upon this intelligence, landed at Milford haven, he found himself so much deserted, that he withdrew to North Wales, with a design to escape to France. He was, however, decoyed to a conference with Henry, seized by an armed force, and led by his successful rival to London. As they entered the capital, Henry was hailed with the loudest acclamations, and the unfortunate Richard treated with neglect and even contumely. His deposition was now resolved upon, to be preceded by a forced resignation of the crown. Thirty-five articles of accusation were accordingly drawn up against him, of which several were exaggerated, false and frivolous, but others contained real instances of tyranny and misgovernment; and king Richard was solemnly deposed Sept. 30, 1399. Henry then claimed the crown, which was awarded to him. (See Henry IV.) Richard was committed, for safe custody, to the castle of Pomfret. Of the manner of his death no certain account has been given; but a popular notion prevailed, that his keeper and guards killed him with halberds. It is more probable that starvation or poison was had recourse to, for his body, when exposed, exhibited no marks of violence. He died in the thirty-fourth year of his age, and twenty-third of his reign.

RICHARD III, king of England, born in 1450, was the youngest son of Richard duke of York. On the accession of his brother, Edward IV, he was created duke of Gloucester, and, during the early part of Edward's reign, served him with great courage and fidelity. He partook of the ferocity which was ever a dark feature in the character of the Plantagenets; and is said to have personally aided in the murder of Edward prince of Wales, after the battle of Tewksbury, and to have been the author, if not the perpetrator, of the murder of Henry VI (q. v.) in the Tower. This bloody disposition was, however, united in him with deep policy and dissimulation, which rendered him still more dangerous. He married, in 1473, Anne, who had been betrothed to the murdered prince of Wales, joint heiress of the earl of Warwick, whose other daughter was united to the duke of Clarence. Quarrels arose between the brothers on the division of the inheritance of their wives; and Richard, who found his elder brother an obstacle to his views of aggrandizement, combined in the accusations against that weak and versatile prince, which brought him to destruction. On the death of Edward, in 1483, the duke of Gloucester was

appointed protector of the kingdom; and he immediately caused his nephew, the young Edward V, to be declared king, and took an oath of fealty to him. The two ascendant factions, that of the queen's relatives, headed by her brother, earl Rivers, and that of the more ancient nobility, who were led by the duke of Buckingham and lord Hastings, courted the favor of the protector, who dissembled with each, while he was secretly pursuing the schemes of his own dark ambition. His first object was to get rid of those who were connected with the young king by blood; and, after spending a convivial evening with Rivers, Grey, and sir Thomas Vaughan, he had them arrested the next morning, and conveyed to Pomfret, where they were soon after executed without trial. Alarmed at the arrest of her relatives, the queen dowager took refuge in the sanctuary at Westminster, with her younger son, the duke of York, and her daughter. As it was necessary, for the protector's purposes, to get both his nephews into his hands, he persuaded two prelates to urge the queen to deliver the duke of York into his hands, upon the most solemn assurances of safety. Lord Hastings, although opposed to the queen's relatives, being the steady friend of her children, was next arrested, while sitting in council, and led to immediate execution. After this bold and bloody commencement, he proceeded in an attempt to establish the illegitimacy of Edward's children, on the pretence of a previous marriage with the lady Eleanor Talbot, daughter of the earl of Shrewsbury, and scrupled not to countenance an attack on the character of his own mother, who was affirmed to have given other fathers to Edward and Clarence, and to have been true to her husband only in the birth of Richard. All these pleas were dwelt upon in a sermon preached at St. Paul's cross. The duke of Buckingham afterwards, in a speech before the corporation and citizens of London, enlarged upon the title and virtues of the protector, and then ventured to ask them whether they chose the duke of Gloucester for king. On their silence, he repeated the question, and a few prepared voices exclaimed, "God save king Richard!" This was then accepted as the public voice, and Buckingham, with the lord mayor, repaired to the protector with a tender of the crown. He at first affected alarm and suspicion, and then pretended loyalty to his nephew, and unwillingness to take such a burden upon himself, but finally acceded; and he was

army, secured the victory to Richmond. (See Henry VII.) Richard, finding his situation desperate, rushed against his competitor, slew his standard-bearer, and was on the point of encountering Richmond himself, when he sunk under the number of his assailants. The body of Richard was found in the field stripped naked, in which condition it was carried across a horse to Leicester, and interred in the Grey Friars' churchyard. Thus fell this odious prince, in his thirty-fifth year, after possessing the crown, which he had acquired by so many crimes, for two years and two months. Richard possessed courage, capacity, eloquence, and most of the talents which would have adorned a lawful throne. Many of his bad qualities have probably been exaggerated, but undeniable facts prove his cruelty, dissimulation, treachery, and relentless ambition. Gibbon has answered the Historic Doubts of Walpole concerning the reign and character of Richard. Richard III has been represented as of small stature, deformed, and of a forbidding aspect; but there is some testimony to prove that his personal, like his mental, defects, have been magnified by the general detestation of his character.

