Part 39

=Rhodalind=, daughter of Aribert, king of Lombardy, in love with Duke Gondibert; but Gondibert preferred Birtha, a country girl, daughter of the sage, Astrăgon. While the duke is whispering sweet love-notes to Birtha, a page comes post-haste to announce to him that the king has proclaimed him his heir, and is about to give him his daughter in marriage. The duke gives Birtha an emerald ring, and says if he is false to her, the emerald will lose its lustre; then hastens to court, in obedience to the king’s summons. Here the tale breaks off, and was never finished.--Sir Wm. Davenant, _Gondibert_ (1605-1668).

=Rhodian Venus= (_The_). This was the “Venus” of Protog´enês mentioned by Pliny, _Natural History_, xxxv. 10.

When first the Rhodian’s mimic art arrayed The Queen of Beauty in her Cyprian shade, The happy master mingled in his piece Each look that charmed him in the fair of Greece.

Campbell, _Pleasures of Hope_, ii. (1799).

Prior (1664-1721) refers to the same painting in his fable of _Protogênes and Appellês_:

I hope, sir, you intend to stay To see our Venus; ’tis the piece The most renowned throughout all Greece.

=Rhod´ope= (3 _syl._), or =Rhod´opis=, a celebrated Greek courtezan, who afterwards married Psammetichus, king of Egypt. It is said she built the third pyramid.--Pliny, _Nat. Hist._, xxxvi. 12.

A statelier pyramis to her I’ll rear, Than Rhodope’s.

Shakespeare, _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 6 (1589).

=Rhombus=, a schoolmaster who speaks “a leash of languages at once,” puzzling himself and his hearers with a jargon like that of “Holofernês” in Shakespeare’s _Love’s Labor’s Lost_ (1594).--Sir Philip Sidney, _Pastoral Entertainment_ (1587).

_Rhombus_, a spinning-wheel or rolling instrument used by the Roman witches for fetching the moon out of heaven.

Quæ nunc Thessalico lunam deducere rhombo [_sciet_].--Martial, _Epigrams_, ix. 30.

=Rhone of Christian Eloquence= (_The_), St. Hilary (300-367).

=Rhone of Latin Eloquence= (_The_). St. Hilary is so called by St. Jerome (300-367).

=Rhongomyant=, the lance of King Arthur.--_The Mabinogion_ (“Kilhwch and Olwen,” twelfth century).

=Rhyming to Death.= In 1 _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 1, Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, speaking about the death of Henry V., says, “Must we think that the subtle-witted French conjurors and sorcerers, out of fear of him, ‘by magic verses have contrived his end?’” The notion of killing by incantation was at one time very common.

Irishmen ... will not stick to affirme that they can rime either man or beast to death.--Reg. Scot, _Discoverie of Witchcraft_ (1564).

=Ribbon.= The _yellow_ ribbon, in France, indicates that the wearer has won a _médaille militaire_ (instituted by Napoleon III.) as a minor decoration of the Legion of Honor.

The _red_ ribbon marks a _chevalier_ of the Legion of Honor. A _rosette_ indicates a higher grade than that of _chevalier_.

=Ribemont= (3 _syl._), the bravest and noblest of the French host in the battle of Poitiers. He alone dares confess that the English are a brave people. In the battle he is slain by Lord Audley.--Shirley, _Edward the Black Prince_ (1640).

_Ribemont_ (_Count_), in _The Siege of Calais_, by Colman.

=Riccar´do=, commander of Plymouth fortress, a Puritan to whom Lord Walton has promised his daughter, Elvira, in marriage. Riccardo learns that the lady is in love with Arthur Talbot, and when Arthur is taken prisoner by Cromwell’s soldiers, Riccardo promises to use his efforts to obtain his pardon. This, however, is not needful, for Cromwell, feeling quite secure of his position, orders all the captives of war to be released. Riccardo is the Italian form of Sir Richard Forth.--Bellini, _I Puritani_ (opera, 1834).

