Rain. period among the corn and grass by eating off their roots, might also have been supposed to proceed from its having rained grubs by people fond of making every thing a prodigy; but our knowledge in natural history assured us, that these were only the hexapode worms of the common hedge-beetle called the cockchafer.

The raining of fishes has been a prodigy also much talked of in France, where the streets of a town at some distance from Paris, after a terrible hurricane in the night, which tore up trees, blew down houses, &c. were found in a manner covered with fishes of various sizes. Nobody here made any doubt of these having fallen from the clouds; nor did the absurdity of fish, of five or six inches long, being generated in the air, at all startle the people, or shake their belief in the miracle, till they found, upon inquiry, that a very well stocked fish-pond, which stood on an eminence in the neighbourhood, had been blown dry by the hurricane, and only the great fish left at the bottom of it, all the smaller fry having been tossed into their streets.

Upon the whole, all the supposed marvellous rains have been owing to substances naturally produced on the earth, and either never having been in the air at all, or only carried thither by accident.

In Silesia, after a great dearth of wheat in that country, there happened a violent storm of wind and rain, and the earth was afterwards covered, in many places, with small round seeds. The vulgar cried out that Providence had sent them food, and that it had rained millet: but these were, in reality, only the seeds of a species of veronica, or speedwell, very common in that country; and whose seeds being just ripe at that time, the wind had dislodged them from their capsules, and scattered them about. In our own country, we have histories of rains of this marvellous kind, but all fabulous. It was once said to rain wheat in Wiltshire; and the people were all alarmed at it as a miracle, till Mr Cole showed them, that what they took for wheat was only the seeds or kernels of the berries of ivy, which being then fully ripe, the wind had dislodged from the sides of houses, and trunks of trees, on which the ivy that produced them crept.

And we even once had a raining of fishes near the coast of Kent in a terrible burricane, with thunder and lightning. The people who saw small sprats strewed all about afterwards, would have it that they had fallen from the clouds; but those who considered bow far the high winds have been known to carry the sea-water, did not wonder that they should be able to carry small fish with it so small a part of the way.

In the Philosophical Transactions for 1782, we have the following account of a preternatural kind of rain by Count de Gioeni: "The morning of the 24th instant there appeared bere a most singular phenomenon. Every place exposed to the air was found wet with a coloured cretaceous gray water, which, after evaporating and filtrating away, left every place covered with it to the height of two or three lines; and alt the ironwork that was touched by it became rusty.

"The public, inclined to the marvellous, fancied various causes of this rain, and began to fear for the animals and vegetables.

"In places where rain-water was used, they abstained from it some suspecting vitriolic principles to be VOL. XVII. Part II.

+

mixed with it, and others predicting some epidemical disorder.

"Those who had observed the explosions of Etna 20 days and more before, were inclined to believe it originated from one of them.

"The shower extended from N. N. E. to S. 4 S. W. over the fields, about 70 miles in a right line from the vertex of Etna.

"There is nothing new in volcanoes having thrown up sand, and also stones, by the violent expansive force generated within them, which sand has been carried by the wind to distant regions.

"But the colour and subtility of the matter occasioned doubts concerning its origin; which increased from the remarkable circumstance of the water in which it came incorporated; for which reasons some other principle or origin was suspected.

"It became, therefore, necessary by all means to ascertain the nature of this matter, in order to be convinced of its origin, and of the effects it might produce. This could not be done without the help of a chemical analysis. To do this then with certainty, I endeavoured to collect this rain from places where it was most probable no heterogeneous matter would be mixed with it. I therefore chose the plant called brassica capitata, which having large and turned up leaves, they contained enough of this coloured water: many of these I emptied into a vessel, and left the contents to settle till the water became clear.

"This being separated into another vessel, I tried it with vegetable alkaline liquors and mineral acids; but could observe no decomposition by either. I then evaporated the water in order to reunite the substances that might be in solution; and touching it again with the aforesaid liquors, it showed a slight effervesence with the acids. When tried with the syrup of violets, this became a pale green; so that I was persuaded it contained a calcareous salt. With the decoction of galls no precipitation was produced.

"The matter being afterwards dried in the shade, it appeared a very subtile fine earth, of a cretaceous colour, but inert, from having been diluted by the rain.

