RAN 



RAN 



RANARIDL, in Geography, a town of Aultria ; II 



miles S. of Aigen. . .^. , „ „ - 



RANASAGUR, a town of Hmdooflan, in Bahar ; 

 i8 miles W. of Arrali. N. lat. 25° 37'. E. long. 84° 



RANCAGUA, a jurifdiftion of South America, in 

 Chili. It derives its name from the inhabitants living in 

 fingle hoiifes, without the appearance of a village ; every 

 family lodgnig m their lonely cottage, four, fix, or more 

 leagues from each other. It is not, however, without a 

 capital, confdling of about 50 houfes, and between 50 and 

 60 families, moll of them being Meftizos, though their call 

 is not perceivable by their complexion. The whole jurif- 

 diftioii may contain about lOOO families, Spaniards, Mei- 

 tizos, and Indians. Ulloa's Voyage, vol. ii. 



RANGE, Akman'd-Joiin le Bouthillier de, in Bio- 

 graphy, the inltiLutor of the order of La Trappe, was of 

 noble defcent, and born at Paris in the year 1626. At a 

 very early period he exhibited an extraordinary genius for 

 claffical and polite learning; and at the age of 10 he had 

 read many claffical works, in the Greek as well as the Latin 

 languages, and is faid at that early period to have under- 

 ftood Homer. When he was only 13 years of age, he pre- 

 pared for the prefs a new edition of Anacreon, with notes, 

 that difplayed confiderable talent and refearch. This was 

 publilhed in 1639. Four years previoufly to this, he had 

 received the clerical tonfure, and had been nominated a 

 canon of Notre Dame at Paris. He was promoted by the 

 king to the finecure priory of Boulogne, near Chambor ; 

 and he was fubfequently promoted to three different abbies, 

 among which was that of La Trappe, and to other places 

 of honour and truft in the church. He ftudied divinity at 

 the Sorbonne, and in 1651 he was ordained prieft ; and in 

 lefs than three years, the degree of doftor of divinity was 

 conferred upon him by tlie faculty of the Sorbonne. Hav- 

 ing thus completed his ftudies, he entered into the world, 

 and, like one broken from his (hackles, he devoted himfelf 

 eagerly to its honours, pleafures, and gaieties. He foon 

 became a favourite at court, and was appointed almoner to 

 the duke of Orleans, and one of the deputies of the fecond 

 order in the afl'embly of the clergy in 1655. On a fudden, 

 and for a caufe that never was well underitood, he became 

 difgufted with the world, and refolved to renounce for ever 

 its pleafures, enjoyments, and vanities. No fooner had the 

 abbe de Ranee formed the refolution than he withdrew to 

 his eftate in the country, to dehberate concerning the mode 

 of hfe which he ihould purfue. Having made up his mind 

 to embrace the monallic life, he fold his eilate, and bellowed 

 the money which it produced on the H6tel-de-Dieu at Paris. 

 He alfo refigned all his benefices and dignities, excepting 

 his priory of Boulogne, and the abbey of La Trappe ; the 

 latter of which he retained by a fpecial permiffion of the 

 king, in order to introduce into it a reformation of the (la- 

 tutes and difcipline. He took the habit, and made his pro- 

 feffion in the year 1664, and let about eftablifhing the 

 gloomy and aullere difcipline of monkery in its full perfec- 

 tion. The place itfelf fcemed peculiarly adapted to the 

 horrid fyflem which he ellablifhed, being the moil gloomy, 

 barren, and defolate fpot in the whole kingdom of France. 

 Here the days of tlie monks were conilantly fpent in prayers, 

 tears, contemplation, filcnce, the perufal of holy books, 

 ^he hardfhips of bodily labour, and the praftice of the mod 

 rigid aullerities. All other defigna and occupations, how- 

 ever laudable and excellent in themfelves, they were to re- 

 gard as vain and finful to perfons of their order. The leatl 

 relaxation, or amufement of the moft innocent nature, they 

 were not allowed ; and they were prohibited from engaging 



at all in literary (Indies. Strange ! tliat a mind ftored with , 

 liberal knowledge, and diilinguifiied by good taftc, (Ijould 

 have been (b far perverted by fuperdition and fanaticifm, a^ 

 tf) devife or (andtion (uch regulations. 



