RAM 



tually dilcovers liimfi-lf to be a great harmonift ; but inured 

 to a bad talle and (lylo of compolitiou, as well as to bad 

 fniging, he has only augmented the defcfts of liis predeoef- 

 fors, and rendered what was rude and clunily iji LuUi Hill 

 tnorij oftenfive, by endeavours at fweetnefs or high feafoning. 

 The appoggiaturas, or leaning notes, being fo frequently 

 incorporated in tlie harmony, renders it crude, and the hang- 

 ing on every note, as if unwilling to relinquifh it, checks 

 and impedes the motion of the air, and gives it a flow and 

 languid effeCl, however lively the theme on which it is com- 

 pofed. Every pafTage in fuch melody refembles a French 

 lieroic verfe : 



" Each is an jikxandnne, through the fong, 



That, like a wounded fnake, drags its flow length along." 



Tlie opening of the fecond aft, "Que tout gcmifl'e," is 

 very fine, and the pathos well applied ; but tlie fubfequent 

 air, wlileh is call in an admirable mould, is fpoiled by fre- 

 quent and iMuieceliary changes of mcalure ; and yet in fpite 

 of thefe defefts, and tlie vocal outrages of mademoifelle Ar- 

 nould, we were more plealed and affefted by this fcene, than 

 any other we ever heard at the French ferious opera. Tiie 

 march, which has few appoggialuras in it, is like other Chrif- 

 tian mufic. 



The prelude fendre, at the opening of the third aft, 

 abounds with too many of thefe drags, which being equally 

 harfli to the ear and injurious to puliation, feem to pre- 

 vent the performer from ever falling on his feet ; and bar 

 eleventh, the chord of the fuperfluous fifth, which makes 

 all nature fhudder, except our Gallic neighbours, is here 

 continued fo long, that it diftorts the countenance of every 

 other hearer, like h'tera picra. The major minuet, page I2I, 

 after fo long and tirefome a minority, is rich in harmony and 

 graceful in melody. The voice is worfe ufed by the com- 

 pofer than the mod infigniticant inftrument. For after fe- 

 veral fymphonies that are extremely promifing, and the ear 

 has been made to expeft a continuation of the prefatory 

 ilrain, nothing is given to the vocal part but broken accents 

 and diflocated meafures. In the chaconne, which is admirable, 

 the meafure is well marked and well accented. This midt 

 long have preceded Jomelli's favourite chaconne, and have 

 ferved as a model to him, Theller, and others, in compofing 

 this fpecies of dance. More genius and invention appear in 

 the dances of Rameau than elfewhere, becaufe in them. 



RAM 



charming at once the foul, heart, mind, eyet, car's, and iina. 

 giiiatroi) of all Pario." 



From this era to the time of Iiis death, in 1767, at eighty- 

 ars of age, Rami-au's glory was complete. The 



fou 



Royal Acadt-my of Mufic, who all regarded themfelvesaH his 

 children, performed a folemn ferviceiii the church of the Ora- 

 tory, at his funeral. And M. Philidor had a mafs performed 

 at the church of the Carmelites, in honour of a man whofe ta- 

 lents he fo much revered. See Base, B.\.sse Fondamentalc, and 



CoUXTEnPOINJ'. 



RAMED, a name given by fame chemical writers tc 



rhubarb. 



RAMEDEGA, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 the circar of Cingpour ; 15 miles S.W. of Pada. 



RAMEE, a town of Bengal ; 50 miles S. of Ifla- 

 mabad. 



RAMEEAPATAM, a town of Hindooftan, in the 

 Carnatic ; 30 miles S. of Ongolc. 



RAMEEPOUR, a town of Hindooftan, in Allaha- 

 bad ; 35 miles E.N.E. of Gazypour. 



RAMELLI, Agostino, \\\ Biography, a celebrated 

 Italian mechanift and engineer, was born, in 1530, at Ma- 

 fanzana, in the diocefe of Milan. Having entered the 

 army, he ferved a confiderable time under the marquis de 

 Marignano, a general of Charles V. After this, he ferved 

 under the duke of Anjou as captain, or engineer, at the 

 fiege of Rochelle, in 1573, where he was dangeroufly 

 wounded, and taken prifoner. When that prince, afterwartb 

 Henry III., was called to the crown of Poland, he was the 

 friend of Ramelli, and he nominated him his engineer when 

 on the throne of France. In 1588 he publifhed a work in 

 Italian and French, entitled " Le Diverfe et Artificiofe Ma- 

 chine del Capitono Agoftiuo Ramelli," &c. with nearly 

 200 figures, defcribing a great number of machines for va- 

 rious purpofes, moil of his own invention, and vrhich exhi- 

 bit much ingenious contrivance. The work is very fcarce, 

 and is much prized by the curious. 



RAMELSPACH, in Geography, a town of Auflria ; 

 5 miles S.E. of Meifliii. 



RAMELTON, or Rathmelton-, a fmall poft-town of 

 the county of Donegal, Ireland, fituatcd ou a bay at the bot- 

 tom of lough S willy. It is 117 miles N.W. by N. from 

 Dublin. 



RAMENAPILLY, a town of Hindooftan, in the cir- 



there is a neccffity for motion, meafure, and fymmetry of car of Rajamundry ; 43 miles E. of Rajamundry. 



phrafe. And it mav with truth be faid, that nothing in 

 Lulli's operas was imitated or adopted by the reft of Eu- 

 rope, but the ftyle of his overtures, or in Ramcau's, but 

 the dances. 



But thousjh the feveral merits of this mufician have been 

 too much magnified by partizans and patriots in France, and 

 too much depreciated by the abettors of other fyllems and 

 other flyles, as well as patriots of other countries, yet Ra- 

 meau was a great man ; nor can the profefTor of any art or 

 fcience mount to the fumniit of fame, and be elefted by his 

 countrymen fupreme diftator in his particular faculty, with- 

 out a large portion of genius and abilities. 



The fuccefsful revival of his opera of " Caflor and Pol- 

 lux" in 1754, after the viftory obtained by his friends over 

 the Italian burletta fingers who had r?.ifed fuch difturbance 

 by their performance of Pcrgolefi's intermezzo, the " Serva 

 Padrona," was regarded as the mofl glorious event of his 

 life. The partizans for the national honour could never 

 hear it often enough. " This beautiful opera," fays M. de 

 la Borde, " without any diminution in the applaufe or plea- 

 fure of the audience, fupported a hundred reprefentations, 



RAMENTUM, in Botany, a form of pubefcence in 

 plants, which, as the name fignifies, has the appearance of a 

 iliaving, being flat, membranous, moftly irregular in fize and 

 fiiapcrquite unlike the uniform hairs or briltles of which the 

 clothing of molt plants confifts. ( See Pubescence. ) The 

 above term was firfl ufed, if we recoUeft rightly, by I'He- 

 ritier, and occurs in fome fpecies of Begonia. The fcalinefs 

 of Ferns is of a fimilar nature. 



RAMERUP, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Aube, and chief place of a canton, in the 

 diftrift of Arcis-fur-Aube ; 6 miles E. of Arcis-fur-Aube. 

 The place contains 493, and the canton 8870 inhabitants, on 

 a territory of 440 kiliometres, in 29 communes. 



RAMESAN, an oriental term for a month of fafling, 

 verv religioufly obferved among the Turks, and otherwife 

 called Ramadan ; which fee. 



RAMESERAM, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 the circar of Cuddapa ; 6 miles E. of Gandicotta. 



RAMETTA, a town of Sicily, in the valley of De- 

 mona ; 6 iniles W. of Melfma. 



RAMEX, 



