Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 18, RHI-SCR

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Rodiefort, there are alio forges for anchors, and work-houfes for
llochetou- (hip-carpenters, who are employed in every thing that
cault- relates to the fitting out of (hips that come within the
' compafs of their province. They likewife caft great
guns here ; and have artifts, whofe employment is
fculpture and painting. There are alfo (locks for build¬
ing men of war, rope-walks, magazines of provifions
and powder, a manufadlory of fail-cloth, an hofpital for
failors, and proper places to clean the (hips. Add to
thefe, the houfes of the intendant, the fquare of the
capuchins, and the fuperb ftruciure which contains
lodgings for 300 marine guards, where they are taught
the bufinefs and exercifes belonging to feamen and offi¬
cers who go on board the men of war.
Befides the ufual number of workmen which were
employed at Rochefort during the monarchy, which
amounted to about 900, there were about 600 galley
(laves, occupied in the mod painful and laborious
branches of fervice. The town is lituated on the river
Charente, about five leagues from its mouth, and was
fortified by Louis XIV. at the time he conftrufted it j
but its fituation is at fo confiderable a diftance from the
foa, as to render it fuffieiently fecure from any attack,
and they have therefore clofed up the battlements, and
neglefled the fortifications. It is fuppofed to contain
about 10,000 inhabitants. The town is laid out with
great beauty and elegance. The flreets are all very
broad and ftraight, extending through the whole place
from fide to fide 5 but the buildings do not correfpond
with them in this refpecl, as they are moilly low and
irregular. W. Long. o. 54- N. Lat. 46. 3.
ROCHEFOUCAULT, Francis Earl of, de-
fcended of an illuilrious family, next in dignity to that
of the fovereigns, was chamberlain to King Charles
VIII. and Louis XII. His chara<Rer at court was ad¬
mired as obliging, generous, upright, and fincere. In
1494 he flood godfather to Francis I. who, when he
came to the throne, continued to pay great refpeft to
that fpiritual relation. He made him his chamberlain
in ordinary, and erecled, in 1515, the barony of Rou-
chefoucault into an earldom •, and, in his writ of erec¬
tion, obferves, that he did this in memory of the great,
honourable, highly ufeful, and commendable fervices
which the faid Francis had done to his predeceffors, to
the crown of France, and to himfelf. The earl of
Rochefoucault died in 15x7, leaving behind him an
illuftrious memorv, and a chara£ler univerfally refpe£t-
ed. Since his time all the eldeft fons of that family
have taken the name of Francis.
Rochefoucault, Francis duke de la, prince of
Marfillac, governor of Poitou, was born in 1603.—He
was the fon of Francis, the firft duke of Rochefoucault,
and was diftinguiflied equally by his courage and his
wit. Thefe fhining qualities endeared him to all the
nobility at court, who were ambitious of decorating
themfelves at once with the laurels of Mars and of A-
pollo. He wrote two excellent wmrks *, the one a book
of Maxims, which M. de Voltaire fays has contributed
more than any thing elfe to form the tafle of the
French nation •, and the other, Memoirs of the Regency
of Queen Anne of Auflria. It was partly at the in-
(ligation of the beautiful duchefs de Longueville, to
whom he had been long attached, that the duke de
Rochefoucault engaged in the civil wars, in which he
lignalized himfelf particularly at the battle of St An-
01 ] ROC
toine. Beholding one day a portrait of this lady,
wrote underneath it thefe two lines from the tragedy
Alcyon^e :
he Roche fe-
0f cault,
Rochelle,
“ Pour meriter fon cccur, pour plaire a fes beaux yeux,
u Paifait la guerre aux rois^je I'aurois fait aux dieuxP
Which may be thus rendered in Engliffi :
“ To gain her heart, and pleafe her fparkling eyes,
“ I’ve war’d with kings, and would have brav’d thefLies.7''
It is reported, that after his rupture with Madame
Longueville, he parodied the above verfes thus :
“ Pour ce cceur inconfant, qu'enfinje connois mieux,
“ Jc fais la guerre aux rois,fen aiperdu les ijcuxP
After the civil wars were ended, he thought of no¬
thing but enjoying the calm pleafures of friendffiip and
literature. His houfe became the rendezvous of every
perfon of genius in Paris and Verfailles. Racine, Boi-
leau, Savigne, and La Fayette, found in his converfa-
tion charms which they fought for in vain elfewhere.
He was not, however, with all his elegance and genius,
a member of the French Academy. The neceffity of ma¬
king a public fpeech on the day of his reception was the
only caufe that he did not claim admittance. This noble¬
man, with all the courage he had difplayed upon vari¬
ous critical occalions, and with his fuperiority of birth
and underflanding over the common run of men, did
not think hitnfelf capable of facing an audience, to ut¬
ter only four lines in public, without being out of
countenance. He died at Paris in 1680, aged 68,
leaving behind him a chara£ler which has been variouflv
o • . . r
drawn by thofe who during his life were proud of his
friendihip. That he was well acquainted wit!) human
nature is certain ; and his merit in that refpe<A was fully
admitted by Swift, who was himfelf not eafily impofed
upon by the artificial difguifes of the hvpocrite.
ROCHELLE, a celebrated city ot France, in the
department of Lower Charente, with a very commodi¬
ous and fafe harbour, which, though it does not admit
veffels of any confiderable burden, is yet well calculated
for trade. “ It may be divided (fays Mr Wraxal) into
three parts ; the bafon, which is the innermoft of thefe,
is only a quarter of a mile in circumference ; and at the
entrance are two very noble Gothic towers, called
the Tour de St Nicholas, and the Tour de la Chaine.
They are now in a (late of decay, but were anciently
defigned to protect the town and harbour. Without
thefe towers is the Avant Port, extending more than a
league, and bounded by two points of land to the north
and fouth. Beyond all is the road where the largeft
fiiipsufually anchor, protedled from the fouth-weft winds
by the iflands of Re, Oleron, and Aix.” The cele¬
brated mound ere£led by Richlieu extends from fide to
fide acrofs the whole harbour, nearly an Engliffi mile in
length, and when the fea retires is flill vifible. “ I
walked out upon it (fays Mr Wraxal) above 300 feet.
Its breadth is at this time more than 1 $0 feet, and it
widens continually towards the bate. No effort of art
or power can poffibly imprefs the mind with fo vaft and
fublime an idea of the genius of Richlieu, as does this
bulwark againff the fea. While I flood upon it, in the
Hfiiddle of the port, between the waves which rolled on
either fide, and contemplated its extent and (Length, I
was almoft inclined to fuppofe this aflonilhing work to
, be