RABAH
(RABBAH, the capital of the Ammonites; now AMMAN). It was on the Upper Jabbok,
abt. 20 m. from the Jordan. It was taken by Joab as related in II Samuel xi. It
was here that Uriah the Hittite was exposed to certain death by Joab at the command
of David. In Conf. Cons. ii. 3, Hypocrisy says." Joab was glad The Ammonite in
R. to confusion to bring." In Peele's Bethsabe
i. 2, Abisai says to Joab, "Before this city R. we will lie." The scene of ii.
3 is laid at R. Milton, P. L. i. 397, says of Moloch: "Him the Ammonite Worshipped
in Rabba and her watery plain."
RADCLIFF
See RATCLIFFE.
RADNOCKSHIRE
Looks like one of Lewis Carroll's "portmanteau" words made up of the names of
2 adjacent counties in S. Wales, Radnor and Brecknock. In T. Heywood's Royal
King i., the Welshman says, "If ever I shall meet you in Glamorgan or R. I
will make bold to requite some of your kindness."
RAGUSA
An ancient spt. on the E. coast of the Adriatic in S. Dalmatia. It has a good
harbour and was a centre of extensive trade, as well as of the manufacture of
silk and woollen goods and malmsey wine. Its importance as a trading port may
be gathered from the fact that "Argosy," meaning a merchant-vessel, is from Ragusea,
a ship of R. There is also a R. in Sicily 29 m. S.W. of Syracuse, which had considerable
silk manufactures. Which of the two is meant in the quotation below is hard to
say: probably the former. In Middleton's Quiet
Life i. 1, Lady Cressingham says she has sent patterns for her silks to the
factors "at Florence and R., where these stuffs are woven."
RAINBOW
A sign in Fleet St., Lond., belonging to what is now No. 15. At first it was a
printing house, but in 1657 James Farr opened a coffee house there, the second
of its kind in England. It survived the Gt. Fire, but was pulled down in 1860,
rebuilt, and reopened as the Rainbow Tavern. Glapthorne's Argalus
was "Printed by R. Bishop for Daniel Pakeman at the Rainebow near the Inner Temple
Gate. 1639."
RAM ALLEY
A narrow court on the S. side of Fleet St., Lond., opposite to Fetter Lane, now known as Hare Pl. It took its name from a house with the sign of the Star and R., originally belonging to the Knights Hospitallers, but turned into a brewery after being confiscated by Henry VIII. It was only some 7 ft. wide, and ran down to the footway from Serjeant's Inn to the Temple.
It claimed the right of sanctuary, and there was a backway from the Mitre Inn into the A. which afforded a way of escape from the law to the frequenters of that famous tavern. It was a place of evil reputation, inhabited chiefly by cooks, bawds, tobacco-sellers, and ale-house-keepers. The worst of its dens was the Maidenhead, near the Temple end of it.
In Ret. Pernass. i. 2, Judicio
says of John Marston: "He cuts, thrusts, and foins at whomsoever he meets And
strews about R. A. meditations Tut, what cares he for modest clue-couched terms?
Give him plain naked words stript from their shirts." One of the characters
in Jonson's Staple is Lickfinger,
"mine old host of R. A.," "old Lickfinger the cook," who is represented as having
some share in the catering for the Lord Mayor's banquet and utilizing his opportunity
by stealing 20 eggs. In Massinger's New Way ii. 2, Amble
says of Marrall, the attorney: "The knave thinks still he's at the cook's shop
in R. A., where the clerks divide and the elder is to choose." In Day's B.
Beggar iv., Canby says, "You shall see the amorous conceits and love-songs
betwixt Capt. Pod of Py-Corner and Mrs. Rump of R. A." Capt. Pod was a well-known
exhibitor of motions, or puppet-shows, and it may be presumed that Mrs. Rump
is equally historical. Hash, in Prognostication, says, "The fishwives shall
get their living by walking and crying because they slandered R. A. with such
a tragical infamy": probably they charged the cooks with selling flesh on Fridays
or in Lent. Barry's Ram centres
about the A. The rascally lawyer Throate "lies in R. A."; and in i. 3, he says,
"Though R. A. stinks with cooks and ale, Yet say, there's many a worthy lawyer's
chamber Buts upon R. A." In iii. 3, he says, "Are you mad? Come you to seek
a virgin in R. A. So near an Inn-of-Court, and amongst cooks, Ale-men, and laundresses?"
In Brome's Couple, Careless takes
sanctuary in R. A., but, having got hold of some money, he says (ii. 1), "I
need no more insconsing now in R.-A." In his Damoiselle
iv. 1, Bumpsey says, "I'll but step up into R. A. Sanctuary."
RAMATH-LECHI
(i.e. the HILL OF THE JAWBONE). The traditional site of the slaying of the Philistines by Samson with the jawbone of an ass (see Judges xv. 17). It was somewhere in the tribe of Judah, but its exact site is uncertain. In Milton, S. A. 145, the Chorus, referring to this story, says, "A thousand foreskins fell, the flower of Palestine, In R.-L., famous to this day." It is not improbable that the legend was suggested by the name of the place, which may have been derived from the shape of the hill.
RAMHEAD
The sign of a tavern (in Madrid?) in the play within the play in Middleton's Gipsy
iv. 3, where Sancho (as Hialdo) complains of his master: "He scores up the vintner's
name in the Ramhead, flirts his wife under the nose."
RAMNUS
See RHAMNUS.
RAMOTH
(more fully R.-GILEAD). An important city of Palestine lying in the tribe of Gad, E. of Jordan, and one of the Cities of Refuge. It has been variously identified with Remthen, on the upper course of the Yarmuk, near Edrei, 25 m. S.E. of the S. end of the Sea of Galilee, and with Gerash on the upper waters of the Jabbok, about 20 m. E. of the Jordan. Here Ahab was killed in battle against the Syrians, having been persuaded to go on the campaign by a "lying spirit "(see I Kings xxii. 20). Milton, P. R. i. 373, makes Satan say, "When to all his angels he proposed To draw the proud k. Ahab into fraud, That he might fall in R., they demurring, I undertook that office."
RAMYKINS
(RAMKINS). A fort near Flushing in the Isle of Walcheren. It was taken from the Spaniards in 1572 and assigned to Q. Elizabeth in 1585 as a cautionary town. Gascoigne, in Duke Bellum 102, says, "I was in rolling trench At Ramykins, where little shot was spent." This was at its capture in 1572.
RATCLIFFE
Originally a manor in the parish of Stepney on the N. bank of the Thames, between
Shadwell and Limehouse. It is inhabited chiefly by people engaged in various marine
industries. It gave its name to the old R. Highway, now known as St. George st.
Hentzner mentions it as "a considerable suburb." In T. Heywood's I.
K. M. B. 278, Dean Nowell says, "This Ave Gibson founded a free school at
R." The lady referred to was Avice Gibson, wife of Nicholas Gibson, grocer, and
her free-school and almshouses were almost the first buildings to be erected in
R. In Oldcastle iii. 2, Acton, in
a list of villages where the rebels are quartered, mentions, "Some nearer Thames,
R., Blackwall, and Bow." In Look about
v., Skink, pursued by the watch, says, "In the highway to R. stands a heater,"
i.e. a hot pursuer. In Day's B.
Beggar iii., Canby says, "We'll wheel about by Ratcliff and get to his lodging"
at Bethnall Green. In Jonson's Epicoene
iv. 1, Otter says, "Well go down to Ratcliff and have a course i' faith," i.e.
a bear-baiting. In his Alchemist iv. 4,
Face says, "I'll ship you both away to Ratcliff Where we will meet to-morrow."
In Davenant's Wits ii. 1, Palatine
says, "I told her her beloved velvet hood [must] be sold to some Dutch brewer
of R." In Launching, it is said, "The East India gates stand open wide to entertain
the needy and the poorLyme House speaks their liberality; Ratcliff cannot
complain nor Wapping weep nor Shadwell cry against their niggardliness."
Like all waterside places, R. had a bad reputation for the character of its
inhabitants. In News from Hell, it is mentioned along with Turnbull-st., Southwark,
Bankside, and Kent-st., as the abode of whores and thieves. In Webster's Cuckold
ii. 3, Compass says of the time of the birth of children: "It varies again by
the time you come at Wapping, Radcliff, Limehouse, and here with us at Blackwall:
our children come uncertainly, as the wind serves," i.e. because the
husbands are away on voyages and their wives misbehave in their absence. Gosson,
in School of Abuse, p. 37 (Arber), says of loose women: "They live a mile from
the city, like Venus' nuns in a cloister, at Newington, Ratliffe, Islington,
Hogsdon, or some such place."
RAVEN
A tavern in the High St. of Foy (Cornwall). In T. Heywood's Maid
of West A. iii. 2, Clem says to Roughman, "You lie at the Raven in the High
St."
RAVENNA
A city in N.E. Italy, 4 m. from the coast of the Adriatic, from which it is separated
by the famous pine-wood where Odoacer defeated Paulus. In the days of the Empire
it had a magnificent harbour, and was made by Augustus his chief naval station
on the Adriatic. Honorius made it the seat of his court in 402, and it remained
so till the fall of the Western Empire in 476. Odoacer resided there, and after
him Theodoric, during whose reign (493-526) it reached its acme of splendour.
A dozen Byzantine churches, built during this period, remain to attest its greatness.
Theodoric was buried in the Mausoleum, which still remains in perfect preservation
as the Rotunda of Sa. Maria. In 540 it was reunited to the Roman Empire and was
the seat of the court of the Exarchs for 200 years. After a long period of independence
it became, in 1509, part of the Papal States, and so continued till the unification
of Italy in 1859. Here Dante died and was buried. In Wilson's Swisser
i. 1, 68, the scene of which is Pavia, early in the 7th cent., the K. says, "Shall
the warlike Lombards now turn their backs to the Raveneans, a contemned people?"
The scene of Middleton's Witch
is laid in R. and its neighbourhood. In Cockayne's Trapolin
ii. 3, Horatio calls it "honest old R." Whetstone tells of a company of players,
"the comedians of R.," visiting England in 1582.
RAVENSPURGH
(otherwise RAVENSPURN, or RAVENSER). It was close to Spurn Head at the mouth of the Humber, near Kilnsea, but it was swept away by the encroachment of the ocean in the 16th cent. Here Bolingbroke landed on July 4th, 1399, ostensibly to claim his father's estates. Edward IV also landed here in 1471 to regain the throne from which he had been driven by Warwick.
In R2 ii. 1, 296, Northumberland
calls upon his fellow-conspirators: "Away with me in post to R." In ii. 2, 51,
Green brings word, "The banished Bolingbroke repeals himself And . . . is safe
arrived at R." ln ii. 3, 9, Northumberland thinks it will be "a weary way from
R. to Cotswold. . . . In Ross and Willoughby"; and in line 31 Percy informs
his father that Worcester "is gone to R. To offer service to the D. of Hereford."
In H4 A. i. 3, 248, Hotspur
recalls to Northumberland the time when the K. and he "came back from R." In
iii. 2, 95, the K. says to Prince Hal, "As thou art at this hour was Richd.
then When I from France set foot at R." In iv. 3, 77, Hotspur speaks of Bolingbroke's
arrival "Upon the naked shore of R." In H6
C. iv. 7, 8, K. Edward says, "What then remains, we being thus arrived From
R. haven before the gates of York But that we enter?"
RAYNES
See RENNES.
RAYNUM (RAINHAM)
Vill. in Kent, on the road from Rochester to Feversham, abt. 5 m. from the former.
In Feversham iii. 4, Michael instructs
the murderers of Arden: "You may front him well on R. Down"; and in iii. 6, as
they are riding from Rochester to Feversham, Michael makes an excuse to turn back,
and Arden says, "Get you back to Rochester, but see You overtake us ere we come
to R. Down."
READING
The county town of Berks., on the Kennet, just above its junction with the Thames,
39 m. W. of Lond., and 15 W. of Windsor. In M.
W. W. iv. 5, 80, Evans says, "There is 3 cozen-germans that has cozened all
the hosts of Readings, of Maidenhead, of Colebrook, of horses and money."
REALTO
See RIALTO.
RECANATI
A town in Italy on a commanding eminence near the coast of the Adriatic, 18 m.
S. of Ancona. In Cockayne's Trapolin
ii. 3, Horatio calls it "long Recanati, built Upon a steep hill's ridge."
RED BRAYES
A valley near the river on the S. side of Leith in Midlothian. In Sampson's Vow
i. 3, 20, Grey says, "Conduct these noble pledges from the red Brayes to Inskeith."
RED BULL [1]
The sign of a bookseller's shop in Lond. Nabbes' Unfort. Mother was "printed by J. O. for Daniel Frere and are to be sold at the sign of the Red Bull in Little Britain. 1640."
RED BULL [2]
One of the old Lond. Theatres, standing in Woodbridge St., off St. John St., in Clerkenwell. It was opened about 1605, and seems to have been, as the name would suggest, a converted inn-yard. Prynne, in Histrio-mastix, records its recent re-building in 1633. In New Book of Mistakes (1637), we have: "The R. B. in St. Johns St. who for the present (alack the while) is not suffered to carry the flag in the maintop," i.e. it was closed on account of the plague in 1636-7. A picture of a stage in the frontispiece to Kirkman's The Wits (1673) has been erroneously described as the stage of the R. B., and has often been reproduced as part of the evidence as to the arrangement of the Elizabethan stage. It shows a traverse hanging either from the balcony, or not more than a foot or two in front of its alignment, and a separate curtain to conceal the balcony itself when necessary. But the R. B. was an open-air theatre, and this picture cannot represent it. It was used for "drops" or variety entertainments during the Commonwealth, re-opened at the Restoration, but finally abandoned by the drama in 1663 and handed over to fencers, wrestlers, and the like. The site was later occupied by a distillery. Wright, in Historia Histrionica (1694), says, "The Fortune near Whitecross St., and the R. B. at the upper end of St. John's St. The two last were mostly frequented by citizens and the meaner sort of people." Later on he says, "The Globe, Fortune and B. were large houses and lay partly open to the weather; and there they always acted by daylight." In Davenant's Playhouse i., the Player says, "Tell 'em the R. B. Stands empty for fencers; there are no tenants in it but old spiders"; this was in 1663.
In B. & F. Wit S. W. ii. 2, Pompey,
telling of Sir Gregory Fop's new method of courtship, says: "He drew the device
from a play at the B., t'other day." In their Pestle
iv. 1, when the Citizen suggests as to Ralph, "Let the Sophy of Persia come
and christen him a child," the Boy answers, "Believe me, Sir, that will not
do so well; 'tis stale; it has been had before at the R. B." Probably the reference
is to The Travails, by Day, Rowley,
and Wilkins, which dates from 1607, the same year as Pestle. In Cooke's Greene's
Tu Quoque p. 558, Geraldine says, "We'll go to the R. B; they say Green's
a good clown," to which Bubble, the part being acted by Green himself, says,
"Green! Green's an ass," and adds, "He is as like me as ever he can look." In
Tomkis' Albumazar ii. 1, Trincalo
says, "Then will I confound her with compliments drawn from the plays I see
at the Fortune and R. B." In Randolph's Muses'
i. 1, Mrs. Flowerdew's Puritan brother is reported by her to have prayed that
"the B. might cross the Thames to the Bear-garden, and there be soundly baited."
In Cowley's Cutter [a.k.a. The Guardian]
iii. 7, Jolly says, "Tho' you shall rage like Tamerlain at the B., 'twould do
no good here." Dekker, in Raven's, says of the actors: "Fortune must favour
some . . . the whole world must stick to others . . . and a 3rd faction must
fight like Bulls" where the reference is to quarrels between the actors at the
Fortune, Globe, and R. B. Goffe, in Careless prol., says "I'll go to the B.
or Fortune and there see A play for twopence and a jig to boot." In verses prefixed
to Randolph's Works, Haz., p. 504, the writer speaks of the "base plots" acted
at the R. B. Gayton, in Pleasant Notes on Don Quixote, p. 24, says, "I have
heard that the poets of the Fortune and R. B. had always a mouth-measure for
their actors, who were terrible tear-throats, and made their lines proportionable
to their compass which were sesquipedales, a foot and a half." Pepys, in his
Diary, March 23rd, 1661, went "out to the R. B." and saw All's
Lost by Lust.
RED CROSS ST.
Lond., running N. from the front of St. Giles's, Cripplegate, to Barbican, opposite Golden Lane. It had its name from a cross which stood at its Barbican end. A Chronological Catalogue of the Electors Palatine was "printed by William Jones, dwelling in R.-C.-St. 1631."
RED LATTICE
It was the custom for taverns in Lond. to have a red lattice for a window. In
Gascoigne's Government iv. 6, he says, "There at a house with a r. 1. you shall
find an old bawd and a young damsel." In H4
B. ii. 2, 86, the Page says of Bardolph: "A 'calls me e'en now through a r.1.
and I could discern no part of his face from the window." In Marston's Ant.
