RAP 



RAP 



tootlied horny mandible ; the thorax is long and cylin- 

 drical ; it has three ftcmmata ; the wings are deflcftcd ; 

 the aiitenns filiform, as long as the thorax, the anterior 

 part is eloHgated and cylindrical : it has four feelers, which 

 are (hort and filiform ; the tail of the female is terminated 

 by a large recurved briille. 



* Ophiosus. The wings of this fpecies are immaculate. 

 It inhabits divers parts of Europe in woods, and preys on 

 other infedls. 



* NoTATA. Wings with a brown marginal fpot. It 

 inhabits England, and has been thought to be only a va- 

 riety of the former. The body is black ; the head is alfo 

 black with a teftaceous ipot ; the legs are tellaccous ; the 

 appendage of the female is as long as the body. 



RAPHOE, in Geography , ahiihopnc of Ireland, in the cc- 

 clefiaitical province of Armagh, which comprifes the greater 

 part of the county of Donegal, being 44 miles in length 

 from north to fouth, and 32 in breadth, comprehending 

 515,250 Irifh acres. It contains 31 parifhes, m which are 

 32 churches. The dean, archdeacon, and four prebendaries, 

 compofe the chapter. The patronage of 6 parilhcs, which 

 form the corps of the deanery, is in the crown; of 15 

 others, in the bifliop ; of 7, in the univerfity of Dublin ; and 

 of 3, in lay hands. It is not precifely known at what time 

 this fee was founded, but it mull have been as early as the 

 ninth century, fince bifiiops of Raphoe are mentioned at 

 that time. Beaufort. 



Raphoe, a fmall poft-town of Ireland, the parilli church 

 of which ferves as a cathedral, where is the bifiiop's pa- 

 lace. It is 107 miles N. by W. from Dublin. 



Raphoe, a townfhip in Lancafter ceunty, Pennfylvania, 

 containing 2814 inhabitants. 



RAPHON, in Ancient Geography, a city beyond Jordan, 

 on a brook, not far from Carnaim. 



RAPICIO, GnoviTA, in Biography, an Italian man of 

 letters, was born about the year 1480, at Chiari, in the ter- 

 ritory of Brefcia. Devoting himfelf to the inllniftion of 

 youth in literature, he firft opened a fchool at Bergamo, 

 where he wrote a Latin treatife on the'education of youth, 

 which was afterwards printed at Venice. He next taught 

 at Vicenza, and various other cities in Italy, and was for 

 many years employed at Venice in inftrufting, in polite li- 

 terature, the youths deilined for public life, and among 

 others, the care and inftruftion of the fons of cardinal 

 Bembo were devolved upon him. Cardinal Pole, in one of 

 his letters, fpeaks of Rapicio in high terms of commenda- 

 tion. He died at Venice in 1553. He was author of va- 

 rious harangues, poems, ard epiftles, but his chief work 

 was entitled " De niunero Oratorio," in five books, printed 

 at Venice in 1544. " In this," fays his biographer, " he mi- 

 nutely inveftigates the principles of writing the Latin lan- 

 guage with i'wectnefs and harmony, and he replies to Me- 

 lanfthon's afl'ertion, that rules of this kind are rendered 

 ufelefs by our ignorance of the ancient pronunciation. 

 Moreri." 



RAPID Ann, in Geography, a fmsll river of Virginia, 

 which runs into the Rappahanock, about 10 miles above 

 Frederickfburg. 



Rapid Pl^f, IJle m, a fmall ifiand of Upper Canada, in 

 the ri-ver St. Lawrence, in front of the townfhip of Ma- 

 tilda, containijig about 200 acres. 



Ratio River, a river which runs into Hudfon's Bay. 



RAPIDES, a county of the territory of Orleans, con- 

 taining three parities, viz. Rapides, including 2200 inhabit- 

 ants, Catahula 1 1 64, and Avoyelles 1209. 



RAPIER, properly denotes a long, ordinary, old- 



5 



fafliioncd cutting fword, fuch as thofc worn by the com- 

 mon foldiers. 



