76 RIO 
side, or at variance with both. Attachment to party has 
generally made a neutral] station a place of contempt, and 
those who have taken it have seldom obtained much consi¬ 
deration. Not so with Mr. Ricardo: his independance was 
truly appreciated. Not courting popularity, not wanting op 
seeking anything from either side .of the House, he stood aloof 
and claimed the respect and admiration of both. During the 
session, Mr. Ricardo’s whole time was devoted to his duties 
as a member of parliament. His mornings were spent in 
study, in receiving visitors, in answering correspondents, or 
in attendance upon some committee; and in the evening he 
never missed going to the House. During the recess, he 
usually retired to his seat at Gatcomb Park, in Gloucester¬ 
shire, where, in the bosom of his family, he spent his time 
in the enjoyment of contributing to the happiness of all 
around him. In the recess of 1822 he went to the Continent; 
travelled with his family through Holland, Germany, Switzer¬ 
land, and Italy, and returned home, after an absence of five 
months, through France. 
Mr. Ricardo never appeared more cheerful, or in better 
health, than he did during his last retirement in the country, 
just previous to his death. This premature event was 
occasioned by an affection of the ear, which ultimately ex¬ 
tended itself to the internal part of the head. Mr. Ricardo 
had for many years not been entirely free from this complaint, 
of which he thought but slightly; for it had never before 
occasioned him any very serious inconvenience. He was 
attended through his last illness by one of his brothers, who 
had retired from the medical profession, and who was then 
on a visit to him. There were no symptoms that could ex¬ 
cite the smallest anxiety about his recovery, till a very short 
time before his decease. He died on Thursday, thellthof 
September, 1823, and was buried at Hardenhuish. 
High as has been the testimony publicly borne to the 
merits of Mr. II. since his death, it has not exceeded what he 
deserved. His private worth kept pace with those public 
qualities which earned him so great an estimation. To intel¬ 
lectual powers of the first order, he joined a candour, a 
modesty, a diffidence, which never allowed him to assume 
to himself a merit which he felt he did not deserve;—a love 
of justice which never permitted him to be influenced by his 
feelings, or biassed by any cireumstauces that might divert 
him from doing that which he thought strictly right;—a dis¬ 
interestedness which made him always regardless of his own 
personal benefit, in the maintenance of general principles. 
When a Bank proprietor, he argued strenuously and warmly 
against the inordinate gains of that body ; he defended the 
cause of the fund-holders when he had ceased to be one; he 
was accused of an attempt to ruin the landed interest after he 
became a large landed proprietor; and while a member of 
parliament, he advocated the cause of reform, which, it adop¬ 
ted, would have deprived him of his seat. Superior to the 
misleading power of self-interest, his aim was the dissipation 
of erroneous, and the promulgation of true and correct prin¬ 
ciples, the adoption of which should tend to the amelioration 
of mankind, and the production of the greatest possible good. 
Annual Biography. 
RICARAS, a tribe of Indians who live near the Missouri, 
but who have been reduced by the small pox. 
RICCALL,a parish of England, East Riding of Yorkshire; 
4 miles north-by-east of Selby. Population 518. 
RICCARTON, a small village of Scotland, in West-Lo- 
thian, about 3 miles south from Linlithgow. 
RICCARTOUN, a parish of Scotland, in the district of 
Kyle, Ayrshire; 6 miles long, and 2 broad. Population 
1840. 
RICCARTOUN, a village of the above parish, immedi¬ 
ately adjoining Kilmarnock. The manufacturing of car¬ 
pets and cotton goods is the principal business carried on 
here. 
