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associate, by his own casting vote, he exerted all his influence toprocure Bonomi an academic seat; but being in this outvoted by-two to one, he resigned the presidency, which he had held so ho-nourably for twenty-one years, He was, however, prevailed onto resume the office for eighteen months longer, when he was ob-liged to give it up from his health declining. The academy, how- jever, continued him president for life, and elected a deputy to actfor him. From this period Sir Joshua never painted more. Hedied Feb. 23, 1792, aged 68.
REZAN, an ancient town of Russia , and capital of Rezanskoi,,J0t> miles S. F. of Moscow . Lon. 42. 37. K. I/at. 54. 54. N.
Hezan, or Rezanskoi, a province and duchy of Russia , popu-lous and fertile in corn: formerly governed by its own princes.
RIIABDOLOGY, or RABDOLOGY, in arithmetic, a namegiven by Napier to a method of performing some of the more dif-ficult operations of numbers by means of certain square little rods.Upon these are inscribed the simple numbers; then by shiftingthem according to certain rules, those operations are performed bysimply adding or subtracting the numbers as they stand upon therods. See N'apier’s Rhahdologia, printed in 1617. See also thearticle Napier's Boxes.
RH AD AM ANTIIUS, in fabulous history, the son of Jupiterand Europa, born in Crete . He became king of Lydia, andreigned over the Cyclades and several Greek cities in Asia , withso much justice and impartiality, that the poets make him one ofthe three judges of hell.
RHjETI, or ILETl, an ancient warlike nation of Italy , inEtruria . Sec next article.
KIliETIA, in ancient geography, a country in the north ofItaly, between the Alps and the Danube , which now forms theterritories of the Grisons, the Tyrolese, and part of Italy . Its chief 1towns were Caria, Tridentum , (now Trent,) Belunum, and Fellria
RILL 1'TANS, \_Rhati, Lat.] the ancient inhabitants of Kluetia.They rendered themselves formidable (o the Romans, by their fre-quent invasions; but were at last conquered by Drusus , the bro-ther of Tiberius , and others under the succeeding emperors.
RUAGAIDL.S, in medicine, denotes chaps or clefts in any part9 f the body.
RHAAlA, or RAMA, an incarnate deity of the first rank, inIndian mythology. Sir William Jones believes he was the son ofCush, grandson of Ham, and the first monarch in that part of Asia ;and that he was the Dionysos of the Greeks, whom they namedBromius, without knowing why; and Eugenes, when they repre-sented him horned, as well as Lyaios and F.leutherios the deli-verer, and Triambos, or Dythyrambos, the triumphant.
RI1AMNUS, in ancient geography, a town of Attica, famousfor a temple of Amphiaraus , and a statue of Nemesis, thence calledKhamnusia.
Rhamnus, the Buckthorn ; in botany, a genus of the mono-gynia order, and pentandria class of plants; natural order, Du-rnosse. Calyx tubular; corolla, scales defending the stamens, in-serted into the calyx ; berry. There are forty-two species.
RHAMPHASTOS, in ornithology, a genus belonging to theorder of piece. See Ramphastos.
RHAMSES, or RAMISES, a powerful king of Egypt , who,with an army of 700,000 men, conquered Ethiopia, Lrbin, Persia ,and other eastern kingdoms. Pliny says Troy was taken in hisreign. Some suppose him the same with Sesostris.
RHAPIS, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, andhexandria class of plants; natural order, Palma’. Calyx trilid;corolla triful; stamens six; pistil one. There are two species,viz. R. flabelliformi-i, creeping rooted rhapis, or ground rotan;and R. arundinacea, simple-leaved rhapis.
RHAPSODI, or IIHAPSODISTS, in antiquity, persons whomade a business of singing pieces of Homer ’s poems. Cnper in-forms us, that the Rhapsodi were clothed in red when they sungthe Iliad , and in blue when they sung the Odyssey. They per-formed in the theatres, and sometimes strove for prizes in contestsof poetry, singing, &c. After the two antagonists had finishedtheir parts, the two pieces or papers they were written in werejoined together again: whence the name, viz.' from ftra-™, siw, tosew, and wl>i, caniicum, a song; but there seem to have been otherRhapsodi of more antiquity than these people, w ho composed he-roic poems or songs in praise of heroes and great men, and sungtheir own compositions from town to town for a livelihood; ofwhich profession Homer himself is said to have bpen.
