Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/73

RIP for the colonies. On Lord Castlereagh's resignation, after the duel with Canning, Mr. Robinson also resigned, but returned to office in 1810 as a lord of the admiralty. In 1812 he was appointed vice-president of the board of trade, and in that capacity carried through the house of commons the too-famous corn bill of 1815. President of the board of trade from 1818 to 1823, he was appointed in the latter year chancellor of the exchequer, and from his cheerful speeches in times of general depression was nicknamed "Prosperity Robinson." Colonial secretary in Canning's ministry of 1827, he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Goderich, and after the death of Canning in the August of that year, he became premier. During his short premiership occurred the "untoward event" of Navarino; and being quite unequal to the post, harassed, too, by dissensions among his colleagues, he resigned at the beginning of 1828. He entered Lord Grey's first ministry in 1830, as colonial secretary, and in 1833 was created Earl of Ripon, and became lord privy seal. With Lord Stanley (now earl of Derby), the late Sir James Graham, &c., he seceded from the whig ministry in 1834. In Sir Robert Peel's second ministry of 1841-46 he was president successively of the board of trade and of the board of control; and after its fall he took little part in public affairs. Lord Ripon died in January, 1859.—F. E.  RIPPERDA,, Baron, afterwards Duke of, one of the most extraordinary personages of the eighteenth century, was born at Groningen about the year 1680. He was descended from an ancient Spanish family, which had settled in that district during the period when the Low Countries were attached to Spain. He was educated in the Jesuits' college at Cologne, and, entering the Dutch army, rose to the rank of colonel. Having distinguished himself by his political talents, the states-general appointed him envoy to the court of Spain, where he gained great favour with Philip V., and assisted Cardinal Alberoni, that sovereign's minister, with plans for the improvement of Spanish finance and commerce. On the fall of Alberoni in 1719, a fall hastened by Ripperda himself, the way was opened for the latter to supreme power, which he not long after attained, being created a duke and raised to the dignity of grandee of Spain, and subsequently reaching the summit of his ambition, the post of prime minister. But a brief period sufficed to bring about his fall. Unable to accomplish the vast and visionary schemes his untiring brain projected, he fell into disgrace, and in 1727 was imprisoned at Segovia. Effecting a romantic escape from confinement, and passing through Portugal, he came to England, but returned to his native country, Holland, in 1731. Lastly, he terminated his singular career by undertaking a voyage to Morocco, where he lived till his death in 1737, having nominally embraced the Mahometan faith, yet professing to proclaim a new religion, it being a curious compound of Mahometanism, Judaism, and Christianity.—J. J.  RIPPINGILLE,, English painter, was born at King's Lynn, Norfolk, in 1798. The son of a farmer, he taught himself to draw and paint, and established himself at the age of eighteen in Bristol as a teacher of drawing. Here he became acquainted with Bird, whose portrait he painted, and whose manner he imitated in his first oil painting, "The Post Office," a work of some humour and promise, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1819. He continued to paint subjects of this kind, as "The Recruiting Party," "Going to the Fair," &c., with a certain success, till 1837, when he went to Italy, stayed there four years, and then began to paint Italian subjects in a somewhat more ambitious and imitative manner. One of them, "Mendicants of the Campagna," is in the Sheepshanks gallery at South Kensington. In the Vernon collection are two heads painted by him. At the Cartoon competition of 1843 Mr. Rippingille obtained one of the supplementary prizes. About this time he opened an art school in London, but it did not succeed. He also gave lectures on art, contributed to the Art Journal, and established and edited the Artist's Magazine (1843), which, however, lasted but twelve months. He died suddenly of disease of the heart, April 22, 1859.—J. T—e.  RISDON,, styled by Prince "the famous antiquary of Devon," was born at Winscot in that county, in 1580, and was educated at Great Torrington and at Pembroke college, Oxford. Recalled home to the possession of the Winscot estate, he applied himself to the study of local history and antiquities, and with great pains drew up "A Chorographical Description or Survey of the County of Devon." Prince defends the work with some warmth against the cavils of the envious. It was not printed till 1714, when Curle was the publisher. A reprint appeared in 1811, and Mr. Chapple of Exeter projected a new edition which was never completed. Risdon died in 1640.