Part 109 (2/2)

=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 publis.h.i.+ng 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 Leicesters.h.i.+re 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).

=Remois= (2 _syl._), the people of Rheims, in France.

=Remond=, a shepherd in _Britannia's Pastorals_, by William Browne (1613).

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