Rev. v. 1, Balurdo boasts ironically, "I am not as well known by my wit as
an alehouse by a red lattice." When Greene, in News from Heaven and Hell, is represented
as speaking of "a pot of that liquor that I was wont to drink with my hostess
at the R. Lattise in Tormoyle St.," he uses the word generically for a tavern,
not specifically as the sign of one particular hostelry. In Curates Conference
(1641), Needham complains that in Lond. parish clerks "can have their meetings
usually in taverns of 3 or 4 pounds a sitting, when poor curates must not look
into a r. 1. under fear of a general censure."
RED LION [1]
A common public-house sign, derived no doubt from the R. L. rampant of Scotland,
to be seen in the 2nd quarter of the British Royal Standard. R. L. St, in Holborn,
was so-called from the R. L. Inn, and in the wall of the building which now occupies
its site a tablet is set in with the date 1611. Here were brought the bodies of
Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw in 1661 before they were dragged to Tyburn. In
Middleton's No Wit ii. 1, Weatherwise
says, "She was brought a-bed at the R. L. about Tower Hill." In News Barthol.
Fair, in a list of taverns, we have "R. L. in the Strand." In Jonson's Tub
ii. 1, Hilts says, "Find out my Capt. lodged at the R. L. in Paddington; that's
the inn." This inn is still to be found at the corner of the Edgeware and Harrow
Rds.; there is a tradition that Shakespeare once acted there.
RED LION [2]
An inn at Waltham, also an inn at Brentford. In B. & F. Pestle
ii. 1, Humphrey is riding a sorrel "which I bought of Brian, The honest host of
the R. roaring L. In Waltham situate:' There was a R. L. at Brentford mentioned
in Julian of Brainford's Testament as being "at the shambles' end."
RED LION [3]
[addendum to Sugden]. There was a Red Lion in Middlesex, parish of St. Mary Matfellon, Whitechapelbeyond Aldgate and near the Mile End mustering grounds. It was likely a farmhouse that had been converted into an Inn. In 1567 John Brayne (James Burbage's brother-in-law and partner in the Theatre venture of 1576) contracted for and had built a playhouse behind the main building. It therefore has some claim to being the first purpose built playhouse in England. An allusion exists to one play (dealing with Samson) having been played at the Red Lion, yet the playhouse may have existed no more than a season or two.
REDRIFF
See ROTHERHITHE.
RED SEA
The Latin Mare Rubrum or Erythraeum, so called, it may be, from the red tinge of the mtns. of the Sinaitic peninsula, which are so striking a feature to the voyager down the gulf of Suez; or from the red coral which abounds on its shores. The Hebrews called it Yam Suph, or Sea of Weeds, from its character at the head of the gulf of Suez, where they knew it best. It runs between Egypt and Arabia, for about 1200 m., from the straits of Babelmandeb to the Sinaitic peninsula; there it divides into the Gulfs of Suez and Akaba. At the head of the former it is connected with the Mediterranean by the Suez Canal. Once it extended further N. to Lake Timseh, where it was crossed by the Hebrews on their exodus from Egypt. The only way into it from England was round the Cape of Good Hope; the Portuguese visited it from their settlements on the coast of India, but it was of little commercial importance, until the digging of the Suez Canal made it our highway to the East.
In Bale's Promises iv., Moses
says, "Through the R. S. thy right hand did us lead." In York M. P. xi. 375
a boy says, "The Rede S. is right near at hand," and Moses promises "I shall
make us way with my wand." In the corresponding passage in the Townley M. P.
it is called "The Reede S." In Jonson's Prince Henry's Barriers, Merlin speaks
of Israel's host marching "through the R.-S. . . . to the Egyptians' loss."
In Marlowe's Tamb. B. v. 3, Tamburlaine
says, "Here, not far from Alexandria, Whereas the Terrene and the R. S. meet,
Being distant less than full a hundred leagues, I meant to cut a channel to
them both, That men might quickly sail to India." The Venetians had formed such
a project soon after Vasco da Gama doubled the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, but
it was opposed by the Mameluke Sultans and came to nothing. In Middleton's Quiet
Life, i. 1. Beaufort says to young Franklin, "I had thought to prefer you
to have been capt. of a ship that's bound for the R. S." It was a stock joke
to associate the red herring and the boiled lobster with the R. S. Nash, in
Lenten, p. 326, tells of someone who "showed a country fellow the R. S. where
all the red herrings were made." In Massinger's Picture
iii. 1, Hilario, throwing away his poor provision in hope of speedy advancement,
says "Thou, red herring, swim to the R. S. again." In B. & F. Elder
B. ii. 3, Andrew proposes to dispute "which are the males and females of
red herrings, and whether they be taken in the R. S. only." In Brome's Academy
iv. 1, Nehemiah says, "One asking whence lobsters were brought, his fellow replied,
one might easily know their country by their coat; they are fetched from the
R. S."
REDSHANKS
A nick-name for a bare-legged and therefore red-legged Scotchman or Irishman.
In Hughes' Misfort. Arth. iii. 1,
Arthur describes Modred's army as made up of "sluggish Saxons' crew and Irish
kerns And Scottish aid and false red-shanked Picts." In Barry's Ram
ii. 4, Frances says "I will rather wed A most perfidious R." Heylyn (s.v.
HEBRIDES) says, "The people resemble the Wild Irish and are called Red-shankes."
Burton A. M. iii. 2, 5, 1, tells how "the Brahmins . . . lay upon the ground .
. . as the r. do on the heather." It is also applied to the Gauls. In King
Leir, Haz. p. 378, Mumford says, "Ye valiant race of Genovestan Gawles, Surnamed
R. for your chivalry, Because you fight up to the shanks in blood." But this is
not the real reason of the name. Nash, in Lenten, p. 312, gives a still more absurd
derivation: "The Scotch jockies or R. (so sir-named of their immoderate maunching
up the R. or red-herrings)."
REESHOPSCURRE
Apparently some port on the coast of the Baltic, probably Rixhöft, the W. extremity
of the Gulf of Dantzig. The scene of Chettle's Hoffman
is laid near Dantzig. In C2, Lorrèque says, "We were cast ashore under R."
REGENT HOUSE
The house where the Regents met in the University of Oxford; the Congregation
House. The Regents included all Doctors and Masters of Arts for 2 years after
their Degrees; and all Professors, Heads of Houses, and Resident Doctors. The
original Congregation-House was at the E. end of St. Mary's Ch., and was primarily
a royal chapel, built probably by Henry I; but as early as 1201 it is called "our
house of Congregation." In Greene's Friar,
scene vii. is laid in the R. H. at Oxford. Mason begins: "Now that we are gathered
in the R. H. It fits us talk about the K.'s repairs."
RENNES
A city in France, abt. 200 m. S.W. of Paris, 60 m. due N. of Nantes. It was famous
for its fine linen, which was known as R. or Cloth of R. In Skelton's Magnificence,
fo. xxiii., Poverty reminds Magnificence how his skin "was wrapped in shirts of
Raynes." Chaucer, in Dethe of Blaunche 255, speaks of "Many a pelowe and every
bere of clothe of reynes." Tindale's translation of Luke xvi. 19 describes the
rich man as "Clothed in purple and fine raynes."
RENNISH
See RHINE.
RETFORD
A town in Notts. on the right bank of the Idle, on the Great North Rd. from Lond.,
from which it is distant 141 m. In Downfall
Huntington v. 1, the Gaoler says, "Here is meat that I put up at Retford for
my dog."
RHAMNUS
(Ra. = Rhamnusia), now OVRIO-KASTRO. A town on the E. coast of Attica, abt. 8
m. N. of Marathon. It was the chief seat of the worship of Nemesis, whose temple
contained a colossal statue of the goddess, said to be the work of Phidias; she
is often called Rhamnusia. The remains of the statue are in the British Museum.
Watson, in Tears of Fancie (1593) xlii. 1, appeals: "O thou that rulest in Ramnis
golden gate, Let pity pierce thy unrelenting mind." In Marlowe's Tamb.
A. ii. 3, Cosroe says, "She that rules in R. golden gates Shall make me solely
Emperor of Asia." In Peele's Arraignment
iii. 2, Diggon says, "Yet will Ra. vengeance take On her disdainful fault." In
his Alcazar ii. prol., the Presenter
says that the Furies start up "Waked with the thunder of Ra.'s drum." In Locrine
ii. 1, Hubba says, "If she that rules fair Rhamnis golden gate Grant us the honour
of the victory . . . we will rule the land." In Selimus
608, Nemesis is called "Chief patroness of R. golden gates." In Locrine
ii. 6, 2, Humber speaks of "Thundering alarms and Ra.'s drum." Marston begins
his Scourge of Villanie, "I bear the scourge of just Ra." In Mason's Mulleasses
1258, the Ghost of Timoclea says she is "Ra.-like attired," i.e. is bent
on vengeance. In the old Timon i. 4, Gelasius talks of his house "in R. street"; this is a well-invented name for
a street in Athens, but as far as I can ascertain, quite imaginary.
RHEIMS, or RHEMES
The ancient Durocortorum, a city in France, on the Vesle, 81 m. N.E. of Paris. It was the see of a Bp. from 360, and was raised to an Archbpric. in 744. Clovis was baptized here by St. Remi in 494; and the Kings of France were here crowned down to the Revolution of 1830, with the exception of Henri IV and Louis XVIII. The glory of the city is the cathedral, built in 1211 on the site of an older church; the magnificent facade was erected in the 14th cent., and is one of the finest examples of Gothic in the world. It suffered severely from fire in 1481, but was carefully restored. From 1914 to 1918 it was battered to pieces by the Germans. Schools for the teaching of the liberal arts were founded by Archbp. Adalberon in the 10th cent., which, though not actually a University, held almost University rank. In 1420 it was ceded to the English by the Treaty of Troyes, but they were expelled by Joan of Arc, who caused Charles VII to be crowned there in 1429. Its chief manufactures are wine of the champagne kind, and woollen textiles. The English Roman Catholic Seminary, founded at Douai in 1568, was temporarily transferred to R. from 1578 to 1593; and so the Roman Catholic version of the New Testament in English, published here in 1582, is known as the R. New Testament.
In H6 A. i. 1, 60, word is
brought to Bedford that "Guienne, Champagne, R., Orleans, are all quite lost";
and in line 92 it is further announced "The Dauphin Charles is crowned K. in
R." In Greene's Friar iv., the Emperor
tells how Vandermast has disputed with the scholars of "Paris, R., and stately
Orleans "; and in ix. Vandermast boasts, "I have given non-plus to the Paduans,
to them of R., Louvain, and fair Rotterdam." In Shrew
ii. 1, 81, Gremio describes Lucentio as a "young scholar that hath been long
studying at R." In Marlowe's Massacre
p. 242, K. Henri says of the D. of Guise: "Did he not draw a sort of English
priests From Douay to the seminary at R. To hatch forth treason 'gainst their
natural Q.?" In Chapman's Rev. Bussy
v. 1, Guise tells of a voice he heard crying: "Let's lead, my lord, to R." Dekker,
in Double P. P. (1606), says of the Papist passant gardant, or the Spy, "To
Rhemes or Rome sails his intelligence." In Ret.
Pernass i. 4, Studio speaks of "Rome and Rhemes that wonted are to give
A Cardinal cap to discontented clerks." Hall, Epp. 1, says that the English
Universities "may justly challenge either Rhemes or Douay" In Barnes' Charter
v. 1, Baglioni has "A Valentia blade, powder of Rhemes, and bullets"; where
powder of Rhemes is evidently gunpowder.
RHEINBERCH
(= RHEINBERG). A fortified town on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite Duisberg.
It was taken by the Spaniards in 1597, recaptured by Count Maurice in 1601, and
again retaken by the Spaniards in 1606. In Barnavelt
iv. 5, Orange asks, "Who hindered me from rescuing of R. In the last siege?"
RHINE, RHEIN, or RHENE
(Rh.= Rhenish, Re.= Rhene). One of the largest rivers in Europe, about 800 m. long. It rises in the St. Gothard Mtns., only a few miles from the source of the Rhône, and after flowing N.E. as far as the Lake of Constance, turns westward and then northward at Basel, from which point it is navigable throughout the rest of its course. It passes successively Spires, Mannheim, Mainz; Coblenz, Bonn, Cologne, Dusseldorf, and Wesel; after entering Holland it divides into several streams, the most noteworthy being the Waal, the Yssel, and the Lek.
For 2 cents. it formed the boundary between the Roman Empire and the Teutonic tribes to the E.; and the ambition of France has been, and is [in 1925], to make the Rhine the boundary between herself and Germanyan ambition realized under the first Republic and Napoleon. She was reduced within her old boundaries in 1814, and Alsace and Lorraine were taken from her by Germany in 1871; they passed back to France, however, in 1919. The provinces N. of Bingen are known as the Rh. Provinces, and the lower Palatinate is often called the Palatinate of the R. The white wines of the dist. between Mainz and Bonn are famous throughout the world, though the Elizabethans regarded them as inferior to the clarets of Bordeaux.
In Caesar's Rev. i. 3, Anthony
says, "Caesar made . . . the changed-coloured Re. to blush To bear his bloody
burthen to the sea." In Fisher's Fuimus
ii. 1, Nennius says, "R. and Rhone can serve, And envy Thames his never-captive
stream." In iv. 4, Caesar says, "In vain doth Tagus' yellow sand obey, R.'s
horned front and nimble Tigris, If we recoil from hence" (i.e. Britain).
The Greek and Roman artists frequently represented the figures of river gods
with horns. In Nero iv. 4, Nimphidius
says, "If we have any war, it's beyond R. and Euphrates." In May's Agrippina
i. 357, Agrippina says, "That German colony, Which I of late deducted o'er the
R. To Ubium, for evermore the name Of Agrippina's Colony shall bear"; the reference
is to Cologne, or Colonia Agrippinae. In W. Rowley's Shoemaker
i. 1, 205, Dioclesian, anticipating history by more than a century, says, "The
Gothes and Vandalls have out past the bounds And o'er the R. past into Burgundy."
In Costly Wh. i. 2, the D. says,
"Could not this palace, seated in the R., Free him from vermin rats?" The reference
is to the story of Bp. Hatto of Mainz, who was devoured by rats in his castle
on a little island in the R., opposite Bingen. In Marlowe's Faustus
i., Faust says, "I'll make swift R. circle fair Wittenberg." Wittenberg is on
the Elbe, 200 m. from the R. Swift is the wrong adjective for the R. in the
lower part of its course; though we read in Alphonsus
iv. of "the cold, swift-running Rhyn." The R. is often spoken of as cold or
frozen; in imitation of the Latin poets, who, thinking of the rigours of a Batavian
winter, called the R. gelidus. In Greene's Orlando
i. 1, 66, Mandrecarde says, "I furrowed Neptune's seas Northeast as far as is
the frozen Re." In B. & F. Shepherdess
i. 3, Alexis talks of "the wind that, as he passeth by, Shuts up the stream
of R. or Volga," i.e. by freezing them. In Peele's Old
Wives v. p. 212, Eumenides says, "For thy sweet sake I have crossed the
frozen R." Spencer, in the river list in F. Q. iv. 11, 21, calls it "swift Re."
Milton P. L. i. 353, compares the host of the fallen angels to the tribes of
Goths and Vandals, whom "the populous North Poured from her frozen loins to
pass Re. or the Danaw." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 3, Justiniano says, "Come, drink up R., Thames, and Meander dry." In Marston's
Insatiate v. 1, Sago speaks of
"Rhenus ferier [sic] than the cataract." Possibly ferier is a misprint for fiercer;
Marston may have been thinking of the falls of Schaffhausen. Drayton, in Idea
xxv. 3, says that but for foreigners' prejudice, his lines should "glide on
the waves of R.," which he rhymes to "restrain." In Costly
Wh. the Palatine of the R. is one of the suitors for the hand of Euphrata.
The Palsgrave (i.e. Count Palatine) of the R. appears as one of the 7
Electors in Chapman's Alphonsus.
In i. 2, 18 he introduces himself as "George Casimirus, Palsgrave of the Rhein."
This is wrong; the Count Palatine on this occasion was Ludwig II. See also under
PALATINE.
The wine from the R. provinces was called Rh.. generally spelt Rennish, or
Reinish, with many variants: In Merch.
i. 2, 104, Portia says of her German suitor, "Set a deep glass of Reinish wine
on the contrary casket, I know he will choose it." In iii. 1, 44, Salarino,
speaking to Shylock about Jessica, says: "There is more difference between your
bloods than there is between red wine and rennish"; Rh. wine being white. In
Ham. i. 4, 10, Hamlet talks of
the K. draining "his draughts of Renish down." In v. 1. 197, the 1st gravedigger
tells how Yorick "poured a flagon of Renish on my head once." In Middleton's
Michaelmas iii. 1, Shortyard says, "This
Rh. wine is like the scouring stick to a gun, it makes the barrel clear." So
in Quip, p. 241, Greene says of poor beer: "It scours a man's maw like Remvsh
wine." In Prodigal i. 2, the Drawer
says, "Here is one hath sent you a Pottle of rennish wine, brewed with rosewater."
In Wilkins' Enforced Marriage iii.
