R I C 



RIC 



fpecch before the corporation and citizens of London, en- 

 larged upon the title and virtues of the protector, and then 

 put the queftion to his audience, whether they chofe the 

 duke of Glouceller for king ? On their filcnce, he repeated 

 the queftion witli more importunity, and at length a few 

 voices cried out " God Cave king Richard." This was con- 

 ib-ucdinto a public declaration in his favour, and Bucking- 

 ham, with the lord mayor, repaired to the protector with 

 a tender of the crown. He firft affected alarm and fufpicion, 

 and then pretended loyalty to his nephew, and unwillingnefs 

 to take fuch a burden upon liimfelf. At length he accepted 

 the offer, and Richard was proclaimed king on the 27th of 

 1483. Tli" depofed king and his brother were never 

 more heard of, they were probably murdered in the Tower. 

 Richard was now extremely liberal towards thofe who had 

 been inftrumcntal in the change, and took other methods to 

 court popularity. He made a progrefs with a fplendid re- 

 tinue through feveral of the towns, and at York was a fe- 

 cond time crowned, on which occafion he created his only 

 fon prince of Wales. He foon began to difplay all the 

 qualities of a molt cruel tyrant, which fo difgufted the whole 

 nation, that deu ) we're formed to hurl him 'from the 

 throne. A confpiracy was excited againtt him, in favour of 

 Henry, earl of Richmond, which he difcovered and quelled. 

 This failure appeared to feat the king more firmly on the 

 throne, and he took advantage of his fituation by calling a 

 parliament, in which many good laws were paffed, the pro- 

 geny of Edward IV. were baflardized, and the crown fet- 

 tled on himfelf and pofterity. The death of his fon, foon 

 after, was a fevere ltroke to him in the midft of his profpe- 

 rity, which was followed by that of his wife ; the laft was 

 imputed, but without any evidence, to the effects of poi- 

 fon. To prevent a projected marriage between Elizabeth, 

 the eldeft daughter of his brother Edward, and the earl of 

 Richmond, Richard determined to marry her himfelf; as 

 this union would have been very detrimental to the earl's 

 interefl, he haltencd his preparations for another expedition 

 to England, and in Augull, 14S5, landed an army at Mil- 

 ford-haven. Richard, informed of the advance of his 

 rival, took the field, and met him, with an army of nearly 

 V£,ooo men, at Bofworth, in Leicefterfhire. The battle 

 was fought on the 23d of Auguft ; in which the king, find- 

 ing his fituation defperate - , r'ufhed againft his competitor, 

 flew his ftandard- bearer, and was upon the point of encoun- 

 tering the earl himfelf, when Ik- was himfelf (lain. The 

 body of Richard was found in the field, dripped naked, 

 and carried acrofs a horfc to 1. icefter, where he was in- 

 1 in the Grey friars' church-yard. Thus fell this 

 I tyrant, after having poffeffed the throne about two 

 years' and two months. The hiflorians, fays Hume, who 

 favour Richard, maintain, that he was well qualified for 

 government, had he legally obtained it ; and that he 1 

 milted no crimes but fuch as were neceffary to procure him 

 pofleifion of the crown : but this ie a poor apology, when 

 it is confeffed, that he was ready to commit th mod horrid 

 peared to him neceffary for that purpofe ; and 

 certain, that all his courage and capacity, qualities in 

 which lie reall j pot to have bet it, would 



: have made compenfation to the people for th 

 of the precedent, and for the contagious example of vice 

 and murder, exalted upon the throne. In perfon, Richard 

 has been reprefented as oi fmall ltature, deformed, and of a 

 forbidding afpect, but it is probable that the deteftation of 

 his character has aggravated his bodily defects. Hi6 me- 

 mory lives in ] i pillar tradition, as that of the mod odious 

 • 1 rant that ever filled the Euglifh throne. For the foregoing 

 V 1 . \\\". 



cles we are chiefly indebted to th of Hume and 



Henry. 



RlCHAJtD, John, a French advocate and theoIogic-1 

 writer in the 17th and the early part of the iSth centuries, 

 was born at Verdun, in Lorraine, about the year 3638. 

