صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني
[blocks in formation]

critical edition of the 'Krakamal,' the celebrated death-song of the pirate Ragnar Lodbrok, said to have been sung by him when, being taken prisoner by Ella, king of Northumberland, he was shut up in a barrel with snakes, and concluding with the famous line "Laughing will I die." Rafn has of course had much to do as secretary with the publication of the 'Transactions' of the Society of which he is the founder, and with the issue of the volumes of 'Mémoires,' in which select essays from the number are translated in German, French, or English. It is to his exertions, commencing as early as 1818, that the Icelanders are indebted for the foundation of a public library for their benefit at Reikiavik; he also carried out in 1827 the establishment of a library at Thorshavn, the capital of the Feroe Islands, and in 1829 of another at Godthaab in Greenland. He is a doctor of philosophy, has the title of Etatsraad or State Counsellor' and has been since 1828 a knight of the order of Dannebrog. [See SUPPLEMENT.] RAGLAN, JAMES HENRY FITZROY, BARON (previously Lord FITZROY SOMERSET), was the younger son of Henry, fifth duke of Beaufort, by Elizabeth, daughter of Admiral the Hon. E. Boscawen, and was born in 1788. He received his early education at Westminster School, but before completing his sixteenth year obtained a commission in the 4th Light Dragoons. In 1807 he attended the late Sir Arthur Paget in his embassy to Constantinople; and was in the same year placed on the staff of the Duke of Wellington. Two years later he became aide-de-camp to the duke, in which capacity Lord Fitzroy Somerset was present in every engagement throughout the Peninsular campaign. He was wounded at Busaco, and he was among the first who mounted the breach at the storming of Badajoz. Having been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, he attended the Duke of Wellington as aide-de-camp at Waterloo, where he lost his right arm; and in consequence of his military services he was made a K.C.B. and a colonel in the army. In 1814 he had acted for a short time as secretary to the embassy at Paris, and so great was the confidence reposed in him that he remained in that city as minister plenipotentiary ad interim from the following January to March. He continued to act as secretary to the embassy at Paris until 1819, when he was appointed by the Duke of Wellington, then master of the ordnance, to be his military secretary. This post he retained until 1827, when he accompanied the duke to the Horse Guards as military secretary. Here he remained until after the duke's death in September 1852. He had accompanied the duke to the congresses of Vienna and Verona in 1822, and to St. Petersburg in 1826, and on another occasion was sent on a special mission to Madrid. He also represented the borough of Truro in the parliaments of 1818 and 1826.

Upon the death of the Duke of Wellington, and the promotion of Viscount Hardinge to the command of the army, Lord Fitzroy Somerset was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance, and raised to the peerage as Baron Raglan, a title derived from Raglan Castle, a ruin in possession of the ducal family of Beaufort. He had been little more than a year at the head of the Ordnance when war broke out between England and Russia, and Lord Raglan was appointed to command the forces sent out to the east, with the rank of full general. He left England in March 1854, and after spending some months at Varna and Constantinople, during which time the army suffered very severely from sickness, he landed on the shores of the Crimea in the September following. In conjunction with Marshal St. Arnaud, who commanded the forces of our French allies, he fought the battle of the Alma on the 20th of that month. It has been stated that he wished to attempt carrying Sebastopol by a coup-demain, but this not being agreed to by his colleagues, it was determined that it should be invested. Unfortunately, the siege proved one of longer duration than either of the generals had calculated. Difficulties in furnishing provisions and clothing for the troops, which appear to have been for a long time but feebly attempted to be overcome, resulted in a large portion of both the English and French troops perishing in the trenches before Sebastopol during the subsequent winter, 1854-55. The failure of more than one assault upon that city, and the consequent loss of his men, for whose sufferings he felt most tenderly, together with the censures of the English press upon his line of conduct, unhappily increased the symptoms of diarrhoea, by which he was attacked in the following June, and he died in camp before Sebastopol on the 28th of that month, leaving behind him the memory of an able and brave soldier and a general of high ability, who commanded at once the confidence and respect of his men. The general orders issued by the commanderin-chief at home, and by Marshal Pelissier, his colleague in the divided command over the allied troops in the Crimea, bore testimony to his great and important services. His body was carried back to England, and interred in the church of Badminton, Gloucestershire. A life pension of 1000l. a year was settled on his widow, and 20007. a year on his son, who succeeded him in his title. He married, in 1814, Harriet, daughter of the third earl of Mornington, and niece of the Duke of Wellington, by whom he left two daughters and an only son, Richard Henry Fitzroy, now second Lord Raglan, who was formerly in the civil service at Ceylon, and afterwards held the post of secretary to the King of Hanover. His eldest son, a major in the army, was killed in the first Punjab campaign, while serving on the staff of Lord Gough, in December 1845.

RAHBEK, KNUD LYNE, a Danish author, whose name is con

[blocks in formation]