"I next thought of calcining it with a slow fire, and it assumed the colour of a brick. A portion of this being put into a crucible, I applied to it a stronger heat; by which it lost almost all its acquired colour. Again, I exposed a portion of this for a longer time to a very violent heat (from which a vitrification might be expected); it remained, however, quite soft, and was easily bruised, but returned to its original dusky colour.

"From the most accurate observations of the smoke from the three calcinations, I could not discover either colour or smell that indicated any arsenical or sulphureous mixture.

Plate

"As to their dreaded effects on animals and vegetables, every one knows the advantageous use, in medicine, both of the one and the other, and this in the same form as they are thus prepared in the great laboratory of nature.

"Vegetables, even in flower, do not appear in the least macerated, which has formerly happened from only showers of sand.

"How this volcanic production came to be mixed with water may be conceived in various ways.

"Etna, about its middle regions, is generally surrounded with clouds that do not always rise above its summit, which is 2900 paces above the level of the sea. This matter being thrown out, and descending upon the clouds below it, may happen to mix and fall in rain with them in the usual way. It may also be conjectured, that the thick smoke which the volcanic matter contained might, by its rarefaction, be carried by the wind over that tract of country; and then cooling so as to condense and become specifically heavier than the air, might descend in that coloured rain.

"I must, however, leave to philosophers (to whom the knowledge of natural agents belongs) the examination and explanation of such phenomena, confining myself to observation and chemical experiments." See METEOROLOGY, SUPPLEMENT.

RAIN, a well built and fortified town of Bavaria, one of the keys of this electorate, on the Lech, 20 miles west of Ingolstadt. N. Lat. 48. 51. E. Long. 11. 12. RAIN-Bird. See CUCULUS, ORNITHOLOGY Index. RAINBOW. See OPTICS.

In the Philosophical Transactions for 1793, we have the following account of two rainbows seen by the Rev. Mr Sturges.

"On the evening of the 9th of July 1792, between seven and eight o'clock, at Álverstroke, near Gosport, on the sea-coast of Hampshire, there came up, in the south-east, a cloud with a thunder-shower; while the sun shone bright, low in the horizon, to the north

west.

"In this shower two primary rainbows appeared, CCCCLVIII. AB and AC, not concentric, but touching each other g. 2. at A, in the south part of the horizon; with a secondary bow to each, DE and DF (the last very faint, but discernible), which touched likewise at D. Both the primary were very vivid for a considerable time, and at different times nearly equally so; but the bow AB was most permanent, was a larger segment of a circle, and at last, after the other had vanished, became almost a semicircle; the sun being near setting. It was a perfect calm, and the sea was as smooth as glass.

"If I might venture to offer a solution of this appearance, it would be as follows. I consider the bow AB as the true one, produced by the sun itself; and the other, AC, as produced by the reflection of the sun from the sea, which, in its perfectly smooth state, acted as a speculum. The direction of the sea, between the Isle of Wight and the land, was to the north-west in a kine with the sun, as it was then situated. The image

The marine or sea bow is a phenomenon which may be frequently observed in a much agitated sea, and is occasioned by the wind sweeping part of the waves, and carrying them aloft; which when they fall down are refracted by the sun's rays, which paint the colours of the bow just as in a common shower. These bows are often seen when a vessel is sailing with considerable force, and dashing the waves around her, which are raised partly by the action of the ship and partly by the force of the wind, and, falling down, they form a rainbow; and they are also often occasioned by the dashing of the waves against the rocks on shore.

In the Philosophical Transactions, it is observed by F. Bourzes, that the colours of the marine rainbow are less lively, less distinct, and of shorter continuance, than those of the common bow; and there are scarcely abore two colours distinguishable, a dark yellow on the side next the sun, and a pale green on the opposite side. But they are more numerous, there being sometimes 20 or 30 seen together.

To this class of bows may be referred a kind of white or colourless rainbows, which Mentzelius and others affirm to have seen at noon-day. M. Marlotte, in his fourth Essai de Physique, says, these bows are formed in mists, as the others are in showers; and adds, that he has seen several both after sunrising and in the night. The want of colours he attributes to the smallness of the vapours which compose the mist; but perhaps it is rather from the exceeding tenuity of the little vesiculæ of the vapour, which being only little watery pellicles bloated with air, the rays of light undergo but little refraction in passing out of air into them; too little to separate the differently coloured rays, &c. Hence the rays are reflected from them, compounded as they came, that is, white. Rohault mentions coloured rainbows on the grass; formed by the refractions of the sun's rays in Physiqu the morning dew. Rainbows have been also produced by the reflection of the sun from a river; and in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. 1. p. 294. we have an account of a rainbow, which must have been formed by the exhalations from the city of London, when the son had been set 20 minutes, and consequently the centre of the bow was above the horizon. The colours were the same as in the common rainbow, but fainter.

