chief tales must suffice. Only a few of them have hitherto been
published. They exist in numerous MSS. which testify to their
great popularity; in the popular songs one finds many traces of
their influence upon the people's imagination. They include the
History of Adam and Eve, the Legend of the Cross, The Apocalypse
of Abraham, the History of the Sibyl, the Legends of Solomon;
numerous New Testament apocryphal tales, starting with legends
of St John the Baptist; a very remarkable version of the Gospel
of Nicodemus; and the Epistle of Pilate. Printed in tens of
thousands of copies are certain apocalyptic legends dealing with
eschatological problems. The ancient Apocalypse of Peter appears
here under the name of Paul, then there is an Apocalypse of the
Virgin Mary, who, like Peter, is carried by the Archangel through
the torments of Hell and the bliss of Paradise, and through whose
intervention sufferers are granted pardon on certain days of the
year. Combined with these is the Sunday Epistle, sent from
Heaven, enjoining strict observance, not only of Sunday, but also
of Friday and Wednesday, as holy days. Most of these texts
date in their Rumanian form from the 16th and 17th centuries;
the Sunday Epistle is well known in connexion with the Flagellants.
In the same pamphlet as the Sunday Epistle was published the
legend of St Sisoe and sometimes that of Avestitza,—the former
saved the children of his sister from the attacks of the devil, who
had devoured them and had to restore them alive; the latter is
the female child-stealing demon, who is prevented by an angel
from carrying out her evil design. In both cases the repetition
of the legend and the recitation of a string of mystical names
serve, like some other tales, apocryphal and otherwise, as amulets,
sufficient to protect from the devil. Upon the recitation of some
of these texts rest many popular charms and incantations. Therein
lies the importance of this written literature, for it gives us the
clue to much that now lives in the mouths of the people, and is
by some considered to be of immemorial antiquity. A number
of astrological calendars and prognostica are among the best known
and most widely circulated popular books, and the lives of St
Alexius, Xenophon, &c. have become chapbooks.
The whole of this popular literature belongs to what may be called the cycle of the Balkan nations, in every one of which exact parallels are to be found. Not that there was any direct, deliberate borrowing by one nation from the other, but all of them seem to have stood for a long time under identical psychological influences and to have developed on similar lines. The superstitions of one are often found to be those of the others, and in such a form that they could not have been taken over independently from a third source; they show too much family likeness. Thus also the popular songs of Rumania, the “doine,” the “hora,” the “cǎntece,” “colinde,” “legende,” i.e. the love songs, the heroic ballads, legends, songs at the ring-dance, hymns and carols, though instinct with a charm of their own, find their counterparts in many a song, ballad, &c. of the Balkan nations. The heroes are often the same: Serbs, Bulgars and Rumanians sing the heroic deeds of Baba Novak and recite the legend of the Monastery of Argesh, or the ballad of Iorgovan, found in the Malorussian Byliny. One of the first to collect these treasures of Rumanian poetry was V. Alecsandri (1852-1866), who, however, retained only their poetical beauty and did not reproduce them with that strict accuracy which modern study of folklore demands. A. M. Marienescu collected those of Transylvania (1859); S. F. Marian, those of the Bukovina (1873); T. T. Burada, those of the Dobrudja (1880); but the most complete collection is that of G. Dem. Teodprescu, Poesii populare române (Bucharest, 1885). The collection of fairy tales started later than that of the ballads. The first collection is the German translation of tales heard by the Brothers Schott (1845). The most important collections, now deservedly considered as classical from every point of view, are the successive publications of P. Ispirescu. The collected tales of the Moldavian Ion Creanga (1837-89) appeared in his Opere complecte (1908). Excellent collections are those of D. Stancescu, Basme (1885-1893), I. G. Sbiera, Basme (1886), Frǎncu şi Candrea (1888). Kutzo-Vlach tales and folklore will be found in G. Weigand, Die Aromunen, vol. ii. The only review devoted to the study of folklore is the Şazatoare, founded in 1892.
In recent times a kind of stagnation seems to have overtaken Rumania, and although attempts have been made to place the intellectual life of the nation on a sounder basis, the work of transition from the past to the present has hitherto absorbed more energy than appears necessary. Whatever the causes may have been, the fact remains, that now there is a great dearth of talent and great poverty in output.
