67* 



RKUTKH 



REVELATION 



stomach created in him an abnormal crating for 

 strong drink, which he never BOOOJierad. It was 

 eleven years mure before lie settled down to hia 

 life's work. His father, a stern and severe innn, 

 having ill tin 1 meantime turned his liook U|HIII him 



as a good-for-nothing, hi- tried to rcsu his legal 



studies, learned fanning, taught pupils, hut lived 

 chiefly on the kindness of a frieim and on _a small 

 annuity left him by his father, who died in 1845. 

 IIi-iiNT l-j:an to write lii*t in High German; but 

 having thrown into rough verse form, in Low Ger- 

 man, the jokes and merry tale* of the countryside, 

 he published them -LSmtAm " Himrl* ( ltv>3 : 1Mb 

 ed. 1889), and the Ixx.k U-catne at once a great 

 favourite with all who spoke and read Low 

 man. Two years later he wrote an equally sue- 

 cental Low German poem, l!fi* nnh BtUigen ( 12th 

 ed. 1884), describing in broad humorous fashion 

 the journey of certain peasant* to Belgium in 

 search of culture. The next seven years (1856-63), 

 passed at Neubrandenburg, were the peiiod in 

 which he wrote his greatest l>ooks. The first of 

 these were a second volume of Linischen vn Rimclt 

 (1858; 15th ed. 1889), and the deeply tragic poem 

 ,i Hwtvng ( 1858 ; llth ed. 1891), picturing the 

 wretchedness of the semi-serfs on the great Meck- 

 lenburg domains. The rest, except lHanne Niile 

 (1860; 13th ed. 1884), a poetic narrative in which 

 birds figure prominently as K|n-aking characters, 

 were all written in prose in Low German (I'lntt- 

 Dcntfch), and were published under the general 

 title of Olle KIIUI.-HCH, which may be given in 

 English as Old-time Stories. These books, more 

 especially Ut de /><-//;.-. //-/ ( 1860 ; 17th ed. 1891 ; 

 Eng. trans, as The Year 'IS, 1873), Ut mine Fes- 

 tungttid ( 1862 ; 15th ed. 1891), and his master- 

 piece, i't mine Stromtid (1862-64; 17th ed. 1891), 

 spread Renter's fame abroad through all Germany, 

 and lifted him to the proud position of Germany's 

 greatest humorist next after Jean Paul ; as a liter- 

 ary artist he ranks in many respects above Jean 

 Paul. These tales have tho indubitable flavour of 

 real life : they deal with the characters ami doings 

 of rural Mecklenburg, are told with the verve of 

 the born story-teller, and are bathed in the purest 

 and sunniest humour. Like every true humorist, 

 H'-nter is master of a tender pathos. I'ncle Briisig 

 in Ktrn/iiliil is one of the greatest creations of 

 German literature. The ln-st witness to Reuter's 

 own character is the history he wrote ( Ut mine 

 FeslHiHistii/ > of the miserable seven years he spent 

 in prison : the Ixxik has not one WON of bitterness 

 or a single trace of revengeful feeling throughout ; 

 good-nature and humour are its dominant noti . 

 Besides the works quoted, Itentcr also wrote Mi HIT 

 Murr (1861 ; llth ed. 1886), sketches of country 

 life, partly autobiographical ; DSnU&uekUng ( I860 ; 

 llthed. 1886), a kind of humorous historical novel; 

 the satirical UrfHekidU "'ft (1874), 



and others. Renter lived at Kisi-naeh in Thuringia. 

 at the foot of the \Yartburg, from 1863 till hi- 



ii on 12th July 1874. 



His Kimmtlirlir "n'rrtf were published in 13 vola. lit 

 Wi.mar in 1868-68 ; to these Adolf Wilbrandt adili-1 tw.. 

 Bore in 1875, together with * biography. Tho 7 

 Tolumos of a popular edition (1877-7**) have each gone 



Uruter Studirn (1890), and consult M'Calluui's Studitt 

 t Aoir li.riunn Litirnturr (1884). 



