R I V 



of Cuxhaven having only two or three fmall hovels, and a 

 wind-mill, the paffengers by the packets refide during their 

 ftay at Ritzbuttle. 



RIVA, or Riff, a town of the county of Tyrol, at 

 the end of the Garda lake ; 1 6 miles W.S.W. of Trent.— 

 Alfo, a river of the Tyrolefe, which runs into lake Garda, 

 near the town of the fame name. — Alfo, a town of France, 

 in the department of the Po, feated on an eminence, in the 

 middle of a plain, which extends to the W. and S., and is 

 nearly furrounded with water, over which are two bridges, 

 one of wood, the other of Hone. The adjacent hills are 

 covered with vines and fruit-trees, and the plain produces 

 abundance of grain ; moil of thehoufes within the walls are 

 furniihed with gardens ; two miles E. of Chieri. — Alfo, a 

 town of Italy, in the bailiwick of Lugano ; 8 miles S. of 



Lugano. Alfo, a town of Italy, in the Valteline ; 6 



miles S. of Cliiavenna. — Alfo, a town of Italy, in the de- 

 partment of the Mela ; 14 miles N.N.W. of Brefcia. — 

 Alfo, a town of the Ligurian republic ; 6 miles N.N.E. ol 

 Savona. 



RIVAGE, RlVAGitM, a toll anciently paid to the 

 king on fome rivers, for the paffage of boats or veffels 

 therein. 



RIVAL, Rivalis, a term of relation applied to two 

 perfons who have the fame pretenfion. 



It is properly ufed for a competitor, in love ; and figura- 

 tively, for an antagonift in any other purfuit. The intrigues 

 of comedies and romances ufually turn on the jealoufies of 

 rivals, who difpute for the fame miftrefs. 



The lawyers derive the word from the Latin r'rvus,Jlream, 

 quod ab eodem rive aquam hauriant. 



Donatus fuppofes it to have been formed hence, that 

 beafts coming to drink at the fame brook, or fountain, fre- 

 quently quarrel. 



Caelius fays, that rivales were originally fuch whofe fields 

 were parted by a brook or rivulet, the courfe of which being 

 liable to be varied feveral ways, occalioned frequent difputes 

 and law-fuits. 



RIVALTA, in Geography, a town of France, in the 

 department of the Po, on the Sangon ; 6 miles S.W. of 

 Turin. — Alio, a town of Italy, in the department of the 

 Olona ; 15 miles E. of Milan. 



RIVANNA, a river of Virginia, which unites with the 

 Fluvanna, to form James river, about two miles above Elk 

 ifland. It is navigable for canoes and batteaux, to its inter- 

 feron with the S.W. mountains, about 22 miles. 



RIVAROLI de Fuori, a town of Italy, in the depart- 

 ment of the Mincio ; 20 miles S.W. of Mantua. 



RIVAROLO, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Po, on the Oreo ; 15 miles N. of Turin. 



RIVAULT, David, in Biography, a French man of 

 letters and various writer, was born at Laval, in the pro- 

 vince of Perche, about the year 1 5 7 1 . He was brought 

 up in the family of the count de Laval, and tor iome time 

 followed the military profeffion, ferving in Italy about the 

 clofe of the 16th century, and in Holland in the year 1602. 

 During the following year, Henry IV. appointed him one of 

 the gentlemen of his bed-chamber. In 1605 he accompa- 

 nied the young count de Laval into Hungary, and entered 

 into the ferviee of the emperor againil the Turks. On his 

 return to his native country, he devoted himfelf to literary 

 and fcientitic ftudies, in which he had before made conii- 

 derable progrefs. In 161 1 he was appointed iub-preceptor 

 to the young king Lewis XIII., and had a peniion of 3000 

 livres fettled upon him. The office of principal preceptor 

 becoming vacant during the next year, he received that ap- 

 pointment, and was honoured with the title of counfellor of 



R 1 V 



ftate. In 1614, the king conferred on him letters of no- 

 bility. He died at Tours, in 1616, about the age of 45. 

 He is fpoken of with high efteem by feveral of the molt 

 celebrated writers of his time, particularly by Cafaubon, 

 Scaliger, Vofiius, Erpenius, and Menage. His works 

 coniilt of " The States, or a Difcourfe concerning the Pri- 

 vileges of the Prince, the Nobles, and the third Eilate," 

 &c. ; " Elements of Gunnery," which is a curious and 

 very fcarce work ; " Archimedis Opera qux extant, Gr. 

 et Lat. novis Demonitrationibus illuitrata ;" &c. folio, 

 and other pieces. 



RIVE de Gier, in Geography, a town of France, in 

 the department of the Loire, and chief place of a can- 

 ton, in the diitritf of St. Etienne ; 4 miles N.E. of St. 

 Etienne. The place contains 4263, and the canton 15,089 

 inhabitants, on a territory of 160 kihometres, in 13 com- 

 munes. 



RIVEL d'lct Semals, a town of France, in the depart- 

 ment of the Aube ; 9 miles W.N.W. of Quillan. 



RIVELLES, a town of Spain, in Catalonia; 12 miles 

 N. of Cervera. 



RIVELLO, a town of Naples, in the province of Ba- 

 lilicata ; 12 miles S.E. of Lauria. 



RIVER, Fjluvic.s, or Flumen, a ilream or current of 

 freih water, flowing in a bed or channel, from a fource or 

 fpring, into the fea. 



If the ftream be not large enough to bear boats, or fmall 

 veffels, loaden, it is properly called, in Englilh, by the di- 

 minutive rivulet, or Irook ; by the Latins rivus ; and by 

 the French riviere, If it will only bear fuch veffels, the 

 Latins call it amnis. If it be coniiderable enough to carry 

 larger vefiels, it is called by the general name river ; by 

 the Latins Jluvius, and Jiu men ; and bv the Y revic\i Jleuve ; 

 between all which the difference is only as to greater and 

 lefs. 8 



Some will have none to be properly rivers, except 

 thofe which bear the fame name from their fource to their 

 mouth. 



Others, none but thofe which empty themfelves imme- 

 diately into the iea ; and not into any other river. 



Rivulets have their rife, fometimes from great rains, or 

 great quantities of thawed {how ; efpecially in mountainous 

 places ; as in the long ridges of Africa, India, Sumatra, &c. 

 But the generality ol rivulets arife from fprings. 



Rivers themfelves all arife either from the confluence of 

 feveral rivulets, or from lakes; nor is there any great river, 

 luch as the Rhine, Elbe, &c. known to flow from a Angle 

 fpring. 



The Volga, e. gr. confifts of above two hundred rivulets, 

 all flowing into it, before it reaches the Cafpian ; and the 

 Danube receives as many. 



The Rhine and the Po receive each above a hundred 

 others, great and fmall ; and the river of the Amazons re- 

 ceives into its large bed a prodigious number, fome of which 

 are Ave or fix hundred leagues in length, and are of fuch a 

 depth and breadth as render them principal rivers. 



Pliny, indeed, and Cardan, fay, that the Nile receives 

 none ; but the later travellers into Abyffinia affure us of the 

 contrary. 



The Rhine, Rhone, Danube, Boryfthenes, &c. arife 

 originally from fprings in the mountains ; and the Nile, 

 the Volga, the great river of St. Laurence, &c. from 

 lakes. 



It has been held by many, that all fprings and rivers owe 

 their origin to rains and dews ; but there are fome fprings 

 which cannot be accounted for on this principle, though 

 others very well may. The intermitting fprings, which 



flow 



