assign reasons for some of the most remarkable phenomena in physics. For this reason they scruple not to style Rameau the Newton of harmony. With such extraordinary talents as these, and a style in musical composition far surpassing, in the opinion of some, that of the greatest among French musicians, it had been a national reproach had Rameau been suffered to remain organist of a country cathedral. He was called to Paris and appointed to the management of the opera, in which employment it was his care to procure the ablest performers of all kinds that could be found, and to furnish from the inexhaustible stores of his own invention, compositions worthy of so great a genius. His music was of an original cast, and the performers complained at first that it could not be executed; but he asserted the contrary, and evinced it by experiment. By practice he acquired a great facility in composing, so that he was never at a loss to adapt sounds to sentiments. Besides numerous works on the theory, he composed and published a great many operas, ballets, &c., a list of which is given by Fetis. The king, to reward his extraordinary merit, conferred upon him the ribbon of the order of St. Michael, and a little before his death raised him to the rank of noblesse. This philosophical artist died at Paris in the year 1764.—E. F. R.
RAMENGHI, Bartolomeo, a celebrated Italian painter, called Il Bagnacavallo from his birthplace, was born in 1484, and was one of the scholars and assistants of Raphael, after whose death he established himself in Bologna. He greatly aided in the enlargement of the style of the Bolognese painters, and was one of the models referred to by the Carracci. Bagnacavallo appropriated much of Raphael's style, and excelled in painting infants. He died at Bologna in 1542.—(Baruffaldi, Vite del Pittori de Ferraresi.)—R. N. W.
RAMIRO II., King of Asturias and Leon, succeeded to the throne on the abdication of his brother Alfonzo IV. in 930. He soon commenced an attack on the Mahometan power in Spain; destroyed Madrid and Talavera, and defeated Almudaffer, the khalif's uncle, near the Douro. Ramiro II. had throughout his reign to contend against his brother, who sought to regain the throne he had resigned, and also against the insurgent counts of Castile. Ramiro abdicated in favour of his son some time before his death, which took place in 950.—F. M. W.
RAMLER, Karl Wilhelm, a German lyrical poet, was born at Kolberg, February 15, 1725. In 1748 he was appointed professor of belles-lettres in the military academy at Berlin, and in 1787 one of the managers of the Berlin national theatre; but he resigned both these offices some years later, and died at Berlin, April 11, 1798. Besides his own poems, the chief characteristic of which is correctness, he published translations of Horace, Catullus, and Martial, and found great pleasure in amending the poems of his contemporaries. His cantata, "The Death of Jesus," has acquired great celebrity in connection with the music of Graun. He also wrote a popular handbook of mythology.—(See Life by Heinsius, Berl., 1798.)—K. E.
RAMSAY, Allan, a well known Scottish poet, was born in 1686 at Leadhills in Lanarkshire, where his father was employed as manager of Lord Hopetonn's lead mines. There was good blood in Allan's veins, however; for, as he boasted, he was of the "auld descent" of the Ramsays of Dalhousie, and also collaterally "sprung from a Douglas loin." He had the misfortune to lose his father while he was in his infancy; and his mother, who was of an English family, married for her second husband a small landholder of the district. Allan was educated at the village school, which he attended till he reached his fifteenth year. On leaving school in 1701 he was apprenticed by his stepfather to a periwig-maker in Edinburgh, and continued to follow this occupation with industry and success till 1716, when he adopted that of a bookseller, which must have been much more congenial to his taste. His poetical talent did not display itself at an early age, and he did not commence writing till 1712, when he had reached his twenty-sixth year. His earliest production is an epistle to the "Easy Club," a convivial society composed of young men entertaining Jacobite opinions, with which the poet himself sympathized. He then wrote various pieces, chiefly of a local and humorous description, which were sold in some instances by hawkers at a penny each, and became exceedingly popular. A more important production was a continuation of King James' "Christ's Kirk on the Green," which displayed genuine humour and fancy, and attracted no small attention. In 1719 he published his well known collection of Scottish songs, partly