Renter. BVIIOX P.\n. JI-LIUS. well known 



frmii tbc familiar newsjiajwr heading ' Iteuter's 

 Telegram,' was l>rn at C.-uwi-l, 21st July 1821. In 

 . Vix-la-Clmpelle he formed in 1K49 an organisation 

 for collecting (partly by pigeon jxwt ) and trans- 

 mitting by telegraph comiiierrial and linanrial 

 i. and in 1851 he transferred his headquarters 



to London. As telegraphs extended throughout 

 the world he multiplied the ramifications of bis 

 system till it embraced the remotest regions. He 

 even maintained couriers where the telegraphs did 

 not reach e.g. between Pekin and Kiachta. In 

 1W55 Keuter conterted his hiisine-s into a limited 

 liability company, and in 1871 he was made a baron 

 of Germany. In 1872 the Shah of Persia gave him 

 the sole right of making railways, working mines, 

 forests, &c. a monopoly never made effective, 

 and annulled in 188'J. when the concession of the 

 Imperial Bank of I'crsia was conferred on him. 

 He died *.'d February Is'.f.i. 



1{< lillilluriL, a town of Wurtemlicrg, 8 mil- 

 bv S. of TUbingm and -Nl S. of Stuttgart. Aliuiv 

 of its In. uses are old and picturesque. The church 

 of St Mary (1247-1343), with a tower 243 

 high, is a noble Gothic edifice. Woollen and cotton 

 yarns are spun, and cloth, leather, cutlery, hosiciv, 

 paper, &c. are manufactured, Reutlingen was 

 formerly a free imperial town and a member of 

 the Swahiaii League ; it came to Wiirtemberg in 

 1802. Pop. (1890) 18,,-ir.'. 



Reval, or HKVKL, a Russian seaport, capital of 

 I'.st honia, stands on a small bay on the south 

 of the Gulf of Finland, opposite Helmngfors 

 miles distant), and 232 miles by rail \VS\V. of St 

 Petersburg. It is divided into tne (old) unper mid 

 (new) lower towns. The former contains the cathe- 

 dral, the castle, governor's residence, and the h< 

 of the (Gennan) nobility. The new town extends 

 outside the city walls. There are several media \ al 

 guild-houses, in some Of which are preserved valu- 

 able archives, and an important museum of anti- 

 quities. Reval exports cereals (chiefly oats), spirits, 

 flax, and other commodities to the value of more 

 than 2J millions sterling; and imports cotton, 

 and other goods to the value of 6$ millions. Thru' 

 is little industry, brandy, vinegar, and wool ! 

 manufactured to a small extent. Pop. (1S!7) 

 64,578, of whom more than one-half were 

 Ksthonians, and nearly one-fourth of German 

 descent. Reval was founded by Waldenuff II. of 

 Denmark in 1219, and became a flourishing Hanse 

 town. It was long held (from 1346) by the Livonian 

 Knights, was made over to Sweden in 1561, and 

 was besieged by Peter the Great and annexed to 

 the Russian empire in 1710. In 1713 a naval har- 

 ln.ur was founded. See works by Bunge (1874), 

 Amelnng (1884), and Hansen (3d ed. 1885).' 

 Revalenta Arablca. See LENTIL. 

 Reveille' (the true French form being revett), 

 the morning call for troops. See BUGLE. 



Revelation is a familiar theological expres- 

 sion, commonly applied to the knowledge of Him- 

 self which God has given to man in Holy ScriptuM-. 

 In itself, however, the word is properly used 

 merely of the divine knowledge communicated to 

 us In Scripture, but of all divine knowledge com- 

 municated through whatever source. Consn. 

 and reason are in themselves mixles of revelation, 

 in so far as they witness to us of the divine laws 

 which bind our'moral life, and in harmony with 

 which the health and hajipiness of that life ran 

 alone 1* found. History is also a spei -i- s of re\. ],i 

 lion, unfolding, as it does, the same divine laws 

 collectively in the race. Then nature n 

 divine power, wisdom, and goodness; and seii 

 the interpreter of nature, in so far as it makes 

 known the great laws governing the material nni- 



. truly makes known the divine will ! 

 But it is with the Scriptures of the Old and 

 T. -lament that t he idea of revelation h:> 

 be especially associated. The Holy Scriptures are 

 by all Christians regarded as in a special sens- 

 medium of divine revelation to the human r" *' 

 Gixl having therein made known more fully and 



