RAA 



198 



RAC 



tions of the city were constructed by Ferdinand I. and 

 Maximilian II. Both nature and art have contributed 

 to defend it. There is a large glacis and open space 

 between the town and the suburbs. The fortifications 

 consist of seven bastions, and there is always here a 

 strong garrison of soldiers, provided with military 

 store?. Knives .and swords, and some other articles of 

 cutlery, are the principal manufactures of the place. 

 Population about 13,000. East long. 1 7 6' 45" ; north 

 lat. 47 41 '15". 



RAASAY, or RAAZA, from Raa, a roe in Danish, one 

 of the Western Islands of Scotland, in the parish of For- 

 tree, and county of Inverness. It is situated between 

 the Mainland and the Isle of Sky, from which it is di- 

 vided by a channel from one to three miles wide. The 

 island is about fifteen miles long, and from one to three 

 in breadth, and contains about 3l square miles. On 

 aJl its sides the coast rises to a great height above the 

 sea, forming as it were a single ridge above 1,000 feet 

 high ; but, on the east, it is peculiarly bold and preci- 

 pitous. The island is mountainous throughout, and to- 

 wards its south end, it rises into a lofty hill called Dunn- 

 Cann, about 1500 feet high, which gives rise to many 

 streams, and at the base of which are two fresh water 

 Jakes. The soil is principally peat-earth, sand, or gravel, 

 and is better fitted for pasturage than for tillage, though 

 there are several spots of fertile and well-cultivated land. 

 The supply of freestone in Raasay is almost inexhaust- 

 ible. There is also plenty of limestone ; and near one 

 of the limestone quarries there is a calcareous petrifying 

 spring. Gneiss occupies the whole of the northern ex- 

 tremity of the island, and is the lowest substance. The 

 red sandstone begins where the gneiss ends, and the 

 porphyry, which is incumbent on the sandstone, is li- 

 mited to the western side of the southern division, or to 

 that part immediately opposite to Sky. Dr. MacCulloch 

 discovered the prehnite in the island. 



Among the antiquities of the island, the principal 

 are the remains of two forts, the highest of which, si- 

 tuated in the south extremity of the island, is called 

 Dunn-Cann, a name supposed to be derived from 

 Caune, cousin to one of the Danish kings. The 

 other fort, at the north end of the island, and on the 

 east coast, called Castle Brociiel, is a landmark well 

 known to sailors. It stands on a conglomerate rock 

 almost round, and having an area of about seventy feet 

 square, the mass of rock resembling an excrescence 

 projecting from a cone. The rock is forty feet high, 

 except where the stair leads up to it ; and it is sixty 

 feet above the level of the sea at its base. " This build- 

 ing," says Dr. MacCulloch, " is so contrived, as to cover 

 the whole summit of the sharp eminence on which it 

 stands ; its walls being continuous with the precipitous 

 pieces of the rock. The projections of these have been 

 so contrived as to form parts of the building ; and they 

 are at the same time so like in appearance to the ma- 

 sonry of which it is constructed, that it is often diffi- 

 cult to distinguish between the artificial and the natu- 

 ral wall. The castle, which is a whimsical and pic- 

 turesque structure, is built of stone and lime, and was 

 formerly the chief seat of Macleod of Raasay. The seat 

 of the family, however, is new at Clachan or Kirktown, 

 near the opposite end of the island. The island abounds 

 with roe deer, which destroy the young plantations. 

 There are remains of woods in various parts of Raasay, 

 and some beautiful and stately trees near Clachan. The 

 population of Raasay, together with the adjacent island 

 of Ronay, is about 1000. West long, about 6; north 

 lat. 57 25'. 



For farther information respecting this island, see 



Racine. 



Macdonald's Agricultural Survey of the Hebrides. Edih. Rabelais 

 1811, p. 774779; and Dr. MacCulioch's Description 

 of the Western Islands,- vol. i. p. 239 259, in which 

 work there is a fine engraving of Brochel Castle. 



RABELAIS, FRANCIS, a celebrated French satirist, 

 was born, according to some, about the year 1483, and, 

 according to others, in 14<)0, at Chinon in Touraine. 

 He entered early among the Cordeliers, and acquired 

 considerable popularity as a preacher ; but, in conse- 

 quence of some scandal in the monastery, he was im- 

 prisoned in his cloister. He is said, however, to have 

 obtained his liberation from his wit and facetiousness, 

 and to have been permitted by the Pope to remove to the 

 Order of St. Benedict. His habits of life induced him 

 to lay aside his religious character in 1530, and to re- 

 pair to Montpellier, for the purpose of studying physic. 

 When the Chancellor Du Pratt abolished the privileges 

 of the faculty of medicine at Montpellier, by a decree 

 of parliament, Rabelais is said to have had the address 

 to make him get the decree revoked ; and in comme- 

 moration of this event, bachelors in the medical school 

 of Montpellier are invested with a scarlet robe, which 

 is said to be the very robe worn by Rabelais. 



After continuing some time at Montpellier, he went 

 to Lyons, where he published a collection of some 

 pieces of Hippocrates and Galen, and likewise several 

 other works, among which were some of the books of 

 his History of Gargantua and Pantagruel, which gave 

 him such a high rank among the writers of burlesque. 

 Having resided in the same convent with Cardinal John 

 du Bellay, now archbi&hop of Paris, Rabelais waited 

 upon him in Paris in 1535 ; and such was the im- 

 pression which his talents and wit made upon the 

 prelate, that he took him into his family as physician, 

 librarian, and steward. In 1536, Du Bellay went to 

 Rome as ambassador from the French court ; and Rabe- 

 lais made himself so agreeable to the Pope and the car- 

 dinals, that he not only received absolution for the crime 

 of apostacy, but obtained a privilege to enable him to 

 hold ecclesiastical benefices. Having taken his degree 

 of Doctor of Medicine at Montpellier in 1539, he soon 

 after returned to Paris, and by the interest of the arch- 

 bishop, he was received as a secular canon in the abbey 

 of St. Maur near Paris. He was afterwards appointed 

 to the curacy of Meudon, the duties of which he dis- 

 charged from 151-5 till the time of his death, which 

 took place in 1553, in the 70th or 63(1 year of his age. 



The principal work of Rabelais is his History of 

 Gargantua and Pantagruel, already mentioned. It is 

 a general satire upon popes, priests, and monks, and 

 upon follies and knaveries of various kinds, which it 

 would not have been prudent to expose gravely. This 

 work brought down upon him the hostility of the 

 monks, who procured its condemnation by the Sor- 

 bonne and the parliament; but this event only added 

 to the popularity of Rabelais, and made his company 

 much more courted by the wits of Paris. This work is 

 characterised by wit, learning, obscenity, and ribaldry. 



A complete edition of his works was published in 

 Holland in 5 vols. 8vo. in 1715, with notes by Duchut ; 

 and another at Amsterdam in 3 vols. 4to. in 1741, with 

 plates by Picart. 



RABBIT. See MAZOLOGY, Vol. XIII. p. 443. 



RACINE, JOHN, a celebrated French poet, was 

 born at Ferre Milon, in ]6'39. Racine received his 

 education at the convent of Port- Royal, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Paris ; and after studying philosophy at 

 the college of Harcourt, he began his career as an au- 

 thor, by publishing an Ode on the King's Marriage, 

 which, more successful than the first efforts of poets 



