doctor Birch was published in 1748, in two volumes, octavo. RALEIGH, city, and metropolis of North Carolina, in Wake county, six miles west of Neuse river, sixty miles north of Fayetteville, one hundred and forty northwest of Newbern, and two hundred and eighty-eight from Washington; lat. 35° 47 N.; lon. 78° 48′ W; population in 1830, 1700. It has a pleasant and elevated situation in a healthy country. Besides the government buildings, it contains many others for public use, which are convenient and elegant. In the centre of the town is a pleasant square containing ten acres, from which extend four streets, dividing the city into four quarters. The four large streets are ninety-nine feet wide, and the others sixty-six. The state house, in the centre of the square, was burnt down in the summer of 1831, and the statue of Washington, by Canova, almost destroyed. There are several highly respectable schools for males and for females. The trade of Raleigh is chiefly with Fayetteville, Newbern, and Petersburg. Boats have sometimes ascended the Neuse within eight miles of Raleigh. Near the town is an excellent quarry of granite, and one of steatite twelve miles distant. RALLENTANDO, also RITARDANDO, or LENTANDO (Italian), in music, indicates that the time of the passage over which it is written, is to be gradually retarded. RALPH, James, a native of Philadelphia, in North America, went to England as a literary adventurer in 1725, in company with Benjamin Franklin. In 1728, Ralph published a poem, entitled "Night," to which Pope thus alludes in the Dunciad:: "Silence, ye wolves, while Ralph to Cynthia howls, Making night hideous,-answer him, ye owls!" He afterwards attempted the drama, but without success; and having produced a tragedy, a comedy, an opera, and a farce, he took up the employment of a party writer. In 1742, he published an Answer to the Memoirs of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough; and in 1744, appeared his History of England, during the reigns of Charles II, James II, William III, &c. (2 vols., folio), which, as a work of research, is by no means destitute of merit. He was at length connected with the politicians and literary men who were attached to the service of Frederic, prince of Wales; in consequence of which, Ralph is said to have become possessed of a manuscript written by the prince, or under his direction, to which so much importance was attributed, that a gratuity or a pension was bestowed on the holder, as a compensation for surrendering it. He obtained a pension after, the accession of George III, but he did not long enjoy it, as his death took place in 1762. Besides the works mentioned, he published a treatise on the Use and Abuse of Parliaments (2 vols., 8vo.); the Case of Authors by Profession (8vo.); and a number of political pamphlets. RAM, BATTERING. (See Battering Ram.) RAMBERG, John Henry, distinguished for his paintings and etchings, was born in 1767, in Hanover. He first showed his talent by drawings of scenes in the Hartz mountains. These drawings became known to the king of England, his sovereign, as elector of Hanover, who induced him to go to London, where he provided for him. He remained nine years in that capital, and perfected himself under Reynolds. Murphy, Bartolozzi, and other engravers of the first rank in England, engraved drawings of his. In 1788, the king sent him to Italy, whence he returned to Hanover, where he was appointed painter to the court. Few painters and designers have produced so many works as he has; but this rapidity prevented the full developement of his talent. Ramberg distinguished himself particularly in the humorous caricature. The drawings to the magnificent edition of Wieland's works are all by him: some he etched himself. RAMBOUILLET, a village of France, thirty miles south-west of Paris, and near the extensive forest of the same name. Here is situated a royal castle, with extensive grounds, and several large buildings connected with it. The castle has a fine library, and there is a celebrated breed of merino sheep here, introduced by Louis XVI, in 1786. Rambouillet was bought by that prince in 1778, and was one of his favorite residences. It was also the favorite resort of Charles X for hunting and here he retired when obliged to aban don St. Cloud, after the revolution of 1830. He was, however, forced to quit Rambouillet for Cherbourg, by the ap proach of a Parisian force on the night of August 3d. RAMEAU, Jean Philippe, an able French theorist in the science of music, was native of Dijon, born in 1683. Having, a an early age, acquired some skill in ma sic, he joined a strolling company of per formers, by whose assistance a musica entertainment of his composition wa represented at Avignon, in the eighteenth year of his age. He was afterwards ap pointed organist in Clermont cathedral, ap plied himself to the study of the principles of his profession, and, in 