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sensible of the weakness and ignorance of others, who are often talking in a random, inconsequential manner. Mason.

RANDOM-SHOT, in gunnery, is a shot made when the muzzle of a gun is raised above the horizontal line, and is not designed to shoot directly or point blank. The utmost random of any piece is about ten times as far as the bullet will go point-blank. The bullet will go farthest when the piece is mounted to nearly 45° above the level of the range. See PROJECTILES.

in schola linguarum, Oxon. 111. Non. Dec. A. D. MDCCLXXXII. 1783, 4to. Conscio ad Clerum in Synodo Provinciali Cantuariensis Provinciæ, ad D. Pauli, die 26° Novembris, A. D. 1790. A Sermon preached before the Lords spiritual and temporal, in the Abbey Church of Westminster, March 12, 1800, being the day appointed for a general fast. A Sermon preached before the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in foreign parts, 1803. Á Charge delivered to the clergy of the diocese of Bangor, at his primary visitation in 1808, and published at the request of the Clergy. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the diocese of London, at his Primary Visitation, 1810. The bishop died at Hardham, 28th July, 1813.

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RANDOLPH, a post town of Orange county, Vermont, twelve miles W. S. W. of Chelsea, twenty-three south of Montpelier, and thirty-eight north of Windsor. This is a pleasant and valuable agricultural town, and has a small village, containing an academy, and a Congregational meeting-house. The town contains a large bed of iron ore. It is watered by the branches of White River, and has valuable mills and ironworks.

RANDOLPH, a county in the north-west part of Virginia, bounded north by Monongalia county, east and south-east by Pendleion county, southwest by Greenbrier and Kenhawa counties, and west by Harrison county. It is watered by the head waters of the Monongahela. Chief town, Beverly.

RANDOLPH, a county of the central part of New Carolina, a county of Ohio, and of Illinois. RAN'DOM, n. s. & adj. Fr. random. Want of direction, rule, or method; chance; hazard: done by chance.

For, not to speake

At needy random; but my breathe to breake In sacred oath, Ulysses shall return. Chapman. The striker must be dense, and in its best velocity: the angle which the missive is to mount by, if we will have it go to its furthest random, must be the half of a right one; and the figure of the missive must be such as may give scope to the air to bear Digby.

it.

Thy words at random argue inexperience.

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Virtue borrowed but the arms of chance, And struck a random blow; 'twas fortune's work, And fortune take the praise.

Dryden.

In the days of old the birds lived at random in a lawless state of anarchy; but in a time they moved for the setting up of a king. L'Estrange's Fables.

Who could govern the dependence of one event upon another, if that event happened at random, and was not cast into a certain relation to some foregoing purpose to direct? South's Sermons.

'Tis one thing when a person of true merit is drawn as like as we can; and another, when we make a fine thing at random, and persuade the next vain creature that 'tis his own likeness.

Let fortune's gifts at random flee,
They ne'er shall draw a wish frae me,
Supremely blest wi' love and thee,

In the Birks of Aberfeldy.

Pope.

Burns.

Nor will you be sensible of any disadvantage attending it, excepting one, viz. its making you more

RANGE, v. a., v. n. Į Fr. ranger; Dan. RANGER, n. s. [&n.s. S range; Welsh rheng. To order; place in rank; hence to course or rove over: and, as a verb neuter, rove at large; be placed in order, or in any particular direction: a rank; class; order; step; collection of steps or bars; hence a fire-grate: excursion; compass of excursion or course; hence extent of the course of a ball, in gunnery: a ranger, one that ranges, applied both to dogs and men.

As a roaring lion and a ranging bear, so is a wicked ruler over the poor people.

Proverbs xxviii. 15.
It was a vault ybuilt for great dispence,
With many ranges reared along the wall,
And one great chimney.
Spenser.
They walk not widely, as they were woont,
For fear of raungers and the great hoont,
But privily prolling to and fro. Id. Pastorals,

Tis better to be lowly born,
And range with humble livers in content,
Than to be perked up in a glistering grief,
And wear a golden sorrow.

Shakspeare. Henry VIII.
Cæsar's spirit ranging for revenge,
With Ate by his side come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice,
Cry havock, and let slip the dogs of war.

You fled

Shakspeare.

From that great face of war, whose several ranges Frighted each other. Id. Antony and Cleopatra. The implements of the kitchen are spits, ranges, cobirons, and pots. Bacon's Physical Remains. Direct my course so right, as with thy hand to show,

Which way thy forests range, which way thy rivers flow. Drayton. The buttery must be visible, and we need for our ranges a more spacious and luminous kitchen. Wotton's Architecture. The range and compass of Hammond's knowledge filled the whole circle of the arts. Fell. He saw not the marquis till the battle was ranged. Clarendon.