1, the Drawer brings Ilford "the pure element of claret," and he exclaims: "Did
I not call for Rh., you mongrel?"
The Stillyard seems to have been specially famous for its Rh. Nash, in Pierce
F. 1, says, "Men when they are idle and know not what to do, saith one, Let
us go to the Stillyard and drink Rh. Wine." Nabbes, in The
Bride ii. 6, asks, "Who would let a cit breathe upon her varnish for the
promise of a dry rent's tongue and a bottle of Rh. at the Stillyard?" In Ford's
Queen iii. 1770, Pynto says, "The
good man was made drunk at the Stillyard at a beaver of Dutch bread and Rh.
wine." In Underwit iv. 1, a song
runs: "The Stillyard's Reanish wine and Divell's white, Who doth not in them
sometimes take delight?" In Brome's Moor
iv. 2, Quicksands says he saw his wife "at the Stillyard with such a gallant,
sousing their dried tongues in Rhemish [sic], Deal, and Backrag." Some take
Rhemish to mean wine of Rheims, but there is little doubt that it is a misprint
for Rh. In Nash's Prognostication, he predicts: "If the sun were not placed
in a cold sign, Renish wine would rise to 10d. a quart before the latter
end of August." In Nabbes' Bride
i. 4, Rhenish, the Drawer, says that he has "Rh., the Swan hath none better."
In Dekker's News from Hell, Charon sends in a bill for nails to mend his wherry,
"when 2 Dutchmen coming drunk from the Rennish wine house split 3 of the boards
with their club-fists." In Cartwright's Ordinary
ii. 1, Slicer mentions "Rh. that hath brimstone in it" as a remedy for the itch.
In Larum B. 1, Danila says of the
citizens of Antwerp that he will "beat their Rennish cans about their ears."
Drayton, in Polyolb. xv. 109, calls the river "the rich and viny R."
RHOANE
See ROUEN.
RHODANUS
See RHONE.
RHODES
(Rn. = Rhodian). An island off the S.W. corner of Asia Minor, 10 m. from the nearest point of the mainland, abt. 45 m. long, and 22 broad at its widest part. It was taken possession of by Dorians from the Peloponnesus, who built the 3 cities of Lindus, Ialysus, and Camirus. In 408 B.C., however, the 3 cities combined to build a new capital at the N.E. corner of the island, designed by Hippodamus of Miletus, and called R., which rapidly became one of the most splendid cities of the ancient world. The Rns. alternated in their allegiance between Athens and Sparta; but like the rest of Greece, they were unable to resist the power of Philip of Macedon, and received a Macedonian garrison. After the death of Alexander they expelled it, and in 304 successfully resisted a formidable siege by Demetrius Poliorcetes. Henceforward they enjoyed their independence and entered on the most glorious period of their history. Aeschines founded a school of Rhetoric which attracted students from all the world; Julius Caesar spent some time there in 75 B.C.
The city was adorned with statues, the most famous being the Colossus, a huge brazen image of Helios, erected at the entrance to the harbour in 280 B.C., though the legend that it bestrode it cannot be believed. It is said to have been upwards of 150 ft. high; but it was overthrown in an earthquake in 224 B.C., and its fragments lay there until A.D. 672, when they were sold to a Jew by the Caliph Maowias and carried away by 800 camels.
After at first siding with Pompeius, R. transferred its allegiance to Caesar and was sacked in revenge by Cassius in 42 B.C. It became part of the Eastern Empire, and in A.D. 1308 was granted by the Emperor Emmanuel to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem on their expulsion from Palestine. They took possession of it and resisted a siege by Othman, and strongly fortified the city. Mohammed II besieged it in 1480, but it made a stubborn resistance, and his death in 1481 saved it from capture. Selim I was preparing to attack it when he died, but his plans were carried out by Suleyman, who took the island in 1522 after one of the most famous sieges in history. The knights were allowed to depart on honourable terms, and after a few years found a new home at Malta. From that time R. was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1919, when it passed to Italy. The Street of the Knights still remains, adorned with the armorial bearings of its former masters; but the ch. of St. John has been turned into a mosque, and the palace of the Grand-master has fallen into ruins.
In Caesar's Rev. iii. 2, Carat
boasts: "Rhodans' shrill Tritons through their brazen trumps Echo my fame against
the Gallian towers." In v. 1, Cassius calls R. "my nurse when in my youth I
drew The flowing milk of Greekish eloquence." He had studied Rhetoric there.
When he says "Fair R., I weep to think upon thy fall," referring to his own
pitiless sack of the city, one is reminded of the Kaiser Wilhelm whose heart
bled for Louvain in 1914. In Jonson's Sejanus
iv. 3, Latiaris says of Sejanus: "He does all, gives Caesar leave To hide his
ulcerous and anointed face, With his bald crown, at R." Tiberius had spent 7
years in R. from 5 B.C. to A.D. 2; and visited it again about A.D. 28. In Tiberius
558, Germanicus says of Tiberius "R. [saw] him banished." In Ford's Sun iii.
3, Humour calls the Colossus, "That Rn. wonder, gazed at by the sun." In T.
Heywood's Dialogues iii., Earth asks, "Where's the hundred-gated town called
Thebes? Where's the Colosse of R.?" See also under COLOSSUS. R. was visited
by pilgrims during its tenure by the Knights of St. John. Hycke,
p.88, says, "I have been at R., Constantyne, and In Babylonde." The Palmer in
J. Heywood's Four PP. i., says,
"Then at the Rodes also I was." In Selimus
1928 Corcut says, "I fled fast to Smyrna where we might await the arrival of
some ship that might transfreight us safely to R."
In Kyd's Solyman i. 1, reference
is made in the prologue to "the history of brave Erastus and his Rn. dame."
In i., Haler says to Soliman, "I hold it not good policy to call Your forces
home from Persia and Polonia. Strive not for R. by letting Persia slip." This
was just before the siege of 1522. In v. Basilisco says, "The Great Turk, whose
seat is Constantinople, hath beleaguered R." In Span.
Trag. v 1, Hieronimo says, "The Chronicles of Spain Record this written
of a Knight of R.; He was betrothed and wedded at the length To one Perseda,
an Italian dame, Whose beauty ravished all that her beheld, Especially the soul
of Solyman." Davenant has 2 plays on The
Siege of Rhodes, i.e. the siege of 1522. In S. Rowley's When
You D. i., Campeus announces the demand of the Pope that Henry "Would send
an army to assail the Turk That now invades with war the isle of R." This was
in 1518; but nothing came of it. In Dekker's Wonder
iii. 1, Torrenti's brother tells "Myself did freight a fleet Of gallant youthful
Florentines, all vowed To rescue R. from Turkish slavery." In Marlowe's Jew
ii. 2, Bosco says, "When their hideous force environed R., Small though the
number was that kept the town, They fought it out and not a man survived To
bring the hapless news to Christendom." This is not the truth; the knights were
granted liberal terms and went first to Crete and afterwards to Malta. In Massinger's
Renegado ii. 5, Grimaldi says,
"The bold Maltese at R. Laughed at great Solyman's anger; and if treason Had
not delivered them into his power, He had grown old in glory as in years At
that so fatal siege." Latimer Sermon on Card i. (1529), compares man to R. and
his sins to the Turks, and says, "Alas for pity! The R. are won and overcome,
by these false Turks." In B. & F. Malta
i. 3, Gomera is appointed "Great Master of Jerusalem's hospital, From whence
to R. this blest fraternity Was driven, but now amongst the Maltese stands."
In Webster's White Devil iv.
2, Lodovico, describing the knights of the several orders, says: "That lord
i' the black cloak with the silver cross is Knight of R." The black robe with
the 8-pointed silver cross, afterwards known as the Maltese Cross, was the official
attire of the Knights of St. John.
In Oth., the action of which
is about 1570, in i. 1, 29, Iago says that Othello's eyes had seen the proof
of him "At R., at Cyprus, and on other grounds." In i. 3, 14, the Sailor reports
"The Turkish preparation makes for R. "; but the D. questions this; and a further
messenger announces "The Ottomites, Steering with due course towards the isle
of R., Have there injointed them with an after fleet" and are now making for
Cyprus. R. was at this time in the possession of the Turks. In Middleton's Gipsy
ii. 2, Pedro reports that Alvarez, after killing the father of Louis de Castro,
"retired himself to R.," where, of course, he would be safe from pursuit from
Spain. In Middleton's Chess v.
3, the Black Knight, in a list of fish valued for the table by the Romans, mentions
"helops from R." The helops was some kind of sea-fish, possibly the swordfish,
or the sturgeon. In Nabbes' Hannibal
i. 1, Maharball, speaking of the Carthaginians at Capua, says: "Here we are
feasted With Chalcedonian tunny, Rn. guilt-heads"; probably the same fish is
meant. Lyly, in Euphues Anat. Wit, p. 101, gives 2 statements about the natural
history of R., viz., "The Persian trees in R. do only wax green but never bring
forth apple" (see Pliny Hist. Nat. xvi. 47), and "In R. no eagle will build
her nest." (Ibid. x. 41.) The scene of B. & F. Maid's
Trag. is laid at R.
RHODES, RODA
A town in Saxe-Altenburg, abt. 10 m. S.E. of Jena, and 140 S.W. of Berlin. According
to the Faustbuch, it was the birthplace of Faust; and this story is followed by
Marlowe, In Faustus Prol., where the Chorus
says, "Now is he born . . . In Germany, within a town called Rhodes."
RHODOPE
A mtn. chain forming the boundary between Thrace and Macedonia, now the Despoto
Dagh. In Caesar's Rev. i. 4, Cato
asks, "Why would Jove throw them (his thunderbolts] down on Oeta's Mt. Or wound
the under ringing R." and not hurl them at the Romans? In Peele's Anglorum Feriae
290, he says that the radiant beams of Elizabeth "have power to set on fire The
icy ridge of snowy R." Spenser F. Q. ii. 12, 52, says that the Sower of Bliss
was "More sweet and wholesome than the pleasant hill Of R., on which the nymph
that bore A giant babe herself for grief did kill." The legend was that R. bore
a giant babe, Athos, to Neptune. Milton P. L. vii. 35, speaks of "that wild rout
that tore the Thracian bard in R." The reference is to the murder of Orpheus by
the Thracian Maenads. Barnes, in Parthenophil lxxv. 9, inveighing against the
cruelty of Cupid, says that his father was "Ismarus or R."
RHÔNE
(the ancient RHODANUS). A river in S. Europe, rising in Mt. St. Gothard, and flowing
through the Lake of Geneva. At Lyons it receives the waters of the Saône, and
thence runs S. into the Gulf of Lyons. Its total length is 375 m. The lands of
the Sequani, Helvetii, Allobroges, and other tribes conquered by Caesar lay along
its banks. In Fisher's Fuimus ii.
1, Nennius says, "Rhine and Rhône can serve And envy Thames his never-captive
stream." Spencer, in the river-list in F. Q. iv. 11, 20, mentions "Long Rhodanus,
whose source springs from the sky."
RHONE
A variant for Roanne, on the Upper Loire the passage of which it commands. In
Chapman's Trag. Byron v. 1, the
K. of Spain asks that "he may have safe passage by your frontier towns And find
the river free that runs by Rhone." The K. of Spain demanded a passage for his
troops "from the Alps"i.e. the Savoy Alpsto his territories
in Flanders. Roanne lies on the way between the Savoy Alps and Burgundy, where
(as in Bresse) Spain is mentioned in this passage as having partisans.
RIALTO
(contracted from RIVO ALTO). The largest of the 117 islands upon which Venice
is built. It was the place of the earliest settlement, and continued to be the
centre of trade. It lies in the N. bend of the Grand Canal, on the W. side. The
Ponte di R., originally of wood, but replaced in 1588 by the present stone structure,
connects it with the E. bank of the Canal. The Exchange was held in the Piazza
of San Jacopo in the porches opposite to the Church. Coryat describes it as "a
most stately building where the Venetian gentlemen and the merchants do meet twice
a day, betwixt 11 and 12 of the clock in the morning, and betwixt 5 and 6 of the
clock in the afternoon." In Merch.
Shylock hears "upon the R." (i. 3, 20) of Antonio's ventures by sea; in i. 3,
108, he reproaches Antonio "Many a time and oft In the R. have you rated me About
my moneys and my usances." "What news on the R.?" is the question both of Shylock
i. 3, 39, and of Salanio iii. 1, 1; and in iii. 1, 48, Shylock calls Antonio "a
bankrupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the R." In T. Heywood's
Prentices, p. 79, the Clown says
of one of the Banditti: "This fellow fled from Venice, for killing a man cowardly
on the R." In Jonson's Volpone iii.
2, Mosca tells Lady Politick that her husband and the courtesan have rowed together
"toward the R." In Webster's White
Devil iii. 1, Monticelso says, "I make but repetition of what is ordinary
and R. talk." In Chapman's All Fools
v. 2, Valero says that Dariotto can tell the exact price of all the new-fashioned
waist coats, nightcaps, gloves, etc., "in the whole R." Chapman was thinking of
the Lond. Exchange, where there was a large number of milliners' shops in the
arcades. In Marston's What You i.
1, Iacomo says, "Therefore should you have him pass the bridge Up the R. like
a soldier." In T. Heywood's I. K. M.
B. egg, one of the Lords says, "I have been in Venice in the Realto there,
called St. Mark's," a natural enough confusion. In Brome's Novella
i. 2, Nanulo says, "Signior Pantaloni intreats you meet him on the R. instantly."
In Shirley's Gent. Ven. ii. 1, Malipiero
talks of "notaries which now stuff the R." In his Ball
v. 1, Freshwater, in the very apocryphal account of his travels, says: "The Venetians
are the valiantest gentlemen under the sun; we tickled 'em in the very R." In
Marmion's Antiquary i. 2, Gasparo
says, "As I followed my son From the R., near unto the bridge, We were encountered
by a sort of gallants." The word is used in a generalized sense for any similar
place to the R. at Venice. In Andromana, the scene of which is Iberia, in i. 5,
Libacer says of his master: "As he was taking water at the R., his foot slipped
a little and he came tumbling in the sea." W. Rowley in Search 22, speaks of the
Lond. Royal Exchange as "the R."
RICHARD, SAINT
This may have been Richd. Fitznige, Bp. of Lond. in the reign of Henry II, whose
shrine was in St. Paul's Cathedral; but there was also a Richd., son of Lothar,
K. of Kent, who died at Lucca, where miracles were wrought at his shrine; and
another of Chicester. In J. Heywood's Four
PP. i., the Palmer claims to have been "at Saynt Rycharde and at Saynt Roke."
RICHMOND [1]
A town in N. Riding Yorks., on the Swale, 44 m. N.W. of York. The castle, still
a noble ruin, crowns a steep cliff rising 100 ft. above the river. Alan Rufus,
Count of Bretagne, came over with William the Conqueror, and was by him made Earl
of R. The castle was built by him, but the Norman keep, still in a good state
of preservation, was the work of Conan, the 4th Earl. The Earldom was forfeited
in 1390. According to Grafton, Robert of Artois was created Earl of R. by Edward
III; but there is no documentary proof of this. Edmund Tudor received the title
in 1452; and from him it passed to his son Henry, afterwards Henry VII, on whose
accession it merged in the Crown. The present D. of R. and Gordon is descended
from Charles Lennox, the natural son of Charles II, who was created D. in 1675.
In K. J. ii. 1, 552, K. John says,
"We'll create young Arthur D. of Bretagne And Earl of R." This was never done.
So in Trouble. Reign, Haz., p.
250, John says to Arthur, "Here I give thee Brittaine for thine own Together with
the earldom of Richmont." As both were already Arthur's by descent, this was not
exactly a generous gift. In Ed. III
i. 1, the K. says to Robert of Artois, "We create thee Earl of R. here." In H6
C. iv. 6, 67, K. Henry lays his hand on the head of "young Henry Earl of R."
and predicts that he will be K. one day. He is forthwith sent to Brittany for
safety. Henry VII is mentioned as R. throughout Acts iv. and v. of R3.
In R3 i. 3, 20, The Q. says to Derby:
"The Countess R., good my Lord of Derby To your good prayers will scarcely say
Amen." The Countess, Henry VII's mother, married Stanley, Earl of Derby, on the
death of her husband, Edmund Tudor.
In Davenport's Matilda i. 1,
Oxford speaks of "R., imperious Leister, and old Bruce" as amongst the rebellious
Barons. This was Ranulph Blundevil, who claimed the title as the husband of
Constance, the daughter of Conan, the 4th Earl. Nash, in Summers, p. 35, "I
would have a barber who would whet his razor on his R. cap." R. was a mart for
the Yorkshire wool, and remained a seat of the hand-knitted stocking manufacture
until the Industrial Revolution.
RICHMOND [2]
A town in Surrey, on the S. bank of the Thames, 10 m. from Lond. It was originally
called Sheen, and was the seat of a royal palace as far back as the reign of Henry
I. In 1499 the palace was burnt down; Henry VII rebuilt it, and called it R. from
his own title, Earl of R. Here both he and Elizabeth died. The palace was partially
demolished during the Commonwealth, and the rest of it was pulled down in the
18th cent. The view from R. Hill is justly famous. In Armin's Moreclacke
B. 4, a Messenger announces: "The Court goes from R. to Whitehall." In Middleton's
Tennis, the characters in the Introduction are R., St. James's, and Denmark House.
