31 



RAPHAEL. 



EASE, RASMUS CHRISTIAN. 



Arts, the post previously held by Quatrem6ro de Quincy ; and, like 

 his predecessor, he composed a large number of official ^loges and 

 resumes. In 1840 appeared his 'M^moires de Numismatique et 

 d'Antiquitd,' 4to ; in the same year 'Lettres Arche"ologiques sur la 

 Peinture des Grecs;' and in 1846, 'Choix de Peintures de Pompei.' 

 His last work of importance one which he describes in the intro- 

 duction as having for its object " to direct the investigations of the 

 mythographists and antiquaries of the present day to the only course 

 which, I believe, will prove fruitful in new discoveries the relationship 

 between Greece and Asia" was entitled 'Mdmoires d'Archdologie 

 compared Asiatique, Grecquc, et Etrusque,' but only one part was 

 published (in 1848), and that, though a bulky 4to volume of 404 pages, 

 is wholly occupied with the ' Premier Me"moire sur 1'Hercule Assyrien 

 et, Phenicien conside're' dans ses Rapports avec 1'Hercule Grec.' Except 

 Borne controversial letters directed to M. Carnot, referring to some 

 charges brought against him in respect of his official conduct, he does 

 not appear to have issued subsequently any separate publications. He 

 died on the 6th of July 1854. An English translation of his ' Lectures 

 on Ancient Art,' by H. M. Westropp, was published in 1854. 



RAPHAEL. flEUFFAELLE.] 



RAPI'N, PAUL DE, a younger son of Jacques de Rapin, Sieur of 

 Thoyras, was born at Castres, in 1661, of a Protestant family, which 

 came originally from Savoy. He studied in the Protestant college of 

 Saumur, and afterwards entered the profession of the law. But the 

 revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. in 1686 drove him 

 from his native country, and he went first to England, and afterwards 

 to Holland, where he entered the service of William of Nassau as a 

 volunteer. He accompanied William to England in 1688, was made 

 an officer in an English regiment, served in Ireland under General 

 Douglas, and was wounded at Limerick. Not long after he was 

 appointed travelling tutor to the young Duke of Portland, with whom 

 he spent several years. Having completed his engagement, he retired 

 with his wife first to the Hague, and afterwards, for the sake of 

 economy, to Wesel, where he commenced his great work, the ' History 

 of England,' which occupied him for seventeen years. The application 

 requisite for this undertaking is said to have exhausted his frame, and 

 he died at Wesel in 1725. His work is entitled ' Histoire d'Angleterre 

 depuis I'Establissetnent des Romains jusqu' a la Mort de Charles I.,' 

 8 vols. 4to, La Haye, 1724, and foil. It was continued by others down 

 to the accession of George II. The work was translated into English 

 by Nicholas Tindal. This translation went through various editions ; 

 that of 1757-59 consists of 21 vols. 8vo, and is enriched with additional 

 notes and a biography of Rupin. Rupin writes with spirit and ease : 

 he quotes his authorities; and his work was the only complete history 

 of England existing at the time of its appearance. Rapin wrote also 

 a ' Dissertation sur les Whigs et lea Torys.' 



RA'SARIUS, or, more properly, GUMBATTISTA RASARIO, an 

 Italian physician, was born of a noble family in 1517, in the province 

 of Novara, in the Sardinian territories. After having studied at Milan 

 and Pavia, he took the degree of Doctor of Medicine at the University 

 of Padua. Upon his return to Milan his learning soon gained him so 

 great a reputation that the republic of Venice invited him to their 

 city, where he was professor of rhetoric and the Greek language for 

 two-and-twenty years. Here he distinguished himself by his eloquence, 

 particularly on occasion of the battle of Lepanto, 1571, when, at the 

 command of the doge, and with a very short time for preparation, he 

 pronounced in the church of St. Mark a public oration that has been 

 several times printed. He afterwards went to Rome, where the pope, 

 Pius IV., made him the offer of some good appointments; but he 

 chose rather to accept the office of professor of rhetoric at Pavia, 

 where he died about four years after, in 1578, at the age of sixty-one. 

