets broad, and in general straight; the 
houses spacious, and almost all supported in front, as at 
Chester, by arcades, which, however, by concealing the 
pedestrians from view, cause a dullness in the streets. La 
Rochelle has several squares, in particular the one called the 
Place d'Amies, or Place du Chateau, which consists of a 
spacious area planted with trees, and commanding a view of 
-the roadstead and shipping. The principal public buildings 
of La Rochelle are the cathedral, the hospital, the orphan- 
house, and tire exchange. The town contains a few scientific 
institutions, along with a navigation school, and a cabinet of 
natural history. 
La Rochelle has long been an interesting place in a com¬ 
mercial view: its port stretches into the interior of the town, 
like that of Marseilles, and if not large, is secure. It has, all 
along its sides, a mole, of which the total length is three 
quarters of a mile: it is capable, at high water, of admitting 
vessels of great burden. Its entrance is defended by two 
old Gothic towers of great height, and crossed by a ponderous 
iron chain. The roadstead, formed by two projecting points 
of land, is spacious and tolerably secure. The trade of La 
Rochelle, both to the colonies and to European ports, is 
considerable. To the former it exports wines, brandy, flour, 
and linen; taking in return sugar, coffee, cotton, and all 
kinds of colonial produce. To ports in Europe the chief 
articles of export are brandy and bay salt; its imports from 
them are trifling. Glass, stoneware, and sugar, are the princi¬ 
pal articles of manufacture. 
La Rochelle is an ancient town, and was for some time in 
possession of the English,-prior to 1224, when it was retaken 
by the French. In the 16th century it became a strong hold 
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