 The firft part of his education he received at Pont -a-Mouflon 

 and was then fent to Paris, where he ftudied law and divi- 

 nity. Afterwards he was admitted an advocate at Orleans ; 

 but more for the fake of poffefling the rank and privileges 

 connected with that title, than from any defign to practifc 

 at the bar. His inclination led him to devote his time and 

 talents to the compofition and publifhing of termors. By 

 his numerous productions of this defcription he acquired 

 celebrity. In the year t700 he began to publilh a compi- 

 lation, under the title of " A Moral Dictionary, or, Uni- 

 verfal Pulpit-Science," which, in 1715, was extended to 

 6 vols. 8vo. It coniifts of linking fentiments and reafon- 

 ings on a great variety of fubjects,"fele£ted from the works 

 of French, Spanifh, Italian, German, ai.d other divines, ar- 

 ranged in alphabetical order. 



RICHARDIA, in Botany, was named by Houftoun, 

 in honour of Richard Richardfon, M.D. F.R.S. who re- 

 fided on his own eftate at North Bierly, Yorkfliire, and died 

 at an advanced age, about the year 1740. His fortune 

 rendering him independent of medical practice, as a main- 

 tenance, he bellowed great attention on the botany of his 

 own country, and his name occurs continually in the publi- 

 cations of the early part of the 1 8th century, as the cor- 

 refpondent of Ray, Sloane, Dillenius, &c. He commu- 

 nicated feveral papers, on various fubjects, to the Royal 

 Society; none of them botanical ; fee Pulteney's Sketches, 

 v. 2. 185 — Linn. Gen. 174. Schreb. 230. Willd. Sp. 

 PI. v. 2. 222. Mart. Mill. Diet, v. 4. JuiT. 198. La- 

 marck Illullr. t. 254. Gsertn. t. 25. ( Ricardia ; Rel. 

 Houft. 5. t. 9.) — Clafs and order, Hexandria Monogynla. 

 Nat. Ord. Stell.it.?, Linn. Rubiacetc, 3vS. 



Gen. Ch. Cat. Perianth fuperior, of one leaf, in fix 

 deep, eredt, pointed fegments, half the length of the co- 

 rolla. Cor. of one petal, funnel-fhaped ; limb in \'\x acute, 

 erect fegments. Stum. Filaments fix, very fhort, inferted 

 into the tube of the corolla, alternate with its fegments ; an- 

 thers fmall, roundifh, between the fegments. Pi/1. Gcrmen 

 inferior, three-lohed ; ftyli thread-ihap d, the length of 

 the llainens, three-clefl in the upper part ; ftigmas obtufe 

 Perk. none. Seeds three, obovate, gibbous, rounded at 

 the outer fide, angular I the inner, crowned with the 

 calyx. 



Obi. Gaertner has obferved thai t lie calyx and corolla have 

 fometimes eight with eight ftamens. 



Efl'. Ch. Calyx in fix fegments. Corolla of one petal, 

 funnel-fhaped. Seed three, crowned with the calyx. 



1. K.fcabra. Linn. Sp. PI. 470. Willd. n. 1 Gathered 



by Houftoun at Vera Cruz. — A rough hairy plant, with 

 th habit of a Sperinaeace. Th ■-- ii tall, nurplifh, with 

 ite branch 1 'v.irs curved downwards. Leaves 



oppofite, crowded, ova i, entire, hairy, with 



many (lrai| : Flotvers encompafled with 



numerous hairy briftles. Calyx briftly. 



RICHARDSON, Jonathan, in Biogr,-. . mi- 



ter, and a writ' r on the art of painting, was born about the 

 year 1665. lie was intended ' ther tor the law, but 



at twenty years oi age was permitted to defert that profej 

 lion, and follow the bent of In inclination for painting. 

 He then becami il" difcipledf Riley, with whom he lived 

 tour years, ami finalh connected J 1 'if !>) marrying hi* 

 niece. The degree of [kill which ' ' ' , ant 



1' ) corrc- 



