صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

Rhymer's Glen. A locality near Abbotsford in Scotland, so named because of legendary traditions connected with Thomas of Ercildoune (Thomas the Rhymer).

Retable de Poissy. An altar-piece, | now in the Louvre, Paris, which represents in the centre scenes in the Passion of the Saviour, and on the sides events which took place in the lives of St. John the Evangelist and St. John the Baptist. Jean de France, Duc de Berry, brother of Charles VI., and his wife, gave it to the church of Poissy.

Return from the Flight into Egypt. A picture by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640). Now at Blenheim, England.

Revelation, Book of. See Book OF REVELATION.

Rex Tibicen. A picture by Jean Léon Gérôme (b. 1824), the French painter.

Rheinfels. [The Rock of the Rhine.] This fortress is considered one of the most beautiful ruins on the banks of the Rhine. It was founded in 1245, and belonged alternately to the Hessians and the French, until in 1794 it fell into the hands of the French revolutionary army, and three years later it was blown up. It now belongs to the Emperor of Germany. It is the most extensive ruin on the Rhine, and was originally built partly as a stronghold where toll could be collected upon merchandise passing on the Rhine. An increase in the duties levied led to an unsuccessful siege of the castle for 15 months by the neighboring burghers. From this and other circumstances originated the union of 60 German and Rhenish cities, which resulted in the breaking-up of this and many other robber strongholds upon the Rhine.

Rheinstein. [The Stone of the Rhine.] A conspicuous castle on the Rhine. The original castle was of great antiquity. It was rebuilt by Frederic of Prussia in 1825-29, and a chapel has since n added.

Colossus. See COLOSSUS
ES.

Rialto, The. [Ital. Ponte di Rial to.] A famous bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice, deriving its name from the quarter of the city in which it is situated. This section so called from Rivo-alto -is one of the islands upon which Venice is built, and gave its name first to the Exchange which was built upon it, and later to the bridge by which it was reached. The Rialto was long the centre of trade and commercial life in the city. The bridge, which has shops upon it, was begun in 1588.

"The Venice of modern fiction and drama is a thing of yesterday, a mere efflorescence of decay, a stagedrama, which the first ray of daylight must dissipate into dust. No great

merchant of Venice ever saw that Rialto under which the traveller now pauses with breathless interest."

Ruskin.

Shy. Signior Antonio, many a time and
oft,

In the Rialto, you have rated me
About my moneys, and my usances:
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug:
For suffrance is the badge of all our tribe.
Shakespeare.

[This allusion is probably to the Exchange, though it might be taken to refer to the island, but hardly to the bridge.] Ours is a trophy which will not decay With the Rialto; Shylock and the Moor, And Pierre, cannot be swept or worn away. Byron.

Soprano, basso, even the contra-alto Wished him five fathom under the Rialto. Byron,

Shylock still darkens the Rialto with his frown; the lordly form of Othello yet stalks across the piazza of St. Mark's, and every veil that flutters in the breeze shrouds the roguish black eyes of Jessica. Hillard.

The soul's Rialto hath its merchandise: I barter curl for curl upon that mart. Mrs. Browning. Pisa's patron saint hath hallowed to himself the joyful day, Never on the thronged Rialto showed the

Carnival more gay. T. W. Parsons. Riccardi Palace. [Ital. Palazzo Riccardi.] A celebrated palace in Florence, erected in the fif

teenth century. The chapel contains some fine frescos.

"The Riccardi Palace is at the corner of the Via Larga. It was built by the first Cosmo di Medici, the old banker, more than four centuries ago. ... It looks fit to be still the home of a princely race, being nowise dilapidated nor decayed externally, nor likely to be so. . . . This mansion gives the visitor a stately notion of the life of a commercial man in the days when merchants were princes. . . . It must have been, in some sense, a great man who thought of founding a homestead like this, and was capable of filling it with his personality, as the hand fills a glove." Hawthorne.

Richelieu, Rue. A well-known street in Paris. In this street is the house where Molière died.

