Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/132

Rh 114 R U T R U Y 20 miles, and the greatest breadth from east to west about 16 miles. The area is 94,889 acres, or about 148 square miles. The surface is pleasantly undulating, ridges of high ground running east and west, separated by rich and luxu- riant valleys, generally about half a mile in breadth. The principal valley is that of Catmoss to the south of Oakham, having to the north of it a tract of table-land commanding an extensive prospect into Leicestershire. The Welland, which is navigable to Stamford, flows north-east, forming the greater part of the boundary of the county with Northamptonshire. The Gwash or Wash, which rises in Leicestershire, flows eastwards through the centre of the county, and just beyond its borders, enters the Welland in Lincolnshire. The Chater, also rising in Leicestershire and flowing eastwards enters the Welland about two miles from Stamford. The Eye flows south- eastwards along the borders of Leicestershire. The county belongs almost entirely to the Jurassic formation, consist- ing of Liassic and Oolitic strata the harder strata, chiefly limestone containing iron, forming the hills and escarp- ments, and the clay-beds the slopes of the valleys. The oldest rocks are those belonging to the Lower Lias in the north-west. The bottom of the vale of Catmoss is formed of marlstone rock belonging to the Middle Lias, and its sides are composed of long slopes of Upper Lias clay. The Upper Lias also covers a large area in the west of the county. The lowest series of the Oolitic formation is the Northampton sands bordering Northamptonshire. The Lincolnshire Oolitic limestone prevails in the east of the county north of Stamford. It is largely quarried for building purposes, the quarry at Ketton being famous beyond the boundaries of the county. The Great Oolite prevails towards the south-east. Formerly the iron was largely dug and smelted by means of the wood in the extensive forests, and the industry is again reviving. Agriculture. In the eastern and south-eastern districts the soil is light and shallow. In the other districts it consists chiefly of a tenacious but fertile loam, and in the fertile vale of Catmoss the soil is either clay or loam, or a mixture of the two. The prevailing redness, which colours even tho streams, is owing to the ferruginous limestone carried down from the slopes of the hills. The name of the county is by some authorities derived from this characteristic of the soil, but the explanation is doubtful. The eastern portions of the county are chiefly under tillage and the western in grass. Out of 94,889 acres uo fewer than 86,477 acres in 1885 were under cultivation, corn crops occupying 22,820 acres, green crops 7520 acres, rotation grasses 6553 acres, and permanent pasture 47,816 acres. Over 3000 acres were under woodland. The principal corn crop is barley, which occupied 9484 acres, but wheat and oats are also largely grown. Turnips and swedes occupy about five-sixths of the area under green crops. The rearing of sheep and cattle occupies the chief attention of the farmer. Large quantities of cheese are manufactured and sold as Stilton. Cattle, principally shorthorns, numbered 19,810, of which 3054 were cows and heifers in milk and in calf. Sheep Leiccsters and South Downs numbered 80,881, horses 3062, pigs 3054, and poultry 27,376. According to the parliamentary return of 1873 the number of proprietors was 1425, of whom 861 possessed less than one acre. The largest proprietors were the earl of Gainsborough 15,076, Lord Aveland 13,634, marquis of Exeter 10,713, and George H. Finch 9182. Raihcays. The main line of the Great Northern intersects the north-eastern corner of the county, and branches of that system, of the London and North -Western, and of the Midland connect it with all parts of the country. Administration and Population. Rutland comprises five hun- dreds and contains fifty-seven civil parishes, and part of the parish of Stoke-Dry, which extends into Leicestershire. Formerly repre- sented by two members of parliament, since 1885 'it returns one only. There is no municipal or parliamentary borough. The county has one court of quarter sessions, but is not subdivided for petty sessional purposes. Ecclesiastically it is entirely in the diocese of Peterborough. The population was 21,861 in 1861, 22,073 in 1871, and 21,434 in 1881. The average number of per- sons to an acre in 1881 was 0*23, and of acres to a person 4*43. History and Antiquitia. In the time of the Romans the district