Herrick, in Tears to Thamesis (1647), recalls his excursions on the Thames "With
soft smooth virgins for our chaste disport, To R., Kingston, and to Hampton Court."
RIDYBONE, REDBOURN
A vill. in Herts., 4 m. N.W. of St. Alban's, on the N.W. road. Here were preserved
the relics of a fabulous saint, Amphiball, said to have been the means of St.
Alban's conversion; but his shadowy existence is due to a mistranslation of amphibolus
in the legend of St. Alban; it really means nothing but a cloak! In J. Heywood's
Four PP. i., the Palmer claims to
have been "at Ridybone and at the blood of Hayles."
RIE
See RYE.
RIMINI
A town in Italy on the coast of the Adriatic, 60 m. N.W. of Ancona. It is the
ancient Ariminum. It has a fine cathedral dating from the 14th cent., and a noble
marble bridge built by the Emperor Augustus. In Cockayne's Trapolin
ii. 3, Horatio calls it "good Rimini."
RIO DE LA PLATA
The estuary of the rivers Parana and Uruguay, on the E. coast of S. America, between
Uruguay and the Argentine. In Mayne's Match
iii. 2, Quartfield says of the alleged strange fish they are exhibiting: "We took
him strangely in the Indies, near the mouth of Rio de la Plata."
RIPHAEAN MOUNTAINS
(more properly RIPAEAN). A fabulous range of mtns. conceived by the Greeks as forming the N. boundary of the world and being wrapped in perpetual spews. In Ford's Sun v. 1, Winter says, "At your beams the waggoner might thaw His chariot axled with R. snow." In Spenser F.Q. iii. 8, 6, the witch makes the false Florimell out of purest snow "Which she had gathered in a shady glade Of the R. hills." In Rabelais Pantagruel ii. 11, Licksole says, "The R. mtns. had been that year oppressed with a great sterility of counterfeit gudgeons." He is talking elaborate nonsense.
RIPPON
now RIPON. A city in W. Riding Yorks, on the Ure, 23 m. N.W. of York. The famous
cathedral was founded in 1331 and completed in 1494. It was formerly celebrated
for the manufacture of spurs, which gave rise to the proverbial phrase "as true
as R. rowels." A pair of them, presented to James I in 1617, cost £5. In Jonson's
Staple i. 1, Pennyboy junior says
to the Spurrier, "There's an angel; if my spurs be not right R." and the
Spurrier interrupts: "Give me never a penny if I strike not through your bounty
with the rowels." In Davenant's Wits
v. 3, Palatine says, "Whip me with wire, Headed with rowels of sharp R. spurs;
I'll endure anything rather than thee."
RISO, RIZEH
A spt. town on the S. coast of the Black Sea, abt. 50 m. E. of Trebizond. In Marlowe's
Tamb. B. iii. 1, the K. of Trebizond
enumerates the troops he brings to fight against Tamburlaine from "Riso, Sancina,
and the bordering towns."
RIXAM, or RIXUM
See WREXHAM.
ROAN
See ROUEN.
ROCHELLE (LA)
A spt. in France on the Bay of Biscay, opposite to the islands of Rhé and Oleron,
95 m. N. of Bordeaux. It had a large trade, and was especially known for its wine,
which was a light claret, very innocuous as compared with the strong wines of
Spain. In the 16th cent. it became the centre of the Calvinist Protestants; and
after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew it successfully resisted a 6 months' siege
by the League. It was taken, however, by Richelieu in 1628 after a valiant resistance
of 8 months. Chaucer, in C. T. C. 571, compares the weakness of the wine of "the
R., near Burdeux-town" with the strong Spanish wine of Lepe. Greene, in Quip,
p. 241, says of the dishonest vintner: "If he hath a strong Gascoigne wine, he
can allay it with a small Rochel wine." Hall, in Satires v. 2, compares R. wine
unfavourably with that of Bourdeaux; "When pleasing Bourdeaux falls unto his lot,
Some sourish R. cuts thy thirsting throat." In Webster's Weakest
v. 3, Villiers says, "I am of R., and my name is Villiers." In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV B. 121, Brackenbury says, "His luck was to take the prize of France As
he from Rochell was for Lond. bound." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 1, Honeysuckle says, "They say Charing Cross is fallen down since I went to
R." In Davenant's Plymouth iv. 1,
Trifle, the inventor of false news, says: "R.'s recovered by the Huguenots." In
Middleton's Gipsy ii. 1, Alvarez
says, "All the world is a second R.," i.e. a refuge for the persecuted.
ROCHESTER
An ancient episcopal city in Kent, on the Medway, 33 m. E. of Lond. On the right
bank of the river are the fine remains of the Norman castle, built by Bp. Gundulph
in the 11th cent. It has sustained several sieges, notably by Simon de Montfort,
and by the rebels of Jack Straw's raising. The cathedral was founded in 604 by
Augustine, and rebuilt, after its destruction by the Danes, by Gundulph early
in the 12th cent. It is noteworthy for its fine Norman front. R. is on the old
pilgrim's road from Lond. to Canterbury. In Chaucer C. T., B. 3116, the Host says, "Lo! Rouchestre stant heer faste by." In H4
A. i. 2, 144, Poins says, "Gadshill lies to-night in R." and ii. 1, takes
place in an Inn-yard in R. Gadshill, the scene of the robbery, is about 21/2 m.
on the Lond. side of R. In John Evangel.
360, Evil counsel says, "Sith I came from R. I have spent all my winning." Probably
he got his winning on Gadshill, which was a notorious haunt of highwaymen. In
Trouble. Reign, Haz., p. 299, Lewis
says, "Your city R. with great applause By some divine instinct laid arms aside."
In Life of Jack Straw i., Morton reports: "They [the rebels] hold me out from
my castle at R." The Bp of R. figures in Oldcastle
as one of the persecutors of the Knight. In ii. 1, Harpool makes the Bp.'s sumner
eat his process, saying, "If thy seal were as broad as the lead that covers R.
ch., thou shouldst eat it." In Davenport's Matilda
v. 3, Chester reports that Lewis and the French "have reached R." In Bale's Johan
136 1, Private Wealth says of the Pope's Interdict: "The bp. of Salysbery and
the bp. of R. Shall execute it in Scotland everywhere." The Interdict, however,
did not extend to Scotland, and in any case these Bps. had no authority there.
In Fair Women ii. 1093, we are informed
that Browne was apprehended "at R. in a butcher's house of his own name." In Feversham
ii. 1, Will says, "Let us be going and we'll bait at R., the horse halts downright."
In Lyly's Bombie iii. 4, Riscio says
to her, "They say you are cunning, and are called the good woman of R." In iv.
1, Dromio says, "We in R. spur so many hackneys that we must needs spur scholars,
for we take them for hackneys"; his reason being that a scholar can be hired for
10 groats to say service, "and that's no more than a post horse from hence to
Canterbury." Dekker, in Bellman, says that "the Hackney-men of R. have been oftentimes
come over" with a certain horse-coursers' trick which he describes. In W. Rowley's
Shoemaker i. 1, 195, Maximinus says
to his daughter, "R. Castle shall be your palace." Of course there was no castle
at R. as early as A.D. 297, the date of the play.
ROCKINGHAM
A small town in Northants, 21 miles N.E. of Northampton, near the boundary of
Leicestersh. The alliterative phrase "as far as from Rome to R." is used for a
great distance. In Wise Men iv. 2,
Hortano says to the Puritan wife of Rusticano, "You allege Scripture as far as
Rome is from R. and expound it at your pleasure."
ROCKSBOROUGH, ROXBURGH
Formerly the capital of Roxburghsh., on the left bank of the Teviot, 4 m. S.W.
of Kelso. It is now an inconsiderable vill.; but the ruins of the ancient castle
W. of the town are still to be seen. It was one of the oldest and strongest castles
in Scotland, and owing to its situation near the Border was frequently besieged
and taken by Scottish and English in turn. In 1333 it was taken by Edward III
and ceded to England by Baliol. In Ed.
III i. 2, Mountague reports of the K. of Scotland: "The tyrant hath begirt
with siege The castle of R., where inclosed The Countess Salisbury is like to
perish." In the next scene Edward relieves the Castle; and Act ii. is taken up
with the K.'s love-making to the Countess there..
ROGUE LANE
A nickname for Sheere or Shire Lane, Lond., given to it because of its extremely
disreputable character. See under SHEER LANE. In Middleton's Quarrel
iv. 4, Clough wishes for Priss: "Mayst thou set up in R. L., and die sweetly in
Tower Ditch."
ROKE, SAINT
The shrine of St. Roke or Rock at Angera on the E. side of Lago Maggiore in N.
Italy. The saint was born at Montpellier and died in prison at Angera, where a
shrine was built in his honour. He was specially invoked for help in times of
plague. In J. Heywood's Four PP.
i., the Palmer claims to have visited, inter alios, "At Saynt Rycharde and at
Saynt Roke."
ROLLS HOUSE
The official residence of the Master of the R. on the E. side of Chancery Lane,
Lond, The site was originally occupied by a H. of Maintenance for Converted Jews,
built by Henry III in 1233. A very ancient picture of the R. Chapel is preserved
in a MS. of Matthew Paris at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and is reproduced
in Bell's Fleet Street in Seven Centuries, p. 80. In 1377 the house and chapel
were handed over to the Master of the R., who resided and held his court there.
A new H. was erected is 1717, but the Chapel remained. Now [in 1925] H. and Chapel
have gone to make room for the new Public Records Office, and the Court has been
transferred to the Royal Palace of Justice. In Lydgate's Lickpenny the author
says, "into the R. I gat me from thence Before the clerks of the Chancerie, Where
many I found earning of pence But none at all once regarded me." Marlowe's Ed.
II was "printed at London for Roger Barnes, and are to be sold at his shop
in Chauncerie Lane over against the Rolles. 1612."
ROMAGNA
A dist. on the coast of the Adriatic between the sea and the Apennines, from the
mouth of the Foglia to that of the Panaro. Ravenna was its chief town. It was
bestowed by Charlemagne on the Holy See, but it was not made actually part of
the Papal States till its conquest by Caesar Borgia about 1500. In Barnes' Charter
i. 4, the Pope allots to Caesar: "In Romania from Pontremolie and Presto to fair
Florence." In iv. 2, Caesar claims: "This arm hath conquered all Romania." In
Middleton's R. G. v. 1, Trapdoor
claims to have ambled all over Italy "from Venice to Roma, Vecchia, Bononia, R.,"
and half a dozen other cities. In Jonson's Volpone
i. 1, Mosca makes scorn of the merchant who "hath filled his vaults With Romagnia
and rich Candian wines, Yet drinks the lees of Lombard's vinegar."
ROME
(Rn.= Roman, Rh.= Romish). The ancient Roma, the famous city on the Tiber in Italy, 15 m. from the sea coast. According to tradition it was founded by Romulus and his brother Remus 953 B.C. The original settlement appears to have been on the Palatine Hill, but the city ultimately spread over the seven hills, viz.: - the Capitoline,
- Palatine,
- Aventine,
- Coelian,
- Esquiline,
- Viminal, and
- Quirinal.
These were all on the left bank of the Tiber; the modern city has, however, crossed the river and occupied the Vatican. R. was governed by Kings until the expulsion of the Tarquins in 509 as a result of the Rape of Lucrece by Sextus Tarquinius. Thenceforward it was a Republic, the executive officers being the 2 Consuls, of whom L. Junius Brutus and L. Tarquinius Collatinus were the first. The story of Coriolanus belongs to 488. In 390 R. was taken by the Gaels after the terrible defeat of the Apia. She recovered, however, and gradually made herself mistress of central Italy. The defeat of Carthage in the Punic wars was the first step in a career of conquest which at the close of the 1st century B.C. left R. the imperial city of the Mediterranean basin from the Euphrates to the Danube and the Rhine. The civil wars between Pompey and Caesar led to the assassination of Caesar by Brutus and Cassius in 44 B.C., and the subsequent struggle between Octavian and Antony resulted in the complete ascendency of Octavian, who from 23 B.C. was the absolute ruler of the Empire under the titles of Imperator and Augustus. In A.D. 330 Constantine transferred the capital to Constantinople, and in 395 the Empire was divided into an E. and a W. part. During this century Italy was invaded successively by the Goths, the Vandals, and the Huns, and in 410 R. was taken and sacked by Alaric; Attila, the Hun, again despoiled the city in 454; and in 476 Augustulus, the last of the Western Emperors, died. From this time the City and dist. around it were practically governed by the Bps. of R., who had taken the title of Papa or Pope; until in 800 Charlemagne, K. of the Franks, was crowned Emperor of R., and so laid the foundation of the Holy Rn. Empire, which lasted nominally until the abdication of Francis II of Austria in 1806. During the Middle Ages the Popes were the supreme authority in R. and the Papal States, which were gradually added to their territorial possessions. Finally in 1870 the temporal power of the Popes was limited to the palace of the Vatican, and R. became the capital of United Italy.
As the list of plays shows, the chief interest of the dramatists was in the
events centering around the life and death of Julius Caesar; but they were also
attracted by the tragic stories of Lucrece, Virginia, Sophonisba, Coriolanus,
Hannibal, Catiline, Sejanus, and Nero; and the story of the Rn. conquest of
Britain was specially interesting from the possibility of patriotic treatment.
A few plays also deal with stories of the later Empire. Very few plays have
their scene laid in modern R.; Webster's Duchess
of Malfi and White Devil,
and Barnes' Devil's Charter almost
complete the list. Modern R. stands rather for the Rn. Catholic Church, and
almost all the references to her are in that connection.
The following plays and poems deal with events in the history of R.: Rape
of Lucrece, Coriolanus, Titus
Andronicus, Julius Caesar, Antony
and Cleopatra (Shakespeare); Cornelia (Kyd); Cleopatra (Daniel); Octavia
(Nuce); Virtuous Octavia (Brandon); Julius Cesar (Alexander); Appius
and Virginia (Bower, R.); Wounds
of the Civil Wars (Lodge); Caesar and Pompey (Chapman); Caesar's
Revenge (Anon); Catiline, Sejanus
(Jonson); Sophonisba (Marston); Rape
of Lucrece (Heywood); Tragedy
of Nero, Tragedy of Tiberius Claudius
Nero (Anon.); Virgin Martyr,
Roman Actor, Believe
as You List, Emperor of the East
(Massinger); Appius and Virginia
(Webster); Faithful Friends, Bonduca,
The Prophetess, A.D. 284, Valentinian,
A.D. 454, The False One (Beaumont
and Fletcher); Tragedy of Cleopatra
Julia Agrippina (May); Hannibal
and Scipio (Nabbes); Messalina
(Richards); Fuimus Troes (Fisher);
Devil's Charter (Barnes); The Jewes
Tragedy (Heming).
R. was pronounced Room during the 15th and 16th cents., and even later. In
Lucrece 715, 'we have: "So fares it with this faultful lord of R., For now against
himself he sounds this doom."; and in 1644: "And never be forgot in mighty R.
The adulterate death of Lucrece and her groom." In K.
J. iii. 1, 180, Constance says, "O lawful let it be That I have room with
R. to curse awhile." In J. C. i.
2, 156, Cassius says, "Now is it R. indeed, and room enough When there is in
it but one only man." In Richards' Messalina
Epil. 6, the author says, "This Theater does appear The music R. of concord."
The scene of the play is R. In J. C.
iii. 1, 289, Antony says, "Here is a mourning R., a dangerous R., No R. of safety
for Octavius yet." In H6 A.
iii. 1, 51, Winchester says, "R. shall remedy this," and Warwick answers: "Roam
thither then," which seems to demand the modern pronunciation.
The usual adjective is Rn.; but Rh. occurs once in Cym. i. 6, 152, in a contemptuous sense; Imogen comparing her treatment by her father
to that she might expect to a Rh. stew." In Kyd's Cornelia ii., the lady says,
"The noble Romulists that rest forbear To seek my murdering love." The same
curious word is used again in iii. 2. The idea is that the Rns. are descendants
of Romulus.
R., the ancient city founded in 753 B.C., the seat of the Rn.
Republic, and later the head of the Rn. Empire. In H4
B. iv. 3, 45, Falstaff says, "I may justly say with the hook-nosed fellow
of R., I came, saw, and overcame." Julius Caesar, after defeating Pharnaces
of Pontus 47 B.C., sent the despatch to the Senate, "Veni, vidi, vici." In H5
v. Chor. 26, the citizens of Lond., flocking out to meet Henry, are compared
to "the senators of antique R." going forth to "fetch their conquering Caesar
in." In H6 A. i. 2, 56, the
Bastard says of Joan of Arc: "The spirit of deep prophecy she hath, Exceeding
the 9 sibyls of old R." The number of Sibyls is variously given by different
authorities, but there was only one specially connected with R., the Cumaean
sibyl, who sold the sibylline books to Tarquin. Possibly Shakespeare was thinking
of the original number of these books, which was 9. In Cor.
i. 1, 166, Menenius says, "R. and her rats are at the point of battle." In iii.