 His works consisted principally of editions and translations of various 

 Greek writers, such as, ' Galeni Comment, in Hippocr. libr. ii. et vi. 

 Morb. Popular., De Alimentis, et De Humoribus,' Caesaraugustse 

 (Saragossa), 4to, 1567 ; ' Oribasii quso restant Omnia, Tribus Toinis 

 digesta,' 8vo, Basil., 1557 ; 'Georgii Pachymeris Epitome Logicae Aris- 

 totelis,' 8vo, Paris, 1547; ' G. Pachym. in Univ. Aristot Disserend. 

 Artem Epitome,' with 'Ammonius in Porphyr. Inst.,' fol., Lugd., 

 1547 ; ' Xenocrates de Alimento ex Aquatilibus,' in Fabricii ' Bibl. 

 Or.,' torn, ix., pp. 454-474; 'Joannis Grammatici (sive Philoponi), 

 Comment, in primes iv. Aristot. de Natural! Auscult. Libros,' fol., 

 Venet., 1558. 



RASIS, or rather AR-RA'ZI', is the patronymic of a celebrated 

 Arabian writer, whose entire name was Ahmed Ibn Mohammed I bn- 

 Musa. He was denominated Ar-razi because his family was from Ray, 

 a province of Persia. He was born at Cordova about the middle of 

 the third century of the Hejira (A.D. 864-870). His father, Mohammed 

 Ibn-Musa, who was a native of Persia and a wealthy merchant, was in 

 the habit of travelling yearly to Spain with drugs and other produce 

 of the East. Being a man of some learning and ability, he met with 

 great favour and protection from the sultans of the house of Merwan, 

 who then reigned in Crrdova ; and in one of his visits was prevailed 

 upon to settle in that capital, where he filled offices of trust, being 

 employed in various embassies. He died in the month of Rabi-1 akhar, 

 A.H. 273 (October, A.D. 886). His son Ahmed when still young wrote 

 some poems, which he dedicated to Abdu-r-rahman III., sultan of 

 Cordova. He also distinguished himself by his early acquirements in 

 theology and jurisprudence, on which sciences he is said to have left 



several excellent treatises : but it is in his capacity of royal historio- 

 grapher that Ar-rdzi gained most renown. Besides many historical 

 works, the titles of which have not reached us, he wrote a very 

 voluminous history of the conquest of Spain by the Arabs, together 

 with a geographical description of that country, and a few interesting 

 details on its natural productions, industry, commerce, &c. He wrote 

 likewise a history of Mohammedan Spain under the dynasty of the 

 Beni-Umeyyah, and a topographical description of Cordova, the seat 

 of their empire. There is also a genealogical history by him of all the 

 Arabian tribes who settled in Spain at the time of the conquest or 

 soon after it. A portion of the first-mentioned historical work was 

 translated into Spanish about the end of the 13th century by a con- 

 verted Moor named Mohammed, and by Gil Perez, a chaplain to King 

 Dinis of Portugal, by whose orders the version was made. Both Casiri 

 (' Bib. Ar. Hisp. Esc.,' voL ii., p. 329) and Conde (' Hist de la Dom.,' 

 vol. i., p. 9) have asserted, without the least foundation, that the 

 ' Historia del Moro Rasis ' for such is the title of the Spanish version 

 is apocryphal ; but there can be no doubt that the work, though 

 containing numerous interpolations and abounding with blunders, like 

 most translations from eastern languages made during the middle 

 ages, is an authentic one. There is a manuscript of the history of 

 Ar-rdzi in the library of the British Museum. The year of Ar-rdzi's 

 death is not known ; but as bis history falls rather short of the reign 

 of Abdu-r-rahmdn, whose historiographer he was, we may safely 

 conclude that he died before A.H. 350 (A.D. 961), the date of that 

 sovereign's death. 



