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RAVILLY, afmalltown of the county of C'arlow, Ire- 

 land, in the barony of the fame name. It isfituateJ on the 

 river Slaney, 3 miles S. from Baltinglafs, and 32 S. by W. 

 from Dublin. 



RAVINA, a town of European Turkey, in Albania; 

 52 miles E. of Valona. 



RAVINE, in Field Fort'ification, a deep liollow, ufiially 

 formed by a great flood, or long continued running of wa- 

 ter ; frequently turned to good purpofes in the field. 



RAVIS, the fame with raucedo. tSec Hoaksenkss. 



RAVISHMENT, m Laiu, denotes an unlawful fe- 

 ducing either a woman, or an heir in ward ; for which there 

 is a remedy by a writ of raviflimeut, or aftion of trefpafs 

 1'/ tf armis, de filio -vcl flia rapto -vel abdutlo, in the fame 

 manner as the hufcand may have it de uxore rapta et abduRa, 

 on account of the abduclion of his wife. This action lay at 

 the common law ; and thereby the hufband fhall recover, 

 not the pofTefriou of his wife, but damages for taking her 

 away: and by ftatute Weltm. i. 3 Edw. I. c. 13. the of- 

 fender fhall alfo be imprifoned two years, and fined at the 

 pleafure of the king. Both the king and the hulband may, 

 therefore, have this aClion ; and the hufband is alfo entitled 

 to recover damages in an adlion on the cafe againft fuch as 

 perfuade and entice the wife to live feparate from him, with- 

 out a fufficient caufe. 



Sometimes it is alfo ufed in the fame fenfe as rape ; which 

 fee. 



RavishmeN'T de Card, is a writ which anciently lay, and 

 ftill lies, for the guardian in focage againft him who took 

 from him the body of his ward, or pupil : but then he mufl 

 account to his pupil for the damages he io recovers. It is 

 exprefsly provided by ilatute 12 Car. II. c. 24. that tefta- 

 mentary guardians may maintain an acT;ion of ravifhment, 

 or trefpafs, for recovery of any of their wards, and alfo for 

 damages, to be applied to the ufe and benefit of the in- 

 fants. 



RAVITZ, or Rawisch, in Geography, a town of the 

 duchy of Warfaw, mofl of the inhabitants of which are 

 Lutherans : it has a confiderable manufafture of cloth ; 24 

 miles S. of Pofen. 



RAVIUS, or Rave, Christian, in Biography, a 

 learned German Orientalift, was born at Berlin in the year 

 1613. From a very early period he was attached to the 

 fludy of the eaftern languages, and after fpending eight 

 years in different univerfities on the continent, he came over 

 to England in the year 1658, and took up his refidence at 

 the univerfity of Oxford. He brought with him recom- 

 mendations from Voffius, and other learned men ; and was 

 invited to Dublin by archbifhop Ufher, primate of Ireland, 

 who fettled upon him a handfome ftipend, and engaged him 

 to take a voyage into the Eail, for the purpofe of collecting 

 ancient manufcripts. About the fame time he was invited 

 by cardinal Richelieu to enter into his employment for a 

 fimilar purpofe, which he declined, having already accepted 

 the propofals of Ultier. In 1639 he became acquainted 

 with our countryman, the learned Edward Pococke, at 

 Conltantinople, where he improved himfelf in many lan- 

 guages, to which he had already applied his talents ; and 

 made himfelf mailer of the Turkifh, Arabic, and Perfian 

 languages. In the mean time he did not negleft the main 

 objeft of his million, but collected more than 300 choice 

 manufcripts. For this fervice he was, on his return, amply 

 rewarded. In 1642 he taught the Oriental languages at 

 Grefham college, in London. During the following year 

 he went to Holland, and was appointed profeflbr of the 

 Oriental languages at Utrecht. We find him again in Eng- 

 land in 1648, when he took the covenant, and was made 



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fellow of Magdalen college, Oxford, by the parliamentary 

 vifitora. In the courfe of a few months he left England, 

 and went to Sweden, where he obtained the appointment of 

 proteiior of the Oriental languages at the univerfity of Up- 

 fal. This place he was obliged to leave about the year 

 1657 ; the revenues, that ought to have been devoted to the 

 Upfal profeffors, having been applied towards defraying 

 the expences of the war between Sweden and Denmark. 

