REM 



the darkncfs of night, or the glimnicriiiga of the loiic-ly ta- 

 per ; whether the light were fpread over an extuiided fp.ice 

 and a multitude of figures, or coufmed to the interior of a 

 room, and lerving only to illumine the hooka or the figure 

 of a fequeitend pitilofopher. 



He was certainly a genius of tlie tirit clafs, aliiiougli. the 

 objefts upon which he exercifed his powers bore little or no 

 proportional value when compared with thofe felcAed by the 

 befl Greek and Italian mailers. His invention was abun- 

 dantly fertile, but employed generally among low charac- 

 ters and materials, although the fubiedt he treated might be, 

 as it frequently was, of a facred or lublime quality. In de- 

 igning the nude, he never appears to have had a thought of 

 an elevated nature concerning form. Such as the model 

 prefented, he imitated with exaftuefs, wiien he wifhed to be 

 moft perfeit ; but he fonietimes ieems to have (ported with 

 the idea of felection, by making figures demanding grace 

 and beauty, inch as Venus, Cupid, &c. ilill more vulgar, 

 and in aftions more difguding, tlian thofe lie drew of com- 

 mon life. The redemption of this vulgarity and meannefs 

 rells with the extreme force, depth, riclniefs, brilliancy, 

 and truth of his colouring, and the perfection with which 

 lie treated his chiaro-fcuro ; which conjointly fafcinate the 

 eye, and hold it in admiration, in fpitc of the deformities pre- 

 fented in defign. 



The power of Rembrandt in the art he praftifed was per- 

 feftly original, and its exercife quite unlike that of any 

 other painter ; being drawn from nature with the moll faith- 

 ful and difcriminating eye, but with the moft peculiar felec- 

 tion. Always powerfully and beautifully executed, but not 

 unfrequently too artificial ; and only agreeable becaufe it is 

 perfeftly efteftive. All imitations of his ftyle which are 

 not well wrought, reduce it to manner, and only exhibit 

 the artifice by which-it is condufted. 



To guefs from the number and finifh of his works, he mud 

 have painted with amazing facility. His fyitem appears to 

 have been that of ufing the ground as a half teint, and re- 

 peating the lights and darks till he had obtained the efFeft he 

 fought for. His pencil, particularly in his earlier and 

 more finifhed works, is remarkably delicate, yet full ; and 

 has never been exatfly imitated ; though fome of his fcho- 

 lars, as Bohl and Eckhout, approached very near it ; none 

 of them, however, appear to have imbibed any large por- 

 tion of his clear perception of natural efFefts, which fo 

 powerfully appeals to our fympathy in his fcenes of twi- 

 light, of tempeit, and the fpirit-ftirring gloom of night. 



His pidlures are julUy and highly valued, and are rarely 

 to be purchafed ; and then only at very high pi-ices. We 

 are pofiefled of many fine fpecimens of lus talents, both in 

 hiftory and portraiture ; and the gallery of the Louvre is 

 rich ill his iinaller produftions. At Florence alfo, and at 

 Genoa, his name is efteemed, and his works preferved with 

 due refpeft. 



He lived to the age of fixty-eight, and died in 1674. 

 REMDA, in Geography, a town of Saxony, in the prin- 

 cipality of Eifenach ; 11 miles S.S.W. of Jena. N. lat. 

 50° 45'. E. long. 11° 19'. 



REMEDIAL Part of a Laiu. See Law. 

 Remedial Statutes, are thofe which are made to fupply 

 fuch defefts, and abridge fuch fuperfluities, in the common 

 law, as arife either from the general imperfection of all human 

 laws, from change of time and circuraftances, from the mif- 

 takes and unadvifed determinations of unlearned judges, or 

 from any other caufes whatfoever. And this being done, 

 either by enlarging the common law where it was too narrow 

 and circumfcribed, or by rettraining it where it was too lax 

 and luxuriant, hath occafioned another fubordiiiate divifion 

 Vol. XXIX. 



