RAP 



RAP 



of Cleves, wliere he devoted himfelf to the compofition of 

 the hidoiy of England. Here he died in 1725. He had, pre- 

 vioufly to'hisdeceafe,pubhnied inthe year 1 7 17, "Dilfertation 

 fur les Whigs etTorys," which was tranflated into Enghfli. 

 His great work, " L'Hiftoire de Angletcrre," was printed 

 at the Hague in 9 vols. 4to. in the years 1725 — 6. It com- 

 mences with the remoteft periods, and is brought down to 

 the proclamation of William and Mary. It lias been twice 

 tranflated into our own language, and was, till the appear- 

 ance of Hume, the mod popular hillory of England, and 

 Tindal's, or rather Birch's, and other continuations, have 

 been adapted to it. It is vvi-itten in a prolix and unanimated 

 ftyle, but defervee the praifc of much folid information. 

 " His work," fays an excellent writer, "is of great authority, 

 on account of his perpetual references to original documents, 

 and the ample quotatioivs which he frequently makes from 

 important Hate papers, confer upon it additional value. He 

 has fo copioufly detailed the matters which were agitated in 

 the turbulent, but prudent parliament of Charlc-:. 1., as to 

 give a clear view of the rife of thofe parties which to this 

 day divide the people of England. On the dark and horrible 

 tranfa6tions of the reign of Charles II. he perhaps throws 

 as much light as it is now poflible to obtain. In reference 

 to that important period, he has rtated hiftorical difficulties 

 with candour, and in difcuffing the merits and demerits of 

 parties, he has weighed evidence with laudable fcrupulofity." 

 (See Shepherd's Syftematic Education.) Rapin, during 

 the collcftion of his materials, undertook the ufeful labour 

 of making an " Abridgment of Rymer's Foedera," which 

 was publilhed in Le Clerc's " Bibliotheque Choifie ;" and 

 tranflated into the Englifh by Mr. Stephen Whatley, and 

 publiflicd in 1733, under the title of " Afta Regia," and 

 in folio. 



RAPINE, Rapina, in Law. To take a thing in pri- 

 vate; againfl the owner's will, is properly /Z'f/i' ; but to take 

 it openly or by violence, is rapine, or robbery. 



RAPINIA, in Betaiiy, was fo called by Loureiro, Fl. 

 Cochinch. 127, after father Rene Rapin, a French Jefuit, 

 author of an elegant Latin poem on gardens, who died in 

 1687, aged 66. If this writer contributed nothing to im- 

 prove the fcience of botany, he has, doubtlefs, helped to 

 promote a love of plants, and may therefore claim a botanic 

 wreath. A Jefuit of his day is doubly entitled to refpecl, 

 for having, like the good Loureiro, turned his mind to an 

 elegant and improving purfuit, from thofe two corrupters 

 of the human heart and underltanding, political intrigue, and 

 fcholaitic divinity ; in which moft of his brethren fought 

 their temporal, and oftenfibly their eternal, good. The Ra- 

 pln'ta of Loureiro however, proved, on the examination of 

 his fpecimens by the late Mr. Dryander, to be the Sphe 



than the calyx. Stam. Filaments fix, about the lengtli of 

 the calyx, the four oppofite ones rather the longeft ; anthers 

 fimple. Ptjl. Germen oblong ; ityle awl-{haped, the length 

 of- the calyx ; iligma obtule. Perk. Pouch lenticular, 

 pointed, corrujrated, of two cells, and two cohering, not 

 ipontaneoufly feparatiug, coriaceous valves ; partition mem- 

 branous. Seeds roundilh, folitary in each cell j cotyledons 

 flat. 



Efl'. Ch. Calyx fpreading. Pouch of two cells, and two 

 convex valves, not burfting. 



I. R. paniculatum. Panicled Rapiltrum. Ait. n. 2. 

 (R. arvenfe, folio auriculato acuto ; Tourn. Inft. 211. 

 Myagrum paniculatum ; Linn. Sp. PI. 894. Willd. Sp. 

 PI. v. 3. 409. Fl. Dan. t. 204. Myagro fimilis, fihqua 

 rotunda; Bauh. Prodr. 52.) — Native of cultivated fields in 

 various parts of Europe, from Sweden to Greece, but not, 

 as yet, obferved in Britain. Root annual, tapering. Stem 

 about two feet high, ereft, round, roughifh, leafy, branched. 

