Chapter Rattlin the Reefer to Real Life in London of R by Brewer's Readers Handbook

distress, rescued her and took her home. The governante at death confessed the truth, and Charles Belmont married her.—Edw. Moore: The Foundling (1748).

Razeka, the giver of food, one of the four gods of the Adites .

We called on Razeka for food.
   —Southey: Thalaba the Destroyer, i. (1797).

Razor, a barber who could “think of nothing but poor old England.” He was the friend and neighbour of Quidnunc the upholsterer, who was equally crazy about the political state of the nation, and the affairs of Europe in general.—Murphy: The Upholsterer (1758).

Razor (To cut blocks with a), i.e. to crush a fly on a wheel. Oliver Goldsmith said of Edward Burke, the statesman—

Too deep for his hearers, he went on refining,
And thought of convincing, while they thought of dining;
Tho’equal to all things, unfit:
Too nice for a statesman, too proud for a wit;
For a patriot too cool; for a drudge disobedient;
And too fond of the right to pursue the expedient.
In Short, ’twas his fate, unemployed or in place, sir,
To eat mutton cold, and cut blocks with a razor.
   —Retaliation (1774).

The National Razor. The guillotine was so called in the first French Revolution.

Read (Sir William), a tailor, who set up for oculist, and was knighted by queen Anne. This quack was employed both by queen Anne and George I. Sir William could not read. He professed to cure wens, wry-necks, and hare-lips (died 1715).

None shall their rise to merit owe—
That popish doctrine is exploded quite,
Or Ralph had been no duke, and Read no knight.
   —A Political Squib of the Period.

The “Ralph” referred to is Ralph Montagu, created viscount in 1682, and duke of Montagu in 1705 (died 1709).

Ready-to-Halt, a pilgrim who journeyed to the Celestial City on crutches. He joined Mr. Greatheart’s party, and was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire.—Bunyan: Pilgrim’s Progress, ii. (1684).

Real Life in London, or “The Rambles and Adventures of Rob Tallyho, Esq., and his cousin, the honourable Tom Dashall, through the Metropolis,” by Pierce Egan (1821-22). (See Life in London (1824), p. 612.)