REQUIEM, a mass set to music, sung for the repose of the soul of a dead person.

REREDOS, the name given to the decorated portion of the wall or screen behind and rising above a church altar; as a rule it is richly ornamented with niches and figures, and stands out from the east wall of the church, but not unfrequently it is joined to the wall; splendid examples exist at All Souls’ College, Oxford, Durham Cathedral, St. Albans, &c.

RESINA (14), a town of South Italy, looks out upon the sea from the base of Vesuvius, 4 m.  SE. of Naples, built on the site of ancient Herculaneum; manufactures wine and silk.

RESPONSIONS, the first of the three examinations for a degree at Oxford University, or the Little Go.

RESSAIDAR, in India, a native cavalry officer in command of a Ressalah, or a squadron of native cavalry.

RESTORATION, THE, the name given in English history to the re-establishment of monarchy and the return of Charles II. to the throne, 29th May 1660, after the fall of the Commonwealth.

RESTORATIONISTS, name of a sect in America holding the belief that man will finally recover his original state of purity.

RESURRECTIONIST, one who stealthily exhumed bodies from the grave and sold them for anatomical purposes.

RETFORD, EAST (11), market-town of Nottinghamshire, on the Idle, 24 m.  E. by S. of Sheffield; has foundries, paper and flour mills, &c.

RETINA, a retiform expansion of the sensatory nerves, which receives the impression that gives rise to vision, or visual perception.

RETRIBUTIVE JUSTICE, justice which rewards good deeds, and inflicts punishment on offenders.

RETZ, CARDINAL DE, born at Montmirail, of Italian descent, and much given to intrigue, obtained the coadjutorship of the archbishopric of Paris, plotted against Mazarin, played an important part in the troubles of the Fronde, and was in 1652 thrown into prison, from which he escaped; he left “Memoirs” which are valuable as a record of the times, though the readers are puzzled to construe from them the character of the author (1614-1679).

RETZ, GILLES DE, marshal of France, born in Brittany; distinguished himself under Charles VII. against the English; was condemned to be burned alive at Nantes in 1440 for his unnatural crimes and his cruelties.

RETZCH, MORITZ, painter and engraver, born at Dresden, where he became a professor of Painting; is famous for his etchings illustrative of Goethe’s “Faust,” of certain of Shakespeare’s plays, as well as of Fouque’s “Tales”; the “Chess-Players” and “Man versus Satan,” which is considered his masterpiece (1779-1857).

REUCHLIN, JOHANN, a learned German humanist, born in the Black Forest, devoted himself to the study of Greek and Hebrew, and did much to promote the study of both in Germany, and wrote “Rudiments of the Hebrew Language”; though he did not attach himself to the Reformers, he contributed by his works and labours to advance the cause of the Reformation; his special enemies were the Dominicans, but he was backed up against them by all the scholars of Germany (1455-1522).