3, 104, Coriolanus is forbidden on pain of death "to enter our R. gates." In
Tit. i. 1, 6, Saturninus says,
"I am his firstborn son, that was the last That wore the imperial diadem of
R." The supposed date of the play is during the Empire; but there is nothing
historical about it. In Ham. i.
1, 113, Horatio recalls the portents that happened." In the most high and palmy
state of R., A little ere the mightiest Julius fell." In ii. 2, 410, Hamlet
refers to the time "when Roscius was an actor in R." He died 62 B.C. Cym. i. 4, is laid in R.; the period is the latter part of the 1st cent. A.D. In
Lucr. 1811, we are told that Brutus, "with the Rns. was esteemed so As silly-jeering
idiots are with kings." In H5
iii. 2, 87, Fluellen extols "the disciplines of the pristine wars of the Rns"
In H5 ii. 4, 37, the Constable
says that the youthful follies of Henry "Were but the outside of the Rn. Brutus
Covering discretion with a coat of folly." Brutus pretended to be an idiot in
order to escape the vengeance of Tarquin. In H6
B. iv. 1, 135, Suffolk says, "A Rn. sworder and banditto slave Murdered
sweet Tully." Cicero was murdered by the emissaries of Mark Antony. In Cor.
i. 1, 71, Menenius says, "The Rn. State . . . will on The way it takes, cracking
10,000 curbs Of more strong link asunder, than can ever Appear in your impediment."
In Cor. ii. 2, 92, Cominius tells
how "at 16 years, When Tarquin made a head for R., he [Coriolanus] fought Beyond
the mark of others." In J. C. ii.
1, 52, Brutus says, "Shall R. stand under one man's awe? What, R.? My ancestors
did from the streets of R. The Tarquin drive when he was called a k." In Cym.
iii. 1, 8, Lucius says, "When Julius Caesar was in this Britain and conquered
it, Cassibelan, thine uncle, granted R. a tribute." In Jonson's Sejanus
iii 1, Natta says, "Thou praisest Brutus and affirmst That Cassius was the last
of all the Rns." In Nero ii. 2,
the Emperor speaks of "Empire-crowned seven-mountain-seated R." In Massinger's
Great Duke i. 2, Cosmo says,
"This kind of adoration showed not well In the old Rn. emperors, who forgetting
That they were flesh and blood, would be styled gods."
In B: & F. False One v. 2, Septimius
says, "R., that from Romulus first took her name Had her walls watered with
a crimson shower Drained from a brother's heart." In their Prophetess
ii. 3, Delphia says, "'Tis imperious R., R., the great mistress of the conquered
world." In Calisto Haz. i. 58,
Sempronio says, "Behold Nero, in the love of Poppaea oppressed, R. how he brent"
In Caesar's Rev. i. 3, Caesar says,
"R., our native country, Fair pride of Europe, mistress of the world, Cradle
of virtues, nurse of true renown, Whom Jove hath placed in top of hills That
thou the lower world's climes mightst rule," and in iii. 2, a Rn. speaks: "Fair
R., great monument of Romulus, Thou mighty seat of consuls and of kings." In
Fisher's Fuimus ii. 1, Britael,
a Briton, says, "Imperious monster, R., seven-headed Hydra, We scorn thy threats."
So in iii. , Nennius protests: "Before this land shall wear the yoke, Let first
the adamantine axle crack.." In Davenant's Cr.
Brother iii. 1, Cosimo says, "The old sibyl presented her divine manuscripts
to the dull Rn." In Barnavelt iv.
5, Barnavelt says, "Octavius did affect the Empire And strove to tread upon
the neck of R. And all her ancient freedoms." in Val.
Welsh. i. 1, we are told that the action takes place in "the reign of R.'s
great Emperor, ycleped Claudian." Spencer, F. Q. iii. 9, 43, tells how from
Long Alba "Romulus to R. removed."
The proverb "Roome was not builded on a day" occurs in the preface to Tarpon's
News out of Purgatory, and in B. & F. Prophetess
i. 3. Spencer's Ruines of Rome should be consulted passim.
Milton, P. R. i. 217, makes our Lord say that it was his early ambition "To rescue Israel from the Rn. yoke." Pompey brought Judaea under the Rn. sway 65 B.C. In iii. 158, the Tempter speaks of "Judas now and all the Promised land Reduced a province under Rn. yoke." In 362 he speaks of the difficulty of establishing an independent kingdom in Jerusalem "Between 2 such enclosing enemies, Rn. and Parthian"; and advises our Lord to attack the Parthians first "maugre the Rn." Thus He would sit on the throne of David and rule "From Egypt to Euphrates . . . and R. or Caesar need not fear." But in iv. 45 he shows our Lord "great and glorious R., Queen of the earth"; and in 80 says, "All nations now to R. obedience pay, To R.'s great Emperor"; who is now "from R. retired to Capraea" (i.e. Tiberius). In P.L. xi. 405, Adam is shown "Europe . . . and where R. was to sway The world"; in ix. 510, reference is made to the legend that Jupiter Capitolinus, in the form of a serpent, had intercourse "with her who bore Scipio, the heighth of R."; i.e. Scipio Africanus Major.
In Mason's Mulleasses 1477, Ferrara
says, "The sts. of Florence, like the sts. of R. When death and Scylla reigned,
shall run with blood." The reference is to the proscription that followed the
return of Sylla to R. in 82 B.C. In Kirke's Champions
ii. 1, Anthony speaks of R. as "Great mistress of the world, whose large-stretched
arms O'er land and sea holds domination; Renowned for government in peace or
war Even to the shore of scorching India."
Character of the ancient Romans. In Lucr. 1828, Brutus addresses
Collatine "Courageous Rn." In H4
B. ii. 2, 135, Falstaff begins his letter: "I will imitate the honourable
Rns. in brevity." In Cor. i. 2,
14, Titus Lartius is described as "a most valiant Rn." In Merch.
iii. 2, 297, Bassanio describes Antonio as one "In whom The ancient Rn. honour
more appears Than any that draws breath in Italy." In Cor.
i. 6, 2, Cominius says, "We are come off Like Rs., neither foolish in our stands,
Nor cowardly in retire." On the other hand, in iii. 1, 238, Coriolanus says
of the plebeians: "I would they were barbarians,as they are, Though in
R. litterednot Rns.as they are not, Though calved in the porch o'
the Capitol." In J. C. i. 3, 80,
Cassias says, "Rns. now have thews and limbs like to their ancestors; But .
. . our fathers' minds are dead, And we are governed with our mothers' spirits";
and later, "Caesar would not be a wolf But that he sees the Rns. are but sheep."
In ii. 1, 125, Brutus says, "What other bond Than secret Rns. that have spoke
the word And will not palter?" and in 233 Cassias says, "Show yourselves true
Rns." In Cym. v. 5, 81, Lucius
says, "Sufficeth A Rn. with a Rn's. heart can suffer." In Massinger's Madam
iv. 2, Goldwire says, "I'll suffer like a Rn." In Shirley's Traitor
ii. 1, Sciarrha says, "It was the glory of Rns. to prefer their empire's safety
to their own lives." In Massinger's Guardian
v. 4, Alphonso says, "We do approve the Rn. maxim, To save one citizen is a
greater prize Than to have killed in war 10 enemies." In his Virgin
i. 1, Diocletian boasts of having revived "the ancient Rn. discipline Which
raised R. to her greatness." In his Believe
v. 2, Antiochus says, "Pity in Rn. officers is a crime to be punished more than
murder in cold blood." In his Maid
Hon. iv. 4, Aurelia says, "The lordly Rn. who held it the height Of human
happiness to have kings and queens To wait by his triumphant chariot-wheels,
In his insulting pride deprived himself Of drawing near the nature of the gods
In being merciful." In B. & F. Rule
a Wife iv. 1, Estifania says, "I remembered your old Rn. axiom, The more
the danger, still the more the honour." In Chapman's Rev.
Bussy ii. 1, Baligny says to Clermont: "He [Guise] ranks you with the best
of the ancient Rns." In Ingelend's Disobedient 51, the Father says, "Wilt thou
follow warfare and a soldier be 'pointed And so among Troyans and Rns. be numbered?"
In Davenant's Favourite ii. 1, Oramont
says, "The Rn. race of men Sure is not yet extinct in Italy." In Brewer's Lingua
i. 1, Lingua speaks of "The Rn. eloquent"; no doubt he is thinking specially
of Cicero. In Brome's Covent G.
iii. 1, Cockbrain says, "I will suffer private affliction with a Rn. resolution
for the public welfare." In Dekker's If
it be 354. Ravillac Protests: "Merciless hangmen! To tyrannize over so brave
a Rn. spirit." In Davenport's New
Trick iii. 2, Roger says of his master: "He was too full of fire, witness
his spirit, Most worthy of a Rn. character." In Chapman's Caesar
iv. 5, 45, Statilius says, "The gods avert from every Rn. mind The name of slave
to any tyrant's power." In iii. 1, i 19, Pompey prays the gods, "that our great
Rn. Genius Have made, not give us one day's conquest only, Nor grow in conquests
for some little time, As did the Genius of the Macedons, Nor be by land great
only, like Laconians; Nor yet by sea alone, as was th' Athenians', Nor slowly
stirred up, like the Persian angel, Nor rocked asleep soon, like the Ionian
spirit; But made our Rn. Genius fiery, watchful, And even from R.'s prime joined
his youth with hers, Grow as she grew, and firm as earth abide By her increasing
pomp at sea and shore." The whole passage is taken from Plutarch's De Fortuna
Romanorum II. In Shirley's Bird
iii. 3, Donella cries, "O liberty! Liberty! Are all the Rn. spirits extinct?"
Milton, in Son. to Vane 3, says, "a better senator ne'er held The helm of R."
The Rn. virtue is often used specifically of the willingness to commit suicide,
as Cato of Utica did (he is the subject of Chapman's Caesar
v. 2) rather than submit to ignominy. In Ham
v. 2, 352 Horatio says, "I am more an antique Rn. than a Dane; Here's yet some
liquor left," and seizes the poisoned goblet. In Mac.
v. 8, 1, Macbeth says, "Why should I play the Rn. fool and die On my own sword?"
In J. C. v. 3. 89, Titinius, about
to stab himself, says "This is a Rn.'s part." In Ant.
iv. 2, 87, Cleopatra says, "Let's do it after the high Rn. fashion And make
death proud to take us." In Jonson's Volpone
iii. 6, Mosca says, "Let's die like Rns, since we have lived like Grecians."
In Massinger's Maid Hon. iv. 3,
Adorni says, "This Rn. resolution of self-murder Will not hold water at the
high tribunal." In B. & F. Woman Hater
iii. 3, when Lazarillo says, "I will die bravely and like a Rn.," one of the
bystanders says, "Mark that! He will kill himself." In Shirley's Courtier
ii. 2, Carintha says, "We know our dwelling after death Which Rn. souls unlawfully
did seek And found too soon." In Davenant's Cr.
Brother v. 3, Foreste says, "A true Rn. now would walk aside and with his
own sword dismiss his own soul." In B. & F. Fair Maid I. v. 2, Forobosco says, "The foreman of their jury is dead, but he
died like a Rn." In Massinger's Madam
iv. 2, Goldwire says, "I'll suffer like a Boman"; probably a misprint for Rn.
In Laelia iv. 2, 46, Virginius says, "Romanus sum, Romano more moriar."
In B. & F. Cure v. 3, Bobadilla
says, "I would even have died too bravely, i' faith, like a Rn. steward; hung
myself in mine own chain."
The Rn. women, with Lucrece as their prototype, were highly praised
for their chastity; and the matrons for their gravity and dignity. In
Shrew ii. 1, 298, Petruchio says,
"She will prove Rn. Lucrece for her chastity." In Cor.
v. 3, 65, Coriolanus describes Valeria as "the Moon of R.; chaste as the icicle
That's curdied by the frost from purest snow And hangs on Dian's temple." In
Massinger's Madam iii. 2, Luke says
he will revive in his nieces "the memory Of the Rn. matrons, who kept captive
queens To be their handmaids." In his Emperor
i. 1, Pauhnus says, "The mother of the Gracchi, grave Cornelia, R. still boasts
of." In v. 2, Theodosius says, "Great Julius, only for suspicion of a crime,
Sued a divorce; nor was this Rn. rigour Censured as cruel." In May's Heir
iii. 2, Leucothea says, "No Rn. dame shall in her great example outgo my love."
In B. & F. Thierry iv. 2, Martell
says that in Ordella "All was that Athens, R., or warlike Sparta, Have registered
for good in their best women."
Roman luxury, extravagance and decadence under the Empire. In
Shirley's Honoria ii. 1, Phantasm
says, "If you have but the patience to spend, you may outdo the Rn. luxuries."
Romans used as a humorously complimentary address. In Merry
Devil v., Sir Arthur says, "We were stayed for you." and the Host replies:
"Were you, my noble Rns.?" In Middleton's Mad
World i. 1, the Ancient says to Folly-wit, "Why there spoke a Rn. Captain!"
The Eagle was the standard of ancient R.; it was made the national standard
by Caius Marius 104 B.C. In Cym.
iv. 2, 348, the Soothsayer sees "Jove's bird, the Rn. eagle, winged From the
spongy S. to this part of the W." In Jonson's Sejanus
iii. 1, Silius talks of his battles with the Gauls "when our Rn. eagles Have
fanned the fire with their labouring wings." In B. & F. Prophetess
iii. 1, Dioclesian says, "Expectation, like the Rn. eagle, Took stand and called
all eyes." In Marmion's Leaguer
iii. 4, Faustina urges Philautus to "seek for fame In brave exploits like those
that snatch their honour Out of the talents of the Rn. eagle." Spenser, in Ruines
of Rome xvii., says, "Then was the German raven in disguise. That Rn. Eagle
seen to cleave asunder." In Hemings' Jews'
Trag. 584, Vespasian says, "Let our Rn. eagle be displayed." In W. Rowley's
Shoemaker i. 1, 26, K. Allured
says, "Maximinus and Dioclesian Display their by-neckt eagle over Brittaine."
Rowley evidently transfers the double-headed eagle of Austria to the Rn. empire.
In Shirley's Servant iv. 5, Belinda
says, "The Rn eagles never Did spread their wings upon so many shores."
The Rn. sword was a short two-edged blade, more used for thrusting than cutting;
the soldiers were armed with this and with a pilum or javelin. In Lucr. 505,
Sextus "shakes aloft his Rn. blade." In Cym.
iii. 3, 57, Bellario says, "My body's marked with Rn. swords." In B. & F. False
One i. 1, Labienus, describing the battle of Pharsalia, says, "The Rn. piles
on either side Drew Rn. blood, which spent, the prince of weapons, The sword,
succeeded."
Roman triumphs. These were great public processions to the Capitol
granted to victorious generals. In Oth.
iv. 1, 121. Othello says to Cassio, "Do you triumph, Rn.?" where the word triumph
obviously suggests the epithet; Cassio was actually a Florentine. In As
You Like It, iv. 2, 4, Jaques says, "Let's present him to the D., like a
Rn. conqueror." In Marlowe's Ed. II
i. 1, Gaveston says, "I think myself as great As Caesar riding in the Rn. street
With captive kings at his triumphant car." In Massinger's Picture
ii. 2, Ferdinand says, "All rewards and signs of honour, With which the Rns.
crowned their several leaders, To him alone are proper." In his Bondman
iii. 3, Graculo says, "Let us, like conquering Rns, walk in triumph, Our captives
following."
Roman Law. In Lucr. prol. 2, we are told that Tarquinius, "contrary
to the Rn. laws and customs had possessed himself of the kingdom." In Tit.
i. 1, 280, Marcus says, "Suum cuique is our Rn. justice." In i. 1, 407, Bassianus
says, "Let the laws of R. determine all."
Roman custom of putting a cap or Pilleus on the head of an enfranchised
slave; the cap of liberty. In Dekker's Hon.
Wh. B. i. 3, Candido, defending the citizen's cap, says, "It is a citizen's
badge and first was worn By the Rns.; for when any bondsman's turn Came to be
made a freeman, thus 'twas said, He to the cap was called, that is, was made
Of R. a freeman."
Roman Augurs. These officials foretold the future by the appearances
and cries of birds; but in the later days of the Republic it was recognized
that the whole business was a solemn farce. In Greene & Lodge's Looking
Glass ii. 1, 508, Radagon says, "Tut! Be not now a Rn. augurer!"
Roman Authors, Orators, Actors and Theatre. Gascoigne, in Government
prol., says, "I mean for to present no Terence phrase; The verse that pleased
a Romaine rash intent Might well offend the godly preacher's vein." The chief
orator was Cicero, but the last years of the Republic, and the 1st cent. of
the Empire were adorned with many famous pleaders. Milton P. L. ix. 671, compares
the Tempter to "some orator renowned In Athens or free R." In P. R. iv. 360,
he says that the Hebrew prophets excelled "all the oratory of Greece and R."