—R. H.  * RISTORI,, a celebrated actress, both in tragedy and comedy, born in 1821 at Cività di Friuli in the Venetian territory, her parents being recorded as "obscure comedians." Adelaide's first appearance on the stage was at the immature age of two months, and she was in her fourth year when she commenced acting—of course in children's parts. At the age of fifteen she entered the Sardinian company, to which she still belongs, and had the benefit of training at the hands of Carlotta Marchionni, who became much attached to her. Throughout the earlier part of her career Adelaide Ristori was known chiefly as an actress of comedy and light pieces, especially excelling in Goldoni's characters. She afterwards tried drama, and finally tragedy, under the auspices of Carolina Internari. Her theatrical career was interrupted by her marriage, in 1847, to the Marquis Capranico del Grillo; and it was only through the circumstance of her achieving a triumph about a year later upon playing as an act of kindness at the benefit of a manager in difficulties, that she was induced to return to the stage. Since then, and particularly since her appearance in Paris in 1855, she has taken rank as dividing with Rachel the primacy in tragedy; and since the death of the great French tragédienne she stands unrivalled. There is a considerable diversity between the styles of these eminent actresses, corresponding to the difference between the sinuous, passionate, and almost sombre air of Rachel, and the lambent composure and regular handsomeness of Ristori. Rachel was the more intense, the more realistic of one dominant emotion, and the more despotic ruler of her audience's feelings. Ristori has more the character of a consummate mistress of her art, rendering the details and the whole with poetic feeling and dramatic power, but certainly less native impulse of genius. She has also great versatility, being excellent in comedy, vaudeville, and drama, as well as tragedy. She may be deemed the more classic and complete; Rachel the more superb in power. Among Ristori's greatest tragic parts are Myrrha, Rosmunda (the Gothic princess), Octavia, Antigone,  Electra, Francesca da Rimini, Pia de' Tolommei (a brace of dantesque characters), Mary Stuart, Medea (a part which she accepted in 1856 upon its refusal by Rachel), Phædra, and Camma, which was written for her. She has within the last few years appeared in most of the capitals of Europe.—W. M. R.  RITCHIE,, an English traveller, was a native of Yorkshire. He held the situation of secretary to the English consulate in Paris, when an association was formed in London for the purpose of exploring the interior of Africa. He immediately offered his services to the society, and was despatched to the north of that continent, with instructions to penetrate as far as Timbuctoo. At Malta he was joined by a naval officer named Lyon and a sailor, and the three travellers, on reaching Tripoli, prepared themselves for their hazardous undertaking, by assuming the dress and practising the rites and ceremonies of Mussulmans. Having provided himself with a caravan of merchandise, and a large number of camels, Ritchie set out with his companions in March, 1819, under the protection of Mohammed-el-Moukin, bey of Fezzan. But on reaching Mourzouk, his capital, this man proved cruel and treacherous. He prevented Ritchie from disposing of his goods, and the travellers were subjected to great privations in consequence of the want of funds. The noxious climate too exercised an injurious influence on their health, and Ritchie died 20th November, 1819. A few hours after his interment, a courier arrived with a considerable remittance from the British government, and his appointment to the office of vice-consul of Mourzouk. Captain Lyon returned home and published an account of the expedition, at London, in 1821.—J. T.  RITCHIE,, was born at Greenock at the beginning of the century, and after receiving a school education became clerk, first in a banking-house, and subsequently in other mercantile offices in Glasgow. The failure in business of his latest employers urged him to make literature his profession. He helped to establish in Glasgow a periodical work entitled the Wanderer. He then went to London, and wrote articles for various reviews and magazines, and in 1828 published "Head-pieces and Tail-pieces," a volume of tales; and soon after, "Tales and Confessions;" which was followed by "London Night Entertainments." In conjunction with Mr. Augustus 