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mechanical part of the art, the best workman with his tools, that ever exercised a pencil." His favourite signature was Pietro Paolo Rubens; he lived so long in Italy that he seems to have preferred the Italian language, in which he wrote the majority of his letters. The accounts of this great painter are numerous, from Sandrart downwards. Among the most important and most recent are—Rubens et L'Ecole D'Anvers, by Alfred Michiels, 8vo, Paris, 1854; and Original unpublished Papers illustrative of the Life of Sir Peter Paul Rubens as an Artist and a Diplomatist, &c., by W. Noel Sainsburg, 8vo, London, 1859.—R. N. W.

RUBRUQUIS, Guillaume de, known also by the name of Guillaume de Ruysbroeck, was born in Brabant about 1230, and died about the beginning of the fourteenth century. He belonged to the order of St. Francis, and was sent in 1253 by Louis IX. to Tartary, in order to introduce Christianity among the khans. He travelled along with another missionary through the steppes of Tartary, visited the banks of the Volga, traversed the Caucasus, Armenia, and Syria, and arrived at Tripoli on the 15th of August, 1255. Rubruquis drew up an account of his mission, and transmitted it to the king. In this account he gives important geographical details in regard to the northern parts of Tartary, and the usages of the Mongols. He finally became the superior of the convent of Acre.—J. H. B.

RUCELLAI, Bernardo (in Latin Oricellarius), born of a noble family at Florence in 1449, married into the family of the Medici, was elected gonfaloniere of justice in 1480, and four years afterwards went as ambassador to Genoa. In 1494 he was despatched on diplomatic business to the court of Ferdinand of Naples, and also to that of Charles VII. of France. After the death of his brother-in-law, Lorenzo de Medici, he assumed the position of patron and protector of the Platonic academy, for the use of which he erected a splendid edifice, with gardens and groves, the famous Horti Oricellarii of the Italian writers of the time. Rucellai, who had written some works praised for their excellent Latinity by Erasmus, died in 1514.—His son Giovanni, a distinguished poet, born at Florence in 1475, was conspicuous in the tumult raised by the younger citizens in 1512, to procure the return of the Medici to Florence. Entering the ecclesiastical order at Rome after the elevation of Leo X., he was appointed by Clement VII. keeper of the castle of St. Angelo. He died in 1525. His best production is the poem "Le Api."

RÜCKERT, Friedrich, was born at Schweinfurt on the 16th of May, 1789. He and Platen are regarded by many Germans as the two greatest poets whom Germany has produced since Göthe and Schiller. At the university of Jena Rückert studied law with the view to a profession; but ere long philology and poetical literature proved more to his taste. Rückert gave proof early of poetical power, and for a season he led the poet's unsettled life, the happiest of his pilgrimages having been that to Italy. At last, after a fortunate marriage, he accepted in 1826 the professorship of Oriental philology in the university of Erlangen. When Frederick William IV. of Prussia ascended the throne in 1840, he summoned Rückert to Berlin with every demonstration of admiration and attachment. Rückert was appointed a professor in the Berlin university; but the smiles of a monarch and the applause of a capital, could not make the climate of Berlin genial. In 1849, therefore, Rückert resigned his professorship and retired to his estate, Neu Sess, near Coburg. It was as a lyrical poet that Rückert excelled, and he was as varied and productive as he was gifted; but like most German lyrical poets, he had far more phantasy than passion, more of oriental dreaminess, often wayward and wild, than of manly vigour. In paraphrases and translations, no less than in original compositions, Rückert has shown his sympathy for the genius of the East. Besides his fertility as a creator, Rückert was a consummate master of melody and form. His dramas are regarded as failures, except in those parts which are purely lyrical. He ventured into the theological field with a "Life of Jesus," which had no merit. He died in 1866.—W. M—l.

RUDBECK, Johan, an eminent Swedish prelate, was born at Örebro in the latter half of the sixteenth century. He studied at Wittenberg, became afterwards professor at Upsala, subsequently court-preacher, and finally bishop of Vesteraas, which dignity he held for twenty-five years, until his death in 1646. Rudbeck stood high in favour with Axel Oxenstierna, Gustavus Adolphus, and Queen Christina, the latter of whom visited him on his deathbed. He was a man of large and varied learning, but especially conspicuous for the remarkable organizing faculty he possessed. The reforms he wrought in his diocese were of the most comprehensive and beneficial character.—J. J.