II i<: M 



of remedial a<?ts of parliament into enlarging and rellraiiiing 

 ftatutes. E. gr. In the cafe of treafon, clipping the cur- 

 rent coin of the kingdom was an oft'ence not fufficienlly 

 guarded againft by the common law; therefore it was 

 thought expedient by ftatute 5 Ehz. cap. 11. to make it 

 high treafon, which it was not at the common law ; fo that 

 this was an enlarging ftatute. At common law alfo fpiritual 

 corporations might leafe out their eftatea for any term of 

 years, till prevented by the ftatute 13 Eliz. cap. 10. This 

 was, therefore, a reftraining ftatute. Blackft. Com. book i. 

 REMEDIOS, in Geography, a town of South America, 

 in the province of Popayan ; 71 miles S. of Santa Fe de 

 Antioquia. 



11e.mkdios, or Nojra Segnora de los Rcmedios dc Pueblo 

 Nuevo, a town of Mexico, in tlie province of Verat^ua ; 

 yo miles W.N. W. of St. Yago. N. lat. 8° 44'. W. lollir.' 

 82^ 16'. ** 



RkmivDios, or Paynfal, a town of Mexico, in the pro- 

 vince of Yucatan, in lake Fue. N. lat. 17^3'. W. long. 

 91'' 46'. 



Reml'DIOs, a town of New Navarre; 120 miles S. of 

 Cafa Grande. 



REMEDY, in Law, is the aftion or means given by 

 law for the recovery of a right. 



Remedy, Remed'ium, in Medicine, any phyfical agent 

 by which a difeafe may be alleviated or cured. 



Remedies are either general or topical ; the former com- 

 prehending fuch as iiofluence the actions of tlie wliole frame, 

 as blood-letting from any large vein, the cold-bath, and 

 almoft all thole medicaments or drugs which arc taken into 

 the ftomach ; the latter- including thofe which are applied 

 to, or in the vicinity of, any particular part which is difeafed : 

 thus, among topical remedies, are blood-letting by leeches or 

 cupping, blifters, in"ues, cataplafms, ointments, plafters, &c. 



The operation of remedies is rather a qucftion of expe- 

 rience than of logical inveftigation. Some remedies, the 

 number of which appears to be very limited, poftefs a 

 fpccific power of curing certain difeafes. There are, perhaps, 

 not more than two medicines, however, that are fairly enti- 

 tled to the appellation oifpecifics : thefe are mercury, which 

 cures the venereal difeafe, and fulphur, which cures the 

 itch. The bark of cinchona has, indeed, been deemed a 

 fpecific for intermittent fevers ; but it is not entitled to 

 fuch a character : and the eau medicinale, which has recently 

 been brought forward as a fpecific for the gout, appears to 

 have loft much of its reputation. The pretended fpecifics 

 daily advertifed for many difeafes by quacks, are mere 

 impofitions, being commonly difguifed forms of the moft 

 aftive and dangerous medicines which are employed cau- 

 tioully by the faculty ; fuch as arfenic, corrofive fublimate, 

 and other preparations of mercury ; laudanum, hemlock, 

 and other narcotics. Of the former fpecies are Ward's 

 ague-drop, and his white drop ; of the latter, are Dalby's 

 carminative, Godbold's balfam, and many others. The 

 danger refulting from the ufe of thefe noftrums, arifcs from 

 the indifcriniinate adminiftration of them in many difeafes 

 which have a fimilar name, but which vary much in different 

 conftitutions, and at different periods of Hfe. Much injury- 

 is done by the conftant fale of thefe pretended fpecifics, by 

 the impreffion which it contributes to maintain, that each 

 difeafe has its fpecific I'emedy ; whereas no opinion can be 

 farther from the truth. When it is confidered that almoft 

 every difeafe, though fimilar in name, arifes from feveral 

 caufes (which we have already illultrated when fpeaking of 

 Col'Gh), it will be obvious that the fame remedies muft be 

 applied, upon general principles, to difeafes of different 

 name, and different remedies to thofe which have the 



4 P fams 



