outside the borders of civilization. From documents which were first produced in 1902 it appears that from 1883 to 1889 Rimbaud was in close relations with the Ras Makonnenand with Menelek, then only king of Shoa. At the death of the Negus John, in 1888, he was concerned in the formation of the empire of Ethiopia. From this time Rimbaud had a palace in the town of Harrar, and intrigued with the French government in favour of Menelek and against Italy. Meanwhile, in 1886, believing Rimbaud to be dead, Verlaine had published his poems, under the title of Les Illuminations, and they had created a great sensation in Paris. In this collection appeared the Sonnet on the vowels, attributing a different colour to each: “A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu voyelles.” But the author, in his Abyssinian hut of palm-leaves, was, and remained, quite unconscious of the fact. In March 1891 a tumour in his knee obliged Rimbaud to leave Harrar and go to Europe for surgical advice. He reached Marseilles, but the case was hopeless; the leg had to be amputated, and Rimbaud died there in hospital on the 10th of November 1891. The poems of Rimbaud all belong to his earliest youth. Their violent originality, the influence which they have exercised upon younger writers, the tumultuous existence of their author, and the strange veil of mystery which still hangs over his character and adventures, have given to Rimbaud a remarkable fascination. His life has been written by M. Paterne Berrichon (1897), and valuable reminiscences by his sister, Mlle Isabella Rimbaud. His Œuvres were collected in 1898 by Berrichon and Delahaye, and in 1901 his statue was unveiled at Charleville. (E. G.)
See also Lettres de Jean Arthur Rimbaud (Égypte, Arabie, Éthiopie), 1899, edited by P. Berrichon; Paul Verlaine, Les Poètes maudits (1884); George Moore, Impressions and Opinions: Two Unknown Poets (1891); and A. Symons, The Symbolist Movement in Literature (1900).
RIME ROYAL, the name given to a strophe or stanza-form,
which' is of Italian extraction, but is almost exclusively identié
hed with English poetry from the fourteenth to the early,
seventeenth centuries. It appears to be formed out 'of the
stanza called Ottava rima (q.v.), by the omission of the fifth
line, which reduces it to seven lines of three rhymes, arranged
ababbcc. It was earliest employed with skill, if not, as seems
probable, invented, by Chaucer, who composed his long romantic
poem of Troilus and Cressida in rime royal, of which the following
is an example:—
And as the new-abashéd nightingale,
Thet stinteth first when she beginneth sing,
When that she heareth any herdë tale,
Or in the hedges any wight stirring,
And, after, siker doth her voice out-ring,—
Right so Cresseyda, when her dredë stint,
Opened her heart, and told all her intent.”
The “Prioress’ Tale,” in the Canterbury Tales, offers another particularly beautiful proof of Chaucer’s skill in the use of the rime royal. In the fifteenth century this stanza was- habitually used, in preference to heroic verse, by Hoccleve and Lydgate, and, with more melody and grace, by the unknown writer of The Flower and the Leaf. In the sixteenth century, rime royal was chosen by Hawes as the vehicle of; his Pastime of Pleasure (1506) and by Barclay in his Ship of Fools (1509); it was now regarded as the almost exclusive classical form for heroic poetry in England, and it had long been so accepted in Scotland, where The King’s Quair of King James I., the Fables of Henryson and The Thistle and the Rose of Dunbar had closely followed Chaucer’s pattern. The greater part of that huge poetic miscellany, The Mirror for Magistrates (1559–1610), was written in rime royal, Sackville’s momentous Induction among the rest. The seven-line stanza began to go out of fashion with the revival of Elizabethan poetry, but we find it still used in Spenser’s Hymn of Heavenly Beauty, Shakespeare’s Lucrece and the Orchestra of Sir John Davys. After the first decade of the seventeenth century rime royal went out of fashion. Since then it has been occasionally revived, but not in poems of great length or particular importance. Rime royal should always be written in iambic metre, and be formed of seven lines of equal length, each containing ten syllables.
