784 



RABELAIS RACES. 



to the amasing number of 1,274,840. Rabbits are 

 subject to two disorders, which often prove fatal to 

 tin-in, the rot and a kind of madness They are 

 taken either by snaring them, or smoking them 

 from their holes by the fumes of sulphur. Their 

 fur is extremely useful in the manufacture of hats, 

 and their flesh is more juicy than that of the hare. 

 It is forbidden to be eaten by the laws of Moses 

 and Mahomet. 



RABELAIS, FRAXQOIS. a humorous and satirical 

 French writer, author of Gargantua and Pantagruel, 

 was born at Chinon, in Touraine, about MS;,. He 

 was the son of an apothecary, or, according to 

 some, of an inn-keeper. Rabelais entered the 

 Franciscan order at Fontenay-le-Comte ; but the 

 absence of all true learning soon disgusted him with 

 this residence, and his satirical humour and some 

 youthful indiscretions drew upon him the hatred of 

 the monks. With the permission of Clement VII., 

 he now entered the Benedictine order (about 1523), 

 but soon after went to Montpelier as a secular 

 priest, and afterwards studied medicine, received 

 the degree of doctor, and taught and practised the 

 medical profession. Remorse or fear induced him 

 to procure, from Paul III., absolution for the vio- 

 lation of his monastic vows, and he spent some time 

 as canon in the abbey of Saint-Maur-des-Fosses, 

 where he was placed by the interest of his patron, 

 the cardinal du Bellay, aud where he is supposed 

 to have written a considerable part of his Panta- 

 gruel. He was afterwards transferred to Meudon, 

 as parish priest. He died at Paris, in 1553. Volt- 

 aire censures the Gargantua and Pantagruel, in 

 which the taste of the age for the wonderful and 

 the ignorance of the monks are severely satirized; 

 but the buffoonery which it contains must be attri- 

 buted to the spirit of the age, and not to the taste 

 of Rabelais, who is, however, much below Cervan- 

 tes in humour. He was one of the first to give 

 flexibility and finish to the yet rude and harsh lan- 

 guage of his country. Boileau calls him la raison 

 en masque, and Rousseau, le gentil maitre Francois. 

 Rabelais was a conscientious teacher of his people, 

 and it was his pleasure to instruct the children of 

 his parish in sacred music. His house was the re- 

 sort of the learned ; his purse was always open to 

 the needy ; and his medical skill was employed in 

 the service of his parish. His work cannot now be. 

 easily understood without glossaries and comment- 

 aries, the best of which is in the edition of Le 

 Duchat, with engravings by Picart. 



RABENER, GOTTLIEB WILLIAM, a German 

 satirist, was born in 1714, near Leipsic, and was 

 controller of the taxes for the circle of Leipsic, un- 

 til his death, in 1771. His works were republished 

 several times; latest edition, Leipsic, 1771 (6 

 vols.) His life, by Weisse, appeared in 1772. He 

 never allowed himself to indulge in personalities, 

 but chastised folly in general. His satire would be 

 considered rather tame in England, where the party 

 contentions incident to a free government give rise 

 to violent abuse and biting ridicule unheard of in 

 arbitrary governments. His works have been trans- 

 lated into French and Dutch. A report of his death 

 became current long before his actual decease ; so 

 that he had the pleasure of learning what people 

 said about him. 



RACCOON (procyori). This animal is found in 

 most parts of the American continent, though it 

 appears to be more common to the north than to 

 the south. Its colour is grayish- brown, with a 

 dusky line running from the top of the head down 

 the middle of the face, ending below the eyes. The 

 tail is very thickly covered with hair, and is marked 

 by live or six antiulations of black, on a yellowish- 



white ground. There are, however, several varieties 

 as regards colour. The size varies mucli according 

 to the age and sex. A lull-grown male may be 

 stated to have the body about eighteen to twenty 

 inches long, the head five inches, and the tail about 

 eight inches in length. The female exceeds these 

 dimensions ; and, among the skins in the furriers' 

 shops, some are found which much surpass the 

 above measurements. In the wild state, the rac- 

 coon is savage and sanguinary, committing great 

 slaughter among both wild and domesticated birds, 

 as he always destroys a great number without con- 

 suming any part of them except the head, or the 

 blood which flows from their wounds. The raccoon 

 also will occasionally commit ravages in plantations 

 of sugar-cane, or of Indian corn, especially while 

 the latter is in a young state. This animal is a 

 good climber, and, from the form of its claws, is 

 enabled to adhere so firmly to a branch of a tree, 

 that it requires no slight exertion of strength to 

 disengage it. One of themost marked peculiarities 

 of the raccoon, and on which its specific name of 

 lotor, or the washer, is founded, is its habit of plung- 

 ing its food into water before eating it. It is tamed 

 without much difficulty while young, but is apt to 

 become untractable and dangerous as it grows 

 older. In the domesticated state, it is extremely 

 restless and inquisitive, examining every thing ; is 

 extremely fond of sweet things, and will even par- 

 take of strong liquors, so as to become intoxicated; 

 delights in hunting spiders, grasshoppers, snails and 

 worms. Captivity, however, produces considerable 

 changes in the habits of this animal ; for, instead, 

 as in a state of nature, of sleeping during the day, 

 and roaming about at night in search of food, it 

 will learn to be active during the day, and to re- 

 main quiet at night. When inclined to sleep, it 

 rolls itself up into a kind of ball : in this position, 

 it sleeps so profoundly as not to be readily disturb- 

 ed. The fur is valuable, and forms no inconsider- 

 able article of traffic. Its principal use is in the 

 manufacture of hats. The female has from two to 

 three young at a birth. Her den is usually in some 

 hollow tree, or very secure situation. 



RACEME, in botany; a particular arrangement 

 of flowers, when they are arranged around a fili- 

 form simple axis, each particular flower being 

 stalked. 



RACES. Horse races were customary in Eng- 

 land in very early times. Fitz Stephen mentions 

 them in the reign of Henry II. In the reign of 

 queen Elizabeth, they appear to have been carried 

 to such excess as to have injured the fortunes of 

 the nobility. At that time, however, the matches 

 were private, and gentlemen rode their own horses. 

 In the reign of James I., public races were estab- 

 lished. The horses were at that time prepared for 

 running by the discipline of food, physic, airing, 

 sweats, and clothing which compose the present 

 system. The weight, also, which each horse was 

 to carry, was rigidly adjusted. The usual weight 

 was ten stone, and the riders were weighed before 

 they started. The prize was generally a bell. 

 About the latter end of the reign of Charles I., 

 races were performed in Hyde park. After the 

 restoration, racing was much encouraged by Charles 

 II., and a silver bowl or cup of the value of a hun- 

 dred guineas was allotted for a prize. Subsequent 

 sovereigns have also encouraged racing. The sum 

 of a hundred guineas is now given in lieu of the 

 silver bowl. Fine and delicate horses, the natives 

 of warm climates, excel in swiftness. The most 

 perfect of these were originaiiy found in Arabia ; 

 but their qualities may be improved in their descen- 

 dants in a more fruitful country. The Arabians 



