Character Sketches of Romance Volume Iii Part 109

Two scholars, Aleyn and John, undertook to see that a sack of corn sent to be ground was not tampered with; so one stood by the hopper, and one by the trough which received the flour. In the mean time the miller let their horse loose, and, when the young men went to catch it, purloined half a bushel of the flour, subst.i.tuting meal instead. It was so late before the horse could be caught that the miller offered the two scholars a "shakedown" in his own chamber, but when they were in bed he began to belabor them unmercifully. A scuffle ensued, in which the miller, being tripped up, fell upon his wife. His wife, roused from her sleep, seized a stick, and, mistaking the bald pate of her husband for the night-cap of one of the young men, banged it so l.u.s.tily that the man was almost stunned with the blows. In the mean time the two scholars made off without payment, taking with them the sack and also the half-bushel of flour, which had been made into cakes.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).

? Boccaccio has a similar story in his _Decameron_. It is also the subject of a _fabliau_ ent.i.tled _De Gombert et des Deux Clers_. Chaucer borrowed his story from a _fabliau_ given by Thomas Wright in his _Anecdota Literaria_, 15.

=Reformation= (_The_). It was in germ in the early Lollards, and was radiant in the works of Wycliffe.

It was present in the pulpit of Pierre de Bruys, in the pages of Arnoldo da Brescia, in the cell of Roger Bacon.

It was active in the field with Peter Revel, in the castle of Lord Cobham, in the pulpit with John Huss, in the camp with John Ziska, in the cla.s.s-room of Pico di Mirandola, in the observatory of Abraham Zacuto, and the college of Antonio di Lebrija, and it burst into full light through Martin Luther.

=Re'gan=, second daughter of King Lear, and wife of the duke of Cornwall.

Having received the half of her father's king-[TN-119] she refused to entertain him with his suite. On the death of her husband, she designed to marry Edmund, natural son of the earl of Gloster, and was poisoned by her elder sister, Goneril, out of jealousy. Regan, like Goneril, is proverbial for "filial ingrat.i.tude."--Shakespeare, _King Lear_ (1605).

=Regent Diamond= (_The_). So called from the regent duke of Orleans. This diamond, the property of France, at first set in the crown, and then in the sword of state, was purchased in India by a governor of Madras, of whom the regent bought it for 80,000.

=Regillus= (_The Battle of Lake_). Regillus Lacus is about twenty miles east of Rome, between Gabii (north) and Lavic.u.m (south). The Romans had expelled Tarquin the Proud from the throne, because of the most scandalous conduct of his son s.e.xtus, who had violated Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus. Thirty combined cities of Latium, with Sabines and Volscians, took the part of Tarquin, and marched towards Rome. The Romans met the allied army at the Lake Regillus, and here, on July 15, B.C. 499, they won the great battle which confirmed their republican const.i.tution, and in which Tarquin, with his sons s.e.xtus and t.i.tus, was slain. While victory was still doubtful, Castor and Pollux, on their white horses, appeared to the Roman dictator, and fought for the Romans.

The victory was complete, and ever after the Romans observed the anniversary of this battle with a grand procession and sacrifice. The procession started from the temple of Mars outside the city walls, entered by the Porta Capena, traversed the chief streets of Rome, marched past the temple of Vesta in the Forum, and then to the opposite side of the "great square," where they had built a temple to Castor and Pollux in grat.i.tude for the aid rendered by them in this battle. Here offerings were made, and sacrifice was offered to the Great Twin-Brothers, the sons of Leda. Macaulay has a lay, called _The Battle of the Lake Regillus_, on the subject.

Where, by the Lake Regillus, Under the Porcian height, All in the land of Tusculum, Was fought the glorious fight.

Macaulay, _Lays of Ancient Rome_ (1842).

A very parallel case occurs in the life of Mahomet. The Koreis.h.i.tes had armed to put down "the prophet;" but Mahomet met them in arms, and on January 13, 624, won the famous battle of Bedr. In the _Koran_ (ch.

iii.), he tells us that the angel Gabriel, on his horse, Hazum, appeared on the field with 3000 "angels," and won the battle for him.

In the conquest of Mexico, we are told that St. James appeared on his grey horse at the head of the Castilian adventurers, and led them on to victory. Bernal Diaz, who was in the battle, saw the grey horse, but fancies the rider was Francesco de Morla, though, he confesses, "it might be the glorious apostle St. James" for aught he knew.

=Regimen of the School of Salerno=, a collection of precepts in Latin verse, written by John of Milan, a poet of the eleventh century, for Robert, the duke of Normandy.

A volume universally known As the "Regimen of the School of Salern."

Longfellow, _The Golden Legend_ (1851).

=Reginald Archer.= A refined, debonnaire sensualist, courted by women and envied by men. He wooes and marries a gentle, pure heiress, and would, as her husband, break her heart were not the evil work cut short by his death at the hands of a man whose wife Reginald has lured from her allegiance to her lawful lord.--Anne Crane Seemuller, _Reginald Archer_ (1865).

=Region of Death=, (_Marovsthulli_), Thurr, near Delhi, fatal, from some atmospheric influence, especially about sunset.

=Regno= (_The_), Naples.

Are our wiser heads leaning towards an alliance with the pope and the Regno?--George Eliot (Marian Evans).

=Reg'ulus=, a Roman general, who conquered the Carthaginians (B.C. 256), and compelled them to sue for peace. While negotiation was going on, the Carthaginians, joined by Xanthippos, the Lacedemonian, attacked the Romans at Tunis, and beat them, taking Regulus prisoner. The captive was sent to Rome to make terms of peace and demand exchange of prisoners, but he used all his influence with the senate to dissuade them from coming to terms with their foe. On his return to captivity, the Cathaginians[TN-120] cut off his eyelids and exposed him to the burning sun, then placed him in a barrel armed with nails, which was rolled up and down a hill till the man was dead.

? This subject has furnished Pradon and Dorat with tragedies (_French_), and Metastasio, the Italian poet, with an opera called _Regolo_ (1740).

"Regulus" was a favorite part of the French actor, Francois J. Talma.

=Rehearsal= (_The_), a farce by George Villiers, duke of Buckingham (1671). It was designed for a satire on the rhyming plays of the time.

The chief character, Bayes (1 _syl._), is meant for Dryden.

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

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

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

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

=Reksh=, Sir Rustam's horse.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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