now included in Rutlandshire was probably inhabited by the Coritani, and was included in Flavia Csesariensis. Ennyn Street traversed it in the north-cast, and there was an important station at Great Casterton. As a shire it is later than Domesday, when a portion of it was included in Northamptonshire but the greater part in Nottingham. It is referred to as com. Roteland m the fifth year of King John, in tho document assigning a dowry to Queen Isabella, but for a long time previous to this the name Roteland was applied to Oakham and the country round it. Edward, eldest son of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edwurd III., was created earl of Rutland, but the title became extinct in the royal house when Edward earl of Rutland was stabbed to death at the battle of CHIFord. In 1525 the title was revived in the person of Lord Ros, and the tenth earl was created duke in 1703. At the battle of Stamford in 1470 Lancaster was defeated by Edward IV. The only old castle of which there are important remains is Oakham, dating from the time of Henry II., and remarkable for its Norman hall. RUTLAND, a township and village of the United States, capital of Rutland county, Vermont, 117 miles north-north- west of Boston. It is an important railway junction, being the terminus of several minor lines and the seat of machine-shops and engine-houses; but its name is even better known through its quarries of white marble. The population of the township was 12,149 and that of the village 7502 in 1880. Chartered by New Hampshire in 1761 and again chartered as Socialborough iu 1772 by New York, Rutland became in 1775 a fortified post on the great northern military road, and in 1781 was made the chief town of Rutland county. Between 1784 and 1804 it was one of the capitals of the State. RUYSBROECK, or RUYSBROEK, JOHN, mystic, was born at Ruysbroek, near Brussels, about 1293, and died as first prior of the convent of Groenendael, near Waterloo, in 1381. See MYSTICISM, vol. xvii. p. 133. RUYSCH, FREDERIK (1638-1731), anatomist, was born at The Hague in 1638, and died at Amsterdam on February 22, 1731. See ANATOMY, vol. i. p. 812. RUYSDAEL, or RUISDAAL, JACOB (c. 1625-1682), the most celebrated of the Dutch landscapists, was born at Haarlem about 1625. The accounts of his life are very conflicting, and recent criticism and research have discredited much that was previously received as fact regarding his career. He appears to have studied under his father Izaac Ruysdael, a landscape-painter, though other authorities make him the pupil of Berghem and of Albert van Everdingen. The earliest date that appears on his paintings and etchings is 1645. Three years later he was admitted a member of the guild of St Luke in Haarlem; in 1659 he obtained the freedom of the city of Amsterdam, and we know that he was resident there in 1668, for in that year his name appears as a witness to the marriage of Hobbema. During his lifetime his works were little appreciated, and he seems to have suffered from poverty. In 1681 the sect of the Mennonites, with whom he was connected, petitioned the council of Haarlem for his admission into the almshouse of the town, and there the artist died on the 14th of March 1682. The works of Ruysdael may be studied in the Louvre and the National Gallery, London, and in the collections at The Hague, Amsterdam, Berlin, and Dresden. His favourite subjects are simple woodland scenes, similar to those of Everdingeu and Hobbema, or views of picturesque mills and cottages, or of ruined towers and temples, set upon broken ground, beside streams or waterfalls. He is especially noted as a painter of trees, and his rendering of foliage, particularly of oak leafage, is characterized by the greatest spirit and precision. His views of distant cities, such as that of Haarlem in the possession of the marquis of Bute, and that of Katwijk in the Glasgow Corporation Galleries, clearly indicate the influence of Rembrandt. He frequently paints coast- scenes, and sea-pieces with breaking waves and stormy skies filled with wind-driven clouds, but it is in his rendering of lonely forest glades that we find him at his best. The subjects of certain of his mountain scenes, with bold rocks, waterfalls, and fir-trees, seem to be taken from Norway, and have led to the supposition that he had travelled in that country. We have, however, no record of such a journey, and the works in question are probably merely adaptations from the landscapes of Van Everdingen, whose manner he copied at one period. Only a single architectural sub-