1722, printed the first fruits of his investigation in a treatise, entitled Traité de l'Harmonie. Four years after appeared his Nouveau Système de Musique Théorique, which was followed by his Génération Harmonique. In 1750, he published his celebrated Dissertation sur le Principe de l'Harmonie, in which he reduces harmony to one single principle― the fundamental bass, on which he proves all the rest to depend. This work procured him an invitation from the court to superintend the opera at Paris. He possessed a great facility in adapting words to music, and piqued himself so much upon this talent, that he is said to have declared he would set a Dutch gazette, if it was required of him. His remaining theoretical works are, Remarks on the Demonstration of the Principles of Harmony; Reply to a Letter of M. Euler (both printed in 1752); On the Instinctive Love of Music in Man (1754); On the Mistakes of the Encyclopædia with Respect to Music (1755); and a Practical Code of Music (1760). He was also the author of six operas, Hippolyte et Aricie, Castor et Pollux, Dardanus, Samson, Pygmalion, and Zoroaster, besides a great variety of ballets and other minor pieces. Louis XV acknowledged his merits by the grant of a patent of nobility, and the order of St. Michael. Rameau died at Paris, in 1764. RAMILLIES; a village of Belgium, in South Brabant, thirteen miles north of Namur, and twenty-six south-east of Brussels. May 23, 1706, the duke of Marlborough (see Churchill) gained here a signal victory over the French under marshal Villeroy and the duke of Bavaria. The numbers were about 60,000 on each side: the loss of the allies was 4000 men, that of the French 15,000. The consequence of the battle was the immediate evacuation of Flanders by the French. RAMLER, Charles William, a German lyric poet, translator, and critic, was born at Colberg, in 1725, studied at Halle, and was appointed a professor in the royal military school for young noblemen in Berlin, in 1748. In 1790, he became codirector of the theatre of Berlin. He died in 1798. Ramler appeared at a period poor in poets, and attached his fame to that of Frederic the Great, whom he celebrated as Horace did Augustus. From this circumstance, and from his occasional imitations of Horace, he has been called the German Horace, but is greatly below his model. Ramler had little poet ical genius, but he did much to polish German versification. His ideas respecting German prosody were, however, very deficient. He translated many of the classics. His poetical works appeared in two volumes (Berlin, 1800, 4to. and 8vo.); a pocket edition, in the same place (1825, 2 vols., 12mo). Ramler wrote also in prose. The words to Graun's celebrated oratorio (the Death of Jesus) are by him. RAMMELSBERG. (See Hartz.) RAMMER is a cylindrical block of wood nearly fitting the bore of a cannon, and fastened on a wooden staff, or on a stiff rope well served with spun yarn. It is used to drive the charge of a cannon home, or to the innermost part of it. The rope-rammers are most general in ships of war. RAMMOHUN Roy was born about the year 1780, at Bourduan, in the province of Bengal. The first elements of his education he received under the paternal roof, where he also acquired a knowledge of the Persian language. He was afterwards sent to Patna to learn Arabic; and here, through the medium of translations of Aristotle and Euclid, he studied logic and mathematics. When he had completed these studies, he went to Calcutta to learn Sanscrit, the sacred language of the Hindoo scriptures, the knowledge of which was indispensable to his caste and profession as a Bramin. (See Caste, and Bramin.) About the year 1804 or 1805, he became possessed, by the death of his father and of an elder and younger brother, of the whole family property, which is said to have been very considerable. He now quitted Bourduan, and fixed his residence at Mourshedabad, where his ancestors had chiefly lived. Shortly after his settlement at this place, he commenced his literary career by the publication of a work in the Persian language, with a preface in Arabic, which he entitled, Against the Idolatry of all Nations. The freedom with which he animadverted on their respective systems gave great umbrage, both to the Mahommedans and the Hindoos, and created him so many enemies that he found it necessary to remove to Calcutta, where he again took up his residence in the year 1814. Two years previously to this period, he had begun to study the English language; but he did not then apply to it with much ardor or success. Being some years after appointed dewan, or chief native officer in the collection of the revenues, and the duties of his office affording him frequent opportunity of mixing with English society, and of read ing English documents, he applied to it with increased attention, and very soon qualified himself to speak and write it with considerable facility, correctness