RUPERT, PRINCE, the son of the elector-palatine Frederick V., and Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England, was born in 16W. In 1642 he received from his uncle, Charles I. of England, a commission to command a regiment of horse at Worces ter against the parliamentarians. The impetuosity with which lie charged the enemy mere, and in the battle of Edgehill, would have proved of greater use to the royalists had not his rashness in pursuing the wavering foe nearly counteracted the advantages which he had already gained. Subsequently, at Chalgrove, Newark, and Newbury, lie was more successful; but his petulant disregard of orders, and his hasty retreat from the field of battle at Marston moor, resulted in a signal defeat, the consequences of which bad a most disastrous effect upon the fortunes of the royalist party. His conduct at Naseby, and his hasty surrender of the city of Bristol, irritated the king, who forthwith deprived him of his command, and requested him to leave England without delay. In 1648, however, he was recalled and appointed to the command of the royal fleet. In this new vocation he acquitted himself with much daring and somewhat more caution, and for three years be kept his ships afloat, after escaping the blockade in which lie had been held for a twelvemonth off the Irish coast by the great parliamentarian admiral Blake; but in 1651 the latter attacked the prince's squadron, and burned or sunk most of his ships. With the few vessels still remaining to him, Rupert escaped to the West
Indies, where, in concert with his brother Maurice, he led a buccaneering life, maintain ing himself and his men by seizing upon English and other merchantmen. After a few years spent iu this manner, Rupert managed to elude the vigilance of Cromwell's cap tains, and made good his way to France, where be remained till the restoration of his cousin, Charles II. Rupert served with distinction under the duke of York, and in con cert with the earl of Albermarle, •against the Dutch, and died in 1682 in the enjoyment of various offices and dignities, being a privy-councilor, a member of the admiralty, governor of Windsor castle, etc. The last ten years of his life were spent in retirement in the pursuit of chemical, mechanical, and physical researches, for which be evinced considerable aptitude. Although it is certain that he did not discover the art of engrav ing in mezzotiuto—the real inventor of which appears to have been a German, Von Tregen, whose early works bear the date of 1642—Rupert no doubt improved the mechani cal mode of the art, which be described and illustrated for the royal society of London in 1662, after be had completed several interesting engravings on the new principle. The glass bead known as prince Rupert's drop (q.v.) derives its name from the prince.