81 
R I C 
'honourably. His heart and hand were always open to do 
good: his charities were large, his manner of living was 
generous and hospitable. After the death of his first wife, 
in 1731, he‘ took for a second the sister of Mr. Leake, a 
bookseller at Bath, a valuable woman, with whom he lived 
in the same harmony that had marked his first conjugal 
union, and who survived him. He had many children, but 
had the misfortune to lose all his sons; and four daughters 
alone grew up to solace his declining years. When his 
writings had rendered him, as it were, the patron of the 
female sex, he had many amiable young friends of that sex, 
who were frequent visitors at his house, and .who formed a 
circle of affectionate admirers, in which it was his delight to 
read his works in the progress of composition, and attend to 
the remarks of his auditors. And if, on these occasions, he 
indulged in a little vanity of applause, it was surely a par¬ 
donable foible in its association with so much kindness and 
solid worth. Several of these visitors were women of excel¬ 
lent understandings and various accomplishments, and the 
circle was beyond comparison more respectable than that in 
which Swift passed his trifling and misanthropical old age. 
Richardson was rather silent and reserved in mixed com¬ 
pany, and probably never got over the bashfulness incident 
to a man of feeling who has risen to notice beyond what his 
original rank in society could claim. He had also an inde¬ 
pendent soul, and did not value the acquaintance of his 
superiors enough to court it. His courtesy (of which no 
man had a greater share] was bestowed on his equals; and 
it is an amiable picture that one of his correspondents draws 
of him, when he says, “ I think I see you sifting at your 
door like an old patriarch, and inviting all who pass by to 
come in.” Nor did he limit his benevplence to the com-' 
mon exercise of hospitality ; he was the substantia], valuable 
friend in difficulty, distress, and sickness. In temperance 
both of mind and body, piety, and the faithful discharge of 
every moral duty, he was most exemplary. This estimable 
person was afflicted with a train of nervous disorders in his 
latter years, which at length terminated in an apoplectic 
seizure, that carried him off in July, 1761, at the age of 72. 
He was interred according to his own directions, by the side 
of his first wife, in the church of St. Bride. 
The writings of Richardson, exclusive of his three novels, 
were of no great consequence. They are chiefly “ Familiar 
Fetters,” alluded to in the account of his life; an edition of 
xEsop’s Fables, with Reflections;” his “ Case,” on the 
piracy of his Grandison by the Dublin booksellers; and 
some fugitive pieces in different periodical publications, of 
which one is No. 97, of the Rambler, describing the pro¬ 
gress of a virtuous courtship. His “ Correspondence,” 
selected from the original manuscripts, was published in six 
volumes, in 1804, with a biographical account of the author 
V>y Mrs. Barbauld, from which the chief part of the pre¬ 
ceding narrative has been extracted. 
RICHARDSON’S BAY, a bay on the south-east coast of 
Jamaica. 
RICHBOROUGH, a small village of England, in the 
county of Kent, formerly a place of very considerable im¬ 
portance, being the famous Rutupium of the Romans, sup¬ 
posed to have been the first and principal station of that peo¬ 
ple, and the port where their armies usually landed. This 
port maintained its consequence about a thousand years, till, 
about the year 1010, both the town and the castle built for 
its defence by Vespasian, were ruined by the Danes. No 
traces of the town are now to be found by the most diligent 
research, its site being entirely occupied with arable 
fields and inclosed pastures. The remains of the castle, by 
their immense mass, have alone withstood the ravagesof time, 
and rising above the extensive and surrounding marsh, form 
an interesting object to the antiquary and the traveller. 
These ruins afford a more perfect specimen of Roman archi¬ 
tecture, than exists any where else in Britian. The castle 
has been a regular parallelogram. The whole site occupied 
six acres and one-fourth. The walls were upwards of 10 feet 
thick; they were flanked by round projecting towers at the 
angles, and by square ones at irregular distances along the 
Vol. XXII. No. 1485. 