stantly recurring in the literary history of Denmark for an entire half century, was born at Copenhagen on the 18th of December 1760. His father, who held the office of Toll-inspector,' gave him an excellent education, sending him to the school of Herlufsholm and the University. His father's maternal uncle, Knud Lyne, after whom he was named, had made a fortune of what is called in Denmark "a ton of gold "-20,000 rix-dollars, or about 2,4007.—and of this he bequeathed 12,000 to his namesake, who proposed to live on the interest and spend his time in literature, and in the theatre, to which he was ardently attached. The scheme turned out impracticable, and the money oozed through his hands, but he obtained in 1790 the professorship of Esthetics at the University of Copenhagen; from 1798 to 1805 he was teacher of history at an institute, and from 1806 to 1816 he was lecturer to the actors at the theatre on the dramatic art, becoming afterwards an active member of the managing committee. Above all he was indefatigable with his pen. By these means combined, he obtained a position which enabled him to extend a goodnatured hospitality to nearly all the literary men of the capital, to whom the "Bakkehuus," as it was called, or "House on the Hill," Rahbek's residence, just outside of the gates of Copenhagen, became the ordinary point of assemblage. The honours were done by his wife, Karen Margrethe Heger, or 'Camma,' as he called her from the first two syllables of her Christian name. Oehlenschläger [OEHLENSCHLÄGER], who married Camma's sister, first saw her at the Bakkehuus. From 1798 to 1829 it continued to be the "Holland-House" of Copenhagen; it was then deprived of one of its chief attractions by the death of Camma, and in about a twelvemonth after, on the 22nd of April 1830, Rahbek followed her to the grave in his seventieth year. Rahbek's works are very numerous. That which is generally considered the best is the 'Danske Tilskuer,' or 'Danish Spectator,' an imitation of its English namesake. It lasted from 1791 to 1806. A magazine, called 'Minerva,' which he commenced in 1785, was for a long period a leading periodical-in it Rahbek had an opportunity of developing his political sentiments, which, strange as they were, were shared by many Danes;--an equally ardent attachment to Jacobinism in France and to despotism in Denmark. His Lectures on the Drama delivered to actors are couched in a tone of somewhat ludicrous solemnity; his own plays are not considered of much value; his tales and lyric poems have a higher reputation. His Erindringer,' or Recollections,' written late in life, are, for a book of biography, far from entertaining. Some specimens will be found in William and Mary Howitt's 'Literature and Romance of Northern Europe.' Rahbek wrote a whole library of translations; among those from the English we remark Shakspere's Macbeth,' and 'Merchant of Venice,' Colman's 'Jealous Wife,' Byron's Marino Faliero,' Scott's 'Halidon Hill,' &c.

RAIKES, ROBERT, was born at Gloucester in 1735. His father was a printer and conductor of the 'Gloucester Journal,' who, after giving his son a liberal education, brought him up to his own business, in which after a time he succeeded his father, and by care and diligence rendered the business prosperous. The events of his life present nothing beyond those of a successful tradesman in general; but as conductor of a newspaper he could not but have his attention frequently directed to peculiar conditions of society. The state of the County Bridewell was the first in which he prominently interfered. He found in it the indiscriminate mixture of offenders of all degrees of criminality, unprovided with food, clothing, or instruction of any kind, except what was bestowed in charity by the curious or benevolent who visited the prison. To remedy these evils he called attention to them in his newspaper, and he furnished means to provide the inmates with instruction and the means of labour from his own resources. As regarded Gloucester prison his efforts were in a great degree successful, but the evils against which he contended are unfortunately not yet uniformly removed from our places of confinement. In 1781, as he relates himself in a letter written in 1784, he was struck with the number of wretched children whom he found in the suburbs, chiefly in the neighbourhood of a pin-manufactory where their parents were employed, wholly abandoned to themselves, halfclothed, half-fed, and growing up in the practice of the most degrading vices. The state of the streets, he was told, was always worst on the Sunday, as of course children of somewhat advanced ages were employed in the factory, and on Sunday joined their old associates. Mr. Raikes determined to make an effort at some improvement. He began in a very unpretending manner. He found three or four decent women in the neighbourhood who were capable of teaching children to read, to each of whom he agreed to give a shilling for the day's employment; and then, with the assistance of the clergyman, endeavoured to induce the children to go to the schools so established. The success was extraordinary: children were not only eager to learn to read, but, on being supplied with Testaments, they began of their own accord to frequent places of religious worship. At first, he says, many children were deterred from attending the schools by want of decent clothing; to such he represented that "clean hands, clean faces, and combed hair," were all that was required at the school. The beneficial effects were so evident, that in a very short time Sunday-schools were established in all directions; and Mr. Raikes, before his death on April 5, 1811, had the satisfaction of seeing his first humble endeavour

[blocks in formation]

at the improvement of a few children in his own town, become the most efficient means of educating the children of the poor throughout the kingdom. It was, we hope, only the first step; a second was the establishment of daily schools supported by the public; but farther advances are yet urgently required.

[blocks in formation]

top-was a favourite mark of many artists, as may be seen on the works of Van Assen, Dolendo, Krugen, Saelert, and Voghter.

After quitting Venice, Marc Antonio proceeded to Rome, where he was soon noticed by Raffaelle, who employed him in engraving from his designs, and, it is said, in some instances even traced the outlines on the plates, that the correctness of the drawing might be more perfectly preserved. His first plate after Raffaelle was the Death of Lucretia, which is neatly engraved, but is not one of his best works. His next print, after the same master, was a Judgment of Paris, executed in a more bold and spirited style. These were followed by many more, and amongst them the Murder of the Innocents, after Raffaelle, who was so perfectly satisfied with the efforts of the engraver, that he sent many specimens of his works as complimentary presents to Albert Dürer himself, by whom they were thought well worthy of acceptance. After the death of Raffaelle, which occurred in 1520, Giulio Romano engaged Marc Antonio to engrave from his designs. Amongst these works are a set of disgusting plates of subjects for which Aretino composed the verses, and which so greatly excited the indignation of Pope Clement VII., that he ordered the engraver to be thrown into prison, from which he was only released at the earnest intercession of some of the cardinals and of Baccio Bandinelli. Moved by gratitude for the services of Bandinelli, Marc Antonio engraved his celebrated print of the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence from a picture by him, which, besides greatly conducing to the engraver's high reputation, procured him not only the entire pardon of the pope, but his active protection and support. On the sacking of Rome by the Spaniards, in 1527, he was obliged to fly, having lost all he had acquired by his art. He returned to his native place, where he continued to engrave until the year 1539, which is the date affixed to his last plate, representing the Battle of the Lapithæ, after Giulio Romano. He is said by Malvasia to have been assassinated by a Roman nobleman for having, contrary to his engagement, engraved a second plate of the Murder of the Innocents, from the design of Raffaelle.

