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REUNION

2604

REYNARD THE FOX

earthenware or metal according to the purpose for which it is to be used. Glass retorts are the most common; but, in cases requiring a higher degree of heat than glass can bear, earthen retorts are u ed, and iron retorts are necessary in the laboratory for many processes.

Reunion is an island belonging since 1764 to France, formerly called He de Bourbon, southwest of Mauritius and about 420 miles east of Madagascar. It has a total area of 965 square miles and a population of 173,315. It is administered by a governor, privy council and elected legislature; is represented in the French Parliament; and includes 30,000 Chinese, Hindus, Malagasi and Negroes among its non-European residents. St. Denis, the capital, had a population of 27*392; There are 161 schools with 16,827 pupils. The principal seaport, Pointe-des-Galets, is connected with St. Benoit and St. Pierre by a railway 83 miles long belonging to the government. The chief imports are rice and grain; the exports, chiefly sugar, rum, coffee, vanilla and spices.

Reuter (roi'ter), Fritz, a novelist and poet who wrote in the Low-German dialect, was born at Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Nov. 7, 1810. While studying law at Jena in 1833, he became involved in some of the revolutionary schemes of the students' association, and was arrested and sentenced to thirty years' imprisonment. He was released after seven years' confinement in Prussian fortresses; and a few years later began to write the books which spread his name throughout all Germany. His tales have the flavor of real life, and prove their author a born storyteller. He died at Eisenach in Thuringia, July 12, 1874. See M'Callum's Studies in Low-German Literature. See PLATT-DEUTSCH.

Revere', Mass*, a coastal town in Suffolk County, is five miles from Boston. It is a residential town and a popular summer resort, having good schools and a number of churches. It has a memorial to Paul Revere, a town-hall, a Carnegie Library and Massachusetts Bath-House, which is owned and maintained by the state. The town was settled in 1627, and was known as Rumney Marsh. It was part of Boston until 1738, and in 1739 it was incorporated as Chelsea. It was re-incorporated and set off in 1846 as North Chelsea, and in 1871 the name was changed to Revere. Population 18,219.

Revere, Paul, a Pevolutionary soldier famous for his midnight ride from Boston to Lexington to warn the militia of the ap-

groach of the British soldiers, was born at oston, Jan. i, 1735 Pevere was one of the party that destroyed the tea in Boston harbor, and was at the head of a volunteer committee to watch the British. When it was known that the latter intended to move to Concord, Revere crossed to Charles town and on the night of April 18, 1775, rode to

Lexington * rousing the minute-meet on his way. "Th fate of a nation was riding that night." He wa stopped at Lexington, but a companion succeeded in reaching Concord. Revere rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of artillery during the war, and after independence was secured established the Revere Copper Company at Canton, Mass. He died on May 10, 1818. His ride has been made the subject of a fine poem by Longfellow.

^ Revolv'er, a small fire-arm, an improved pistol, which by means of a revolving breech or revolving barrels can be made to discharge more than once without reloading. The invention is far from being new, specimens being still in existence which were manufactured during the i;th century: but in 1835 Colonel Samuel Colt patented Colt's revolver, which was a great advance on all previous experiments and substantially is still in use. It consists of one rifled barrel and a revolving cylinder with six or seven chambers, which are successively brought into line with the barrel by the action of the trigger. Each chamber has its nipple for a cap, which is brought under the hammer by the motion which brings the chambers around to the barrel. In addition to this, by withdrawing a bolt the breech-piece may be taken out and replaced by another of the same kind with chambers ready loaded. Revolving fire-arms of larger size are used, in wars, the best known of which is the French mitrailleuse, of which so much was heard during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. See GUN.

Rey'nard the Fox is the title of a celebrated fable of the middle ages, being the last of a series of poems in which wild beasts are the speakers and actors. It was written in Low German, professedly by Hinrik van Alkmer in 1498; but most German critics say the real author was Hermann Barkhausen, who published his book under a pseudonym.

An outline of the story may be briefly given as follows: When Nobel the lion, king of beasts, was holding his court one Eastertide, all the animals, great and small, came and paid homage, except Reynard the fox; and for his various misdeeds Reynard was summoned to appear before the lion, Bruin the bear being sent to summon him. Reynard, however, told the bear of some honey hid in a split tree, in which Bruin got himself fast and nearly beaten to death by some peasants before he got back to court. Tibert the cat was the next messenger; but Reynard persuaded him to go and catch some irice'in a place where there was a noose, in which th~ cat was caught and suffered a beating before he got ctway. At last Grimbart the badger went to summon Reynard and persuaded him to appear at court, where he was tried and condemned to death. But just before he was to be hung on the gallows he asked leave to make a speech, in