The liturgy, practised in England, would kindle that jealousy, as the prologue to that design, and as the first range of that ladder which should serve to mount over all their customs.

Somewhat raised,

Id.

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RANGE, in gunnery, the path of a bullet, or the line it describes from the mouth of the piece to the point where it lodges. If the piece lie in a line parallel to the horizon, it is called the right or level range; if it be mounted to 45°, it is said to have the utmost range; all others between 0° and 45° are called the intermediate See PROJECTILES. ranges.

RANGER, a sworn officer of a forest, appointed by the king's letters patent; whose business is to drive back the deer out of the purlieus, &c., and to present all trespasses within his jurisdiction at

the next forest court.

RANGOON, a city and principal port of the Burmhan empire in the province of Pegu. It was formerly called Dagoon, and is much celebrated in the wars of the Burmhans and Peguers. Standing on the north bank of the eastern branch of the Irrawaddy, at the distance of thirty miles from the sea, this town is almost wholly built of wood, and is about a mile in length by half a mile broad. At the river gate there is a battery erected, with a few pieces of cannon; but the place could not stand the fire of a frigate for an hour. The streets are narrow, but straight, and paved with brick. The houses are raised several feet from the ground; and those near the river are washed by spring tides. The under story of the others are kept clean by hogs, who wander about here without any owner. The population is said to amount to 30,000, composed of persons from all parts of the world, after the Burmhans and Peguers. The Chinese are very numerous and are all carpenters, and obtain employment in the dock-yards. The river is

extremely commodious for the construction of ships. The spring tides rise twenty feet perpendicularly. The banks are flat and soft, so that there is little occasion for docks, and the shipwrights, being active and athletic, turn to good account their timber, which is the finest in the world. It grows several hundred miles up the country, and is cut down during the dry season, and split into very thick planks. It is then floated down the rivers. It is known that ships can be built at Rangoon much cheaper than at Calcutta or Bombay. It is therefore resorted to by Europeans, who, however, generally procure their iron work, masts, and capsterns, from other places. Vessels of 600 tons burden, however, are often entirely constructed at Rangoon. All kinds of European goods are imported, and a variety of cloths from different parts of India; here also are found tea, sugar-candy, and porcelain from China. The exports are chiefly timber, wax, and ivory. The police is very exact; and, after a certain hour of the night, ropes are drawn across the streets and a number of watchmen and firemen stationed in different places. Two miles and a half from the town stands the temple of Shoe Dagoon. In the vicinity are several convents, inhabited by the Rahaans, or priests, who in general are respectable people; and, as the Burmans allow universal toleration, there is both a Portuguese and Arminian church in the town, which serve for Christians of all denominations. Rangoon rose into celebrity on the ruin of Pegu in the middle of the last century. It is now the residence of the viceroy of the province, and his council, and is considered the second city in the Burmhese empire. It has frequently been injured by fire: and is the only port in the empire which Europeans are allowed to settle at or trade with. Long. 96° 9′ E., lat. 16° 47′ N.

RANK, n. s., adj. & v. n. RANK'LE, V. n. RANK'LY, adv. RANK'NESS, n.s.

Sax. panc; Dan. Belg. and Swed. runk, of Goth. rakia, to extend. Thomson. Fr. rance; Lat. rancidus. High-growing; tall; luxuriant; fruitful; strong; strong of scent; ill-flavored; gross; coarse; festering: rankle is, to fester; be inflamed; breed corruption: rankly is, coarsely; grossly: rankness corresponding.

Seven ears came up upon one stalk, rank and good. Genesis. Down with the grasse, That groweth in shadow so ranke and so stout. Tusser. Seven thousand broad-tailed sheep grazed on his Three thousand camels his rank pastures fed. downs;

Sandys.

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and hence high degree of excellence, dignity, or eminence to range; place in any order or class: place methodically; be ranged.

West of this place down in the neighbour bottom, The rank of osiers, by the murmuring stream, Left on your right hand brings you to the place. Shakspeare.

Fierce fiery warriours fight upon the clouds, In ranks, and squadrons, and right form of war, Which drizzled blood upon the capitol.

If sour woe delights in fellowship, And needly will be ranked with other griefs;' Why followed not, when she said Tybalt's dead, Thy father or thy mother?

Id

Id.

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Though hereditary wealth, and the rank which goes with it, are too much idolized by creeping sycophants, and the blind adject admirers of power, they are too rashly slighted in shallow speculations of the petulant, assuming, shortsighted, coxcombs of philosophy. Burke.

RANK, is a straight line made by the soldiers of a battalion or squadron, drawn up side by side: this order was established for the marches, and for regulating the different bodies of troops which compose an army.

