Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/777

* RAMBOUILLET. 685 BAMESES. ■who were to found literary salons in their turn, Madame de la Fayette, jladeleine de Scudory, the Ducliess of Longueville, and Madame de Sevigne. Its influence was altogether refining, but it led in some to an exaggeration which resulted in a most ludicrous afl'ectation. It must be borne in mind that -IoIi6re, in his I'rc- cietiscs ridicules, was satirizing not this ac- complished group, but the exaggerations of their pedantic imitators. From a little before Iti'iO the society which assemldcd here repre- sented all that was best and brightest in the social life of the time. Its lustre began to decline after the marriage (in 1045) of the dangliter of the house to the Due de Jlontausier; and the troubles of the Fronde, the death of M. de liamboiiillet in ](io2, and his wife's increasing ago and infirmities put an end to it. To the move- ment begun by iladame de Ramliouillet is to be aftrilnited an enrichment and purification of the literary and polite language, which gained in precision and flexibility and was thus differen- tiated sharply from every-da}' speech. From her came also an improvement in the social position of women, and in the forms of good conversation, in which France has ever since excelled. Con- sult: Vincent, The Hotel de Kumboiiillet (Bos- ton. 1900) ; Cousin, La socictc frangaise au X'IIme siecle (Paris, 1858) ; Livet, Precieux et prccieuses (ib., 1850) : Eoederer, La soci^ti polie en France pendant Ic XVII me siicle (ib., 1834) ; and Somaize's curious Grand dictionnaire des .precieiises (ib., 1061; new ed. 1850). KAMBOV, ramlK^f. A town in Russia. See OlUMEXIJAlM. RAMEAU, ra'mo', Jean Philippe (168.3- 1704). A famous French composer and organist, to whom is really due the foundation of the modern science of harmony. He was born of a musical family at Dijon. He studied the organ midcr JIarchand in Paris and became organist at Lille and at Clermont. His theories of the rela- tionship of sounds he published in 1721. under the title of Traitt: de Vharmoiiic. and in 1720 he puldished Xoiiveau si/stiine de niiisirjue theorique. The main points of his new harmonic theory were the reduction of all possible chords to a limited number of fundamental chords, rest- ing upon an imaginary 'fundamental bass,' which was not the same as thorough or general bass, but a series of root tones which underlie the various chord-progressions. He emjiloyed the building up of chords in thirds, and made great use of inversions. These tlicories received the formal approval of the Academy in 1737. and had uuieh to do with the development of theo- retical music. His dramatic composition Sam- son, with a libretto by Voltaire, was rejected at the Opera on account of its biblical subject. His second attempt. Hifipolyte et Arieie. obtained a hearing in 1733, but was not immediately suc- cessful, and he was tempted to abandon dra- matic composition. His next cll'ort, the opera- ballet Les hides (jalantes (1735). won public favor. Castor et Pollux (1737) is usually con- si(b-red his best work. Other operas followed in (piick succession and held the French stage for a generation, besides winning for iiim from Louis XV. the title of Court composer, especially cre- ated for him. His othei- compositions include: Les talents lyriqucs (1739); Dardnnns (1739); La princesse de Navarre (1745); Za'is (1748); Pygmalion (1748); Plaice (1749); Daphne et Et/le (1753); Zcphire (1757); Les surprises dc I'amour (1759); Les Paladins (1760). He wrote several books of compositions for the clavier which were reprinted in 1861. As devel- opments of his operatic works for the stage he ])roduced Generation luirmonique (1737) and Demonstration du prince de I'harinonie, and on the vogue which these operas enjoj-ed his chief title to fame rests. His services to nmsic were acknowledged by the erection of a s'tatue to him in his native town in 1880. Consult Pougin, Rinneaii, sa vie et ses wuvres (Paris, 1870). BAM^E, ni'ma', Loui.se de la (better known under her pen-namt — OuiDA (1840 — ). An English novelist, born at Bury Saint Edmunds. Her father was English, her mother French. When about twenty years old she went with her mother and grandmother to London, where she began to write for periodicals under the name of "Ouida,' her own childish mispronunciation of 'Louisa.' Her first novel. Held in liondaye (1803), was followed by Stnithmore (1865); Chandos (1806): Idaliii (1S67); Under Two Flags (1867), dramatized and often played; Tri- cotrin (1809) ; Puck (1870) ; A Doq of' Flanders (1872); Pascarcl (1873): Tiro Little ^Vooden Shoes (1874); Ariadne, the Story of a Dream (1877) : Friendship (1878) ; Moths (1880) ; The Tillage Commune (1881) : In Maremma (1882) ; Bimhi; Stories of Children (1882); Wanda (1883); Olhmar (1885); Ouilderoy (1889); Syrlin, liu/fino (1890); The Silrer Christ (1894); Ttio Offenders (1894); Le Selce (1896): The Massareenes (1897); Toxin (1897); La Strega (1899): and Street Dust (1901). Her varied contributions, always inter- esting, to the magazines, she has published froiii time to time as Views and Opinions (1895) and Critical Studies (1900). In after years she lived near Florence. Her novels, though tawdry in sentiment, exhibit picturesque power and striking dramatic eft'ectiveness. RAMENGHI, ra-men'ge. The real name of the Italian painter commonly known as Barto- lorameo da Bagnacavallo ( q.v. ). RAM'ESES, or RAMSES tak.'Paiu.^(T(r,/s, Rha- messrs, 'PaiUiTT)!, I'hiniisrs, 'Pafitprj!, Rluiinpses). The nanu' of twelve kings of Egspt of Dvnasties XIX. and XX. Ramesks T.. the first King of DTOasty XIX., ruled for a brief period about B.C. 1355. Beyond the fact that be waged war in Xubia, where he left an inscrijiliou, and constructed some of the buildings at Karnak, little is known of his reign. His mununy was foinid, in 1881, at Deir-el-Bahri. His son, Scti I. (q.v.). built the ilemnonium at Kurnah (q.v.) in honor of his father's memory. Rameses II. (c. 1340-1273 n.c), the son of Seti I. and the grandson of Rameses I., fig- ures in liistory as the grand monarque of Egypt. The earlier portion of his reign was spent in war with the Cheta or Hit- tites who occupied the former Asiatic possessions of Egvpt as far south as the northern border of Palestine. In his second year he reconquered Phienicia as far as Berytus. and left a memorial inscription on the banks of the Xahr-el-Kelb. In his sixth year he moved against the important city of Kadeah on the Orontes, but. though he was successful in an engagement with the enemy's chariot force, no decisive result was obtained and