Rates. fourteen assistants; with one steward and steward's mate to the purser.

If the dimensions of all ships of the same rate were equal, it would be the simplest and most perspicuous method to collect them into one point of view in a table: but as there is no invariable rule for the general dimensions, we must content ourselves with but a few remarks on ships of each rate, so as to give a general idea of the difference between them.

The Victory, one of the last built of our first rates, is 222 feet 6 inches in length, from the head to the stern; the length of her keel, 151 feet 3 inches; that of her gun-deck, or lower deck, 186 feet; her extreme breadth is 51 feet 10 inches; her depth in the hold, 21 feet 6 inches; her burden, 2162 tons; and her poop reaches 6 feet before the mizen-mast.

Ships of the second rate carry 90 guns upon three decks, of which those on the lower battery are 32pounders; those on the middle, 18-pounders; on the upper deck, 12-pounders; and those on the quarterdeck, 6-pounders, which usually amount to four or six. Their complement of men is 750, in which there are six lieutenants, four master's mates, 24 midshipmen, and four surgeon's mates, 14 quarter masters and their mates, eight boatswain's mates and yeomen, six gunner's mates and yeomen, with 22 quarter-gunners, two carpenter's mates, with 10 assistants, and one steward and steward's

mate.

Ships of the third rate carry from 64 to 80 cannon, which are 32, 18, and 9 pounders. The 80-gun ships, however, begin to grow out of repute, and to give way to those of 74, 70, &c. which have only two whole batteries; whereas the former have three, with 28 guns planted on each, the cannon of their upper deck being the same as those on the quarter-deck and fore-castle of the latter, which are 9-pounders. The complement in a 74 is 650, and in a 64, 500 men; having, in peace, four lieutenants, but in war, five; and when an admiral is aboard six. They have three master's mates, 16 midshipmen, three surgeon's mates, 10 quarter-masters, and their mates, six boatswain's mates and yeomen, four gunner's mates and yeomen, with 18 quarter-gunners, one carpenter's mate, with eight assistants, and one steward and steward's mate under the purser.

Ships of the fourth rate mount from 60 to 50 guns, upon two decks, and the quarter-deck. The lower tier is composed of 24-pounders, the upper tier of 12pounders, and the cannon on the quarter-deck and fore-castle are 6-pounders. The complement of a 50 gun ship is 350 men, in which there are three lieutenants, two master's mates, 10 midshipmen, two surgeon's mates, eight quarter-masters and their mates, four boatswain's mates and yeomen, one gunner's mate and one yeoman, with 12 quarter-gunners, one carpenter's mate and six assistants, and a steward and steward's mate.

All vessels of war, under the fourth rate, are usually comprehended under the general name of frigates, and never appear in the line of battle. They are divided into the 5th and 6th rates; the former mounting from 40 to 32 guns, and the latter from 28 to 20. The largest of the fifth rate have two decks of cannon, the lower battery being of 18-pounders, and that of the upper deck of 9 pounders: but those of 36 and 32 guns have one complete deck of guns, mounting 12

pounders, besides the quarter-deck and fore-castle, which Ras, carry 6 pounders. The complement of a ship of 44 Ra guns is 280 men; and that of a frigate of 36 guns, 240 men. The first has three, and the second two lieutenants; and both have two master's mates, six midshipmen, two surgeon's mates, six quarter-masters and their mates, two boatswain's mates, and one yeoman, one gunner's mate and one yeoman, with 10 or 11 quarter-gunners, and one purser's steward.

Frigates of the 6th rate carry 9 pounders, those of 28 guns having 3-pounders on their quarter-deck, with 200 men for their complement; and those of 24, 163 men: the former has two lieutenants, the latter, one; and both have two master's mates, four midshipmen, one surgeon's mate, four quarter-masters and their mates, one boatswain's mate and one yeoman, one gunner's mate and one yeoman, with six or seven quarter-gunners, and one purser's steward.

