Character Sketches of Romance
Chapter 244 : Robert Wetherilt [1708-1745] came to Drury Lane a boy, where he showed his rising geni

Robert Wetherilt [1708-1745] came to Drury Lane a boy, where he showed his rising genius in the part of "Squire Richard."--Chetwood, _History of the Stage_.

_Richard_ (_Prince_), eldest son of King Henry II.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

_Richard_ "Cur de Lion," introduced in two novels by Sir W. Scott (_The Talisman_ and _Ivanhoe_). In the latter he first appears as "The Black Knight," at the tournament, and is called _Le Noir Faineant_, or "The Black Sluggard;" also "The Knight of the Fetter-lock."

_Richard a Name of Terror._ The name of Richard I., like that of Attila, Bonaparte, Corvinus, Na.r.s.es, Sebastian, Talbot, Tamerlane, and other great conquerors, was at one time employed _in terrorem_ to disobedient children. (See NAMES OF TERROR.)

His tremendous name was employed by the Syrian mothers to silence their infants; and if a horse suddenly started from the way, his rider was wont to exclaim, "Dost thou think King Richard is in the bush?"--Gibbon, _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_, xi. 146 (1776-88).

_The Daughters of Richard I._ When Richard was in France, Fulco, a priest, told him he ought to beware how he bestowed his daughters in marriage. "I have no daughters," said the king. "Nay, nay," replied Fulco, "all the world knows that you have three--Pride, Covetousness and Lechery." "If these are my daughters," said the king, "I know well how to bestow them where they will be well cherished. My eldest I give to the Knights Templars, my second to the monks; and my third I cannot bestow better than on yourself, for I am sure she will never be divorced nor neglected."--Thomas Milles, _True n.o.bility_ (1610).

_The Horse of Richard I._, Fennel.

Ah, Fennel, my n.o.ble horse, thou bleedest, thou art slain!--_Cur de Lion and His Horse._

_The Troubadour of Richard I._, Bertrand de Born.

=Richard Pennyroyal=, unhappy man whose weary indifference to his first wife heightens into aversion as she becomes insane. He is relieved when she drowns herself. His second wife, pa.s.sionately beloved, is unfaithful to him, and loathes him as he drinks more and more to drown disappointment. His rival triumphs over him in a struggle for property, but Richard has his wife still. Straying one night toward the pool in which his first wife drowned herself, he comes upon the false wife and her lover, challenges the latter to a duel then and there, and is shot through the heart. His body is tossed into the pool and never discovered.--Julian Hawthorne, _Archibald Malmaison_ (1878).

=Richard II's Horse=, Roan Barbary.--Shakespeare, _Richard II._ act v. sc.

5 (1597).

=Richard III.=, a tragedy by Shakespeare (1597). At one time parts of Rowe's tragedy of _Jane Sh.o.r.e_ were woven in the acting edition, and John Kemble introduced other clap-traps from Colley Cibber. The best actors of this part were David Garrick (1716-1779), Henry Mossop (1729-1773) and Edmund Kean (1787-1833).

Richard III. was only 19 years old at the opening of Shakespeare's play.--Sharon Turner.

_The Horse of Richard III._, White Surrey.--Shakespeare, _Richard III._ act v. sc. 3 (1597).

_Richard's himself again!_ These words were interpolated by John Kemble from Colley Cibber.

=Richards= (_Allen_). He meets his lately betrothed in a parlor-car, and the dialogue that ensues ends in reconciliation and renewal of vows.

They are alone, except when the porter enters from time to time, and a providential detention on the road prolongs the interview.--W. D.

Howells, _The Parlor Car_ (a farce, 1876).

=Richelieu= (_Armand_), cardinal and chief minister of France. The duke of Orleans (the king's brother), the count de Baradas (the king's favorite), and other n.o.blemen, conspired to a.s.sa.s.sinate Richelieu, dethrone Louis XIII., and make Gaston, duke of Orleans, the regent. The plot was revealed to the cardinal by Marion de Lorme, in whose house the conspirators met. The conspirators were arrested, and several of them put to death, but Gaston, duke of Orleans, turned king's evidence, and was pardoned.--Lord Lytton, _Richelieu_ (1839).

=Richland= (_Miss_), intended for Leontine Croaker, but she gives her hand in marriage to Mr. Honeywood, "the good-natured man," who promises to abandon his quixotic benevolence, and to make it his study in future "to reserve his pity for real distress, his friends.h.i.+p for true merit, and his love for her who first taught him what it is to be happy."--Goldsmith, _The Good-natured Man_ (1768).