=Ricciardetto=, son of Aymon, and brother of Bradamante.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Rice.= _Eating rice with a bodkin._ Aminê, the beautiful wife of Sidi Nouman, ate rice with a bodkin, but she was a ghoul. (See AMINE.)

=Richard=, a fine, honest lad, by trade a smith. He marries, on New Year’s Day, Meg, the daughter of Toby Veck.--C. Dickens, _The Chimes_ (1844).

_Richard_ (_Squire_), eldest son of Sir Francis Wronghead, of Bumper Hall. A country bumpkin, wholly ignorant of the world and of literature.--Vanbrugh and Cibber, _The Provoked Husband_ (1727).

Robert Wetherilt [1708-1745] came to Drury Lane a boy, where he showed his rising genius in the part of “Squire Richard.”--Chetwood, _History of the Stage_.

_Richard_ (_Prince_), eldest son of King Henry II.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

_Richard_ “Cœur de Lion,” introduced in two novels by Sir W. Scott (_The Talisman_ and _Ivanhoe_). In the latter he first appears as “The Black Knight,” at the tournament, and is called _Le Noir Fainéant_, or “The Black Sluggard;” also “The Knight of the Fetter-lock.”

_Richard a Name of Terror._ The name of Richard I., like that of Attila, Bonaparte, Corvīnus, Narses, Sebastian, Talbot, Tamerlane, and other great conquerors, was at one time employed _in terrorem_ to disobedient children. (See NAMES OF TERROR.)

His tremendous name was employed by the Syrian mothers to silence their infants; and if a horse suddenly started from the way, his rider was wont to exclaim, “Dost thou think King Richard is in the bush?”--Gibbon, _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, xi. 146 (1776-88).

_The Daughters of Richard I._ When Richard was in France, Fulco, a priest, told him he ought to beware how he bestowed his daughters in marriage. “I have no daughters,” said the king. “Nay, nay,” replied Fulco, “all the world knows that you have three--Pride, Covetousness and Lechery.” “If these are my daughters,” said the king, “I know well how to bestow them where they will be well cherished. My eldest I give to the Knights Templars, my second to the monks; and my third I cannot bestow better than on yourself, for I am sure she will never be divorced nor neglected.”--Thomas Milles, _True Nobility_ (1610).

_The Horse of Richard I._, Fennel.

Ah, Fennel, my noble horse, thou bleedest, thou art slain!--_Cœur de Lion and His Horse._

_The Troubadour of Richard I._, Bertrand de Born.

=Richard Pennyroyal=, unhappy man whose weary indifference to his first wife heightens into aversion as she becomes insane. He is relieved when she drowns herself. His second wife, passionately beloved, is unfaithful to him, and loathes him as he drinks more and more to drown disappointment. His rival triumphs over him in a struggle for property, but Richard has his wife still. Straying one night toward the pool in which his first wife drowned herself, he comes upon the false wife and her lover, challenges the latter to a duel then and there, and is shot through the heart. His body is tossed into the pool and never discovered.--Julian Hawthorne, _Archibald Malmaison_ (1878).

=Richard II’s Horse=, Roan Barbary.--Shakespeare, _Richard II._ act v. sc. 5 (1597).

=Richard III.=, a tragedy by Shakespeare (1597). At one time parts of Rowe’s tragedy of _Jane Shore_ were woven in the acting edition, and John Kemble introduced other clap-traps from Colley Cibber. The best actors of this part were David Garrick (1716-1779), Henry Mossop (1729-1773) and Edmund Kean (1787-1833).

Richard III. was only 19 years old at the opening of Shakespeare’s play.--Sharon Turner.

_The Horse of Richard III._, White Surrey.--Shakespeare, _Richard III._

## act v. sc. 3 (1597).

_Richard’s himself again!_ These words were interpolated by John Kemble from Colley Cibber.

=Richards= (_Allen_). He meets his lately betrothed in a parlor-car, and the dialogue that ensues ends in reconciliation and renewal of vows. They are alone, except when the porter enters from time to time, and a providential detention on the road prolongs the interview.--W. D. Howells, _The Parlor Car_ (a farce, 1876).

