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

ROC L
HmhcIIc, be fuperior to human power, and the produfHon rather
Hocheftfr. 0p a tjian 0p a mortab A fmall opening of about
200 feet was left by Pompey Targon, the architect who
conftrufted it, to give entrance to veffels, and Omt up
by chains fixed acrofs it. A tower was likewife erect¬
ed at each end, no remains of which are now to be
feen. Neither the duke of Buckingham, nor the earl
of Lindfey, who were fucceflively fent from England to
the aid of the befieged by Charles the Firft, dared to
attack this formidable barrier : they retired, and left
Rochelle to its fate. In all probability, a thoufand
years, aided by ftorms and all the fury of the fea, will
make little or no impreffion on this mound, which is
defigned to endure as long as the fame of the cardinal,
its author.”
Before the revolution, Rochelle was a bilhop’s fee,
and contained a college of humanities, an academy, a
febool for medicine, anatomy, and botany, and a mint.
It cannot lay claim to any remote antiquity, being
merely a little collection of houfes on the fliore, inha¬
bited by fifhermen, when William IX. lait count of
PoiCtou, rendered himfelf mailer of it in 1139. From
this prince it defeended to his only daughter Eleanor,
afterwards queen of Henry II. of England 5 and her
charter incorporating the town is Hill preferved in the
fegifters of the city. In the year 1540, Rochelle was
the grand afylum of the Proteftants j and the maffacre
at Paris was foon followed by the fiege of Rochelle,
which began in November 1572, and w’as raifed in
June 1573*, but in 1628, after a molt obflinate re¬
finance, and a fiege of 13 months, it furrendered to
the mercy of Louis XIII. At the beginning of the
firft fiege, the number of inhabitants in the city amount¬
ed to 72,000 ; in the fecond they diminifhed to 28,000 j
and they were, when Mr Wraxal was there, between
17 and 18,000, of which fcarce 2000 were Huguenots.
The houfes of this city are fine, and fupported with
piazzas, under which perfons may walk in all weathersj
and the ftreets in general are as llraight as a line.
There are'feveral handfome churches, and other ftruc-
tures, befides a remarkable pump in the fquare of Dau-
phiny, which throws out the water through feveral
pipes. There are no remains of the old fortifications,
except on the fide of the harbour, where there are bul¬
warks and ftrong towers to defend the entrance. The
new fortifications are in the manner of Vauban. Be¬
fore Canada was ceded to England, and New Orleans
to Spain, the trade of Rochelle was very lucrative. It
revived about the year 1773, and, befide that to the
coaft of Guinea and the Eaft Indies, the inhabitants
Carried on a confiderable trade in wines, brandy, fait,
paper, linen cloth, and ferge. It is feated on the ocean,
in W. Long. I. 4. N. Lat. 46. 9.
ROCHESTER, a city of Kent, in England, is
fituated on the Medway, feven miles and a half north
»f Maidftone, and 30 from London. It appears to
have been one of the Roman Rations, from the bricks
in the walls, as well as the Roman coins that have been
found about it. It has three parilh churches built with
ftone and flints, befides the cathedral, which is but a
mean ftru£lure. This little city, which was made a bi-
fhop’s fee by King Ethelbert, anno 604, has met with
many misfortunes. In 676, it was Lacked by Eldred
king of Mercia j in 839 and 885, befieged by the
Danes, but refeued by King Alfred. About 100 years
102 ] HOC
after, it was befieged by King Ethelred, and forced to IWheftef.
pay tool. Anno 999 it was taken and plundered by '1 1 '
the Danes. Anno 1088 it was befieged and taken by
William Rufus. In King John’s time it was taken
from the Barons, after three months fiege ; and the
very next year, viz. 1256, its caftle, founded by Wil¬
liam the Conqueror, was ftormed and taken by feveral
of the Barons, under the French king’s fon. In the
reign of Henry III. it was befieged by Simon Mont-
ford, who burnt its then wooden bridge and tower, and
fpoiled the church and priory, and then marched off.
This city has alfo been fevtral times deftroyed by fire,
viz. in 1130, on June 3. in 1*37, and in 1177 j after
which it is laid to have continued defolate till 1225,
when it was repaired, ditched, and walled round. In
the Saxon heptarchy there were three mints in Rochef-
ter, two for the king and one for the biftiop. In 1281,
its old wooden bridge was carried off by the ice, in a
fudden thaw after a froft which had made the Medway
paffable on foot. Another was built in the reign of
Richard II. but pulled down again, on the rumour of
an invafion from France. It was afterwards reftortd,
but fo often fubjeft to expenfive repairs, by reafon of
the rapid courfe of the river under it, as well as the
great breadth and depth of it, that in the reign of Ed¬
ward III. it was refolved to build a new bridge of ftone ;
and the fame was begun, and in a manner completed^
at the expence of Sir John Cobham and Sir Robert
Knolles, Edward III.’s generals, out of the {polls they
had taken in France. It has 21 arches. The town
is governed by a mayor, recorder, 12 aldermen, 12
common-councilmen, a town-clerk, three ferjeants at
mace, and a water-bailiff. To its cathedral belong a
dean and fix prebendaries. Gundulph’s tower itands
on the north fide of the cathedral, and is fuppofed
to have been built by the bifhop, as a place of ieiuri-
ty for the treafures and archives of that church and
fee. Some fuppofe it to have been intended for a
bell tower, and others for an ecclefiafHcal priion ; but
whatever might be its deflination, its machicolations, its
loop-hole windows, and the thicknefs of its walls, ftiow
that firength and defence were cotdidered as neceffary.
This tower wras 60 feet high, but feme part has lately
fallen down *, the walls are fix feet thick, and contain
within them an area of 20 feet fquare : it was divided
into five floors or ftories of unequal height, and had a
communication with the upper part of the church, by
means of an arch or bridge, the fteps of which are ftill
vifible. It is fuppofed to have been erefted after the
cathedral was built. For the maintenance of its bridge,
certain lands are tied down by parliament, to which it
has fent members from the firft. The town-houfe,
built in the year 1687, for the courts, aflizes, and fef-
fions, and the charity-fchool, are two of the beft pub¬
lic buildings here.—A mathematical fehool was founded
here, and an alms-houfe for lodging fix poor travellers
every night, and allowing them qd. in the morning
when they depart, except perfons contagioufly difeafed,
rogues, and pro&ors. In the fummer here are always
fix or eight lodgers, who are admitted by tickets from
the mayor. The Roman Watling-ftreet runs through
this towm from Shooters-Hill to Dover. The mayor
and citizens hold what is called an admiralty-court once
a-year for regulating the oyfter-filhery in the creeks and
branches of the Medway that are within their jurifdic-
tion,