noted the entrances and exits of the players, and prefixed a list of the dramatis personae to each play. Rowe wrote occasional verses addressed to Godolphin and Halifax, adapted some of the odes of Horace to fit contemporary events, and translated the Camctères of La Bruyère and the Callipaedia of C. Quillet. He also wrote a memoir of Boileau prefixed to a translation of the Lutrin.
Rowe’s Works were printed in 1727, and in 1736. 1747, 1756, 1766 and 1792; his occasional poems are included in Anderson’s and other collections of the British poets.
ROWEL (from O. Fr. rouel or roel, dim. of roue, Lat. rota, wheel), the name of the small revolving wheel or disk with radiating points forming the termination of a rider’s spur. The earliest rowels probably did not revolve but were fixed. They appear on monuments of the 13th century, as in the great seal of Henry III. of England, but the older “prick” spurs remained the standard form till the 14th century (see Spur). In veterinary science, the word is used of a small disk of leather or other material used as a seton.
ROWING (O. Eng. rōwan, to row, cf. Lat. remus, Gr. ἐρετμός,
oar), the act of driving forward or propelling a boat (q.v.) along
the surface of the water by means of oars.
History.—The earliest historical records describe battles and voyages in which the ships were propelled by oars. There must, of course, have been from time to time friendly trials of speed between these ancient craft, such as that described by Virgil in the fifth book of the Aeneid, but there is no record in classical or even in medieval times of rowing having been indulged in solely as a recreation, or as a means of promoting athletic contest. The absence of any element of competition is sufficient to account for the fact that the boats, the oars, and the method of rowing of the 17th century differed but little from those of the earliest times.
The history of Great Britain abounds in instances of the use of the oar. The ancient Britons propelled themselves in coracles of wickerwork covered with skins, by means of paddles rather than oars, but the Saxons were expert oarsmen, as also were the Danish and Norwegian invaders. It is recorded by William of Malmesbury that Edgar the Peaceable was rowed in state on the river Dee by eight tributary kings, himself acting as coxswain.
During the 11th and 12th centuries, when roads were often impassable, considerable use was made of the various rivers of England for the transmission of both passengers and merchandise; and, until the introduction of coaches, the nobility and gentry who had mansions and water gates on the banks of the Thames relied almost entirely upon their boats and elaborately fitted barges as a means of conveyance from place to place.
This use of boats and barges as a means of conveyance for merchandise and passengers provided a means of livelihood for a class of professional oarsmen known as bargemen or watermen. They were professionals, not in the sense of professional athletes, but because they made their living by rowing and navigating passenger and other craft along and across the Thames. Watermen as a class are mentioned in history as early as the 13th century. The distress occasioned to them by the long frosts is referred to in the chronicles of that period. They are mentioned as having been employed to row the barons and their retinues to Runnymede for the signing of the Magna Carta by King John, and about the same time several of the city companies established barges for the purposes of processions and other pageants upon the Thames. It is stated by Fabian that in 1454 “Sir John Norman, then lord mayor of London, built a noble barge at his own expense and was rowed by Watermen with silver oars, attended by such of the city companies as possessed barges, in a splendid manner.” The lord mayor’s procession by water to Westminster was annual until 1856, the state barge of the lord mayor being a magnificent species of shallop rowed by watermen. while those of the city companies were propelled by a double bank of oars in the fore half, the after part consisting of a cabin which somewhat resembled that of a gondola. In 1514 and in 1555 acts of parliament were passed for the regulation of watermen and their boats and fares upon the Thames (7 Henry VIII. cap. vii. and 2 and 3 Ph. & Mar. cap. xvi.), and from the terms of these statutes there can be no doubt that there were in the 15th century a considerable body of men who lived by the “trade of Rowing” as it is there called. During the 16th and 17th centuries there were no doubt competitions from time to time between these watermen, but the first actual mention of boat-racing is the record of the establishment in 1715 of Doggett’s Coat and Badge. Mr Thomas Doggett, who may fairly be described as the founder of modern boat-racing, was a celebrated comedian. He established a fund to provide an annual prize of a waterman’s coat with a large silver badge on the arm. The race was founded in honour of the house of Hanover and to commemorate the anniversary of “King George I.’s happy accession to the throne of Great Britain.” The contest was to take place at the beginning of August and on the Thames between six young watermen who were not to have exceeded the time of their apprenticeship by more than twelve months. Although the first race took place in 1715 the names of the winners have only been preserved since 1791. Doggett’s Coat and Badge is still an annual event, the conditions as to boats to be used and other details having been slightly modified. It is entirely controlled and managed by the Fishmongers' Company.
The first English regatta (Ital. regata)—an entertainment introduced, as the Annual Register records, from Venice—of which we have evidence, took place on the Thames off Ranelagh Gardens in 1775. Great public interest seems to have been taken in the spectacular aspect of this pageant, the barges of the lord mayor and the city companies being present, but there is no record of the competing wager boats or of the names of the watermen who took part in the races.
About the years 1800 to 1810 there are instances of matches between watermen for stakes presented by gentlemen who no doubt made wagers upon the result, and from these professional wager matches it was but a short step to sporting matches between the gentlemen themselves. When once the “gentleman amateur,” as he was called, appeared, his evolution, from the sportsman who occasionally rowed a match against a friend, or against time, for a wager, to the amateur oarsman of the present day, was not slow. The amateur rowing which began about the year 1800 on the Thames at Westminster has flourished as a branch of athletic sport, and has spread to every quarter of the globe.
Rowing in the United Kingdom.—The earliest rowing clubs in England were small groups of oarsmen who combined to purchase a six-oared or eight-oared boat for the purpose of racing. The club was called by the same name as the ship it possessed, and at the commencement of the 19th century the principal clubs in existence upon the Thames were the “Star,” the “Arrow,” the “Shark” and the “Siren.” The two latter have long since disappeared, but the “Star” and the “Arrow” combined about the year 1818 and founded the Leander Club, an institution which after varying fortunes has for many years been recognized as the premier rowing club of the world.
The earliest contemporary record of boat-racing is the Water Ledger of Westminster School, which commences in the year 1813 with a list of the crew of the six-oared boat “Fly.” In 1811 Eton had a ten-oared boat and three boats with eight oars, but there is no existing record of a race until 1817. In 1818 Eton challenged Westminster School to row from Westminster to Kew Bridge against the tide; but the race was stopped by the authorities, and it was not until 1829 that the first contest between the two schools took place. Between 1829 and 1847 there were eight matches between Eton and Westminster. The race was revived for a few years in the sixties, and in the year 1868 the state of the lower tideway was such that the Westminster boys moved their boathouse first to Wandsworth and then to Putney. This arrangement was found to be inconvenient, and shortly afterwards Westminster rowing came to an