In J. C. ii. 1, 226, Brutus says,
"Let not our looks put on our purposes, But bear it as our Rn. actors do With
untired spirits and formal constancy." In Chapman's Rev.
Bussy i. 1, Guise says, "I would have these things Brought upon stages,
to let mighty misers See all their grave and serious miseries played As once
they were in Athens and old R." The Rn. theatre was in the amphitheatre form,
like the one, for instance, preserved at Pompeii. In Massinger's Unnat.
Com. ii. 1, Malefort says, "Retire to yonder mt. Where you, as in a Rn.
theatre, May see the bloody difference determined."
Various objects described as Roman. The Rn. dollar was used
for the standard coin of ancient R. in the time of the kings. In B. & F. Friends
ii. 2, Pergamus says, "I would not, for 100 Rn. dollars But be the first that
should come home again." In L. L. L.
v. 2, 617, Longaville speaks of the face of Holofernes as "The face of an old
Rn. coin, scarce seen." In B. & F. Gentleman
i. 1, Marine says, "Those are the models of the ancient world Left, like the
Rn. statues, to stir up Our following hopes." In Field's Weathercock
iv. 2, Pouts defies "any torturous engine Even from the Rn. yoke to the Scotch
boot." The yoke was a wooden beam, called Furca, worn by slaves as a punishment.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
R., of the primitive Rn. Ch. of the 1st cent., to which St. Paul addressed his Epistle to the Rns., and which was traditionally (but doubtfully) said to have been founded by St. Peter. In Conf. Cons. iv. 1, Philologus says, "By the name of Babylon, from whence Peter wrote, is understanded R." See I. Pet. v. 13. Modern expositors for the most part agree with Philologus. He says later is the scene: "St. Paul to the Rns. hath this worthy sentence." In Gascoigne's Government ii. 1, Gnomaticus says, "The apostle Paul in his xiii chapter of his epistle to the Romanies teacheth plainly that rulers bear not the sword in vain." In Juventus, p. 128, Knowledge says, "The reward of the heavenly inheritance is given us through faith for Christes deservings As St. Paul declareth in the iiii chapter to the Romaine." In York M. P. xlvi. 288, Peter says, "To Rns. so royal . . . Will I pass fro this place, my people to preach."
The Holy Roman Empire. The unique Empire, which lasted from its institution by Charles the Gt. in A.D. 800 till the resignation of the dignity by Francis II of Austria in 1806. The Emperor was appointed by 7 Electors: - the Archbps of
Mentz,
Treves, and
Cologne, - the Elector Palatine of the Rhine,
- the Margrave of Brandenburg, and
- the Dukes of
Saxony and
Bavaria.
The office carried great prestige, but no territorial possessions. In Glapthorne's
Wallenstein ii. 1, the hero addresses
"Electors of the sacred Rn. Empire." In Barnes' Charter
iv. 2, Caesar Borgia says "The Romain emperor had fawned upon us, had I been lieutenant
of your forces." The reference is to Maximilian I. In S. Rowley's When
You K. 2, Henry VIII speaks of "Gt. Charles the mighty Romaine Emperor Our
nephew." This was Charles V. In Chapman's Alphonsus
ii. 1, 9, Alphonsus says, "I was alone too weak to underprop So great a burden
as the Rn. Empire." It was the custom for the Emperor to have his successor elected
during his own lifetime under the title of K. of the Rns. In Barnes' Charter
iii. 3, Frescobaldi says, "Under the K. of Romaines I was cut just from this shoulder."
Gesta Romanorum was a mediaeval collection of tales with morals,
first printed in 1473; the stories were mostly assigned to some real or imaginary
Emperor of R. Many of them were humorous, hence a gest, or jest, came to mean
a funny story. In Goosecap iv. 1, Fowlewether
says to Lord Furnivall, "For your lordship's jest, why, Gesta Romanorum were
nothing to them."
Rome, the contemporary city, as a place of interest to travellers and
pilgrims. In T. Heywood's Traveller
i. 1, Wincott's wife tells of Geraldine's discourse "In R.,of that great pyramis
Reared in the front, on 4 lions mounted; . . . those idol temples, . . . Of
their Pantheon and their Capitol." In Roister
ii. 2, Doughtie says, "Should I home again without answer go? It were better
to go to R. on my head than so." In Marlowe's Faustus,
scene 7 is laid in the Pope's privy chamber at R.; and Mephisto says to Faust,
"Now that thou mayst perceive What R. containeth to delight thee with, Know
that this city stands upon 7 hills That underprop the groundwork of the same;
Just through the midst runs Tiber's flowing stream With winding banks that cut
it in 2 parts; Over the which 4 stately bdges. lean That make safe passage to
each part of Rome; Upon the bdge. called Ponte Angelo Erected is a castle passing
strong; Besides the gates and high pyramides Which Julius Caesar brought from
Africa." The 4 bdges. were the Ponte Sant Angelo, the 2 bdges. of the Insula,
and the Bdge. of the Senators. Probably the pyramides refer to the obelisk brought
by Constantine to Rome A.D. 353. Pope Adrian VI (1522-1523) seems to be the
Pope in question. In Hycke, p.
92, Frewyll says, "If any of us 3 be Mayor of Lond., I wys, ywis, I will ride
to R. on my Thumb." In Chapman's Usher
v. 2, Strozza makes "a vow to go on foot to R." In T. Heywood's I.
K M. B. 295, it is stated that "R.'s Exchange is built after the manner
of Frankford and Embden."
Rome as the local centre of the Roman Catholic Church. In L.
L. L. v. 2, 717, Boyet says that Armado's penance, to go woolward, "was
enjoined him in R. for want of linen." In H6
B. i. 3, 65, the Q. says of K. Henry: "I would the college of the Cardinals
Would choose him Pope and carry him to R." In H8
iii. 2, 213, Wolsey admits that the purpose of his wealth was "to gain the Popedom
And fee my friends in R." In B. & F. Span.
Cur. v. 2, Jamie says, "We may get for money, (As that, you know, buys anything
in R.) A dispensation." In their Women
Pleased iv. 1, Bomby says of the Hobby-horse "The beast is an unseemly and
a lewd beast, and got at R. by the Pope's coachhorses." The Puritans objected
to May-pole dances as papistical. In Three
Ladies ii., Simony says, "My birth, nursery, and bringing up hath been in
R., that ancient religious city." In Bale's Johan
176, the K. says, "By the boar of R. I trow thou meanest the Pope." In Barnes'
Charter i. 2, one says, "R., which
should be Virtue's paradise, Bare of all good, is wilderness of vice." In Cockayne's
Trapolin ii. 1, Trapolin says,
"I'd to R. and turn Friar if I had any Latin in me."
Rome Used for the Papal Court, the Church of Rome. In K.
J. iii. 1, 104, Pandulph commands Philip: "Raise the power of France upon
his [John's] head, Unless he do submit himself to R." In v. 2, 70, Pandulph
announces: "K. John hath reconciled himself to R.," and Lewis replies: "His
peace with R.? What is that peace to me? Am I R. 's slave? What penny hath R.
borne To underprop this action?" In H8
ii. 2, 94, Wolsey says, "R., the nurse of judgment, Hath sent this good man,
Cardinal Campeius." In Darius p. 67, Iniquity says that his father is the Pope;
"In R. he dwelleth: ' In Jonson's Alchemist
iii. 1, Tribulation Wholesome compares "the beauteous discipline of the Puritans"
with the "menstruous cloth and rag of R." In Barry's Ram
iv., Smallshanks, exhibiting Face as a baboon, says: "What can you do for the
Pope of R.?Hark, he stirreth not." In Marlowe's Ed.
II i. 4, the Archbp. of Canterbury says to the K., "On your allegiance to
the see of R. Subscribe to his exile." In Jonson's Barthol.
iv. 4, when Overdo quotes Horace and Persius, Busy says, "I will leave to communicate
my spirit with you if I hear any more of those superstitious relics, those lists
of Latin, the very rags of R., and patches of Popery." In Marlowe's Massacre
p 235, Guise says to a Protestant, "that tongue of thine . . . hath blasphemed
the Holy Ch. of R." In v., Henry says, "I here do swear to ruinate That wicked
ch. of R. that hatcheth up Such bloody practices." In Trouble.
Reign, prol, it is said of K. John: "For Christ's true faith endured he
many a storm, And set himself against the Man of R." In Chapman's D'Olive
ii. 2, D'Olive speaks of "the grossness of old superstition, Derived into the
ch. from the foul sink Of Rh. popery." In Brome's Covent
G. iv. 1, Gabriel says, "Overmuch abuse of these outlandish liquors have
bred so many errors in the Rh. ch." In Greene & Lodge's Looking
Glass v. 5, 2284, Jonas prays that Lond. "may bide, the pillar of His Ch.,
Against the storms of Rh. Antichrist." In Trouble.
Reign. Haz. p. 272, John says, "I grieve to think how Kings in ages past,
Simply devoted to the See of R., Have run into a thousand acts of shame." Barnfield,
in Pecunia (1598), says, "Thou mayst obtain a pardon for thy sins; The Pope
of R. for money will it sell."
The combination Roman Catholic is first found in the beginning of the 17th
cent. In Jonson's Ev. Man I. iii.
21 Kitely says of Cash: "He's no precisian, that I am certain of, Nor rigid
Rn. Catholic." The earliest example in the O. E. D. is 1605. In Arraignment
of the Late Traitors (1606) Harl. Misc. iii. 48, Digby is said to have refused
at his execution to have "any prayers of any, but of the Rh. Catholics." In
Arraignment of Seminary Priest (1607) Harl. Misc. iii. 63, Brewerie "confessed
himself to be a Romaine Catholick.". Donne, in The Will (1633) says, "My faith
I give to Rn. Catholics." T. Fuller, in Church History ii. 11, 34, says, "There
was a stiff Rn. Catholic (as they delight to term themselves)."
Roman. An inhabitant of the contemporary city. In Ford's 'Tis
Pity i. 2, Putana says of Grimaldi: "They say he is a Rn."
Roman Type. The sort of type that is commonly used at present,
as distinguished from the Gothic, or Blackletter, and the Italic. In Rabelais'
Gargantua i. 23, the hero learns "to form the antique and Rn. letters." In Tit.
v. 1, 139, Aaron boasts of having carved on his enemies' skins "in Rn. letters
Let not your sorrow die though I am dead." In B. & F. Valour
iv. 1, Lapet says, "Bid him put all the thumps in Pica Rn. And with great T's,
you vermin." When asked "In what letter will you have your kicks?" he says,
"All in Italica; Your backward blows, all in Italica." Later on he asks: "Did
I not say this wherrit and this bob Should be both Pica Rn.?" In Three
Ladies ii., Simplicity says, "There was written in Rn. LettersGiven
by that worthy valiant Capt., Master Fraud." In Davenant's Platonic
iv. 4, Fredaline says, "You see your names here, carved out in Rn. characters."
In B. & F. Corinth iv. 1, the
Tutor speaks of "the Rn. T" as a fashionable shape for a beard. In Webster's
Law Case iii. 2, after Romelio
has stabbed Contarino, he says to the Surgeon, "You may read why I came hither."
"Yes," answers the Surgeon, "in a bloody Rn. letter." In Middleton's Dissemblers
iii. 2, Lactantio describes the D.'s writing as "a bastard Rn.much like
my own." So in writing, a Rn. hand is a round, bold hand. In Tw.
N. iii. 4, 31, Malvolio says of the supposed letter from Olivia: "I think
we do know the sweet Rn. hand." In Marston's Insatiate
iv., Herod says, "Here's a lady's Rn. hand to me, is beyond all." In Middleton's
Michaelmas ii. 3, Easy asks: "How like
you my Rn. hand?" In Brome's Northern
iii. 2, Beavis asks: "What hand is it? Secretary, Rn, Court, or Text?"
Fashions of Dress. In Jonson's New
Inn ii. 2, Tipto advises the Host to wear "the Naples hat with the R. hatband."
In Dekker's Shoemaker's ii. 1.
Rose says to her maid, "Do this, and I will give thee for thy pains My cambric
apron and my Rh. gloves." In Webster's Malfi
i. 1, Bosola says, "I fell into the galleys; where I wore 2 towels instead of
a shirt, with a knot on the shoulder, after the fashion of a Rn. mantle." Probably
he means a toga.
Allusions to modern history. In B. & F. Fair Maid I. iii. 2, the D. speaks of "the factions at R. between the Ursins
and Colonnas." In Laelia i. 1, 110, Virginius says, "Romae cum praedatio
est, Tredecem illa mecum captivas expleverat." The reference is to the sack
of R. in 1527 by an army of German and Spanish marauders, under the Constable
Bourbon, who were supposed to be acting for the Emperor, Charles V.
Cosmetics. In Jonson's Alchemist
i. 1, Face reminds Subtle of the time when he first met him "with your pinched-horn-nose
And your complexion of the Rn. wash." In Davenant's Favourite
iv. 1, the Lady says, "For essences to R., tweeses to Brussels and for fans
to Paris."
Beard. A style of wearing the hair on the face, with the ends of the moustache turned up, and a small goatee beard, forming together the figure of a T or cross. In Fucus Histriomastix iv. 5, 30, Villanus says the latest form of beard pleases him best, "Romanam vulgo vocant."
Rome as a centre of legal training. The Collegio della Sapienza
was founded by Innocent IV in 1246 for the study of canon and civil law. The
present building was completed in 1576, and is the home of the University. In
Merch. iv. 1, 154, Bellario describes
his young friend, Balthasar (Portia) as "a young doctor of R."
R. was the subject of one of the motions or puppet shows. In
Jonson's Ev. Man O., Ind. Asper
says the would-be critic "Will show more several motions in his face Than the
new Lond., R., or Niniveh."
Roman Nose. A nose of an aquiline shape but with a prominent
bridge. In Shirley's Hyde Park
iii. 2, Mrs. Carol says, "Your nose is Rn. which your next debauchment at tavern,
with the help of pot or canstick may turn to Indian, flat." In Massinger's Renegado
i. 1, Gazet says he will proclaim one of his courtezans "An Austrian princess
by her Rn. nose." In Brome's Couple
iv. 1, Lovely says, "Thin jaws and Rn. nose Are neverfailing signs of widows'
joys."
Roman Organ. St. Cecilia, who was martyred at R. in the 3rd
cent., is said to have invented the organ. In Davenant's Italian
v. 3, Altamont says, "Hark how the Rn. organ seems to invoke The Thracian lyre."
Miscellaneous References. In Wise
Men iv. 2, Hortano says, "You allege Scripture as far as R. is from Rockingham
and expound it at your pleasure." That is, Scripture utterly irrelevant to the
subject. In Day's B. Beggar iv.,
Strowd says, "And I do not beat them, I'll be bound to go to R. with a mortar
a' my head." Kempe, in Nine Days Wonder 18, says, "I could fly to R. (at least
hop to R., as the old proverb is) with a mortar on my head." In B. & F. Fair Maid I. v. 2, the Clown says, "He did measure the stars with a false yard;
and may now travel to R. with a mortar on's head, to see if he can recover his
money that way." The phrase is supposed to refer to some story of a wizard who
accomplished this feat; it means to do the impossible. In Verses prefixed to
Coryat's Crudities (1611), Richard Corbet says, "No more shall man with mortar
on his head Set forwards towards R."; Coryat having performed an even more difficult
feat.
ROMFORD
See RUMFORD.
ROMVILE
(thieves' cant for LOND.). In Middleton's R.
G. v. 1, Moll and Tearcat sing "A gave of ben rombouse in a bousing ken of
R. is benar than a caster, peck, pennam, lap, or popler, which we mill in deuse
a vile"; which is, being interpreted; "A quart of good wine in a drinking shop
of Lond. is better than a cloak, meat, bread, butter-milk or porridge, which we
steal is the country." Dekker, in Lanthorn, quotes as an example of pedlars' French:
"Cut benar whiddes, and, being we to Rome vile, to nip a boung"; which translated
is, "Speak better words and go we to Lond. to cut a purse."
RONCESVALLES
A valley in the Pyrenees abt. 35 m. from their W. extremity, where Charlemagne was defeated and Orlando slain in 778. There was a Priory of the Blessed Virgin there, and a cell of that priory was founded near Charing Cross in Lond. with which Chaucer's Pardoner was connected.
In the dramatists, "rouncival "commonly means coarse, gross, fat: possibly
from Rouncival Peasa large species, possibly imported from R. mentioned
by Tusser (1553) and other writers of the 16th and following cents. In Dekker's
Satiro. iv. 3, 190, Tucca says
to Horace (Jonson): "Dost roar? Thou hast a good rouncival voice to cry Lanthorn
and Candlelight." Nash, in Saffron Walden, says of a fat woman: "It was so fulsome
a fat Bonarobe and terrible Rouncevall."
