RETZ, CARDINAL DE. 



REUCHLIN, JOHN. 



ci 



His professional publications consist of 'Sketches and Hints on 

 Landscape Gardening,' 4 to, 1795; 'Observations on the Theory and 

 Practice of Landscape Gardening,' 4to, 1803 ; ' Inquiry into the 

 Changes of Taste in Landscape Gardening,' 8vo, 1806; 'Designs 

 [proposed but not adopted] for the Pavilion at Brighton,' folio, 1808; 

 and 'Fragments on the Theory, &c. of Landscape Gardening,' 4to, 

 1816, in which he was assisted by his eldest son. These different pub- 

 lications on his art were reprinted in 1840 by the late Mr. Loudon 

 [LOUDON, J. C.], in a single octavo volume, accompanied with a 

 memoir of the author. 



RETZ, JEAN FRANCOIS PAUL DE GONDI, CARDINAL DE, 

 descended of a rich and powerful house, was born in October 1614. 

 Destined by his father to the Church, in the hope of his obtaining the 

 archbishopric of Paris, then held in succession by two members of his 

 family, he was compelled to enter upon a profession repugnant and 

 unsuitable to his ardent, unscrupulous, and intriguing temper. His 

 youth was sullied by debauchery, while at the same time his theolo- 

 gical studies were prosecuted with success and distinction ; but in 

 the history of the contests of parties in Greece and Rome he found a 

 more congenial pursuit, and brilliant and seductive examples of what 

 he most coveted, political ability and success. Hia first political 

 connection was with the Comte de Soissons, to the success of whose 

 revolt he looked forward for the means of abandoning his profession. 

 Disappointed by the death of that nobleman, he resumed with more 

 regularity his ecclesiastical studies and employments ; and gained the 

 good opinion not only of the clergy of Paris, but of Louis XIII., who, 

 on his death-bed (1643), named Gondi coadjutor to his uncle the arch- 

 bishop of Paris. He devoted himself zealously to discharge the 

 external functions of his office; and by this regularity, and by his 

 profuse distribution of alms, established his popularity with the 

 citizens. The bend of his mind however is shown by his answer to 

 one who reproached him with prodigality: "Csosar, at my age, owed 

 six tirms as much as I." His conduct made him an object of 

 suspicion to the court ; and though on the first breaking out of the 

 disturbances of the Fronde he rendered active and valuable assistance 

 to the royal cause, still his sincerity was not credited ; and he was 

 driven by the distrust of the court, co-operating with his own ambi- 

 tion, to become, not indeed the avowed leader, but the moving spirit 

 of the popular party. " Before noon to-morrow," he said, when his 

 resolution was formed, " I will be master of Paris : " and he kept his 

 word. This was the eminence to which the dreams and studies of his 

 youth had led him to aspire. "I am convinced," he said in his 

 Memoirs, "that it requires greater qualities to be a good party leader, 

 than to be emperor of the universe." Throughout the wars of the 

 Fronde, a busy period of domestic contest, he maintained his ascend- 

 ancy ; and he has earned from one of his biographers the praise of 

 being the only person who in those troubles sought not gain, but 

 reputation. The praise of generosity towards his bitterest personal 

 enemies is also due to him. The war was closed by the return of the 

 court to Paris, in October 1652. 



Tempting offers were made to induce Gondi, who had now risen to 

 the rank of cardinal, to quit bis see and repair to Rome, with the title 

 of ambassador ; but while lie hesitated, and sought to make terms for 

 his friends, he was arrested, December 19, without resistance on the 

 part of the Parisians, who, by this time, were well wearied of civil 

 war. For some time he was very closely confined at Viucennes. By 

 resigning his archbishopric however, to which he had now succeeded 

 by the death of his uncle, he purchased his removal to the chateau of 

 Nantes, from which he effected his escape into Spain (1654), with 

 singular boldness and good fortune. From Spain he repaired to 

 Rome, where, in spite of the opposition of the cardinals attached to 

 France, he supported the consideration due to his talents, and, it is 

 said, decided the election of Pope Alexander VII. Having revoked 

 his resignation, he maintained during some time his vicars in the 

 administration of the archbishopric; and at last, by its surrender in 

 exchange for other benefices, after leading for some years a wandering 

 life, he effected his reconciliation with Louis XIV., and his restoration 

 to France. The remainder of his life was spent chiefly in retirement, 

 in works of charity and piety. He sold his estates, and, reserving a 

 sum sufficient for his maintenance, devoted the bulk of his revenues 

 to the payment of his debts, which he thus liquidated, to the great 

 amount, as it is calculated, of more than four millions of francs, 

 modern money. Mad. de Sdvignd, who was intimate with him during 

 his latter years, speaks with enthusiasm of the charms of his conver- 

 sation, the elevation of his character, and his mild and peaceable 

 virtues. We must conclude therefore that reflection and adverse 

 fortune had worked a great and salutary change in his disposition. 

 He died at Paris, August 24, 1679. 



His political writings, being chiefly of the nature of pamphlets, are 

 foivotten : as an author, his reputation rests on his Memoirs, written, 

 Voltaire says, with an air of grandeur, an impetuosity and inequality 

 of genius, which are the picture of his conduct. The memoirs of 

 Joli, the cardinal's secretary, also contain copious materials for the 

 biography of De Itetz. 



* RKTZSCH, MORITZ, was born at Dresden, in December 1779. 

 Though displaying from childhood a great fondness for drawing and 

 modelling, it was not till approaching manhood that he thought of 

 art for a profession. He then entered the Dresden Academy, but 



does not appear to have pursued a regular course of academic study. 