RAIMBACH, ABRAHAM, a distinguished English line-engraver, was born in London in 1776. His father was a Swiss by birth, but he settled in England at the early age of twelve, and never afterwards quitted it; his mother was the daughter of an English farmer in Warwickshire. When an infant, Raimbach fell from the arms of his nurse from a second-floor window; but his life was saved, partly by the inflation of his long clothes, and partly by his fall being broken by some leads below. He showed an early disposition to excel in the arts, and his father apprenticed him in 1789 to J. Hall, the engraver: Sharp and J. Heath had both declined to take him. The first work engraved by the young apprentice was the explanatory key to Copley's 'Death of Chatham,' in the National Gallery. After his term of apprenticeship was over he entered as a student in the Royal Academy, doing at the same time what work he could for the booksellers. By attention and assiduity he was enabled to unite miniature painting with engraving; and he prospered in a short period so well in both that he was under the necessity of giving one of them up, and confining himself to the other: he chose engraving for his profession. In 1802, through some prints he executed for Smirke and Forster's illustrated edition of the Arabian Nights,' he was in such circumstances as enabled him to take advantage of the temporary peace, and he paid a visit to Paris to view the works of art which the victories of Napoleon I. had collected together in the Louvre. He has himself given a long account of this tour in his autobiography, published by his son. In 1805 he married, and established himself in a house given to him by his father in Warren-street, Fitzroy-square, in which he lived twenty-six years, and executed all his great works. In this year he made the acquaintance of Wilkie, and soon became that painter's intimate friend. In 1812 he became Wilkie's engraver, supplanting Burnet, who had already engraved some of Wilkie's pictures in an admirable manner. [BURNET, JOHN.] The first fruit of this partner-racter and expression of his heads beautiful; while the exact and ship was the celebrated print of the Village Politicians.' This print at first went off slowly; but eventually the sale was large and steady, and a proof, of which there were 274, has sometimes been sold at auctions for fourteen or fifteen pounds. The next print was 'The Rent Day,' published in 1816, after which Wilkie and Raimbach made a tour together in the Netherlands. The rest appeared in the following order: The Cut Finger,' The Errand-Boy,' 'Blindman's Buff,' 'Distraining for Rent,' The Parish Beadle,' and in 1836 The Spanish Mother and Child.' The last prints, compared with The Village Politicians' and 'The Rent Day,' were very unsuccessful speculations. Raimbach never employed an assistant, but executed the whole of the plate himself. The Rent Day' cost him two years and a half of incessant labour. His prints are very masterly works, and possess almost every quality but colour. He died on the 17th of January 1843, in very easy circumstances. His autobiography was published by his son in the same year, under the following title:-Memoirs and Recollections of the late Abraham Raimbach; including a Memoir of Sir David Wilkie.'

This engraver may be considered one of the most eminent artists in that branch that has ever appeared. His outlines are pure; the cha correct drawing of his works, particularly in the extremities of his figures, evidence that he was in all respects a complete master both of drawing and design. He was one of the first Italian engravers of distinction. The high reputation of Raffaelle, and the happy chance which conduced to the engagement of Marc Antonio as the engraver of his chief works, contribute as well to his reputation as to the high value which is ever set upon his engravings, and the great price they always obtain. Berghem paid sixty florins for an impression of his Murder of the Innocents; and one of Saint Cecilia was sold at the sale of St. Yves for six hundred and nineteen francs. M. Ponce has given the date of his death as 1546; but M. Heinecken seems to consider that the date upon the Battle of the Lapitha was about the period at which he ceased to work. Some of his prints are marked with an A. and an M. joined, and others with M. A. F. also joined, the F. being used in consequence of the cognomen La Francia having been given to him from his successful study under Raibolini; and some are marked with the tablet mentioned by Heinecken. A very

The works of Marc Antonio are exceedingly numerous. copious catalogue of them is given by Heinecken, which extends to a hundred and twenty-five pages. Mr. Bryan observes, that in the prints of this eminent artist great attention should be paid to the different impressions of the plates, which have been greatly retouched and altered by the different printsellers through whose hands they have passed. The best impressions are without the name of any publisher. After the plates were taken from the stock of Tommaso Barlacchi, they came into the possession of Antonio Salamanca; afterwards they passed through the hands of Antonio Laferri, thence to Nicholas van Aelst, and lastly became the property of Rossi, or De Rubeis, at a time when they were nearly worn out.

RAIMONDI, MARC ANTONIO, commonly called by his baptismal names Marc Antonio only, was born at Bologna about 1487 or 1488. He was instructed in the art of design by Francesco Maria Raibolini, known as Francesco Francia; but having seen some prints by Albert Dürer, he determined on adopting engraving as a profession. It does not appear by whom he was instructed in that art, though most probably it was by some goldsmith, for his first essays with the graver were the embellishment of silver ornaments worn at that period. One of his earliest engravings on copper was a plate from a picture by Francia, representing Pyramus and Thisbe,' dated 1502, and executed, with some others, it is supposed, after the same artist, before Raimondi's departure from Bologna. At Venice, whither he removed, he purchased, with all the money he had taken with him from home, a set of thirty-six prints engraved on wood by Albert Dürer, representing the Life and Passion of Our Saviour.' Charmed with the correctness of the design and the precision of the execution, he imitated them on copper, according to Vasari, with such exactness, that they sold in Italy for the originals-from the difference of the methods a very unlikely circumstance. The same authority states that Dürer, having seen one of them at Nürnberg, complained to the senate at Venice of the fraud that had been practised, and that Marc Antonio was forbidden to use his signature, which was the only redress he could obtain. It seems that Vasari must have fallen into an error in this story, and mistaken the Life of Our Saviour' for the Life of the Virgin,' as Marc Antonio copied both sets from the cuts of Albert Dürer, to the latter and not to the former of which he affixed the mark of that great artist. M. Heinecken also points out that, besides the tablet which Dürer used as his mark, Marc Antonio added within it his own initials joined, and that he also used the tablet without any mark at all. Indeed there seems altogether very little probability in the story told by Vasari. Persons acquainted with the subject of engravers' monograms are aware that the tablet of the peculiar form adopted by these two great rivals-namely, anJudgment of Paris,' obtained 320. oblong square, with a small arched piece on the centre portion of the