The sloops of war carry from 18 to 8 cannon, the largest of which have six-pounders; and the smallest, viz. those of 8 or 10 guns, four-pounders. Their officers are generally the same as in the 6th rates, with little variation; and their complements of men are from 120 to 60, in proportion to their force or magnitude. N. B. Bomb-vessels are on the same establishment as sloops; but fire-ships and hospital ships are on that of fifth-rates.

Nothing more evidently manifests the great improvement of the marine art, and the degree of perfection to which it has arrived in Britain, than the facility of managing our first rates; which were formerly esteemed incapable of government, unless in the most favourable weather of the summer.

Ships of the second rate, and those of the third, which have three decks, carry their sails remarkably well, and labour very little at sea. They are excellent in a general action, or in cannonading à fortress. Those of the third rate, which have two tiers, are fit for the line of battle, to lead the convoys and squadrons of ships of war in action, and in general to suit the different exigencies of the naval service.

The fourth-rates may be employed on the same occasions as the third-rates, and may be also destined amongst the foreign colonies, or on expeditions of great distance; since these vessels are usually excellent for keeping and sustaining the sea.

Vessels of the fifth rate are too weak to suffer the shock of a line of battle; but they may be destined to lead the convoys of merchant ships, to protect the commerce in the colonies, to cruize in different stations, to accompany squadrons, or be sent express with necessary intelligence and orders. The same may be observed of the sixth rates.

The frigates, which mount from 28 to 38 guns upon one deck, with the quarter-deck, are extremely proper for cruizing against privateers, or for short expeditions, being light, long, and usually excellent

sailers.

RATEEN, or RATTEN, in commerce, a thick woollen stuff, quilled, woven on a loom with four treddles, like serges and other stuffs that have the whale or quilling. There are some rateens dressed and prepa red like cloths; others left simply in the hair, and others where the hair or knap is frized. Rateens are chiefly manufactured in France, Holland, and Italy, and

are mostly used in linings. The frize is a sort of coarse rateen, and the drugget is a rateen half linen half woollen.

RATIFICATION, an act of approving and confirming something done by another in our name.

RATIO, in Arithmetic and Geometry, is that relation of homogeneous things which determines the quantity of one from the quantity of another, without the intervention of a third.

The numbers, lines, or quantities, A and B, being proposed, their relation one to another may be considered under one of these two heads: 1. How much A exceeds B, or B exceeds A? And this is found by taking A from B, or B from A, and is called arithmetic reason or ratio. 2. Or how many times, or parts of a time, A contains B, or B contains A? and this is called geometric reason or ratio; (or, as Euclid defines it, it is the mutual habitude, or respect, of two magnitudes of the same kind, according to quantity; that is, as to how often the one contains, or is contained in, the other); and is found by dividing A by B, or B by A. And here note, that that quantity which is referred to another quantity is called the antecedent of the ratio: and that to which the other is referred is called the consequent of the ratio; as in the ratio of A to B, A is the antecedent, and B the consequent. Therefore any quantity, as antecedent, divided by any quantity as a consequent, gives the ratio of that antecedent to the consequent.

or subtriple.

4

12

3

And here note, that the quantities thus compared must be of the same kind; that is, such as by multiplication may be made to exceed one the other, or as these quantities are said to have a ratio between them, which, being multiplied, may be made to exceed one another. Thus a line, how short soever, may be multiplied, that is, produced so long as to exceed any given right line; and consequently these may be compared together, and the ratio expressed but as a line can never, by any multiplication whatever, be made to have breadth, that is, to be made equal to a superficies, how small soever; these can therefore never be compared together, and consequently have no ratio or respect to one another, according to quantity; that is, as to how often the one contains, or is contained in, the other. See QUAN

TITY.

:

RATIOCINATION, the act of reasoning. See

REASONING.