proclaimed king on the 27th of June, 1483, the mock election being secured by bodies of armed men, brought to the metropolis by himself and Buckingham. The deposed king and his brother were never more heard of, and, according to general belief, they were smothered in the Tower of London, by order of their uncle. (See Edward V.) The new reign commenced with rewards to those who had been instrumental to the change, and with endeavors to obtain popularity. Richard, with a splendid retinue, made a progress through several provincial towns, and was crowned a second time at York, on which occasion he created his only son prince of Wales. But hatred and abhorrence of Richard soon became the general sentiment of the nation, and all men's eyes were turned towards Henry, earl of Richmond, maternally descended from the Somerset branch of the house of Lancaster. Buckingham, not thinking himself adequately rewarded, entered into a conspiracy against him, with other malcontents in the south and west of England, but was suddenly deserted by his followers, betrayed into the hands of authority, and executed without trial. About the same time, the earl of Richmond, who had embarked with a fleet from St. Malo, encountered a violent storm, and was obliged to return. The death of his son, the prince of Wales, was a severe stroke to Richard; and such was the odium attached to his character, that the death of his wife, which followed soon after, was, without the least evidence, attributed to poison. He immediately determined to marry his niece Elizabeth, the daughter of his brother Edward, and legitimate heiress of the crown, in order to prevent her union with Richmond. In August, 1485, Richmond landed with a small army at Milford haven. Richard, not knowing in what quarter to expect him, was thrown into much perplexity, which was aggravated by his suspicion of the fidelity of his nobles, and especially the Stanleys, the chief of whom had become the second husband of Margaret, the earl of Richmond's mother. When informed of the advance of his rival, he, however, took the field with great expedition, and met him with an army of 15,000 men at Bosworth, in Leicestershire. Richmond had only 6000 men, but relied on the secret assurances of aid from Stanley, who commanded a separate force of 7000. The battle was fought on the 23d of August, 1485; and, in the midst of it, Stanley, by falling on the flank of the royal

RICHARDSON, Samuel, a distinguished English novelist, was born in 1689, in Derbyshire, and received only a common school education. He early discovered a talent for story-telling and letter-writing, and, at the age of thirteen, was the confidant of three young women in their love secrets, and employed by them in their amatory correspondence. At the usual age, he was bound apprentice to Mr. John Wilde, a printer of Stationer's hall, London, and, after the expiration of his apprenticeship, passed five or six years as a foreman in a printing-office, until at length he set up for himself. His habits of diligence, accuracy, and honorable dealing, acquired him an extensive business; and, beginning to thrive in the world, he married the daughter of his former master. His Pamela, the first work which gave him distinction as a writer, was published in 1741. The first two volumes were completed in two months; and so great was its popularity, that it ran through five editions in one year, and was even recommended from the pulpit. The novelty of his plan, with many passages of great beauty, and interesting traits of character, may account for much of this reception; but, even at that time, critics existed who entertained those opinions of its imperfections, and

doubts of its salutary tendency, which have since become almost general. He was led, by a spurious continuation, to add two volumes to his Pamela, which are inferior to the former; but, in 1748, the appearance of the first two volumes of his Clarissa fully established his literary reputation; and its pathos, its variety of character, and minute developement of the movements of the human heart, will cause it ever to be regarded as a noble monument of its author's genius. The History of Sir Charles Grandison appeared in 1753. The interest taken in this work was not equal to that produced by the former, although perhaps exhibiting more compass and invention; but the character of the hero is in some degree repulsive, and the prolixity of the author began to engender satiety. The character of Clementina is a masterly example of delicate delineation. This work was, as well as the preceding, translated into foreign languages, and received with great applause. In all the productions of Richardson, the style is inelegant, gossipping and verbose, and he seldom knows when to leave off. In 1754, he rose to be master of the Stationers' company; and, in 1760, purchased a moiety of the patent of law printer to the king. As he grew rich, he indulged himself with a country residence at Parson's-green, Middlesex, where he lived, surrounded with a circle of affectionate admirers, particularly females, to whom it was his delight to read his work in the progress of composition. In mixed company, he was rather silent and reserved. Nothing could exceed his piety, moral worth, and general benevolence. He died of an apoplexy, in 1761, at the age of seventy-two, and was buried in the church of St. Bride, in Fleet street. His correspondence was published in 1804, in 6 vols., 8vo., with a life, by Mrs. Barbauld.

