103 



RILEY, JOHN. 



RITSON, JOSEPH. 



104 



Bologna, about the year 1758, and received his musical education 

 under the celebrated Padre Martini, but completed it at Prague, where 

 he acquired a vigour which was not then the attribute of the Italian 

 school, Righiui composed many operas for different theatres, among 

 which his 'Armida,' ' Tigrane,' 'Enea nel Lazio,' and ' Alcido al Bivio' 

 are well worth the notice of the true amateur. He died in his native 

 city, iu 1812. 



RILEY, JOHN, born in London, 1646, was the first Englishman 

 that attained any excellence ia portrait, unless perhaps Dobson may 

 be considered as an exception, and in that department he remained 

 unrivalled by any native artist until the appearance of Sir Joshua 

 Reynolds. He was instructed in his art by Fuller and Zoust, but he 

 adopted Vandyck as his model, and painted much ia the style of Lely; 

 his draperies were admirable. Riley was a modest and unassuming 

 man, and excessively diffident and distrustful of his powers. " With 

 a quarter of Sir Godfrey's vanity," says Walpole, "he might have 

 persuaded the world he was as great a master." Upon the death of 

 Sir Peter Lely, Riley came into general notice, and obtained the patron- 

 age that he merited. He was introduced to Charles II., and painted 

 his portrait, who said, upon seeing it, " Is this like me ? Then, odd's 

 fish, I am an ugly fellow," which greatly disconcerted the modest 

 painter. He painted also the portraits of James II. and his queen, 

 Mary of Modena ; and after the Revolution in 1688, he was appointed 

 state painter to William and Mary, whose portraits he also painted. 



Riley's master- piece is reckoned the portrait of the lord-keeper North, 

 at Wroxton ; and among his most successful performances are men- 

 tioned also the portraits of Bishop Burnet and the celebrated Dr. 

 Busby, master of Westminster school. Riley died in London, of the 

 gout, in 1691, in the forty-sixth year of his age. His property, which, 

 according to Walpole, amounted to only 800?., came to his scholar 

 Richardson, who had married his niece. 



RINCON, ANTONIO DEL, court painter to Ferdinand and Isa- 

 bella, and the first good Spanish painter, was born in Guadalaxara in 

 the middle of the 15th century, or probably as early as 1446. From 

 the largeness of his style compared with the generally then prevailing 

 Gothic design, not only in Spain but in the greater part of Italy, he is 

 supposed to have studied in Florence, and probably with Andrea del 

 Castagno, or Domenico Ghirlandajo. Most of llincon's works have 

 already perished, but there is still an altar-piece, consisting of seven- 

 teen pictures from the life of the Virgin by him in the church of 

 Robledo de Chavela, on the road from Madrid to Avila, near the 

 Escorial, which display many excellent qualities of art. In 1483 he 

 executed some works in the old sacristy of the cathedral of Toledo ; 

 he was employed by Ferdinand and Isabella in several of the royal 

 palaces of Spain, but both pictures and palaces have long since 

 perished by fire, and otherwise. Rincon was decorated with the order 

 of Santiago; he died at Seville in 1500. Antonio's son, Fernando del 

 Rincon, was a good fresco painter. 



RIPPERDA, JOHN WILLIAM, BARON, afterwards DUKE OF, 

 a descendant from an ancient and honourable Spanish family, which 

 had settled at Groningen during the period that the Low Countries 

 were attached to Spain, was born in that district in the latter part of 

 the 17th century. His father being a Roman Catholic, young Rip- 

 perda was educated in the Jesuits' college at Cologne. After greatly 

 distinguishing himself in the course of his education, Ripperda 

 returned to the United Provinces, and having soon after entered the 

 Dutch army, served during the whole of the war of the Succession, 

 and rose to the rank of colonel. He then married the heiress of very 

 considerable property, in order to obtain which he first renounced the 

 faith of his fathers. Aspiring to political distinction, he eagerly 

 sought a seat in the States-General, and was returned towards the end 

 of the war as" deputy for his own province. In 1715 the States ap- 

 pointed him envoy extraordinary to the court of Spain, with instruc- 

 tions to arrange definitively a system of commercial intercourse 

 between the two powers. On his arrival at Madrid, Ripperda im- 

 mediately attached himself to Alberoni, the all-powerful minister of 

 Philip V. [ALBERONI], whom he assisted with memorials and plans of 

 improvement for the commerce and finance of Spain, and whose pro- 

 tection he secured. During his residence at Madrid, Ripperda carried 

 on several intrigues by no means creditable to his character either as 

 an ambassador or a man ; for whilst conducting the negociations of 

 his native country, Holland, he maintained a secret correspondence with 

 the emperor, and was also guilty of a most disgraceful transaction 

 towards Mr. Doddington, the English minister, in whose pay he 

 seems to have been, whilst he secretly informed Alberoni of all his 

 projects. 



In the meantime Ripperda rose high in favour both with Philip and 

 his minister. By his exertions fifty master-workmen from Holland 

 were induced to settle in Spain, and to establish extensive cloth manu- 

 factures, first at Azeca, and afterwards at Guadalaxara. Having some 

 time after applied for some recompense for his services, he was 

 answered that the King of Spam could never employ in any high or 

 responsible office a person attached to the Protestant faith. Accord- 

 ingly, in March 1718, Ripperda quitted the Spanish capital and 

 returned to Holland. Having rendered a full account of his mission, 

 of which the States expressed their approbation, he then formally 

 resigned the office which he held, and set out once more for Madrid, 

 and proceeded thence to Aranjuez, where, soon after his arrival, he 



made his abjuration, receiving as a compensation for his losses the 

 appointment of superintendent-general of the royal manufactories at 

 Guadalaxara, with a considerable pension and extensive grants of land. 