RATION, or RATIAN, in the army, a portion of ammunition, bread, drink, and forage, distributed to each soldier in the army, for his daily subsistence, &c. The horse have rations of hay and oats when they cannot go out to forage. The ration of bread are regulated by weight. The ordinary ration of a foot soldier is a pound and a half of bread per day. The officers have several rations according to their quality and the number of attendants they are obliged to keep.-When

RATIBOR, a town of Prussian Silesia, and capital of a duchy of the same name, with a castle. It has been twice taken by the Swedes, and is seated on the river Oder, in a country fertile in corn and fruits, 15 miles north-east of Troppaw and 142 east of Prague. E. Long. 18. 10. N. Lat. 50. 14.

RATISBON, an ancient, large, handsome, and strong city of Germany, in Bavaria, with a bishop's see, whose bishop was a prince of the empire. It is called by the Germans Regensburg, from the river Regens, which runs under a fine stone bridge, and throws itself into the Danube below the city; and the rivers Luber and Nab mix with it above the city. The French call it Ratisbon, in imitation of the Latins; it was formerly subject to the kings of Bavaria, who made it the place of their residence; but it was declared free by the emperor Frederick I. and continued a free and imperial city till 1806, when it was united to the kingdom of Bavaria. It was the first city of the bench of Suabia, and contained within its walls five different free states of the empire; namely, the bishop, the abbot of St. Emmeran, the abbesses of the Low and High Munster, and the city. The inhabitants of Ratisbon had the privilege not to be cited before other tribunals, unless for actions above 400 florins. The senate was composed of 17 members, and there was a council of 10, charged with the government of the state The Catholics have the exercise of their religion in the cathedral church and others, and the Lutherans in three churches which they have built. The magistrates and officers of the city are all Protestants; and it is to be remarked, that although there are about 22 Catholic churches, yet there are very few Catholic citizens, the magistracy not allowing the freedom of the town to be given to Catholics living there. As this city is large, elegant, and full of magnificent houses, it was chosen many years for the place of holding the diet, upon account of the conveniency, to many neighbouring princes and states, of sending their provisions by land and water, without great expence. The town-house, in the midst of which the diet met, is extremely magnificent. In the year 1740, however, when there was a war in Germany, the diet met at Frankfort on the Main, till after the death of the emperor Charles VII; and since the new constitution of Germany was established, the meetings of the diet have again been transferred to Frank fort. Provi sions are very plentiful at Ratisbon in time of peace. The inhabitants have a good deal of trade, the river on which it stands being navigable, and communicating with a great part of Germany. It is 55 miles southeast of Nuremberg, 62 north of Munich, and 195 west of Vienna, and contains about 22,000 inhabitants. E. Long 12. 5. N. Lat. 48. 59.

RATLINES, or, as the sailors call them, ratlins, those lines which make the ladder steps to go up the shrouds and pattocks, hence called the ratlins of the shrouds. RATOLFZEL,

Ratlines:

Ratolfzel

RATOLFZEL, a strong town of Germany, in Suabia, near the west end of the lake Constance. It is Ravenna, seated on that part of it called Bodensee, and belongs to the house of Austria, who took it from the duke of Wirtemburg, after the battle of Nordlingen. It is 12 miles west of the city of Constance. It is defended by the impregnable castle of Hohen Dwel, on an inaccessible hill in the middle of a plain, the rock of which is flint, so that a few men may hold it out against an

army.

RATTLESNAKE. See CROTALUS, OPHIOLOGY

Index.

RATTLESNAKE Root. See POLYGALA, BOTANY

Index.

RATZEBURG, or RATZEMBURG, an ancient town of Germany, in the circle of Lower Saxony, and in the duchy of Lawenburg, with a bishop's see and a castle. The town depends on the duchy of Lawenburg, and the cathedral church on that of Ratzeburg. It is seated on an eminence, and almost surrounded with a lake 25 miles in length and three in breadth. The duke of Lawenburg seized and fortified it in 1689, and the king of Denmark took it in 1693; but it was dismantled, and restored in 1700 to the duke, who refortified it. This town has been frequently pillaged, particularly in 1552, by Francis duke of Saxe Lawenburg, because the canons refused to elect his son Magnus their bishop. It is nine miles south of Lubec. This place is noted for its excellent beer. E. Long. 10. 58. N. Lat. 53. 47.

