Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 108

=Red-Cap= (_Mother_), an old nurse at the Hungerford Stairs.--Sir W.

Scott, _Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).

_Red-Cap_ (_Mother_). Madame Bufflon was so called, because her bonnet was deeply colored with her own blood in a street fight at the outbreak of the French Revolution.--W. Melville.

=Red Cross Knight= (_The_) represents St. George, the patron saint of England. His adventures, which occupy bk. i. of Spenser's _Faery Queen_, symbolize the struggles and ultimate victory of holiness over sin (or protestantism over popery). Una comes on a white a.s.s to the court of Gloriana, and craves that one of the knights would undertake to slay the dragon which kept her father and mother prisoners. The Red Cross Knight, arrayed in all the armor of G.o.d (_Eph._ vi. 11-17), undertakes the adventure, and goes, accompanied for a time, with Una; but, deluded by Archimago, he quits the lady, and the two meet with numerous adventures.

At last, the knight, having slain the dragon, marries Una; and thus holiness is allied to the Oneness of Truth (1590).

=Red Hand of Ulster.=

Calverley, of Calverley, Yorkshire. Walter Calverley, Esq., in 1605, murdered two of his children, and attempted to murder his wife and a child "at nurse." This became the subject of _The Yorkshire Tragedy_. In consequence of these murders, the family is required to wear "the b.l.o.o.d.y hand."

The Holt family, of Lancashire, has a similar tradition connected with their coat armor.

=Red Knight= (_The_), Sir Perimo'nes, one of the four brothers who kept the pa.s.sages leading to Castle Perilous. In the allegory of Gareth, this knight represents noon, and was the third brother. Night, the eldest born, was slain by Sir Gareth; the Green Knight, which represents the young day-spring, was overcome, but not slain; and the Red Knight, being overcome, was spared also. The reason is this: darkness is _slain_, but dawn is only _overcome_ by the stronger light of noon, and noon decays into the evening twilight. Tennyson in his _Gareth and Lynette_, calls Sir Perimones "Meridies," or "Noonday Sun." The Latin name is not consistent with a British tale.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 129 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_.

=Red Knight of the Red Lands= (_The_), Sir Ironside. "He had the strength of seven men, and every day his strength went on increasing till noon."

This knight kept the Lady Liones captive in Castle Perilous. In the allegory of Sir Gareth, Sir Ironside represents death, and the captive lady "the Bride," or Church triumphant. Sir Gareth combats with Night, Morn, Noon, and Evening, or fights the fight of faith, and then overcomes the last enemy, which is death, when he marries the lady, or is received into the Church, which is "the Lamb's Bride." Tennyson, in his _Gareth and Lynette_, makes the combat with the Red Knight ("Mors,"

or "Death") to be a single stroke; but the _History_ says it is endured from morn to noon, and from noon to night--in fact, that man's whole life is a contest with moral and physical death.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 134-137 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_ ("Gareth and Lynette").

=Red Pipe.= The Great Spirit long ago called the Indians together, and, standing on the red pipe-stone rock, broke off a piece, which he made into a pipe, and smoked, letting the smoke exhale to the four quarters.

He then told the Indians that the red pipe-stone was their flesh, and they must use the red pipe when they made peace; and that when they smoked it, the war-club and scalping-knife must not be touched. Having so spoken, the Great Spirit was received up into the clouds.--_Indian Mythology._

The red pipe has blown its fumes of peace and war to the remotest corners of the continent. It visited every warrior, and pa.s.sed through its reddened stem the irrevocable oath of war and desolation. Here, too, the peace-breathing calumet was born, and fringed with eagle's quills, which has shed its thrilling fumes over the land, and soothed the fury of the relentless savage.--Catlin, _Letters on ... the North Americans_, ii. 160.

=Red Ridinghood= (_Little_), a child with a red cloak, who went to carry cakes to her grandmother. A wolf placed itself in the grandmother's bed, and when the child remarked upon the size of its eyes, ears, and nose, replied it was the better to see, hear, and smell the little grandchild.

"But, grandmamma," said the child, "what a great mouth you have got!"

"The better to eat you up," was the reply, and the child was devoured by the wolf.

This nursery tale is, with slight variations, common to Sweden, Germany, and France. In Charles Perrault's _Contes des Fees_ (1697) it is called "Le Pet.i.t Chaperon Rouge."

