RAGUSA 



RAIL 



553 



England when on his way home from Palestine, 

 was destroyed by the earthquake of 1667; its 

 modern successor (1671-1713) possesses some 

 valuable silver ornaments and curiosities. There 

 is also a large Jesuits' church (1699-1725). The 

 harbour is small and now sanded up. Merchan- 

 dise is landed and embarked at the harbour oi 

 Gravosa, a short distance to tiie north. Pop. 7245. 

 See T. G. Jackson, Dalmatia (vol. ii. 1887), and Pypin 

 and Spasovitch, GeichiclUe der slavisehen Litteraturen 

 (vol. i. Leip. 1880), where the best books are quoted. 



Kainisa, an old town in the south of Sicily, 

 31 miles \V S\V. of Syracuse, stands on the right 

 bank of the Ragusa, 14 miles from the sea. In the 

 cliffs below the walls and around the town ancient 

 tombs have been excavated. A neighbouring grotto 

 yields stones impregnated with petroleum. Ragusa 

 is supposed to occupy the site of the ancient Hybla 

 Hercea. It consists of two communes an upper, 

 with 24,183 inhabitants, and a lower, with 6260. 



Ragwort, the common English name of those 

 species of Senecio 

 (q.v. ) in which the 

 heads of flowers have 

 a spreading ray, the 

 involucre lias small 

 scales at the base, 

 and the leaves are 

 pinnatind. The 

 British species are 

 large coarse weeds, 

 with erect stem, and 

 yellow flowers ; one 

 species, the Common 

 Ragwort (S. Jaco- 

 bteu), a perennial, 

 is too plentiful in 

 many pastures. It is 

 refused or disliked 

 by horses, oxen, and 

 sheep. It generally 

 disappears from 

 thoroughly drained 

 land, at least after 

 a little labour has 

 been expended in 

 grubbing upits roots. 

 The fresh herbage 

 has been used to dye 

 wool green, but the colour is not permanent. 



Italic I. the wife of Varnhagen (q.v.) von Ense, 

 a woman of great intellectual abilities and wide 

 intellectual sympathies, might almost l>e called 

 the foster-mother of German genius. Her name 

 was RAHEL ANTONIE FREDERIEKE LEVIN ; she 

 was a Jewess by birth, a sister of the poet Ludwig 

 Levin (afterwards Robert- Tarnow ), and she was 

 l>orn in Berlin on 19th May 1771. The first half of 

 her life was spent in various towns of Germany, in 

 Paris, and in Prague. Her first love having 1een 

 killed in battle against Napoleon's army, Rahel 

 became a Christian and married (in 1814) Varn- 

 hagen von Ense. Her house in Berlin was a 

 gathering place for men of genius philosophers, 

 poets, artists, and writers. She herself was greatly 

 influenced when a girl by the writings of W. von 

 Humboldt and F. Schlegel, and especially by 

 Kopthe, whom she called her god; and she in 

 her turn recognised and encouraged the genius 

 of Jean Paul, Tieck, De la Motte Fonque, F. von 

 <;'iitz, Fichte, Hegel, Gans, Heine, Thiers, Ben- 

 jamin Constant, and 'others, but especially the 

 writers of the Romantic school. Into the patriotic 

 struggle against Napoleon she threw herself heart 

 and soul. She died in Berlin on 7th March 1H33. 

 HIT husband published a collection of her writings 

 and letters as ItaJifl (1833), and three years later 



Common Ragwort ( Senecio 

 Jacobaa ). 



another collection. See also her correspondence 

 with Veit (1861) and with Varnhagen (1875); and 

 books on her by Schmidt - Weissenfels (1857), 

 Assing (1877), and Mrs Jennings (1876). 



Railway, a manufacturing city of New Jersey, 

 on the Railway River, 4 miles from its mouth, and 

 20 miles W. of New York. Pop. (1900) 7935. 



Rai Bareli, or RAI BAREILLY, a town of 

 Oudh, India, stands 48 miles SE. of Lucknow, 

 and has a large brick fort ( 15th century), a magni- 

 ficent palace and tomb of a former ruler, and some 

 fine mosques. Pop. 11,781. 



Raiffeisen, FRIEDRICH WILHELM (1818-88), 

 born at Hamm, near Coblenz, held various posts in 

 the Prussian government service, but is known as 

 the founder of the agricultural banks on a principle 

 similar to the people's banks of Schulze Dclitzsdi 

 (q.v.) now found all over Germany, Austria, Swit- 

 zerland, and Italy. He wrote several books in 

 exposition of the system. See CO-OPERATION. 



Raikes, HUBERT, originator of Sunday-schools, 

 was born at Gloucester, September 14, 1735. His 

 father was printer and proprietor of the Gloucester 

 Journal, and he succeeded to the business, keep- 

 ing it till 1802. He loved children all his days, 

 and his pity for the misery and ignorance of many 

 in his native city led hiin about 1780 to start a 

 school where they might be taught to read and to 

 repeat the Catechism. Accounts of the scheme in 

 the columns of his journal attracted attention, the 

 movement grew, ami Raikes himself lived to see 

 his schools wid-'ly spread over England. He died 

 5th April 1811, and was buried in the church of 

 L'Mary de Crypt, Gloucester, all the children that 

 attended his funeral being given by his directions 

 a shilling and a plum-cake. See Lives by Gregory 

 (1877), Eastman (1880), and Harris (1899). 



Rail (Rallus), a genus of birds of the family 

 Rallidfe, having a slender bill rather longer than 

 the head, wings of moderate length, long, power- 

 ful legs, and very long, completely-divided toes. 

 The only Euroj>ean species is the Common or Water 

 Rail, or Bilcock (R. aquattcus), found in marshy 

 districts throughout England and in many parts of 

 Scotland and Ireland. Many of the birds migrate 

 southwards on the approach of winter. Like most 

 of its relatives, the water- rail is very shy in ita 

 habits, and though it does not readily fly, generally 

 escapes detection by threading its way swiftly and 

 quietly through the reeds when its nest is ap- 

 proached. During the breeding season, however, 

 it frequently utters a loud, harsh, groaning cry. 



Water-rail ( Rallvi aqvaticus). 



The nest of the rail is made of coarse grass or 

 reeds, usually well hidden among thick aquatic 

 plants. The eggs, numbering seven to eleven, are 

 pale creamy-white, sparsely flecked with reddish 

 irown and ash-gray.' Two broods are reared in a 

 season. The food consists of worms, snails, and 

 soft vegetable substances. The adult bird is about 



