Part 38

=Rehearsal= (_The_), a farce by George Villiers, duke of Buckingham (1671). It was designed for a satire on the rhyming plays of the time. The chief character, Bayes (1 _syl._), is meant for Dryden.

The name of George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, demands cordial mention by every writer on the stage. He lived in an age when plays were chiefly written in rhyme, which served as a vehicle for foaming sentiment clouded by hyperbolê.... The dramas of Lee and Settle ... are made up of blatant couplets that emptily thundered through five long acts. To explode an unnatural custom by ridiculing it, was Buckingham’s design in _The Rehearsal_, but in doing this the gratification of private dislike was a greater stimulus than the wish to promote the public good.--W. C. Russell, _Representative Actors_.

=Reichel= (_Colonel_), in _Charles XII._, by J. R. Planché (1826).

=Rejected Addresses=, parodies on Wordsworth, Cobbett, Southey, Scott, Coleridge, Crabbe, Byron, Theodore Hook, etc., by James and Horace Smith; the copyright after the sixteenth edition was purchased by John Murray, in 1819, for £131. The directors of Drury Lane Theatre had offered a premium for the best poetical address to be spoken at the opening of the new building, and the brothers Smith conceived the idea of publishing a number of poems supposed to have been written for the occasion and rejected by the directors (1812).

“I do not see why they should have been rejected,” said a Leicestershire clergyman, “for I think some of them are very good.”--James Smith.

=Reksh=, Sir Rustam’s horse.

=Relapse=, (_The_), a comedy by Vanbrugh (1697). Reduced to three acts, and adapted to more modern times by Sheridan, under the title of _A Trip to Scarborough_ (1777).

=Rel´dresal=, principal secretary for private affairs in the court of Lilliput, and great friend of Gulliver. When it was proposed to put the Man-mountain to death for high treason, Reldresal moved as an amendment, that the “traitor should have both his eyes put out, and be suffered to live that he might serve the nation.”--Swift, _Gulliver’s Travels_ (“Voyage to Lilliput,” 1726).

⁂ Probably the dean had the Bible story of Samson and the Philistines in his thoughts.

=Relics.= The following relics are worthy of note, if for no other reason, because of the immense number of pilgrims who are drawn to them from all parts of the world.

1. THE HOUSE OF THE VIRGIN. This is now to be seen at Loreto, a town on the Adriatic, near Ancona, whither it was miraculously transported through the air by angels in the year 1294. It had been originally brought from Nazareth to Dalmatia in 1291, but after resting there for three years was again lifted up and placed where it now stands. It is a small brick structure surrounded by a marble screen designed by Bramante and decorated with carvings and sculptures by a number of celebrated sculptors. The church in which the house stands was built over it to protect it shortly after its arrival.

2. THE HOLY COAT. This is the seamless coat worn by Jesus, and for which the soldiers drew lots at his crucifixion. It is described by John alone of the evangelists: “Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.” John 19, 23. It is preserved at Treves in the cathedral, and is shown at long intervals to the faithful, attracting vast crowds of pilgrims from all parts of Europe and America. It was last shown in 1891. The village of Argenteuil, near Paris, disputes with Treves the possession of the true garment, insisting on its own superior claim, but the right of Treves is generally acknowledged by Catholics.

3. THE HOLY FACE. According to the legend, when Jesus was on His way to Calvary, one of the women standing by, whose name was Veronica, seeing Him sinking under the weight of the cross, gave Him her handkerchief to wipe the sweat from His face. When He returned it the impression of His face was left upon the cloth, and remains distinctly to be seen at the present day.

4. THE SAINTE CHAPELLE at Paris, one of the most beautiful Gothic buildings in Europe, was built as a shrine to contain the fragment of the true Cross and a thorn from the Crown of Thorns given by Louis IX. of France (Saint Louis). These relics have since been transferred to the Treasury of Notre Dame, at Paris. The church at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) also contains a fragment of the true Cross. In various churches of Italy, pictures of the Virgin Mary said to have been painted by Saint Luke (a painter as well as a physician, and the patron saint of both professions) are preserved, but no one of them has any fame above the rest.