It has often been made a subject of inquiry among the curious how there came to be no rainbow before the flood, which is thought by some to have been the case, from its being made a sign of the covenant which the Deity was pleased to make with man after that event. Mr Whitehurst, in his Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth, p. 173, &c. endeavours to establish it as a matter of great probability at least, that the antediluvian atmosphere was so uniformly temperate as never to be subject to storms, tempests, or rain, and of course it could never exhibit a rainbow. For our own part, we cannot see how the earth at that period could

do

*Trak

bow, do without rain any more than at present; and it appears to us from Scripture equally probable that the rainbow was seen before the flood as after it. It was then, however, made a token of a certain covenant; and it would unquestionably do equally well for that purpose if it had existed before as if it had not.

Lunar RAINBOW. The moon sometimes also exhibits the phenomenon of an iris or rainbow by the refraction of her rays in drops of rain in the night time. This phenomenon is very rare. In the Philosophical Transactions for 1783, however, we have an account of three seen in one year, and all in the same place, communicated in two letters by Marmaduke Tunstall, Esq. The first was seen 27th February 1782, at Greta Bridge, Yorkshire, between seven and eight at night, and appeared" in tolerably distinct colours, similar to a solar one, but more faint: the orange colour seemed to predominate. It happened at full moon; at which time alone they are said to have been always seen. Though Aristotle is said to have observed two, and some others have been seen by Snellius, &c. I can only find two described with any accuracy; viz. one by Plot, in his History of Oxfordshire, seen by him in 1675, though without colours; the other seen by a Derbyshire gentleman at Glapwell, near Chesterfield, described by Thoresby, and inserted in N° 331. of the Philosophical Transactions: this was about Christmas, 1710, and said to have had all the colours of the iris solaris. The night was windy; and though there was then a drizzling rain and dark cloud, in which the rainbow was reflected, it proved afterwards a light frost."

Two others were afterwards seen by Mr Tunstall; one on July the 30th, about 11 o'clock, which lasted about a quarter of an hour, without colours. The other, which appeared on Friday October 18, was "perhaps the most extraordinary one of the kind ever seen. It was first visible about nine o'clock, and continued, though with very different degrees of brilliancy, till past two. At first, though a strongly marked bow, it was without colours; but afterwards they were very conspicuous and vivid in the same form as in the solar, though fainter; the red, green, and purple, were most distinguishable. About twelve it was the most splendid in appearance; its arc was considerably a smaller segment of a circle than a solar; its south-east limb first began to fail, and a considerable time before its final extinction: the wind was very high, nearly due west, most part of the time, accompanied with a drizzling rain. It is a singular circumstance, that three of these phenomena should have been seen in so short a time in one place, as they have been esteemed ever since the time of Aristotle, who is said to have been the first observer of them, and saw only two in 50 years, and since by Plot and Thoresby, almost the only two English authors who have spoke of them, to be exceeding rare. They seem evidently to be occasioned by a refraction in a cloud or turbid atmosphere, and in general are indications of stormy and rainy weather: so bad a season as the late summer having, I believe, seldom occurred in England. Thoresby, indeed, says, the one he observed was succeeded by several days of fine serene weather. particular, rather singular, in the second, viz. of July the 30th, was its being six days after the full of the moon; and the last, though of so long a duration, was

One

three days before the full: that of the 27th of Febru. Rainbow, ary was exactly at the full, which used to be judged the Raisins. only time they could be seen, though in the Encyclopedia there is an account that Weidler observed one in 1719, in the first quarter of the moon, with faint colours, and in very calm weather. No lunar iris, I ever heard or read of, lasted near so long as that on the 18th instant, either with or without colours."