=Red Swan= (_The_). Odjibwa, hearing a strange noise, saw in the lake a most beautiful red swan. Pulling his bow, he took deliberate aim, without effect. He shot every arrow from his quiver with the same result; then, fetching from his father's medicine sack three poisoned arrows, he shot them also at the bird. The last of the three arrows pa.s.sed through the swan's neck, whereupon the bird rose into the air and sailed away towards the setting sun.--Schoolcraft, _Algic Researches_, ii. 9 (1839).

=Redgauntlet=, a story told in a series of letters, about a conspiracy formed by Sir Edward Hugh Redgauntlet, on behalf of the "Young Pretender," Charles Edward, then above 40 years of age. The conspirators insist that the prince shall dismiss his mistress, Miss Walkingshaw, and, as he refuses to comply with this demand, they abandon their enterprise. Just as a brig is prepared for the prince's departure from the island, Colonel Campbell arrives with the military. He connives, however, at the affair, the conspirators disperse, the prince embarks, and Redgauntlet becomes the prior of a monastery abroad. This is one of the inferior novels, but is redeemed by the character of Peter Peebles.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (1824).

_Redgauntlet_ embodies a great deal of Scott's own personal history and experience.--Chambers, _English Literature_, ii. 589.

_Redgauntlet_ (_Sir Alberick_), an ancestor of the family.

_Sir Edward Redgauntlet_, son of Sir Alberick; killed by his father's horse.

_Sir Robert Redgauntlet_, an old tory, mentioned in Wandering Willie's tale.

_Sir John Redgauntlet_, son and successor of Sir Robert, mentioned in Wandering Willie's tale.

_Sir Redwald Redgauntlet_, son of Sir John.

_Sir Henry Darsie Redgauntlet_, son of Sir Redwald.

_Lady Henry Darsie Redgauntlet_, wife of Sir Henry Darsie.

_Sir Arthur Darsie Redgauntlet_, alias _Darsie Latimer_, son of Sir Henry and Lady Darsie.

_Miss Lilias Redgauntlet_, alias _Green-mantle_, sister of Sir Arthur.

She marries Allan Fairford.

_Sir Edward Hugh Redgauntlet_, the Jacobite conspirator. He is uncle to Darsie Latimer, and is called "Laird of the Lochs," _alias_ "Mr. Herries of Birrenswark," _alias_ "Master Ingoldsby."--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Redi= (_Francis_), an Italian physician and lyric poet. He was first physician to the grand-duke of Tuscany (1626-1698).

Even Redi, tho' he chanted Bacchus in the Tuscan valleys, Never drank the wine he vaunted In his dithyrambic sallies.

Longfellow, _Drinking Song_.

=Redlaw= (_Mr._), the "haunted man." He was a professor of chemistry, who bargained with the spirit which haunted him to leave him, on condition of his imparting to others his own idiosyncrasies. From this moment the chemist carried with him the infection of sullenness, selfishness, discontent and ingrat.i.tude. On Christmas Day the infection ceased.

Redlaw lost his morbid feelings, and all who suffered by his infection, being healed, were restored to love, mirth, benevolence and grat.i.tude.--C. d.i.c.kens, _The Haunted Man_ (1848).

=Redmain= (_Sir Magnus_), governor of the town of Berwick (fifteenth century).

He was remarkable for his long red beard, and was therefore called by the English "Magnus Red-beard," but by the Scotch, in derision, "Magnus Red-mane," as if his beard had been a horse-mane.--G.o.dscroft, 178.

=Redmond O'Neale=, Rokeby's page, beloved by Rokeby's daughter, Matilda, whom he marries. He turns out to be Mortham's son and heir.--Sir W.

Scott, _Rokeby_ (1812).

=Reece= (_Captain_), R.N., of the _Mantelpiece_; adored by all his crew.

They had feather-beds, warm slippers, hot-water cans, brown Windsor soap, and a valet to every four, for Captain Reece said, "It is my duty to make my men happy, and I will." Captain Reece had a daughter, ten female cousins, a niece and a ma, six sisters and an aunt or two, and, at the suggestion of William Lee, the c.o.xswain, married these ladies to his crew--"It is my duty to make my men happy, and I will." Last of all, Captain Reece married the widowed mother of his c.o.xswain, and they were all married on one day--"It was their duty, and they did it."--W. S.

Gilbert, _The Bab Ballads_ ("Captain Reece, R.N.").

=Reeve's Tale= (_The_). Symond Symkyn, a miller of Trompington, near Cambridge, used to serve "Soler Hall College," but was an arrant thief.

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.