Chapter Randolph to Reed of R by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Randolph to Reed

Randolph, Thomas (1605-1635).—Poet and dramatist, educated at Westminster School and Cambridge, was a friend of Ben Jonson, and led a wild life in London. He wrote six plays, including The Jealous Lovers, Amyntas, and The Muses’ Looking-glass, and some poems. He was a scholar as well as a wit, and his plays are full of learning and condensed thought in a style somewhat cold and hard.

Rapin De Thoyras, Paul (1661-1725).—Historian, born at Castres, Languedoc, belonged to a Protestant Savoyard family, and came to England on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1686. He afterwards served with William III. in Holland, and accompanied him to England in 1688. His History of England, written in French, was translated into English, and continued by various writers, and was the standard history until the appearance of Hume’s.

Raspe, Rudolf Eric- (1737-1794).—Born in Hanover, was a Professor in Cassel, and keeper of the Landgrave of Hesse’s antique gems and medals, in the purloining of some of which he was detected, and fled to England. Here he won for himself a certain place in English literature by the publication in 1785 of Baron Munchausen’s Narrative. Only a small portion of the work in its present form is by Raspe, the rest having been added later by another hand. He appears to have maintained more or less during life his character of a rogue, and is the prototype of Douster-swivel in Scott’s Antiquary.

Rawlinson, George (1812-1902).—Historian, born at Chadlington, Oxfordshire, and educated at Oxford, took orders, and was Canon of Canterbury from 1872. He held the Camden Professorship of Ancient History at Oxford from 1861. Among his works are a translation of Herodotus (1858-62) (with his brother, Sir Henry Rawlinson, q.v.), Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records, The Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World (1862-67), Manual of Ancient History (1869), The Sixth and Seventh Great Oriental Monarchies (1873-77), History of Ancient Egypt (1881), Histories of the Phœnicians and Parthians, Memoirs of Sir H. C. Rawlinson (1898).

Rawlinson, Sir Henry Cresswicke (1810-1895).—Brother of the above, entered the service of the East India Company, and held many important diplomatic posts. He studied the cuneiform inscriptions, and published The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia (1861-80), Outlines of the History of Assyria (1852). He deciphered most of the inscriptions discovered by Sir A. H. Layard (q.v.).

Ray, John (1627-1705).—Naturalist, son of a blacksmith at Black Notley, Essex, was at Cambridge, where he became a Fellow of Trinity, and successively lecturer on Greek and mathematics. His first publication was a Latin catalogue of plants growing near Cambridge, which appeared in 1660. Thereafter he made a tour of Great Britain, and published in 1670 his Catalogue of the Plants of England and the adjacent Isles. In 1663 he had travelled on the Continent for three years with his pupil-friend, F. Willughby, and in 1673 appeared Observations on his journeys, which extended over the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, and France, with a catalogue of plants not native to England. On the death of Willughby, Ray educated his sons, and in 1679 retired to his native village, where he continued his scientific labours until his death. These included the edition of W.’s History of Birds and Fishes, a collection of English proverbs, Historia Plantarum Generalis (1686-1704), and Synopsis Methodica Animalium. He was for long popularly known by his treatise, The Wisdom of God manifested in the works of the Creation (1691), a precursor of Paley’s Natural Theology. Ray is the father of English botany, and appears to have grasped the idea of the natural classification of plants, afterwards developed by Jussieu and other later naturalists. His greatest successors, including Cuvier, highly commended his methods and acquirements.

Read, Thomas Buchanan (1822-1872).—American poet, was a portrait-painter, and lived much abroad. He wrote a prose romance, The Pilgrims of the Great St. Bernard, and several books of poetry, including The New Pastoral, The House by the Sea, Sylvia, and A Summer Story. Some of the shorter pieces included in these, e.g., “Sheridan’s Ride,” “Drifting,” and “The Closing Scene,” have great merit.

Reade, Charles (1814-1884).—Novelist, son of a country gentleman of Oxfordshire, educated at Oxford, and called to the Bar at Lincoln’s Inn 1843. He did not, however, practise, but began his literary career with some dramas, of which the most remarkable were Masks and Faces, Gold, and Drink. He afterwards