6

In the Gentleman's Magazine for August 1788 we have an account of a lunar rainbow by a correspondent who saw it. "On Sunday evening the 17th of August (says he), after two days, on both of which, particularly the former, there had been a great deal of rain, together with lightning and thunder, just as the clocks were striking nine, 23 hours after full moon, looking through my window, I was struck with the appearance of something in the sky, which seemed like a rainbow. Having never seen a rainbow by night, I thought it a very extraordinary phenomenon, and hastened to a place where there were no buildings to obstruct my view of the hemisphere: here I found that the phenomenon was no other than a lunar rainbow; the moon was truly walking in brightness,' brilliant as she could be; not a cloud was to be seen near her; and over against her, toward the north-west, or perhaps rather more to the north, was a rainbow, a vast arch, perfect in all its parts, not interrupted or broken as rainbows frequently are, but unremittedly visible from one horizon to the other. In order to give some idea of its extent, it is necessary to say, that as I stood toward the western extremity of the parish of Stoke Newington, it seemed to take its rise from the west of Hampstead, and to end, perhaps, in the river Lea, the eastern boundary of Tottenham; its colour was white, cloudy, or grayish, but a part of its western leg seemed to exhibit tints of a faint sickly green. I continued viewing it for some time, till it began to rain; and at length the rain increasing and the sky growing more hazy, I returned home about a quarter or 20 minutes past nine, and in ten minutes came out again; but by that time all was over, the moon was darkened by clouds, and the rainbow of course vanished."

Marine RAINBOW, or Sca-bow. See the article RAINBOW.

RAINBOW Stone. See Moon-Stone.

RAISINS, grapes prepared by suffering them to remain on the vine till they are perfectly ripe, and then drying them in the sun, or by the heat of an oven. The difference between raisins dried in the sun and those dried in ovens, is very obvious: the former are sweet and pleasant, but the latter have a latent acidity with the sweetness that renders them much less agree

able.

The common way of drying grapes for raisins, is to tie two or three bunches of them together while yet on the vine, and dip them into a hot lixivium of woodashes, with a little of the oil of olives in it. This disposes them to shrink and wrinkle; and after this they are left on the vine three or four days separated on sticks in an horizontal situation, and then dried in the sun at leisure, after being cut from the tree. The finest and best raisins are those called in some places Damascus and Jube raisins; which are distinguished from the others by their size and figure: they are flat and wrinkled 4K 2

on

The raisins of the sun, and jar-raisins, are all dried by the heat of the sun; and these are the sorts used in medicine. However, all the kinds have much the same virtues they are all nutritive and balsamic; they are allowed to be attenuant, are said to be good in nephritic complaints, and are an ingredient in pectoral decoctions in which cases, as also in all others where astringency is not required of them, they should have the stones carefully taken out.

RAISIN-Wine. See WINE..

RAKKATH, in Ancient Geography, a town of Upper Galilee, thought to be Tiberias, (Talmud): but this is denied by Reland, who says that Rakkath was a town of the tribe of Naphthali.

RAKE is a well known instrument with teeth, by which the ground is divided. See AGRICULTURE, In

struments.

RAKE also means a loose, disorderly, vicious, and thoughtless fellow.

RAKE of a Ship, is all that part of her bull which hangs over both ends of her keel. That which is before is called the fore rake or rake forward, and that part which is at the setting on of the stern-post is called the rake-ft or afterward.

RALEIGH, SIR WALTER, fourth son of Walter Raleigh, Esq. of Fardel, in the parish of Cornwood in Devonshire, was born in 1552 at Hayes, in the parish of Budley, a farm belonging to his father. About the year 1568, he was sent to Oriel college in Oxford, where he continued but a short time; for in the following year he embarked for France, being one of the hundred volunteers, commanded by Henry Champernon, who, with other English troops, were sent by Queen Elizabeth to assist the queen of Navarre in defending the Protestants. In this service he continued for five or six years; after which he returned to London, and probably resided in the Middle Temple. But his enterprising genius would not suffer him to remain long in a state of inactivity. In 1577 or 1578, he embarked for the Low Countries with the troops sent by the queen to assist the Dutch against the Spaniards, and probably shared the glory of the decisive victory over Don John of Austria in 1578. On his return to England, a new enterprise engaged his attention. His half brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, having obtained a patent to plant and inhabit some parts of North America, Mr Raleigh embarked in this adventure; but meeting with a Spanish fleet, after a smart engagement they returned, without success in 1579.