Tiie word is formed from the French rap'tere, of the Greek 

 fxm'^iiv, cxdcre, tofmile, ax Jlrike. 



In this fenfc do the French Hill ufe the term ; fo that 

 among them, to take the rapier, is to enter in tlie army. 



Rapikk, in a modern fenle among us, iifually denotes a 

 fmall fword, r.s contradiiUnguiflied from a back-fword, or 

 cutting-lwoid. 



RAPILLO, in Mineralogy, the name given by the Ita- 

 lians to the fand or powders (improperly called a(he8) thrown 

 from the craters of volcanoes in immenfe quantities, towards 

 the conclufion of an eruption. See Volcano, and Vol- 

 canic Proditcls. 



RAPIN, Rkni:, in Biography, a Jefuit, was born at 

 Tours in 1621. He entered the fociety in 1639, and was 

 a teacher of the belles lettres in it during nine years. ~ He 

 became eminent by feveral publications in the Latin and 

 French, and obtained a high rank among the Ktcrary cha- 

 radlers of his time. It is, however, as a Latin poet that he 

 is chiefly known : his didadtic poem on Gardens, entitled 

 " Hortorum, lib. iv." firit printed in 1665, has palled 

 through many editions, and has been regarded as one of the 

 moll elegant and claffical pieces of modern Latin verfe. By 

 others it has been thought a work of art and lludy, rather 

 than an efFufion of poetical feeling and fancy, and treats on 

 gardening more as a branch of rural economy than as one of 

 the fine arts. His other Latin poems are facred eclogues, 

 heroic, elegiac, and lyric poems. Father Rapin died at 

 Paris in 1687. 'He was no Icfs eileemed for his virtues 

 and amiable qualities, than admired for his talents ; aiid he 

 pofleiled all that pohlh and fitnefs for the fociety of the 

 great world, which have dillinguidied this order from other 

 religious communities. His works were collected and pub- 

 lifhed, in 3 vols. i2mo. 1681. There is a fine edition of his 

 " Hortorum," publiihcd by Brotier at Paris, in 1780. Ra- 

 pin was great as a critic, in which line he is known by his 

 "Reflexions fur 1' Eloquence, fur la Poefie, fur THilloire, 

 et fur la Philofophie ;" and alfo by his " Comparaifons de 

 Virgile et d'Homere," printed in 2 vols. 4to. Bayle. 

 Moreri. 



Rapin de Thovras, Paul, well known as the hiftorian 

 of England, was born at Callres, in Langucdoc, in 1661. 

 He was dcfcended from a noble family of Savoy, which 

 came into France in the reign of Francis I. for the fake of 

 profefiing the reformed religion. The fubjecl of this article, 

 after having received his education, went to his father, who 

 was an advocate in the chamber of the cdiA at Nantes, for 

 thepurpofe of iludying the law. He was in due time ad- 

 mitted an advocate, but the chamber being fuppreiied in the 

 fame year, he went with his father to Touloufe. On the 

 revoealion of the edicT: of Nantes, in 1(785, he withdrew to 

 England, after which he went to Holland, and entered into 

 a company of French cadets at Utrecht. In 1689 he fol- 

 lowed the prince of Orange into England, and obtained an 

 enfigncy in lord Kingllon's regiment, which went to Ireland. 

 He was engaged in feveral battles, particularly at the fieges 

 of Carrickfergus and Limerick, and at the battle of the 

 Boync, and fo much diitinguifhed liimfelf, that he ob- 

 tained a captain's commiirion. In 1693 he was nominated 

 governor to the fon of the earl of Portland, refigned his 

 commifTion to a younger brother, and received from the 

 crown, for his pall fervices, 100/. a-year. He travelled to 

 different countries in company with his pupil, and refided with 

 him fome lime at the I-Jague. By the deatii of king William 

 he was deprived of liis penfion, and his engagement as private 

 tutor being over, he retired, in 1707, to Wefel, in the duchy 



of 



