REDBREAST REEVING. 



fude, Loheiu, Hodeida, and Moclia on the east side. 

 This part of the Indian ocean was called by the 

 Greeks the Erythrean sea, according to some ac- 

 counts, from a king Erythras, of whom, however, 

 nothing is known. The Greek epithet \av^a.ms. 

 signifies also red; hence the appellation Mare 

 rultrum, and in English, Red sea, not from any 

 such colour in its waters or snnds. 



REDBREAST (motacilla rubecula}. This little 

 bird is familiarly known to every child, from the 

 numerous nursery stories, in which it plays a prom- 

 inent part. The fame of this bird has arisen from 

 its habit of seeking the aid of man during the win- 

 ter season. During that inclement period of the 

 year, it visits without dread the cottage of the pea- 

 sant and the palace of the peer, tapping at the 

 windows with its bill, as if to demand an asylum, 

 and repays its hosts by its confidence, gathering the 

 crumbs from the table, and warbling forth its thanks 

 in the softest notes. The moment, however, the 

 spring appears, this familiarity with its protectors 

 ceases, and it again hastens to its native haunts. 

 The redbreast builds its nest at the foot of some 

 shrub, or upon a tuft of grass ; it is composed of 

 dried leaves, mixed with hair and moss, and lined 

 with feathers ; the female lays from five to seven 

 t-ggs. Sometimes it covers its nest with leaves, 

 leaving a small passage for egress and regress. 

 The food of the redbreast varies with the season ; 

 in the spring it is composed of worms and insects, 

 but in autumn is principally fruit and seeds. Its 

 delicacy in preparing a worm before partaking of 

 it, is somewhat remarkable ; it first seizes it by one 

 end in its beak, and beats it on the ground till the 

 inner part comes away; then, taking it in the same 

 manner by the other end, it cleanses the outer part, 

 which is the only portion it eats. From its general 

 familiarity with mankind it has received a nom de 

 caresse in almost every nation in Europe ; in Bri- 

 tain it is known as the Robin Redbreast; in Ger- 

 many it is termed Thomas Gierdet ; and in Norway, 

 Peter Ronsmad. 



REDEMPTION, EQUITY OF. See Equity of 

 Redemption. 



REDEMPTORISTS ; an order founded by Li- 

 guori, and restored in Austria in 1820. Beside the 

 usual monastic vows, they bind themselves to 

 labour for the propagation of the Catholic faith, by 

 the cure of souls, and the education of youth. 



REDONDILLAS signified formerly a species of 

 versification used in the south of Europe, consisting 

 of a union of verses of four, six, and eight syllables, 

 of which generally the first rhymed with the fourth 

 and the second with the third. At a later period, 

 verses of six and eight syllables in general, in 

 Spanish and Portuguese poetry, were called by this 

 name, whether they made perfect rhymes or asson- 

 ances only. These became common in the drama- 

 tic poetry of Spain. 



REDOUBT, in fortification ; a small square 

 work without any defence but in front, used in 

 trenches, lines of circumvallation. contravallation, 

 and approach, as also for the lodging of corps de 

 garde, and to defend passages. They are usually 

 figures of three, four, five, or six sides, encompassed 

 with a ditch and a bank of earth, which consists of 

 two parts, called rampart and parapet. 



REED. This term is usually applied indiscrimi- 

 nately to all tall, broad-leaved grasses which grow 

 along the banks of streams, and even to other 

 plants, with similar leaves, growing in such situa- 

 tions. Strictly speaking, it belongs to the genus 

 arundo, and especially to the A. phragmites, the 

 largest grass of northern climates, and one of the 

 most universally diffused. This grass grows in 



marshes, often occupying exclusively certain tracts, 

 and attains the height of eight or ten feet, with 

 leaves one or two inches broad, and bears large, 

 nodding, silky panicles. It flowers in July. It is 

 used in many countries for various economical pur- 

 poses, as for thatching, for protecting embankments 

 or sea-dikes, for ceilings to cottages, &c., for 

 screens, or fences, and hotbed covers in gardens, 

 for chair-bottoms, for weavers' combs, &c. The 

 flowers afford a green dye, which is occasionally 

 used for colouring woollens ; and it is said that 

 flour may be made from the dried roots, capable of 

 being converted into a wholesome and nutritive 

 bread . 



REED-BIRD. See Rice-Bunting. 



REEF ; a certain portion of a sail comprehended 

 between the top or bottom and a row of eyelet 

 holes, generally parallel thereto. The intention of 

 the reef is to reduce the surface of the sail in pro- 

 portion to the increase of the wind ; for which 

 reason there are several reefs parallel to each other 

 in the superior sails : thus the top-sails of ships are 

 generally furnished with three reefs, and sometimes 

 four; and there are always three or four reefs paral- 

 lel to the foot or bottom of those main-sails and fore- 

 sails which are extended upon booms. 



Ree/a\so implies a chain of rocks lying near the 

 surface of the water. 



REEFING ; the operation of reducing a sail by 

 taking in one or more of the reefs. 



REEL ; a lively Scotch dance, generally written 

 in common time of four crotchets in a bar, but 

 sometimes in jig-time of six quavers. 



REELING. See Silk Manufacture. 



REES, ABRAHAM ; a dissenting clergyman, born 

 in Wales, in 1743. Being intended for the minis- 

 try, he was placed at the Hoxton academy, where 

 his progress was so rapid that, in his nineteenth 

 year he was appointed mathematical tutor to the 

 institution, and, soon after, resident tutor, in which 

 capacity he continued upwards of twenty-two years. 

 In 1768, he became pastor to the Presbyterian con- 

 gregation of St Thomas's, Southwark (since removed 

 to Stamford street), and continued in that situation 

 till 1783, when he accepted an invitation to become 

 minister of a congregation in the Old Jewry, whose 

 spiritual concerns he superintended till his death. 

 On the establishment of the dissenting seminary at 

 Hackney, in 1786, Dr Rees was elected resident 

 tutor in the natural sciences, which place he held 

 till the dissolution of the acadtn.y, on the death of 

 Dr Kippis. In 1776, he was applied to by the 

 proprietors of Chambers' Cyclopaedia to superintend 

 an enlarged edition of that compilation, which, 

 after nine years' incessant labour, he completed in 

 four folio volumes. The success of this work led 

 to a new undertaking, similar in its nature, but 

 more comprehensive in its plan, projected and car 

 ried on by him under the title of the New Cyclo- 

 pajdia (45 vols., 1802 20 ; republished at Phila- 

 delphia, in 47 vols.). Dr Rees obtained his degree 

 from the university of Edinburgh. He was also a 

 fellow of the Royal and Linnaean societies. His 

 death took place June 9, 1825. 



REEVE, CLARA ; born at Ipswich, in 1738, and 

 died there in 1808. She possessed great learning 

 and research, which she displayed in a translation 

 of Barclay's Latin romance of Argenis, under the 

 title of the Phoenix, or the History of Polyarchus 

 and Argenis (1772); and the Progress of Romance. 

 Her other works are the well-known tale of the 

 Old English Baron ; the Two Mentors ; the Exile; 

 the School for Widows ; a Plan of Education , and 

 Memoirs of Sir Roger de Clarendon (4 vols.). 



REEVING, in the sea language ; the putting a 