RASK, RASMUS CHRISTIAN, one of the most distinguished 

 linguists of modern times, was born on the 2nd of November 1787, 

 at Brendekilde, near Odense, in the island of Fyen, or Funen, in the 

 kingdom of Denmark. His parents were very poor people, but the 

 boy's talents and inclinations procured him friends who afforded him 

 the means of prosecuting his favourite studies in the University of 

 Copenhagen. He afterwards spent some time in Iceland, and also 

 made journeys to Sweden, Finland, and Russia for the purpose of 

 increasing his knowledge of languages, for which he had a very extra- 

 ordinary talent. In 1808 he obtained a situation connected with the 

 university library at Copenhagen, and he availed himself of the oppor- 

 tunity by making himself acquainted with the most ancient documents 

 of northern history and literature. His knowledge of languages led 

 him to devote himself to comparative philology, to search after the 

 connecting links and trace them to their common origin ; and in order 

 to complete this branch of study, he undertook in 1817, with the 

 support of the Danish government, a journey to Russia, whence he 

 proceeded in 1819 to Persia. He made some stay at Teheran, Perse- 

 polis, and Shiras, and in 1820 went to India, whence he returned 

 in 1822 to his native country. In this expedition be had purchased 

 for the Copenhagen library 113 ancient and rare oriental manuscripts, 

 among which those in the Pali language were the most valuable. 

 Soon after his return he was invited to a professorship in the Univer- 

 sity of Edinburgh, but as he declined the offer, he was appointed 

 professor of the history of literature in the University of Copenhagen. 

 The king had promised him his support, if Rask would prosecute his 

 oriental studies, but for some time he neglected them, and devoted his 

 time to an analysis of the Danish language. In 1827, however, he 

 returned to his oriental pursuits, and wrote on Egyptian and Hebrew 

 chronology, and on the age and authenticity of the Zend a Vesta. In 

 the meantime he had become president of the Icelandic society of 

 literature, and of the society for the investigation of northern anti- 

 quities, and he took an active part in the management and editorship 

 of the journals of these societies. At the same time he was engaged 

 in the preparation of an Armenian Dictionary, an Italian, Low Ger- 

 man, and English Grammar. In 1829 he was appointed professor of 

 oriental languages and chief librarian of the university library. 

 Henceforth his attention was engaged almost exclusively by the eastern 

 languages, but his edition of ' Lockman's Fables,' Copenhagen, 1832, 

 shows that his knowledge of Arabic was very deficient ; aud it may be 

 said in general that, as far HS the oriental languages are concerned, he 

 had more skill in general comparisons and investigations of their 

 grammatical structure than an exact knowledge of any particular 

 language. His works show that there was scarcely a language worth 

 studying of which he had not some knowledge : and all the civilised 

 languages of Europe were almost as familiar to him as his own mother- 

 tongue, and his knowledge of the northern languages is unrivalled. 

 He died at Copenhagen on the 14th of November 1832, and his 

 numerous manuscripts relating to philology were given up by his 

 relatives to the king's library at Copenhagen. 



The principal works of Rask are 1, ' An Introduction to the Study 

 of the Icelandic and Ancient Northern Languages,' Copenhagen, 1811 ; 

 2, an 'Anglo-Saxon Grammar,' Stockholm, 1817, one of bis best works, 

 has been translated into German and English ; 3, ' Investigations con- 

 cerning the Origin of the Ancient Northern or Icelandic Language,' 

 Copenhagen, 1814 ; 4, An edition of Bjdrn Haldorsen's ' Icelandic Dic- 

 tionary,' Copenhagen, 1814 ; 5, A 'Spanish Grammar,' Copenhagen, 1824; 

 6, A ' Frisian Grammar,' Copenhagen, 1825 ; 7, ' An Attempt to reduce 

 the Orthography of the Danish Language to Principles,' Copenhagen, 

 1826, is a strange work, in which Rask attempted to introduce a complete 

 reform in Danish orthography. He did not succeed in his attempt, 

 but the work is full of tho most extraordinary linguistic learning. 



