REBECCA 



a set corresponding to the various 

 voices. A modification in the 12th 

 century was called the Rubebe or 

 Rybybe, which 

 eventually be- 

 c a m e the 

 parent of the 

 viol and the 

 fiddle. There is 

 a stone carv- 

 ing of the 

 rebec in the 

 crypt at Can- 

 terbury Cathe- 

 dral. 

 Rebecca. 



Character in 

 Rebec, with bow Scott , g noyel 



Ivanhoe. The beautiful daughter 

 of the wealthy Jew, Isaac of 

 York, it is at their house that 

 the wounded Wilfred is nursed 

 after the tournament. In love 

 with Ivanhoe, but aware of his 

 attachment to Rowena, she tries 

 to induce their captor, Bois- 

 Guilbert, to release her rival. She 

 defies the Templar by threatening 

 to throw herself from the Tower of 

 Torquilstone, is accused of sorcery, 

 and successfully championed by 

 Ivanhoe. The character was sug- 

 gested in part by a Philadelphia 

 Jewess, Rebecca Gratz, whose 

 story was told to Scott by Wash- 

 ington Irving in 1817, and retold 

 by Gratz van Rensselaer in The 

 Century magazine, Sept., 1882. 



Rebecca Riots. Name given to 

 riots that took place in South 

 Wales in 1839 and more seriously in 

 1843. There were various reasons, 

 economic and social, for the un- 

 rest, but the immediate one was 

 the heavy charges at the toll-gates. 

 The rioters took hold of a passage 

 in Genesis 24, in which it is said 

 of Rebekah, " let thy seed possess 

 the gate of those which hate them." 

 They went about, often on horse- 

 back, often disguised as women, 

 and destroyed many toll-gates and 

 houses. Emboldened by success, 

 they grew more formidable, and 

 soldiers were sent to deal with 

 them. They were then soon sup- 

 pressed and their main grievance 

 remedied. 



Rebekan. In the O.T., sister of 

 Laban and wife of Isaac. The 

 mother of Jacob and Esau, she in- 

 vented the plan by which her 

 favourite son Jacob deprived Esau 

 of bis father's blessing. She was 

 buried in Abraham's tomb in the 

 field of Machpelah (Gen. 22, 24-27, 

 49). As a popular Christian name 

 among the Jews the name is com- 

 monly spelt Rebecca. 



Rebus (Lat., by things). Allu- 

 sive representation of a name or 

 thing by means of pictorial devices. 

 In heraldry, such devices were 

 common during the Middle Ages. 



65 to 



Similar devices were used by some 

 of the early printers and others not 

 possessing armorial bearings. See 

 Allusive Arms. 



Recalescence. Term given by 

 metallurgists to a property of iron. 

 If an iron wire is made red-hot in a 

 flame, then removed, and allowed 

 to cool, ite bright colour will 

 steadily disappear until the wire 

 is quite dark, then, hi a moment, 

 after the wire has cooled a little 

 more, it will suddenly glow again. 

 This reappearing colour is the 

 phenomenon of recalescence. It 

 is supposed to be due to the fact 

 that, when the cooling iron has 



Rebecca, the beautiful Jewess of 



Scott's Ivanhoe. From the painting 



by L. Sharpe 



reached a certain temperature, 

 there takes place a change in the 

 arrangement of the molecules of 

 the metal, in which heat is liber- 

 ated, though the temperature of 

 the wire does not reach that of the 

 first red-hot condition. See Steel. 



RECANATI 



Recall. Political principle in 

 operation in some of the states of 

 the U.S.A. It means that a muni- 

 cipal or other official can be re- 

 moved from office if, after an elec- 

 tion held at the instance of a cer- 

 tain number of citizens, he does not 

 receive the largest number of votes. 



Recamier, JEANNE FRANQOISE 

 JULIE ADELAIDE BERNARD (1777- 

 1849). French society leader. Born 

 at Lyons, Dec. 4, 1777, she came to 

 Paris, 1784, married Jacques Re- 

 camier, a wealthy banker, 1793, 

 and about 1798 became an intim- 

 ate friend of Madame de Stael 

 (q-v.). After her husband's bank- 

 ruptcy, 1806, she lived with Mme. 

 de Stael at Coppet, Switzerland, 

 where she met Prince Augustus of 

 Prussia, to whom she was for a 

 time affianced. In 1811 she was 

 forbidden by Napoleon, who feared 

 her enmity, to live in or near 

 Paris. She returned in 1815, was 

 the ultimate friend of Benjamin 

 Constant, and her later years were 

 passed with Chateaubriand until 

 his death, 1848. Her salon at L'Ab- 

 baye-aux-Bois was a famous social 

 centre. She died in Paris, May 

 11, 1849. See Madame Recamier 

 and Her Friends, H. N. Williams, 

 1901 ; Madame Recamier et ses 

 amis, E. Herriot, 1904. 



Recanati. City of Italy, in the 

 prov. of Macerata. It stands be- 

 tween the rivers Musone and 

 Potenza, 6 m. from the Adriatic 

 and 4J m. from its station, Porto 

 Recanati, on the coast rly. On a 

 hill, at an alt. of 931 ft,, it has re- 

 mains of a 15th century wall and 

 gate, and a 14th century Gothic 

 cathedral. Founded in the 10th 

 century, and important in the Mid- 

 dle Ages, it was damaged by earth- 

 quake in 1741, and was sacked by 

 the French in 1799. Pop. 15,000. 



Madame Recamier. From the painting by David, in the Louvre, Paris 