 After this he for fome time filled the chair of Oriental lite- 

 rature at the univerfity of Kiel, and from thence he removed 

 to occupy the fame profefforlhip at Frankfort on the Maine. 

 He died in 1677, about the age of 64. His works are 

 very numerous, of which the following are titles of the 

 principal : " Obteflalio ad univerfam Europam pro dicendis 

 Rebus et Linguis Orientalibus, ac conjuganda Africae at- 

 que Afiae Eruditione," 1644; " Orthographiae et Ana- 

 logias vulgo Etymologia; Ebraiae Delineatio, juxta vocis 

 partes abflraftas ;" " A Difcourfe of the Oriental Tongues, 

 T/'z. Hebrew, Samaritan, Chaldee, Syriac, Arabic, and 

 Ethiopic," 1649; " Concordantiarum Hebraicatum et 

 Chaldaicarum Epitome ;" " Clironologia Biblica nova ;" 

 " Epiftolae variac ad dodt. Viros." He gave alfo to the 

 world a tranflation, from the Arabic language, of Apol- 

 lonius's Conic Seftions. He had a brother, named John 

 Ravius, who was profefTor of philofophy at Roflock, about 

 the year 1638. In 1664-j he was appointed counfellor and 

 librarian to the eleftor of Brandenburg. He was author of 

 " Commentarius in Cornelium Nepotem," 1635 ; " Summa 

 Stndiorum pro Nobilitate Danica ;" " Aphorifmi Mili- 

 tares," and other learned works. 



RAULIN, John, a French writer in the 15th century, 

 was born at Toul in the year 1443. He purfucd his ftudies 

 at the univerfity of Paris, where he obtained the degree of 

 D.D. in 1480, and afterwards filled the profefTor's chair in 

 theology with great diftin£lion. He was elefted grand 

 mailer of the college of Navarre, and founded a good li- 

 brary in that feminary. Becoming diflatisfied with the 

 world, he embraced the monallic hfe at the abbey of Cluny, 

 in Burgundy, in 1497. He died in 1514, at he age of 71. 

 He attrafted much attention as a preacher, and feveral of 

 his fermons have been publifhed, which exhibit (Iriking 

 ipecimens of the bad tafle which prevailed in France in the 

 15th century. The works of this author were collefted, 

 and publifhed at Antwerp, in 6 vols. 410., 1612. Thev 

 are accompanied with a curious and valuable coUeftion of 

 " Letters," that illuftrate the hiflory, manners, and fenti- 

 ments of the age in which he lived. They were firft pub- 

 lifhed after his death, in quarto, in 1521, under the title 

 of " Joannis Raulin Epiflolx lUuftrium Virorum." Mo- 

 reri. 



RAULT, Felix, the favourite performer on the Ger- 

 man flute at Paris, in 1770; where we heard him ourfelves 

 with as much pleafure as a flute can give, by neat execu- 

 tion, perfeft intonation, and a mellifluous embouchure. 

 M. Laborde has rendered his biographical article interefl- 

 ing by a detail of his profeffional merits and private cha- 

 racter. 



" M. Felix Rault was born at Bourdeaux, in 1736. He 

 was the fon of Charles Rault, of the king's band, and firfl 

 baflbon at the opera. Felix was received there in 1753, 

 and in the king's band in 1768. His talents are fo well 

 known at Paris, as to be above praife. Since Blavet's I 

 time, no one has brought the art of playing upon the Ger- I 

 man flute to luch perfeftion, efpecially in accompanying the 

 voice ; a much more difficult art than playing concertos of 

 great execution, generally well ftudied at home previous to 

 performance. But fuch Itudy is ufelefs to Rault ; for no 



7 one 