RICAUT or Rycaut (Sir Paul), a well-known historical 
writer, was the youngest son of Sir Peter Ricaut, Knight, who 
wasprobably a merchant in London. The time and place of 
the birth and education of Paul are unknown, but he appeals 
to have travelled during several years, in Europe, Asia, and 
R I C 
Africa. When the Earl of Winchelsea, in 1661, was sent 
ambassador extraordinary to the Ottoman Porte, he took 
Ricaut with him as his secretary, who remained eight years 
in that post. In 1663, he published the treaty or capitula¬ 
tion concluded between Charles II. and the Turkish Sultan, 
in which was the favourable article, that English ships should 
be exempted from search for foreign goods. After this com¬ 
mission was expired, he was appointed English consul at 
Smyrna, which office he filled about eleven years, to the 
entire satisfaction of the Turkey-company, and with the re¬ 
gard of all the Europeans in that city. Upon his return, he 
employed himself in literary occupations, till, in 1685, he ac¬ 
companied the Earl of Clarendon, Lord Lieutenant of Ire¬ 
land, as his secretary for Leinster and Connaught. He was 
also nominated by James II. one of his privy-council for 
Ireland, and Judge of the Admiralty Court, and received the 
honour of knighthood. Soon alter the Revolution, he was 
sent by King William as his resident to the Hanse-Towns, 
in which post he continued ten years. He returned to Eng¬ 
land in 1700, and died in that year, worn out with age and 
long services. From his employment by Kings and parties 
so different in polities, it may be inferred that he was a man 
Who prudently confined himself to his proper business, and 
made himself useful to all by his talents and industry. He 
was well acquainted with the learned languages, with the 
Turkish and modern Greek, the Italian, Spanish, and French. 
The first publication of Ricaut’s, was a work composed in 
Turkey, entitled, “ The present State of the Ottoman Em¬ 
pire, ” 1670, fob, and 1675, 8vo.; this contains much va¬ 
luable information respecting the civil and military state of 
that country, though not without mistakes. One error, 
which has been noted, is his assertion that the Mahometan 
women have no expectation of paradise. During his resi 
dence at Smyrna, he drew up, by command of Charles II., 
“ The present State of the Greek and Armenian Churches,” 
1678. After his return to England, he composed his princi¬ 
pal work, which was a continuation of “ Knolles’s General 
History of the Turks;” this he brought down from 1623 to 
1677, in one vol. fob, printed 1680; and from 1679 to 
1699 in another vol. fob, 1700. This performance displays 
the knowledge of Turkish affairs that might .be expected 
from his long residence in the East, but is inferior in historic 
merit to the work of Knolles. He further gave a continu¬ 
ation of “ Platina’s Lives of the Popes,” from 1471 to his 
own time, which was annexed to an English translation of 
Platina, published in 1685; and he translated from the 
Spanish, “ The Royal Commentaries of Peru, by Garcilasso 
de la Vega.” A work called “ The Spanish Critick,” also 
passes under his name ; and a paper of his, relative to the' 
gregarious mice of Norway, is printed in the Transactions of 
tlie Royal Society, of which he was a member. Biogr. 
Brit. , 
RICCATI (Vincent), a learned Italian Jesuit,, who 
flourished in the 18th century, was born at Castel-Franco, 
in the territory of Treviso, about the year 1707. His genius 
inclining him chiefly to the study of the mathematical 
sciences, he cultivated them with so much success, that his 
superiors selected him as a proper person to teach them to 
others. Accordingly, he was placed in the mathematical 
chair in their college at Bologna, which he filled with re¬ 
putation till the suppression of the order in 1773. This 
event he did not long survive: for, having retired to his 
native place, he died of a colic in 1775, when he was about 
68 years of age. He was the author of several mathematical 
works, the most valuable of which is, “ A Treatise on the 
Integral Calculus,” in 3 vols. 4to„ He did not confine his 
labours, however, to the abstract or pure mathematics, but 
also paid particular attention to the study of hydraulics: a 
branch of science of the greatest importance in all the north¬ 
ern Italian states, where the numerous rivers expose the 
country to continual inundations. In this line he appears to 
have rendered considerable services to the Venetian territo¬ 
ries, since the republic, in 1774, directed that a gold medal, 
of the value of forty livres, should be struck in his honour. 
Nouv. Diet. Hist. 
RICCI, 