and elegance. He afterwards studied the Latin, Greek and Hebrew languages. A careful study of the sacred writings of the Hindoos had convinced him that the prevailing notions respecting the multiplicity of deities, and the superstitious devotion to the licentious and inhuman customs connected with them, were grounded upon a gross perversion of their religion. These original records appeared to him to inculcate a system of pure Theisin, which maintained the existence of one God, infinite in his perfections and eternal in his duration; and that it required from its professors a mental rather than a corporeal worship, accompanied by strict and exemplary virtue. Having embraced these views of the Hindoo theology and morals, he became anxious to reform the creed and practice of his countrymen, and determined to devote his talents and his fortune to this important and honorable undertaking. The sacred books or Vedas (see Indian Languages and Literature) contain the religious documents of the Hindoos. This work Rammohun Roy translated from the Sanscrit into the Bengalee and Hindoo languages, and distributed the translation gratuitously. This he afterwards published in English, for the purpose of proving to his European friends, "that the superstitious practices which deform the Hindoo religion, have nothing to do with the pure spirit of its dictates." But, as might be expected, his benevolent conduct, and zeal for the good of his fellow men, exposed him to many personal inconveniences. He has had, nevertheless, the gratification of witnessing the beneficial effects of his labors. From the perusal of the New Testament, in his "long and uninterrupted researches into religious truth, he found (he says) the doctrines of Christ more conducive to moral principles, and better adapted for the use of rational beings, than any other which had come to his knowledge." As the most likely method of acquiring a correct knowledge of his doctrines, he determined upon a careful perusal of the Jewish and Christian scriptures in their original languages. From this undertaking he rose with a full conviction that the Christian religion is true and divine. In 1820, he accordingly published a work, entitled the Precepts of Jesus the Guide to Peace and Happiness, consisting chiefly of a selection of moral precepts from the Evangelists. In this undertaking he was governed by the consideration, that historical and some other passages are liable to the doubts and disputes of free-thinkers and anti-Christians, especially miraculous relations, which are much less wonderful than the fabricated tales handed down to the natives of Asia, and would consequently be apt at best to carry little weight with them. Rammohun Roy, in his doctrinal views, is a Unitarian, holding, however, the pre-existence and superangelic dignity of Christ, and considering the doctrine of the Trinity as a species of polytheism, objectionable in itself, and calculated to prevent the adoption of what he considers the Christian faith by the natives of Hindoostan.-See Correspondence relative to the Prospect of the Reception of Christianity in India (Cambridge, New England, 1824). This work was soon after followed by the First, Second, and Final Appeal to Christians, in reply to the animadversions of Dr. Marshman, Baptist missionary at Serampore, who defended the Trinitarian views of the deity of Christ, and the atonement. Rammohun Roy has recently arrived in England. RAMPANT, in heraldry; a term applied to a lion, leopard, or other beast, that stands on his hind legs, and rears up his fore feet in the posture of climbing, showing only one half his face, as one eye, &c. It is different from salient, in which the beast seems springing forward. RAMSAY, David, M. D., an eminent American physician and popular historian, was born April 2, 1749, in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. His father was an Irish emigrant, and a respectable farmer. In 1765, he graduated at Princeton college, and for two years subsequently was tutor to the children of a wealthy gentleman of Maryland. He then studied medicine in Philadelphia, till early in the year 1772. He commenced the practice of his profession in Maryland, and, after a year, removed to Charleston, South Carolina, where he soon acquired celebrity. He labored zealously with his pen to promote the independence of his country. For some time he attended the army in the capacity of a surgeon, and was at the siege of Savannah. He was a leading member of the legislature of South Carolina, from 1776 to the conclusion of the war. He was a member of the privy council part of the time, and, with many of the most respectable citizens of Charleston, suffered banishment, by the enemy, to St. Augustine. He was released, after an absence of eleven months, and resumed his seat in the legislature of the state, where he distinguished himself by opposing the acts confiscating