=Remember, Thou Art Mortal!= When a Roman conqueror entered the city in triumph, a slave was placed in the chariot to whisper from time to time into the ear of the conqueror, “Remember, thou art a man!”

Vespasian, the Roman emperor, had a slave who said to him daily as he left his chamber, “Remember, thou art a man!”

In the ancient Egyptian banquets it was customary during the feast to draw a mummy, in a car, round the banquet hall, while one uttered aloud, “To this estate you must come at last!”

When the sultan of Serendib (_i.e._ Ceylon) went abroad, his vizier cried aloud, “This is the great monarch, the tremendous sultan of the Indies ... greater than Solimo or the grand Mihragê!” An officer behind the monarch then exclaimed, “This monarch, though so great and powerful, must die, must die, must die!”--_Arabian Nights_ (“Sindbad,” sixth voyage).

=Remois= (2 _syl._), the people of Rheims, in France.

=Remond=, a shepherd in _Britannia’s Pastorals_, by William Browne (1613).

Remond, young Remond, that full well could sing, And tune his pipe at Pan’s birth carolling; Who, for his nimble leaping, sweetest layes, A laurell garland wore on holidayes; In framing of whose hand Dame Nature swore, There never was his like, nor should be more.

_Pastoral_, i.

=Rem´ores=, birds which retard the execution of a project.

“Remores” aves in auspicio dicuntur quæ acturum aliquid remorari compellunt.--Festus, _De VerborumSignificatione_.[TN-121]

=Remus.= (See ROMULUS AND REMUS.)

_Remus_ (_Uncle_). Hero of many of Joel Chandler Harris’s tales of negro-life. His fables of “Brer Rabbit,” “Brer Bear,” and the like are curious relics of African folk-lore (1886).

=Re´naud=, one of the paladins of Charlemagne, always described with the properties of a borderer, valiant, alert, ingenious, rapacious, and unscrupulous. Better known in the Italian form _Rinaldo_ (_q.v._).

=Renault=, a Frenchman, and one of the chief conspirators in which Pierre was concerned. When Jaffier joined the conspiracy, he gave his wife, Belvide´ra, as surety of his fidelity, and a dagger to be used against her if he proved unfaithful. Renault attempted the honor of the lady, and Jaffier took her back in order to protect her from such insults. The old villain died on the wheel, and no one pitied him.--T. Otway, _Venice Preserved_ (1682).

=René=, the old king of Provence, father of Queen Margaret of Anjou (wife of Henry VI. of England). A minstrel-monarch, friend to the chase and tilt, poetry, and music. Thiebault says he gave in largesses to knights-errant and minstrels more than he received in revenue (ch. xxix.).--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

_René_ (2 _syl._), the hero and title of a romance by Châteaubriand (1801). It was designed for an episode to his _Génie du Christianisme_ (1802). René is a man of social inaction, conscious of possessing a superior genius, but his pride produces in him a morbid bitterness of spirit.

_René_ [LEBLANC], notary public of Grand Pré, in Arcadia (_Nova Scotia_). Bent with age, but with long yellow hair flowing over his shoulders. He was the father of twenty children, and had a hundred grandchildren. When Acadia was ceded by the French to England, George II. confiscated the goods of the simple colonists, and drove them into exile. René went to Pennsylvania, where he died, and was buried.--Longfellow, _Evangeline_ (1849).

=Renton= (_Dr._). A Boston physician, whose best friend, dying, leaves a letter charging Renton, “_In the name of the Saviour, be true and tender to mankind_.” The doctor believes himself to be haunted by the ghost of this man, intent upon inforcing the admonition, and the needy and the afflicted profit by the hallucination.--William D. O’Connor, _The Ghost_.

