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times one party, sometimes another; but, according to Mr. 
Roscoe, his crime in the eyes of the Florentine historians of 
the succeeding century was “ an ardent love of liberty, 
which he preferred to the claims of kindred, and the expec¬ 
tations of personal aggrandizement.” He was attached to 
the popular party, and on the accession of Leo X. declined 
the office which his countrymen would have conferred upon 
him, of going as public orator to compliment the pontiff, 
probably foreseeing in his elevation the subversion of liberty 
at Florence. He died in 1514, and was buried in the church 
of St. Maria Novella, the front of which, begun by his father, 
was finished by him with great magnificence. The learn¬ 
ing and talents of Bernardo were displayed in his antiqua¬ 
rian and historical works. His treatise, “ De Urbe Roma,” 
is a commentary on the description of Rome by Publio Vit¬ 
tore, in which, with great erudition and critical sagacity, 
and in a clear and elegant style, he collected from all the 
ancient writers whatever could serve to convey a just idea of 
the grandeur of that capital. He also composed a short 
treatise “ De Magistratibus Romanis,” published by Walch 
at Leipzig, in 1752. His histories, “ De Bello Italico,” and 
De Bello Pisano,” the former first published in London, in 
1724, and both republished by Bowyer in 1733, are works 
of great merit, and have been compared to those of Sallust. 
Erasmus speaks highly of this author’s Latin style; but com¬ 
plains, that when he saw him at Venice, he could not prevail 
upon him to speak a sentence in that language; a reserve 
undoubtedly owing to his great fear of violating purity in 
his expressions. He was also a poet in his own tongue; 
and a piece of his, entitled “ Trionso della Calumnia,” was 
printed among the “ Canti Carmascialeschi,” at Florence, 
in 1759. Tiraboschi. Roscoe s Lorenzo de Medici. 
RUCELLAI (Giovanni), son of the preceeding, a dis¬ 
tinguished Italian poet, was born in 1475. With a natural 
capacity for learning, he could not fail, under his father's 
roof, to become a proficient in polite literature, and it 
appears from contemporary testimony that he was highly 
accomplished in the Greek and Latin languages, as well as 
in his own. In 1505 the republic of Florence nominated 
him ambassador to the Venetian state. He took a leading 
part, together with his brother Palla, in the tumult raised 
by the younger citizens in 1512, to promote the return of 
the Medici to Florence. After the elevation to the pontifi¬ 
cate of Leo X., who was his cousin-german, the prospect of 
promotion caused Giovanni to repair to Rome, and enter 
into the ecclesiastical order; and he attended Leo on his 
visit, to Florence, in 1515, on which occasion the pontiff was 
entertained in the Ruccellai gardens with the representation 
of the tragedy of Rosmonda, written by Giovanni. It was 
generally expected that his advancement to the cardirialate 
would soon have taken place, but some reason caused it to 
be deferred. The Pope, however, manifested his confidence 
in his relation by sending him at a very critical period as 
nuncio to the court of Francis I. where he was at the death 
of Leo. On that event he returned to Florence, whence he 
was deputed to congratulate the new pontiff Adrian VI. on 
his accession: the Latin oration which he recited upon this 
occasion has been printed. The succeeding pontificate of 
Clement VII. to whom he was also related, gave him fresh 
hopes of promotion ; and, in fact, he was appointed to the 
post of castellan of St. Angelo, which v/as then regarded as 
directly leading to the purple. But during the accustomed 
delays of Clement, his career was stopt by a fever, which 
terminated his life in 1526. 
During his residence in St. Angelo, Giovanni employed 
himself in completing his poem Delle Api, and his tragedy 
of Orestes, both of which he requested his brother Palla to 
send to their friend the poet Trissino for correction. “ Le 
Api” (The Bees), first published by Palla in 1539, is a didac¬ 
tic poem in unrhymed verse, which bears a high rank among 
Italian compositions of that class. Its diction is pure and 
elegant, though simple, and the work displays much scien¬ 
tific knowledge, particularly in natural history. His two 
tragedies, “Rosmonda” and “ Oreste,” the last of which 
remained in manuscript till it was published by Count Maf- 
fei in 1723, are imitations; the former, of the Hecuba of 
Euripides, the latter, of his Iphigenia in Tauris. The Oreste 
is the superior work of the two, and by the invention of 
several striking incidents, it has so much improved upon the 
Greek model, as almost to deserve the praise of an original. 
