completing his curriculum he was appointed tutor to the two eldest sons of the earl of Cathcart, and accompanied them first to Eton, and afterwards to St. Petersburg, when their father was appointed ambassador to Russia. Shortly after his return Mr. Richardson was elected in 1773 professor of humanity in the university of Glasgow, and continued to discharge the duties of that office till his death in 1814, in the seventy-second year of his age. Professor Richardson was the author of a volume of poetry; "The Indiana," a tragedy , "The Maid of Lochlin," a lyrical drama; a "Philosophical Analysis and Illustration of some of Shakspeare's Remarkable Characters;" an "Essay on Celtic Superstitions;" articles in the Edinburgh Magazine and Review, the Mirror, Lounger, &c.—J. T.
RICHELIEU, Armand Emanuel Duplessis, Duc de, French statesman, was born at Paris on 25th September, 1766. Flying to Vienna during the French revolution, he there joined the Russian army of Suwarrow, and distinguished himself at the taking of Ismail from the Turks. Soon afterwards he was appointed a major-general in the Russian service, and he became lieutenant-general in 1801. He showed great energy and sagacity as governor of Odessa, a post which he held from the year 1803 until the restoration of the Bourbons to the French throne, after which event he was invested by Louis XVIII. with various high offices of state. After rendering many valuable services to his country during a time of great danger and distress, he finally retired from public life in 1818, and died at Paris in 1821.
RICHELIEU (Armand Jean Duplessis), commonly called Cardinal, was born at Paris, on the 5th of September, 1585. His family was noble, although not opulent; his father distinguished in arms, and holding various important posts at the court of Henry IV.; and his mother the daughter of an ancient house, a woman gifted with much strong sense and sagacity. The future statesman studied at the colleges of Navarre and Lisieux, and intended at first to adopt the military profession; but his elder brother, Alphonse, bishop of Luçon, having retired to a Carthusian convent, it was resolved that Armand should succeed him in his see. According to such an arrangement the latter applied himself to theological studies, took at the early age of twenty a doctor's degree, and after overcoming the scruples of the pope, who was unwilling on account of his youth to elevate him to the episcopal office, he was consecrated bishop of Luçon in 1607. Returned as deputy of the clergy of Poitou in 1614 to the assembly of the states-general, he had the good fortune to win the favour of the queen-mother, Marie de' Medici, and this proved the commencement of his subsequent successful career. He was appointed secretary of state, and during an ensuing quarrel between the young king, Louis XIII., and his mother, he mediated skilfully between the two, thus acquiring a lasting influence over both. In 1622 he was made a cardinal, and in 1624 obtained a seat in the council, from which date, as chief minister of the crown, he exercised supreme rule in France until the time of his death, eighteen years afterwards. Throughout the whole of that protracted period, the history of France was virtually the life of Richelieu. It is, of course, impossible to narrate here in continuous fashion the events of a career so crowded with incident and so rife with momentous issues; and the better plan will therefore be simply to direct attention to the three great objects which Richelieu ever kept steadily in view, and the proper understanding of which affords the clearest commentary on the true character of the man, and the remarkable part he played on the stage of European politics. His first object was to endow the crown with absolute power, and thoroughly to bumble the French nobility. With undeviating steadiness he pursued such a purpose to the end. He rightly saw that the kingdom would experience no peace, that internal prosperity could never be insured, nor external policy be made effectual, while a body of men so unprincipled as the French nobles then unquestionably were, could at any time ravage the country, impede commerce, and interpose a violent check to the entire industry of the nation. Naturally unscrupulous in the use of means, he sent on various pretences many members of aristocratic families to the scaffold, while others he kept in close confinement until the period of his death. On every hand reducing the number of their retainers, and gradually curtailing their possessions, seizing their strongholds, and driving them from their castles to the court—he at last succeeded in making the nobility dependents on the royal bounty, rather than opponents of the royal will. The second great object of Richelieu—the annihilation of the