92 RID 
RIDGE, a* parish of England, in Hertfordshire; 4 miles 
north-west of Chipping Barnet. 
RIDGE, a post village of the United States, in St Mary’s 
county, Maryland.—Also a post village of Edgefield dis¬ 
trict, South Carolina. 
RIDGEBURG, a township of the United States, in 
Orange county, New York. 
RIDGEFIELD, a township of the United States, in 
Fail field county, Connecticut. Population 2103. 
RI'DGEL, or Ridgelling, s. [from rig.'] An animal 
half castrated: a ram of this description, in the north, is 
called a rigglit. 
Tend my herd, and see them fed; 
To morning pastures, evening waters, led: 
And ’ware the Libyan ridgel's butting head. Dry den. 
And ’ware the rjdg'ling with his butting head. Drydett. 
RI'DGINGLY, adv. After the manner of ridges, or ridge 
by ridge. Huloet. 
RIDGEVILLE, a township of the United States, in 
Warren county, Ohio.—Also a township of Cuyahoga 
county, Ohio. 
RIDGMONT, a parish of England, in Bedfordshire ; 2~ 
miles north-east of Woburn. Population 677. 
RIDGWELL, a village and parish of England, formerly 
a market town, in Essex; 5 miles from Clare. Population 
453. 
RI'DGY, adj. Rising in a ridge. 
Far in the sea against the foaming shore. 
There stands a rock; the raging billows roar 
Above his head in storms; but, when ’tis clear. 
Uncurl their ridgy backs, and at his feet appear. Dry den; 
RI'DICULE, s. [ridicule, Fr.] Wit of that species that 
provokes contemptuous laughter. 
Sacred to ridicule bis whole life iong, 
And the sad burthen of some merry song. Pope. 
Those, who aim at ridicule. 
Should fix upon some certain rule. 
Which fairly hints they are in jest. Swift. 
Folly ; ridiculousness.—It does not want any great measure 
of sense to see the ridicule of this practice. Addison. 
RI'DICULE, adj. [ ridicule , Fr.] Ridiculous. Not in 
use. —This action—was brought to court, and became so 
ridicule, that Sylvanus Scory was so laughed at and jeered, 
that he never delivered the letter to the queen. Aidery. 
To RI'DICULE, v. a. To expose to laughter; to" treat 
with contemptuous merriment.—I wish the vein of ridiculing 
all that is serious and good may have no worse effect upon 
our state, than knight errantry had on theirs. Temple. 
RI'DICULER, s. One that ridicules.—They are generally 
ridicu/crs of all that is truly excellent. Clarke. —The ridu- 
culer shall make only himself ridiculous. Chesterfield. 
RIDICULI iEDICULA, or, The Chapel of Laugh¬ 
ter, in Roman Antiquity, was a building erected at Rome, 
about two thousand paces beyond the gate Capena, in me¬ 
mory of the flight of Hannibal from the siege of the city, 
on account of the ruin and tempest that betel him on that 
occasion. The Romans, in ridicule of his flight, built and 
consecrated this chapel. 
RIDI'CULOUS, adj. [ridieulus, Lat.] Worthy of 
laughter; exciting contemptuous merriment.—He that saeri- 
ficeth of a thing -wrongfully gotten, his offering is ridiculous. 
Ecclus. xxxiv. 18. 
Thus was the building left 
Ridiculous; and the work confusion nam’d. Milton. 
It was not in Titus’s power not to be derided; but it was in 
his power not to be ridiculous. South. 
RIDI'CULOUSLY. adv. In a maimer worthy of laughter 
or contempt.—Epicurus’s discourse concerning the original 
of the world is so ridicuously merry, that the design of his 
philosophy was pleasure and not instruction. South. 
RIDl'CULOLSNESS, 5. The quality of being ridiculous. 
—What sport do Tertullian, Minueius and Arnobius make 
R I D 
with the images consecrated to divine worship! from the 
meanness of the matter they are made of, the casualties of fire, 
and rottenness they are subject to, on purpose to represent 
the ridiculousness of worshipping such things. Stillin </. 
fleet. 
RI'DING, particip. adj. Employed to travel on anv 
occasion.—It is provided by another provincial constitution, 
that no suffragan bishop shall have more than one riding 
apparitor, and that archdeacons shall not have so much as 
one riding apparitor, but only a foot messenger. Ayliffe. _ 
For the Art of Riding, see Horse, p. 378. 
RI'DING, s. A road cut in a wood, or through grounds, 
for the purpose of using the diversion of riding therein._ 
Beyond the garden ridings were cut out, each answering the 
’angles of the lodge. Sidney. —A district visited by an 
officer.—One of the three divisions of Yorkshire; corrupted 
from trithing. Ray. 
RIDING, a village of England, in Durham, between 
Ribblesworth and Urpeth. 
RIDING-BITTS, in Ship Building, are the largest bitts 
in a ship, and those to which the cable is fitted when she 
rides at anchor. 
RIDING CAST, in Husbandry, a term used by the 
farmers for a particular method of sowing their grounds, by 
making two casts upon the ground at the same time. This 
is not much used, but it is a quicker way than the double 
cast, which is the method now most used. Plot's Oxford- 
shir e;\ • . 
RIDING-CLERK, one of the six clerks in chancery, 
who in his turn, for one year, keeps the controlment-books 
of all grants that pass the great seal that year. Blount. 
RI'DINGCOAT, s. A coat made to keep out weather. 
—When you carry your master’s ridingcoat in a journey, 
wrap your own in it. Swift. 
RI'DINGHABIT, ,s. A dress worn by women, when they 
ride on horseback.—There isanother kind of occasional dress 
in use among the ladies; I mean the ridinghabit, which some 
have not injudiciously styled the hermaphroditical, by reason 
of its masculine and feminine composition. Guardian. 
RED1NGHOOD, s. A hood used by women, when they 
travel, to bear off the rain.—The palliolum was like our 
ridinghoods, and served both for a tunick and a coat. 
Arbuthnot. 
Good housewives all the winter’s rage despise. 
Defended by the ndinghood's disguise. Gav. 
RI'DINGHOUSE, or Ri'dingschool, s. A place in 
which the art of riding is taught.'— I hope you apply the 
time you have saved from the ridinghouse to useful more 
than to learned purposes.' Chesterfield. 
RIDLEY (Nicholas), an eminent English prelate and 
martyr in the cause of the reformation, was descended from 
an ancient family, and born at Wilmotswyc in Tynedale, 
Northumberland, at the beginning of the 16th century. As 
he afforded early evidence of excellent natural abilities, and 
an inclination for learning, he was placed in a grammar 
school at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he made such pro¬ 
ficiency, that his uncle Dr. Robert Ridley, entered him of 
Pembroke-hall in that university, about the year 1518. His 
disposition was open and ingenuous; by the care which had 
been taken of hini, his mind was strongly impressed with 
principles of piety; and he possessed an uncommon spirit of 
constancy and resolution, which made him indefatigable in 
his studies. With respect to his religious principles, he ap¬ 
pears to have been educated a zealous Papist. He studied 
Greek under Richard Crook, who was the first professor of 
that language at Cambridge; and in memorial of his dili¬ 
gence in acquiring it, a walk under Pembroke garden-wall 
still retains the name of Ridley's Walk, where he used to 
learn and repeat, without book, St. Paul’s Epistles in the 
original tongue. Having been ordained priest, for his. 
further improvement in theological knowledge his uncle sent- 
him to the Sorbonne at Paris, then the most celebrated se¬ 
minary in Europe for that study; and from thence he went 
to Louvain, continuing abroad til! the year .1529. After 
hisr 
