RAM 



elegance of his Latin ftyle in his writings, evinces the fiic- 

 cels with which he puifiicd the ftiidy of the claflics. In 

 1700 he was invited to a profellorlliip at the more diilin- 

 guifhed univerfity of Padua, and removed lliithcr. Tiiongh 

 fomewhat advanced in age, he fidlilled tlic duties of his 

 chair with an ardour, not to be furpad'ed by his junior col- 

 leagues, for the fpace of three years, when he was attacked 

 with a difeafe of the eyes, which tlireatencd to dcdroy his 

 vifion, and which, in (nil, did ultimately deprive liim of 

 that faculty. Having loll the pleafure of reading, which 

 was the -only fource of Ins regret, he fupplicd that amufe- 

 ment by the afllltance of his grand-children, wiio read to 

 him, and afted as his amanuenfes. In 1708, however, the 

 fenate of Venice appointed him prefident of the college of 

 phyficians of that capital, and in the following year raifed 

 him to the firft profeffordiip of the praftice of medicine. 

 He continued to perform the duties of thefe honourable 

 polls, at the earneft folicitations of his conftituents and pu- 

 pils, with great diligence, to the end of his life, and died, 

 on his birth-day, November Jth, 1 7 14, in confequencc of 

 an attack of apoplexy, which leized him while he was pre- 

 paring for his leftures, at the age of 81. 



Ramazzini was a member of fevcral of the academies of 

 fcience eftablilhedin Germany, Berlin, &.C., and left feveral 

 works ; the principal of which, and one which will ever 

 be held in eftimation, is his treatife on the difeafes ot artills 

 and manufafturers, entitled " De Morbis Artificum Dia- 

 triba," firft publilhed in 1700, and frequently reprinted. 

 He alfo pubhlhed fome trafts relative to certain epidemics, 

 both among men and cattle ; fome " Eph#nierides Barome- 

 tricE ;" a work on the abufe of Peruvian bark ; and feveral 

 orations delivered in his profeilorial capacity. All his 

 works have been collefted and publiihed together at Padua, 

 Geneva, London, and Naples ; the edition of London is 

 the moft correft. Eloy Dift. Hift. de la Med. Hutchin- 

 fon's Biog. Med. 



RAMBANG, in Geogmphy. See Rembakg. 



RAMBERVILLER, or Rembervillee, a town of 

 France, in the department of the Vofges, and chief place 

 of a canton, in the diftrift of Epinal ; 19 miles E. of Mere- 

 court. The place contains 4926, and the canton 14,014 

 inhabitants, on a territory of 317-5 kiliometres, in 28 com- 

 munes. N. lat. 43° 21'. E. long. 6° 43'. 



RAMBIN, a town of Anterior Pomcrania ; 10 miles 

 W.S.W. of Bergen. 



RAMBLE, a town of Spain, in the province of Cor- 

 dova ; feven miles N.W. of Montella Alfo, a town on the 



W. coaft of the ifland of Teneriffe ; tlu-ee miles W. of La- 

 guna. 



RAMBOUILLET, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Seine and Oife, and chief place of a canton, in 

 the diftrift of Veriailles, the feat of a tribunal, and of a na- 

 tional farm, where the (heep are much celebrated for the 

 finenefs of their wool ; 27 miles S.W. of Paris. The 

 place contains 2586, and the canton 9652 inhabitants, on 

 a territory of 305 kiliometres, in 17 communes. N. lat. 

 48° 39'. E. long. I" 54'. 



RAMBURE, a town of France, in the department of 

 thh Somme ; 3 miles W. of Oifemont. 



RAMBURELLES, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Somme ; 9 miles S. of Abbeville. 



RAMCHUND-POUR, a town of Bengal ; 30 miles 

 N.E. of Calcutta. 



• RAMCHUNDRA, a town of Hindooftan, in the cir- 

 car of Mohurbunge : 23 miles S.S.E. of Harriopour. 