RIMINI, a town and bishop’s see of Italy, in the province
of Forli, Emilia, on the Adriatic coast, 69 m. S.E. of Bologna
by rail. Pop. (1901) town, 18,022; commune, 46,801. The
city is bounded on three sides by water. It faces the Adriatic
to the north, has the torrent Aprusa, now called Ausa, on the
east, and the river Marecchia on the west. It stands in a
fertile plain, which on the southern side soon swells into pleasant
slopes backed by the jagged peaks of the Umbrian Apennines.
The foremost foothill of the range is the steep crag of Mons
Titanus, crowned by the towers of the republic of San Marino.
Rimini attracts numerous visitors for the sea-bathing at Porta.
Marina. It has mineral springs, and the industries comprise
fisheries, ironworks and foundries, sulphur furnaces, silk mills,
rope walks, match factories, brick works, flour mills and
furniture. Its main interest, however, is historical. Apart
from, the ancient buildings, &c., referred to below, Rimini
can boast of a good public library, founded by the jurist Gambalunza,
in 1617, a municipal picture gallery, an archaeological
museum, a technical school (1882) and, a bronze statue of
Pope, Paul V. The ancient castle of Sigismondo Malatesta,
now dilapidated, has in recent years been used as a prison,
History.—Rimini is the ancient Ariminum (q.v. for its early history and, remains). During the middle ages the history of Rimini has no importance. Alternately captured by Byzantines and Goths, it was rigorously besieged by the latter in A.D. 538. They were, however, compelled to retreat before the reinforcements sent by Belisarius and Narses; thus the Byzantines, after various vicissitudes, became masters of the town, appointed a duke as its governor, and included it in the exarchate of Ravenna. It afterwards fell into the power of the Longobards, and then of the Franks, who yielded it to the pope, for whom it was governed by counts to the end of the 10th century. Soon after this period the imperial power became dominant in Rimini. In 1157 Frederick I. gave it, by imperial patent, the privilege of coining, money and the right of self-government; and in the 13th century we find Rimini an independent commune waging war on the neighbouring cities.
In the year 1216, Rimini, being worsted by Cesena, adopted the desperate plan of granting citizenship to two members of the powerful Malatesta tribe, Giovanni and Malatesta, for the sake of their aid and that of their vassals in the defence of the state and the conduct of the war. This family quickly struck root in the town and gave birth to future tyrants; for in 1237 Giovanni was named podestà, and this office was the first step towards the sovereign power afterwards assumed by his descendants. Meanwhile, Rimini was torn by the feuds of Guelf and Ghibelline; The latter were the dominant party in the days of Frederick II., although very unpopular on account of the grievous taxes imposed by the empire. Accordingly, the majority of the urban nobles joined the Guelfs and were driven into exile. But before long, as the Swabian power declined in Italy, the Guelf party was again predominant.
Then followed a long period of confusion, in which, by means of conspiracies and crimes of every kind, the Malatesta succeeded in becoming masters and tyrants of Rimini. Giovanni Malatesta had died in 1247 and had been succeeded by his son Malatesta, born in 1212, and surnamed Malatesta da Verrucchio. This chieftain, who lived to be a hundred years old, had ample time to mature his ambitious designs, and was the real founder of his house. Seizing the first suitable moment, he placed himself at the head of the exiled Guelfs, and restored them to Rimini. Then, as the empire acquired fresh strength in Italy, he quietly bided his time and, on the descent of the Angevins, again assumed the leadership of the Guelfs who now had the upper hand for a long time. Being repeatedly elected podestà for lengthy terms of office, he at last became the virtual master of Rimini. Nor was he checked by Rome. Pope Boniface VIII. was fully aware of the rights and traditional pretensions of the Holy See, but preferred to keep on good terms with one who had so largely contributed to the triumph of the Guelfs in Romagna. Accordingly he not only left Malatesta unmolested, but in 1299 conferred on him fresh honours and estates, so that
