R I C 



R I C 



RICHOLD, or Richeld, a town of Franee, in the 

 department of the Roer, near the Meufe ; two miles N.W. 

 of Dalem. 



RICHTENBERG, a town of Anterior Pomeranra ; 

 28 miles E.N.E. of Roitock. N. lat. 54 11'. E. long. 

 12° 50'. 



RICHTENSWYL, a town of Switzerland, fituated 

 on the W. fide of the lake of Zurich, in the canton of 

 Zurich, with a convenient harbour ; 1 1 miles S. of Zu- 

 rich. 



RICHTER, Francis-Xavier, in Biography. There 

 are fix muficians, male and female, recorded in Gerber's 

 Continuation of Walther's Lexicon ; among whom, the molt 

 celebrated and bell known in England was Francis-Xavier, 

 whofe works, of various kinds, have great merit. His har- 

 mony is correct ; the fubje&s are often new and noble ; 

 but his detail and manner of treating them are frequently 

 dry and Iteril, and he fpins and repeats paffages in different 

 keys without end. The French and Italians have a term 

 for this tedioufnefs, which is wanting in our language, 

 they call it rofalie, or rofalia ; derived from the name of a 

 female faint, remarkable for repeating her " Pater nolter," 

 and ftringing her beads more frequently than even St. 

 Dominic himfelf, or than any other pious perfon, that has 

 merited a place in the Golden Legend. An Italian cries 

 out. upon hearing a llring of repetitions, either a note 

 higher, or a note lower, of the fame pafl'age or modula- 

 tion, ahfanta Rofalia! Indeed this fpecies of iteration in- 

 dicates a want of invention in a compofer," as much as 

 ftammering and hefitation imply a want of wit or memory 

 in a itory -teller. He died at Strafburgh in 1789, in the 

 80th year of his age. 



RICIMER, count and patrician of the Weftem em- 

 pire, and an important civil and military character in 

 the fifth century, ferved from his youth in the Roman 

 armies, is which he acquired great reputation by his 

 warlike exploits, and at length came to be regarded as 

 the ableft commander of the age. In the reign of the 

 emperor Avitus, being one of the chief commanders of 

 the Barbarian troops which formed the defence of Italy, 

 he deftroyed, in the year 456, on the coaft of Corfica, a 

 fleet of Genferic, the Vandal king, deitined to ravage the 

 coafts of Gaul or Italy. His fuccefs in this inftance en- 

 abled him to avail himfelf of the public difcontent to de- 

 pofe Avitus, and raife Majorian to the throne in the year 

 457. Not being raifed to the dignity which he expected 

 under this prince, he compelled him to abdicate the purple, 

 which act was foon followed by his death. Ricimer next 

 raifed an obfcure man, named Libius Severus, to the throne, 

 who bore the title of emperor during four years without 

 performing anyone imperial function. In that period, and 

 in an interregnum of two years more, Ricimer exerted 

 fovereign authority, amaffmg treafures, forming a feparate 

 army, and negociating alliances. His own mean birth pre- 

 vented him from afluming the purple, and in 467 he con- 

 curred in the inauguration of Anthemius, whole daughter 

 he married. The new emperor and his fon-in-law palled 

 fome years in union, but at length diflentions broke out 

 between them, which ended in the murder of the emperor, 

 and Olybrius was proclaimed in his ftead. Thus a third, 

 or perhaps a fourth, emperor was added to the number of 

 Ricimer's victims ; but in a few weeks after the mallacre of 

 Anthemius, " Italy," fays Gibbon " was delivered by a 

 painful difeafe from the tyrant Ricimer, who bequeathed 

 the command of his army to his nephew Gundobald, one 

 of the princes of the Burgundians." Gibbon's Rom. Hift. 

 ■'. vi. 



RICINA, in /Indent Geography, an ifland fituated o,. 

 the coaft of Hibernia, being one of thofe called Ebudes. 

 according to Ptolemy and Pliny — Alio, a town of Italy, 

 in the Picenum, which became a Roman colony under 

 the reign of the emperor Severus. It was fituated S.W. 

 of Auximum. — Alfo, a town of Italy, in Liguria, S.E. 

 of Genoa. 