The following year, the king of Spain, in conjunction with the pope, having projected a total conquest of the English dominions, sent troops to Ireland to assist the Desmonds in the Munster rebellion Raleigh obtained a captain's commission under Lord Grey of Wilton, then deputy of Ireland, and embarked for that kingdom; where, by his conduct and resolution, he was principally instrumental in putting an end to the rebelious attempt. He returned to England; and attracted the notice of Queen Elizabeth, owing, as we are told in Naunton's Fragmenta Regalia, to the following accidental piece of gallantry. The queen, as she was one day taking a walk, being stopped by a splashy place

The queen admitted him to her court, and employed him first as an attendant on the French ambassador Simier on his return home, and afterwards to escort the duke of Anjou to Antwerp. During this excursion he became personally known to the prince of Orange; from whom, at his return, he brought special acknowledgments to the queen, who now frequently conversed with him. But the inactive life of a courtier did not suit the enterprising spirit of Mr Raleigh. In the year 1583, he embarked with his brother, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on a second expedition to Newfoundland, in a ship called the Raleigh, which he built at his own expence; but was obliged to return on account of an infections distemper on board. He was, however, so little affected by this disappointment, that he now laid before the queen and council a proposal for exploring the continent of North America; and in 1584 obtained a patent empowering him to possess such countries as he should discover in that part of the globe. Accordingly Mr Raleigh fitted out two ships at his own expence, which sailed in the month of April, and returned to England about the middle of September, reporting that they had discovered and taken possession of a fine couptry called Windangocoa, to which the queen gave the name of Virginia. About this time he was elected knight of the shire for the county of Devon, and soon after received the honour of knighthood; and to enable him to carry on his designs abroad, the queen granted him a patent for licensing the venders of wine throughout the kingdom. In 1585 he sent a fleet of seven ships to Virginia, commanded by his relation Sir Richard Greenville, who left a colony at Roanah of 107 persons, under the government of Mr Lane; and by the establishment of this colony he first imported tobacco into England. See NICOTIANA. In the same year Sir Walter Raleigh obtained a grant of 12,000 acres of the forfeited lands in the county of Cork in Ireland.— About the same time he was made seneschal of the duchy of Cornwall, and warden of the stanneries; and grew into such favour with the queen, that even Leicester was jealous of his influence.

In 1587, he sent another colony of 150 men to Virginia, with a governor, Mr John White, and 12 assistants. About this time we find our knight distinguished by the titles of Captain of the queen's guards, and Lieutenant-general of Cornwall. From this period to the year 1594, he was continually engaged in projecting new expeditions, sending succours to the colonies abroad, defending the kingdom from the insults of the Spaniards, and transacting parliamentary business, with equal ability and resolution. Whilst thus employed, he was publicly charged, in a libel written by the infamous Jesuit Parsons, with being an Atheist; a groundless and ridiculous imputation. In 1594, he obtained from the queen a grant of the manor of Sherborne in Dorsetshire, where he built a magnificent house: but Sir Walter fell under the queen's displeasure on account of an intrigue with the daughter of Sir Nicholas Throgmorton, one of the maids of honour; however, he married the lady, and lived with her in great conjugal har

mony.

He wrote A History of England, commencing with the Ralph Stuarts, which is much esteemed; as were his political essays and pamphlets, some of which were looked Rameses. upon as master-pieces. His last publication, The Case of Authors by Profession, is an excellent and entertaining performance. He died in 1762.

RAM. See OVIS, MAMMALIA Index.

Raleigh mony. During his disgrace at court, he projected the 11 conquest of Guiana in South America, and in 1595 Ralph. sailed for that country; of which having taken possession, after defeating the Spaniards who were settled there, he returned to England the same year, and soon after published an account of his expedition. In the following year he was one of the admirals in the successful expedition against Cadiz, under the command of Howard and the earl of Essex; and in 1597 he saited with the same commanders against the Azores. Soon after these expeditions, we find him assiduously engaged in parliamentary business, and a distinguished personage in jousts and tournaments. In 1600 he was sent on a joint embassy with Lord Cobham to Flanders, and at his return made governor of Jersey.

Queen Elizabeth died in the beginning of the year 1603; and with her Raleigh's glory and felicity sunk, never to rise again. Upon the accession of James, Sir Walter lost his interest at court, was stripped of his preferments, and accused of a plot against the king. He was arraigned at Winchester, and, on his trial, insulted with the most shocking brutality by the famous Coke, attorney general, whose sophistical vociferation influenced the jury to convict him without the least proof of guilt. After a month's imprisonment, however, in daily expectation of his execution, he was reprieved, and sent to the Tower: and his estates were given to Car, earl of Somerset, the king's favourite. During this confinement, he wrote many of his most valuable pieces, particularly his History of the World. In March, 1615, after 16 years imprisonment, he obtained his liberty, and immediately began to prepare for another voyage to Guiana. In August 1616, the king granted him a very ample commission for that purpose; and in July the year following, he sailed from Plymouth. but, strange as it may appear, it is most certain that the whole scheme was revealed to the Spaniards by the king himself, and thus necessarily rendered abortive.

