ROUEN. 401 
✓ 
ROTZ, a small but neat town of Lower Austria, on the 
frontiers of Moravia ; 45 miles north-north-west of Vienna, 
and 6 south-west of Znaym. 
ROU, or Pulo Rou, a small island in the Chinese sea, 
near the coast of Malacca. Lat. 6 . 43. N. long. 102. 10. E. 
ROUAD, or Ruad, the ancient Aradus, an island on the 
coast of Syria, nearly opposite to the town ofTortosa. It 
is small and rocky, and does not contain a single wall of 
that large and populous city which Strabo describes to have 
been built upon it. Lat. 34. 51. N. long. 35. 57. E. 
ROVADO, a town in the north of Austrian Italy, in the 
government of Milan, with a population of 5000; 10 miles 
west-north-west of Brescia. 
ROU ANNE. See Roannk. 
ROUANS, a small town in the west of France, depart¬ 
ment of the Loire Inferieure. Population 2100 5 20 miles 
west of Nantes. 
ROVASIO, a small town in the north-west of Italy, in 
Piedmont. Population 2500; 13 miles north of Vercelli. 
ROUBAIX, a considerable town in the north-east of 
France, department of the North. It has considerable ma¬ 
nufactures of woollens, Turkish satins, camelots, serge, and 
small articles in thread and cotton. A number of the inha¬ 
bitants are likewise employed in spinning and dyeing. 
Population 8000; 6 miles north of Lisle, 12 north-west of 
Toumay, and 24 north of Douay. 
ROUBBIE, 4 '. A gold Turkish coin; value one-third of 
a sequin, or Mahbub. 
ROUBINE, a small canal in the south of France, depart¬ 
ment of the Gard, beginning at the junction of the Cubelle 
and Vistre. It runs from north-east to south-east along the 
side of the great canal of Languedoc, with which it commu¬ 
nicates in several parts. Its length is about 6 miles. 
ROUBION, a small river in the south-east of France, 
department of the Drome. It falls into the Rhone at Mon- 
telimart. 
ROUCAN, a small village of Scotland, in Dumfries-shire, 
containing 140 inhabitants. 
ROUCOU, a species of arnotto. See Rixa. 
ROUCY, a small town in the north-east of France, on the 
river Aisne. Population 900; 11 miles south-east of Laon. 
To ROVE, n. [ roffver , Danish, to range for plunder; 
roovcn, Teut. the same; hraufa, Icel. to move from a place. 
Sercnius .]—To ramble; to range; to wander. 
Thou’st years upon thee, and thou art too full 
Of the war’s surfeits, to go rove with one 
That’s yet unbruis’d. Shakspeare. 
To shoot an arrow called a rover. To rove wide of the 
mark, is a phrase yet used in some places.—Even at the 
marke-white of his heart she roved. Spenser. 
To ROVE, v. a. To wander over. 
Roving the field I chanc’d 
A goodly tree far distant to behold, 
Loaden with fruit of fairest colours. Milton. 
ROUELLE, a small place in the north-east of France, 
department of the Upper Marne, noted for its manufacture 
of mirrors. 
ROUEN, a large and populous city in the north of France, 
the capital at present of the department of the Lower Seine, 
and of Normandy, so long as the latter constituted a pro¬ 
vince. It is situated on the right bank of the Seine, in a 
fertile, pleasant, and varied country ; but the interior of the 
town is far from corresponding to the impression conveyed 
by its environs. Its form is an irregular oval, two miles in 
length and one in breadth. The streets, though in general 
straight, are miserably narrow, which, joined to the height 
of the houses, prevents in many parts the rays of the sun 
from penetrating. Here is no room for foot pavement; and 
as the French have not yet adopted the plan of underground 
sewers, the eye is offended at Rouen, as at Paris, with a 
stream of filth running along the middle of the street. For¬ 
tunately the situation of Rouen is not unhealthy, and the 
frequency of rain (almost as great as in Britain), corrects in 
Vol. XXII. No. 1511. 
some measure the deficient cleanliness of the inhabitants. 
