Part 112 (1/2)

=Rhea's Child.= Jupiter is so called by Pindar. He dethroned his father, Saturn.

The child Of Rhea drove him [_Saturn_] from the upper sky.

Akenside, _Hymn to the Naiads_ (1767).

=Rheims= (_The Jackdaw of_), The cardinal-archbishop of Rheims made a great feast, to which he invited all the joblillies of the neighborhood.

There were abbots and prelates, knights and squires, and all who delighted to honor the great panjandrum of Rheims. The feast over, water was served, and his lords.h.i.+p's grace, drawing off his turquoise ring, laid it beside his plate, dipped his fingers into the golden bowl, and wiped them on his napkin; but when he looked to put on his ring, it was nowhere to be found. It was evidently gone. The floor was searched, the plates and dishes lifted up, the mugs and chalices, every possible and impossible place was poked into, but without avail. The ring must have been stolen. His grace was furious, and, in dignified indignation, calling for bell, book, and candle, banned the thief, both body and soul, this life and for ever. It was a terrible curse, but none of the guests seemed the worse for it--except, indeed, the jackdaw. The poor bird was a pitiable object, his head lobbed down, his wings draggled on the floor, his feathers were all ruffled, and with a ghost of a caw he prayed the company follow him; when lo! there was the ring, hidden in some sly corner by the jackdaw as a clever practical joke. His lords.h.i.+p's grace smiled benignantly, and instantly removed the curse; when lo! as if by magic, the bird became fat and sleek again, perky and impudent, wagging his tail, winking his eye, and c.o.c.king his head on one side, then up he hopped to his old place on the cardinal's chair. Never after this did he indulge in thievish tricks, but became so devout, so constant at feast and chapel, so well-behaved at matins and vespers, that when he died he died in the odor of sanct.i.ty, and was canonized, his name being changed to that of Jim Crow.--Barham, _Ingoldsby Legends_ (”Jackdaw of Rheims,” 1837).

=Rheingold.= The treasure given Siegfried by the dwarfs, and the cause of contention after his death.

=Rhesus= was on his march to aid the Trojans in their siege, and had nearly reached Troy, when he was attacked in the night by Ulysses and Diomed. In this surprise Rhesus and all his army were cut to pieces.--Homer, _Iliad_, x.

A parallel case was that of Sweno, the Dane, who was marching to join G.o.dfrey and the crusaders, when he was attacked in the night by Solyman, and both Sweno and his army perished.--Ta.s.so, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

=Rhiannon's Birds.= The notes of these birds were so sweet that warriors remained spell-bound for eighty years together, listening to them. These birds are often alluded to by the Welsh bards. (Rhiannon was the wife of Prince Pwyll.)--_The Mabinogion_, 363 (twelfth century).

The snow-white bird which the monk Felix listened to, sang so enchantingly that he was spell-bound for a hundred years, listening to it.--Longfellow, _Golden Legend_.

=Rhodalind=, daughter of Aribert, king of Lombardy, in love with Duke Gondibert; but Gondibert preferred Birtha, a country girl, daughter of the sage, Astragon. While the duke is whispering sweet love-notes to Birtha, a page comes post-haste to announce to him that the king has proclaimed him his heir, and is about to give him his daughter in marriage. The duke gives Birtha an emerald ring, and says if he is false to her, the emerald will lose its l.u.s.tre; then hastens to court, in obedience to the king's summons. Here the tale breaks off, and was never finished.--Sir Wm. Davenant, _Gondibert_ (1605-1668).

=Rhodian Venus= (_The_). This was the ”Venus” of Protog'enes mentioned by Pliny, _Natural History_, x.x.xv. 10.

When first the Rhodian's mimic art arrayed The Queen of Beauty in her Cyprian shade, The happy master mingled in his piece Each look that charmed him in the fair of Greece.

Campbell, _Pleasures of Hope_, ii. (1799).

Prior (1664-1721) refers to the same painting in his fable of _Protogenes and Appelles_:

I hope, sir, you intend to stay To see our Venus; 'tis the piece The most renowned throughout all Greece.

=Rhod'ope= (3 _syl._), or =Rhod'opis=, a celebrated Greek courtezan, who afterwards married Psammetichus, king of Egypt. It is said she built the third pyramid.--Pliny, _Nat. Hist._, x.x.xvi. 12.

A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear, Than Rhodope's.

Shakespeare, _Henry VI._ act i. sc. 6 (1589).

=Rhombus=, a schoolmaster who speaks ”a leash of languages at once,”

puzzling himself and his hearers with a jargon like that of ”Holofernes”

in Shakespeare's _Love's Labor's Lost_ (1594).--Sir Philip Sidney, _Pastoral Entertainment_ (1587).