180 ROD 
RODER, a small river of Germany, in Saxony, which 
falls into the Schwartz Elster; 2 miles below Elsterwerda. 
RODERLOO, a small inland town of the Netherlands, in 
the province of Gelderland. Population 1700; 6 miles 
south-west of Borkulo. 
RODEROISCH, a village of Germany, in Saxony, on the 
Gorisch, near Auerbach. Population 2000. 
RODEZ. See Rhodez. 
RODHEIM, a small town of the west of Germany, in 
Hesse Cassel; 9 miles north of Frankfort on the Maine. 
RODI, a small town of Italy, in the Continental Sardi¬ 
nian States, in the duchy of Montserrat, near Alba. 
RODI, a small town of Naples, in the Capilanata, at the 
foot of Monte Gargano. Population 3000; 20 miles north¬ 
west of Manfredonia. 
RODINEN, a village of the Prussian states, in the duchy 
of Juliers, with 1300 inhabitants. 
RODING, a small river of England, in Essex, which rises 
near Canfield, and falls into the Thames near Barking. 
RODING, the name of eight parishes of England, in the 
western part of Essex, which are distinguished by the appel¬ 
lations of Abbot’s, Berner’s, Beauchamp, Eythorp, High, 
Leaden, Margaret’s, and White Roding. They take their 
general name from the above-mentioned river. High Rod¬ 
ing, the principal, is the highest up the river, and nearest to 
Dunmow. This part of the county is called the Rodings, 
and is celebrated for excellent arable land. 
RODING, a town of Germany, in Bavaria, on the river 
Regen; 20 miles north-east of Ratisbon. Population 1000. 
RODMARTON, a parish of England, in Gloucestershire ; 
6 j miles west-south-west of Cirencester. 
RODMELL, a parish of England, in Sussex; 3 miles 
south-by-east of Lewes. 
RODMERSHAM, a parish of England, in Kent; 2 miles 
south-east of Sittingbourne. 
RODNA, or Radna, a large village of Transylvania, in 
the district of Bistritz. Its inhabitants are chiefly of Wa¬ 
lachian origin, but mixed with Germans and Magyars. In 
the neigbourhood is a gold and a silver mine, now of very 
limited produce; also several mineral springs. 
RODNEY (George Bridges), Lord Rodney, a distin¬ 
guished naval commander, was bom in the year 1718. 
ilis father was a naval officer; and commanding, at his 
son’s birth, the yacht in which the king, attended by the 
duke of Chandos, was passing to or from Hanover, he asked 
and obtained leave to have the honour of calling his infant 
son George Bridges. The royal and noble godfathers ad¬ 
vised Captain Rodney to educate his boy for his own pro¬ 
fession, promising, as we are told, to promote him as 
rapidly as the merit he should display, and the regulations 
of the navy would permit. 
In 1742 he was lieutenant in the Namur, and in 1751 
we find him, in the rank of a commodore, sent out to make 
accurate discoveries respecting an island which was supposed 
to lie about 50° north latitude, and about 300 leagues west 
of England: but he returned without having seen any such 
island as that which he was appointed to survey. In the 
war which soon followed this voyage of discovery, he was 
promoted to the rank of a rear-admiral, and was employed to 
bombard Havre-de-Grace. He executed the trust committed 
to him so completely, that the town itself was several times 
on fire, and the magazines of stores and ammunition burnt 
with fury upwards of six hours, notwithstanding the exer¬ 
tions used to extinguish it. Thus had Admiral Rodney the 
happiness of totally frustrating the design of the French 
court; and so completely did he destroy their preparations, 
that the fort itself, as a naval arsenal, was no longer, during 
the war, in a state to annoy Great Britain. In 1761 Admiral 
Rodney was very instrumental in the capture of the islands of 
St. Pierre, Granada, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent, when the 
whole Caribbees came into the possession of the English. 
For his skill and bravery in the war, he was, after the con¬ 
clusion of it, raised to the dignity of a baronet. In 1768, 
after an expensive, and to sir George Rodney a ruinous, 
contest with Mr. Howe, he was elected member of parlia- 
N E Y. 
ment for Northampton. His affairs were now so deranged, 
that he exiled himself to France, the government of. which 
had long since trembled at his name. The French king 
wished to take advantage of his pecuniary embarrassments, 
and through the duke de Biron, made him the. most un¬ 
bounded offers, if he would quit the English for the French 
service. In reply to this proposal, he said, “ my distresses, 
sir, it is true, have driven me from the bosom of my country, 
but no temptation can estrange me from her service. Had 
this offer been voluntary on your part, I should have deemed 
it an insult, but I am glad to learn it proceeds from a source 
that can do no wrong.” - It is also said that the duke de 
Chartres, afterwards the duke of Orleans, told sir George, 
that he was to have a command in the fleet which was to be 
opposed to that under the command of his countryman, Mr. 
Keppel •; and with an insulting air asked him what he 
thought would be the consequence of their meeting ? 
“ That my countryman will carry your Highness with him 
to learn English,” was the reply. 
Before sir George Rodney’s arrival in England, the French 
had united with the Americans in a war against this country. 
Towards the close of the year 1779, the chief command of 
the Leeward Islands was given him; upon which he hoisted 
his flag on board the Sandwich. From this time he was very 
successful against his majesty’s enemies, but ourdimits do 
not allow us to particularize all the advantages that resulted 
from his services during the remainder of the war of which 
we are speaking. In the first year he had done enough to 
obtain a vote of thanks from the House of Lords, and the 
freedom of the cities of London and Edinburgh'; but his 
great triumph, and that which must not be passed over, was 
on the 12th.of April 1782, in an engagement in the West 
Indies, with count de Grasse. This battle was fought among- 
the ' islands of Guadaloupe, Dominique, the Saintes, and 
Marigalante. As soon as the day broke, Admiral Rodney 
threw out the signal for close action, and every vessel obeyed 
it most scrupulously. The British line was formed at the 
distance of one cable’s length between each ship. As the 
ships came up separately, they ranged close alongside their 
opponents, passing along the enemy for that purpose, giving 
and receiving, while thus taking their stations, a most dread¬ 
ful and tremendous fire. The action continued in this 
manner till noon, when Admiral Rodney resolved to carry 
into execution a manoeuvre, which he expected would gain 
him a complete and decisive victory : for this purpose, in his 
own ship, the Formidable, supported by the Namur, the 
Duke, and the Canada, he bore down with all the sail set 
on the enemy’s line, within three ships of the centre, and 
succeeded in breaking through it in a most masterly style. 
As soon as he had accomplished this, the other ships of his 
division followed him, and they all wore round, doubled on 
the enemy, and thus they placed between two fires those 
vessels which, by the first part of the manoeuvre, they had 
cut off from the rest of the fleet. As soon as Admiral 
Rodney, and the vessels which followed him, wore, he 
made the signal for the van to tack, by which means they 
gained the windward of the French, and completed the 
disorder and confusion, in which the breaking of the line had 
thrown them. One consequence of the breaking of the 
line was, that opportunities were given for desperate actions 
between single ships. The whole loss of the enemy on this 
occasion amounted to eight ships; one had been sunk, and 
another blown up after she had been taken, and six ships 
remained in possession of the conquerors. It was esteemed 
remarkably fortunate, and glorious for the victors, that de 
Grasse’s ship, the Ville de Paris, was the only first rate 
man-of-war that had ever, at that time, been taken and 
carried into port by any commander of any nation. And 
this ship was on the present occasion fought so well, that 
when it struck there were but three men left alive and un¬ 
hurt on the upper deck. 
The British nation were so sensible of the bravery dis¬ 
played both by officers and men in this action, and of the 
importance of it as the only means of preserving the re¬ 
mainder of the West India islands, that they manifested the 
most 