=Richlings= (_The_). Brave young couple who come to New Orleans to make a living. _John Richling_ has forfeited the favor of a rich father by marrying the woman of his choice, but never regrets the action. From the outset ill-fortune pursues him. He is willing to work, but work is hard to get. He accepts various employments, more or less menial, and through no fault of his, loses one after another. Nothing is stable except _Mary's_ love and _Dr. Sevier's_ friends.h.i.+p. Just before the war poverty compels him to send Mary to her mother in Milwaukee. There her child is born. He remains in New Orleans, working hard, and steadily failing in health. For three years they are separated by war, the n.o.ble wife trying all the while to get to her husband. When she succeeds, it is to find him on his death-bed.

Mary becomes, under Dr. Sevier's direction a city-missionary. "The work ... seemed to keep John near. Almost, sometimes, he seemed to walk at her side in her errands of mercy, or to spread above her the arms of benediction."--George W. Cable, _Dr. Sevier_ (1888).

=Richmond= (_The d.u.c.h.ess of_) wife of Charles Stuart, in the court of Charles II. The line became extinct, and the t.i.tle was given to the Lennox family.--Sir W. Scott, _Perveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

_Richmond_ (_The earl of_), Henry of Lancaster.--Sir W. Scott, _Anne of Geierstein_ (time, Edward IV.).

=Richmond Hill= (_The La.s.s of_), Miss l'Anson, of Hill House, Richmond, Yorks.h.i.+re. Words by M'Nally, music by James Hook, who married the young lady.

_The La.s.s of Richmond Hill_ is one of the sweetest ballads in the language.--John Bell.

=Richmond= (_Kate_). New England girl, heroine of several sketches in Grace Greenwood's _Leaves_. "Aside from her beauty and unfailing cheerfulness, she has a clear, strong intellect, an admirable taste and an earnest truthfulness of character."--Grace Greenwood, _Greenwood Leaves_ (1850).

=Rickets= (_Mabel_), the old nurse of Frank Osbaldistone.--Sir W. Scott, _Rob Roy_ (time, George I.).

=Riderhood= (_Rogue_), the villain in d.i.c.kens's novel of _Our Mutual Friend_ (1864).

=Rides on the Tempest and Directs the Storm.= Joseph Addison, speaking of the duke of Marlborough and his famous victories, says that he inspired the fainting squadrons, and stood unmoved in the shock of battle:

So when an angel by divine command, With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, Such as of late o'er pale Britannia past, Calm and serene he drives the furious blast; And, pleased th' Almighty's orders to perform, Rides on the tempest and directs the storm.

_The Campaign_ (1705).

=Ridicule= (_Father of_). Francois Rabelais is so styled by Sir Wm. Temple (1495-1553).

=Ridolphus=, one of the band of adventurers that joined the crusaders. He was slain by Argantes (bk. vii.)[TN-126]--Ta.s.so, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

=Rienzi= (_Nicolo Gabrni_) or COLA DI RIENZI, last of the tribunes, who a.s.sumed the name of "Tribune of Liberty, Peace and Justice"

(1313-1354).

? Cola di Rienzi is the hero of a novel by Lord Bulwer Lytton, ent.i.tled _Rienzi_, or _The Last of the Tribunes_ (1849).

_Rienzi_, an opera by Wagner (1841). It opens with a number of the Orsini breaking into Rienzi's house, in order to abduct his sister, Irene, but in this they are foiled by the arrival of the Colonna and his followers. The outrage provokes a general insurrection, and Rienzi is appointed leader. The n.o.bles are worsted, and Rienzi becomes a senator; but the aristocracy hate him, and Paolo Orsini seeks to a.s.sa.s.sinate him, but without success. By the machinations of the German emperor and the Colonna, Rienzi is excommunicated and deserted by all his adherents. He is ultimately fired on by the populace and killed on the steps of the capitol.--Libretto by J. P. Jackson.

_Rienzi_ (_The English_), William with the Long Beard, _alias_ Fitzosbert (*-1196).

=Rigaud= (_Mons._), a Belgian, 35 years of age, confined in a villainous prison at Ma.r.s.eilles, for murdering his wife. He has a hooked nose, handsome after its kind, but too high between the eyes, and his eyes, though sharp, were too near to one another. He was, however, a large, tall man, with thin lips, and a goodly quant.i.ty of dry hair shot with red. When he spoke, his moustache went up under his nose, and his nose came down over his moustache. After his liberation from prison, he first took the name of Lagnier, and then of Blandois, his name being Rigaud Lagnier Blandois.--Charles d.i.c.kens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).

=Rigdum-Funnidos=, a courtier in the palace of King Chrononhotonthologos.

After the death of the king, the widowed queen is advised to marry again, and Rigdum Funnidos is proposed to her as "a very proper man." At this Aldiborontephoscophornio takes umbrage, and the queen says, "Well, gentlemen, to make matters easy, I'll have you both."--H. Carey, _Chrononhotonthologos_ (1734).

? John Ballantyne, the publisher, was so called by Sir W. Scott. He was "a quick, active, intrepid little fellow, full of fun and merriment ...