His nephew, Frank, also edited from his unpublished manuscripts: 1. ‘The Office of Bailiff of a Liberty,’ 1811, 8vo. 2. ‘The Life of King Arthur,’ 1825, 8vo. 3. ‘Memoirs of the Celts or Gauls,’ 1827, 8vo. 4. ‘Annals of the Caledonians, Picts, and Scots,’ 2 vols. Edinburgh, 1828, 8vo. 5. ‘Fairy Tales, now first collected, to which are prefixed two dissertations (1) On Pygmies, (2) On Fairies, by Joseph Ritson, esq.,’ 1831. Ritson's ‘Critical Observations on the Various and Essential Parts of a Deed’ first appeared in 1804 as an appendix to ‘Practical Points or Maxims in Conveyancing,’ by his old master, Ralph Bradley of Stockton (3rd edit. 1826).
Ritson has been wrongly credited with a well-executed translation of the ‘Hymn to Venus’ ascribed to Homer, 1788, 8vo. This is the work of Isaac Ritson (1761–1789), native of Emont Bridge, near Penrith, who became a schoolmaster at Penrith and a competent classical scholar. Subsequently he attended medical classes at Edinburgh, and finally settled in London, where he contributed medical articles to the ‘Monthly Review.’ Besides the ‘Hymn,’ Isaac Ritson wrote the preface, and much besides, of James Clarke's ‘Survey of the Lakes in Cumberland’ (1787). His friends predicted for him a distinguished literary career; but he died prematurely at Islington in 1789, aged 28. He was not related to the better known Joseph (Gent. Mag. 1803, ii. 1031; Hutchinson, Cumberland).
One Jonathan Ritson (1776?–1846), a native of Whitehaven, attained great skill as a wood-carver, being employed at Arundel and Petworth (1827–46) completing the work of Grinling Gibbons, from whom much of his own is with difficulty distinguished. A portrait by Clint is at Petworth (Gent. Mag. 1846, i. 548).
[Letters of Joseph Ritson, esq., from originals in possession of his nephew, with a Memoir by Sir Harris Nicolas, 2 vols. 1833; Letters from Ritson to Mr. George Paton, Edinburgh, 1829; Some Account of the Life and Publications of the late Joseph Ritson, esq., by Joseph Haslewood, 1824; Surtees's Hist. of Durham, iii. 193; Memoir in the Monthly Magazine for November 1803, reprinted in the Monthly Mirror for May 1805, attributed to William Godwin; British Critic, October 1803; Nichols's Literary Anecdotes and Illustrations; Mathias's Pursuits of Lit. p. 100; De Quincey's Works, ed. Masson, xi. 441–2; Lockhart's Life of Scott; Chambers's Book of Days, ii. 405–6; Scott's Introduction to the 1830 edition of the Border Minstrelsy. Two unpublished letters, now in the possession of Mr. Charles Davis of Kew, from H. C. Selby of Gray's Inn to Bishop Percy, dated respectively 6 April and 14 June 1804, give some account of Ritson's life and last days, chiefly derived from the narrative of Robert Smith, a bencher of the inn, whose chambers were above those of Ritson.]
RITTER, HENRY (1816–1853), artist, was born at Montreal, Canada, in 1816, and was destined to a commercial career, but persuaded his father to send him to Europe to study art. He remained for some time at Hamburg studying under Grözer, and ultimately settled at Düsseldorf, where he studied under Jordan and took two prizes at the academy. His health began to fail in 1847, when he was engaged on his largest painting. He died at Düsseldorf on 21 Dec. 1853.
Ritter chiefly affected sea-pieces. His best works were: ‘Smugglers struggling with English Soldiers,’ 1839; ‘Le Fanfaron,’ 1842; ‘Marriage Proposal in Normandy,’ 1842; ‘Young Pilot Drowned,’ 1844 (purchased by the Art Society of Prussia); and ‘The Poachers,’ 1847.
[Appleton's Cyclop. of Amer. Biogr.; Bryan's Dict. of Painters, 1889.]
RITWYSE, JOHN (d. 1532?). [See Rightwise.]
RIVAROL, LOUISA HENRIETTA Madame de (1749?–1821), was the only child of a Scotsman, Mather Flint, a teacher of English, who in 1720, at the age of eleven, accompanied to France his uncle, George Flint. This George Flint, whom his niece describes as being ‘known all over Europe,’ was apparently the author of ‘Robin's Last Shift’ (1717). Her father permanently settled in Paris about 1734, and published between 1750 and 1756 several works on English grammar and pronunciation. Eventually, after his wife's death, he apparently became a priest, and was appointed ‘curé du Mesnil-le-roi.’ Thus designated, he subscribed in 1776 to Letourneur's translation of Shakespeare (see list of subscribers in vol. i.).
Louisa, born at Remiremont before 1750, translated into French one of Shakespeare's plays, with Dr. Johnson's notes (probably the ‘Merchant of Venice,’ published in 1768). On 31 March 1769 Johnson wrote her a letter in French, thanking her for her eulogiums, and playfully complaining that she detained in Paris Sir Joshua Reynolds's sister Fanny [see under Reynolds, Sir Joshua, ad fin.] In the autumn of that year Reynolds, while in Paris, exchanged visits with her father and mother. About 1780 the daughter married the so-called Comte de Rivarol, the future satirist of the revolution. He was then twenty-seven, while she is described as older, but very handsome, and in the enjoyment of a competency. He is said to have
