1US 



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doing any thing 1 , this is an unlawful as- 

 sembly. By 34 Edward III. c. 1, it is enact- 

 ed, that if a justice find persons riotously 

 assembled, he alone has not only power 

 to arrest the offenders, and bind them 

 to their good behaviour, or imprison 

 them if they do not offer good bail ; but 

 he may also authorize others to arrest 

 them, by a bare verbal command, with- 

 out other warrant ; and by force thereof, 

 the persons so commanded may pursue 

 and arrest the offenders in his absence, 

 as well as presence. It is also said, that 

 after any riot is over, any one justice may 

 send his warrant to arrest any person 

 who was concerned in it, and that he 

 may send him to gaol till he shall find 

 sureties for his good behaviour. The 

 punishment of unlawful assemblies, if to 

 the number of twelve, may be capital, 

 according to the circumstances which at- 

 tend them ; but from the number of three 

 to eleven, it is by fine and imprisonment 

 only. The same is the case in riots and 

 routs by the common law, to which the 

 pillory, in very enormous cases, has been 

 sometimes superadded. 



By the act 1 George IT. st. 2, c. 5, 

 every justice, mayor, sheriff, &c. shall, 

 upon notice of a riot, or unlawful, tumul- 

 tuous assembly of twelve persons, pro- 

 ceed to the place, and make proclama- 

 tion for them to depart, upon the pains 

 of that act commonly called the riot-act. 

 If any person shall wilfully oppose or 

 hurt any person going to make procla- 

 mation, and prevent the same, he shall 

 be guilty of felony, without benefit of 

 clergy. If twelve continue together af- 

 ter proclamation, for one hour, it is felo- 

 ny, in like manner. And every justice, 

 &c. shall apprehend persons, and if the 

 rioters are killed, the justice, &c. shall 

 not answer for it. A riot, though of fewer 

 persons than twelve, to destroy any 

 ohurch, chapel, meeting, or dwelling- 

 house, out-house, &c. is a capital felony : 

 and the hundred shall answer the da- 

 mages, as in case of robbery. 



If two justices go out to quell a riot, 

 they may assemble the posse comitatus, and 

 every person capable of travelling is, 

 ftpon being warned, to join them, on pain 

 of imprisonment. 13 Henry IV. c. 7, s. 1, 

 2, 11, 5. c. 8, s. 2. 



RISBAN, in fortification, a flat piece 

 of ground, upon which a fort is construct- 

 ed for the defence and security of a port 

 or harbour. It likewise means the fort 

 itself. The famous liisban, of Dunkirk, was 

 built entirely of brick and stone ; having 

 within its walls excellent barracks, a large 



cistern well supplied with water, maga- 

 zines for stores, provisions, and ammuni- 

 tion. A ready communication was kept 

 up with the town by means of the jcttft.', 

 which corresponded with the wooden 

 bridge that joined the entrance into the 

 fort. The rampart was capable of re- 

 ceiving forty-six pieces of ordnance, 

 which were disposed in three different 

 alignements or tiers, owing to the trian- 

 gular fig-tire of the fort; so that a fire 

 could be kept up on all sides. 



RITTERA, in botany, a genus of the 

 Polyandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Leguminosae. Essential 

 character: calyx four-leav, d ; petals one, 

 lateral; legume one celled, two-valved. 

 There are five species. 



IlIVKR, a current, or stream of fresh 

 water, flowing in a bed or channel, from its 

 source, into the sea. When a stream is not 

 large enough to bear boats, or small ves. 

 sels laden, it is called a rivulet or brook. 

 The great, as well as the middle-sized 

 rivers, proceed either from a confluence 

 of brooks and rivulets, or from lakes ; but 

 no river of considerable magnitude flows 

 from one spring, or one lake, but is aug- 

 mented by the accession of others. Thus 

 the Wolga receives above two hundred 

 rivers and brooks, before it discharges 

 itself into the Caspian Sea ; and the Da- 

 nube receives no less, before it enters the 

 Euxine Sea. Some rivers are much aug- 

 mented by frequent rains, or melted snow. 

 In the country of Peru and Chili, there 

 arc small rivers, that only flow in the day ; 

 because they are only fed by the snow 

 upon the mountains of the Andes, which 

 is then melted by the heat of the sun. 

 There are also several rivers upon both 

 sides the extreme parts of Africa, and in 

 India, which, for the same reason, are 

 greater by day than by niglit. The rivers 

 also in these places are almost dried up 

 in summer, but swell and overflow their 

 banks in winter, or in the wet season. 

 Thus the Wolga in May and June is fill- 

 ed with water, and overflows its shelves 

 and islands, though at other times of the 

 year it is so shallow, as scarcely to af- 

 ford a passage for loaded ships. The Nile, 

 the Ganges, the Indus, &c. are so much 

 swelled with rain or melted snow, that 

 they overflow their banks, and these de- 

 luges happen at different times of the 

 year, because they proceed from various 

 causes. Those that are swelled with rain 

 are generally highest in winter, because 

 it is usually then more frequent than at 

 other times of the year; but if they pro- 



