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, ELISEE, a celebrated French geographer; from his extreme
democratic opinions left France In 1851, lived much in exile, and spent
much time in travel; wrote "Geographie Universelle," in 14 vols., his
greatest work; _b_. 1830.

RECORDE, ROBERT, mathematician, born in Pembroke; a physician by
profession, and physician to Edward VI. and Queen Mary; his works on
arithmetic, algebra, &c., were written in the form of question and
answer; died in the debtors' prison (1500-1558).

RECORDER, an English law official, the chief Judicial officer of a
city or borough; discharges the functions of judge at the
Quarter-Sessions of his district; must be a barrister of at least five
years' standing; is appointed by the Crown, but paid by the local
authority; is debarred from sitting on the licensing bench, but is not
withheld from practising at the bar; the sheriff in Scotland is a similar
official.

RECTOR, a clergyman of the Church of England, who has a right to the
great and small tithes of the living; where the tithes are impropriate he
is called a vicar.

RECUSANTS, a name given to persons who refused to attend the
services of the Established Church, on whom legal penalties were first
imposed in Elizabeth's reign, that bore heavily upon Catholics and
Disse