RENOWN, n. A degree of distinction between notoriety and fame --a little more supportable than the one and a little more intolerable than the other. Sometimes it is conferred by an unfriendly and inconsiderate hand. I touched the harp in every key, But found no heeding ear; And then Ithuriel touched me With a revealing spear. Not all my genius, great as 'tis, Could urge me out of night. I felt the faint appulse of his, And leapt into the light! --W.J. Candleton |
REPARATION, n. Satisfaction that is made for a wrong and deducted from the satisfaction felt in committing it. |
REPARTEE, n. Prudent insult in retort. Practiced by gentlemen with a constitutional aversion to violence, but a strong disposition to offend. In a war of words, the tactics of the North American Indian. |
REPENTANCE, n. The faithful attendant and follower of Punishment. It is usually manifest in a degree of reformation that is not inconsistent with continuity of sin. Desirous to avoid the pains of Hell, You will repent and join the Church, Parnell? How needless! --Nick will keep you off the coals And add you to the woes of other souls. --Jomater Abemy |
REPLICA, n. A reproduction of a work of art, by the artist that made the original. It is so called to distinguish it from a "copy," which is made by another artist. When the two are mae with equal skill the replica is the more valuable, for it is supposed to be more beautiful than it looks. |
REPORTER, n. A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a tempest of words. "More dear than all my bosom knows, O thou Whose 'lips are sealed' and will not disavow!" So sang the blithe reporter-man as grew Beneath his hand the leg-long "interview." --Barson Maith |
Reporter, n.: A writer who guesses his way to the truth and dispels it with a tempest of words. |
REPOSE, v.i. To cease from troubling. |
REPRESENTATIVE, n. In national politics, a member of the Lower House in this world, and without discernible hope of promotion in the next. |
REPROBATION, n. In theology, the state of a luckless mortal prenatally damned. The doctrine of reprobation was taught by Calvin, whose joy in it was somewhat marred by the sad sincerity of his conviction that although some are foredoomed to perdition, others are predestined to salvation. |
REPUBLIC, n. A nation in which, the thing governing and the thing governed being the same, there is only a permitted authority to enforce an optional obedience. In a republic, the foundation of public order is the ever lessening habit of submission inherited from ancestors who, being truly governed, submitted because they had to. There are as many kinds of republics as there are graduations between the despotism whence they came and the anarchy whither they lead. |
REQUIEM, n. A mass for the dead which the minor poets assure us the winds sing o'er the graves of their favorites. Sometimes, by way of providing a varied entertainment, they sing a dirge. |
RESIDENT, adj. Unable to leave. |
RESIGN, v.t. To renounce an honor for an advantage. To renounce an advantage for a greater advantage. |
RESIGN, v.t. To renounce an honor for an advantage. To renounce an advantage for a greater advantage. 'Twas rumored Leonard Wood had signed A true renunciation Of title, rank and every kind Of military station -- Each honorable station. By his example fired --inclined To noble emulation, The country humbly was resigned To Leonard's resignation -- His Christian resignation. --Politian Greame |