=Richelieu= (_Armand_), cardinal and chief minister of France. The duke of Orleans (the king’s brother), the count de Baradas (the king’s favorite), and other noblemen, conspired to assassinate Richelieu, dethrone Louis XIII., and make Gaston, duke of Orleans, the regent. The plot was revealed to the cardinal by Marion de Lorme, in whose house the conspirators met. The conspirators were arrested, and several of them put to death, but Gaston, duke of Orleans, turned king’s evidence, and was pardoned.--Lord Lytton, _Richelieu_ (1839).

=Richland= (_Miss_), intended for Leontine Croaker, but she gives her hand in marriage to Mr. Honeywood, “the good-natured man,” who promises to abandon his quixotic benevolence, and to make it his study in future “to reserve his pity for real distress, his friendship for true merit, and his love for her who first taught him what it is to be happy.”--Goldsmith, _The Good-natured Man_ (1768).

=Richlings= (_The_). Brave young couple who come to New Orleans to make a living. _John Richling_ has forfeited the favor of a rich father by marrying the woman of his choice, but never regrets the action. From the outset ill-fortune pursues him. He is willing to work, but work is hard to get. He accepts various employments, more or less menial, and through no fault of his, loses one after another. Nothing is stable except _Mary’s_ love and _Dr. Sevier’s_ friendship. Just before the war poverty compels him to send Mary to her mother in Milwaukee. There her child is born. He remains in New Orleans, working hard, and steadily failing in health. For three years they are separated by war, the noble wife trying all the while to get to her husband. When she succeeds, it is to find him on his death-bed.

Mary becomes, under Dr. Sevier’s direction a city-missionary. “The work ... seemed to keep John near. Almost, sometimes, he seemed to walk at her side in her errands of mercy, or to spread above her the arms of benediction.”--George W. Cable, _Dr. Sevier_ (1888).

=Richmond= (_The duchess of_) wife of Charles Stuart, in the court of Charles II. The line became extinct, and the title was given to the Lennox family.--Sir W. Scott, _Perveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

_Richmond_ (_The earl of_), Henry of Lancaster.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Richmond Hill= (_The Lass of_), Miss l’Anson, of Hill House, Richmond, Yorkshire. Words by M’Nally, music by James Hook, who married the young lady.

_The Lass of Richmond Hill_ is one of the sweetest ballads in the language.--John Bell.

=Richmond= (_Kate_). New England girl, heroine of several sketches in Grace Greenwood’s _Leaves_. “Aside from her beauty and unfailing cheerfulness, she has a clear, strong intellect, an admirable taste and an earnest truthfulness of character.”--Grace Greenwood, _Greenwood Leaves_ (1850).

=Rickets= (_Mabel_), the old nurse of Frank Osbaldistone.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

=Riderhood= (_Rogue_), the villain in Dickens’s novel of _Our Mutual Friend_ (1864).

=Rides on the Tempest and Directs the Storm.= Joseph Addison, speaking of the duke of Marlborough and his famous victories, says that he inspired the fainting squadrons, and stood unmoved in the shock of battle:

So when an angel by divine command, With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, Such as of late o’er pale Britannia past, Calm and serene he drives the furious blast; And, pleased th’ Almighty’s orders to perform, Rides on the tempest and directs the storm.

_The Campaign_ (1705).

=Ridicule= (_Father of_). François Rabelais is so styled by Sir Wm. Temple (1495-1553).

=Ridolphus=, one of the band of adventurers that joined the crusaders. He was slain by Argantês (bk. vii.)[TN-126]--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

=Rienzi= (_Nicolo Gabrïni_) or COLA DI RIENZI, last of the tribunes, who assumed the name of “Tribune of Liberty, Peace and Justice” (1313-1354).

⁂ Cola di Rienzi is the hero of a novel by Lord Bulwer Lytton, entitled _Rienzi_, or _The Last of the Tribunes_ (1849).

