Character Sketches of Romance Volume Iii Part 125

=Rudge= (_Barnaby_), a half-witted young man of three and twenty years old; rather spare, of a fair height and strong make. His hair, of which he had a great profusion, was red and hung in disorder about his face and shoulders. His face was pale, his eyes gla.s.sy and protruding. His dress was green, clumsily trimmed here and there with gaudy lace. A pair of tawdry ruffles dangled at his wrists, while his throat was nearly bare. His hat was ornamented with a cl.u.s.ter of peac.o.c.k's feathers, limp, broken, and trailing down his back. Girded to his side was the steel hilt of an old sword, without blade or scabbard; and a few knee-ribbons completed his attire. He had a large raven named Grip, which he carried at his back in a basket, a most knowing imp, which used to cry out in a hoa.r.s.e voice, "Halloa!" "I'm a devil!" "Never say die!" "Polly, put the kettle on!"

Barnaby joined the Gordon rioters for the proud pleasure of carrying a flag and wearing a blue bow. He was arrested and lodged in Newgate, from whence he made his escape, with other prisoners, when the jail was burnt down by the rioters; but both he and his father and Hugh, being betrayed by Dennis, the hangman, were recaptured, brought to trial, and condemned to death, but by the influence of _Gabriel Varden_, the locksmith, the poor half-witted lad was reprieved, and lived the rest of his life with his mother in a cottage and garden near the Maypole.

Here he lived, tending the poultry and the cattle, working in a garden of his own, and helping every one. He was known to every bird and beast about the place, and had a name for every one. Never was there a lighter-hearted husbandman, a creature more popular with young and old, a blither and more happy soul than Barnaby.--Ch. lx.x.xii.

_Mr. Rudge_, the father of Barnaby, supposed to have been murdered the same night as Mr. Haredale, to whom he was steward. The fact is that Rudge himself was the murderer both of Mr. Haredale and also of his faithful servant, to whom the crime was falsely attributed. After the murder, he was seen by many haunting the locality, and was supposed to be a ghost. He joined the Gordon rioters when they attacked and burnt to the ground the house of Mr. Haredale, the son of the murdered man, and being arrested (ch. lvi.), was sent to Newgate, but made his escape with the other prisoners when it was burnt down by the rioters. Being betrayed by Dennis, he was brought to trial for murder, but we are not told if he was executed (ch. lxxiii.). His name is not mentioned again, and probably he suffered death.

_Mrs. [Mary] Rudge_, mother of Barnaby, and very like him, "but where in his face there was wildness and vacancy, in hers there was the patient composure of long effort and quiet resignation." She was a widow. Her husband (steward at the Warren), who murdered his master, Mr.

Haredale, and his servant, told her of his deed of blood a little before the birth of Barnaby, and the woman's face ever after inspired terror.

It was thought for many years that Rudge had been murdered in defending his master, and Mrs. Rudge was allowed a pension by Mr. Haredale, son and heir of the murdered man. This pension she subsequently refused to take. After the reprieve of Barnaby, Mrs. Rudge lived with him in a cottage near the Maypole, and her last days were her happiest. C.

d.i.c.kens, _Barnaby Rudge_ (1841).

=Ru'diger=, a wealthy Hun, liegeman of Etzel, sent to conduct Kriemhild to Hungary. When Gunther and his suite went to visit Kriemhild, Rudiger entertained them all most hospitably, and gave his daughter in marriage to Giselher (Kriemhild's brother). In the broil which ensued, Rudiger was killed fighting against Gernot, but Gernot dropped down dead at the same moment, "each by the other slain."--_Nibelungen Lied_ (by the minnesingers, 1210).

_Rudiger_, a knight who came to Waldhurst in a boat drawn by a swan.

Margaret fell in love with him. At every tournament he bore off the prize, and in everything excelled the youths about him. Margaret became his wife. A child was born. On the christening day, Rudiger carried it along the banks of the Rhine, and nothing that Margaret said could prevail on him to go home. Presently, the swan and boat came in sight, and carried all three to a desolate place, where was a deep cavern.

Rudiger got on sh.o.r.e, still holding the babe, and Margaret followed.

They reached the cave, two giant arms clasped Rudiger, Margaret sprang forward and seized the infant, but Rudiger was never seen more.--R.

Southey, _Rudiger_ (a ballad from Thomas Heywood's notes).

=Rufus= (or _the Red_), William II. of England (1057, 1087-1100).

=Rugby=, servant to Dr. Caius, in _Merry Wives of Windsor_, by Shakespeare.