Those two splendidly dressed ladies are milliners from the Rue Richelieu, who have just brought over, and disposed of, their cargo of summer fashions.

Thackeray.

Riches. A picture by Hans Holbein the Younger (1498?-1543), well known by engravings. The origi nal perished at Whitehall in 1698. There is a drawing of this picture in the British Museum. See TRIUMPH OF RICHES.

Richmond, The. A noted vessel of the United States navy, one of the vessels of Commodore Far

ragut's flotilla, which ran the gauntlet of the forts of Mississippi on the 24th April, 1862, and led to the taking of New Orleans.

Richmond, Fort. See FORT RICH

MOND.

Richmond Palace. An ancient

and celebrated royal residence at Richmond, on the Thames, ten miles from London. The palace, of which only the ruins are now standing, was also called Shene (shining), from its beautiful situation.

Richmond Park.

An ancient and famous park or pleasure-ground of the royal manor of Richmond, about nine miles from London, overlooking the Thames, and com, rising fine forest scenery. It is eight miles in circumference, and is the most beautiful of the

royal parks in the vicinity of the metropolis. It is a favorite resort of Londoners.

Rideau Hall. The official residence of the Governor-General of Canada, in New Edinburgh, Ontarjo.

Riegersburg. A remarkable mediæval stronghold, now fallen into ruin, on an eminence near Feldbach, in Southern Austria. Rienzi's House. A noted building in Rome, built of brick, and thought to have been the house in which "The Last of the Tribunes" may have lived. It has been called also, without apparent reason, the House of Pilate.

"By what inexplicable absurd. ity it has obtained the name of the House of Pilate, it is impossible to conceive, unless, from the cruel and iniquitous judgments that disgraced the conclusion of Rienzi's reign, he may himself have acquired that nickname among the people of Rome."

Riesenburg.

C. A. Eaton.

A remarkable natural curiosity, - -a sort of cave with the top taken off,- -near Streitberg, in the region known as the Franconian Switzerland. Rigi, Spectre of the. See SPECTRE OF THE RIGI

Rimini. See FRANCESCA DA RI

MINI.

Ring of Brogarth. A remarkable monument of antiquity at Stenniss, in the Orkneys, consisting of a great circle of erect and prostrate stones, of unknown origin and use. Allusion is made to one of them in Scott's novel of "The Pirate."

Rinuccini Palace. [Palazzo Rinuccini.] A palace in Florence, Italy, built in the sixteenth century by Luigi Cardi Cigoli. It contains some fine pictures.

Ripetta, Via. See VIA RIPETTA. Riposo, Il. [The Repose (in Egypt).] See REPOSE IN EGYPT.

"The subject generally styled a Riposo is one of the most graceful and most attractive in the whole range of Christian art." Mrs. Jameson.

a corner.

But for the occasion and the appellation, it would be quite impossible to distinguish the Loves that sport round Venus and Adonis, from the Cherubim. so called, that hover above a Nativity or a Riposo; and the little angels, in his [Albano's] Crucifixion, cry so like naughty little boys, that one longs to put them in Mrs. Jameson. Ripresa dei Barberi. The end of the Corso, Rome, and the place where, in the races of the carnival, the horses are stopped by a piece of cloth suspended across the street. It derives its name from the Barbary horses which were the original racers. Rising. See CASTLE RISING. Rittenhouse Square. A public

Rob Roy's Cave. A cavern in a rock near Inversnaid, Scotland, sometimes called also Bruce's cave, because Bruce lay hid there for a night.

Robin Hood Society. A debating club which met, in the time of George II., in Essex Street, Strand, London. Here was heard some of Burke's earliest eloquence. Goldsmith was an occasional visitor.

Bobuste, La. An ancient piece of ordnance captured at San Juan d'Ulloa, now preserved as a trophy in the United States Navyyard, Brooklyn, N.Y.

park in Philadelphia, Penn., sur-Rocco, San. See SAN ROCCO. rounded by handsome mansions. Riva dei Schiavoni. A street or promenade in Venice, Italy, facing the harbor.

