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RALPH

 by a gorgeous splendor in dress and jewels. But, as he was proud, haughty and impatient, he made hosts of enemies and was never fully admitted to the queen's counsels in reference to matters of state. The playful name of Water, which she applied to him, would indicate that she appreciated that instability of character which was his great fault and in the end worked his ruin. She, however, lavished numerous favors upon him throughout her reign, permitting him to send out and command various expeditions to the New World. His vessels scoured the seas in privateering enterprises, which at once gratified his inborn hatred of Spain and helped to provide the means for his various ventures in Virginia. Raleigh was in Ireland when the Armada (1588) appeared in English waters; but he hastened to the south of England to superintend the coast defense, and was present with the fleet throughout that week of toil and triumph. In June, 1596, he sailed in the expedition under Howard and Essex to Cadiz, and it was his counsels that governed the whole plan of action that for a second time shattered the naval power of Spain. Raleigh continued to enjoy the favor of Elizabeth until her death in 1603; but James I came to the throne with deep-seated prejudices against the gallant courtier, and in a short time stripped him of his offices. Raleigh was also arrested and tried for taking part in a conspiracy against the king's life, the only witness against him being the miserable Lord Cobham, who made and unmade his eight different charges with such facility as to make them of no value at all. "But one thing," says Kingsley, "comes out of the infinite confusion and mystery of this dark Cobham plot, and that is Raleigh's innocence." He was, however, condemned to death, and only on the scaffold was his sentence commuted to imprisonment for life. After remaining in London Tower for 13 years Raleigh was released for the purpose of leading an expedition to the Orinoco River, in search of a gold-mine, which, he said, existed there. He pledged himself not to come into collision with Spain; but some of his men, while he was sick aboard his ship, attacked a Spanish village and burned it to the ground. Raleigh returned to England without finding the mine, and was rearrested and executed under the sentence which had never been revoked. The speech he made on the scaffold was a masterpiece of eloquence. "As he stood there in the cold morning air," says Mr. Gosse, "he foiled James and Philip at one thrust, and conquered the esteem of all posterity." He asked to see the axe, and, touching the edge, said: "This is a sharp medicine, but it is a sure cure for all diseases." His History of the World, written during imprisonment, was a monumental work. He was executed at London, Oct. 29, 1618.  Ralph, Julian, an American journalist, war-correspondent and author, was born in New York City in 1853. His journalistic career has been very brilliant. He served in turn on the staff of the New York Daily Graphic, the New York Sun, the New York Journal and the London Daily Mail. He was present during the Greco-Turkish War in 1893 and the Boer War in 1899. Mr. Ralph is the author of the following works as well as of numerous shorter contributions to the monthly magazines: On Canada's Frontier; Our Great West; Dixie; Alone in China; and Towards Pretoria.  Ram, an ironclad ship with a heavily-armored stem, projecting in the form of a beak below the water-line, intended to run into and sink an enemy's vessels. In action the ram is propelled at full speed against her antagonist, and, if she succeeds in striking her fairly, the blow is supposed to be sufficient to crush in her side and sink her immediately. The ram was first employed during the Civil War in the action at Norfolk Roads in 1862, when the Federal frigate Cumberland was sunk by the Confederate ram Virginia.  Rama, in Hindu mythology, is the name common to three incarnations of Vishnu as Parasurama, Rama-chandra and Balarama. See.  Ramayana is one of the two great epics of India, the other being Mahábhárata. Its subject is the story of Ráma, and its reputed author is Valmiki, who is said to have taught his poem to the two sons of Ráma. Although the statement is doubtful, it is certain that Valmiki was a real personage and that the Rámáyana was not, like the Máhábhárata, the creation of different minds at various epochs. As a poetical composition, the Rámáyana may safely be called the great poem of India.  Ramée, Louise de la (known by her pen-name of Ouida), English novelist of French extraction, was born at Bury St. Edmunds in 1840. Little is known of her early life or education beyond the fact that she was brought up in London, where she began in the sixties to write for Colburn's New Monthly and other magazines. Her pen-name was, it is said, suggested by the efforts of a child-sister to call her Louise. Her first novel, Granville de Vigne, appeared in book form in 1863, and she was a most industrious and prolific writer. Her novels dealt with all phases of European society, some of her themes being treated with cleverness and skill, often with cynical railing at the weaknesses of her characters. Her early stories were extravagantly romantic; but she shed her passionate exuberance and became stronger as a writer, though inclined to the reckless and tragic. She for 30 years made her home in Italy, where the scenes of many of her novels are laid. Her best-known stories are Under Two Flags,