Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 112

=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 lords.h.i.+p'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 lords.h.i.+p'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 c.o.c.king 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 sanct.i.ty, 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 G.o.dfrey and the crusaders, when he was attacked in the night by Solyman, and both Sweno and his army perished.--Ta.s.so, _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_.

=Rhodalind=, daughter of Aribert, king of Lombardy, in love with Duke Gondibert; but Gondibert preferred Birtha, a country girl, daughter of the sage, Astragon. 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 l.u.s.tre; 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'enes mentioned by Pliny, _Natural History_, x.x.xv. 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 _Protogenes and Appelles_:

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._, x.x.xvi. 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 "Holofernes"

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.

Quae 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 _medaille militaire_ (inst.i.tuted 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 n.o.blest 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.--s.h.i.+rley, _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._ Amine, 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. d.i.c.kens, _The Chimes_ (1844).

_Richard_ (_Squire_), eldest son of Sir Francis Wronghead, of b.u.mper Hall. A country b.u.mpkin, 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_ "Cur 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 Faineant_, or "The Black Sluggard;" also "The Knight of the Fetter-lock."