18 
RET 
No -woman’s heart • 
So big to hold so much; they lack retention. Shakspeare. 
Retention and retentive faculty is that state of contraction 
in their solid parts, which makes them hold fast their proper 
contents. 2,uincy. —Memory.— Retention is the keeping of 
those simple ideas, which from sensation or reflection the 
mind hath received. Locke. —The act of withholding any 
thing. 
His life I gave him, and did thereto add 
My love without retention or restraint; 
All his. Shakspeare. 
Custody; refinement; restraint. 
I sent the old and miserable king 
To some retention and appointed guard. Shakspeare. 
RETE'NTIVE, adj. [retentus , Lat.] Having the 
power of retention. 
Have I been ever free, and must my house 
Be my retentive enemy, my gaol ? Shakspeare. 
Having memory.—-To remember a song or tune, our souls 
must be an harmony continually running over in a silent 
whisper those musical accents, which our retentive faculty 
is preserver of. Glanville. 
■ RETE'NTIVE, s. [retentus , Lat;] Restraint.—Secret 
checks readily conspire with outward retentives. Bp. Hall. 
RETE'NTIVENESS, s. Having the quality of reten¬ 
tion. 
RETFORD, or Rf.dford, East, a market town, borough, 
and parish of England, in the county of Nottingham. It is 
pleasantly situated on the river Idle, and its open square, 
surrounded by good regular buildings, gives it an air of im¬ 
portance that few country towns of its size possess. Strictly 
speaking, it consists of two towns and two parishes, East and 
West Retford, from their situations on each side of the river; 
and each of these are distinct in jurisdiction ; but as they are 
united by a bridge, which is a substantial and not inelegant 
structure, they constitute, for all local purposes, but one 
town. The church of East Retford, dedicated to St. Swithin, 
and called the Corporation church, is a neat Gothic building, 
in high condition on the outside, but rather indifferent 
-within. It has a handsome square tower. The town-hall of 
East Retford was built about 60 years ago, and is a plain, but 
handsome and commodious building, occupying, however, 
inconveniently, a large portion of the market place. Here 
are held the sessions, both for town and district; and beneath 
the large room are the shambles, which are very clean and 
convenient. The free-school, endowed by Edward VI. is a 
plain and spacious building, near the church. Sleswick 
hospital, for four men, was rebuilt by the corporation in 
1806. Here is also an alms-house for 12 poor women. The 
market is always well supplied both with the usual articles, 
and also with hops, which abound in the neighbourhood. 
The church of West Retford is dedicated to St. Michael. It 
has a spire on a square tower, and some old monumental 
stones. Dorrel’s hospital was founded in 1666. It consists 
of a low and ancient looking building in the centre, with two 
advanced wings in the same style, and also two advanced 
fronts of modem erection, which are done with taste, and 
form an interesting object from the neighbourhood. The 
trade of Retford, at the beginning of the last century, was 
much in barley for malting; but Worksop has now engrossed 
great part of this. The manufactures in the town consist 
of hate, a mill for candle-wick, and a paper mill. A sail¬ 
cloth manufactory has been long established. The Chester¬ 
field canal, from the Trent, has been of great advantage to 
the trade of the town. Retford is a parliamentary borough; 
and the number of voters is about 112. As a corporation, 
the government of the town is vested in 2 bailiffs, a steward, 
and 12 aldermen, with 2 chamberlains, a town clerk, and 2 
serjeants at mace. Market on Saturday. Population 2030 ; 
30 miles north of Nottingham, and 144 north-by-west of 
London. Lat. 53. 18. N. long. 0. 56. W. 
RET 
. RETFORD, West, a parish, which communicates with 
the foregoing, by a stone bridge over the river Idle. Popu¬ 
lation 542. 
RETHEL, or Retel Mazarin, (having belonged to the 
family of cardinal Mazarin,) a small town of France, in the 
department of the Ardennes, situated on the Aisne. It has 
several manufactures, viz. woollens, cottons, linen, hate, and 
leather, all on a small scale. The environs consist chiefly 
of forest land and pasturage ; they contain also some iron 
mines. Population 4900 ; 24 miles north-east of Rheims. 
Lat. 49. 50. N. long. 4. 27. E. 
RET HEM, a town of Germany, in Hanover, on the 
river Aller; 32 miles north-north-west of Hanover. Popula¬ 
tion 1000. 
RETI, in Hindoo- Mythology, a personification of affec¬ 
tion, and the fabled consort of Kama, the god of love. She 
is represented in pictures as a beautiful woman, on horse¬ 
back sometimes, and in the act of throwing a lance. Allu¬ 
sions to this goddess, proverbial for beauty, occur very fre¬ 
quently in Hindoo writings. Rhadha, that lovely goddess, 
describes the glances of her eye as “ keener than the arrows 
darted by the husband of Reti.” She sometimes is styled 
“ mother of Kama.” Kama is often called “ he who loveth 
the goddess Reti.” On the occasion of the combustion of 
the god of love, the lamentations of the afflicted Reti are 
very touchingly related by the celebrated Kalidaa, author 
of Sakuntala. A whole hook of his poem, entitled 
“ Kumara sambhava, or the Birth of Kumera,” is occupied 
with her tender sorrows. This book Sir W. Jones’s teacher, 
a learned Vaidya (see Vaidya), was restrained from 
reading; considering the ceremonies of a marriage, that of 
Kama and Reti, at which Brahma himself officiated as 
father of the bridegroom, as too holy to be known by any 
but Brahmans. 
RETIARII, a kind of gladiators, thus denominated from 
a net which they made use of against their antagonists, who 
were called secutores, and sometimes myrmillones. 
Under their buckler they carried a net, and, when op¬ 
portunity served, cast it over the head of their antagonist, 
and, in this condition, killed him with a trident, or three- 
pointed spear, which they bore in the other hand. Lipsius 
and others observe, that they fought in tunics, and were 
furnished with sponges to wipe off the sweat, blood, &c. and 
to stop their wounds. 
RETICENCE, s. [ reticeo , Lat.] Concealment by silence, 
Johnson. 
RETICLE, s. [ reticulum, Lat.] A small net. Recently 
a small bag carried by ladies; vulgarly pronounced redicule. 
RETl'CULAR, adj. [ reticulum , Lat.] Having the 
texture or form of a net. 
RETICULAR BODY, a body of vessels lying imme¬ 
diately under the cuticle or scarf-skin.— Reticular Plexus, 
sometimes denotes the choroides, which is thus-called, be¬ 
cause its fibres are interwoven like a net. 
RETICULARIA, in Botany, a genus of Fungi, named 
by Bulliard, from the reticulated appearance of its structure 
when ripe. It is the Lycogala of Micheli, Persoon, and 
others. 
RETICULARIS MEMBRANA, a name sometimes given 
to the cellular substance. 
RETI'CQLATED, adj. [ reticulatus , Lat.] Made of 
net-work; formed with interstitial vacuities.-—The intervals 
of the cavities, rising a little, make a pretty kind of reticu¬ 
lated work. Woodward. 
RETICULE, in Astronomy, a contrivance for the exact 
measuring of the quantity of eclipses, introduced several 
years ago by the Royal Academy of Paris. 
The reticule is a little frame, consisting of thirteen fine 
silken threads, equidistant from each other, and parallel; 
placed in the focus of object-glasses of telescopes; that is, 
in the place where the image of the luminary is painted in 
its full extent. Of consequence, therefore, the diameter of 
the sun and moon is by this seen divided into ‘ twelve equal 
parts or digits; so that, to find the quantity of the eclipse, 
there 