=Rentowel= (_Mr. Jabesh_), a covenanting preacher.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

With vehemence of some pulpit-drumming Gowkthrapple, or “precious” Mr. Jabesh Rentowel.--Carlyle.

=Renzo and Lucia=, the hero and heroine of an Italian novel by Alessandro Manzoni, entititled[TN-122] _The Betrothed Lover_ (“I Promessi Sposi”). This novel contains an account of the Bread Riot and plague of Milan. Cardinal Borro´meo is also introduced. There is an English translation (1827).

=Republican Queen=, (_The_), Sophie Charlotte, wife of Frederick I. of Prussia.

=Resequenz=, wily major-domo to the duke of Romagna, audacious, unscrupulous and treacherous.--William Waldorf Astor, _Valentino_ (1886).

=Resolute= (_The_), John Florio, philologist (1545?-1625). Translated Montaigne’s Essays and wrote a French and English Dictionary called a _World of Words_. One of the few autographs of Shakespeare is in a copy of Florio’s Montaigne in the British Museum.

⁂ Florio is said to have been the prototype of Shakespeare’s “Holofernês,” in _Love’s Labour’s Lost_.

=Resolute Doctor= (_The_), John Baconthorpe (*-1346).

⁂ Guillaume Durandus de St. Pourçain was called “the Most Resolute Doctor[TN-123] (1267-1332).

=Restless= (_Sir John_), the suspicious husband of a suspicious wife.

_Lady Restless_, wife of Sir John. As she has a fixed idea that her husband is inconstant, she is always asking the servants, “Where is Sir John?” “Is Sir John returned?” “Which way did Sir John go?” “Has Sir John received any letters?” “Who has called?” etc.; and, whatever the answer, it is to her a confirmation of her surmises.--A. Murphy, _All in the Wrong_ (1761).

=Reuben Dixon=, a village schoolmaster of “ragged lads.”

’Mid noise, and dirt, and stench, and play, and prate, He calmly cuts the pen or views the slate.

Crabbe, _Borough_, xxiv. (1810).

=Reuben and Seth=, servants of Nathan ben Israel, the Jew at Ashby, a friend of Isaac and Rebecca.--Sir W. Scott, _Ivanhoe_ (time, Richard I.).

=Reullu´ra= (_i.e. “beautiful star”_), the wife of Aodh, one of the Culdees, or primitive clergy of Scotland, who preached the gospel of God in Io´na, an island south of Staffa. Here Ulvfa´gre, the Dane, landed, and, having put all who opposed him to death, seized Aodh, bound him in iron, carried him to the church, and demanded where the treasures were concealed. Just then appeared a mysterious figure all in white, who first unbound Aodh, and then taking the Dane by the arm, led him up to the statue of St. Columb, which immediately fell and crushed him to death. Then turning to the Norsemen, the same mysterious figure told them to “go back and take the bones of their chief with them;” adding, whoever lifted hand in the island again, should be a paralytic for life. “The[TN-124] “saint” then transported the remnant of the islanders to Ireland; but when search was made for Reullura, her body was in the sea, and her soul in heaven.--Campbell, _Reullura_.

=Reutha´mir=, the principal man of Balclutha, a town belonging to the Britons on the river Clyde. His daughter, Moina, married Clessammor (Fingal’s uncle on the mother’s side). Reuthamir was killed by Combal (Fingal’s father) when he attacked Balcutha and burned it to the ground.--Ossian, _Carthon_.

=Reutner= (_Karl_), young German, serving in the Federal army, finds, on the Gettysburg battle-field, a four-leafed clover, and waves it in the air. The gesture attracts a sharp-shooter, and Reutner falls insensible. He is taken from hospital to prison, and languishes for weeks, in delirium, all the while haunted by a vision of a woman, dark-eyed and beautiful, who brings him handfuls of four-leaved clover. When he reaches home, he recognizes her in Margaret Warren, a guest in his father’s house. The betrothal-ring bears a four-leaved clover of green enamel, set in diamonds.--Helen Hunt Jackson, _A Four-Leaved Clover_ (1886).