'Twas so

When I came here. The galley floats within A bow-shot of the "Riva di Schiavoni." Byron. Riviera. [Bank or shore.] A name of general application, but frequently given in particular to the Mediterranean coast in the neighborhood of Genoa, Italy.

Riviera di Chiaia. See CHIAJA.

Rivoli, Rue de. One of the finest streets in Paris. Napoleon I. began the Rue de Rivoli.

This ostentatious architecture, which

arrived in Judea by cargoes, these hundreds of columns all of the same diameter, the ornament of some insipid Rue de Rivoli, such is what he called "the kingdoms of the world and all their glory."

Renan.

In our black, orderless, zigzag streets,

we can show nothing to compare with the magnificent array of the Rue de Rivoli. Thackeray.

Roaring Meg. A celebrated piece of ordnance preserved in Londonderry, Ireland. It was presented to the city by the Fishmongers' Company of London.

"In the yard of the court-house is the far-famed Roaring Meg,' so called from the loudness of her voice, which is said hourly to have cheered the hearts of the besieged, and appalled those of the besiegers."

Mr. and Mrs. Hall.

Roch, St. See ST. ROCH.
Roche. See CASTLE ROCHE.

Roche Guyon, La. A large and
imposing château on the banks
of the Seine, in France, near Bon-
nières. It dates from the twelfth
century, and is the property. of
the Rochefoucauld family.

Rocher Percé, Le. [The pierced rock.] A natural curiosity near Gaspé, in the Province of Quebec, Canada. It is a remarkable promontory, rising 280 feet above the water, with an opening or archway through which fishingsmacks can pass.

Rochester Castle. The venerable
fortress in the Medway, at Roch-
ester, England, one of the most
interesting remains of feudal ar-
chitecture in the kingdom.

Rocio, The.A fine public square
in Lisbon, Portugal.
Rock of Abooseer.

An almost perpendicular crag, 200 feet high, on the shore of the Nile, commanding a fine view of the second cataract, and of the desert and Arabian hills.

"I doubt whether a more striking scene than this, to English eyes, can be anywhere found. It is thoroughly African, thoroughly tropical, very beautiful,-most majestic, and most desolate." Miss Martineau.

[blocks in formation]

"That noble ruin, an emblem as well as a memorial of Ireland, at once a temple and a fortress, the seat of religion and nationality; where councils were held; where princes assembled; the scene of courts and of synods; and on which it is impossible to look without feeling the heart at once elevated and touched by the noblest as well as the most solemn recollections." R. L. Shiel.

Royal and saintly Cashel! I would gaze
Upon the wreck of thy departed powers,
Not in the dewy light of matin hours,
Nor the meridian pomp of summer's
blaze,

But at the close of dim autumnal days.
At such a time, methinks
There breathes from thy lone courts and
voiceless aisles

A melancholy moral; such as sinks
On the lone traveller's heart, amid the
piles

Of vast Persepolis on her mountain stand, Or Thebes half-buried in the desert sand. Sir Aubrey de Vere:

Rock of Dunamase. One of the most striking and interesting objects in Ireland, situated in Queen's County. It is a solitary rock in the midst of a fertile plain, covered from base to top with the ruins of an ancient and powerful

fortress.

4"Although from its great natural strength the castle would seem im. pregnable, it was several times taken and retaken by the ferocious Irish,' and the English invaders."

Mr. and Mrs. Hall. Rock (and Fortress) of Gibraltar. A fortification of immense strength, at the southern extremity of Spain, in Andalusia. It belongs to England, and is regarded as an impregnable stronghold. Vast sums of money have

been spent in adding to the nat ural defences of the situation. Numerous caverns and galleries several miles in length have been cut in the solid rock. The chief defences are upon the western side.

"The vast Rock rises on one side with its interminable works of defence; and Gibraltar Bay is shining on the other, out on which from the ter races immense cannon are perpetually looking, surrounded by plantations of cannon-balls and beds of bomb-shells, sufficient, one would think, to blow away the whole Peninsula. we took leave of this famous Rock, this great blunderbuss, which we seized out of the hands of the natural owners 140 years ago, and which we have kept ever since tremendously loaded and cleaned and ready for use." Thackeray.