the estates of those who adhered to Great Britain, many of whom he thought acted from feelings of duty. In 1782, he was elected a member of the continental congress, and continued in that body till the close of the war. In 1785, he was elected to represent the Charleston district in congress, and, in consequence of the absence of Mr. Hancock, he was chosen its president, pro tempore, and filled the station for a year with great credit. In the following year, he again returned to his profession, and his literary pursuits. He died May 8, 1815, in consequence of wounds received two days previous from the pistol of a maniac, in open day, within a few paces of his dwelling. As a politician, doctor Ramsay was disinterested and patriotic. He always endeavored to allay invidious passions, and inculcate unanimity. As a speaker, he was fluent, rapid, and ready. Doctor Ramsay's character, as an author, is well known. In 1785, he published a history of the revolution in South Carolina, which was translated and published in France. In 1790, he published the History of the American Revolution, which passed through two large editions; in 1801, the Life of Washington; in 1808, the History of South Carolina, being an extension of a work entitled A Sketch of the Soil, Climate, Weather and Diseases of South Carolina, published in 1796. These are his most important publications. Besides his published works, doctor Ramsay left, among his manuscripts, a History of the United States, from their first settlement as English colonies to the end of the year 1808; and a series of historical volumes, entitled Universal History Americanized, or an Historical View of the World, from the earliest Records to the Nineteenth Century, with a particular Reference to the State of Society, Literature, Religion, and Form of Government of the United States of America. The first was published early in 1817, with a continuation to the treaty of Ghent, by the reverend Samuel Stanhope Smith, and other literary gentlemen (in 3 vols., 8vo.). The latter, which had occupied doctor Ramsay's leisure during more than forty years, was published in 1819 (12 vols., 8vo.). In private life, doctor Ramsay was remarkable for all the virtues by which it is adorned. In every way that he could advance the general welfare of society, he was active and zealous, even imprudently so, as the wreck of his private fortune bears witness. He never allowed himself any intermissions of study that were not indispensable for the preservation of health, and gave but four hours in the night to sleep. RAMSAY, Allan, the Scottish Theocritus, born in 1685, in a little village in the south of Scotland, was the son of a peasant. He went to Edinburgh at the beginning of the last century, as apprentice to a barber. Having obtained notice for his social disposition and his talent for the composition of verses in the Scottish idiom, and having changed his occupation for that of a bookseller, he became intimate with many of the literary characters of his time. He published, in 1721, a volume of his own poetical compositions, which was favorably received, and undertook to make a collection of ancient Scottish poems, under the title of the Evergreen. He was afterwards encouraged to present to the world a collection of Scottish Songs. From what source he procured the latter is uncertain; but as, in the Evergreen, he made attempts to improve on the originals of his ancient poems, he probably used still greater freedom with the songs and ballads. To several tunes, words were adapted worthy of the delightful melodies they accompanied. In the execution of this part of his undertaking, Ramsay associated with himself several men of talent; and the respective shares of the editor of the Scottish Songs and his coadjutors, in the original compositions, cannot now be ascertained. Ramsay's principal productions are the Gentle Shepherd, and two additional cantos of Christis Kirk of the Grene, a tale, the first part of which is attributed to James I of Scotland. latter, though objectionable in point of delicacy, has been regarded as the happiest of the author's effusions. His chief excellence, indeed, lay in the description of rural characters, incidents and scenery; and he was well acquainted with the peasantry of Scotland, their lives and opinions. In his Gentle Shepherd (a rural drama), the characters are delineations from nature; the descriptive parts are in a style of beautiful simplicity, and the passions and affections of rural life are finely delineated. Throughout the whole there is an air of reality which cannot but strike the most careless reader; and no poem, perhaps, ever acquired so high a reputation, in which truth received so little embellishment from the imagination. When he attempts descriptions of high life, and aims at pure English composition, he fails entirely, becoming feeble and uninteresting; neither are his familar epis