Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 21.djvu/133

Rh R U Y R Y A 115 ject from his brush is known an admirable interior of the New Church, Amsterdam, in the possession of the marquis of Bute. The prevailing hue of his landscapes is a full rich green, which, how- ever, has darkened with time, while a clear grey tone is character- istic of his sea-pieces. The art of Ruysdael, while it shows little of the scientific know- ledge of later landscapists, is sensitive and poetic in sentiment, and direct and skilful in technique. Figures are sparingly introduced into his compositions, and such as occur are believed to be from the pencils of Adrian Yandevelde, Philip "Wouwerman, and Jan Lingel- bach. In his love of landscape for itself, in his delight in the quiet and solitude of nature, the painter is thoroughly modern in feeling. Ruysdael etched a few plates, which were reproduced by Amand Durand in 1878, with text by SI. Georges Duplessis. The " Champ deBle" and the "Voyageurs" are characterized by M. Duplessis as ' ' estampes de haute valeur qui peuvent etre regardees comme les specimens les plus signincatifs de 1'art du paysagiste dans les Fays-Bas." RUYSSELEDE, or RUISSELEDE, a market-town of Belgium, in the province of West Flanders, 15 miles south- east of Bruges. It is best known as the seat of a great reformatory for boys, founded by the Government in 1849. The population was 6663 in 1874, and 6670 in 1881. RUYTER, MICHAEL ADRIAN DE (1607-1676), a dis- tinguished Dutch naval officer, was born at Flushing, 24th March 1607. He began his seafaring life at the age of eleven as a cabin boy, and in 1636 was entrusted by the merchants of Flushing with the command of a cruiser against the French pirates. In 1640 he entered the service of the States, and, being appointed rear-admiral of a fleet fitted out to assist Portugal against Spain, specially distinguished himself at Cape St Vincent, 3d November 1641. In the following year he left the service of the States, and, until the outbreak of war with England in 1652, held command of a merchant vessel. In 1653 a squadron of seventy vessels was despatched against the English, under the command of Admiral Tromp. Ruyter, who accompanied the admiral in this expedition, seconded him with great skill and bravery in the three battles which were fought with the English. He was afterwards stationed in the Mediterranean, where he captured several Turkish vessels. In 1659 he received a commission to join the king of Denmark in his war with the Swedes. As a reward of his services, the king of Denmark ennobled him and gave him a pension. In 1661 he grounded a vessel belonging to Tunis, released forty Christian slaves, made a treaty with the Tunisians, and reduced the Algerine corsairs to submission. From his achievements on the west coast of Africa he was recalled in 1665 to take command of a large fleet which had been organized against England, and in May of the following year, after a long contest off the North Foreland, he compelled the English to take refuge in the Thames. On June 7, 1672, he fought a drawn battle with the combined fleets of England and France, in Southwold or Sole Bay, and after the fight he convoyed safely home a fleet of merchantmen. His valour was displayed to equal advantage in several engage- ments with the French and English in the following year. In 1676 he was despatched to the assistance of Spain against France in the Mediterranean, and, receiving a mortal wound in the battle on the 21st April off Messina, died on the 29th at Syracuse. A patent by the king of Spain, investing him with the dignity of duke, did not reach the fleet till after his death. His body was carried to Amsterdam, where a magnificent monu- ment to his memory was erected by command of the states-general. See Life of Ruyter by Brandt, Amsterdam, 1687, and by Klopp, 2d ed., Hanover, 1858. RYAZAN, a government of Central Russia, is bounded by Moscow and Tula on the W., by Vladimir on the N., and by Tamboff on the E. and S., with an area of 16,255 square miles, and a population of 1,713,581 in 1882. Ryazan is an intermediate link between the central Great Russian governments and the Steppe governments of the south-east, the wide and deep valley of the Oka, by which it is traversed from west to east, with a broad curve to the south, being the natural boundary between the two. On the left of the Oka the surface often consists of sands, marshes, and forests ; while on the right the fertile black- earth prairies begin, occupying especially the southern part of the government (the districts of Ranenburg, Sapojok, and Dankoff). The whole of Ryazan is a plateau about 700 feet above the sea, but deeply cut by the river valleys and numerous ravines. The geological formations represented are the Devonian, the Carboniferous, the Jurassic, and the Quaternary. The Devonian appears in the deeper valleys in the south, and belongs to the well- known " Malevka-Muraevnya horizon," now considered as equivalent to the Cypridina serrato-striata Upper Devonian deposits of the Eifel. The Carboniferous deposits are widely spread, and appear at the surface in the bottoms of the ravines and valleys. They contain strata of excellent coal between plastic blue clays, which are worked at several places. Upper Carboniferous lime- stones, as also sandstones, the age of which has not yet been determined, but which seem to be Lower Jurassic, cover the Carboniferous clays. The Upper Jurassic de- posits are widely spread, but they have been much destroyed and now appear as separate insular tracts. They belong to the Oxford and Callovian horizons, the former contain- ing corals, which are very rare on the whole in the Russian Jurassic deposits. The Quaternary deposits are represented by the Glacial boulder clay and more recent alluvial deposits, which occupy wide areas in the valley of the Oka. Iron-ores, limestone, grindstone grits, potters' clays, and thick beds of peat are worked, besides coal. The northern parts of Ryazan belong to the forest regions of Russia, and, notwithstanding the wholesale destruction of forests in that part of the country, these (chiefly Coni- ferous) still cover one-third of the surface in several dis- tricts. In the south, where the proximity of the Steppes is felt, they are much less extensive, the prevailing species being oak, birch, and other deciduous trees. They cover an aggregate area of more than 2 million acres. The Oka is the chief river ; it is navigable throughout, and receives the navigable Pronya, Pra, and Tsna, besides a great many smaller streams utilized for floating timber. Steamers ply on the Oka to Kasimoff and Nijni Novgorod. The Don and the Lyesnoi Voronezh belong to Ryazan in their upper courses only. On the whole, the south dis- tricts are not well watered. Small lakes are numerous in the broad depression of the Oka and elsewhere, while extensive marshes cover the north-east districts ; a few attempts at draining several of these on the banks of the Oka have resulted in the reclamation of excellent pasture lands. The climate is a little warmer than at Moscow, the average temperature at Ryazan being 41. The territory of Ryazan was occupied in the 9th century by Finnish stems (Mordvinians, Mers, Muroms, and Meschers), which for the most part have either given way before or disappeared amongst the Slavonian colonizers. The population is now Great Russian throughout, and contains only a trifling admixture of some 6000 Tartars, 1500 Poles, and 500 Jews in towns. Some Tartars immigrated into the Kasimoff region in the 15th century, and are noted for their honesty of character as well as for their agricultural prosperity. The people of the Pra river are described as Mescheriaks, but their manners and customs do not differ from those of the Russians. The chief occupation in Ryazan is agriculture. Out of 10,100,000 acres only 838,000 are unfit for tillage. 5,482,000 acres are under crops, and the annual produce is estimated at about 4,248,000