or Rettimo (anc. Rithymna), a sea-port town of the island of Crete, on the N. coast, 38 miles W. of Candia. It has a citadel, a harbour (now so choked up as to be very shallow), and a considerable trade in oil and soap.

Retz, Pop. 6000.

REZ, Jean François Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de, a celebrated politician, was born of a rich and powerful house at Montmirail in 1614. In accordance with the wish of his father, he entered the church; but his youthful conduct was glaringly inconsistent with his profession. A passion for the daring and the romantic was his ruling motive. He gloried in fighting duels and carrying on love-intrigues. He was especially ambitious to become the leader of a popular faction, and the declared foe of tyrants. It is true that he frequently settled down to his studies; but at those times his attention was chiefly engrossed with the deeds of Catiline, and other great conspirators of antiquity. So fierce, indeed, did his revolutionary enthusiasm become, that he entered into a plot for assassinating Cardinal Richelieu. "It would have been an act," said he, in justification of himself, "which ancient Rome would have admired." Gondi, however, soon saw occasion to lay aside his wayward impetuosity, and to adopt a new mode of gratifying his romantic love of effect. The fiery politician now subsided into the meek-eyed churchman. He became addicted to religious duties and religious company. He advocated the doctrines of the church, and on one occasion was the means of converting a Protestant gentleman. His appointment in 1643 to be coadjutor to his uncle the Archbishop of Paris only increased his ecclesiastical zeal. He began to be a great stickler for the forms and observances of the church. All the mere outward duties of his office were performed with astonishing thoroughness. He even plunged himself into debt, in order that he might practise Christian liberality to the utmost. It was not until the civil broils of the Fronde had broken out in 1648 that he ceased to play the part of a religious devotee. Gondi was then induced by his love of political excitement, and his desire of becoming a popular leader, to mingle in the contest. Dextrous, eloquent, generous-hearted, and free from all mercenary motives, he soon became the most influential man among the Frondeurs. There was no one who was more successful in advancing the interests of the party, and at the same time in providing for his own safety. As long as the rebellion appeared successful, he managed to moderate and check the wayward and discordant impulses of his accomplices. When it was clear that it would effect nothing, he came out of it, in 1651, with a cardinal's hat. It was not long, however, before De Retz was subjected to a severe course of punishment on account of his political career. In 1652 Cardinal Mazarin threw him into prison. He escaped indeed in 1654; but the persecuting influence of his adversary followed him wherever he went. For seven years he wandered about the Continent beset with poverty and danger. Not until Mazarin had died, in 1661, was he able to effect his reconciliation with Louis XIV., and to return to France. The remainder of De Retz's career presents a striking contrast with the former part. Misfortune had now stripped away all his romantic love of effect, and had allowed the other qualities of his fine disposition to come into play. No longer fond of public activity, he resigned the see of Paris, and devoted himself to the peaceful pursuits of private life. His first act was to sell his estates. With one part of the proceeds he paid his immense debts, and with the other part he assisted his friends and relieved the poor. He then sat down to write his Memoires, and to recall and criticise with impartial spirit the noisy and eventful scenes of his bygone days. Thus did he live an honourable, benevolent, and eloquent old man, till death closed his career on the 24th of August 1679. The Memoires of De Retz are characterized by Voltaire as "written with an air of grandeur, an impetuosity of genius, and an inequality which are the image of his conduct." The best edition is that in 4 vols. 8vo, Am-