RAVA, a town of Poland, and capital of a palatinate of the same name, with a fortified castle, where they keep state prisoners. The houses are built of wood, and there is a Jesuit's college. It is seated in a morass covered with water, which proceeds from the river Rava, with which it is surrounded. It is 45 miles south of Blosko, and 50 south-west of Warsaw. The palatinate is bounded on the north by that of Blosko, on the east by that of Mazovia, on the south by that of Sandomer, and on the west by that of Lencieza.

RAVELIN, in Fortification, was anciently a flat bastion placed in the middle of a curtain; but now a detached work composed only of two faces, which make a salient angle without any flanks, and raised before the counterscarp of the place. See FORTIFICA

TION.

RAVEN. See CORVUS, ORNITHOLOGY Index. Sea RAVEN, or corvo marino of Kongo in Africa, in Ichthyology, is about six feet long; but the most singular circumstance appertaining to this creature is the stone found in its head, to which the natives ascribe some medicinal virtues, and the delicate taste of its hard roe, which is still much admired, when dried in the sun, and becomes as hard as a stone.

RAVENGLAS, a town of Cumberland in England, situated between the rivers Irt and Esk, which, with the sea, encompass three parts of it. It is a well built place, and has a good road for shipping, which brings it some trade. E. Long. o. 5. N. Lat. 54. 20.

RAVENNA, in Ancient Geography, a noble city of Gallia Cispadana; a colony of Thessalians, on the Adriatic, in washes or a boggy situation, which proved a natural security to it. The houses were all of wood, the communication by bridges and boats, and the town kept sweet and clean by the tides carrying away the mud and

soil, (Strabo). Anciently it had a port at the mouth of Ravenna the Bedesis; Augustus added a new port, capacious to Π hold a fleet, for the security of the Adriatic, between Ravilline which and the city lay the Via Cæsaris. In the lower age it was the seat of the Ostrogoths for 72 years; but being recovered by Narses, Justinian's general, it be came the residence of the exarchs, magistrates sent by the emperor from Constantinople, for 175 years, when it was taken by the Longobards. It is still called Ra venna, and is the capital of the province of Romagna in the states of the Church. It contains about 14,000 souls. The seat of the western or Roman empire was by Honorius translated to Ravenna about the year 404, and hence the country in which it stood was called Romania. It had a very flourishing trade till the sea withdrew two miles from it, which has been a great detriment. The fortifications are of little importance, and the citadel is gone to ruin. It is now most remarkable for the excellent wine produced in its neighbourhood. The mausoleum of Theodoric is still to be seen, remarkable for being covered by a single stone 28 feet in diameter and 15 thick. It was at Ravenna that the duke of Nemours fell, after having gained a most decisive victory over the confederate army, in 1511.

RAVENSBURG, a county of Germany, in Westphalia, bounded on the north by the bishoprics of Osnaburg and Minden, on the east by Lemgow, on the south by the bishopric of Paderborn, and on the west by that of Munster. It belongs to the king of Prussia, and bas its name from the castle of Ravensburg. The population amounts to about 81,812.

RAVENSBURG, a town of Germany, formerly free and imperial, but now subject to Wirtemberg. It is well built, and the public structures are handsome. The inhabitants are partly Protestants and partly Pa pists. It is seated on the river Chenss, in E. Long. 9. 46. N. Lat. 47. 44.

RAVET, an insect shaped like a may-bug, or cockchafer, (see SCARABEUS), with which the island of Guadaloupe is much pestered. It has a stinking smell, preys upon paper, books, and furniture, and whatever they do not gnaw is discoloured by their ordure. These nasty insects, which are very numerous, and appear chiefly by night, would be intolerable, were it not for a large spider, some of them as long as man's fist, which intangles them in its web, and otherwise surprises them. On which account the inhabitants of the island are very careful of these spiders.