In the Print Room of the British Museum there is a very fine collection of the works of Marc Antonio. They amount to above five hundred, the whole of his labours enumerated by Bartsch being six hundred and fifty-two; but it must be recollected that the works of two of his principal pupils, Agostino Veneziano and Marco da Ravenna, are counted with them. Amongst those of the greatest rarity are the Transgression of Adam and Eve; David cutting off the head of Goliath, before the monogram of Marc Antonio was added, a copy of which produced 457. at the sale of the late Sir M. M. Sykes, Part., in 1824; the Madonna lamenting over the dead body of Christ, called 'La Vierge au bras nud,' from the circumstance of having one arm naked, a print of much value, a copy of which fetched at the same sale 251., whereas the other print of the same subject, which has the arm draped, engraved also by Marc Antonio, produced only 2.; the Massacre of the Innocents, with the chicot-tree; the Martyrdom of St. Lawrence, a subject mentioned above, a first impression with the two forks, of the estimated value of a hundred guineas, a very inferior copy of which, as to condition, produced at the above sale 467.; the Pest, a proof taken before the letters were engraved, of which only three copies are known to exist; and the Dance of Cupids, a small plate, for 571. At the sale of Mr. Johnson's prints, 1860, a fine proof of the

RALEIGH, SIR WALTER, was born in 1552 at Hayes, in the

[blocks in formation]

parish of Budleigh, near the coast of Devonshire. He was the second son of Walter Raleigh and his third wife Catherine, daughter of Sir Philip Champernon and widow of Otho Gilbert, Esq., of Compton, Devon. Sir Humphry Gilbert, whose name is connected with the attempts to discover a north-west passage, was Sir Walter Raleigh's half-brother. In the retired neighbourhood of Budleigh, Raleigh received the rudiments of his education. He was entered a commoner of Oriel College, Oxford, in or about 1568, where, to use the words of Anthony Wood, "he was worthily esteemed a proficient in oratory and philosophy." In 1569 Raleigh accompanied his relative, Henry Champernon, with a volunteer corps to France in aid of the Huguenots. He served in France five years, and subsequently in the Netherlands as a volunteer under the Prince of Orange. In 1576 Sir Humphry Gilbert obtained a patent to colonise any parts of North America not settled by the allies of England. Raleigh and Gilbert attempted a joint expedition, from which Raleigh returned unsuccessful in 1579. In the next year we find him commanding a company of the royal troops in Ireland during the rebellion raised by the Earl of Desmond. Some difference arising between the Lord Deputy Gray and Raleigh, the latter was called upon to defend himself before the council, which he did with so much ability and grace that he gained the queen's ear. The romantic incident which tradition gives as the origin of his favour with the queen is well known. In two or three years from the time he was introduced at court he was knighted, made captain of the guard, seneschal of the county of Cornwall, and lord warden of the stannaries; and he received a grant of 12,000 acres of the forfeited estates of the Earl of Desmond, and a lucrative patent for licensing the vendors of wine in England.

In 1583 Sir Humphry Gilbert sailed on a second expedition to North America, towards which Raleigh, now too much engaged at court to accompany it himself, subscribed 2000. This attempt also proved abortive, and Gilbert perished on his return in a storm in which his ship foundered. Raleigh, undismayed, obtained for himself in 1584 a patent investing him with power to appropriate, plant, and govern any territories that he might acquire in North America. In 1585 the first body of colonists landed, under the government of Mr. Lane, in Virginia, so called in honour of the virgin queen. Harriott, a celebrated mathematician of the day, went out to survey the colony; his survey and report, and the introduction of the potato and the tobaccoplant into England for the first time, were almost the only fruits of this attempt. [HARRIOTT.] The misconduct of the colonists brought the hostility of the Indians upon them; and they re-embarked within a year on board Sir Francis Drake's squadron, who visited the Chesapeake on his homeward voyage. A second body went out in 1587 with instructions to form an agricultural colony, on the Bay of Chesapeake, where was to be founded the 'City of Raleigh.' The colonists landed on Roanoke Island, in what is now the state of North Carolina; but they were disheartened, and this expedition also failed. The governor returned home for fresh forces, which were very difficult to obtain, as he arrived in the height of the preparations for the Spanish invasion. Raleigh however despatched two small vessels, which were plundered at sea, and forced to put back; and when at length assistance was sent out, the colonists had been murdered by the Indians. In 1589, having expended 40,000l. in the attempt, and finding that his resources were unequal to the forming of a colony, he made over his patent to a company of merchants. Raleigh has been charged with neglecting those wretched men who were left among the Indians; but it appears from Purchas that previous to the year 1602 he had sent five several times, at his own charge, to find these people, who were left in Virginia in 1587 (iv., p. 1653). In America the memory of Raleigh has always been cherished, and Mr. Bancroft thus concludes his notice of these abortive attempts to form a settlement:-" After a lapse of nearly two centuries [in 1792] the state of North Carolina, by a solemn act of legislation, revived in its capital 'the City of Raleigh; thus expressing its grateful respect for the memory of the extraordinary man who united in himself as many kinds of glory as were ever combined in an individual." (History of America,' vol. ii., chap. 3.)

In 1587 Raleigh had been appointed one of a council of war to put the forces of the realm in the best order to withstand any invasion, and had command of the forces in Cornwall, of which county he was lieutenant-general. In July 1588, after the Armada had passed up the channel, he joined the British fleet with a small squadron, and greatly distinguished himself in the several engagements which ended in the discomfiture of the Spaniards. As a reward for these services he received an augmentation to his patent of wines, and the right to levy tonnage and poundage on them. In 1589 he accompanied the Lisbon expedition under Drake and Norris, the object of which was to place Don Antonio on the throne of Portugal. [ANTONIO.] In 1591 he sailed on an expedition to intercept the plate fleet, which was unsuccessful; and during his absence, the queen having discovered that an intrigue existed between Raleigh and Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, one of the maids of honour, he was immediately on his return thrown into the Tower. Raleigh married Miss Throckmorton, and on being released after a short confinement, retired to his estate of Sherborne in Dorsetshire. It was during this retirement that he formed his scheme for the discovery and conquest of El Dorado, that fabulous land of gold and unbounded wealth in the BIOG, DIV. VOL, V.