RANK IN THE NAVY. The admiral, or commander-in-chief of his majesty's fleet, has the rank of a field-marshal; admirals, with their flags on the main-top-mast-head, rank with generals of horse and foot; vice-admirals with lieutenant-generals; rear-admirals as major-generals; commodores, with broad pendants, as brigadier-generals; captains of post-ships, after three years from the date of their first commission, as colonels; other captains, as commanding post-ships, as lieutenant-colonels; captains, not taking post, as majors; lieutenants as captains.

RANK OF ENGINEERS. Chief as colonel; di-, rector as lieutenant-colonel; sub-director as major; engineer in ordinary, as captain; engineer extraordinary as captain-lieutenant; subengineer as lieutenant; practitioner-engineer as ensign.

RANNY, n. s. From run. The shrewmouse. The mus areneus, the shrewmouse or ranny.

Browne.

RAN'SACK, v. a. Sax. ɲan, and Swed. saka, to search for or seize.-Johnson. There is also a Goth. and Swed. ransaka, and Dan. ransage. To plunder; pillage; search; violate. A covetous spirit,

Warily awaited day and night,

From other covetous fiends it to defend, Who it to rob and ransack did intend. Spenser. With greedy force he 'gan the fort assail, Whereof he weened possessed soon to be, And with rich spoil of ransacked chastity. Their vow is made to ransack Troy.

Id.

Shakspeare.

Men, by his suggestion taught, Ransacked the centre, and, with impious hands, Rifled the bowels of the earth.

Milton.

The ransacked city, taken by our toils, We left, and hither brought the golden spoils. Dryden. I ransack the several caverns, and search into the store-houses of water, to find out where that mighty mass of water, which overflowed the earth, is bestowed. Woodward.

RAN'SOM, n. s. & v. a. 1 Fr. rançon; RAN'SOMLESS, adj. Ital.ranzon. Price of redemption from captivity or punishment: to redeem by purchase: ransomeless, without ransome or price.

I will ransom them from the grave, and redeem them from death. Hosea xiii. 14.

How is't with Titus Lartius? -Condemning some to death and some to exile, Ransoming him, or pitying, threat'ning the other. Shakspeare.

Id.

Ransomeless here we set our prisoners free. By his captivity in Austria, and the heavy ransom that he paid for his liberty, Richard was hindered to pursue the conquest of Ireland.

Davies on Ireland.

Has the prince lost his army or his liberty Tell me what province they demand for ransom. Denham.

Ere the third dawning light Return, the stars of morn shall see him rise, The ransom paid, which man from death redeems, His death for man. Milton's Paradise Lost.

sending his only Son into this world to save sinners, and to give his life a ransom for them, would be noble exercise for the pens of the greatest wits.

To adore that great mystery of divine love, God's

Tillotson.

This as a ransom Albemarle did pay, For all the glories of so great a life. Id. RANT, v. a. & n. s. Į Belg. randen, to rave; cian. To rave in violent or high sounding lanRANT'ER, n. s. Sco. ranter, is a musiguage: such language: a ranter, one who uses it. Nay, an thou'lt mouth, I'll rant as well as thou. Shakspeare.

others grinning and only showing their teeth, others They have attacked me; some with piteous moans, ranting and hectoring, others scolding and reviling. Stillingfleet.

This is a stoical rant, without any foundation in the nature of man or reason of things. Atterbury. Dryden himself, to please a frantic age, Was forced to let his judgment stoop to rage; To a wild audience he conformed his voice, Comply'd to custom, but not erred through choice: Deem then the people's, not the writer's sin, Almansor's rage, and rants of Maximin.

Granville.

RANTIPOLE, adj. & v. n. Wantonly formed from rant. Wild; roving; rakish: to rove about. A low word.

What, at years of discretion, and comport yourself at this rantipole rate?

Congreve's Way of the World. The eldest was a termagant imperious wench; she used to rantipole about the house, pinch the children, kick the servants, and torture the cats and dogs. Arbuthnot.

RANTZAN (Josias), count, a brave officer, born in Holstein in the beginning of the seventeenth century. He was made a marshal of France and governor of Dunkirk by Louis XIII. He was raised to be commander in-chief of the Danish army, under Frederick I. and Christian III. and by his valor the liberties of his country were secured against the efforts of Christian II. After having lost an eye, an ear, an arm, and a leg, in various battles, he died in 1665.

RAN'ULA, n. s. Lat. ranula.

Ranula is a soft swelling, possessing the salivals under the tongue: it is made by congestion, and its progress filleth up the space between the jaws, and maketh a tumour externally under the chin.