 Leaves oblong, acute, undivided, rough, fomewhat toothed, 

 clafping the Item with their arrow-fhaped bafe. Floiuers 

 fmall, yellow, in numerous clullers, which become greatly- 

 elongated when in fruit. Pouch fcarcely bigger than muftard- 

 feed, a little abrupt, finely reticulated. One of the feeds 

 is often, but not always, abortive. Mr, Brown refers to 

 this genus the Bunias icgyptiaca of Linnaeus, which agrees 

 with our R. paniculatum in having flat, not fpiral, cotyledons, 

 but has otherwife the charadlers of Bunias. 



Rapistrum is alfo a fpecies of the fea-cabbage, or 

 crainbe. 



RAPOLLA, in Geography, a town of Naples, in Bafi- 

 hcata, the fee of a bifhop, united to Melfi ; fix miles W. 

 of Venofa. N. lat. 40° 58'. E. long, i;^ 44'. 



RAPORE, a town of Naples, in Principato Ultra ; 

 9 miles E. of Conza. 



RAPOSO, a town of South America, in the country 

 of Popayan. — Alfo, a river of Popayan, which runs into 

 the Pacific ocean, N. lat. 3° 48'. — Alfo, a finall ifland in 

 the Pacific ocean, near the coaft of Popayan. N. lat. 4^. 



RAPPAHANOCK, a large navigable river of Virgi- 

 nia, which rifes in the Blue Ridge, ;>■ ' , u.13 about 130 miles 

 from N.W. to S.E., and ent. 'lefapeak bay, be- 

 tween Windmill and Stingr;.;^ ^ It waters, in its 



courfe, the towns of Falmouth, Frederickfburg, Port-Royal, 

 Leeds, Tappahannock, and Urbonne. 



RAPPE, in Commerce, a money of account in Switzer- 

 land, 10 of which are equal to a good batze ; and 6 are 

 equal to a plappert, (hiiling, or efcalin. This is the cafe at 



Bafil, but at Lucern the plappert is only 3 rappen, and 

 the Zurich efcalin = 3f rappen. 



Rappe, in Ichthyology, a name given by fome to the 



NOCLEA of Other authors ; and this lad-mentioned name is - cap'iio Jluinatilis rapax of Gelner, more frequently known by 



now generally adopted. See that article. 



RAPING, in Geography, a town of Naples, in Abruzzo 

 Citra ; nine miles S. of Civita di Chieti. 



RAPISTRUM, in Botany, originally the wild turnip, 

 fo called from its affinity to Rapa,^\ie cultivated one. 

 Tournefort, however, ufes the word generically, for fome 

 fpecies referred by other botanids to Myagrum. In this he 

 is followed, as far as concerns M. paniculatum, by Gartner, 

 and by the writer of the prefent article, in the Prodr. Fl. 

 Grsec. — Tourn. t. 99. Girtn. v. i. 2S5. t. 141. Sm. 

 Prodr. Fl. Graec. Sibth. v. 2. I. Brown in Ait. Hort. 

 Kew. v. 4. 74. — Clafs and order, Tetradynamia Siliculofa. 

 Nat. Ord. Siliquo/a, Linn. Crucifera, Jufl". 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of four oblong, fpreading, 

 deciduous leaves, gibbous at the bafe. Cor. cruciform, of four 

 ebovate, entire, fpreadmg petals, whofe claws are fliorter 



th? name of the corvus p'lfcis. 



RAPPERSCHWEIT, in Geography, a town of Switzer- 

 land, and capital of a didrift to which it gives name ; fituated 

 on the N. fide of the lake of Zurich, over which there is a 

 bridge, 1852 paces in length, built in 1358 by the counts of 

 Habfljurg. The town was founded in 1091, and formerly 

 had its own counts. In 1358 it was fold to the fons of Al- 

 bert, archduke of Audria. In 1464 it put itfelf under the 

 cantons of Uri, Schweitz, Unterwalden, and Glarus, with a ■ 

 referve of its liberties ; but the cantons gradually made 

 themfelves maders of it. At the peace of Arau in 1 7 1 2, its 

 liberties were reftored, though the country remains fubjeft 

 to the fovereignty of Zurich and Berne ; 15 miles S.E.'of 

 Zurich. 



RAPPIN, a town of Anterior Pomerania ; 7 miles N. of 

 Bergen. 



RAPPO 



