Rigaud (Mons.), a Belgian, 35 years of age, confined in a villainous prison at Marseilles, for murdering his wife. He has a hooked nose, handsome after its kind, but too high between the eyes, and his eyes, though sharp, were too near to one another. He was, however, a large, tall man, with thin lips, and a goodly quantity of dry hair shot with red. When he spoke, his moustache went up under his nose, and his nose came down over his moustache. After his liberation from prison, he first took the name of Lagnier, and then of Blandois, his name being Rigaud Lagnier Blandois.—Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit (1857).
Rigdum-Funnidos, a courtier in the palace of King Chrononhotonthologos. After the death of the king, the widowed queen is advised to marry again, and Rigdum Funnidos is proposed to her as “a very proper man.” At this Aldiborontephoscophornio takes umbrage, and the queen says, “Well, gentlemen, to make matters easy, I’ll have you both.”—H. Carey, Chrononhotonthologos (1734).
*** John Ballantyne, the publisher, was so called by Sir W. Scott. He was “a quick, active, intrepid little fellow, full of fun and merriment ... all over quaintness and humorous mimicry.”
Right-Hitting Brand, one of the companions of Robin Hood, mentioned by Mundy.
Rig´olette (3 syl.), a grisette and courtezan.—Eugène Sue, Mysteries of Paris (1842-3).
Rigoletto, an opera, describing the agony of a father obliged to witness the violation of his own daughter.—Verdi, Rigoletto (1852).
*** The libretto of this opera is borrowed from Victor Hugo’s drama Le Roi s’Amuse.
Rimegap (Joe), one of the miners of Sir Geoffrey Perveril of the Peak.—Sir W. Scott, Peveril of the Peak (time, Charles II.).
Rimini (Francesca di), a woman of extraordinary beauty, daughter of the lord of Ravenna. She was married to Lanciotto Malatesta, signore of Rimini, a man of great bravery, but deformed. His brother, Paolo, was extremely handsome, and with him Francesca fell in love. Lanciotto, detecting them in criminal intercourse, killed them both (1389).
This tale forms one of the episodes of Dantê’s Inferno; is the subject of a tragedy called Francesca di Rimini, by Silvio Pellico (1819); and Leigh Hunt, about the same time, published his Story of Rimini, in verse.