RAVILLIAC, FRANCIS, the infamous assassin of Mod. line. Henry IV. of France, was a native of Angoulesme, Hist. vol and at the time of his execution was about one or two xx 14

and thirty years of age. See FRANCE, N° 150, and note A. &c.

HENRY IV. of France. Ravilliac was the son of parents who lived upon alms. His father was that sort of inferior retainer to the law, to which the vulgar give the name of a pettifogger, and his son had been bred up in the same way. Ravilliac had set up a claim to an estate, but the cause went against him; this disappointment affected his mind deeply: he afterwards taught a school, and, as himself said, received charitable gifts, though but of a very small value, from the parents of those whom he taught; and yet his distress was so great, that he had much ado to live. When he was seized for the. king's murder, he was very loosely guarded; all were permitted to speak with him who pleased; and it was

thought

avilliac. thought very remarkable that a Jesuit should say to him, "Friend, take care, whatever you do, that you don't charge honest people." He was removed next day from the house of Esperuon to the Conciergerie, the proper prison of the parliament of Paris. When he was first interrogated, he answered with great boldness, "That he had done it, and would do it if it were to do again." When he was told that the king, though dangerously wounded, was living, and might recover, he said that he had struck him home, and that he was sure he was dead. In his subsequent examinations he owned that he had long had an intention to kill the king, because he suffered two religions in his kingdom; and that he endeavoured to obtain an audience of him, that he might admonish him. He also said that he understood the king's great armament to be against the pope, and that, in his opinion, to make war against the pope, was to make war against God. We have no distinct account of the three last examinations; but he is said to have persisted in the most solemn asservations, that he had no accomplices, and that nobody had persuaded him to the fact. He appeared surprised at nothing so much as at the universal abhorrence of the people, which, it seems, he did not expect. They were forced to guard him strictly from his fellow-prisoners, who would otherwise have murdered him. The butchers of Paris desired to have him put into their hands, affirming that they would flay him alive, and that he should still live 12 days. When he was put to the torture, he broke out into horrid execrations, and always insisted that he did the fact from his own motive, and that he could accuse nobody. On the day of his execution, after he had made the amende honourable before the church of Notre Dame, he was carried to the Greve; and, being brought upon a scaffold, was tied to a wooden engine in the shape of a St Andrew's cross. The knife with which he did the murder being fastened in his right hand, it was first burnt in a slow fire; then the fleshy parts of his body were torn with red-hot pincers, and melted lead, oil, pitch, and rosin, poured into the wounds, and through a clay funnel into his bowels by the navel. The people refused to pray for him; and when, according to the sentence pronounced upon him, he came to be dragged to pieces by four horses, one of those that were brought appearing to be but weak, one of the spectators offered his own, with which the criminal was much moved he is said to have then made a confession, which was so written by the greffier Voisin, that not so much as one word of it could ever be read. He was very earnest for absolution, which his confessor refused, unless he would reveal his accomplices; "Give it me conditionally (said be), upon condition that I have told the truth," which they did. His body was so robust, that it resisted the force of the horses; and the executioner was at length obliged to cut him into quarters, which the people dragged through the streets. The house in which he was born was demolished, and a column of infamy erected; his father and mother were banished from Angoulesme, and ordered to quit the kingdom upon pain of being hanged, if they returned, without any form of process; his brothers, sisters, uncles, and other relations, were commanded to lay aside the name of Ravilliac, and to assume some other. Such was the fate of this execrable monster, who, according to his own account, suffered himself to be impelled to such VOL. XVII. Part II.

+

a fact by the seditious sermons and books of the Jesuits, Revilliae whom Henry, rather out of fear than love, had recalled and caressed, and to whom he had bequeathed his heart.