RAMCHUNPO'UR, a town of Bengd ; 60 miles N. 

 of Dacca, 



R A M 



RAMCOTTA, a town of Thibet ; 18 miles S.W. of 



Sirinagnr. 



RAMCOUTY, a town of Hindooftan, in Bahar ; 28 

 miles N.E. of Goorackpour. N. lat. 26^ 51'. E. long. 

 84" 8'. 



RAMDILLY, a town of Hindooftan, ii: the Nayre ; 

 25 miles N.N.W. 01 Tellicherry. 



RAMEAU, .lojiN Philip, in Bm^raphy, chevalier dc 

 St. Michel, compofcr to the king of France, and to PAca- 

 demie Royale de la Mufique, or lerions opera at Paris, was 

 born at Dijon in 1683. He went earlv in l-.is lite to Italy, 

 and at his return was appointed organilt at Clermont en 

 Auvergnc, where his ", Traite de la Mufique" was written, 

 in 1722. He was afterwards elcfted organift of St. Croix 

 de la Bretonneric at Paris. Here his time was chiefly em- 

 ployed in teaching ; however, he publifhed harpfichord lei- 

 Ions, and feveral other theoretical works, without diilin- 

 guifhir.g himfclf much as a vocal compofer, till the year 

 1733, when, at fifty years of age, he produced his firft 

 opera of " Hippolite et Aricie." The mufic of this 

 drama excited prufefTional envy and national difcord. Party 

 rage was now as violent between the admirers of Lulli and 

 Ramcau, as in England between the friends of Bononcini 

 and Handel, or, in modern times, at Paris, between the 

 Gluckiits and the Piccinifts. 



When the French, during the lall century, were fo con- 

 tented with the mufic of Lulli, it was nearly as good as 

 that of other countries, and better patronized and fupportcd 

 by themoft fplendid prince in Europe. But this nation, fo 

 frequently accufed of more volatility and caprice than their 

 neighbours, have manifeiled a fteady perfevering conftancy 

 in their mufic, which the ftrongelt ridicule and contempt of 

 other nations could never vanquifh. 



Rameau only anfwered his antagonifts by new produftions, 

 which were ftill more fuccefsful ; and, at length, he was ac- 

 knowledged by his countrymen to be not only fuperior to 

 all competition at Paris, but fole monarch of the mufical 

 world. From 1733 to 1760 he compofed twenty-one operas, 

 of which the names and dates are annually publiihed in the 

 " Speftacles de Paris," and in many other periodical works. 



Rameau's ftyle of compofition, which continued in favour 

 almoft unmoleftcd for upwards of forty years, though formed 

 upon that of Lulli, is more rich in harmony, and varied in 

 melody. The genre, however difpleafing to all ears but 

 thofe of France, which had been nurfed in it, was carried 

 by the learning and genius of Rameau to its acme of per- 

 feftion ; and when that is achieved in any ftyle, it becomes 

 the bufinefs of fubfequent compofers to invent or adopt 

 another, in which lomething is ftill left to be done, befides 

 fervile imitation. 



The opera of " Caftor and Pollux" having been long re- 

 garded in France as the mafter-piece of this compofer, we 

 ihall here infert a few remarks upon it, that have been made 

 on a recent examination. 



The overture is the beft of this author, upon Lulli's plan. 

 Tlie opening fymphony is beautiful ; but why the fame me- 

 lody was not applied, in the fame meafure, to the poetry, 

 we know not, vmlefs the verfification required a change of 

 time ; but, in that cafe, why write the fymploony on a fub- 

 jeft that would not fuit the words ? But thofe eternal 

 changes in the meafure, which teaze and difappoint the ear 

 of all that are ufed to other mufic, is general in ferious 

 French operas, and feems as much the fault of the poet as mu- 

 fician. It is, however, wonderful, that thi? defedt wis not 

 fooner difcovered. The over-charged tcndernefs of Ra- 

 mean's mufic appears in all his flow movements, which are in 

 one ftyle, and generally in triple time. This matter perpe- 

 1 1 tually 