He returned to England in 1618, where he was soon after seized, imprisoned, and beheaded; not for any pretended misdemeanor on the late expedition, but in consequence of his former attainder. The truth of the matter is, he was sacrificed by the pusillanimous monarch to appease the Spaniards; who, whilst Raleigh lived, thought every part of their dominions in danger. He was executed in Old Palace Yaid, and buried in St Margaret's adjoining, in the 66th year of his age. His behaviour on the scaffold was manly, unaffected, cheerful, and easy. Being asked by the executioner which way he would lay his head, he answered, "So the heart be right, it is no matter which way the head lies." He was a man of admirable parts, extensive knowledge, undaunted resolution, and strict honour and honesty. He was the author of a great many work, some of which have not been printed.

RALLUS, the RAIL, a genus of birds belonging to the order of gralla. See ORNITHOLOGY Index.

RALPH, JAMES, an ingenious historical and political writer, of whose birth and country nothing is exactly known. He was first known as a schoolmaster in Philadelphia in North America. He came to England about the beginning of the reign of George I. and wrote some things in the dramatic way, which were not received with great applause; but though he did not succeed as a poet, he was a very ingenious prose-writer,

Battering RAM, in antiquity, a military engine used to batter down the walls of besieged places. See BATTERING Ram.

RAM's Head, in a ship, is a great block belonging to the fore and main haulyards. It has three shivers in it, in which the haulyards are put; and in a hole at the end are reeved the ties.

RAMADAN, a solemn season of fasting among the Mahometans. See MAHOMETANISM.

RAMAH, in Ancient Geography, a town of Benjamin, near Gibea, (Judges); called Rama of Saul ( 1 Sam. xxii.), six miles from Jerusalem to the north; memorable for the story of the Levite and his concubine: Taken and fortified by Baasa king of Israel, in order to annoy the kingdom of Judah. This Rama is mentioned Isa. x. Jer. xxxi. and Math. ii. and is to be distinguished from Rama of Samuel, 1. Sam. xix. called also Ramatha, 1 Sam. i. 19. and Ramathaim Zophim, ibid. i. 1. which lay a great way to the west, towards Joppa, near Lydda, 1 Maccab. ii. the birth place of Samuel; adjoining to the mountains of Ephraim, and the place of his residence, 1 Sam. xv. &c. (Joseph.). Called Ramula in the lower age, (Gul. Tyrius). There is here a convent of the fathers of the Holy Land, inhabited only by Portuguese, Spaniards, and Italians.

RAMATH-MIZPE, (Joshua xiii.); Ramoth-Masphe, (Septuagint, Vulgate); Ramoth in Gilead, or Remmoth Galaad, (Seventy); a town in that tract of Gilead called Maspha, or Mixpe, one of the cities of refuge.

RAMAZZINI, BERNARDIN, an Italian physician, born at Carpi near Modena in 1633. He was professor of physic in the university of Modena for 18 years; and in 1700 accepted an invitation from Padua, where he was made rector of the college; and died in 1714. His works were collected and published in London, 1716; of which, his treatise De Morbis Artificum, "Of the peculiar maladies of artificers," will always be esteemed useful and curious.

RAMEKINS, a fortress of the United Netherlands, on the south coast of the island of Walcherin in the province of Zealand. One of the cautionary towns given to Queen Elizabeth for the repayment of the charges she had been at for the defence of this republic in its infancy. Four miles east of Flushing; in N. Lat. 51. 34. E. Long. 4. 24.

RAMESES, in Ancient Geography, a town built by the Israelites during their bondage in Egypt, and from which the Exodus took place, and which must have been towards and not far from the Arabian gulf, seeing in the third station the Israelites arrived on its shore.

RAMESES, king of the Lower Egypt when Jacob went thither with his family, in the 1706th year before the Christian era. Ancient authors mention several other kings of Egypt of the same name; and it is thought that one of those princes erected in the temple of the sun at Thebes, the magnificent obelisk which the emperor Constantine caused to be removed to Alexan

dria