=Rugg=, (_Mr._) a lawyer living at Pentonville. A red-haired man, who wore a hat with a high crown and narrow brim. Mr. Pancks employed him to settle the business pertaining to the estate which had long lain unclaimed, to which Mr. Dorrit was heir-at-law. Mr. Rugg delighted in legal difficulties as much as a housewife in her jams and preserves.--C.

d.i.c.kens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).

=Ruggie'ro=, a young Saracen knight, born of Christian parents. He fell in love with Bradamant (sister of Rinaldo), whom he ultimately married.

Ruggiero is especially noted for possessing a hippogriff, or winged horse, and a s.h.i.+eld of such dazzling splendor that it blinded those who looked on it. He threw away this s.h.i.+eld into a well, because it enabled him to win victory too cheaply.--_Orlando Innamarato_[TN-138] (1495), and _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Rukenaw= (_Dame_), the ape's wife, in the beast-epic called _Reynard the Fox_ (1498).

=Rule a Wife and Have a Wife=, a comedy by Beaumont and Fletcher (1640).

Donna Margaritta, a lady of great wealth, wishes to marry in order to mask her intrigues, and seeks for a husband a man without spirit, whom she can mould to her will. Leon, the brother of Altea, is selected as the "softest fool in Spain," and the marriage takes place. After marriage, Leon shows himself firm, courageous, high-minded, but most affectionate. He "rules his wife" and her household with a masterly hand, wins the respect of every one, and the wife, wholly reclaimed, "loves, honors, and obeys" him.

=Rumolt=, the chief cook of Prince Gunther of Burgundy.--_Nibelungen Lied_, 800 (1210).

=Rumpelstilzchen= [_Rumple.stiltz.skin_], an irritable, deformed dwarf. He aided a miller's daughter, who had been enjoined by the king to spin straw into gold; and the condition he made with her for this service, was that she should give him for wife her first daughter. The miller's daughter married the king, and when her first daughter was born, the mother grieved so bitterly that the dwarf consented to absolve her of her promise, if, within three days she could find out his name. The first day pa.s.sed, but the secret was not discovered; the second pa.s.sed with no better success; but on the third day, some of the queen's servants heard a strange voice singing:

Little dreams my dainty dame Rumpelstilzchen is my name.

The queen, being told thereof, saved her child, and the dwarf killed himself from rage.--_German Popular Stories._

=Runa=, the dog of Argon and Ruro, sons of Annir, king of Inis-Thona, an island of Scandinavia.--Ossian, _The War of Inis-Thorna_.[TN-139]

=Runners.=

1. Iphicles, son of Phylakos and Klymene. Hesiod says he could run over ears of corn without bending the stems; and Demaratos says he could run on the surface of the sea.--_Argonauts_, i. 60.

2. Camilla, queen of the Volsci, was so swift of foot that she could run over standing corn, without bending the ears, and over the sea without wetting her feet.--Virgil, _aeneid_, vii. 303; xi. 433.

Not so when swift Camilla scours the plain, Flies o'er th' unbending corn, and skims along the main.

Pope.

3. Ladas, the swift runner of King Alexander. He ran so fast that he never left a foot-print on the ground.

4. Phidippides, a professional courier, ran from Athens to Sparta (150 miles) in two days.

5. Theagenes, a native of Thasos, was noted for his swiftness of foot.

? The Greek hemerodromos would run from twenty to thirty-six leagues in a day.

=Runnymede=, the _nom de plume_ of Benj. Disraeli, in the _Times_ (1805-1881).

=Rupert=, _i.e._ Major Roselheim, the betrothed of Meeta, "the maid of Mariendorpt."--S. Knowles, _The Maid of Mariendorpt_ (1838).

_Rupert_ (_Prince_), in the service of Charles II. Introduced by Sir W.

Scott, in three of his novels.--_Woodstock_, _Legend of Montrose_, and _Peveril of the Peak_.

_Rupert_ (_Sir_), in love with Catharine.--S. Knowles, _Love_ (1840).

=Rupert of Debate.= Edward Geoffrey, earl of Derby, when he was Mr.

Stanley, was so called by Lord Lytton (1799-1869).

=Rupert Clare.= Desperate lover, who skates with "handsome Madge" straight toward the rotten ice. Seeing their danger and his revengeful resolve, she shrieks out the name of her betrothed who, unknown to her and the rejected suitor, has followed them. "He hurls himself upon the pair,"

and rescues his affianced.

"The lovers stand with heart to heart, 'No more,' they cry, 'no more to part!"[TN-140]

But still along the lone lagoon The steel skates ring a ghostly tune, And in the moonlight, pale and cold, The panting lovers still behold The self-appointed sacrifice Skating toward the rotten ice!"

Fitz-James...o...b..ien, _Poems and Stories_.