ROSE [1]
A common tavern sign is Lond. The R. in Russell St., Covent Garden, next to Drury
Lane Theatre, became notorious during the later part of the 17th and 18th cents.
as a haunt of men about town. It has been immortalized in Plate III. of Hogarth's
Rake's Progress. In Shirley's Hyde Park
iii. i. Lord Bonvile says, "A cup of sack and Anthony at the R. Will reconcile
their furies." There was another R. Tavern at the corner of Thanet Pl., outside
Temple Bar. It is described by Strype as having "good conveniences of rooms and
a good garden," In Prodigal ii.
4, Liver says, "Let's meet at the R. at Temple Bar. That will be nearer your counsellor
and mine." In Middleton's R. G. iv.
2, Greenwit, disguised as a sumner, says, "I have caught a cold in my head, Sir,
by sitting up late in the R. Tavern." In B. & F. Wit
Money ii. 3, Lute says that in the country there is "no master Such-a one
to meet at the R."
There was another R. Tavern close to the Ch. of All Hallows, Barking, which
was destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder in a shipchandler's shop adjacent,
in 1649. In Oldcastle iv. 4, one
of the Bp. of Rochester's men, being at the Tower, says, "Come, we may have
a quart of wine at the R. at Barking, and come back an hour before he be ready
to go." In Haughton's Englishmen
iii. 2. Pisaro, who lives in Crutched Friars, says, "Well, well to the R. in
Barken for an hour." In Deloney's Craft i. 14, Nicholas says to John, "Stay
for me at the R. in Barking."
Yet another R. Tavern stood on Holborn Hill, from which Taylor, the Water-Poet,
records that he started for Southampton in 1647. In Carrier's Cosmographie,
Taylor speaks of it as near Holborn Bdge. In T. Heywood's Lucrece
ii. 5, Valerius sings: "The gardener hies him to the R."; but which of them
does not appear.
ROSE [2]
A bookseller's sign is St. Paul's Churchyard. One of the old editions of Colin Clout was "imprinted at Lond. in Paules churche yard at the sign of the Rose by John Wyghte."
ROSE AND CROWN [1]
A bookseller's sign near Holborn Bdge. Three
Lords was "printed by R. Jhones at the R. & C. near Holburne Bdge. 1590."
Robinson's Handfull of Plesant Delites was printed at the same sign in 1584; and
Marlowe's Tamburlaine bears the same
imprint in 1590.
ROSE AND CROWN [2]
A famous tavern in the Poultry at the W. end of the Stocks Market. The sign was
painted by the Dutch painter, Hoogstraten, and cost £20. The name was afterwards
changed to the King's Head. It was destroyed in the Gt. Fire, but rebuilt, and
lasted till the middle of the 19th cent., when it at last disappeared. Machin,
in his diary (1560), mentions it as the R. Tavern, and describes a fray there
over the arrest of one Cobham for debt. In T. Heywood's I.
K. M. B. 257, an apprentice says, "I'll but drink a cup of wine with a customer
at the R. & C. in the Poultry and come again presently." Taylor, in Carrier's
Cosmographie, mentions a R. & C. as a Carrier's inn in St. John's St.
ROSEMARY LANE
(now ROYAL MINT ST., LOND.). Running E. from the S. end of the Minories to Leman
St., where it is continued by Cable St. It had a bad reputation, and one side
of it was occupied by old clothes shops, whence it was often called Rag Fair.
Richd. Brandon, the supposed executioner of Charles I, lived in R. L. In Noble
Soldier v. 2, Baltasar describes himself as "as honest housekeeper in R. L.,
too, if you dwell in the same parish." The allusion is to the use of r. both at
funerals and weddings. In Glapthorne's Hollander
iii. 1, the President of the Twiball club is styled "Lord Paramount of all Garden-Alleys,
Gun Alley, and R. L." In News from Hell, R. L. is mentioned with many other places
of ill repute as an abode "of whores and thieves." In Middleton's Quarrel
v. 1, Chough says of the r. prepared for his wedding, "Make a bonfire on't, to
sweeten R.-l."
ROSE THEATRE
The 3rd Lond. Theatre [ed. note: Sugden is obviously counting only the Theatre
and Curtain, built in 1576 and 1577 respectively. He here ignores both the Red
Lion of 1567 and Newington Butts, also built in or around 1576], built on
the Bankside at Southwark by Philip Henslowe in 1587 or '88. It was the first
of the Bankside theatres, except perhaps that at Newington Butts. It was apparently
a wooden building, and after the building of the Swan and the Globe was outclassed,
and was abandoned by Henslowe in 1603, though it was still used for occasional
entertainments. It stood in R. Alley, which ran from the Bankside to Park St.
just to the W. of Southwark Bdge. It was first used by Lord Strange's company,
and then by the Admiral's men, the chief rivals of the Chamberlain's men, who
played at the Globe. In Dekker's Satiro.
iii. 1, 316, Tucca says to Mrs. Miniver, "Thou hast a breath as sweet as the R.
that grows by the Bear-Garden." The Bear-Garden lay N.W. of the R.T.
ROSSANA, ROSSANO
An archiepiscopal city in S. Italy, on a rocky height near the S.W. coast of the
Gulf of Taranto, 150 m. S.E. of Naples. In B. & F. Double
Mar. ii. 1, Martin asks about "young Ascanio, prince of Rossana, K. Ferrand's
most beloved one."
ROTHERHAM
A town in W. Riding Yorks., on the Don, 48 m. S. of York, and 159 m. N. of Lond.
It was an old Saxon town, and had a weekly market and an annual fair long before
the Norman conquest. In Downfall Huntington
iii. 2, Robin Hood says, "At R. dwelt our bowyer, God him bless!"
ROTHERHITHE
(also spelt REDRIFF and ROTHERED). A vill. on the Surrey side of the Thames, between
Bermondsey and Deptford, now part of Lond. The first docks in Lond. were here,
now the Surrey Commercial Docks. The original name was Aetheredes Hyd; the 16th
and 17th cent. spelling was almost always Redriff. Henslowe, in his Diary, records
sending his horse "to grass to Redreffe." Harman, in Caveat 24, tells of a notable
haunt of vagabonds "between Detforde and Rothered, called the King's Barn." In
Day's B. Beggar iv., Playnster says,
"Convey her to my farm at Rederiff." In Davenant's Plymouth
iii. 1, Seawit affirms: "I have the toll of a wharf near R. will yield me about
4 marks a year."
ROTTEINBERG, ROTTENBURG
A town in S. Würtemberg on the Neckar, 30 m. S.W. of Stuttgart. There are Rothenburgs in Silesia, Bavaria, and Switzerland; but probably the first is meant, if indeed any in particular. Jonson, in Epigram to Capt. Hungry, says, "Keep your names of . . . Hans-spiegle, R., and Boutersheim, for your next meal," i.e. to get a meal by boasting of your imaginary exploits at these places.
ROTTEN ROW
A row of cottages on the E. side of Norton Folgate, above the old St. Mary Spital; they were built as almshouses by the Prior of the Hospital, but fell into decay after its dissolution. Afterwards a draper, called Russell, pulled them down and built on their site, changing the name to Russell's R. The old name, however, stuck to them, and they shared the general bad repute of Shoreditch as a haunt of profligates and thieves.
There was also a R. R., afterwards called Middle R., on the E. side of Goswell
Rd., S. of Old St., near the Charterhouse. Close by was the infamous Pickthatch
(q.v.); this is probably the one intended in the quotation. In Glapthorne's
Hollander iii. 1, the President
of the disreputable society of the Twiball knights is described as "Duke of
Turnbull, Bloomsbury, and R. R." The well-known Rotten Row in Hyde Park was
first made by William III, as an approach to Kensington Palace, and was not
in existence in our period.
ROTTERDAM
The capital of S. Holland, on the Nieuwe Maas at the point where it is joined
by the Rotte, 20 m. from its mouth. It is one of the most important commercial
cities of the Netherlands. It was the native place of Erasmus; the house where
he was born, now a tavern in Wijde Kerk-straat, is marked by a tablet, and his
statue in bronze adorns the Groote Markt. It afforded refuge to many of the expelled
Puritans during the reign of James I. Its name proved irresistibly suggestive
to our pun-loving playwrights. In Jonson's Volpone
iv. 1, Sir Politick reveals a project he has "to serve the state Of Venice with
red herrings for 3 years, And at a certain rate, from R.," the herring fishery
being one of the chief industries of the Netherlands. In Dekker's If
It Be 359, the Puritan says, "We were all smoked out of our own country and
sent to R." In Greene's Friar ix., Vandermast
claims to have given the non-plus to them "of Rheims, Louvain, and fair R." In
More iii. 2, Erasmus is spoken of
as "the famous clerk of Rotherdam." In Barnavelt
ii. 2, Leidenberge reports: "Arnam and R. have yielded him [Barnavelt] obedience."
In Davenant's Albovine iv. 1, Conrade says, "He must to R. to the fat doctor there
and be stewed in a stove." He probably means the famous Cornelius, a Dutch doctor,
who gained a European reputation for his treatment of certain diseases by hot
baths. In Glapthome's Hollander iii.
1, Mixum speaks of the members of the Twiball club as "Rotterdamians," with punning
intention; which is more obvious still in T. Heywood's Challenge
ii. 1, where the Clown says, "Had we but touched at Rot or Dam, 10 to 1 we had
never come off sound men."
ROUANS
Rovezzano seems to be meant, which lies 3 m. E. of Florence between the right
bank of the Arno and Mt. Settignano. In Middleton's Women
Beware iii. 2, The D. of Florence says to Leantio: "Rise now, the Capt. of
our fort at Rouans."
ROUEN
The ancient Rotomagus, a city in France on the Seine, 85 m. N.W. of Paris, and 45 from the sea. In the Cathedral was buried the heart of Richd. Coeur-de-Lion, still preserved in the sacristy. John, D. of Bedford, was buried there. Joan of Arc was burnt alive in the Place de la Pucelle, in 1431. In the Castle, the site of which is now occupied by the Halles, Prince Arthur was murdered in 1204. It was the capital of the Dukes of Normandy, and was held by the Kings of England till 1204, when it was taken by Philippe Augustus, and remained under the French crown till its capture by Henry V in 1419. It was recovered by the French in 1449. It was seized by the Huguenots, but the D. of Guise recovered it in 1562. The massacre of St. Bartholomew extended to R. It was finally besieged and taken by Henri IV in 1593.
In H5 iii., 5, 54, the French
K. orders his Captains to attack Henry "And in a captive chariot into R. Bring
him our prisoner"; in line 64 he commands the Dauphin: "You shall stay with
us in R." In H6 A. i. 1, 65,
Gloucester exclaims, "Is Paris lost? Is R. yielded up?" In iii. 2, the attack
on R. by Joan of Arc, the death of Bedford, and the defeat of Joan by Talbot
are described. In line 1 Joan cries, "These are the city gates, the gates of
R., Through which our policy must make a breach." In 133 Talbot says, "Let's
not forget The noble D. of Bedford, late deceased, But see his exequies fulfilled
in R." In iii. 3, 2, Joan says, "Dismay not, Princes, at this accident, Nor
grieve that R. is so recovered." This is incorrect; the death of Bedford took
place in 1435, 4 years after the burning of Joan. In iii. 2, 82, Talbot says, "In this late-betrayed town Great Coeur-de-Lion's heart was buried." In Marlowe's
Massacre p. 234, Guise, giving
directions about the Massacre, says, "Retes to Dieppe, Mountsorrell unto R.,
And spare not one that you suspect of heresy." In Sampson's Vow,
v. 3, 93, Elizabeth says that Grey and Clifton "Fought for our father, brother,
and sister, At Dennis, Roan, Bullen, and at Callice." In T. Heywood's I.
K. M. B. 308, the Courtezan says, "This jewel an English factor gave me
at his departure out of Rhoane." In Rabelais Pantagruel iv. 6, Dingdong says
of his sheep: "With the fleece of these your fine Roan cloth is to be made."
The scene of B. & F. Brother iv.
2, is laid at R. in the time of D. Rollo of Normandy; it is spelt Roan.
ROUERINDA
(a Latinized form of RUBBIERA). A vill. abt. 5 m. W. of Modena, in N. Italy. In Laelia i. 3, 198, Laelia, who is in a nunnery at Modena, says to her nurse, "Dic patri me cum sorore quadam Rouerindam Unam profectam, reversuram post triduum."
ROUGEMONT
The old castle on a hill N. of Exeter, built by William the Conqueror, and dismantled
during the civil wars. In R3 iv.
2, 108, Richd. says, "When last I was at Exeter, The Mayor in courtesy showed
me the castle, And called it R.; at which name I started Because a bard of Ireland
told me once, I should not live long after I saw Richmond." The story is taken
from the 2nd edition of Holinshed.
ROUNCIVAL
See RONCESVALLES.
ROUND CHURCH
(or ST. SEPULCHRE'S, CAMBRIDGE). A ch. in Cambridge, on the E. side of Bridge St., a little N. of Jesus Lane. It was built in 1101 in imitation of the Ch. of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, and has been carefully preserved. Nash, in Pierce E. 2, speaks of a glutton as having "a belly as big as the round ch. in Cambridge." T. Fuller, in Church History ii. 8, 16, says that Bede's cell was still shown at Cambridge "betwixt St. John's College and R.-ch., or St. Sepulchre's."
ROUND, THE
The round ch. at the W. end of the Temple Ch., Lond. See under TEMPLE.
ROUSILLON
(spelt variously ROSIGNOLL, ROSILION, ROSSILION). An ancient province of S.E.
France, on the W. coast of the Gulf of Lyons. The Castle of R. near Perpignan
still preserves the name. It was long governed by its own Counts, but in 1173
it was bequeathed to the K. of Arragon. In 1659 it was finally ceded to France.
Bertram, Count of R., is the hero of All's
Well; and the scene of i. 1, 3, ii. 2, iii. 2, 4, iv. 5, and v. 2, 3, is laid
in the Count's palace at R. The story is derived from the Decameron iii. 9, the
hero of which is Beltramo, Count of Rossiglione.
ROXBURGH
See ROCKSBOROUGH.
ROYDEN
A vill. in Essex, on the border of Herts., 20 m. W. of Chelmsford. Its old ch.
and manor house are still worth seeing. In Locrine
ii. 5, Trompart cries, "O colliers of Croyden, And rustics of Royden And fishers
of Kent, Come you to lament For Strumbo the cobler."
ROYSTON
A town in Herts, 20 m. N. of Hertford and 38 N. of Lond., on the North Road. In
Dekker's Northward v. 1, Kate says,
"Master Featherstone came to meet me as far as Royston."
RUBICK SEA
A fantastical name for the Red Sea q.v. In Davenant's Just
Italian iv. 4, Altamont says, "He bleeds like to a spring That borders on
the R. S." Evidently Altamont thought that the Red Sea and the springs near it
were of the colour of blood. Many emigrants to Australia have been disappointed
to find the Red Sea of the normal colour.
RUBICON
A stream flowing from the Apennines into the Adriatic on the E. coast of Italy,
between Ravenna and Ariminum; almost certainly the modern Fiumicino. It formed
the boundary between Italy and the province of Gallia Cisalpina. By crossing it
with his army in January 49 B.C., Julius Caesar practically declared war on Rome:
hence the phrase which became current in England in the early part of the 17th
cent. "to cross the R.," meaning to take a decisive and irrevocable step. In Caesar's
Rev. i., chor. 2, Discord speaks of "promised victories by fatal signs At
R. foretold." In B. & F. False One
v. 2, Photinus says to Caesar, "Thou didst presume to pass the R. Against the
laws of Rome." Drayton, in Polyolb. xv. 247, says, "R. much famed both for his
fount and fall The ancient limit held, 'twixt Italy and Gaul."
RUDDINGTON
A town in Notts., abt. 4 m. S. of Nottingham. One of the characters in Sampson's
Vow is Miles, the miller of R.
RUFFIANS'-HALL
A name for W. Smithfield, where sword and buckler fights often took place (see
SMITHFIELD). In Eastward i. 1, 17, Touchstone
exclaims "Hey-day, R.-H.! Swords, pumps, here's a racket indeed!" Fuller, quoted
in Strutt's Sports 26 1, says, "West Smithfield was formerly called R. H., where
such men usually met . . . to try masteries with sword and buckler." Nash, in
Pierce D. 1, says, "Men will needs quarrel . . . that they may make R. H. of hell."
In Almond for Parratt C. 4, he says of Martin Marprelate: "Masse Martin hath never
broke sword in R.H."
RUMBELOWE
Properly a sort of refrain or chanty, sung by sailors when rowing or doing other
rhythmical work. It is also used as a comic place-name. Hycke,
p. 88, says, "I have been in the land of R., 3 mile out of hell." In Compl. Scot
(1549) vi. 65 (quoted in N. E. D.), we have "Sal I go with you to rumbelo fayr?"
RUMELIA
A term applied to all the European provinces conquered by the Turks from the Greek Emperors, to the exclusion of Greece. Rumney wine was a sweet wine from the Balkan Peninsula (possibly including Greece), popular in England in our period. Boorde (1542), in Dyetary x, enumerates amongst hot wines, "Wyne Greek, romanysk, romny." In Elements 22, we have "Sak, raspyce, alycaunt, rumney." Burton, A. M., enumerates "Rummy, Brown bastard, Metheglin" amongst drinks.