 He painted portraits, and historical and poetic subjects, and in time 

 came to be nominated (1824) professor of painting in the Dresden 

 Academy ; but as a painter he has never acquired much distinction. 

 What first gained him a reputation beyond hia native city was his 

 series of outline etchings illustrative of the ' Faust ' of Gothe, first 

 published in 1812 a work of marvellous force and beauty, and dis- 

 playing a subtlety of thought and fancy worthy of the great poem on 

 which it was founded. These etchings immediately became extremely 

 popular throughout Germany, and soon found equally warm admirers 

 in England, where his works have always been highly esteemed. 

 Enlarged editions of them have several times been produced, and they 

 have long been the received artistic exponents, as far as they go, of the 

 'Faust.' Similar illustrations of Schiller's jDoems (1816) attained 

 nearly equal celebrity. Then followed his *' Illustrations of Shuk- 

 spere,' of which some eight series have appeared, embracing ' Hamlet ' 

 (1828), 'Macbeth' (1833), 'Romeo and Juliet' (1836), ' King Lear' 

 (1838), ' The Tempest ' (1841), ' Othello ' (J842), ' The Merry Wives of 

 Windsor' (1844), and 'Henry IV.' (1845). As might be expected, 

 these present a decidedly German rendering of Shakspere's purpose, 

 and are very unequal in effect ; but they are on the whole the most 

 intellectual series of pictorial illustrations of Shakspere which have 

 yet been given to the world, and often present the poet's thoughts in 

 a new and very striking light. This is indeed what is the especial 

 characteristic of this great original arti.-it. He, in his own walk as a 

 designer in outline might well claim to stand in the highest place ; 

 but still, far above all technical power, is to be estimated that bright, 

 clear, aud strong intelligence with which every design, and every part 

 of each design, is irradiated. And this intelligence controls alike 

 an almost exuberant fancy and a vigorous imagination, preserving him 

 almost invariably from what must inevitably be the besetting danger 

 of his turn of mind and range of subjects exaggeration and extrava- 

 gance. He deals much in allegory and symbolism, but these seldom 

 run in to "mysticism, and the meaning generally reveals itself after a 

 little attentive consideration. Besides those above named, Retzsch 

 has published folios of wild and playful ' Phantasieu,' 'Sketches,' 

 ' Illustrations to Biirger's Leonora,' and ' The War between Light 

 and Darkness ; ' also ' The Chess-Players," aud various other separate 

 outline etchings. 



Retzsch lives to enjoy in full measure the fame his right hand has 

 won. The excellent old man dwells in a pleasant garden-house just 

 outside Dresden, in a style of patriarchal simplicity, beloved by all 

 who know him, and especially honoured by his fellow-citizens, among 

 whom he has lived for now more than three-quarters of a century, and 

 who rejoice in the credit which his genius reflects on their city; aud 

 English travellers love to relate the hearty reception he gives them, 

 and the gratification he plainly feels in talking about England and his 

 English friends, and showing his brimming portfolios of inexhaustible 

 fancies, and especially the album of drawings which he presents to hia 

 wife on every recurring birthday. 



REUCHLIN, JOHN, an eminent German scholar, was born in 1455 

 at Pforzheim, in the dominions of the Margrave of Baden. He was 

 admitted in boyhood as a chorister of that prince's chapel, and, having 

 gained his notice by aptitude in learning, was sent by him. to Paris 

 in 1473 as companion to his son. At Paris, Reuchlin prosecuted his 

 studies with advantage, especially in Greek ; and not to follow minutely 

 his wandering course, wo find him successively at Basel, Orleans, 

 Poitiers, and lastly Tubingen, where, having previously takeu his degree 

 in law, he commenced practice as an advocate about 1481. In 1482 

 he visited Rome and other of the chief towns of Italy as secretary to 

 the Count of Wiirtemberg, enjoyed and profited by the society of the 

 most learned men of the age, and was received at the court of Lorenzo 

 de' Medici with distinguished respect. On his return to Germany he 

 took up his abode at Stuttgard, and from 1484 to 1509 filled a variety 

 of high legal and diplomatic functions. In the latter year he became 

 entangled in a long and harassing dispute arising out of an edict 

 obtained by Pfefferkorn, a converted Jew of Cologne, authorising him 

 to examine and burn all Jewish books containing anything against 

 the Christian religion. Reuchlin, on being referred to. gave his opinion 

 decidedly against the justice of this measure ; and in answer to a work 

 of Pfefferkorn, entitled 'Speculum Manuale,' wrote the 'Speculum 

 Oculare,' in 1511. This book was censured by the Cologne, Paris, 

 Louvain, and other universities, and involved him with the Inquisition, 

 before which in 1513 he was summoned to appear at Mainz. Reuchliu 

 appealed to the pope; and the pope referred the matter to the Bishop 

 of Spire, who pronounced the ' Speculum Oculare ' to be neither 

 dangerous to the Church nor favourable to Judaism. Still the uni- 

 versities persisted in their condemnation, and even ordered the book 

 to be publicly burnt; and in 1516 the cause was still in course of 

 hearing at Rome, when it was stopped by the pope, and the disputes 

 consequent on the rise of the Reformation prevented its being revived. 

 In the troubled times which followed, Reuchlin had his share of dis- 

 tress and poverty. In 1518 he accepted, aud held for a short time, the 

 Greek and Hebrew professorships at Wittenberg ; and he afterwards 

 taught Greek and Hebrew at Ingolstadt for somewhat loss than a year. 

 In 1520 or 1521 he was appointed to the same chairs at Tubingen, a 

 pleasant gleam over the close of his troubled life ; for every comfort 

 and facility were afforded to him, and crowds of students from all parts 