=Rev´eller= (_Lady_), cousin of Valeria, the blue-stocking. Lady Reveller is very fond of play, but ultimately gives it up, and is united to Lord Worthy.--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Basset Table_ (1706).

=Revenge= (_The_), a tragedy by Edward Young (1721). (For the plot, see ZANGA.)

_Revenge_ (_The_), the ship under the command of Sir Richard Grenville, anchored at Flores, in the Azores, when a fleet of fifty-three Spanish ships hove in sight. Lord Thomas Howard, with six men-of-war, sailed off; but Sir Richard stood his ground. He had only a hundred men, but with this crew and his one ship, he encountered the Spanish fleet. The fight was very obstinate. Some of the Spanish ships were sunk, and many shattered; but Sir Richard at length was wounded, and the surgeon shot while dressing the wound. “Sink the ship, master gunner!” cried Sir Richard; “sink the ship, and let her not fall into the hands of Spain!” But the crew were obliged to yield, and Sir Richard died. The Spaniards were amazed at Grenville’s pluck, and gave him all honors, as they cast his body into the sea. _The Revenge_ was then manned by Spaniards, but never reached the Spanish coast, for it was wrecked in a tempest, and went down with all hands aboard.--Tennyson, _The Revenge_, a ballad of the fleet (1878).

⁂ This sea-fight is the subject of one of Froude’s essays.

Canon Kingsley has introduced it in _Westward Ho!_ where he gives a description of Sir Richard Grenville.

Lord Bacon says the fight “was memorable even beyond credit, and to the height of heroic fable.”

Mr. Arber published three interesting contemporary documents relating to _The Revenge_, by Sir Walter Raleigh.

Gervase Markham wrote a long poem on the subject (two hundred stanzas of eight lines each).

_Revenge_ (_The Palace of_), a palace of crystal, provided with everything agreeable to life except the means of going out of it. The fairy Pagan made it, and when Imis rejected his suit because she loved Prince Philax, he shut them up in this palace out of revenge. At the end of a few years Pagan had his revenge, for Philax and Imis longed as eagerly for a separation as they had once done to be united.--Comtesse D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Palace of Revenge,” 1682).

=Revenons à nos Moutons=, let us return to the matter in hand. This phrase comes from an old French comedy of the fifteenth century, entitled _L’Avocat Patelin_, by Blanchet. A clothier, giving evidence against a shepherd who had stolen some sheep, is for ever running from the subject to talk about some cloth of which Patelin, his lawyer, had defrauded him. The judge from time to time pulls him up by saying, “Well, well! and about the sheep?” “What about the sheep!” (See PATELIN.)

=Revolutionary Songs.= By far the most popular were:

1. _La Marseillaise_, both words and music by Rouget de Lisle (1792).

2. _Veillons au Salut de l’Empire_, by Adolphe S. Boy (1791). Music by Dalayra. Very strange that men whose whole purpose was to _destroy_ the empire should go about singing “Let us guard it!”

3. _Ça Ira_, written to the tune of _Le Carillon National_, in 1789, while preparations were being made for the _Fête de la Féderation_. It was a great favorite with Marie Antoinette, who was for ever “strumming the tune on her harpsichord.”

4. _Chant du Départ_, by Marie Joseph de Chénier (1794). Music by Méhul. This was the most popular next to the _Marseillaise_.

5. _La Carmagnole._ “Madame Veto avait promis de faire égorger tout Paris ...” (1792). Probably so called from Carmagnole, in Piedmont. The burden of this dancing song is:

Danson la Carmagnole, Vive le son! Vive le son! Danson la Carmagnole, Vive le son du canon!