Maffei, who regarded it as a composition of first-rate merit, 
adapted it to the modern stage. Tiraboschi. Roscoc's 
Leo X. 
RUCHIL, a river of Scotland in Perthshire, which rises 
in the forest of Glenairtney, and falls into the Erne, at the 
bridge of Comrie. 
To RUCK, v. n. [from the Sax. ppigan, to lye covered .] 
To cower; to sit close; to lie close. 
But now they rucken in their nest, 
And resten. Gower. 
O false morderour, rucking in thy den. Chaucer. —The 
raven rook'd her on the chimney’s top. Shakspeare. 
RUCK, s. [from the Sax. pjiijan, to cover.'] A part of 
silk or linen folded over, or covering some other part, when 
the whole should lie smooth or even. Toolce. —This is com¬ 
mon in many parts of England, for a crease. 
RUCKERSDORF, a large village of Prussian Silesia, in 
the circle of Sagan. Population 1100. 
RUCKHUBEL, a great mountain in the Swiss canton of 
Unterwalden, 7340 feet in perpendicular height. 
RUCKINGE, a parish of England, in Kent; 6§ miles 
south-by-east of Ashford. 
RUCKINGEN, a small town of the west of Germany, 
in Hesse-Cassel, on the small river Kinzig ; 5 miles east of 
Hanau. Here was fought an obstinate engagement between 
the French and Bavarians, on the retreat of the former from 
Leipsic, on 30th October, 1813. 
RUCTATION, s. [ ructo , Lat.] A bad term for eruc¬ 
tation. Swift uses this word. 
RUCUE, a small river of the island of Laxa, in Chili, 
which runs north-north-west, and enters the river Laxa. 
RUD, adj. [old Cornish rud; Sax. pube; Su. Goth, roed.] 
Red; ruddy; rosy. 
Sweet blushes stain’d her rud- red cheeke, 
Her eyen were black as sloe. Percy. 
RUD, s. [pubu, Sax.] Redness; blush.—His rudde is 
like scarlet in grain. Chaucer. 
Fast, with a redd rudd. 
To her chamber can she flee. Percy. 
Ruddle; red oker used to mark sheep. North. Grose. 
—A kind of bastard small roach.—Men, that know their 
difference, call them ruds: they differ from the true roach, 
as much as a herring from a pilchard. Walton. 
To RUD, v. a. [pubu, Sax. redness.] To make red. 
Obsolete. —Her cheeks, like apples, which the sun had 
rudded. Spenser. 
RUDANAY, a small rocky island on the west coast of 
the island of Mull. 
RUDAW, a small town of East Prussia, remarkable for a 
battle fought in its neighbourhood in 1370, between the 
Teutonic knights and the Lithuanians. It contains several 
monuments of the ancient idolatry of the Samlanders; 14 
miles north-north-west of Konigsberg. 
RUDBECK (John), a learned Swedish bishop, was born 
in 1581. After acquiring the elements of learning at Orebro 
and Stregnas, he entered himself at Upsal, and had scarcely 
attained to the 23d year of his age, when he was appointed 
professor of mathematics at the latter; but he exchanged 
this office for the professorship of Hebrew, in 1610. On 
the coronation of Gustavus Adolphus, he took his degree as 
doctor of theology; and in 1619 he was nominated to be 
bishop of Vesteras. He was the author of various sermons, 
preached on public occasions, and of several other works, 
among which were the following: “ Acta, hoc est Lecfi- 
ones, Declamationes, Disputationes, et Exercitia, Anni 1610, 
in Collegio privato habita. Dedicata Gustavo Adolpho,” 
Holm., 4to.; “ Logica, ex optimis et praestantissimis Auc- 
toribus collecta et conscripta,” Ards., 1629, 8vo.; “ Con- 
troversiae, Logices,” ib., 1629 ; “ Privilegia quaedam Docto- 
rum, Magistrorum, Bacalaureorum Studiosorum et Scholarum 
omnium,” 
