In 1837 he returned to Denmark, and thenceforth was busily employed in literary labour. Repp's linguistic acquirements are great, and he has written various important works, both in English and Danish. In conjunction with Mr. Ferrall he published in 1845 a Danish and English Dictionary, which is beyond all question the best extant.—J. J.
REPTON, Humphrey, an eminent landscape gardener, was born at Bury St. Edmunds in 1752, and died in 1818. He was educated for the mercantile profession, but was not successful in his calling, and met with severe losses which discouraged him. In 1783 he acted as confidential secretary to Mr. Windham, secretary to the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, but he soon relinquished this office. In 1784 he became connected with Mr. Palmer, who introduced the mail-coach system into Britain. In this he was also unsuccessful. After this he devoted his attention to landscape gardening, and acquired great reputation. He showed much taste in laying out grounds, and was extensively employed. At the time of his death there was scarcely a county in England which did not contain evidence of Repton's skill. He published "Sketches, Hints, and Observations on Landscape Gardening."—J. H. B.
RESCHID MEHEMET, one of the best generals the Turkish empire has produced in modern times, was born about 1801 at Kutahyeh in Asia Minor. He commenced his career under Khosrew, and by his own brilliant qualities, and the patronage of that powerful minister he obtained rapid promotion. When the Greek revolution broke out, Reschid Mehemet was nominated seraskier of Roumelia, and to him was assigned the task of besieging Missolonghi, which he was ordered to take on peril of his head. Having been reinforced by Ibraham Pacha, he captured that important stronghold in 1826. In the following year he obtained a brilliant victory under the walls of Athens over the Greeks and their English auxiliaries. His great successes, combined with his dislike of the military reforms of the Porte, excited the jealousy and dislike of his old patron, Khosrew, who made him feel in various ways the effects of his displeasure. Reschid distinguished himself in the war with Russia in 1829, and suppressed with great vigour the disturbances which had broken out in Albania. In 1832 he was sent against his former colleague, Ibrahim Pacha, who had defeated two of the sultan's generals, and was making rapid progress with his victorious arms. But a battle which took place near Konieh terminated unfortunately for Reschid, who was not only defeated but taken prisoner. On regaining his liberty he was appointed commander-in-chief of the army of Anatolia. His last exploit was the reduction of Kurdistan. He died suddenly in 1836, while waiting on the frontiers of Syria, for orders to march into that province, against his old antagonist Ibrahim Pacha.—J. T.
RESENIUS, John Paul, an eminent Danish divine, born in Jutland in 1561. He was educated at the university of Copenhagen, where he became professor, first of philosophy and then of divinity. In 1605 he was appointed bishop of Roschildt in Zealand. He died in 1638. He translated the Bible into Danish, and was the author of many theological works.—D. W. R.
RESENIUS, Peter John, grandson of the preceding, was born 17th June, 1625. After being a short time sub-principal of the college of Copenhagen, he studied at the university of Leyden for four years, and travelled into France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. In 1657 he was appointed professor of moral philosophy in the university of Copenhagen, then consul of the same city, member of the supreme council, president of Copenhagen, and councillor of justice. In 1680 he received a patent of nobility, and in 1684 was made councillor of state. His fine library he bequeathed to the university of Copenhagen. He died in 1688.—D. W. R.
RESTOUT, Jean, a celebrated French painter, was born at Rouen in 1692. His father, Jean Restout, and his mother were both artists; and he was nephew of the celebrated Jean Jouvenet, whose pupil he became, and whose manner he imitated with considerable success. Restout designed well, and painted with facility on a large scale; but he wanted grandeur of style, and was a poor colourist. Among his principal works were "The Death of Ananias," in the church of St. Martin des Champs, Paris; the ceiling of the library of Ste. Géneviève; and the "Presentation of the Virgin," painted for the city of Rouen. Restout was a member, and eventually chancellor of the Academy. He died in 1768.—J. T—e.