[blocks in formation]

interior of South America, in the existence of which he firmly believed. On the 5th of February 1595 Raleigh sailed from Plymouth with five vessels, and arrived at Trinidad about the end of March. He surprised the newly-founded town of San Josef, and took prisoner the governor, Don Antonio Berrio, from whom he extracted information which enabled him to ascend the Orinoco about sixty leagues, when he was forced to return. He arrived in England towards the end of the summer of 1595. Raleigh published an account of this voyage, under the sounding title of The Discovery of the Large, Rich, and Beautiful Empire of Guiana,' a work which had not the merit of any methodical arrangement of the matter, though it contains numerous vigorous passages, such as characterise the style of Raleigh. His restoration to favour at court, which took place shortly after, prevented any further prosecution of his designs on Guiana during the reign of Elizabeth. In 1596 he was employed, with the rank of rear-admiral, at the taking of Cadiz, where he greatly distinguished himself, and was severely wounded in the leg. In 1597 he took Fayal. About this time he was restored to his post of captain of the guard, and appointed governor of Jersey. He now became deeply engaged in court intrigue, and combined with Cecil, who afterwards crushed him, to destroy the Earl of Essex. He strongly urged Cecil, in a remarkable letter which appears among his works, to put down the earl, and not to fear "the after revenges" of his friends or his son; but it is doubtful whether this letter was written before or after the condemnation of Essex, as it has no date. Raleigh turned his influence with the queen to good account, by procuring a remission of the sentence for such of Essex's adherents as could afford to purchase his good offices. One of these, Mr. Littleton, paid Raleigh 10,000l. A transaction so shameless has no other apology than that it was not condemned by the opinion of the age. But if in such a matter Raleigh did not possess a higher standard of morality than his contemporaries, in the House of Commons, of which he had been elected a member some years prior, he made himself conspicuous by advocating principles far before his age: he maintained that every man should be left at liberty to employ his capital and labour where and how he liked, and that all restrictions on the trade in corn should be removed.

After the death of Elizabeth, Raleigh's fortunes fell. His haughtiness and rapacity, with the share he had in the ruin of Essex, had made him universally disliked; and Cecil, his former friend and associate, had completely poisoned James's mind against him. The post of captain of the guard was speedily given to another, and his wine-patent was withdrawn. An opening soon offered for a more serious attack. James had not long been seated on the throne before two or three plots against him were discovered Among these was one named the Spanish or Lord Cobham's treason. Lord Cobham being intimate with Raleigh, the idea of his participation instantly suggested itself. Raleigh being examined before the council, declared his utter ignorance of any plot; but admitted that he was aware of some intercourse having taken place between Cobham and the Count D'Aremberg, the Flemish ambassador, and he recommended that La Renzi, one of that nobleman's suite, should be examined. This being made known to Cobham, he flew into a violent rage, declared that in all his intrigues he had been instigated by Raleigh, and that the money to be paid by Spain was to be lodged in the island of Jersey, of which island Raleigh was governor. He shortly afterwards fully and solemnly retracted all that he had said against Sir Walter, who was nevertheless committed to the Tower on a charge of high-treason in July 1602. While there he made an attempt at suicide by stabbing himself. In September 1603 Raleigh was tried at Winchester, and found guilty. Doubts have frequently been thrown on the whole of the facts connected with Raleigh's accusation. That his condemnation was procured by the power of his enemies, and that the verdict of the jury was not justified by the evidence, there can be no doubt; but it is certain that such a plot did exist for placing Lady Arabella Stuart on the throne, that the archduke knew of it, and that his minister Aremberg had corresponded with Cobham on the subject, and had promised a sum of money in support of it. It seems at least probable that Raleigh was aware of Cobham's correspondence, although he might not be an actual participator in the plot. The best account of this celebrated trial will be found in Mr. Jardine's Criminal Trials.'

Raleigh's conduct during his trial entirely changed the general feeling of dislike entertained towards him: an eyewitness observed, "In half a day, the mind of all the company changed from the extremest hate to the greatest pity. He was reprieved and sent to the Tower, where he was confined for thirteen years. His family suffered severely by his attainder; he had some years before conveyed his estate of Sherborne to his son, reserving his own life-interest, which was now forfeited, and a slight flaw being discovered in the deed of conveyance, Carr, the king's vile favourite, afterwards notorious as the Duke of Somerset, petitioned for and obtained the estate for himself, reserving only 8000l. as a compensation for Raleigh's family: Raleigh's lands of Pinford, Primesly, and Barton, were also escheated and made over to the king's minion.

During his long imprisonment Raleigh turned to intellectual pursuits, and with many minor pieces, executed his greatest work, 'The History of the World,' a project of such vast extent, that the bare idea of his undertaking it excites our admiration. As an author, Hume says, "he is the best model of our ancient style," and Hallam

[blocks in formation]

observes that he is "less pedantic than most of his contemporaries, seldom low, and never affected." The first part of the History of the World,' which is all that Sir Walter Raleigh completed, is contained in five books, commencing with the creation, and ending with the second Macedonian war, about 150 years before Christ. It was his intention to continue the history in two more volumes, which he says, "I also intended, and have hewn out;" but the death of Prince Henry, to whom the book was 'directed,' and who had always shown a warm interest in his fortunes, "besides many other discouragements, persuaded him to silence."