So

Rock of Horeb. A large granite block in the neighborhood of Mount Sinai, in Arabia Petræa, pointed out as the rock which Moses smote with his rod, and from which water poured forth. There are several seams in the rock, which by the faithful are believed to be the impressions of the rod.

In

Rocket, The. A locomotive engine produced by the two Stephensons, and the first which proved a practical success. October, 1829, the Rocket gained the prize offered by the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad, and settled the question as to the superiority of the locomotive steam-engine as a motive-power.

Rocks of Fontainebleau. A picture by Rosa Bonheur (b. 1822), the celebrated French painter of animals.

Rocky Mountains. A picture by Albert Bierstadt (b. 1829), and considered one of his best works. In possession of Mr. James McHenry.

"No more genuine and grand American work has been produced than Bierstadt's Rocky Mountains." Tuckerman.

"Bierstadt's great picture of the Rocky Mountains represents a vast

MANUM.

Roman Wall. See HADRIAN'S
WALL.

A

Romans of the Decadence. well-known picture by Thomas Couture (b. 1815). In the Luxembourg, Paris.

plain, over which groups of Indians in | Roman Forum. See FORUM ROtheir primitive condition, and their wigwams, are scattered; huge cottonwood trees, oaks and pines, occupy a portion of the foreground; beyond flows a river, on the opposite shore of which rise beetling cliffs, and lofty snow-crowned mountains, the highest peak Mount Lander. The picture made a great impression." Sarah Tytler. Rodenstein. A ruined fortress of the Middle Ages, near Erbach in Germany, famous as being the seat of the legend of the Wild Huntsman.

[blocks in formation]

Mynen naem is Roelant, als ick clippe dan ist brandt; als ick luyde, dan ist Storm im Vlaen

derlandt."

Toll! Roland, toll!
Bell never yet was hung,

Between whose lips there swung
So grand a tongue!
T. Tilton.

Roland's Breach. See BRÈCHE DE
ROLAND.

Rolandseck Castle. A well-
known ruined castle on the Rhine,
near Oberwinter. It is associated
with a legendary story which
Schiller has made the subject of
his ballad of "The Knight of
Toggenburg."

Rolls Chapel. A chapel in London, first erected in the time of Henry III., and rebuilt in 1617 by Inigo Jones. Bishops Atterbury, Butler, and Burnet were preachers here. The chapel contains a noble and beautiful tomb by Torregiano.

Rome. See SIEGE OF ROME UNDER
PORSENNA.

Romeo and Juliet. A picture by
Wilhelm Kaulbach (1805–1874),
the eminent German painter.
Römer. An ancient and cele-
brated building in Frankfort-on-
the-Main, Germany. It is the
guild-hall, or town-house, of the
city, and contains the room in
which the electors met to choose
a new emperor, and that in which
he gave his first banquet. The
building is thought to have de-
rived its name from the Italians,
commonly called Römer (Ro-
mans), who at the great fairs of
the town lodged their goods in it.
Römerberg, The. A celebrated
public square in Frankfort-on-the
Main, where formerly the em-
perors were crowned. In this
square is situated the ancient
structure called the Römer or
town-house.

Rondinini Faun. A relic of Greek sculpture formerly in the Rondinini Palace at Rome. Now in the British Museum, London. See BARBERINI FAUN, FAUN, etc. Rondinini Medusa. A celebrated work of ancient sculpture, so named after its former possessors, and now in the Glyptothek at Munich, Bavaria.

Rosamund's Tower (or Bower). In the park of Blenheim, England, near the place where the ancient palace of Woodstock was built. It was a concealed labyrinth built by Henry II. as a resi dence for Rosamund, a daughterof Walter de Clifford, that she might escape the observation of his wife Queen Eleanor. It consisted of subterranean vaults of brick and

« السابقةمتابعة »