_Rienzi_, an opera by Wagner (1841). It opens with a number of the Orsini breaking into Rienzi’s house, in order to abduct his sister, Irēnê, but in this they are foiled by the arrival of the Colonna and his followers. The outrage provokes a general insurrection, and Rienzi is appointed leader. The nobles are worsted, and Rienzi becomes a senator; but the aristocracy hate him, and Paolo Orsini seeks to assassinate him, but without success. By the machinations of the German emperor and the Colonna, Rienzi is excommunicated and deserted by all his adherents. He is ultimately fired on by the populace and killed on the steps of the capitol.--Libretto by J. P. Jackson.

_Rienzi_ (_The English_), William with the Long Beard, _alias_ Fitzosbert (*-1196).

=Rigaud= (_Mons._), a Belgian, 35 years of age, confined in a villainous prison at Marseilles, for murdering his wife. He has a hooked nose, handsome after its kind, but too high between the eyes, and his eyes, though sharp, were too near to one another. He was, however, a large, tall man, with thin lips, and a goodly quantity of dry hair shot with red. When he spoke, his moustache went up under his nose, and his nose came down over his moustache. After his liberation from prison, he first took the name of Lagnier, and then of Blandois, his name being Rigaud Lagnier Blandois.--Charles Dickens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).

=Rigdum-Funnidos=, a courtier in the palace of King Chrononhotonthologos. After the death of the king, the widowed queen is advised to marry again, and Rigdum Funnidos is proposed to her as “a very proper man.” At this Aldiborontephoscophornio takes umbrage, and the queen says, “Well, gentlemen, to make matters easy, I’ll have you both.”--H. Carey, _Chrononhotonthologos_ (1734).

⁂ John Ballantyne, the publisher, was so called by Sir W. Scott. He was “a quick, active, intrepid little fellow, full of fun and merriment ... all over quaintness and humorous mimicry.”

=Right-Hitting Brand=, one of the companions of Robin Hood, mentioned by Mundy.

=Rig´olette= (3 _syl._), a grisette and courtezan.--Eugène Sue, _Mysteries of Paris_ (1842-3).

_Rigoletto_, an opera, describing the agony of a father obliged to witness the violation of his own daughter.--Verdi, _Rigoletto_ (1852).

⁂ The libretto of this opera is borrowed from Victor Hugo’s drama _Le Roi s’Amuse_.

=Rimegap= (_Joe_), one of the miners of Sir Geoffrey Perveril[TN-127] of the Peak.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Rimini= (_Francesca di_), a woman of extraordinary beauty, daughter of the lord of Ravenna. She was married to Lanciotto Malatesta, signore of Rimini, a man of great bravery, but deformed. His brother, Paolo, was extremely handsome, and with him Francesca fell in love. Lanciotto, detecting them in criminal intercourse, killed them both (1389).

This tale forms one of the episodes of Dantê’s _Inferno_; is the subject of a tragedy called _Francesca di Rimini_, by Silvio Pellico (1819); and Leigh Hunt, about the same time, published his _Story of Rimini_, in verse.

=Rimmon=, seventh in order of the hierarchy of Hell: (1) Satan, (2) Beëlzebub, (3) Moloch, (4) Chemos, (5) Thammuz, (6) Dagon, (7) Rimmon, whose chief temple was at Damascus (2 _Kings_ v. 18).

Him [_Dagon_] followed Rimmon, whose delightful seat Was fair Damascus on the fertile banks Of A´bana and Pharpar, lucid streams.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, i. 467, etc. (1665).

=Rinaldo=, son of the fourth Marquis d’Estê, cousin of Orlando, and nephew of Charlemagne. He was the rival of Orlando in his love for Angelica, but Angelica detested him. Rinaldo brought an auxiliary force of English and Scotch to Charlemagne, which “Silence” conducted safely into Paris.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

_Rinaldo_, the Achillês of the Christian army in the siege of Jerusalem. He was the son of Bertoldo and Sophia, but was brought up by Matilda. Rinaldo joined the crusaders at the age of 15. Being summoned to a public trial for the death of Gernando, he went into voluntary exile.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

⁂ Pulci introduces the same character in his burlesque poem entitled _Morgantê Maggiorê_, which holds up to ridicule the romances of chivalry.

