R A B 



R A C 



11 ABRl, a name given by fome authors to bole armenic. The filler of the bifliop, a nun, published an abridgment of 



K A DUEL, Claude, jn Biography, a French Jefuit the life of Madame de Chantal, and of the life of St. Francis 



and able mathematician, was born' at Font-de-Vele, in the de Sales. , 



county of Brede, in the year 1668. About the age of 18 RABY, in Geography, a fmall townfliip of America, in 



he was entered into the focietv of Jefus, and principally New Hamplhire, m HilKborough county; about 65 miles 



dillinguiflicd hmifclf by his prolicieiicy in mathematical W. by. S. of Portfmouth ; incorporated in 1790. Its 



learning, of which he became the profelior in Trinity col- name has been fmce changed. — Alfo, a town of Bohemia, 



leo-e at i.vons, oerformine its duties with great reputation in the circle of Prachatitz, containing a citadel, at th^ 



lege at Lyons, performing its duties with great reputatioi 

 and I'ucccfs. He died in 1728, in the 6otli year of his age. 

 His chief work was " A Commentary on the Geometry of 

 Defcartes," which was publifhed after his death in 1730, 

 under the care of father rEipinalle. This was the firll il- 

 lurtration of the whole of that work, which had been given 

 to the public. The labours of Fermat, De Witt, and 

 others, extended only to particular parts of it. Rabuel 

 left behind him other works on algebra, the conic fcftions, 

 and the geometrical loci of the diflerential calculus, and 

 of the integral calculus ; and he was one of the few inllances 

 of perions who, witli a paflion for the mathematics, had a 

 fine taite for polite literature. 



RABUTAH, in Geography, a town of Africa, in the 

 kingdom of Sennaar ; 35 miles S.S.W. of Senna.^r. 



RABUTIN, Francis de, in Biography, who fiouridied 

 in the fixteenth century, was of an ancient and noble family 

 in Burgundy, and ferved in the army with the duke de 

 Nevers, under Heiu-y II. and Charles IX., with a high re- 

 putation for valour and fidelity. He was living in 1 581, 

 but nothing is known of him beyond that period. He was 

 author of " Commentaires de dernieres Guerres du Roi 

 Henri II. et de I'Empereur Charles Quint," firft printed 

 in 1555; a continuation was printed afterwards, in 1558; 

 and the whole work together in 11 books, in 1574. It 

 contains a hillory of the wars in the Low Countries, from 

 1550 to 1558, and is faid to be written in a fimple ftyle, 

 with a great appearance of vivacity. 



Rabutin, Rogek de, count of Buffi, a very diltin- 

 guifhed charafter in the reign of Lewis XIV., was born at 

 Epiry, in the Nivernois, in 1618. He entered very young 

 into the army, in his father's (Leonor Baron of Buffi) 

 regiment, of which he became colonel. After ferving in a 

 number of battles and fieges, he roL- to the rank of mellre- 

 de-camp of the light horfe, and lieutenant-general of the 

 Nevernois. He looked for ilill liiglier honours, and being 

 difappointed, engaged in hinpoons upon perfons about the 

 court, which drew upon him the king's difpleafure ; and in 

 1665, in which year he was admitted a member of the 



containing 

 fiege of wliicli, Zifca, general of tlie Haffites, loll hii 

 only remaining eye ; 4 miles S. of Horazdiowitz. — Alfo, 

 a town of Sweden, in Sudermanlaud ; 7 miles N. of Ny- 

 koping. 



RACA, or Raciia, a Syriac term, found in the Gof- 

 pel of St. Matthew, chap. v. 22. and preferved in moft 

 tranflations. 



Father Simon obferves, that the Greek tranflator of St. 

 Matthew's Gofpcl retained the Syriac raca, which he found 

 in the original, becaufe it was very common among the 

 Jews. And St. .Jerom, Luther, the Englilh tranflators, 

 thofe of Geneva, Louvain, Port-royal, &c. ftill preferve it 

 in their refpeftive languages. 



