RUMFORD, COUNT, Benjamin Thompson, soldier, philanthropist, and physicist, born at Woburn, Massachusetts; a fortunate marriage lifted him into affluence, relieving him from the necessity of teaching; fought on the British side during the American War; became a lieutenant-colonel, and for important services was knighted in 1782 on his return to England; entered the Bavarian service, and carried through a series of remarkable reforms, such as the suppression of mendicity, the amelioration of the poorer classes by the spread of useful knowledge, culinary, agricultural, &c.; was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, and placed in charge of the War Department of Bavaria; was a generous patron of science in England and elsewhere; retired from the Bavarian service in 1799, and five years later married the widow of Lavoisier the chemist; his later years were spent in retirement in a village near Paris, where he devoted himself to physical research, especially as regards heat (1753-1814).

RUMP, THE, name of contempt given to the remnant of the Long Parliament in 1659.

RUNCORN (20), a flourishing river-port of Cheshire, on the Mersey, 12 m.  SE. of Liverpool, at the terminus of the Bridgewater Canal; is an old place dating back to the 10th century; has excellent docks; industries embrace shipbuilding, iron-founding, &c.

RUNEBERG, JOHAN LUDWIG, the national poet of Finland, born at Jacobstad; educated at, and afterwards lectured in, the university of Abo; published his first volume, “Lyric Poems,” in 1830; edited a bi-weekly paper; for forty years (till his death) was Reader of Roman Literature in the College of Borga; his epic idylls, “The Elk Hunters,” “Christmas Eve,” his epic “King Fjalar,” &c., are the finest poems in the Swedish language; are characterised by a repose, simplicity, and artistic finish, yet have withal the warmth of national life in them (1804-1877).

RUNES, a name given to the letters of the alphabet by heathen Teutonic tribes prior to their coming under the influence of Roman civilisation; are formed almost invariably of straight lines, and scarcely exist except in inscriptions dating back to A.D. 1; found chiefly in Scandinavia, also in Britain.  There are three runic alphabets (much alike), the oldest being the Gothic of 24 letters or runes.  They are now believed to have first come into use among the Goths in the 6th century B.C., and to be a modified form of the old Greek alphabet introduced by traders.

RUNNIMEDE, a meadow on the right bank of the Thames, 36 m.  SW. of London, where King John signed the Magna Charta, 15th June 1215.

RUPEE, a silver coin, the monetary unit of India, whose face value is 2s., but which, owing to the depreciation of silver, is now valued in outside markets at about 1s. 21/2d.; a lac of rupees equals 100,000.