The neighbourhood of Rouen does not, like that of Paris or 
Caen, contain stone quarries, and a number of houses are of 
wood, built in an antiquated style, the walls often projecting 
as they ascend. The most agreeable part of the town is 
that which adjoins the Seine, the quays being spacious, and 
bordered with good houses, while the river and its islands, 
with the beautiful walk called the Corns, extending along 
the opposite bank, the esplanade, and the neighbouring hill 
of St. Catherine, form an assemblage of very pleasant ob¬ 
jects. The squares of Rouen are small and insignificant: 
the one called the Marche aux Veaux, contains the statue of 
the warlike maid of Orleans, who was burned here by the 
English, as a sorceress, in 1430. The ramparts being levelled 
and lined with trees, contain pleasant walks; and the pub¬ 
lic roads leading to Paris, Havre, and other places, are like¬ 
wise bordered with rows of trees. St. Catherine hill, situated 
to the east, and nearly 400 feet in height, is the best point 
for a view of the town. 
Rouen contains several public buildings of interest. The 
principal was the cathedral, built by William the Conqueror, 
and said to be one of the finest specimens of Gothic archi¬ 
tecture in France; its greater part was destroyed by fire 
in the year 1823. The church of St. Ouen, likewise, a fine 
Gothic building, situated nearly in the centre of the town; 
and that iff St. Maclou, considered a chef d'oeuvre of its 
kind. The other churches and convents of the city, so nu¬ 
merous before the Revolution, are of little note in point of 
architecture. The town house, or municipality, is a hand¬ 
some edifice ; and the barracks situated near the esplanade, 
are large and commodious. The old castle, the prisons, the 
exchange, and some of the buildings appropriated to the dif¬ 
ferent manufactories, are worth the attention of the traveller. 
The great hospital is a handsome modern building; and in 
public markets, Rouen is not inferior to any city in France. 
Of the curiosities of the place, the most interesting is the 
bridge of boats over the Seine. Instead of piers, it rests on 
nineteen large barges, which fall and rise with the ebb and 
flow of the tide. These barges are of great burden, and 
being arched over, are paved on the top. They are moored 
together side by side with massy iron chains, to keep them 
in their places; and in point of strength, are capable of 
supporting almost any burden. The paved surface, how¬ 
ever, is uneven, and the successive ascent and descent on the 
sides of the different barges, makes it a laborious task to drag 
a heavy laden waggon over the bridge. A farther inconve¬ 
nience arises from the delay in removing a barge to let vessels 
pass up and down the river; so that this structure, so often 
noticed with praise in old geographical works, bears many 
marks of a rude age. It is accordingly replaced by an 
elegant stone bridge, which isnow finished, 1826. 
In manufactures and trade, Rouen ranks as one of the 
chief towns in France, its extent of cotton manufacture being 
such as to make no inconsiderable approach to that of Glas¬ 
gow or Manchester, as far at least as regards the inferior qua¬ 
lities. In fine cottons, the progress made as yet is small, 
compared with other parts of France. Rouen and its de¬ 
partment take the lead in cottons of every other part, except 
French Flanders, and the department that contains Paris. 
Here, as in other parts of France, the goods made are less 
remarkable for taste in the pattern, than durability in the 
fabric. Rouen has likewise manufactures of woollens, linens, 
and in a smaller degree, of iron ware, paper, hats, pottery, 
wax cloth; also sugar refineries. Dyeing, both of woollen 
and cotton, has for a number of years been conducted with 
care and success in this town. The whole of its manufac¬ 
turing industry is computed to give employment to 50,000 
persons, young and old, and to form an average annual 
value of £2,000,000 sterling. During the reign of Buona¬ 
parte, the manufactures of Rouen were favoured by the strict 
exclusion of English merchandize from the Continent; but 
after the peace of 1814, though still in some measure pro¬ 
tected from the rivalship of Britain, the general stagnation of 
trade, and the superabundance of hands, altered greatly for 
the worse the condition of the workmen. The great dis- 
5 K advantages 
