[Rebecca the Jewess], a high-souled Hebrew maiden, who is the heroine in Sir Walter Scott's "Ivanhoe."
[Rebeccaites], a band of Welsh rioters who in 1843, dressed as females, went about at nights and destroyed the toll-gates, which were outrageously numerous; they took their name from Gen. xxiv. 60.
[Rebellion], name of two risings of Jacobites in Scotland to restore the exiled Stuart dynasty to the throne, one in behalf of the Pretender in 1715, headed by the Earl of Mar, and defeated at Sheriffmuir, and the other in behalf of the Young Chevalier, and defeated at Culloden in April 1746.
[Récamir, Madame], Frenchwoman, born at Lyons; became at 15 the wife of a rich banker In Paris thrice her own age; was celebrated for her wit her beauty, and her salon; was a friend of Madame de Staël and Châteaubriand, whom she soothed in his declining years, and a good woman (1777-1849).
[Recanati] (6), a pretty Italian town, 15 m. S. of the Adriatic port Ancona, the birthplace of Leopardi; has a Gothic cathedral.
[Recension], the name given to the critical revision of the text of an author, or the revised text itself.
[Rechabites], a tribe of Arab origin and Bedouin habits who attached themselves to the Israelites in the wilderness and embraced the Jewish faith, but retained their nomadic ways; they abstained from all strong drink, according to a vow they had made to their chief, which they could not be tempted to break, an example which Jeremiah in vain pleaded with the Jews to follow in connection with their vow to the Lord (see Jer. xxxv.).
[Recidivists], a name applied to the class of habitual delinquents or criminals of France.
[Reciprocity], a term used in economics to describe commercial treaties entered into by two countries, by which it is agreed that, while a strictly protective tariff is maintained as regards other countries, certain articles shall be allowed to pass between the two contracting countries free of or with only light duties; this is the cardinal principle of Fair Trade, and is so far opposed to Free Trade.
[Reclus, Elisée], a celebrated French geographer; from his extreme democratic opinions left France In 1851, lived much in exile, and spent much time in travel; wrote "Géographie Universelle," in 14 vols., his greatest work; b. 1830.