Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/190

RALL, or RAHL, Johan Gottlieb, Hessian soldier, b. in Hesse-Cassel, about 1720; d. in Trenton, N. J., 26 Dec., 1776. He served during the seven-years' war in Europe, and with his regiment formed part of the contingent that was hired from the elector of Hesse-Cassel by George III. for service in this country. He participated in the battle of White Plains, and in the capture of Fort Washington, in which he rendered valuable service, and after the evacuation of New Jersey by the patriot army commanded an advanced post at Trenton, where he was surprised and killed in Washington's attack on that town.

RALPH, James, author, b. in Philadelphia, Pa., about 1695; d. in Chiswick, England, 25 Jan., 1762. He was clerk to a conveyancer in Philadelphia, and about 1718 became the intimate associate of Benjamin Franklin, who describes him as his “inseparable companion, genteel in his manners, ingenious, extremely eloquent, and I never knew a prettier talker.” He accompanied Franklin to London in 1724, deserting his wife and child for his friend, and, being without money, lived at Franklin's expense. He afterward attempted to become an actor, and subsequently to edit and write for newspapers, but with little success. He then settled as a school-master in Berkshire, secured the notice of Lord Melcombe, and obtained much notoriety as an adherent of the Prince of Wales's faction, employing his talents as pamphleteer, poet, and political journalist in the interest of that party. Toward the close of Sir Robert Walpole's administration he was bought off from the opposition, and at the accession of George III. received a pension, but lived to enjoy it hardly more than six months. Franklin says he “did his best to dissuade Ralph from attempting to become a poet, but he was not cured of scribbling verses till Pope attacked him in the lines in the 'Dunciad,' beginning

'	Silence, ye wolves, while Ralph to Cynthia howls, And makes night hideous; answer him, ye owls.'”

He published “The Muses' Address to the King,” an ode (London, 1728); “The Tempest” (1728); “The Touchstone,” a volume of essays (1728); “Clarinda,” a poem (1729); “Zeuma,” a poem (1729); “A Taste of the Town, a Guide to all Publick Diversions Answered” (1730); “The Fashionable Lady,” a comedy (1730); “The Fall of the Earl of Essex” (1731); “A Critical View of the Publick Buildings of London” (1734); “The Groans of Germany,” a political pamphlet, of which 15,000 copies were sold at once (1734); “The Use and Abuse of Parliament” (2 vols., 1744); the “History of England during the Reigns of King William, Queen Anne, and George I.,” which Charles James Fox eulogized, and is a work of great merit as regards information (1744); “The Cause of Authors by Profession” (1758); “The History of Prince Titi” (Frederick, Prince of Wales), in manuscript, never published, by some ascribed to him; and many dramatic works, lampoons, and essays.

RALSTON, Robert, merchant, b. in Little Brandywine, Pa., in 1761; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 11 Aug., 1836. He became a merchant at an early age, and amassed a large fortune in the East Indian trade, which he spent liberally in benevolent enterprises. He contributed largely to the establishment of the Widows' and orphans' asylum, and the Mariner's church in Philadelphia, founded the Philadelphia Bible society, which was the first of the kind on this continent, and in 1819 became first president of the board of education of the Presbyterian church.

RALSTON, Samuel, clergyman, b. in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1756; d. in Carroll, Pa., 25 Sept., 1851. He was educated at the University of Glasgow, came to this country in 1796, and took charge of the Presbyterian congregations of Mingo Creek and Williamsport, Pa., from 1796 until his death. Washington college, Pa., gave him the degree of D. D. in 1822. His writings are controversial for the most part, and include “The Curry-Comb” (Philadelphia, 1805); “Baptism, a Review of Alexander Campbell's and Dr. Walker's Debate” (1830); “A Brief Examination of the Prophecies of Daniel and John” (1842); “The Seven Last Plagues” (1842); and “Defence of Evangelical Psalmody” (1844).

RALSTON, Thomas Neely, clergyman, b. in Kentucky in 1806; d. in Newport, Ky., 25 Nov., 1891. He was educated at Georgetown college, joined the state conference of the Methodist church in 1827, and was its secretary for twelve years. He was a member of the convention that met in Louisville, Ky., in 1845, to organize the Methodist Episcopal church, south, and secretary of that body in 1850, subsequently becoming chairman of the committee to revise the discipline of the church. He was president of the Methodist female collegiate high-school in Lexington, Ky., in 1843-'7, and in 1851 edited the “Methodist Monthly.” Wesleyan university, Florence, Ky., gave him the degree of D. D. in 1857. His publications include “Elements of Divinity” (Louisville, Ky., 1847); “Evidences, Morals, and Institutions of Christianity” (Nashville, Tenn., 1870); “Ecce Unitas, or a Plea for Christian Unity” (Cincinnati, 1870); and “Bible Truths” (Nashville, 1887).

RALSTON, William C., banker, b. in Wellsville, Ohio, 12 Jan., 1826; d. in San Francisco, Cal., 27 Aug., 1875. His father was a carpenter and builder, and for several years he assisted in his father's workshop, but in 1849 he went to the Pacific coast. He became president of the Bank of California, and also took a deep interest in the building of railroads and the establishment of woollen-mills, sugar-refineries, silk-factories, and steamship-lines to Australia and China. He also invested largely in the construction of the Palace and Grand hotels, which enterprises ultimately ruined him. In August, 1875, James G. Flood made a sudden demand on the Bank of California for nearly $6,000,000, and, although the institution had assets to cover all its indebtedness, it was not able to meet this unexpected call. Its doors were closed, and the immediate resignation of the president was asked. The latter surrendered all his available personal property to meet the deficiencies of the bank, but, stung by the affront that had been put upon him, he drowned himself.

RAMÉE, Stanislas Henri de la (rah-may), French naturalist, b. in Périgueux in 1747; d. in Fontainebleau in 1803. He studied medicine and botany in Toulouse, and at the age of twenty had formed a valuable herbarium of the flora of Languedoc, when he went to Paris to study under Buffon, whom he assisted for several years in the Royal botanical garden. In 1783 he was sent to Peru to study the effects of cholera, which then was raging in Callao, and he visited afterward the Andes of Peru, Central America, the Isthmus of Panama, Cuba, and several of the West Indies, returning with valuable collections in natural history. His works include “Nova Systema Naturæ” (2 vols., Paris, 1792); “Monographie des drogues et médicaments simples de l'Amérique du Sud” (1794); and “Prodome des plantes recueillies en Amérique et dans les Indes Occidentales” (1798).