That the world might be acquainted with the difcipline o! 

 his community, he publiihed " A Treatifc on the Sandtity 

 and Duties of the Monallic State." As de Ranee ad- 

 vanced in years, the fevere difcipline to which he ftridlly 

 conformed, rendered him fo infirm, that, finding himfelf 

 unequal to tlie duties of his pod, he refigned it into the 

 king's hands, but was permitted to appoint liis fucceflor. 

 At length, worn out with infirmities and mortifications, and 

 lying on a bed of afhcs and flraw, he died in 170O, in the 

 74th year of his age. He was author of a great number of 

 theological and other pieces, among which may be men- 

 tioned " Moral Refleftions on the Four Evangelifls ;" 

 " The Conllitution and Rules of the Abbey of La Trappe," 

 in 2 vols. ; and " A Dilcourfe on Purity of Intention." 

 Moreri. 



Ra>;c:e, in Geography, a river of France, v/hich runs into 

 the fea near St. Malo. 



RANCHANO, a fmall ifiaud near the coafl of Darien, 

 in the Pacific ocean. 



RANCHERIA, a town of South America, in the vice- 

 royalty of Granada, aad province of St. Martha ; 20 miles 

 N.E. of Hacba. N. lat. 11"=^. W. long. 72° 36'.— Alfo, 

 a fmall ifland m the Pacific ocean, near the coafl of Veragua. 

 N. lat. 7" 50'. W. long. 82^16'. 



RANCHERIAS, a name given, in the previnee of 

 Panama, to afl'emblages of Indian huts under the jurifdic- 

 tion of a village. Thefe rancherias are fituated to the fouth- 

 ward, in the fmall chafms or breaches of the mountains. 



RANCID, m Rural Economy, from the Latin ranc'tdus, of 

 rancto, to be rank, a term applied to fubflances, which have 

 contracled a flrong offenfive fmell and talle by keeping, as 

 bacon, butter, and all fat fubflances are apt to do. It 

 would be a very ufeful difcovery, to find out any eafy fimple 

 method of preventing this effeft from taking place. 



RANCON, in Geography, a river of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Lower Seine, which runs into the Seine, 

 at Caudebec. - Alfo, a town of France, in the department 

 of the Upper Vienne ; 8 miles E. of Bellac. 



RANCONET, Aimar de, in Biography, a learned and 

 worthy magiftrate, who flourifhed in the 1 6th century, was 

 born at Bordeaux, in which city his father was an advocate 

 of parhament. Having received the advantages of a good 

 education, he became deeply flvilled in the Roman law, to 

 the fludy of which he joined that of philofophy, mathe- 

 matics, and antiquities. Having been fome time a coun- 

 fcUor in the parliament of Bourdeaux, he was raifed to the 

 poll of prefident of the fourth chamber of inquefls in that 

 of Paris. The religious contentions of the time were fatal 

 to him. When the cardinal of Louvain affembled the par- 

 liament of Paris, to procure its opinion concerning the 

 punifhment of heretics, Ranconet brought the works of 

 Sulpicius Severus, and read aloud the pafiage in which that 

 writer cenfures the execution of Prifcilian ; upon this the 

 prelate caufed him to be imprifoned in the Baflille, where he 

 died of grief in 1559, at the age of 60. His latter days ■ 

 had been fingul^rly unfortunate. He was reduced by want 

 to be a correftor of the prefs to the Stephenfes ; he faw his 

 daughter die on a dunghill, and his fon executed, and his 

 wife was killed by lightning. This learned man publifhed 

 fcarcely any thing in liis own name, but contributed much 

 to the labours of others. He is faid to have had the chief 

 part in the valuable treatife, " De Verborum Significa- 

 tionc," and in the " Formuls" of Briifoii ; and Pithou 



afl'erts, 