Bibliography.—M. Gaster, Chrestomathie roumaine (2 vols., Leipzig, 1891); id., Literatura popularǎ româna (Bucharest, 1883); id., “Geschichte der rumanischen Litteratur,” in Gröber, Grundriss der romanischen Philologie, ii. pp. 264-428; L. Şǎineanu, Autorii români moderni (Bucharest, 1891). (M. G.)
RUMELIA, or Roumelia (Turkish Rumili, “the land of the Romans,” i.e. the East Roman or Byzantine empire), a name commonly used, from the 15th century onwards, to denote that part of the Balkan Peninsula which was subject to Turkey. More precisely it was the country bounded N. by Bulgaria, W. by Albania and S. by the Morea, or in other words the ancient provinces, including Constantinople and Salonica, of Thrace and Macedonia. The name was ultimately applied more especially to a province composed of central Albania and western Macedonia, having Monastir for its chief town. Owing to administrative changes effected between 1870 and 1875, the name ceased to correspond with any political division. Eastern Rumelia was constituted an autonomous province of the Turkish empire by the Berlin treaty of 1878; but on the 18th of September 1885, after a bloodless revolution, it was united with Bulgaria (q.v.).
RUMFORD, BENJAMIN THOMPSON, Count (1753-1814), British-American man of science, philanthropist and administrator, was born at Woburn, in Massachusetts, on the 26th of March 1753. The Thompson family had been settled in New England since the middle of the previous century, and belonged to the class of moderately wealthy farmers. His father died while he was very young, and his mother speedily married a second time. But he seems to have been well cared for, and he was at the age of fourteen sufficiently advanced “in algebra, geometry, astronomy, and even the higher mathematics,” to calculate a solar eclipse within four seconds of accuracy. In 1766 he was apprenticed to a storekeeper at Salem, in New England, and while in that employment occupied himself in chemical and mechanical experiments, as well as in engraving, in which he attained to some proficiency. The outbreak of the American War put a stop to the trade of his master, and he thereupon left Salem and went to Boston, where he engaged himself as assistant in another store. He was at that period between seventeen and eighteen years old, and at nineteen, he says, “I married, or rather I was married.” His wife was the widow of Colonel Benjamin Rolfe, and the daughter of Timothy Walker, “a highly respectable minister, and one of the first settlers at Rumford,” now called Concord, in New Hampshire. His wife was possessed of considerable property, and was his senior by fourteen years.
This marriage was the foundation of his success. Soon after it he became acquainted with Governor Wentworth of New Hampshire, who conferred on him the majority of a local regiment of militia. He speedily became the object of distrust among the friends of the American cause, and it was considered prudent that he should seek an early opportunity of leaving the country. On the evacuation of Boston by the royal troops, therefore, in 1776, he was selected by Governor Wentworth to carry despatches to England. On his arrival in London Lord George Germain, secretary of state, appointed him to a clerkship in his office. Within a few months he was advanced to the post of secretary of the province of Georgia, and in about four years he was made under-secretary of state. His official duties, however, did not interfere with the prosecution of scientific pursuits, and in 1779 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. Among the subjects to which he especially directed his attention were the explosive force of gunpowder, the construction of firearms, and a system of signalling at sea. In connexion with the last, he made a cruise in the Channel fleet, on board the “Victory,” as a volunteer under the command of Admiral Sir Charles Hardy. On the resignation of Lord North's administration, of which Lord George Germain was one of the least popular members, he left the civil service, and was nominated to a cavalry command in the revolted provinces of America. But the War of Independence was practically at an end, and in 1783 he finally quitted active service, with the rank and half-pay of a lieutenant-colonel. He now formed the design of joining the Austrian army, for the purpose of campaigning against the Turks, and so crossed over from Dover to Calais with Gibbon, who, writing to his friend Lord Sheffield, calls his fellow-passenger “Mr Secretary-Colonel-Admiral-Philosopher Thompson.” At Strassburg he was introduced to Prince Maximilian, afterwards elector of Bavaria, and was by him invited to enter the civil and military service of that state. Having obtained the leave of the British