RETHEL, Alfred, a distinguished German painter, was born at Aix-la-Chapelle, May 15, 1816. He studied in the Art academy, Dusseldorf, where his success was very remarkable. At the age of fifteen he had greatly distinguished himself by a series of original historical designs in chalk. In 1832 he produced a picture of St. Boniface, which was greatly admired; and this was followed by others of the "Preaching of Christianity in Gaul," "St. Martin dividing his Cloak with a Beggar," and "Daniel in the Lions' Den," purchased by the Stadelsche Institut at Frankfurt. This last work placed him among the leading painters of Germany, and his popularity was still more increased by his great picture of "Nemesis." Academic differences caused him to leave Düsseldorf; and after a visit to Rome he settled at Frankfurt, where he devoted himself to the preparation of the cartoons for a series of large frescoes illustrative of the History of Charlemagne, which he was commissioned to paint in what is now called, from the frescoes, the emperor's saloon, in the townhall of Aix-la-Chapelle. On this master-work he laboured for several years, and the designs are generally ranked among the finest of the modern German school. Afterwards, partly in the hope of recruiting his failing health, he removed to Rome, where he engaged in the preparation of another grand series of designs illustrative of the Life of Hannibal. He completed five or six cartoons, representing the Passage of the Alps, when his overtasked mind gave way; and after lingering some time in a hopeless state, he died towards the end of 1859, at the early age of forty-three. Besides the works we have named, and various other large works in oil and fresco, Rethel painted several cabinet pictures, and made a great number of designs, some of which are known everywhere by engravings. Among the most remarkable of his popular prints is his "Dance of Death" (Ein Todtentanz vom Jahre, 1848), in six plates; and his two plates of "Death as a Friend and an Enemy" (Der Tod als Freund und als Erwürger)—works of great power and energy. Other well known series of designs are his "Rheinischen Sagenkries," twenty-one plates, folio, 1835; illustrations to Rotteck's History; and "Lebensbilder fur deutsche Volk," six plates, folio, Frankfurt, 1850. As a designer Rethel was one of the most varied, original, and imaginative of the modern German painters. As a painter, though admired in Germany, he will ultimately occupy a much lower position. Adopting to the utmost the cold conventional system of the Düsseldorf school, he seemed to lose all his vigour and originality when betook his pencils in hand. But the intellectual character of his works, their loftiness of aim and earnestness of purpose, will always insure for Alfred Rethel a high place among the artists of the first half of the nineteenth century.—J. T—e.
RETIF DE LA BRETONNE, Nicolas Edme, a gifted but singularly eccentric writer, was born 22nd November, 1734, at Sacy, near Auxerre, and was the son of homely farmer folk. His childhood, which was dreamy and poetical, has been exquisitely portrayed by a somewhat kindred spirit—poor Gérard de Nerval, in his book Les Illuminés. After an early manhood, which was dissipated and degraded, he published several works, some of which had a sudden and startling success: in all, he wrote more than two hundred volumes. He died in obscurity at Paris, in February, 1806, aged seventy-two. His best book is "Le Paysan Perverti," 1776; but most of his writings, although stained by licentiousness, display real genius, and that of a truly original character.—W. J. P.
RETZ, Jean François Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de, coadjutor-archbishop of Paris, prominent in the civil war of the Fronde, was born at Montmirail in 1614. His father was general of the gallies of France, and his uncle was archbishop of Paris. Clever, restless, intriguing, and ambitious, he was destined, from merely secular motives, for the church, and was partly educated by the famous Vincent de Paul. As a young abbé, De Retz was noted for his achievements in two most unecclesiastical pursuits, gallantry and duelling. At eighteen he preluded his subsequent career by publishing an account of the conspiracy of Fiesco, which drew from Richelieu the remark, "Voilà un dangereux esprit." At twenty-two he preached his first sermon before the court; and perceiving that he might make his ecclesiastical calling subserve his secular ambition, he devoted himself to his duties, and taking part in a theological discussion with a protestant minister, gained the favour of Lous XIII., and was appointed by the dying king coadjutor to his uncle in the archbishopric of Paris. In this conspicuous position, De Retz by his charities and his preaching gained a great influence over the