F. Bonhours clioofes rather to exprefs the fenfe of it in 

 a fort of paraphrafe, thus ; he that fays to his brother, 

 homme de pen de fens, man of Utile underjlariding, fhall deferve 

 to be condemned by the tribunal of the council, &c. 



Moit tranflators, except the Englifii, and F. Simon, for 

 raca write racha ; but the former orthography feems the 

 bell founded ; all the I^atin copies having raca, and all the 

 Greek ones fay.y., or, with Hefychius, f'co-.xs-, which is the 

 fame ; all, we mean, but St. Irenasus, and Beza's copy, 

 now at Cambridge, whicli have fa;;a. In efFeft, the origin 

 of the word (hews it Ihould be raca ; as coming from the 

 Syriac {<D"1; raca, of the Hebrew rek, p'~\, empty, Jhal- 

 loiv. 



RACAISBONE, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, 

 in Aurungabad ; 30 miles S. of Aurungabad. 



RACAM, a town of New Mexico, in the province of 

 Hiaqui ; 60 miles S.W. of Riochico. 



RACAN, Hoxorat de Bueil, Marquis of, in Bio- 

 graphy, a French poet, was born in 1 589, of a noble family, 

 in Touraine. When very young, he had a place in the 

 king's bed-chamber, under the duke of Bellegarde. From 

 Malherbe, who was at that time domefticated with the 

 duke, he acquired a fondnefs for poetry, and obtained in- 

 ftruClions in the art of verfifying. He at firft bore arms, 

 as a proftffion ; but after a time he devoted himfelf to a life 



French academy, a manufcriot hiilory of the amours of of leifure. He was one of the earlieft members of the 



two court ladies, of which he was the wTiter, being handed French academy, and though almoft wholly without tlie 



about, under the title of " Hilloire Amoureufe des Gaules," advantages of education, he obtained reputation as a writer. 



i somplaint was laid before his majefly, in confequence of His moft popular work was entitled " Bergeries." He 



which he was lent to the Baftille. Imprifonment had nearly compofed in various ftyles, and WTOte tranflations of Pfalms, 



proved fatal to him, and he was liberated,- but was ob- 

 liged to reficn the office which he held under government. 

 After this he was exiled to his country-feat, where he re- 

 mained 17 years, during which he did not ceafe to impor- 

 tune the king to be allowed to return, by letters conceived 

 in terms of abjeft humility and bafe adulation. In 1682 he 

 was allowed to return to court, but finding himfelf gene- 

 rally neglefted, he retired of his own accord to his eilates. 

 He died at Autun in 1693, at the age of 75. He was 

 ;iuthor of feveral works, among which were " Difcours a 

 fes Enfans, fur le bon Ufage des Adverfites ;" " Memoires," 

 pubhihed firit at Pans in two, and afterwards at Amfter- 

 dam in three volumes, 4to. ; " Lettres," 7 vols. l2mo. ; 

 and " Hiftoire Abregee de Louis le Grand." His fon the 

 abbe de Buffi became bilhop of Lu9on in 1723, and was a 

 iearncd and ingenious member of the French academy. 



and many facred odes taken from the Pfalms, and other 

 fcriptural poems. In profe he pubhfhed " The Life of 

 Malherbe ;" " A Difcourfe pronounced before the Aca- 

 demy ;" and fome " Letters." He died in 1670, at the 

 age of 81. Of his works a new edition was given at Paris, 

 in 1724, in 2 vols. l2mo. 



RACCA, Racaii, Rita, or Racia-Rica, in Geography, 

 a town of the Perfian empire, in the province of Diar- 

 bekir, and paihalic of Orfu, the capital of the diftrift 

 named Diar Modzar. It is fituated on the eaitern bank 

 of the river Euphrates, at the mouth of a fmall river named 

 Beles, (the ancient Billicha,) and was founded, according 

 to Phny, by Alexander the Great. It was firft called 

 Nicephurium, and afterwards Callinicum and Leontopolis, 

 from Seleucus Callinicus and the Greek emperor Leo. 

 It was the fevourite refidence of Haroun al Rafehid, the 



ruins 



