RHY 



R I A 



fophical, intlru&ive, and fublime, that it becomes wholly 

 enervated by being drawled out to a tune, which affects no 

 part of the head, but the ear. 



And there is, again, fome kind even of inftrumental 

 mufic, fo divinely compofed, and fo expreflively performed, 

 that it wants no words to explain its meaning ; it is itlelf 

 the language of the heart and of pufiion, and (peaks more 

 to both in a few notes, than any other language compofed 

 of clafhing confonants, and inlipid vowels, can do in as 

 many thoufand. 



And, upon the whole, it feems as if poetry were more 

 imm. diately the language of the head, and mulic that of 

 the heart ; or, in other words, as if poetry were the 

 propereft vehicle of inftruction, and modulated found that 

 of joy, forrow, and innocent plealure. " Let the mulician," 

 fays M. Rouffeau, " have as many images or fentiments to 

 exprefs as you pleafe, wit'a tew iimple ideas ; for the pajfions 

 only Jing, the under/landing Jpeais," 



But, notwithstanding both poetry and profody are fo 

 frequently injured by injudicious compofers, it mufl not 

 be imagined that in our Iimple airs of the gavot and minuet 

 kind, we have no muiical rhythm, or that it always clafhes 

 with the poetical. Innumerable initances may be given 

 from well-known Englifh longs, where the cadence of the 

 verfe, and even the pronunciation of each fyllable, is care- 

 fully preferved by the air. For though our time-tahle fur- 

 niflies fix different degrees of long and Ihort notes, without 

 points, yet, if the divilions in longs defigned to difplay 

 a particular talent for difficult execution be excepted, we 

 feldom ufe more than two kinds of notes in the fame air. 



" Mirth, admit me of thy crew," by Handel, as well as 

 feveral popular fongs by Dr. Arne, Mr. Jackfon, and 

 others, are lufficiently conformable to poetical numbers and 

 rhythm, to fatisfy the greateil admirers of ancient fimplicity, 

 or even fuch as love poetry better than mulic, from whom 

 complaints of non-conformity generally proceed. 



Ifaac Voffius fays it is now above a thoufand years fince 

 muficians have loll that great power over the affections, 

 which arofe only from the true fcience and ufe of rhythm ; 

 and he accnles modern mufic of fuch a want of time and 

 accent, as to be all of one llyle and colour. We will not 

 defend the age in which Voffius wrote from the charge, nor 

 the mufic of the prefent ferious opera in France ; but the 

 compofitions of Italy and Germany are certainly free from 

 the cenfure, as mufic is now more divided into phrafes, and 

 fentences, than it was ; time is more marked, and more 

 eafily felt than it has ever been fince the days of Guide 

 What it was before, is not very well known ; but to confefs 

 the truth, it is our opinion, that whatever it has compa- 

 ratively loft in fome particulars, it has gained in others. 



RHYTHMIC. \, RHYTHMICE, 'PuBuixh, in the Ancient 

 Mufic, that branch of raufic which regulated the rhythmus. 

 See the preceding article. 



RHYTHMOPCEIA, one of the mufical faculties, as 

 they are called, which prefcribes rules for the motions, or 

 rhythm. 



The ancient rhythmopecia is very defective. We find no- 

 thing of it in the books of the ancients, but fome general 

 hints, which can fcarcely be called rules. In their explica- 

 tions there appears nothing but what belongs to the words 

 and verfes of their fongs, which is a llrong prefumption 

 they had no other. See Rhythm. 



RHYTIDOSIS, formed -of afliiva, to wrinkle, the name 

 of a diflemper of the eye, in which it walles and wrinkles up. 



RHYTIS, in Botany, from punt, ,i channel, or furrow, 

 fo named by Loureiro, becaufe it has a furrowed berry. 



— Loureir. Cochinch. 660. — Oafs and order, Polygamia 

 Diocda. Nat. Ord. . . . 