In 1615, Cecil being dead, and Somerset disgraced, Raleigh bribed the uncles of Buckingham, the new favourite, and induced Sir Ralph Winwood to recommend his project of opening a mine in Guiana. Upon this he was released conditionally. He equipped thirteen vessels for this expedition, which, from the magnitude of the undertaking and the celebrity of his name, attracted much attention, and Raleigh's ship was visited by all the foreign ambassadors. The fleet reached the Coast of Guiana about the middle of November 1617. Raleigh was so unwell that he could not ascend the Orinoco in person. Captain Keymis, the steady follower of Raleigh, led the exploring party, consisting of five companies of fifty soldiers each. A conflict took place with the Spaniards near St. Thomas, a small town recently built, in which the Spanish governor and Raleigh's eldest son Walter were slain; after which Keymis, having spent about twenty days in a fruitless search for the mine, and suffered considerable loss, returned to the fleet. Keymis, meeting with nothing but reproaches for his ill success, committed suicide. Raleigh sailed for Newfoundland to victual and refit; intending possibly to return to Guiana, but certainly in the meantime to attack the Spanish plate fleet, if he could fall in with it. Before he could reach Newfoundland the fleet separated, and on his arriving there, his own crew mutinied, and the majority declaring for a return to England, he was forced to accompany them. He arrived at Plymouth in July 1618, and a proclamation being issued by the king against him, he was shortly after arrested by Sir Lewis Stukely, vice-admiral of Devonshire. He was conveyed to London, and on his journey made some ineffectual attempts to escape, and at Salisbury he feigned sickness. James, strongly urged by the king of Spain to punish Raleigh for his attack on St. Thomas, and being anxious to gratify that monarch, in order to advance the marriage of his son Charles with the infanta, laid the case before his council, when it was argued that Raleigh, being under an unpardoned sentence for treason, was civilly dead, and accordingly could not be tried again. James, bent on somehow sacrificing Raleigh, readily adopted this view, and resolved to carry into execution a sentence sixteen years old, which had been followed by an imprisonment of thirteen years. Raleigh was brought up before the Court of King's Bench to receive sentence on the 28th of October 1618, and beheaded the next morning, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. His conduct after his committal to the Tower, and up to the moment of his death, was so calm and resigned, as to move the sympathy even of his

enemies.

Of Sir Walter Raleigh's character and personal appearance, Aubrey says, "he was a tall, handsome, and bold man, but his næve was that he was damnable proud : he had a most remarkable aspect, an exceeding high forehead, long faced, and 'sour eie-lidded, a kind of piggeeie." In an age of maguificence in dress, Raleigh was conspicuous for his splendour. Of an original and versatile genius, an eminent commander by sea and land, a navigator and discoverer of new countries, an accomplished courtier, a statesman, a proficient in the mechanical arts, a poet of no mean ability, Sir Walter Raleigh was one of the most remarkable characters of an age celebrated for its eminent men. Not much perhaps can be said in favour of his moral character: he was crafty and rapacious, and his conduct was not regulated by truth and probity; but he had kindly affections, and was much beloved by his dependants. Sir Walter was the author of many smaller pieces on a variety of subjects, philosophical, political, naval, military, geographical, besides letters, and a collection of small poems. He had two sons by his wife: the elder was killed in South America; the second, Carew, who was born in the Tower, survived him.

RALPH, JAMES, was born at Philadelphia, in what year is not recorded, and passed the earlier part of his life there as a schoolmaster. In 1725 he came to England in company with his townsman Benjamin Franklin. What was the nature of his occupation is unknown. He has been supposed to have had some employment about the court, but he more probably got his living by writing in the newspapers. In the first book of the 'Dunciad,' published in 1728, Pope mentions him as one of Walpole's 'gazetteers.' This same year appeared Ralph's first separate and acknowledged literary performance, a poem, entitled 'Night.' It is to this work that Pope alludes in the third book of the 'Dunciad,' where he exclaimɛ

'Silence, ye wolves, while Ralph to Cynthia howls,

And makes night hideous; answer him, ye owls!"

To this passage is appended a note, in which Ralph is denounced as the author of "a swearing piece called 'Sawney," which it appears was an attack upon Pope and his two friends Swift and Gay. In this note he is declared to be wholly illiterate as well as venal, but an adminer in the 'Biographia Dramatica' says, "It is very certain that

[blocks in formation]

he was master of the French and Latin languages, and not altogether ignorant of the Italian; and was in truth a very ingenious prose writer, although he did not succeed as a poet." His dramatic writings are 'The Fashionable Lady, or Harlequin's Opera,' produced at the theatre in Goodman's Fields, in 1730, with some success. The Fall of the Earl of Essex,' a tragedy (altered from the Unhappy Favourite' of John Bankes), brought out at the same house in 1731; the 'Lawyer's Feast,' a farce, performed at Drury-Lane in 1744; and the 'Astrologer,' a comedy, once acted," says the title-page "at Drury Lane," also in 1744. The Astrologer' was only an alteration of an old play, called 'Albumazar,' written by a Mr. Tomkis, of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1615. Another of his latter publications was a tract, entitled 'The Case of Authors; it was probably an argument for the protection of dramatic copyrights; though his own do not seem to have been in much danger of infringement.

[ocr errors]

64

Most of Ralph's publications however were political pamphlets on the topics of the day; and he is also supposed to have continued to be an active contributor to the public journals to the end of his life. He attached himself latterly to the faction of the Prince of Wales, and frequent mention of him may be found in Bubb Dodington's Diary: Horace Walpole, in his Memoirs of the Last Ten Years of George II.,' also under date of 2nd of June 1753, gives an account of his journalising. According to this statement, Ralph "had the good fortune to be bought off from his last journal, the Protester,' for the only paper that he did not write in it." Other accounts however make him to have been taken off' by a pension towards the end of Sir Robert Walpole's time, in consequence of having then made himself so formidable to the ministry. The death of Prince Frederick (in March 1751) was an annihilating blow for the moment to Ralph, as well as to his patron Dodington, who had promised to make him his secretary if he should live to have the seals of secretary of state for the southern department, which the prince had engaged to give him (Diary,' July 18 and 19, 1749); but it is said that he obtained a considerable sum from the government for the surrender of an important manuscript written by the prince, or under his royal highness's direction, which had come into his possession. On the accession of George III., he got another pension, which however he did not long enjoy, for he died of gout at his house in Chiswick, 24th January 1762. Of his political pamphlets, the only one which is now remembered is his answer to the Duchess of Marlborough's famous 'Account of her Conduct,' an octavo volume of four hundred and sixty-seven pages, entitled 'The Other Side of the Question, or an Attempt to rescue the Characters of the Two Royal Sisters, Queen Mary and Queen Anne, out of the hands of the D- -8 D-- of in which all the Remarkables in her Grace's late Account are stated in their full strength, and as fully answered; the conduct of several noble persons is justified; and all the necessary lights are thrown on our Court history from the Revolution to the change in the ministry in 1710: in a letter to her Grace, by a Woman of Quality,' London, 1742. This is the ablest and most important of the various answers and defences which her grace's publication drew forth; and some things in it appear to have been supplied by the family of the late Earl of Oxford (the lord-treasurer Harley). Ralph is also the author of another anonymous work (published indeed without the name of either printer or bookseller) entitled 'Of the Use and Abuse of Parliaments; in Two Discourses, viz. 1, A General View of Government in Europe; 2, A Detection of the Parliaments of England from the year 1660.' 2 vols. 8vo, London, 1744. In an advertisement we are informed that the first of the two discourses, which however fills only seventy-eight pages of the first volume, is from the pen of Algernon Sydney. The rest of the book is a hasty performance, and of little value. But his principal work, also anonymous, is bis continuation of Guthrie's History, entitled a History of England during the Reigns of King William, Queen Anne, and King George I.; with an Introductory Review of the Reigns of the Royal Brothers, Charles and James; in which are to be found the seeds of the Revolution. By a Lover of Truth and Liberty :' 2 vols. fol., London, 1744-46. Notwithstanding a systematic depreciation of King William, which runs through a great part of it, this work is written with spirit and acuteness, and contains many new facts and corrections of the views of the preceding historians.