RUMFORD, or ROMFORD
A town in Essex, 12 m. N.E. of Lond. It was a favourite place for a summer day's
excursion with the Londoners, when they wanted a run into the country. It was
the centre of an agricultural dist., and its markets on Tuesdays for hogs, and
on Wednesdays for corn and cattle were much frequented. Charcoal-burning was also
carried on for the supply of Lond. In Underwit
ii. 1, Sackbury says to Courtwell, "Thy father's in Essex; if he live, he'll purchase
R." In Jonson's Barthol. iv. 3, Whit promises
Mrs. Littlewit that she shall "ride to Ware and R. in dy coach, shee de players,
be in love vit 'em; sup vit gallantsh, be drunk, and cost de noting." In his New
Inn iv. 3, Pinnacia says of a gallant: "A coach is hired and 4 horse; he runs
in his velvet jacket thus to R., Croydon, Hounslow, or Barnet, the next bawdy
road."
In Massinger's Madam iii. 1, Shavem
threatens to have Ramble arrested "for the bacon you took on the highway from
the poor market-woman, as she rode from R." In Middleton's Chaste
Maid iv. 1, Tim, being told that the Welsh lady has 2,000 runts, says he
has looked in Rider's Dictionary to find out what roars are; "and there I can
hear no tidings of these runts neither; unless they should be R. hogs, I know
them not." Taylor, in Works i. 82, calls the master of his ship "Giles Gammon;
he was born at R." One of Tarlton's Jests relates how he met a kinsman at Ilford,
and made him so drunk that "meaning to go towards Lond., his aim was so good,
that he went towards R. to sell his hogs." Ilford is about half-way on the road
between Lond. and R. In Middleton's R.
G. v. 1, Dapper says, "The gruntling of 500 hogs coming from R. market cannot
make a worse noise than this canting language." In Downfall
Huntington i. 3, Little John says, "At R., Sowtham, Wortley, Hothersfield,
Of all your cattle money shall be made." Dekker, in Lanthorn, says, "These Rank-riders,
like butchers to R. market, seldom go under 6 or 7 in a company." Nash, in Wilton
K. 4, says, "All the colliers of R., who hold their corporation by yanking the
blind bear at Paris Garden, were but bunglers to him."
RUMNEY, ROMNEY
One of the old Cinque ports, on the E. coast of Kent, N. of Dungeness. Around
it lies R. Marsh, a level tract of 24,000 acres, devoted to the grazing of sheep.
Jonson, in Forest vi., To Celia, asks the lady for kisses "Till you equal with
the store All the grass that R. yields." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 1, Honeysuckle says, "Change of pasture makes fat calves in R. Marsh." In
The Cobler of Canterburie (1608), the 1st tale begins: "In R. Marsh by the seacoast
there dwelled a Cobler." Drayton, in Polyolb. xx. 265, says, "R. . . . for fineness
of her grass And for her dainty site all other doth surpass." In W. Rowley's Shoemaker
v. 1, 52, Barnaby says, "The enemy is landed at Sandwitch, set ashore at Dover,
and arrived at Rumny Marsh."
RUMNILLO
Is this a jesting way of referring to Rumney or Romney Marsh? The scene of the
play is Lond. In B. & F. Wit Money
i. 1, Valentine says to Lovegood, "I would not change ways with you . . . For
all your beans in Rumnillo."
RUNNING-MEAD, RUNNYMEDE
A plain in the county of Surrey, on the right bank of the Thames, in the parish
of Egham, 20 m. S.W. of Lond. Here John signed Magna Charta on June 17th, 1215.
In Davenport's Matilda ii. 4, Fitzwater
says, "In a field called R.-M., 'twixt Staines and Windsor, to covenants drawn
(bearing the name and sense of Magna Charta) K. John subscribed."
RUSSELL ST.
Lond., running E. from the E. side of Covent Garden to Drury Lane. It was built in 1634. Later it became famous for its coffee-houses; Will's at the N.W. corner of Bow St., Button's on the S. side, 2 doors from Covent Garden; and Tom's on the N. side. Here also were the Rose and the Three Feathers taverns. Joseph Taylor, one of Shakespeare's actors, lived in R. St., 1634-1641. The 4th Folio of Shakespeare was "printed for H. Herringman, E. Brewster, and R. Bentley at the Anchor in the New Exchange, the Crane in St. Paul's churchyard, and in R.-St. Covent Garden. 1685."
RUSSIA
(Rn.= Russian). The great country in E. Europe and N. Asia. Its articulate history begins in the 9th cent. under the Scandinavian hero-kings, Rurik, Oleg, Vladimir, who made Christianity the religion of the country, and Yaroslav, the author of the first Rn. Code. From 1054 to 1238 it was divided into a number of more or less independent principalities. The Mongols came in 1238, and for over 200 years were the supreme power in R. Between 1462 and 1613 the Autocracy was established, the Mongols expelled, and the kingdom consolidated under the great monarchs, Ivan III, Basil V, and Ivan IV. In 1613 the throne fell to Michael Romanoff, the founder of the late Imperial house. During the 16th cent. R. was divided from the rest of Europe by the powerful kingdom of Poland. The capital was Moscow, whence the Rns. are frequently called Muscovites. During the reign of Edward VI of England, Chancellor, an Englishman, visited the court of Ivan the Terrible and was courteously received; and through his accounts R. became known to our forefathers. Ivan was anxious to cultivate friendly relations with Elizabeth, and even tried to secure the daughter of the Earl of Huntingdon as his wife.
Position and climate. The climate was known to be cold and the nights
in winter very long. Heylyn (s.v. MUSCOVIE) tells how in the N. parts
water, thrown up into the air, will turn to ice before it falls to the ground.
In Webster's Malfi iv. 1, the Duchess
says, "I could curse . . . those 3 smiling seasons of the year Into a Rn. winter."
In his White Devil iii. 1, Monticelso
asks, "What are whores? Cold Rn. winters that appear so barren As if that nature
had forgot the spring." In T. Heywood's Challenge
ii. 1, the Clown says, "R. is a country too cold." In Davenant's Cr.
Brother iv. 1, Castruchio speaks of "R., where the people freeze till they
spit snow." In his Albovine v. 1, Hermengild says, "She trembles like a frosty
Rn. on a hill." In Jonson's Volpone
iii. 6, Volpone speaks of "the cold Rn."; transferring the characteristic of
the climate to the women of the country. Beaumont, in The Glance 5, says, "2
flames, 2 Semeles, Dwell in those eyes, whose looser glowing rays Would thaw
the frozen Rn. into lust." In Meas.
ii. 1, 139, Angelo says of Pompey's long tale: "This will last out a night in
R. when nights are longest there."
Historical allusions. Chaucer, in Squire's Tale F. 10, says, "At Sarray
in the land of Tartarye Ther dwelt a k. that werryed Russye." Sarai was the
capital of the Golden Horde, founded by Batu Khan about 1224; it is the modern
Tsarev on the Volga. Chaucer calls this K. Cambyuskan, evidently Gengis Khan,
who was, in fact, the grandfather of both Batu Khan, and Kublai Khan, whose
court was at Cambaluc, now Pekin. It is really Kublai Khan of whom the poet
is thinking, but his knowledge was confused, and he muddled up both the kings
and their capitals. In C. T. Prol. 54, we are told that the Knight had "reysed
in Lettow and in Ruce"; doubtless in company with the Teutonic Knights, who
made frequent raids against the heathens of Lithuania and Russia. In Selimus
540 Sehm says, "Basilus, the mighty Emperor of R., Sends in his troops of slave-born
Muscovites." This was Basil, who reigned from 1505 to 1533; Selim's date is
1512-1520. Meas. iii. 2, 94, Lucio
repeats a rumour that the D. of Vienna "is with the Emperor of R." In W.
T. iii. 2, 120, Hermione declares, "The Emperor of R. was my father." The
historical period of both these plays is quite indefinite, but probably Ivan
the Terrible was suggested to the audience. In L.
L. L. v., the K. of Navarre and his lords visit the Princess "apparelled
like Muscovities or Rns." Probably the idea was suggested by Ivan's embassy
in 1583 to ask for himself the hand of Mary Hastings, daughter of the Earl of
Huntingdon. In T. Heywood's I. K. M.
B., "A Rn. Prince, the Emperor's ambassador," is represented as one of the
guests at the opening of Gresham's Royal Exchange in 1570 "He doth not our language
understand," says Gresham. For some 10 years past, since the foundation of the
Muscovy Company, trade relations had been established between R. and England;
and in 1569 we hear of Thomas Banister doing a good business in kerseys with
the Rns. In Jonson's Cynthia i.
1, Amorphus (who is supposed to stand for Anthony Munday) claims that in the
course of his extensive travels his hat was given him "by a great man in R.,
as an especial prized present." It was, it appears, the hat that Ulysses wore
in his 10 years' wanderings! In Day's Travails
we are told of the visit of Sir Anthony Sherley to the Rn. Court about 1600,
and one act is laid there. In T. Heywood's Witches
ii. the soldier claims to have "served with the Rn. against the Polack, a heavy
war." R. was invaded by the Poles in 1609, and they were not finally repulsed
till 1618. Heylyn (s.v. MUSCOVIE) says, "In matters of war the people
are indifferently able, as being almost in continual broils with their neighbours."
Milton P. L. x. 43 1, describes the Tartar fleeing "from his Rn. foe By Astracan."
In xi. 394, Adam is shown "the Rn. Ksar In Mosco." The scene of B. & F. Subject
is laid in Moscow during a war with the Tartars, but the date of the action
is otherwise indeterminate. A History of Muscovy will be found in Milton's Prose
Works.
National Character. Heylyn (s.v. MUSCOVIE) says, "The people
are perfidious, swift of foot, strong of body, and unnatural. They are exceedingly
given to drink. They are for the most part of a square proportion, broad, short,
and thick; grey-eyed, broad-bearded, and generally are furnished with prominent
paunches. The Commons live in miserable subjection to the Nobles; and they again
in as great slavery to the D. or Emperor. They are altogether unlearned. The
women are private, fearful to offend; but, once lascivious, intolerably wanton.
It is the fashion of these women to love that husband best which beateth them
most." In Webster's Malfi iii. 5, the
Duchess asks: "Must 1, like a slaveborn Rn., Account it praise to suffer tyranny?
" In Dekker's Babylon 259, Paridel
says of Q. Elizabeth: "She walks not, as the Rn . . . . with foul big-boned
slaves Strutting on each side with the slicing axe." In his Seven Sins he says,
"The Rns. have an excellent custom; they beat them on the shins that have money
and will not pay their debts." In his Wonder
iv. 1, the Soldier says, "Give him the Rn. law for all these sins, 100 blows
on his bare shins." In Day's Parl. Bees x., Impotens says, "Let him have Rn.
law for all his sins; A hundred blows on his bare shits." In Webster's White
Devil iv. 1, Flamineo says, "I am not in R.; my shins must be kept whole."
Hall, in Epp. Ii. 7, asks: "What is your R. to all her inhabitants but a large
prison, a wide galley?"
National Dress. Heylyn (s.v. MUSCOVIE) says, "Not only the clothes
of the people, but their very houses are lined with thick furs." In L.
L. L. v. 2, 368, Rosalind speaks of the masquers as "4 in Rn. habit"; and
in 303 they are described as "Disguised as Muscovites in shapeless gear." In
T. Heywood's Lucrece iii. 5, Valerius
sings: "Some like breechless woman goThe Russ, Turk, Jew, and Grecian";
and again, "The Russ with sables furs his cap."
National Customs and Practices. Nash, in Lenten, p. 290, says: "In
R. there are no presents but of meat or drink." In T. Heywood's Lucrece
iii. 5, Valerius sings: "The Russ drinks quass"; i.e. kvass, a sort of
rye beer described by Chancellor (1553) as "like our penny ale." Heylyn (s.v.
MUSCOVIE) says, "Every gentleman hath in his house a stove or hot-house in which
they keep, as it were, to thaw themselves." In Dekker's Match
me iii. 1, John says, "I could not in a Rn. Stove sweat more Than I did
in my bed."
Trade and Commerce. In Marlowe's Tamb.
A. i. 2, Tamburlaine says, "Christian merchants that with Rn. stems Plough
up huge furrows in the Caspian Sea Shall vail to us." The passage is copied
in Shrew Haz. 513, where Ferando
says, "Thou shalt have precious jewels fetched from far By Italian merchants
that with Rn. stems Plough up huge furrows in the Terrene Main." Bears were
imported into England from R. for the bear-baitings which were so popular in
Lond. In H5 iii. 7, 154, Orleans
calls the English "foolish curs that run winking into the mouth of a Rn. bear
and have their heads crushed like rotten apples." In Mac.
iii. 4, 100, Macbeth says to the Ghost, "Approach thou like the rugged Rn. bear
. . . and my firm nerves Shall never tremble." In Dekker's Babylon
212, Titania says, "They have hearts more rugged Than is the Rn. bear." In Middleton's
R. G. iii. 3, Sir Alexander complains
that his son is still wild "as a Rn. bear." Heylyn, p. 12, quotes from Du Bartas:
"From R. [come] furs to keep the rich from cold." In Lady
Mother iii. 1, Bonville speaks of "the immaculate ermine hunted by the frozen
Russ." In W. Rowley's New Wonder
v., Welcome says, "One cup of ale will shroud one better from the cold than
all the furs in R." For further illustrations of Russia see under Muscovy.
RUTILES
i.e. the Rutuli, who were supposed to have inhabited the part of Latium
on the sea-coast around Ardea. Their K., Turnus, figures in the Aeneid as the
brave rival and opponent of Aeneas when he landed in Italy. In Marlowe's Dido
i. 1, Jupiter predicts of Aeneas: "3 winters shall he with the Rutiles war And
in the end subdue them with his sword."
RUTLAND
The smallest county in England, lying between Lincs., Northants, and Leicestersh.
The capital is Oakham, which boasts an old Norman castle dating from the reign
of Henry II. In Piers B. ii. 1, 10, "Rainalde the reve of Rotland sokene" is
one of the roystering witnesses to Gluttony's Deed of Gift. In B. & F. Wit
S. W. iii. 1, the singing boy says, "Sir, [I was] born at Ely; we all set
up in Ely but our house commonly breaks in Rshire." The coarse jest seems to mean
that the voice breaks at the time of adolescence. The eldest son of the D. of
York was created Earl of R, in 1386, and D. of Aumerle in 1397. After his treasonable
plot he was degraded to his former title. In R2
v. 2, 43. York speaks of him as "Aumerle that was; But that is lost for being
Richd.'s friend, And, Madam, you must call him R. now." In v. 3, 96, the Duchess
calls him "R., my transgressing boy." He subsequently became D, of York and was
killed at Agincourt. The 3rd son of Richd., D. of York, was the Earl of R. He
was killed at Wakefield Bridge by Clifford when he was only a boy, and buried
at Fotheringay. His hapless fate is referred to frequently is H6
C. and R3. The present D. is
descended from Thomas Manners, created Earl of R. in 1525; the title was raised
to a Dukedom in 1703.
RUTLAND HOUSE
A Lond. mansion, at the top of Aldersgate St., near what is now Charter House Sq. The name is preserved in R. Pl. on the N. side of the square. At R. H., Davenant succeeded in getting leave to give dramatic entertainments towards the close of the Commonwealth. His First Day's Entertainment at Rutland House, with its interesting accounts of contemporary Lond. and Paris, was staged on May 21, 1656; and his Rhodes in August of the same year. In the printed edition of the latter it is stand that it was "made a representation at the back part of R. H. in the upper end of Aldersgate St, Lond., 1656."
RYALTO
See RIALTO.
RYE
A spt. in England, in the S.E. of Sussex, 30 m. S.W. of Dover. It was one of the
Cinque Ports, and had a large trade with the Continent; but the choking up of
the harbour has reduced it to a shadow of its former self. The castle, now used
as a gaol, was built in the reign of Stephen. The town was walled and fortified
in the reign of Richd. I and further strengthened by Edward III. The E. gate still
remains. R. was the birthplace of the dramatist, John Fletcher, whose father,
afterwards Bp. of Lond., was then vicar there. In Three
Ladies ii., Simony says that Friar Austin "landed about R, Sandwich, or Dover."
As every school-boy knows, the actual landing-place of Augustine was the Isle
of Thanes. Later on in the same scene Lucre includes R. among the places where,
as a consequence of their commercial importance, there are infinite numbers that
"great rents upon little room do bestow." In Greene's Friar
ii., Bacon promises to build a wall of brass to ring "the English strand From
Dover to the marketplace of R." Dekker, in Lanthorn, says that the beggars' children
"are sometimes carted in dossers, like fresh fish from R. that comes on horseback."
Nash, in Lenten v. 253, says, "Rie is one of the ancient towns belonging to the
Cinque Ports, yet limpeth cinque ace behind Yarmouth . . . and to stand threshing
no longer about it, Rie is Ry, and no more but Rie, and Yarmouth wheat compared
with it" For more on Fletcher's birthplace, click here: