ROD 
most excessive joy when intelligence of the victory arrived, 
ft came extremely seasonable in other points of view. 
Neither by land, nor. by sea, except where Admiral Rodney 
had been engaged, had we been able to meet the enemy, on 
any occasion, with great and decisive advantage; and, in too 
many instances, we had retired from the contest not in the 
most honourable manner. As the means of obtaining more 
favourable terms of peace, this important victory was hailed 
with joy and exultation; and as Admiral Rodney was looked 
up to as the cause of it, the gratitude of the nation towards 
him was deeply felt, and expressed in warm and glowing 
language. It was recollected that the fortune of Sir George 
Rodney had been peculiarly singular, as well as highly 
glorious in the war. Within little more than two years he 
had given a severe blow to each of our three powerful con¬ 
tinental enemies, the French, Spaniards, and Dutch. He 
had in that time taken an admiral of each nation ; added 
twelve line-of-battle ships, all taken from the enemy, to the 
British navy; and destroyed five more. He received the 
unanimous thanks of both houses of parliament; and his 
majesty added dignity to the peerage of the realm, by 
calling the victorious admiral to a seat in the upper house. 
It has been observed, that the victory of the 12th of 
April was gained by putting in practice an entirely new 
system of naval tactics, the adoption of which formed an 
era in our naval history, and may be regarded as the cause 
of the glorious victories, by which the fame of British sea¬ 
men has been raised to such a pitch of glory ; and the 
maritime power of our enemies in the late war, has not 
only been crippled, but absolutely annihilated. It has been 
said, in order to derogate from the honour of the admiral, 
that, in the instance of the 12th of April, it was the effect 
of chance, and not effected by the foresight of Sir George 
Rodney. This idea was satisfactorily exposed and refuted. 
The only question that remained was whether the honour of the 
plan were due to Admiral Rodney, or Mr. Clerk, the author of 
a treatise on “ Naval Tactics.” This question is, however, 
completely set at rest. Mr. Playfair informs us, that before 
going out to take the command of the fleet in the West 
Indies, Admiral Rodney said one day to Mr. Dundas, 
“ There is one Clerk, a counjryman of yours, who has 
taught us how to fight, and appears to know more of the 
matter than any of us. If ever I meet the French fleet, I 
intend to try his way.” 
That Admiral Rodney did try Mr. Clerk’s method, we 
have the testimony of both Lord Melville and General Ross, 
who heard the admiral distinctly state, “ that he owed his 
success in the West Indies to the manoeuvre of breaking the 
line, which he learned from Mr. Clerk’s book.” 
“ An anecdote,” says Mr. Playfair, “ which sets a seal on 
the great and decisive testimony of the noble admiral is 
worthy of being remembered, and I am glad to be able to 
record* it, on the authority of a noble earl. The present 
Lord Haddington met Lord Rodney at Spa, in the decline 
of life, when both his bodily and mental powers were sink¬ 
ing under the weight of years. The great commander who 
had been the bulwark of his country, and the terror of his 
enemies, lay stretched on his couch, while the memory of 
his own exploits seemed the only thing that interested his 
feelings, or afforded a subject for conversation. In that 
situation he would often break out in praise of the naval 
tactics, exclaiming with great earnestness, “ John Clerk of 
Eldin, for ever!” 
With the brilliant victory of the 12th of April, sir George 
closed his professional career; to his title was added a pen¬ 
sion of 2000/. to descend to his heirs. He died in London 
the 24th of May, 1792. For his important services to the 
West Indian islands in particular, a temple was built to re¬ 
ceive his statue at Spanish Town, Jamaica. 
A contemporary of the noble admiral said, that “ as an 
officer of nautical abilities, none were his superiors, and but 
few his equals. He possessed a bold and original genius, 
which always carried him directly to the object he had in 
view. As a man, he was benevolent, generous, and friendly. 
He has been known to be writing his private letters, and 
Vox.. XXII. No. 1493. 
ROD 181 
dictating to three secretaries at the same time." But this is 
evidently nonsense. Stockdaie's edition of Campbell's Lives 
of the Admirals. 