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RIIAPSODOMANCY, an ancient kind of divination per-formed bv pitching op a passage of a poet at hazard, and reckon-ing on it as a prediction of what was to come to pass.
RHAPSODY, jy- w ’I u d i£l ; to sew, and wtq, a song,] in anti-
quity, a discourse in verse sung or rehearsed by a rhapsodist.Others will have rhapsody to signify a collection of verses, espe-cially those of Homer , which, having been a long lime dispersedin pieces and fragments, were at length, by Pisistratus ’s order, di-gested into books called rhapsodies, from sun, and wS,,, can-
iicum. Hence, among moderns, rhapsody is also used for an as-semblage of passages, thoughts, and authorities, ranked togetherfrom divers authors, to compose some new piece.
RUE', or REE, an island of France, in the Bay of Biscay , nearthe coast of the department of Lower Charente, and late territoryof Aunis. Lon. 1. 29. W. Lat. 46. 15. N.
RIIEA, in the mythology, the daughter of Ccclus and Terra,sister and wife of Saturn ; the same with Cybele or Ops.
RI1EDA, a town of Lower Saxony, in the county of Lingen ;ten miles- N. of Eippestadt.
RIIEEDIA, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, andpolyandria cla,s of plants. Calyx none; corolla four-petalecl;berry three-sided. It has but one species.
RIJEGIUM, in ancient geography, a city of Italy , now calledReggio. See Reggio .
RIIEIMS, a city of France, in the department of the Maine ,anil late province of Champagne. Eon. 4. 8. E. Eat. 49. 14. N.
lvll E1NAU, a town ol France, in the department of the LowerRhine , 10*- miles N. E. ol Sheiestat, and 15 S. of Strasburg.
RHE1N11ACH, or RYNBACIf, a town of Franco, in the de-partment of the Roer, and late electorate of Cologn ; 19 milesS. of Cologn.
RI1EHSTIIAL, a late bailiwick of the Helvetic republic , be-tween the canton of Appenzel and the Rhine . It is a fertile val-ley, thirty miles long, and from three to eight broad ; and pro-duces excellent wine.
RIIENISlI M INE, that produced on the hills about Eheiins.This wine is much used in medicine as a solvent of iron, for whichit is well calculated on account of its acidity.
I RHENUS, the Rhine ; in ancient geography, a large river of| Germany, famous in ancient and modern history. See Rhine .
RHESUS, in fabulous history, king of Thrace , son of the Strv-inon by the Muse Terpsichore, or of Eioneus ami Euterpe . Aftermany warlike exploits in Europe , he went to assist 1’riam, king ofTrov, against the Greeks.
RIlETOllES, amongst the Athenians , wore ten orators electedby lot to plead public causes in the senate -house or assembly.For every cause in which they were retained, they received adrachm out of the public money. TIn-y were sometimes called
iyogoi, and their lee vo syv>iyoji*a*. No man was admitted to thisoffice before lie was forty years ot age, though others say thirty.Valour in war, piety to their parents, prudence in tlu-ir affairs, fru-gality, and temperance, were necessary qualifications for this,office, and every candidate underwent an examination concerningthese virtues previous to the election. The orators at Rome werenot unlike the Athenian rhetores.
RHETOR1 AN S, a sect of heretics in Egypt , so denominatedfrom Rhetorius their leader. The distinguishing tenets of this he-resiarch, as represented by Philastrius , was, that he approved ofall the heresies before him, and taught that they were all in theright.
RHETORIC. See Oratory.
RHEUM, [{«/,«»,] a thin serous humour, occasionally oosing.out of the glands about the mouth and throat.
Rheum, Rhubarb ; in botany, a genus of the monogynia order,and enneandria class of plants; natural order, lloloraccx. N<>calyx; corolla six-cleft, persistent; seed one, three-sided. It hasseven species.
R. Pai.matum, Palmated-i.eaved True Chinese Rhubarb ,has a thick fleshy root, yellow within; crowned with very large pal'mated leaves, being deeply divided into acuminated segments,expanded like an open hand ; upright stems, five or six feet highor more, terminated by large spikes or flowers. See BotanV, •and Plate XXXY. This is now proved to be the true foreignrhubarb, the purgative quality of which is w-ell known.
RHEUMATISM, a painful disease which principally affects| the muscular parts, and larger joints of the body, in the direction