French Calvinists as a political party—he accomplished by besieging in person, and capturing La Rochelle, the city that formed their head-quarters, in 1628. But it should not be forgotten, that motives of intolerance or fanaticism seem to have had little to do with Richelieu's systematic persecution of the protestants. The principles that guided him were far rather political than religious; and this is proved by the fact that he procured a royal edict securing tolerance to the Calvinists in 1629. Perhaps the greatest of all Richelieu's objects, however, was the humiliation of the house of Austria, which, since the time of Charles V., had possessed preponderating influence in Europe. True to his inspirations as a politician, if heedless of his duty as a prince of the church, Richelieu secretly excited the protestants of Germany to rise against the emperor, and afterwards openly lent them his strong support. Subsequent to the death of Gustavus Adolphus, a French army co-operated with the Swedish troops on the Rhine against the imperial forces. Accumulating his blows, Richelieu resolved to assault the power of Austria not merely in Germany, but in Italy and Flanders. He assisted the protestant Grisons against the Roman catholics of the Valteline, who were supported by the Spaniards; he joined the states-general of the Netherlands to assail the Spanish dominions in Belgium, with the intention of annexing the same to France; he employed every agency to effect the purpose on which, from the beginning, he had set his heart, and at the close of life he could say that the effort had been completely successful. The house of Austria was foiled and humbled; and the balance of power, lost since the ascendancy of that house, was again restored in Europe. Richelieu's concluding years were darkened by the conspiracy of Cinq-Mars; yet the usual good fortune of the cardinal seemed still to attend him, and the conspirators were detected and punished. Shortly after, death overtook the great statesman, and he expired at Paris, with the most perfect calmness and serenity, about mid-day of the 4th December, 1642. The exclamation of Louis XIII., on being told of his decease, "There is a great politician gone!" conveys only half the truth; for Richelieu, however great as, was much more than, a mere politician. He was also a man of high and noble aims. His was one of the kingly natures that dominate an epoch, and stamp the intense significance of their own individuality deep on the annals of the world. He gave, as has been justly remarked, the final blow to the feudal system, and threw down the last remnant of an institution that, in its infancy, its prime, and its decay, had outlived a thousand years. He was thus the true pioneer of the great French revolution. Grave errors, doubtless, not seldom pervaded his policy, and his conduct was often unprincipled, revengeful, and despotic; but on the whole we may pronounce him the grandest minister of the old monarchy of France. He extended on every side the boundaries of the realm he governed; he established its first important trading company—the company of the Indies; and he founded, endowed, and transmitted to succeeding ages one of the most illustrious of European literary institutions, the French Academy—the projection of which would itself suffice to cover him with immortal honour. Let the errors and the crimes, then, be forgotten, and let the transcendant merits survive.—J. J.
RICHELIEU, Louis François Armand Duplessis de, Marshal of France, was born 13th of March, 1696. Gifted in intellect, brilliant in manner, and attractive in person, he had the questionable honour of being incarcerated in the Bastile at the age of fifteen, by desire of his father, who grew alarmed at his premature excesses. In 1716 he was again sent there by the Regent d' Orleans, whom he rivalled in profligacy; and in 1719 he was for the third time imprisoned there on a charge of conspiracy with Spain. After various diplomatic appointments, he distinguished himself by his bravery at the siege of Philipsbourg, and afterwards at the battles of Dettingen and Fontenoy. His enormous and horrible profligacies, however, were such that not even his most brilliant military exploits could win him any real popularity. Nevertheless his services were great, especially in 1756, when he took Port Mahon from the English; and in 1757, when he drove the duke of Cumberland from Hanover. For the rest of his life he was simply a courtier. Despite his vices he attained the age of ninety-two, dying August 8, 1788.—W. J. P.
RICHMOND and LENNOX, Dukes of. Of this distinguished house the following members deserve special notice:—Matthew, fourth earl of Lennox, took a prominent part in public affairs during the troublous times of Queen Mary. He passed his youth
