RABANUS RABBIT. 



783 



were defeated here by the French, under Eugene 

 Beauharnais. (q. v.) 



RABANUS, MAURCS MAGNENTIUS, a learned 

 German prelate, born in 785, at Mayence, received 

 his first instruction at Fulda, and afterwards became 

 the disciple of Alcuin, at Tours. In 822, he was 

 made abbot of Fulda. In 829, the monks expelled 

 him, alleging that, in consequence of his devoting 

 so much time to his studies, the afiairs of the 

 monastery were neglected. They afterwards wished 

 him to resume the government ; but he declined, 

 and remained in retirement until 847, when he 

 was made bishop of Mayence. One of his first 

 acts was to summon a council, in which he pro- 

 cured the condemnation of Godeschalc, for main- 

 taining the doctrine of St Augustine respecting 

 predestination and grace. Rabanus died in 856. 

 He was a man of great learning, which he dis- 

 played in several treatises and commentaries, 

 which were published in 1627, at Cologne, in 3 

 vols., folio. 



RABAUT DE ST ETIENNE, JOHN PAUL, a 

 French Protestant clergyman and advocate, was 

 born in 1741, at Nismes, for which city he was 

 chosen a deputy to the constituent assembly, in 

 1789. He had previously obtained some reputation 

 by his writings ; and possessing eloquence and 

 address, he appeared with advantage as a public 

 speaker. He distinguished himself, at first, as one 

 of the warmest advocates for innovation ; but on 

 being elected a member of the national convention, 

 his ardour in some degree subsided. He had the 

 courage to speak against the right of the conven- 

 tion to sit in judgment on Louis XVI. His senti- 

 ments, and his connexions with the Girondists, 

 proved his destruction. He was arrested, June 2, 

 1793, but made his escape, and was declared an 

 outlaw on the 28th of July. He returned to Paris, 

 and found an asylum in the house of his brother. 

 Being discovered by accident, he was guillotined, 

 December 5, 1793. He published several historical 

 and political works, among which are Lettres sur 

 I' Histoire primitive de la Grece (1787), and Pricis 

 de rHistoire de la Revolution de France (1791), 

 new edition, with a life of the author, by Boissy 

 d'Anglas (1822). 



RABBANISTS, or RABBINISTS, also TAL- 

 MUDISTS. See Jews, and Talmud. 



RABBETING, in carpentry ; the planing or 

 cutting of channels or grooves in boards. In ship- 

 carpentry, it signifies the letting in of the planks 

 of the ship into the keel, which, in the rake and 

 run of a ship, is hollowed away, that the planks 

 may join the closer. 



RABBI (Hebrew for teacher, master); a doctor 

 of the Jewish law. See the following article. 



RABBINICAL LANGUAGE AND LITERA- 

 TURE. When the rabbis were driven by the 

 Arabs from Babylon, at that time the head-quar- 

 ters of Jewish erudition, and had established them- 

 selves in Europe, especially in Spain, and founded 

 schools, they were soon incited, by the learned 

 researches of the Arabs into the Arabic language, 

 to examine their own language critically, which 

 had degenerated from the old Hebrew to a corrupt 

 Chaldaic dialect, and to bring it back to its original 

 purity. They therefore endeavoured to make the 

 biblical Hebrew a written language again, but 

 were not able, either to separate all the Chaldaic 

 forms from the grammar, or to confine themselves 

 to the proper significations of the words, since they 

 were not sufficient to express all the new ideas 

 which had arisen. Thus there sprung up a new 

 Hebrew written iangii:\ge, which was used by the 

 rabbis in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Germany, 



and was therefore called the rabbinical language. 

 For the acquisition of this language, there have 

 been grammars, and lexicons, &c., prepared by 

 Cellarius, Re.land, Hardt, Tychsen, Buxtorf, and 

 others, and the labour of the study is repaid by the 

 richness of the rabbinical literature, which may be 

 learned particularly from the works of Buxtorf, 

 Bartoloccius, and Wolf. Among the authors dur- 

 ing the most flourishing period of the middle ages, 

 Aben Ezra, David Kimchi (who died about 1232), 

 but especially Elias Levita, are celebrated as gram- 

 marians ; Nathan Ben Jechiel and David Kimchi 

 also distinguish themselves, the one by a lexicon of 

 the Talmud, in 1100, which was several times 

 printed, and the other by a Hebrew lexicon, which 

 long retained a classical reputation. The first, 

 who, after the researches of Aben Ezra, Maimonides 

 (born 1 139; see Maimon), Solomon Jarchi, and David 

 Kimchi, undertook,, a great critical revision of the 

 Pentateuch, in which the Masora was his guide, 

 was Meyer Hallevi (Haramah) of Toledo, in the 

 beginning of the thirteenth century ; the rabbi 

 Menachem de Lonzano (whose Or Torah, with the 

 Shete Jadoth, was published in Venice, 1618), suc- 

 ceeded, and after him came Solomon Norzi, whose 

 labours surpass those of all the preceding, in extent 

 and thoroughness. Among the commentators on 

 the Old Testament, the most conspicuous are Aben 

 Ezra, a learned philologist, but obscure writer ; 

 Solomon Jarchi, a poor linguist, and also obscure 

 writer (about 1180); Joseph Kimchi (1160), one of 

 the most learned of the Jews, and his son, David 

 Kimchi, Levi Ben Gerson (before 1370) and Isaac 

 Arbarbanel (before 1508). Maimonides endea- 

 voured to aid the interpretation of the holy writings 

 of his nation by philosophico-theological disquisi- 

 tions ; among the many commentators, he and 

 Raschi were the most distinguished. The above- 

 mentioned Levi Ben Gerson and Lipman of Miihl- 

 hausen (1399), wrote in defence of their faith. In 

 respect to the geography of the middle ages, Moses 

 Petachia of Ratisbon (before 1187), Benjamin of 

 Tudela (in 1160), and Perizol of Avignon (about 

 1550), rendered much service by the descriptions 

 of their travels. Mathematics, likewise astronomy, 

 philosophy and medicine, were studied with great 

 avidity by the Jews, especially in the schools of the 

 Arabs in Spain ; but as few of their scientific works 

 are printed, we must be satisfied with referring to 

 the oft-named Maimonides, who, as a philosopher, 

 mingled the notions of Aristotle and Plato with the 

 Cabala and the Talmud, but who, in his medical 

 works (Aphorismi, and De Regimine Sanitatix\ 

 showed himself a follower of Galen. 



RABBIT (lepus cuniculus}. The rabbit differs 

 from the hare in being of a smaller size, and having 

 shorter ears and hinder legs. It is said to have 

 been originally introduced from Spain into the vari- 

 ous countries of Europe in which it is now found. 

 In its wild state, the colour of its fur is brown ; its 

 tail black above, and white beneath ; but when 

 domesticated, the colours vary much, being white, 

 pied, ash-coloured, black, &c. In England, rabbits 

 are reared either in warrens or in hutches; the best 

 situations for the former are sandy hills, on which 

 the juniper is thickly planted, as the leaves of this 

 shrub are eagerly eaten by rabbits, and impart a 

 delicate and aromatic flavour to their flesh. If rab- 

 bits are kept in hutches, these places should be 

 kept perfectly clean, or otherwise these animals 

 will be sickly. They are extremely prolific, begin- 

 ning to breed when about six months old, and pro- 

 ducing young seven times a year, the litter usually 

 consisting of eight. Should this happen regularly, 

 the produce of one pair, in four years, would amount 



