RAPIN (Rene), a Jesuit and eminent French writer, was born at Tours in 1621. He taught polite literature in the society of the Jesuits with great applause, and was justly esteemed one of the best Latin poets and greatest wits of his time. He died at Paris in 1687. He wrote, 1. A great number of Latin poems, which have rendered him famous throughout all Europe; among which are his Hortorum libri quatuor, which is reckoned his master-piece. 2. Reflections on Eloquence, Poetry, History, and Philosophy. 3. Comparisons between Virgil and Homer, Demosthenes and Cicero, Plato and Aristotle, Thucydides and Titus Livius. 4. The History of Janse-nism. 5. Several works on religious subjects. The best edition of his Latin poems is that of Paris in 1723, in 3 vols 12mo.