his own, entitled the "Tea Table Miscellany," which ran through twelve editions in a very few years. The "Evergreen," a collection of ancient Scottish poems, appeared in 1724. He included in this volume two pieces of his own, one of which, "The Vision," exhibits poetical powers of no mean order. But he was not well qualitied for the task of editing works of this kind, and in many cases he has taken unwarrantable liberties with the originals. His celebrated pastoral drama, "The Gentle Shepherd," appeared in 1725, and was received with universal approbation. His reputation was now extended beyond his native country. His works were reprinted both in London and in Dublin. Pope expressed his admiration of this exquisite drama, and when Gay visited Scotland, in company with the duke and duchess of Queensberry, he made the author's shop a favourite lounge, and obtained from him an explanation of the Scottish phrases in the "Gentle Shepherd," that he might communicate it to the bard of Twickenham. Ramsay now removed to a better shop at the east end of the Luckenbooths, where he established a circulating, library—the first in Scotland. He published a second volume of his poems in 1728, and a collection of fables in 1730. He had a taste for balls, music, and theatricals; and there being at this time no theatre in Edinburgh, he fitted up one in 1736 at a considerable expense. But the magistrates availed themselves of the licensing act which was passed in the following year, and shut up the obnoxious establishment, thus involving the luckless patron of the drama in a heavy pecuniary loss; and to add to his mortification, some of the poetasters of the day assailed him with personal satires and lampoons for his unsuccessful attempt to introduce the "hell-bred playhouse comedians" into Scotland. Ramsay, however, soon by prudence and industry surmounted his loss, and acquired a moderate independence. About 1743 he erected a villa of somewhat peculiar construction on the north side of the Castlehill, which still bears his name; and here he spent the closing years of his life in the enjoyment of competency, leisure, and the society of his friends, among whom he numbered not a few men of rank, as well as some of the most distinguished writers of the day. A scurvy in the gums put a period to his life in 1758, at the age of seventy-two. He was buried in the Greyfriars' churchyard, Edinburgh. Ramsay was small in stature, with dark but expressive features. His disposition was cheerful and good-humoured, and he possessed a large share of good sense and prudence. His poetical genius was of a somewhat homely order, but his poetry contains many touches of tenderness and simplicity, as well as of rustic humour and comic satire. His songs as a whole are decidedly inferior to those of Burns, but some of them are still favourites with his countrymen. His masterpiece, "The Gentle Shepherd," is probably the finest pastoral drama in the world. It is a genuine and most delightful picture of Scottish rural life and character, and will continue to be admired as long as the language in which it is written shall be understood. "Like the poetry of Tasso and Ariosto," says Campbell, "that of the 'Gentle Shepherd' is engraven on the memory of its native country. Its verses have passed into proverbs, and it continues to be the delight and solace of the peasantry whom it describes." Ramsay married in 1712 Christian Ross, the daughter of a writer or attorney, with whom he lived happily for more than thirty years. His eldest son attained to considerable eminence as a portrait painter.—J. T.
RAMSAY, Allan, son of the poet of that name, was born in Edinburgh in 1713; and having studied painting for a short time in Italy under Solimena and Imperiali, he established himself in London, where he succeeded Shakelton in 1767 as principal painter to the king. Ramsay painted, almost exclusively, portraits, and was a master of fair average ability; but he devoted much of his time to literature. He died at Dover in 1784, and was succeeded in his post by Sir Joshua Reynolds.—(Edwards' Anecdotes of Painters; Cunningham's Lives of the British Painters, &c.)—R. N. W.
RAMSAY, Andrew Michael, commonly called the Chevalier Ramsay, was born at Ayr in 1686. His father was a baker of some means, and was able to give his son a good education. He was educated at the Scottish metropolis, but spent some time also at St. Andrews, as tutor to a son of the earl of Wemyss. Mathematics and theology were his favourite subjects of study. In the midst of his speculations his mind became unsettled as to the tenets of protestantism, and receiving no satisfaction from the divines whom he consulted, he seems to
