RIENZI RIFLE. 



8i7 



a time led a private life. In the beginning of 

 1820, at the head of a battalion, he proclaimed the 

 Spanish constitution, and, traversing a large extent 

 of country, shut himself up in a fortress, with the 

 small number of troops who had the patriotism and 

 courage to follow his example. Being threatened 

 by a powerful army, and aware of the danger of 

 delay, he sallied forth from the isle of Leon with a 

 few hundred brave men, made his way through the 

 forces that opposed his passage, visited several 

 large towns, intimidated the authorities, fought ob- 

 stinately, lost the greater part of his troops, and 

 retired to the mountains with the determination to 

 defend himself to the last extremity, rather than 

 submit to the mercy of his enemies. But the spirit 

 of freedom which he had excited was not extin- 

 guished ; the provinces ranged themselves under the 

 banners of independence, and Riego received the 

 homage of national gratitude. His popularity ex- 

 cited the jealousy of those in power, and he was 

 calumniated as a promoter of anarchy and disorder : 

 his army was dissolved, and he was proscribed. But 

 he preserved the confidence of the people, and was 

 appointed a deputy to the cortes of 1822, of which 

 assembly he became the president, and in this ardu- 

 ous station displayed prudence and firmness, with a 

 conciliatory disposition that did him honour. When 

 king Ferdinand refused to maintain the constitution 

 which he had sworn to observe, Riego again 

 appeared in arms to assert the liberty of his coun- 

 try ; but it was destined to fall before foreign 

 foes. He was taken prisoner after the surrender of 

 Cadiz to the French, under the duke d'Angouleine, 

 and, being conveyed to Madrid, was executed as a 

 traitor, Nov. 7, 1823. His widow, who sought re- 

 fuge in England, died at Chelsea, June 19, 1824 



See the Memoirs of the Life of Riego, by the 

 canon Riego (London, 1824), and Matthew's 

 Narrative, &c. 



RIENZI, NICHOLAS GABRINI DE ; a native of 

 Rome, who, in the fourteenth century, became 

 celebrated by his attempts to restore the Roman 

 republic. Although the son of one of the lowest 

 order of tavern keepers, he received a literary 

 education, and early distinguished himself by his 

 talents, parts, and elevated sentiments. The glory 

 of ancient Rome excited his enthusiasm, and he 

 came to be regarded by the common people as an 

 extraordinary person, destined to rescue them from 

 the tyranny of the aristocracy, which on the removal 

 of the popes to Avignon, had become in the highest 

 degree insolent and oppressive. He obtained the 

 post of public scribe or notary, and in 1346 was 

 joined in a deputation to pope Clement VI., at 

 Avignon, to exhort him to bring back the papal 

 court to its original seat. He acted on this occasion 

 with so much engery and eloquence, that the pope 

 created him an apostolic notary, which office, on 

 his return, he executed with strict probity. He let 

 no opportunity escape to excite the discontent of the 

 people, by haranguing against the nobility and the 

 defects of the public administration. Having pre- 

 pared men's minds for a change, and engaged per- 

 sons of all orders in his designs, in the month of 

 April, 1347, during the absence of the governor of 

 Rome, Stephen Colonna, he summoned a secret 

 assembly upon mount Aventine, before which he 

 made an energetic speech, and induced them all to 

 subscribe an oath for the establishment of a plan of 

 government,whichheentitledthe good estate. Hehad 

 even the address to gain over the pope's vicar, and, 

 in a second assembly in the capitol, produced fifteen 

 articles as the basis of the good estate, which were 

 unanimously approved; and the people conferred 

 upon him the title of tribune, with the powerof life and 



death, and all the other attributes of sovereignty. 

 The governor, Colonna, upon his return, threatened 

 him with punishment, but was himself contrained to 

 quit the city ; and Rienzi banished several of the 

 noble families, after capitally punishing such as 

 were convicted of oppression and injustice. In the 

 first exercise of his authority, he conducted himself 

 with a strict regard to justice and the public good ; 

 and even the pope was induced to sanction his 

 power. The reputation of the new tribune extended 

 throughout Italy, and his friendship was even soli- 

 cited by the king of Hungary and the emperor 

 Louis. Petrarch was highly interested in his pro- 

 ceedings ; and there are extant several eloquent 

 letters, in which that poet exhorts him to persevere 

 in his glorious undertakings. But the intoxication 

 of supreme power began to betray him into extrava- 

 gances. He caused himself to be created a knight, 

 with a mixture of religious and military ceremonies, 

 and cited the two rival emperors, Charles and Louis, 

 to appear before him to justify their pretensions. 

 He also dismissed the pope's legate, and, reducing 

 the nobles into complete humiliation, commenced a 

 reign of terror. But at length finding that he had 

 lost the affection and confidence of the people, he 

 withdrew, in 1348, from Rome, and remained in 

 Naples until 1350, when he took advantage of the 

 jubilee to return secretly to Rome ; but being dis- 

 covered, he withdrew to Prague. Thence he came 

 into the hands of pope Clement at Avignon, who 

 confined him three years, and appointed a commission 

 to try hin ; his successor, Innocent VI., released 

 Rienzi, and sent him to Rome to oppose another 

 popular demagogue, named Boroncelli. The Ro- 

 mans received him with great demonstrations of joy, 

 and he recovered his former authority ; but after a 

 turbulent administration of a few months, the nobles, 

 excited another sedition against him, in which he 

 was massacred in October, 1354. His last brief 

 career had been marked with great cruelty, which 

 excited the populace to treat his remains with 

 indignity. Rienzi, who possessed a union of fan- 

 aticism and artifice, was more energetic in speech 

 and council than in action, and failed in courage and 

 presence of mind in great emergencies. 



RIESENGEBIRGE (the Giants' mountains) ; 

 part of the Sudetic chain, separating Silesia from 

 Bohemia and Moravia, till it joins the Carpathians ; 

 but the term is properly applied to that part of this 

 range which lies between the sources of the Neisse 

 and the Bober. It contains the loftiest mountains 

 of the north or central parts of Germany, Some 

 of the principal summits are Schneekoppe, 5270 

 feet high; Great Sturmhaube, 5030 feet high ; and 

 Lesser Sturmhaube, nearly as high. The valleys 

 of the Riesengebirge present many picturesque 

 scenes. See Sudetic Mountains. 



RIFACIMENTO (Italian, a remaking, or re- 

 establishment) is now often used in English. One 

 of its most common applications is to the process of 

 recasting literary works, so as to adapt them to a 

 changed state of circumstances ; as when a work 

 written in one age or country is modified to suit the 

 circumstances of another. The German word Um- 

 arbeitung is still more impressive. 



RIFLE ; a fire-arm which has the inside of its 

 barrel cut with from three to nine or ten spiral 

 grooves, so as to make it resemble a female screw, 

 varying from a common screw only in this, that its 

 grooves or rifles are less deflected and approach 

 more to a right line ; it being now usual for the 

 grooves with which the best rifled barrels are cur, 

 to take about one whole turn in a length of thirty 

 inches. The number of these grooves differ accord- 

 ing to the size of the barrel, and the fancy of the 