RICINOCARPODENDRON, compounded of w»- 

 nus, xkjt©', frutlus, and &>Jgov, arbor, in Botany, the name 

 of a genus of plants, eftablilhed by Dr. Amman, the 

 characters of which are thefe : the flower is of the roface- 

 ous kind, confiding of three petals, difpofed in a circular 

 order, in the centre of which there arifes a large and open 

 tube, through which {hoots up the piltil, which grows at 

 the bottom of the cup; this piflil, finally, becomes a tri- 

 gonal fruit, divided into three cells within, and containing 

 each one feed in a rough coat. 



The leaves of this; tre° fometimes refemble thofe of the 

 alh, being compofed of three or four pairs of fmaller 

 leaves joined to a middle rib, thefe are not ferrated, and 

 terminate in a fharp point ; the flowers grow at the alae of 

 the leaves, they are white, and are difpofed in lax fpikes ; 

 the fruit is green at lirft, afterwards it becomes of a yel- 

 lowilh-red, and finally fcarlet ; it is of the bignefs of a 

 walnut, and in lhape much refembles the fruit of the rici- 

 nus ; the covering of the feeds is black on the outfide, 

 and red within, and each feed is divided into two lobes ; 

 when ripe, the fruit burlts, and the feeds fall out. It 

 is a native of the Ealt Indies. Act. Petropol. vol. iii. 

 p. 214. 



RICINOCARPOS, from the refemblance of the fruit 

 to Ricinus. See Acalviha, Croton, Mercuriali*, 

 Tragia. 



RIC1NOIDES. See Ceakotiius, Croton, Jatro- 

 i>iia. 



RICINUS, fo denominated from the refemblance its 

 feed has to the little infect called a tick, Ricinus ; and this, 

 according to Ainfworth, is compounded of re and canis, 

 becaufe the tick, or tyke, is particularly annoying to dogs, 

 by fixing itfelf upon their ears and other parts. It is 

 the K»ki or Kgirrai of Diofcorides, words exprefiive of the 

 likenefs of its feed to the above-named infect ; the former 

 of thefe appellations, however, is of eaftern origin, and of 

 rather uncertain fignification, occurring in the prophet Jo- 

 nah. Pliny mentions an Egyptian herb called Palma-Chrijli, 

 with feeds like a tyke. — Linn. Gen. 503. Schreb. 655. 

 Willd. Sp. PI. v. 4. 564. Mart. Mill. Did. v. 4. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. v. 5. 331. Purfhv. 2. 602. Tournef. t. 307. 

 .luff. 388. Lamarck Diet. v. 6. 200. Illultr. t. 792. 

 Gxrtn. t. 107. Loureir. Cochinch. 584. — Clafs and order, 

 Monoecia Monadelphia. Nat. Ord. Tricoccx, Linn. Euphor- 

 bia, JufT. 



Gen. Ch. Male, Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, cloven 

 into five, ovate, concave fegments. Cor. none. Slant, Fila- 

 ments very numerous, thread-lhaped, united unequally below 

 into various fets ; anthers twin, roundilh. 



Female on the fame plant with the male, Ca!. Perianth 

 inferior, of one leaf, deciduous, cloven into three, ovate, 

 concave fegments. Cor. none. Pifi. Germen iuperior, 

 ovate, covered with avvl-fliaped briltly bodies ; ftyles three, 

 cloven, erect and fpreading, lufpid ; ltigmas limple. Peric. 

 Capfule roundilli, three-furrowed, generally prickly all 

 over, of three cells and three valves. Seeds folitary, nearly 

 ovate. 



E1T. Ch. Male, Calyx five-cleft. Corolla none. Stamens 

 numerous. Female, Calyx three-cleft. Corolla none. 

 Styles three, cloven. Caplule three-celled. Seed folitary. 

 9 Obf. 