RUDBECK, Oluf, the Elder, a learned Swede, fitly surnamed from his manifold accomplishments Storhufvud, or Large-head, was born in Vestmanland in 1630. The chief particulars of his life may be summed up in a single sentence. As a youthful student of medicine he made an important discovery, that of the lymphatic vessels, and became afterwards professor in the university of Upsala; in subsequent years, as "Polyhistor" and "tausend-künstler," or literary Jack-of-all-trades, he devoted equal attention to anatomy, botany, and the other natural sciences, to music and architecture, and finally to archæology. His two chief works are the "Campi Elysii, or Glysisvall," an elaborate botanical treatise, and the "Atlantica," or "Manhem," a perfect specimen of brilliant literary bubble-blowing, in which he vainly, although ably, attempts to prove that Sweden is the true Atlantis described by Plato! He died in 1702, leaving behind him a high reputation for boundless industry, versatility, and learning.—J. J.

RUDBECK, Oluf, the Younger, son of the preceding, was also a professor in Upsala, and distinguished himself in the walks of science and literature. He published various important ornithological and botanical works; but also wandered astray in the wilderness of comparative philology, seeking affinities between Lapp and Hebrew, and labouring on a "Lexicon Harmonicum," in no fewer than ten volumes, of the Asiatic and European tongues. In this respect he was like a caricature of his father. He died in 1740.—J. J.

RUDBERG, Fredrik, an eminent Swedish man of science, was born at Norrkoping on the 30th of August, 1800, and died on the 14th of June, 1839, at Upsala. Having taken the degree of doctor of philosophy in 1821, he devoted some years to travelling in Europe. In 1827 he became a member of the Academy of Sciences of Stockholm, and in 1828 professor of physics in the university of Upsala. His scientific writings appeared for the most part in the Transactions of the Academy of Sciences of Stockholm, from 1819 till 1847. They have reference to various physical subjects, such as capillary attraction, heat, hydraulics, terrestrial magnetism, &c.; and the most important is a memoir, published in 1837, describing a series of experiments by which t he rate of expansion of air by heat was for the first time correctly determined. His premature death in his thirty-ninth year was one of the heaviest losses that science has sustained in this century.—W. J. M. R.

RUDBORNE or RODBURNE, Thomas, a prelate of the fifteenth century, distinguished for his architectural skill, was educated at Merton college, Oxford. He took his name from his birthplace, but whether that was Rudborne in Hertfordshire, or Rodburne in Wiltshire, is uncertain. He was chaplain to Henry V., prebend of Horton, archdeacon of Sudbury, and held the living of East Deeping in Lincolnshire. He was appointed warden of Merton college in 1426, and in 1433 bishop of St. David's. The reformed doctrine he strenuously opposed. He died about 1442. The tower and gateway of Merton college were built by him, and probably also the chapel.—D. W. R.

RUDDIMAN, Thomas, the eminent Scottish grammarian, was born at the farm-house of Raggel in the parish of Boyndie, Banffshire, October, 1674. At the parish school the boy made astonishing progress in Latin; the Metamorphoses of Ovid had a special charm for him, and the youthful impression never wore off. When he was sixteen years of age he resolved to attend the bursary competition at King's college, Aberdeen. Without his father's knowledge, and with but a guinea in his pocket, furtively given him by his sister, he set out; and though robbed on the way of his purse and the best of his clothing by a gang of gipsies, he bravely presented himself for examination, and gained the first prize. Four years afterwards he took his degree of M.A., on the 21st of June, 1694, after a disputation which lasted ab aurora usque ad vesperam. He was then engaged by Mr. Young of Auldbar, the great-grandson of the preceptor of King James, to be tutor to his sons; but within a year he became parish schoolmaster of Laurencekirk. Three years and a half were spent by him in that situation, when he removed to Edinburgh on the invitation of Dr. Pitcairne, who, happening to be detained a night in the inn at Laurencekirk by a storm, had been directed by the landlady to the "dominie" as a person whose conversation would be entertaining to him during his compulsory sojourn. Ruddiman was at once appointed