6. _La Vengeur_, a spirited story, in verse, about a ship so called. Lord Howe took six of the French ships, June 1, 1794; but _La Vengeur_ was sunk by the crew, that it might not fall into the hands of the English, and went down while the crew shouted “Vive la République!” The story bears a strong resemblance to that of “The Revenge,” Sir Richard Grenville’s ship. See _ante_.

In the second Revolution we have:

1. _La Parisienne_, called “The _Marseillaise_ of 1830,” by Casimir Delavigne, the same year.

2. _La France a l’Horreur du Servage_, by Casimir Delavigne (1843).

3. _Le Champ de Bataille_, by Emile Debreaux (about 1830).

The chief political songs of Béranger are: _Adieux de Marie Stuart_, _La Cocarde Blanche_, _Jacques_, _La Déesse_, _Marquis de Carabas_, _Le Sacre de Charles le Simple_, _Le Senateur_, _Le Vieux Caporal_, and _Le Vilain_.

In the American Revolution the air of _Yankee Doodle_ was sung to various sets of words, all derisive of the British and exhilarating to the Americans.

In the Civil War of the United States _The Star-Spangled Banner_, _Hail Columbia_, _Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!_ and Julia Ward Howe’s _Battle Hymn of the Republic_ to the air of _John Brown’s Body Lies Mouldering in the Ground_ were favorites with the Federal troops.

Among the Confederates, _Dixie_, and _Maryland, My Maryland_, were most popular.

=Rewcastle= (_Old John_), a Jedburgh smuggler, and one of the Jacobite conspirators with the laird of Ellieslaw.--Sir W. Scott, _The Black Dwarf_ (time, Anne).

=Reynaldo=, a servant to Polonius.--Shakespeare, _Hamlet_ (1596).

=Reynard the Fox=, the hero of the beast-epic so called. This prose poem is a satire on the state of Germany in the Middle Ages. Reynard represents the Church; Isengrin, the wolf (his uncle), typifies the baronial element; and Nodel, the lion, stands for the regal power. The plot turns on the struggle for supremacy between Reynard and Isengrin. Reynard uses all his endeavors to victimize every one, especially his uncle, Isengrin, and generally succeeds.--_Reinecke Fuchs_ (thierepos,[TN-125] 1498).

=Reynardine= (3 _syl._), eldest son of Reynard the Fox. He assumed the names of Dr. Pedanto and Crabron.--_Reynard the Fox_ (1498).

=Reynold of Montalbon=, one of Charlemagne’s paladins.

=Reynolds= (_Sir Joshua_), is thus described by Goldsmith:

Here Reynolds is laid; and, to tell you my mind, He has not left a wiser or better behind. His pencil was striking, resistless and grand; His manners were gentle, complying and bland ... To coxcombs averse, yet most civilly steering, When they judged without skill he was still hard of hearing; When they talked of their Raphaels, Corregios, and stuff, He shifted his trumpet, and only took snuff.

_Retaliation_ (1774).

N.B.--Sir Joshua Reynolds was hard of hearing, and used an ear-trumpet.

=Rez´io= (_Dr._) or “Pedro Rezio of Ague´ro,” the doctor of Barata´ria, who forbade Sancho Panza to taste any of the meats set before him. Roast partridge was “forbidden by Hippoc´ratês.” Podri´da was “the most pernicious food in the world.” Rabbits were “a sharp-haired diet.” Veal was “prejudicial to health.” But, he said, the governor might eat “a few wafers, and a thin slice or two of quince.”--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, II. iii. 10 (1615).

=Rhadaman´thus=, son of Jupiter and Euro´pa. He reigned in the Cycladês with such partiality, that at death he was made one of the judges of the infernal regions.

And if departed souls must rise again ... And bide the judgment of reward or pain ... Then Rhadamanthus and stern Minos were True types of justice while they livèd here.

Lord Brooke, _Monarchie_, i. (1554-1628).