 The fall of Alberoni, which was hastened by Ripperda, opened to this 

 ambitious man the way to power, and he was accordingly entrusted, 

 in 1725, with the formation of a secret treaty with the emperor. To 

 reward his services in that memorable transaction, he was soon after 

 created duke, and raised to the dignity of grandee of Spain. 



On his return to Madrid, Ripperda was appointed secretary of state 

 in the place of the Marquis of Grimaldi. Having succeeded shortly 

 after in gaining the entire confidence of Philip, he was raised to the 

 post of prime minister. His administration however was not of long 

 duration. Unable to fulfil the secret engagements entered into with 

 the house of Austria, or to accomplish the vast schemes laid down by 

 the treaty of Vienna, such as the recovery of Gibraltar by force of 

 arms, and the seating of the Pretender on the throne of England, 

 schemes which the exhausted state of the Spanish treasury and the 

 menacing attitude assumed by Great Britain compelled him to 

 relinquish, Ripperda fell into disgrace with the Spanish monarch. 



On the 25th of May 1727, he was arrested at the house of Colonel 

 Stanhope, where he had taken refuge, and was sent to the fortress of 

 Segovia, where he remained in close confinement, until, having eluded 

 the vigilance of his keepers, he made his escape, and arrived safely in 

 Lisbon, where he embarked for Cork. After spending some time in 

 England, he set sail for his native country in 1731, and settled at the 

 Hague. "Whilst there he became acquainted with an envoy from the 

 court of Marocco, of the name of Perez, who was a Spanish renegado, 

 and who, perceiving the violent hatred which Ripperda bore to the 

 Spaniards, and his love of adventure, induced him to try his fortunes 

 upon the shores of Africa. Ripperda accordingly set sail for Tangier, 

 and was well received by the Emperor of Marocco (Muley Abdallah), 

 who gave him the command of an army destined to repel a threatened 

 invasion from Spain. Ripperda was however defeated before Oran, 

 which city-fell into the hands of the Spaniards in 1732. 



About this time Ripperda is said to have abandoned the Roman 

 Catholic creed, and to have embraced the Mohammedan religion, 

 taking the name of Ottoman Pasha'. He lived for some time at 

 Marocco, surrounded with all the gratifications and luxuries that 

 wealth could supply, and then removed to Tetouan, where he remained 

 until his death in 1737. 



It is said that some time previous to his death he believed himself 

 inspired, and endeavoured to propagate a new religion a mixture of 

 Christian, Jewish, and Mohammedan doctrines, which however had no 

 followers. Shortly after the death of this extraordinary man there 

 appeared at Amsterdam an account of his life and adventures, under 

 this title : ' La Vie du Due de Ripperda, par M. P. M. B.,' 8vo, Amst., 

 1739. The same work was translated into English, by John Campbell, 

 and published as ' Memoirs of the Basha Duke of Ripperda,' London, 

 8vo, 1739. There is also a Spanish translation of it, Madrid, 1748. 



* RITCHIE, LEITCH, was born at Greenock about the beginning 

 of the present century. His first destination was commerce, and for a 

 time he acted as clerk in a banking-house, and for trading firms in 

 London and Glasgow. At the latter place he assisted in establishing 

 a periodical work, called 'The Wanderer,' and when the firm in which 

 he was employed failed, he returned to London, devoted himself to 

 literature, contributed to several journals, magazines, and reviews, and 

 published a volume of tales under the title of ' Head Pieces and Tail 

 Pieces,' another 'Tales and Confessions,' and ' Londou Night Enter- 

 tainments.' The 'London Weekly Review,' on which he was principally 

 employed, having changed hands, he retired for awhile to France, 

 where he produced his novel of ' The Game of Life,' in two volumes, 

 and the ' Romance of History France,' in three volumes. He next 

 wrote some sketchy books of travels, to illustrate the views in ' Turner's 

 Annual Tour,' and ' Heath's Picturesque Annual,' of which two series 

 he produced twelve volumes. He also published ' The Wye ; its 

 Scenery and Associations,' with illustrations. He likewise wrote ' The 

 Magician,' a romance in two volumes, and ' Schinderhannes, the Robber 

 of the Rhine,' in one volume, and edited the ' Library of Romance.' 

 On the cessation of the demand for annuals he edited the London 

 ' Era ' weekly newspaper ; and afterwards established ' The Indian 

 News,' during his connection with which he published ' The British 

 World in the East; Guide to India,' in two volumes. After this he 

 was engaged by the Messrs. Chambers to edit and write for their 

 ' Journal,' for which purpose he removed to Edinburgh, where he has 

 now resided for some years ; in ' Chambers' Journal ' he produced his 

 latest novel, ' Wearyfoot Common,' which has also been published in a 

 separate form. 



RITSON, JOSEPH, a poetical critic and antiquary of the 18th 

 century, was born at Stockton in Durham, and some of his pieces were 

 published there before he came to settle in London. He was by pro- 

 fession a conveyancer, with chambers in Gray's-inn, but being appointed 

 deputy high bailiff of the duchy of Lancaster, he did little in his 

 profession, living on the income which his office yielded him, and 

 spending his time in literary pursuits. During the twenty years 

 between 1782 and 1802, he poured the results of his studies and 

 researches on the public iu books in quick succession ; yet not so rapidly 

 that it can be said that they are carelessly executed, or that their 

 contents are worthless. On the contrary, he appears to us to have been 