_Rinaldo_, steward to the countess of Rousillon--Shakespeare, _All’s Well that Ends Well_ (1598).

=Rinaldo of Montalban=, a knight who had the “honor” of being a public plunderer. His great exploit was stealing the golden idol of Mahomet.

In this same _Mirror of Knighthood_ we meet with Rinaldo de Montalban and his companions, with the twelve peers of France, and Turpin, the historian.... Rinaldo had a broad face, and a pair of large rolling eyes; his complexion was ruddy, and his disposition choleric. He was, besides, naturally profligate, and a great encourager of vagrants.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. i. 1, 6 (1605).

=Ring= (_Dame Liŏnês’s_), a ring given by Dame Lionês to Sir Gareth, during a tournament.

“That ring,” said Dame Lionês, “increaseth my beauty much more than it is of itself; and this is the virtue of my ring: that which is green it will turn to red, and that which is red it will turn green; that which is blue it will turn white, and that which is white it will turn blue; and so with all other colors. Also, whoever beareth my ring can never lose blood.”--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 146 (1470).

_Ring_ (_Luned’s_). This ring rendered the wearer invisible. Luned or Lynet gave it to Owain, one of King Arthur’s knights. Consequently, when men were sent to kill him he was nowhere to be found, for he was invisible.

Take this ring, and put it on thy finger, with the stone inside thy hand; and close thy hand upon the stone; and as long as thou concealest it, it will conceal thee.--_The Mabinogion_ (“Lady of the Fountain,” twelfth century).

_Ring_ (_The Steel_), made by Siedel-Beckir. This ring enabled the wearer to read the secrets of another’s heart.--Comte de Caylus, _Oriental Tales_ (“The Four Talismans,” 1743).

_Ring_ (_The Talking_), a ring given by Tartaro, the Basque Cyclops, to a girl whom he wished to marry. Immediately she put it on, it kept incessantly saying, “You there, and I here;” so, to get rid of the nuisance, she cut off her finger and threw both ring and finger into a pond.--Rev. W. Webster, _Basque Legends_, 4 (1876).

The same story appears in Campbell’s _Popular Tales of the West Highlands_, i. 111, and in Grimm’s tale of _The Robber and His Sons_. When the robber put on the ring, it incessantly cried out, “Here I am;” so he bit off his finger, and threw it from him.

_Ring_ (_The Virgin’s Wedding Ring_), kept in the Duomo of Perugia, under fourteen locks.

=Ring and the Book= (_The_), an idyllic epic, by Robert Browning, founded on a _cause célèbre_ of Italian history in 1698. The case was this: Guido Franceschini, a Florentine count of shattered fortune, married Pompilia, thinking her to be an heiress. When the young bride discovered that she had been married for her money only, she told her husband she was no heiress at all, but was only the supposititious child of Pietro (2 _syl._), supplied by one Violantê, for the sake of keeping in his hands certain entailed property. The count now treated Pompilia so brutally that she ran away from home, under the protection of Caponsacchi, a young priest, and being arrested at Rome, a legal separation took place. Pompilia sued for a divorce, but, pending the suit, gave birth to a son. The count now murdered Pietro, Violantê, and Pompilia, but being taken red-handed, was brought to trial, found guilty, and executed.

=Ring the Bells Backwards= (_To_), to ring a muffled peal, to lament. Thus, John Cleveland, wishing to show his abhorrence of the Scotch, says:

How! Providence! and yet a Scottish crew!... Ring the bells backwards. I am all on fire; Not all the buckets in a country quire Shall quench my rage.

_The Rebel Scot_ (1613-1659).

=Ringdove= (_The Swarthy_). The responses of the oracle of Dodōna, in Epīros, were made by old women called “pigeons,” who derived their answers from the cooing of certain doves, the bubbling of a spring, a rustling of the sacred oak [or _beech_], and the tinkling of a gong or bell hung in the tree. The women were called pigeons by a play on the word _pelīæ_, which means “old women” as well as “pigeons;” and as they came from Libya they were _swarthy_.

