RABELAIS 



RACCOON 



543 



he continued for eighteen years. These are all lost 

 except a few fragments. 



In 1534 he accompanied his old friend and patron, 

 Cardinal Du Bellay, to Rome. He promised him- 

 self great things on this expedition. He would 

 visit the Italian scholars ; he would find new plants ; 



translated and published witli notes of his own. 



In 1535 new editions appeared of the Gargantua 

 and Pantagruel. In 1536 Rabelais again went to 

 Rome. Some of his letters from Italy to his friend 

 Bishop d'Estissac have been preserved. He obtained 

 absolution from the pope for having forgotten to 

 go into a Benedictine house, for neglecting his 

 Hours, and for practising medicine. He also received 

 permission to go into any Benedictine house which 

 would receive him time being of course taken to 

 find one. He was enabled to hold ecclesiastical 

 offices, to practise medicine without fees, without 

 the knife, and without fire. He now had nothing 

 to fear from his old enemies of Fontenay le Comte. 

 He amused himself in Italy with collecting curious 

 plants to Rabelais France first, and England next, 

 owes the melon, artichoke, and carnation : he sent 

 seeds to the bishop and bought curiosities for him. 



In 1537 he is found in Paris at the great literary 

 banquet held in honour of Dolet's escape from a 

 charge of murder rising out of accidental homicide. 

 From 1537 to 1539 he resided and taught at 

 Montpellier. In the latter year he went toljyons, 

 where he stayed a short time only, removing to 

 Park in 1540. Once more he made things right 

 with the church, obtaining absolution tor not 

 having found a Benedictine house, and permis- 

 sion to enter the Collegiate Chapter of St Maur 

 des Fosses instead of a convent, and to hold any 

 benefices which might be conferred upon him. In 

 1543 he was at Symphorien near Lyons where he 

 witnessed the death of Guillaume du Bellay at 

 Chinon, Liguge, and Angers. 



During this time he was writing his third book. 

 It was a dangerous time for heretics. A whisper 

 of heresy at the outset might not only ruin the 

 book, but also bring the author to the stake. He 

 caused the first two books to be read to the king, 

 who was so pleased with them that he gave per- 

 mission for a new edition, and granted a license 

 for the publication of the third. Rabelais did not 

 avail himself of the permission for a new edition. 

 Already many impieties had teen pointed out 

 which lie declared were due to the printers, inter- 

 polations, misreadings, and so forth. Best not to 

 bring out a new edition. But he printed his third 

 book. This was in 1546. 



In 1547 the old king died, and a reaction against 

 liberty of thought immediately began. They 

 attacked Rabelais. Not content with finding 

 impieties in the first three books, they printed a 

 thing which they called his fourth book. Rabelais 

 fled : he went to Metz, where he practised medi- 

 cine. Cardinal Du Bellay, himself suspected of 

 liberal tendencies, withdrew to Rome, wnither he 

 called Rabelais. On the birth of King Henry's 

 eldest son great rejoicings were held in Rome. 

 Rabelais wrote an account of these, and sent the 

 little book to the Cardinal De Lorraine, a stroke 

 of policy which enabled him to return, and gave 

 him the living of Meudon. 



From both sides, Catholic and Protestant, cries 

 came that hi<t hook should be suppressed and the 

 author burned. Nothing, however, was done. But 

 Rabelais did not dare to proceed further with the 

 fourth book than the eleventh chapter. There it 

 broke short off. This was in 1549. The author, now 

 growing old, lived quietly at his living, preached, 

 catechised the children, and led an exemplary life. 



Early in 1553, a fortnight before the parliament 

 allowed the sale of the book, he resigned his living 

 and went to Paris. Here, two months afterwards, 

 he died. It was in the Rue des Jardins, parish of 

 St Paul. They buried him at the foot of a tree, on 

 which his name was carved. The tree was cut 

 down a hundred years afterwards. Ten years after 

 his death appeared the fifth and last book, which 

 had been left in MS., unfinished and without the 

 author's corrections. 



These are the facts which have been gleaned 

 concerning the life of this great humorist. The 

 riotous license of his mirth, which is restrained 

 neither by decency nor by reverence, has made him 

 as many enemies as his wisdom has made him 

 friends. This fault, which Rabelais shares with 

 many writers of his age our own dramatists were 

 quite as bad has been made the most of by the 

 former, his enemies. We may grant the blot : yet 

 it is not inherent in the book ; it is not woven in 

 the web : and when it is removed there remains 

 the most astonishing treasury of wit, wisdom, 

 common-sense, and satire that the world has ever 

 seen. All, however, assumes the form of allegory : 

 those who have no taste for allegory cannot appre- 

 ciate Rabelais. 



Among the many modern editions of Rabelais may be 

 named those of Lacour and A. de Montaiglon (3 vols. 

 1868-73), that in the 'Collection Jannet' (7 vols.. 

 1867-74), the Jouast edition (4 vols. 1885), and especi- 

 ally that in the 'Collection Lemerre,' by Ch. Marty - 

 Laveaux (in 6 vols., i. to iv., 1868-81). See Delccluze, 

 Rabelais ( Paris, 1841 ) ; Uicroix, Rabelais, sa Vie et ses 

 Ouvrayet (Paris, 1859); Fleury, Rabelais (2 vols. Paris, 

 1874); Urquhart and Motteux's English translation 

 ( 1653-94, suppressed, but often reprinted ) ; the present 

 writer's Rabelais (1879), and his Readings in Rabelais 

 (1881); Stapfer, Rabelais ( 1889 ) ; Heulhard, Rabelais: 

 tei Voyayix (n It't/ie, son, Exil a Metz ( 1891 ) ; Ren6 

 Millet,* RaMais ( 'Grands Kcrivains,' 1893). 



Rabies. See HYDROPHOBIA. 



Rilbslinkell, an officer of the king of Assyria, 

 taken in the Authorised Version of the Bible as 

 the name of a person ; hut apparently an official 

 title, presumably that of the chief cup-bearer. 



Rabutin, or BUSSY-RABUTIN. See SEVIGN 



(MADAME DE). 



Racahout, a farinaceous food prepared from 

 certain acorns. See OAK, Vol. VII. p. 561. 



Racalmuto, a town of south Sicily, 13 miles 

 by rail NE. of Girgenti. Pop. 13,133. 



Racconigri, a town of North Italy, 23 miles by 

 rail S. of Turin, with a royal palace. Pop. 7875. 



Raccoon, or RACOON (Procyon), a genus of 

 quadrupeds of the Bear family ( Arctoidea ), with six 



Kaccoon (Procyon lolor). 



molar teeth on each jaw ; like other Arctoids, it is 

 plantigrade, and has no retractile claws. There 