Wiseman's Surgery. RANUNCULUS, n. s. Fr. ranuncule. Crow

foot.

Ranunculuses excel all flowers in the richness of their colours: of them there is a great variety.

Mortimer.

RANUNCULUS, Crowfoot, a genus of the polygamia order and polyandria class of plants; natural order twenty-sixth, multisiliquæ: CAL. pentaphyllous; petals five, each with a melliferous pore on the inside of the heel; the seeds naked. There are upwards of sixty different species of

this genus, six or eight of which claim general esteem as flowery plants for ornamenting the gardens, and a great number are common weeds in the fields, waters, and pasture ground. Of the garden kinds the principal sort is the Asiatic or Turkey and Persian ranunculus, which comprises many hundred varieties of large, double, most beautiful flowers of various colors; but several other species, having varieties with fine double flowers, make a good appearance in a collection, though as those of each species consist only of one color, some white, others yellow, they are inferior to the Asiatic ranunculus, which is large, and diversified a thousand ways in rich colors, in different varieties. However, the garden kinds in general effect a very agreeable diversity in assemblage in the flower compartments, &c., and they being all very hardy, succeed in any open beds and borders, &c.

1. R. Asiatica. The Asiatic species in all its varieties will succeed in any light, rich, garden earth; but the florist often prepares a particular compost for the fine varieties, consisting of good garden mould or pasture earth, sward and all, with a fourth part of rotted cow dung, and the like portion of sea sand; and with this they prepare beds four feet wide and two deep: however, in default of such compost, use beds of any good light earth; or, it may be made light and rich with a portion of drift sand and rotten cowdung; they will also thrive in beds of well wrought kitchen garden earth, and they often prosper in common flower borders. The seasons for planting the roots are in autumn and spring; the autumn plantings generally flower strongest and soonest by a month at least, and are succeeded by the spring planting in May and June. The autumnal planting is performed in October and early part of November. Some plant in the end of September to have a very early bloom; but those planted in that month and beginning of October often come up with rank leaves soon after, in winter, so as to require protection in hard frosts; those, however, planted about the middle or end of October, and beginning of November, rarely shoot up strong till towards spring, and will not require so much care of covering during winter; and the spring planting may be performed in the end of January or beginning of February as soon as the weather is settled; they will not require any covering. Thus by two or three different plantings may be obtained a succession of these beautiful flowers in constant bloom from April till the middle of June; but the autumnal plants, for the general part, not only flower strongest, but the roots increase more in size, and furnish the best off-sets for propagation. Prepare for the choicer sorts four-feet beds of light earth, and rake the surface smooth: then plant the roots in rows lengthwise the beds, either by drilling them in two inches deep, and six inches distance in the row, and the rows six or eight asunder; or plant them by bedding-in, or by dibble-planting, the same depth and distance. Those designed for the borders should be planted generally towards the spring, in little clumps or patches, three, four, or five roots in each, putting them in either with a dibble or trowel, two or three inches deep,

and three or four asunder in each patch, and the patches from about three to five or ten feet distance, placing them rather forward in the border. All the varieties of this species propagate abun dantly by off-sets from the root, and new varieties are gained by seed. 1. By off-sets. The time for separating the off-sets is in summer, when the flower is past, and the leaves and stalks are withered: then, taking up all the roots in dry weather, separate the off-sets from each main root, and, after drying the whole gradually in some shady airy room, put them up in bags till the autumn and spring seasons of planting; then plant them as before, placing all the off-sets in separate beds: many of them will blow the first year, but in the second they will all flower in perfection. 2. By seed. Save a quantity of seed from the finest semi-double flowers, and sow it either in August, March, or April; it should be sowed in light rich mould, either in pots or in an east border, drawing very shallow flat drills five or six inches asunder, in which sow the seeds thinly, and cover them lightly with earth, giving frequent refreshments of water in dry weather, and in a month or six weeks the plants will rise with small leaves; continue the light waterings in dry weather, to preserve the soil moist during their summer's growth to increase the size of the roots; and in June, when the leaves decay, take up the roots and preserve them till the season for planting; then plant them in common beds, and they will flower the spring following, when all the doubles of good properties should be marked, and the singles thrown away. The juice of many species of ranunculus is so acrid as to raise blisters on the skin, and yet the roots may be eaten with safety when boiled.

RAP, v. a. & n. s. Sax. præppan; Dan. and Swed. rap. To strike with a quick smart blow; utter hastily: a quick smart blow. Knock me at this gate And rap me well, or I'll knock your knave's pate. Shakspeare. With one great peal they rap the door, Like footmen on a visiting day. Prior. He was provoked in the spirit of magistracy, upon discovering a judge, who rapped out a great oath at

his footman.

Addison.

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