The tles and elegies in the Scottish dialect entitled to much approbation. He died in 1758. RAMSDEN, Jesse, an eminent mechanist and optician, was born at Halifax, in Yorkshire, in 1738. He applied himself to engraving, and, in the course of his employment, having to engrave several mathematical instruments, finally constructed them himself. He married a daughter of Mr. Dolland, the celebrated optician, and opened a shop in the Haymarket, whence he removed to Piccadilly, where he remained until his death, in 1800. Ramsden obtained a premium from the board of longitude, for the invention of a machine for the division of mathematical instruments; he also improved the construction of the theodolite, the pyrometer for measuring the dilatation of bodies by heat, the barometer for measuring the height of mountains, &c.; also the refracting micrometer and transit instrument and quadrant. He made great improvements in Hadley's quadrant and sextant, and procured a patent for an amended equatorial. Mr. Ramsden, who was chosen a fellow of the royal society in 1786, was distinguished during the whole of his life by an enthusiastic attention to his own profession, which formed his amusement as well as his occupation; and such was his reputation, that his instruments were bespoken from every part of Europe; and ultimately to obtain the fulfilment of an order, was deemed a high favor. RAMSGATE; a fashionable bathing place in the isle of Thanet, five miles from Margate, and seventy-three east of London. It has an excellent artificial harbor, formed by immense piers, extending 800 feet into the sea; more than 300 sail have been sheltered in it at once; population, 6030. RAMUS, Peter, a philosopher of the sixteenth century, was a native of France. He went to Paris about 1523, when he was but eight years old, and became a lackey in the college of Navarre. Such was his strong inclination for learning, that he not only devoted to study all the time he could spare in the day, but also a part of the night. After attending a course of philosophy, he was admitted to the degree of M. A., on which occasion he contested the infallibility of Aristotle. His opinions excited violent opposition, and the partisans of the Aristotelian philosophy had recourse to the civil power, in order to silence their adversary. His publications were prohibited, and ordered to be burnt before the royal college of Cambray, and he was commanded to abstain from teaching his doctrines, in 1543. Having obtained the patronage of the cardinal De Lorraine, the prohibition of lecturing was withdrawn in 1547; and, in 1551, he was appointed royal professor of rhetoric and philosophy at Paris. His spirit of free inquiry ultimately led him to become a Protestant. This change obliged him to flee from Paris; but, in 1563, he was restored to his chair. In the massacre of St. Bartholomew's, 1571, Ramus was one of the victims. His works, relating to grammar, logic, mathematics, &c., are numerous. RANA. Under this head we shall not go into a description of this genus of reptiles, but shall confine ourselves to an account of the frogs which make so important a part of it. Toads the reader will find described in a separate article. The muzzle of frogs terminates more in a point than that of toads. The nostrils are visible at its summit. The teeth are very small; the eyes large and brilliant, and surrounded with a yellow circle; the ears are placed behind them, and covered by a membrane. The muscles of frogs are considerable in relation to their bulk, and peculiarly elastic, strong, irritable, and sensible to the action of galvanisin. Their general sensibility does not appear to be great; they are killed with difficulty; the heart contracts and dilates a long time after the death of the animal, and even when it has been extracted from the body. The ordinary mode of progression is by leaps. Frogs feed on the larvæ of aquatic insects, on worms, small mollusca, flies, &c., and always choose a prey which is living and in motion. They are useful in gardens by destroying great quantities of small slugs. These reptiles are usually found during the summer on the ground in humid places, in the grass of meadows, and on the banks of streamlets, into which they continually leap and dive. They swim well and without difficulty by means of their hinder feet, the toes being united by a membrane. At the close of warm rains in the fine season, they frequently spread themselves through the country. To this is owing the popular belief in the rains of frogs-a very ancient prejudice. Frogs are distinguished by a peculiar cry, termed croaking, particularly during rain and hot weather, in the morning and evening. During the feudal régime in France, when the castles were surrounded with water, it was the occupation of the slaves or villains to strike the water of the dikes morning and evening to prevent the frogs from disturbing the repose |