RAMBLER 



648 1 



RAMESWARAM 



1875. In 1883 he was made professor 

 of contemporary history at the 

 Sorbonne, and was admitted to the 

 Institut de France, 1897. Senator 

 for Doubs, 1895-1902, he was 

 minister of public instruction, 1896 

 -98, and died in Paris, Nov. 10, 

 1905. His works include L'Alle- 

 magne sous Napoleon I, 1800-11, 

 1874; La Russie fipique, 1876; 

 Histoire de la Civilisation Fran- 

 jcaise, 1885-87 ; Histoire de la Civi- 

 lisation Contemporaine en France, 

 1888 ; and a study of Jules Ferry, 

 his old political chief, 1903. Ram- 

 baud was editor with E. Lavisse of 

 the Histoire Generate, 1893-1901. 



Rambler. Name given to a 

 group of climbing roses. The 

 crimson rambler, a hybrid between 

 Rosa wichuraiana and E. multi- 

 flora, was the first of the kind 

 cultivated. Single and double 

 varieties of many colours are now 

 grown. They have dense clusters of 

 small flowers and are good pergola 

 plants. See Rose. 



Rambler, THE. Periodical is- 

 sued by Dr. Johnson during 1750- 

 52. A series of moral and religious 

 essays, although at times stilted in 

 style and sentiment, they acquired 

 great popularity, and were mainly 

 responsible for Johnson's reputa- 

 tion among his contemporaries. 

 Published by Cave, the Ramblers 

 appeared every Tuesday and Sat- 

 urday between March 20, 1750, and 

 March 14, 1752. They were all 

 written by Johnson except Nos. 10, 

 Mrs. Chapone ; 30, Miss Catherine 

 Talbot ; 97, Samuel Richardson ; 

 44 and 100, Elizabeth Carter. See 

 Johnson, Samuel. 



Rambouillet, CHATEAU DE. 

 Palace at Rambouillet, dept. of 

 Seine-et-Oise, France Now used as 



Rambouillet, France. The Chateau, 



now the French president's country 



residence, from across the lake 



the summer residence of the presi- 

 dent of the French Republic, it lies 

 30 m. by rly. S.W. of Paris. The 

 chateau has magnificent parks and 

 gardens laid out by Lendtre, and 

 an interesting dairy built by Louis 

 XVI. In the chateau Francis I 

 died in 1547, and Charles X signed 

 his abdication in 1830. It passed 



into the possession of the nation 

 at the Revolution. 



Rambouillet, CATHERINE DE 

 VIVONNE, MARQUISE DE (1588- 

 1665). French lady. Born at Rome 

 of an aristocratic Roman family, 

 she married the marquis de Ram- 

 bouillet in 1600, and, as mistress of 

 the famous H6tel Rambouillet, in 

 the rue St. Thomas-du-Louvre, 

 Paris, became from about 1608 

 onwards the centre of a social and 

 intellectual circle unrivalled in its 

 day. She died Dec. 2, 1665. Her 

 daughter Julie (1607-71) married 

 the due de Montausier, 1645, and 

 was also a woman of high intel- 

 lectual attainments. 



Rambutan (Nephelium lappa- 

 ceum). Tree of the natural order 

 Sapindaceae. It is a native of 

 Malaya, and bears a bright red, 

 oval fruit, closely related to the 

 litchi nut. See Litchi. 



R.A.M.C. Abbrev. for Royal 

 Army Medical Corps (q.v. ). 



Rameau, JEAN PHILIPPE (1683- 

 1764). French composer. Born at 

 Dijon, Oct. 25, 1683, he became a 

 church organist 

 in Lille and 

 Clermont-Fer- 

 rand before 

 settling in Paris 

 in 1722. . He 

 attracted atten- 

 tion by his 

 treatise on har- 

 mony issued in 

 Jean Rameau, 1722, and in 

 French composer 1723 one of 

 his lighter pieces was mounted at 

 the Opera Comique. His opera 

 Hippolyte et Aricie was played at 

 the Opera, 1733, the first of a 

 score, notable among which was 

 Castor et Pollux, 1737. He pub- 

 lished other important works on 

 musical theory, e.g. his Demonstra- 

 tion du Principe de I'Harmonie, 

 1750. His harmonic theories, es- 

 pecially his ideas on chord-building 

 by thirds and on the fundamental 

 bass, profoundly influenced musical 

 development in the 18th century. 

 He died in Paris, Sept. 12, 1764. 

 See Lives, A. Pougin, 1876 ; L. 

 Laloy, 1908. 



Ramee, MADAME MARIE LOUISE 

 DE LA. British novelist who used 

 the pseudonym of Ouida (q.v.). 



Rameses OR RAMESSU. Name 

 of two Egyptian kings of the XlXth 

 and of nine of the XXth dynasty. 

 Rameses II, styled the Great, and 

 long reputed to be the Pharaoh of 

 the Oppression, reigned for 67 

 years from about 1300 B.C. He 

 waged tedious wars against the 

 Hittites, which resulted in his 21st 

 year in a treaty preserved in a 

 hieroglyphic version at Karnak, 

 and in cuneiform on a tablet that 

 was found at Boghazkoi in 1907. 



The greatest of Egyptian build- 

 ers, one half of the temples still 

 extant date from his reign, and his 

 name or portrait occurs in nearly 

 every great group of ruins. His 

 finest statue is at Turin. Near the 

 Theban Ramesseum are the re- 

 mains of a statue estimated to 

 have weighed 1,000 tons ; the 

 colossal head of another was re- 

 moved to the British Museum. His 

 mummy is at Cairo. See Abu- 

 Simbel; Karnak; Luxor; Memphis; 

 Pentaur ; Sesostris. 



Rameses HI. King of Egypt. 

 The Rhampsinitus of Herodotus, 

 and the virtual founder of the 

 XXth dynasty, he reigned for 32 

 years from about 1200 B.C. He 

 undertook several defensive cam- 

 paigns, used naval craft in the 

 Mediterranean, and came into 

 conflict with the Philistines. His 

 majestic Theban temple at Medinet 

 Habu, together with the great 

 Harris payprus in the British 

 Museum 133 ft. in length, the 

 longest known record his military 

 achievements and opulent temple- 

 gifts. His tomb, 400 ft. long, dis- 

 covered by James Bruce, con- 

 tained a sarcophagus now hi Paris, 

 the lid being at Cambridge. His 

 mummy is at Cairo. 



Rameswaram. Town and is- 

 land of Madras Presidency, India, 

 in Ramnad dist. The island 

 stretches S.E. towards Ceylon at 

 the head of the Gulf of Manaar ; 

 from it Adam's Bridge (q.v. ) reaches 

 towards Ceylon. The rly. from 

 Madura runs across the island 

 through the town to the S.E. tip. 

 Beches de mer are obtained in neigh- 

 bouring waters. In the town is a 

 gate-tower temple with corridors 

 4,000 ft. long, visited annually by 

 crowds of pilgrims. Pop. 10,600. 



Rameses II. Head of the mummy 

 of the Great Pharaoh 



Cairo Jfuieum 



8 