RAMAZZINI, BERNARDO, was born at Carpi, near Modena, in 1633. He studied medicine at Parma, and took his doctor's degree there in 1659. He practised successively at Carpi and at Modena; and when the university of the latter place was instituted, he was appointed professor of the theory of medicine by the Duke Francis II. In 1700 he was invited to the second professorship of medicine at Padua, and in 1708 was raised to the principal chair there, though blind and so infirm that he earnestly desired to decline that honour. He died November 5, 1714.

Ramazzini was a frequent writer and a very warm controversialist both in medical and literary subjects. His first work was a series of letters in an acrimonious controversy with Moneglia, a physician of Modena. The works by which Ramazzini is now best known are 'De morbis artificum diatriba,' Mutin., 1770, and 'De abusu china china diss. epist.' The former was translated into several languages, and among them into English in 1725. It contains a description of all the diseases to which each class of artificers is liable, as far as they

[blocks in formation]

were then known, the descriptions being carefully drawn up both from the writings of his predecessors and from his own observations. The latter was intended to detract from the extravagant reputation which the Peruvian bark at that time enjoyed. The whole of Ramazzini's writings were published collectively at Cologne, in 1689, at London in 1717, and at several other places at nearly the same time. They are still held in high repute by the Italian physicians, who seem to regard their author with almost as much reverence as they did, who in his life-time honoured him with the title of Hippocrates III. RAMEAU, JEAN-PHILIPPE, a very celebrated musician, equally distinguished by his compositions and by his numerous writings on the science, was born at Dijon, in 1683. His father who was organist in the Sainte-Chapelle of Dijon, taught his children to play from notes before they could read from letters, and his eldest son, the subject of the present notice, when only seven years of age was thought an able performer on the harpsichord. He pursued the usual studies at the college with considerable success, but an invincible desire, or instinct, as his biographer calls it, led him to music, to which he at length wholly devoted himself. At eighteen he set out for Italy, but proceeded not farther than Milan, where he became acquainted with a musical professor with whom he returned to France, and together they visited several of the principal cities, exercising their talents at each with pecuniary views. Soon, however, tired of a wandering life, that allowed him no opportunity for indulging in those speculative inquiries to which he was prone, he went to Paris, and there added largely to his stock of information. Afterwards he became organist of the cathedral of Clermont, in Auvergne, and continued long in that city, in which he wrote his Traité de l'Harmonie;' but not finding the means for printing a large quarto volume in a provincial town, he proceeded to the capital of France, where in 1722 he published his great work, and finally fixed himself. He was soon appointed organist of Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie, and employed his spare time in writing in various theoretical treatises, in composing his harpsichord lessons, and in teaching. He did not distinguish himself in that line in which he was destined to excel till the year 1733, when, at fifty years of age, he produced the opera of 'Hippolyte et Aricie,' the drama by the Abbé Pellegrin. The success of this provoked much professional envy, if not national discord, and a feud was raised among the admirers of Lulli [LULLI] and Rameau, similar to that which in after times was carried to greater excess by the Gluckists and Piccinists. Till the production of 'Hippolyte,' Voltaire almost alone had discovered Rameau's genius for composition. He previously gave him his tragedy of 'Samson' to set, and discerned the beauty of the music; but its performance was prohibited under the pretext that it prostituted a sacred subject.

[ocr errors]

Of the many operas by Rameau, his 'Castor and Pollux,' produced at the Académie Royale de Musique in 1737, is the best: it was represented one hundred times. A chorus in this, of Spartans, Que tout gemisse,' has but few rivals, in either ancient or modern theatrical music. His 'Dardanus,' his 'Zoroaster,' and other pieces, were equally successful. From 1733 to 1760 he produced twenty-one operas and ballets, besides harpsichord and other compositions; together with many theoretical and controversial works. His merit was at length generally acknowledged. The king created for him the office of cabinet composer. Afterwards he granted him letters of nobility, and named him Chevalier de Saint-Michel. The Academy of Dijon had previously received him among their members, and the magistrates of that city exempted him, and his family, in perpetuity, from the tax called 'La Taille.' He died in 1764, leaving a son and a daughter, and was interred with every mark of respect and distinction.