RODNEY, POINT, alow point on the north-west coast 
of North America. It is the north point of Norton Sound. 
Sledge island is south-east-half-east of it four leagues, between 
which and the continent is anchorage in seven fathoms. 
This point has its name in honour of the celebrated admiral 
lord Rodney. Lat. 64. 30. N. long. 1§6. 3. W. 
RODNEY STOKE, a parish of England, in Somerset¬ 
shire ; 5 miles from Axbridge. 
RODOLPH I., II., &c. Emperors of Germany. See Ger¬ 
many. 
RO'DOMONT, s. [from Rodomonte, the blustering 
Italian hero. See Rodomontade. This word appears full 
as early in our language as rodomontade.'] A vain boaster. 
•—He vapoured; [but] being pretty sharply admonished, he 
quickly became mild and calm, a posture ill-becoming such 
a rodomont. Sir T. Herbert. 
RO'DOMONT, adj. Bragging; vainly boasting. 
Don, a Spanish reader, 
Who had thought to have been the leader 
(Had the match gone on) 
Of our ladies one by one, 
And triumph’d our whole nation, 
In his rodomont fashion. B. Jonson. 
RODOMONTA'DE, or Rodomonta'do, s. [from a 
boastful boisterous hero of Ariosto, called Rodomonte; Fr. 
rodomontade.] An empty noisy bluster or boast; a rant.— 
I was a little mov’d in my nature to hear his rodomontado.es. 
Beaum. and FI. —He only serves to be sport for his com¬ 
pany ; for in these gamesome days men will give him hints, 
which may put him upon his rodomontades. Gov. of the 
Tongue. —-He talks extravagantly in his passion, but if I 
would quote a hundred passages in Ben Jonson-’s Cethegus, 
I could shew that the rodomontades of Almanzor are neither 
so irrational nor impossible, for Cethegus threatens to destroy 
nature. Dri/den. 
To RODOMONTA'DE, v. n. To brag thrasonically ; 
to boast like Rodomonte. 
RODOMONTA'DIST, or Rodomonta'dor, s. [from 
rodomontade.] One who brags or blusters.—When this 
rodomontadist had ended his story, it was dinner time. 
Terry. —The Andalusians seem to be the greatest talkers and 
rodomontadors of Spain. Guthrie. 
PlODON (David de), or rather Derooon (David), a cele¬ 
brated French professor of philosophy in the 17th century, 
was born in some part of Dauphine, but in what place, or in 
what year, we are not informed. He filled the philosophical 
chair, first at Die, afterwards at Orange, and lastly at Nismes. 
Bayle says, that “ he was one of the most acute logicians at 
that time in France, and few Spanish or Irish schoolmen ex¬ 
ceeded him in what concerns universals, zxFFentia ration is, 
and the airy and abstracted speculations of the categories, 
and the dependencies of the syllogistical forms. But if lie 
equalled, in this particular, the most refined logicians of the 
schools, lie surpassed them greatly in his physics; for he em¬ 
braced the opinions of the moderns, and the hypothesis of 
atoms, and he explains, like Gassendi, several natural effects 
by mechanical principles.” He published “ A Course of 
Philosophy,” which was well received, notwithstanding its 
great length ; but the author having been induced to publish 
an abridgement of the whole, under the title of “ Philosophia 
Contracta,” that performance met with great success, and 
underwent repeated impressions. It is a moderate sized 
volume in 4to., and contains short systems of logic, meta¬ 
physics, physics, and ethics ; to which is added, a treatise or 
disputation on human liberty. M. Derodon also engaged, 
in controversy, and published “ A Disputation against the 
Mass,” in 8vo.; a treatise entitled, “ De Supposito,” &c., 8vo. 
in which he openly declared himself the defender of Nestorius 
against St. Cyril, not by admitting two natures, but by main¬ 
taining that Nestorius did not admit them, and that Cyril 
confounded the two natures of Christ: and a piece entitled, 
3 A “ The 