Gen. Ch. Perfect Flowers, Cal. Perianth inferior, cloven 

 into from three to fix, obtufe, fpreading fegments. Cor. 

 none. Stam. Filaments three, thread-fhaped, erect, longer 

 than the calyx, attached to the receptacle; anthers two- 

 lobed. Pi//. Germen fuperior, rather long ; ftyle none ; 

 Itigmas three, cloven, reflexed. Peric. Berry flatly ovate, 

 rugofe, flaccid, with one cell, and three, ovate, lmi\l feeds. 



Female Flowers on a feparate plant, Cal. Perianth in- 

 ferior, cloven mto numerous, lanceolate, hairy, fpreading 

 fegments. Cor. none. Stain none. Pifl. and Peric. as in 

 the perfect flowers. 



Eff. Ch. Calyx from three to fix-cleft. Corolla none. 

 Stamens three. Stigmas three. Berry three-feeded. 



Female, Calyx cloven into many fegments. 



1. R. fruticofa. Shrubby Rhytis. Loureir. Cochinch. 

 660. — Native of woods in Cochinchina. — KJhrub about fix 

 feet high. Stem nearly erect, branched in a fpreading 

 manner. Leaves alternate, ovate-oblong, (lightly pointed, 

 fmooth, entire. Flowers in long, flender, crowded, terminal 

 f pikes. Berry channelled. 



RHYTIUM, in /Indent Geography, a town of the ifland 

 of Crete. 



RHYZELIUS, Andrew, in Biography, a learned 

 Swedifh bifhop, was born in Weft Gothland in 1677, and 

 Itudied at Upfal. In 171 1 he was appointed profeffor of 

 theology at Abo, from thence he proceeded to Upfal, 

 where he was ordained, and appointed under pallor of the 

 congregation of St. Nicholas at Stockholm. In 17 13 he 

 was nominated by Charles XII. to be one of hi3 chaplains, 

 whom he afterwards accompanied to Norway. He obtained 

 other high offices, and at length, in 1743, ' le was r aifed to 

 the epifcopal bench. He died in the year 1761, leaving be- 

 hind him a high character for deep learning and accurate 

 judgment. His works are numerous, fome of which are, 

 1. " Svio-Gothica munita," or an hillorical defcription of 

 the towns, fortreffes, caftles, and royal palaces in the king- 

 doms of Sweden and Gothland. 2. " Monafteriologia Svio- 

 Gothica," or a defcription of monalterics. 3. " Mnemonica 

 Hiltoriae Svio-Gothica Epitome." 4. " Epifcopofcopia 

 Svio-Gothica," or a chronicle ot the Swedifh bifhops. Gen. 

 B.og. 



RlACA, or Riaza, in Geography, a river of Spain, 

 which rifes in the mountains which feparate Old and New 

 Caftile, and runs into the Duero near Roa. 



RIADHIAT, in Modern Hi/lory, a fuperftitious practice 

 among the Mahometans, and chiefly among thofe of Hin- 

 dooltan, which confilts in fhutting themfelves up for fifteen 

 days, without any other nourifhment than bread and water, 

 in a place where there is no light ; during which time, the 

 devout Muffulman inccffantly repeats the word hou, which 

 denotes one of the attributes of God. 



RIAITTE', in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Lower Loire, and chief place of a canton, 

 111 the diftrict of Ancenis ; 12 miles N. of Anccnis. The 

 place contains 613, and the canton 5555 inhabitants, on a 

 territory of 150 kiliometres, in 5 communes. 



RIAL, in Commerce. See Real. 



Rial, or Royal, is alfo the name of a piece of gold an- 

 ciently current among us for ten (hillings. 



In 1 Henry VI. by indenture ot the mint, a pound 

 weight of gold of tin- old ftandard was coined into 45 rials, 

 pairing for ten (hillings a-piece, or a proportional number of 

 half rials, palling at five (hillings a-piece j or rial farthings, 

 which went at two (hillings and two-pence. 



In 