Neither the dying words of Ravilliac, nor so much of his process as was published, were credited by his cotemporaries. Regalt the historian says, that there were two different opinions concerning this assassination; one, that it was conducted by some grandees, who sacrificed that monarch to their old resentments; the other, that it was done by the emissaries of the Spaniards. Letters from Brussels, Antwerp, Mechlin, and other places, were received before the 15th of May, with a report of the king's death. Though nothing occurs in the examinations of Ravilliac that were first published, in reference to his journeys to Naples and other places; yet as these are set down as certain truths by good authors, so there are probable grounds to believe that they were not fictitious. It appears from Sir Ralph Winwood's Memorials, that Ravilliac had been not long before at Brussels. Amongst other circumstances that created a very great doubt, whether the assassin spoke truth, were the things found in his pocket at the time he was seized; amongst which was a chaplet, the figure of a heart made in cotton, in the centre of which he said there was a bit of the true cross, but when cut there was none, which he affirmed was given him by a canon at Angoulesme, a piece of paper with the arms of France painted upon it, another full of characters, and a third containing verses for the meditation of a criminal going to execution. The provost of Pluviers, or Petiviers, in Beauce, about six miles from Paris, had said openly on the day that Henry IV. was murdered, "This day the king is either slain or dangerously wounded." After the king's death was known, he was seized and sent prisoner to Paris; but, before he was examined, he was found hanged in the strings of his drawers. His body was, notwithstarding, hung up by the heels on the common gibbet on the 19th of June. What increased the suspicions grounded on this man's end, was his having two sons Jesuits, and his being a dependant on the family of Monsieur d'Entragues.

RAUN, a town of some strength upon the river Miza, remarkable for a bloody skirmish between the Prussians and Austrians, in August 1744. The king of Prussia, intending to get possession of Beraun, sent thither six battalions, with eight cannon, and 800 hussars; but General Festititz being there with a great party of his corps, and M. Luchesi with 1000 horse, they not only repulsed the Prussians, but attacked them in their turn, and, after a warm dispute, obliged them to retire with considerable loss.

RAURICUM, in Ancient Geography, a town of the Raurici, situated over against Abnoba, a mountain from which the Danube takes its rise. A Roman colony led by L. Manutius Plancus the scholar and friend of Cicero: called Colonia Rauriaca (Pliny), Raurica (Inscription), Augusta Rauricorum. The town was destroyed in Julian's time. It is now commonly called Augst, a village greatly decayed from what it formerly was. It is situated on the Rhine, distant about two hours to the east of Basil. The country is now the canton of Basil.

RAY, JOHN, a celebrated naturalist, was the son of Mr Roger Ray a blacksmith, and was born at Black 4 N Notly

Ray.

sion, he at length resolved to publish in the character of a divine, as well as in that of a natural philosopher: Rin which view he published his excellent demonstration of the being and attributes of God, entitled The Wudom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation, 8vo, 1697. The rudiments of this work were read in some college lectures; and another collection of the same kind he enlarged and published under the title of Three Physico-theological discourses, concerning the Chaos, Deluge, and Dissolution of the World, 8vo, 1692. He died in 1705. He was modest, affable, and communicative; and was distinguished by his probity, charity, sobriety, and piety. He wrote a great number of works; the principal of which, besides those already mentioned, are, 1. Catalogus Plantarum Angle. i Dictionariolum Trilingue secundum locos communes. 3. Historia Plantarum, Species hactenus editas, aliasque insuper multas noviter inventas et descriptas complectens, three vols. 4. Methodus Plantarum mors, cum Tabulis, 8vo, and several other works on plants 5. Synopsis Methodica Animalium Quadrupedum & Serpentini generis, 8vo. 6. Synopsis Methodica Aras et Piscium. 7. Historia Insectorum, opus posthuman. 8. Methodus Insectarum. 9. Philosophical Letters, &c.

