Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/41

Rh B, O V B, O W 29 good export trade, especially in olive-oil and a cement manufactured in the little island of Sant' Andrea. The population was 9564 in 1869 and 9522 in 1880. According to tradition Eovigno was originally built on an island, Cissa by name, which disappeared during the earthquakes about 737. In the 6th century, as the local legend has it, the body of St Euphemia of Chalcedon was miraculously conveyed to the island ; and at a later date it was transported to the summit of the promontory, Monte di Saut' Eufemia, whither it was restored by the Venetians in 1410 after being in the possession of the Genoese from 1380. The diocese of Eovigno was merged in 1008 in the bishopric of Parenzo ; but its church continued to have the title of cathedral. Eovigno passed definitively into the hands of the Venetians in 1330, and it remained true to the republic till the treaty of Campo Formio (1797). ROVIGO, a city of Italy, the chief town of a province, and the seat of the bishop of Adria, lies between the Po and the Adige, and is traversed by the Adigetto, a navig- able branch of the Adige. By rail it is 27 miles south- south-west of Padua. The architecture bears the stamp both of Venetian and Ferrarese influence. The cathedral church of Santo Stefano (1696) is of less interest than La Madonna del Soccorso, an octagon (with a fine campa- nile), begun in 1594. The town-hall contains a library of 80,000 volumes belonging to the Accademia de' Concordi, founded in 1580, and a picture gallery enriched with the spoils of the monasteries. Wool, silk, linen, and leather are among the local manufactures. The population of the city proper was 7452 in 1871 and 7272 in 1881 ; the commune in 1881 had 11,460 inhabitants. Rovigo (Neo-Latin Ehodigium) appears to be mentioned as Rudigo in 838. It was selected as his residence by the bishop of Adria on the destruction of his city by the Huns. From the llth to the 14th century the Este family was usually in authority ; but the Venetians who obtained the town and castle in pledge between 1390 and 1400 took the place by siege in 1482, and, though the Este more than once recovered it, the Venetians, returning in 1514, retained possession till the French Revolution. In 1806 the city was made a duchy in favour of General Savary. The Austrians in 1815 created it a royal city. ROVIGO, DUKE OP. See SAVARY. ROWE, NICHOLAS (1674-1718), the descendant of a family long resident at Lamerton in Devon, was born at Little Barford in Bedfordshire, June 30, 1674. The house in which he was born is close to the Great North Road, and a small stone to his memory has been erected in the centre of the garden. His father, John Rowe, took to the law as his profession, and at his death in 1692 (by which time he had attained to the dignity of being a Serjeant at law) had amassed sufficient property to leave to his son an income of 300 a year. Nicholas Rowe passed some time in a private school at Highgate, and then proceeded to Westminster School, at that time under the charge of the celebrated master Dr Busby. In 1688 he became a king's scholar in this foundation, but three years later he was called away from school and entered as a student at the Middle Temple. The study of the law had little attraction for a young man of good person and lively manners, and at his father's death in the following year he devoted himself to society and to literature. His first play, The Ambitious Stepmother, was produced when he was twenty-five years old. It was followed by Tamerlane, a patriotic composition in which the virtues of William III. were lauded under the disguise of Tamerlane and the vices of the French king, Louis XIV., were denounced in the person of Bajazet. The popularity of this production soon declined, but for many years it was acted once every year, on the anniversary of the landing at Torbay of the Dutch prince. His next play, The Fair Penitent, long retained the favourable reception which marked its first appearance, and was pronounced by the great critic of the 18th century one of the most pleasing tragedies which had ever been written. Through its suc- cess the name of the principal male character Lothario became identified in popular language as the embodiment of the manners and habits of a fashionable rake. After the production of two more tragedies, Ulysses and The Royal Convert, of slight account at the time and long since forgotten, Rowe tried 'his hand on a comedy, The Biter. Much to the author's surprise his attempt in this new direction proved a failure, but Rowe recognized the justice of the verdict of the audience sufficiently to abstain from risking a second disappointment. His two last dramatic works were entitled Jane Shore and Lady Jane Grey, and the former of them, from the popularity of its subject and the elegance of its language, kept its position on the stage longer than any other of his works. Rowe excelled most of his contemporaries in the knowledge of languages. He was acquainted more or less thoroughly with Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish. The latter tongue he is said to have acquired on the recommendation of Harley and with the expecta- tion that he would afterwards be rewarded by some high office. When, however, he reported his new acquisition to the new minister he was met with the dry remark from Harley " How I envy you the pleasure of reading Don Quixote in the original ! " Notwithstanding this dis- appointment, Rowe enjoyed many lucrative posts during his short life. When the duke of Queensberry was principal secretary of state for Scotland (1708-10), Rowe acted as his under-secretary. On the accession of George I. he was made a surveyor of customs, and on the death of Tate he became poet laureate. He was also appointed clerk of the council to the prince of Wales, and the list of preferments was closed by his nomination by Lord- Chancellor Parker (5th May 1718) as secretary of presenta- tions in Chancery. He died 6th December 1718, and was buried in the south cross of Westminster Abbey. By his first wife, a daughter of Mr Parsons, one of the auditors of the revenue, he left a son John ; and by his second wife, Anne, the daughter of Joseph Devenish of a Dorsetshire family, he had an only daughter, Charlotte, born in 1718, who married Henry Fane, a younger brother of Thomas, eighth earl of Westmoreland. The burials of mother and daughter are recorded in Colonel Chester's Registers of Westminster Abbey. Rove's tragedies were marked by passionate feeling set off by a graceful diction, and were well adapted for stage effect. If The Fair Penitent and Jane Shore have been expelled from the stage, their historic reputation and their style will repay perusal. Among Rowe's other literary efforts may be mentioned an edition of the works of Shakespeare (1709), for which he received from Lintot the bookseller the sum of 36, 10s., a rate of pay not out of proportion to the labour which was bestowed upon the task. At the time of his death he had also finished a translation of Lucan's Pharsalia, a work then much praised and not yet superseded by any competitor. Rowe's minor poems were beneath the level of his age. An edition of his works was published in 1720 under the care of Mr (afterwards Bishop) Newton. His translation of Lucan was edited by Dr Welwood. ROWING is the act of driving forward or propelling a boat along the surface of the water by means of oars. It is remarkable how scanty, until quite recent times, are the records of this art, which at certain epochs has played no insignificant part in the world's history. It was the oar that brought Phoenician letters and civilization to Greece ; it was the oar that propelled the Hellenic fleet to Troy ; it was the oar that saved Europe from Persian despotism ; it was the skilful use of the oar by free citizens which was the glory of xthens in her prime. It is to be regretted that so little is known of the details connected with it, or of the disposal of the rowers on board the splendid fleet which started in its pride for Sicily, when 17,000 oars at a given signal smote the brine, and 100 long ships raced as far as ^Egina. The vessels of the ancient Greeks and