As a theorist Rameau is best known by his large and laboured work on the 'basse fondamentale,' which he and his advocates treat as a discovery. But under other names the inversions of the perfect chord, or triad, and the chord of the seventh were known long before Rameau entered on the subject. Brossard, in 1702, in defining Trias Harmonica,' calls the under-note 'basse,' or 'son fondamentale;' and afterwards remarks that among the three sounds which compose the 'triade Harmonique,' the lowest is called 'basis,' or 'sonus fundamentalis. But our limits do not allow us to go further into a subject which, to explain clearly, would fill many pages with arguments and examples. Rameau's style of writing is not remarkable for perspicuity. This was felt and acknowledged by his most zealous partisan, D'Alembert, who, in his 'Elémens de Musique, théorique et pratique, suivant les Principes de M. Rameau,' has endeavoured to clear the work from the obscurity in which it undeniably is involved; but the great French geometrician has only partially succeeded in his attempt. RAMENGHI, BARTOLOMEO, called IL BAGNACAVALLO, from the place of his birth, Bagnacavallo, on the road from Ravenna to Lugo, where he was born in 1484. He was a pupil of Raffaelle, and one of his principal assistants in the Vatican; and after the death of his great master he carried the principles of his style to Bologna, and assisted to enlarge the character of that school. Raffaelle was his model and test of excellence, and he did not attempt to look beyond him. Though possessing less vigour than Giulio Romano or Perino del Vaga, Bagnacavallo acquired more of the peculiar grace of Raffaelle's style, especially in his infants, and his works were much studied by the great scholars of the Carracci. There are, or rather were, works by Bagnacavallo in San Michele in Bosco, San Martino, Santa Maria Maggiore,

[blocks in formation]

and Sant' Agostino agli Scopettini, in Bologna. He died at Bologna in 1542, according to documents discovered by Baruffaldi. Giovanni Battista Bagnacavallo, who assisted Vasari at Rome, and Primaticcio at Fontainebleau, was the son of Bartolomeo Ramenghi. (Baruffaldi, Le Vite de' più insigni Pittori e Scultori Ferraresi; Lanzi, &c.) RAMIRO II., son of Ordoño IL, succeeded to the throne of Asturias and Leon by the abdication of his elder brother Alfonso IV., surnamed 'el Monge' (the monk), who, in 930, renounced the vanities of the world, and retired into the monastery of Sahagun. Ramiro rendered himself illustrious by his wars with the Mohammedans, from whom he wrested many considerable districts and towns. Soon after his accession to the throne (932), Ramiro, profiting by the internal troubles which at that time agitated the Mohammedan empire, made a successful irruption into the states of Abd-er-rahman, the reigning kalif, destroying Madrid, Talavera, and other towns; and when Almudaffer, the kalif's uncle, arrived at the head of considerable forces to revenge the outrage, he defeated him with dreadful carnage on the banks of the Duero, not far from the town of Osma. In 938 Ramiro invaded Aragon, or Thagher' (as that province was then called by the Arabs), and laid siege to its capital, Saragossa, which he would have reduced if the governor had not hastened to pay him homage and acknowledge himself a feudatory of his crown; though these advantages seem to have been counterbalanced by the victory gained by the Mohammedans over his troops in 938, near a village called Sotuscobas. Ramiro was again victorious in a battle fought under the walls of Ramora, in which the Moslems, according to their own authorities, lost upwards of 40,000 men. Ramiro, like most of his predecessors, had often to contend with internal enemies. Scarcely had he ascended the throne when his brother Alfonso, growing weary of monastic life, forsook his cell, and with a considerable force hastened to Leon to reclaim his throne. He was there invested by Ramiro, who compelled him to surrender, and again consigned him to his monastery, where he was soon after deprived of his eyes. The dependent count of Castile, Ferran-Gonzalez, and Diego Nuñez, a count also in the same province, next revolted against Ramiro, but he marched against them, seized their persons, and confined them to a dungeon; though he soon after pardoned them, and even married his eldest son Ordoño to Urraca, daughter of Ferran. Ramiro died on the 5th of January 950; having some time before his death abdicated in favour of his son Ordoño, and, assuming the penitential garb, passed the remainder of his days in religious retirement.

RAMLER, KARL WILHELM, a lyric poet, translator, and critic, was born at Kolberg in Prussian Pomerania, on February 15, 1725. He was educated at the University of Halle, and in 1748 was made professor of fine arts to the cadet corps in Berlin, which office he held till 1790, when he resigned it in order to devote himself more entirely to the management of the Berlin national theatre, which he had undertaken in 1787. He retired from all business in 1796, and died on April 11, 1798. His works do not display any great poetical genius, but have the merit of correctness, refined taste, and purity of language. He translated Martial, Catullus, and Horace. Among his original poems the most successful is The Death of Jesus,' and some other lyrical productions. A collection of his poetical works was published in 1800-1, in two volumes.

RAMMOHUN ROY, Rajah, was born about 1774, in the district of Burdwan, in Bengal, Hindustan. His paternal ancestors were Brahmins of a high order, and were devoted to the religious duties of their race, till about the beginning of the 17th century, when they gave up spiritual exercises for worldly pursuits. His maternal ancestors, also of high Brahminical rank, and priests by profession as well as by birth, uniformly adhered to a life of religious observances. Rammohun Roy was taught Persian under his father's roof, was sent to Patna to be instructed in Arabic, and afterwards, at the request of his maternal relations, went to Benares, in order to acquire the Sanskrit.

A Brahmin by birth, Rammohun Roy was trained by his father in the doctrines and observances of his sect; but his opinions seem to have become heretical at an early age. "When about the age of sixteen," he says, "I wrote a manuscript calling in question the validity of the idolatrous system of the Hindus. This, together with my known sentiments on that subject, having produced a coolness between me and my immediate kindred, I proceeded on my travels, and passed through different countries, chiefly within, but some beyond, the bounds of Hindustan. When I had reached the age of twenty my father recalled me, and restored me to his favour." Afterwards he says, "My continued controversies with the Brahmins on the subject of their idolatry and superstition, and my interference with their custom of burning widows, and other pernicious practices, revived and increased their animosity against me; and through their influence with my family, my father was again obliged to withdraw his countenance openly, though his limited pecuniary support was still continued to me." His father died in 1803, and he then published various books and pamphlets against the errors of the Brahmins, in the native and foreign languages. "The ground which I took in all my controversies was, not that of opposition to Brahminism, but to a perversion of it and I endeavoured to show that the idolatry of the Brahmins was con trary to the practice of their ancestors, and to the principles of the ancient books and authorities which they professed to revere and obey." In order to deprive him of caste, the Brahmins commenced a

1

« السابقةمتابعة »