Notly in Essex in 1628. He received the first rudiments of learning at the grammar-school at Braintree; and in 1644 was admitted into Catharine-Hall in Cambridge, from whence he afterwards removed to Trinity college in that university. He took the degree of master of arts, and became at length a senior fellow of the college; but his intense application to his studies having injured his health, he was obliged at his leisure hours to exercise himself by riding or walking in the fields, which led him to the study of plants. He noted from Johnson, Parkinson, and the Phytologia Britannica, the places where curious plants grew; and in 1658 rode from Cambridge to the city of Chester, from whence he went into North Wales, visiting many places, and among others the famous hill of Snowdon; returning by Shrewsbury and Gloucester. In 1660 he published his Catalogus Plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium, and the same year was ordained deacon and priest. In 1661 he accompanied Francis Willoughby, Esq. and others in search of plants and other natural curiosities in the north of England and Scotand; and the next year made a western tour from Chester, and through Wales, to Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, and other counties. He afterwards travelled with Mr Willoughby and other gentlemen through Holland, Germany, Italy, France, &c. took several tours in England, and was admitted fellow of the Royal Society. In 1672 his intimate and beloved friend Mr Willoughby died in the 37th year of his age, at Middleton Hall, his seat at Yorkshire; "to the infinite and un-peakable loss and grief (says Mr Ray) of myself, his friends, and all good men." There having been the closest and sincerest friendship between Mr Willoughby and Mi Ray, who were men of similar natures and tastes, from the time of their being fellow collegians, Mr Willoughby not only confided. in Mr Ray, in his lifetime, but also at his death: for he made him one of the executors of his will, and charged him with the education of his sons Francis and Thomas, leaving him also for life 60l. per annum. The eldest of these young gentlemen, not being four years of age, Mr Ray, as a faithful trustee, betook himself to the instruction of them; and for their use composed his Nomenclator Classicus, which was published this very year, 1672. Francis the eldest dying before he was of age, the younger became Lord Middleton. Not many months after the death of Mr Willoughby, Mr Ray lost another of his best friends, Bishop Wilkins; whom he visited in London the 18th of November 1672, and found near expiring by a total suppression of urine for eight days. As it is natural for the mind, when it is hurt in one part, to seek relief from another; so Mr Ray, having lost some of his best friends, and being in a manner left destitute, conceived thoughts of marriage; and accordingly, in June 1673, did actually marry a gentlewoman of about 20 years age, the daughter of Mr Oakley of Launton in Oxfordshire. Towards the end of this year, came forth his "Observations Topographical, Moral, &c." made in foreign countries; to which was added his Catalogus Stirpium in exteris regionibus observatarum: and about the same time, his Collection of unusual or local English words, which he had gathered up in his travels through the counties of England. After having published many books on subjects foreign to his profes

of

2

RAYNAL, WILLIAM THOMAS, or the Abbé Raynal, was born about the year 1712, and received his education among the celebrated order of the Jesuits, and became one of their number. Their value and excel lence chiefly consisted in assigning to each member his proper employment. Among them it was that Ravtal acquired a taste for literature and science, and by them he was afterwards expelled, but for what reason is st certainly known, although the abbé Barruel ascribes it to impiety. Soon after this event he associated with Voltaire, D'Alembert, and Diderot, by whom it is said, he was employed to furnish the articles in theology fr the Encyclopedie; but he employed the abbé Yvon to furnish them for him, whom Barruel allows to have been an inoffensive and upright man.

His first work, which is justly regarded as an eminent performance, is entitled " Political and Philoso phical History of the European Settlements in the East and West Indies." The style of this work is animat ed; it contains many just reflections both of a political and philosophical nature, and has been translated inte! every European language. We believe this perform ance was followed by a small tract in the year 1782 entitled "The Revolution of America," in which be pleads the cause of the colonists with much zeal, cetsures the conduct of the British government, and dis covers an acquaintance with the principles of the dif ferent factions, which has induced a belief that he had been furnished with materials by those who knew the merits of the dispute much better than any foreigner could reasonably be supposed to do.

The French government instituted a prosecution a gainst him on account of his history of the East and West Indies; but with so little severity was it conduct. ed, that sufficient time was allowed him to retire to the dominions of his Prussian majesty, by whom he wa protected, notwithstanding he had treated the charactet of that sovereign with very little ceremony. Even th most despotic princes shewed him much kindness, though he always animadverted on their conduct with out reserve; and he lived in the good graces of the e

press