RUDESIIEIMER RUNHKENIUS. 



his son, allowing, however, his name to remain in 

 the firm. He died a t Edinburgh on the 19th 

 January, 1757, aped eighty-three. 



qDESHEIMER. See Rhenish Wines. 



RUE (rvta graveolens') ; a strong scented plant, 

 cultivated in garden?. The root is perennial, 

 woody; the stems, branching almost from the base, 

 about two feet high, bearing alternate petiolate, 

 and very iiuicli divided leaves; the flowers are 

 yellow, and disposed in corymbs at the summit of 

 the branches; the calyx is persistent, aud divided 

 into four or five segments; the corolla consists of 

 as many oval petals, and is longer than the calyx ; 

 the Mamens are eight or ten, and the style single. 

 The odour of rue is very strong and disagreeable, 

 and the taste acrid and bitter. It has been cele- 

 brated as a medicinal plant from high antiquity, 

 and a great variety of virtues have been attributed 

 to it, but is now comparatively little used, being 

 chiefly employed in cases of hysteria and flatulent 

 colic. Notwithstanding its disagreeable taste and 

 odour, the leaves were employed for culinary pur- 

 poses by the ancient Romans, and even now enter 

 into the composition of certain dishes, and espe- 

 cially of salads, in some parts of Italy and Ger- 

 many. About twenty species of rue are known. 



BUEBEZAHL; the name of a mountain spirit, 

 sometimes friendly, sometimes mischievous, dwel- 

 ling in the Riesengebirge, in Silesia. Ruebezahl 

 corresponds to our Robin-Goodfellow. He has 

 become, of late, the hero of some operas. See 

 Brownie and Elf, 



RUFF (macfietes pugnax). A species of the 

 shore birds, alike curious in tbe disposition of its 

 plumage and for its pugnacious character. It is 

 about a foot in length, with a bill an inch long. 

 The plumage varies so much in colour, in different 

 individuals, that many imaginary species have been 

 formed. It derives its common name from the dis- 

 position of the long feathers of the neck, which 

 stand out like the ruff formerly worn ; it is, how- 

 ever, only the male that is furnished with this 

 appendage, which he does not gain till the second 

 year, before which period he closely resembles the 

 female. They are birds of passage, appearing at 

 certain seasons of the year, in great numbers, in 

 the north of Europe. They are generally taken in 

 large nets. When fattened, they are dressed like 

 the woodcock, without withdrawing their intes- 

 tines or their contents, which are considered by the 

 connoisseurs as affording the most delicate kind of 

 seasoning for these birds. The males are much 

 more numerous than the females, and during the 

 pairing season have numerous and severe conflicts 

 for the possession of their mates. These combats 

 are thus described by Pennant and other writers : 

 The male chooses a stand on some dry bank near 

 the water, round which he runs so often as to 

 make a bare circular path; the moment a female 

 appears in sight, all the males within a certain dis- 

 tance commence a general fight, placing their bills 

 to the ground, spreading their ruff, and using the 

 same action as the common cock. This pugna- 

 cious disposition is so strong, that when they are 

 kept for the purpose of fattening, their place of 

 confinement is obliged to be dark, as, the moment 

 any light is admitted, they attack each other with 

 such fury, and fight with so much inveteracy, as to 

 occasion a great slaughter. The female lays four 

 eggs, forming her nest in a tuft of grass, and incu- 

 bates about a month. 



BUG EN; the largest island in the Baltic, 



belonging to Germany, about a mile from the con- 

 tinent, containing BOO square miles, and 28,000 

 inhabitants. It belongs to the government of 

 Stralsund, in the Prussian province of Pomenmia. 

 Its northern coast consists chiefly of precipitous 

 chalk rocks, and the whole island is rich in roman- 

 tic scenery, for which reason it is much resorted to 

 by travellers. The capital is Bergen, with 2200 

 inhabitants. The Stubbenkammer, the north- 

 eastern promontory, rises 543 feet above the sea. 

 Not far from it is the Stubbenitz, a beautiful beech 

 wood, probably the place where, according to 

 Tacitus, the ancient Rugians worshipped the god- 

 dess Hertha. Arcona (lat. N. 54 38' 46"; Ion. 

 E. 13 25' 35") is the most northern point of Ger- 

 many proper. Rugen came under the Prussian 

 government in 1815, with the rest of Swedish 

 Pomerania. The Rugians are a hardy race of 

 fishers and husbandmen. The inhabitants of the 

 peninsula of Monkguth are very tall. See J. J. 

 Griimhke's account of the island (in German ; Ber 

 lin, 1819, 2 vols.) 



RUGENDAS, GEORGE PHILIP, one of the most 

 famous battle painters, was born at Augsburg, in 

 1666. After six year's study, his right hand 

 became disabled by a fistula. He continued to work 

 with the left. He painted and engraved much. 

 His pictures are full of spirit and ease ; there is an 

 endless variety in the attitudes of his horses. 

 Among his engravings, all laboured with uncommon 

 care, are distinguished six large ones, representing 

 the siege of Augsburg, of which he was a witness. 

 He died at that city, in 1742. His sons George 

 Philip (died 1774) and Christian (died in 1781) 

 are also known as engravers. 



RUHE, the German for rest, used as an affix to 

 several geographical names; for instance, Carls- 

 ruhe (rest of Charles; place of repose for Charles). 



RUHNKENIUS, DAVID (properly Euhnken), 

 professor of history and eloquence in the university 

 of Leyden, one of the most celebrated classical 

 scholars of his time, and especially distinguished 

 for his simple, beautiful, classic Latin style, was 

 born in 1723, at Stolpe, in Hither Pomerania. 

 His opulent parents designed him for study, and 

 sent him at first to Konigsberg, where he made 

 himself acquainted with classic authors of anti- 

 quity, and also practised music and other of the 

 fine arts. In his eighteenth year, he went to Wit- 

 tenberg, and studied with eagerness the philosophy 

 of Wolf. Two years after, he went to Leyden, to 

 enjoy the instructions of the celebrated Hemster- 

 huys in the Greek language. There he spent six 

 years, and devoted himself to the whole circle of the 

 humane studies, under the guidance of his great 

 teacher. The first fruits of his application were 

 two Epistolee critical (1749 and 1751); the sub- 

 ject of the first of which was the hymns of 

 Homer, Hesiod, and the Greek anthology; of the 

 second, Callimachus, Apollonius, and Orpheus. 

 It was now his wish to obtain a philosophical pro- 

 fessorship in some Dutch university ; but, having no 

 prospect of such an appointment, he resumed, at 

 Hemsterhuys' advice, the study of the Roman law, 

 which he had begun in Wittenberg. But without 

 being diverted from Greek literature, he undertook 

 an edition of Plato. For this end, he procured 

 from the library of Sangermann, at Paris, a transcript 

 of the only existing copy of Timaeus's Lexicon of 

 Plato, and published it, with a commentary (Ley- 

 den, 1756 and 1789). So much critical and gram- 

 matical erudition can rarely be found condensed into 