R I C 
sides. The castle had two gates, the one on the western, the 
other on the northern side. The Roman coins, and other 
antiquities that have been found either within or contiguous 
to this station, are very numerous. The remains of a Roman 
amphitheatre are also still apparent, at about 460 yards from 
the south-west angle of the castle. The station of Rutupium 
is mentioned by all the ancient writers on British affairs. 
The city is said to have been founded by Caesar’s army, and 
the shores in the neighbourhood were called by the poets, 
the Rutupium shores j 2 miles north-north-west of Sand¬ 
wich. 
RICHEA, a genus of plants established by Brown, which 
seems to be no other than Craspcedia. See Craspcedia. 
RICHELET (Caesar Peter), a French writer. About 
1660 he went to Paris, where he was admitted an advocate, 
and began to plead at the bar. It appears that he was for 
some time placed about the Dauphin, with no particular 
office, but as one who might contribute to inspire that prince 
with the love of literature. .He died at Paris in 1698, at the 
age of sixty-seven. The principal work of Richelet is his 
“ Dictionnaire Francois,” of which the first edition was pub¬ 
lished at Geneva in 1680, 4to., and several have since been 
printed with successive augmentations. The last is that of 
the Abbe Goujet, Lyowr, 1759, three vols. folio. Richelet’s 
Dictionary has been popular though his orthography was 
much censured, as well as the satirical strokes and the obsce¬ 
nities which he had interspersed in the work, but which 
have been expunged in the later editions. He also published 
“ Dictionnaire des Rimes“ Les plus Belles-Lettres des 
meilleursAuteurs Francois:” a “Translation of Garcilasso 
de la Vega’s History of Florida;” and some other works of 
no great reputation. Moreri. Nouv. Diet. Hist. 
RICHELIEU (Armand du Plessis), a famous prime-minister 
of France, born at Paris in 1585, was the son of Francis du 
Plessis Richelieu, grand provost of France, and captain of 
the guards to Henry IV. He was brought up to the church, 
and after studying at the Sorbonne, went to Rome,.and at the 
early age of 22 was consecrated bishop of Lucon. Though 
he had obtained some distinction by his proficiency in scho¬ 
lastic theology, the ecclesiastical profession neither suited his 
morals nor his ambition, and his great object was to make his 
way at court. He concealed under polite and .insinuating 
manners, a firm and determined disposition, and a spirit of 
intrigue well suited to a female regency and a reign of favour¬ 
ites. The queen-mother, Mary of Medicis, in 1616 nomi¬ 
nated him her grand-almoner and secretary of state. On the 
fall of the marshal D’Ancre, his protector, and the disgrace of 
the queen-mother, Richelieu retired from court, and affected 
to employ himself in writing books of devotion, whilst he 
was upon the watch to recover his credit. This point.he at 
length gained by affecting an accommodation between the 
queen and her son, Lewis XIIL, and the new favourite De 
Lugnes rewarded his services by procuring for him a cardi¬ 
nal’s hat in 1622. ' After the death of Lugnes, the court and 
kingdom fell into disorder through the intrigues of the great, 
and the contentions of different parties, while all agreed in 
their defiance of the laws, and encroachments upon-the su¬ 
preme authority. A minister of equal talents and resolution 
was wanted to remedy these evils, and he existed in Riche¬ 
lieu, He had entirely gained the confidence of the queen- 
mother, who recovered influence enough to introduce him 
into the council, notwithstanding the opposition of the other 
ministers who feared him, and the repugnance of the king, 
who suspected his ambition, and was shocked with his licen¬ 
tious manners. Like Sextus V. he affected an unwillingness 
to accept that station which had been the object of his wann¬ 
est wishes, and for some time he' conducted himself with 
great modesty and reserve ; but it was not long after his return 
to the ministry, which was in 1624, that he found means to 
subvert all his rivals, and to possess himself of the whole au¬ 
thority of the crown. 
The government in his hands soon assumed a tone of vi¬ 
gour and decision. He concluded the treaty of marriage be¬ 
tween the Prince of Wales and Henrietta the French king’s 
sister, in spite of the efforts of Rome and Spain, and equally 
Y disconcerted 
