Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/322

Rh 304 R E A R E A town is well built, with wide and regular streets and many good villas in the suburbs. Of the magnificent Benedictine abbey founded in 1121 by King Henry I., originally one of the three wealthiest in England, all that now remains is a mass of ruins (with the exception of the gateway, which was restored in 1861 and is now carefully preserved), a portion of the great hall (in which several parliaments have been held), and the foundation of the Norman apsidal chapel. Henry L, who died at Rouen, was buried within its precincts ; but his monument was destroyed in the time of Edward VI. ; and John of Gaunt was married there to Blanche of Lancaster in 1359. By Henry VIII. it was converted into a palace, which formed the occasional residence of subsequent sovereigns until its destruction during the Cromwellian wars. Of other old ecclesiastical buildings of special interest the principal are Greyfriars' church, completed about 1311, formerly the church of Greyfriars' monastery, but after the dissolution used successively as a town-hall, a workhouse, and a jail, until it was restored to its original use in 1864 ; St Mary's church, rebuilt, according to Camden, in 1551 from the ruins of a nunnery founded by Elfrida to expiate the murder of her stepson (Edward the Martyr) ; the church of St Lawrence, originally Norman, but rebuilt in the 15th century in the Early English style, containing some interesting brasses ; and the church of St Giles, of mixed architecture, which was severely damaged during the Cromwellian wars. At the free grammar-school, founded in 1445, Archbishop Laud received his education, and he afterwards became a generous benefactor to it. The school was removed in 1871 to new buildings surrounded by 12 acres of ground. Other educational foundations are the Kendrick schools (1624), the blue-coat school (1656), and the green-coat school for girls (1779). The various almshouses were consolidated into one building in 1865. Among the modern structures are the municipal buildings (in the Renaissance style, erected in 1875 and enlarged in 1882, containing a large concert-room, a free library, schools for science and art, and a museum), the corn exchange, the assize courts, the athenaeum, the royal Albert hall, the masonic hall, the workhouse, and the royal Berk- shire hospital. The town has a large trade in corn and agri- cultural produce ; and, in addition to an extensive biscuit manufactory which employs over 3000 hands, it- possesses iron -works, iron-foundries, engine - works, and breweries. Adjoining the town are extensive seed nurseries covering about 10,000 acres. The population of the borough (area, 2186 acres) in 1871 was 32,324, and in 1881 it was 42,054. The origin of the town is doubtful ; but Reading must have been a place of some importance when the Danes in 871 brought their war-ships up the Thames as far as the Kennet and made the town for some time their headquarters. It was burned by Sweyn in 1006. In Domesday the name occurs as Radynges. A new and strong castle was erected here by Stephen, which was destroyed by Henry JI. In 1209 the professors and students of Oxford made a temporary retreat to Reading, owing to a quarrel with King John. From the 13th to the 16th century parliaments were frequently held in the town, and in the Michaelmas term of 1625 the law courts were transferred to it on account of the prevalence of the plague in London. In 1643 it surrendered to the Parliamentary forces under the earl of Essex, and subsequently was more than once occupied by the rival armies. It is a borough by prescription and received charters and grants from Henry III. and subsequent sovereigns. It has returned members to parliament from the 23d of Edward I. ; the number was reduced from two to one in 1885. By the Municipal Act of 1836 it was divided into three wards governed by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors. READING, a city of the United States, capital of Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the east bank of the Schuylkill river, and on the Schuylkill and Union Canals, 58 miles north-west of Philadelphia at the intersection of some fourteen railway lines, representing eight different companies. It occupies an elevated and healthy position on a plain that gradually rises towards an amphitheatre of hills, including Penn's Mount on the east and Neversink Mountain on the south. The plan is extremely regular and the principal streets cross at Penn Square, the business centre of the city. An abundant supply of excellent water helps to keep the whole place sweet and clean. Conspicuous buildings are the court-house, the city-hall, Trinity Church (Lutheran), Christ Church (Episcopal), the opera-house, Mishler's academy of music, and the railway station. Besides a very extensive and varied manufacture of iron and iron wares from steam-boilers down to nails, Reading carries on distilling, tanning, cotton -weaving, cigar -rolling, paper -making, and many other industries, and is the seat of extensive machine-shops of the Phil- adelphia and Reading Railroad. The population 2385 in 1800, 15,743 in 1850, 33,930 in 1870, and 43,278 in 1880 is largely of German origin; and in 1883 one out of its five daily newspapers and six out of its eleven weeklies were in German. Laid out in 1748 by Thomas and Richard Penn, Reading received incorporation as a borough in 1783, and was made a city in 1847. REALEJO, a town and harbour on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, situated in the neighbourhood of 12 28' N. lat. The harbour is spacious and well sheltered, and altogether the best which Nicaragua possesses on that coast ; it is protected by a peninsula and two considerable islands, Garden and Asserradores or Corinto. The town lies 9 miles inland, and as a port is now superseded by the new town of Corinto, founded about 1849, and since 1881 connected with Leon and the interior by a railway. Realejo was the terminus adopted by Bedford Pirn for his scheme of an interoceanic canal ; but the route actually sanctioned reaches the coast of the Pacific at Brito, some distance to the south. REAL ESTATE. The land law of England and of countries whose law is based upon that of England stands in a peculiar position, which can be understood only by an outline of its history. History. Such terms as " fee " or " homage " carry us far back into feudal times. Rights of common and dis- tress are based upon still older institutions, forming the very basis of primitive law. The conception of tenure is the most fundamental ground of distinction between real and personal estate, the former only being strictly en- titled to the name of estate (see ESTATE). The division into real and personal is coincident to a great extent with that into immovable and movable, generally used by systems of law founded on the Roman (see PERSONAL ESTATE). That it is not entirely coincident is due to the influence of the Roman law itself. The Greeks and the Romans of the republic were essentially nations of citizens ; the Teutons were essentially a nation of land- folk ; the Roman empire bridged the gulf between the two. It is probable that the English land law was produced by the action of the policy adopted in the lower empire, finally developed into feudalism, upon the previously ex- isting course of Teutonic custom (see FEUDALISM). It is sufficient to say here that the distinguishing features of the Teutonic system were enjoyment in common and the absence of private ownership, except to a limited extent. The history of the development of the old English land law before the Conquest will be found under ENGLAND and LAND. Its principal features, stated as shortly as possible, were (1) liberty of alienation, either by will or inter vivos, of such land as could be alienated, chiefly, if not entirely, bocland, subject always to the limits fixed by the boc ; (2) publicity of transfer by enrolment in the shire -book or church -book ; (3) equal partition of the estate of a deceased among the sons, and failing sons among the daughters; (4) cultivation to a great extent by persons in various