According to the fable, Zeus gave his daughter, Thēbê, two black doves endowed with the gift of human speech; one of them flew into Libya, and the other into Dodona. The former gave the responses in the temple of Ammon, and the latter in the oracle of Dodona.

... beach or lime, Or that Thessalian growth, In which the swarthy ringdove sat, And mystic sentence spoke.

Tennyson.

=Ringhorse= (_Sir Robert_), a magistrate at Old St. Ronan’s.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).

=Ringwood=, a young Templar.--Sir W. Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

=Rintherout= (_Jenny_), a servant at Monkbarns to Mr. Jonathan Oldbuck, the antiquary.--Sir W. Scott, _The Antiquary_ (time, George III.).

=Riou= (_Captain_), called by Nelson “The Gallant and the Good;” fell in the battle of the Baltic.

Brave hearts! to Britain’s pride Once so faithful and so true, On the deck of fame that died, With the gallant, good Riou.

Campbell, _Battle of the Baltic_ (1777-1844).

=Rip van Winkle= slept twenty years in the Catskill Mountains, of North America. (See WINKLE.)

Epimenĭdês, the Gnostic, slept for fifty-seven years.

Gyneth slept 500 years, by the enchantment of Merlin.

The seven sleepers slept for 250 years in Mount Celion.

St. David slept for seven years. (See ORMANDINE.)[TN-128]

(The following are not dead, but only sleep till the fulness of their respective times:--Elijah, Endymion, Merlin, King Arthur, Charlemagne, Frederick Barbarossa and his knights, the three Tells, Desmond of Kilmallock, Thomas of Erceldoune, Boabdil el Chico, Brian Boroimhe, Knez Lazar, King Sebastian of Portugal, Olaf Tryggvason, the French slain in the Sicilian Vespers, and one or two others.)

=Riquet with the Tuft=, the beau-ideal of ugliness, but with the power of bestowing wit and intelligence on the person he loved best. Riquet fell in love with a most beautiful woman, as stupid as he was ugly, but possessing the power of giving beauty to the person she loved best. The two married, whereupon Riquet gave his bride wit, and she bestowed on him beauty.--Charles Perrault, _Contes des Fées_ (“Riquet à la Houppe,” 1697).

⁂ This tale is borrowed from the _Nights_ of Straparola. It is imitated by Mde. Villeneuve in her _Beauty and the Beast_.

=Risingham= (_Bertram_), the vassal of Philip of Mortham. Oswald Wycliffe induced him to shoot his lord at Marston Moor; and for this deed the vassal demanded all the gold and movables of his late master. Oswald, being a villain, tried to outwit Bertram, and even to murder him; but it turned out that Philip of Mortham,[TN-129] was not killed, neither was Oswald Wycliffe, his heir, for Redmond O’Neale (Rokeby’s page) was found to be the son and heir of Philip of Mortham.--Sir W. Scott, _Rokeby_ (1812).

=Ritho= or =Rython=, a giant who had made himself furs of the beards of kings killed by him. He sent to King Arthur, to meet him on Mount Aravius, or else to send his beard to him without delay. Arthur met him, slew him, and took “fur” as a spoil. Drayton says it was this Rython who carried off Helĕna, the niece of Duke Hoel; but Geoffrey of Monmouth says that King Arthur, having killed the Spanish giant, told his army “he had found none so great in strength _since_ he killed the giant Ritho;” by which it seems that the Spanish giant and Ritho are different persons, although it must be confessed the scope of the chronicle seems to favor their identity.--Geoffrey, _British History_, x. 3 (1142).

As how great Rython’s self he [_Arthur_] slew ... Who ravished Howell’s niece, young Helena, the fair.

Drayton, _Polyolbion_, iv. (1612).

=Rival Queens= (_The_), Stati´ra and Roxa´na. Statīra was the daughter of Darīus, and wife of Alexander the Great. Roxana was the daughter of Oxyartês, the Bactrian; her, also, Alexander married. Roxana stabbed Statira, and killed her.--N. Lee, _Alexander the Great_, or _The Rival Queens_ (1678).