=Rhampsini´tos=, king of Egypt, usually called Ram´esês III., the richest of the Egyptian monarchs, who amassed 72 millions sterling, which he secured in a treasury of stone. By an artifice of the builder, he was robbed every night.--_Herodotus_, ii. 121.

A parallel tale is told of Hyrieus [_Hy´.ri.uce_] of Hyrĭa. His two architects, Trophōnios and Agamēdês (brothers), built his treasure-vaults, but left one stone removable at pleasure. After great loss of treasure, Hyrieus spread a net, in which Agame´des was caught. To prevent recognition, Trophonios cut off his brother’s head.--Pausanias, _Itinerary of Greece_, ix. 37, 3.

A similar tale is told of the treasure-vaults of Augĕas, king of Elis.

=Rha´sis= or Mohammed Aboubekr ibn Zakaria el Razi, a noted Arabian physician. He wrote a treatise on small-pox and measles, with some 200 other treatises (850-923).

Well, error has no end; And Rhasis is a sage.

R. Browning, _Paracelsus_, iii.

=Rhea’s Child.= Jupiter is so called by Pindar. He dethroned his father, Saturn.

The child Of Rhea drove him [_Saturn_] from the upper sky.

Akenside, _Hymn to the Naiads_ (1767).

=Rheims= (_The Jackdaw of_), The cardinal-archbishop of Rheims made a great feast, to which he invited all the joblillies of the neighborhood. There were abbots and prelates, knights and squires, and all who delighted to honor the great panjandrum of Rheims. The feast over, water was served, and his lordship’s grace, drawing off his turquoise ring, laid it beside his plate, dipped his fingers into the golden bowl, and wiped them on his napkin; but when he looked to put on his ring, it was nowhere to be found. It was evidently gone. The floor was searched, the plates and dishes lifted up, the mugs and chalices, every possible and impossible place was poked into, but without avail. The ring must have been stolen. His grace was furious, and, in dignified indignation, calling for bell, book, and candle, banned the thief, both body and soul, this life and for ever. It was a terrible curse, but none of the guests seemed the worse for it--except, indeed, the jackdaw. The poor bird was a pitiable object, his head lobbed down, his wings draggled on the floor, his feathers were all ruffled, and with a ghost of a caw he prayed the company follow him; when lo! there was the ring, hidden in some sly corner by the jackdaw as a clever practical joke. His lordship’s grace smiled benignantly, and instantly removed the curse; when lo! as if by magic, the bird became fat and sleek again, perky and impudent, wagging his tail, winking his eye, and cocking his head on one side, then up he hopped to his old place on the cardinal’s chair. Never after this did he indulge in thievish tricks, but became so devout, so constant at feast and chapel, so well-behaved at matins and vespers, that when he died he died in the odor of sanctity, and was canonized, his name being changed to that of Jim Crow.--Barham, _Ingoldsby Legends_ (“Jackdaw of Rheims,” 1837).

=Rheingold.= The treasure given Siegfried by the dwarfs, and the cause of contention after his death.

=Rhesus= was on his march to aid the Trojans in their siege, and had nearly reached Troy, when he was attacked in the night by Ulysses and Diomed. In this surprise Rhesus and all his army were cut to pieces.--Homer, _Iliad_, x.

A parallel case was that of Sweno, the Dane, who was marching to join Godfrey and the crusaders, when he was attacked in the night by Solyman, and both Sweno and his army perished.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

=Rhiannon’s Birds.= The notes of these birds were so sweet that warriors remained spell-bound for eighty years together, listening to them. These birds are often alluded to by the Welsh bards. (Rhiannon was the wife of Prince Pwyll.)--_The Mabinogion_, 363 (twelfth century).

The snow-white bird which the monk Felix listened to, sang so enchantingly that he was spell-bound for a hundred years, listening to it.--Longfellow, _Golden Legend_.