RICHELIEU, Armand Jean du Plessis, cardinal, duke de, one of the greatest statesmen of France, was born at Paris, in 1585, and at the age of twenty-two years was made bishop of Luçon. His country had already been restored from its long troubles to tranquillity, prosperity, and order, by Henry IV (q. v.) and his great minister Sully. (q. v.) In 1616, the queen-mother, Mary of Medici, into whose favor Richelieu had insinuated himself, made him her grand almoner and one of the secretaries of state. On the disgrace of the queen (see Mary of Medici), he continued attached to her cause, and effected a reconciliation between her and her son Louis

XIII (1619), which, however, was soon interrupted by her intrigues against the constable Luynes, the favorite of the king. Richelieu, who was thus placed between the two contending parties, loved by neither, but considered by both as a useful instrument, had a difficult part to act, and it required all his prudence to enable him to keep his position. In 1622, he obtained the cardinal's hat, through the influence of Mary, and, in 1624, entered the council of state, and was soon at the head of affairs. The premier now felt himself in a condition to drop the mask which he had hitherto worn, and Mary too late regretted the protection she had extended to him. The adherence of this princess to the political system of the house of Hapsburg was injurious to the interests of France. Almost all the French princes had kept up a constant opposition to that powerful family, and no sooner was Richelieu seated in his high post, than he began systematically to extend the power of the crown by overthrowing the privileges of the great vassals, and to increase the influence of the French monarchy by undermining that of the Hapsburgs, both beyond the Pyrenees and in Germany. Louis XIII, who was sensible of the energy of his minister, favored his plans, while he always showed a dislike for the man, whom he would gladly have destroyed, had he been able to govern without him. The Reformed (Huguenots) in France had for a long time resisted the royal power; and bloody insurrections, in several preceding reigns, had arisen from their struggles with the spiritual and temporal authorities, in defence of their civil rights and freedom of conscience. The wisdom and mildness of Henry IV had assuaged the excitement of the contending parties, but his reign was too short to extinguish the fires which still glowed beneath the embers. The struggle for religious freedom was too often, indeed, made a pretext, by the nobles, and even the princes of the blood royal, to cloak and further their own ambitious designs; and both religious parties, Catholics as well as Protestants, had thus alternately served as a check upon the despotic exercise of the royal power. Richelieu, therefore, resolved to crush the weaker by the aid of the stronger party, and thus to deprive those, who should be disposed to resist his schemes, of their main prop. By the edict of Nantes, the Huguenots had been placed on nearly the same footing with the other subjects of the kingdom: there were some provinces in which

they had the ascendency, and their armed force was sufficient to shake the throne, should they be excited to rise against it. Their rallying point was Rochelle; and Richelieu neglected no means to make himself master of that city. In the celebrated siege of Rochelle, he commanded the army in person. The attack and defence of the place are considered as affording models of perseverance, valor, and military skill. Rochelle, supported by England, from which it continually received supplies, held out for a long time against all the efforts of the cardinal; and the hope of reducing it was already nearly abandoned, when Richelieu, by the erection of an immense mole, cut off the communication by sea, and finally compelled it to surrender by famine (1629). The second step of Richelieu was the removal of the queen-mother from court. That princess endeavored to effect the fall of the minister: she had already gained over the king to her purpose, in a secret interview, when Richelieu entered the cabinet: the queen overwhelmed him with reproaches. He continued calm, had recourse to prayers and tears, and finally requested the king's permission to leave the court. The preparations were already made for his departure; but the king, who was not less offended by the violence of the queen, than pleased by the respectful demeanor of the cardinal, asked the advice of his favorite, St. Simon. The latter represented to him the services of Richelieu, and the impossibility of dispensing with his aid. Louis, therefore, ordered him to Versailles, and assigned him apartments in the palace directly below his own. This day (November 10, 1630), on which the hopes of the queen and of the cardinal's enemies were disappointed, was called the "day of the dupes" (la journée des dupes). As the queeu continued to declare herself irreconcilable with Richelieu, the cardinal prevailed upon the king to banish her (1631) to Compiegne, removed her friends from place, and threw some of them into the Bastile. This step, and the almost total annihilation of the privileges of the parliaments and the clergy, excited all classes against the despotic administration of the cardinal, and the discontents broke out in numerous risings and conspiracies, which, however, were not only suppressed by the prudence and vigor of his measures, but also contributed to the furtherance of his plan, and gradually rendered the royal power entirely absolute. In 1632, the royal arms, directed by Richelieu, sup

pressed the rebellion of the dukes of Orleans and Montmorency, the adherents of the banished queen, and Montmorency perished on the scaffold, although the roy al family itself interceded in his behalf. Equally unsuccessful were the attempts of the dukes of Lorraine, Guise, Bouillon, &c.; even those whom the king privately favored were obliged to yield to the allpowerful minister, and paid with their lives for their rashness in venturing to oppose him, as in the instance of Cinqmars, who, a short time before Richelieu's death, had entered into a conspiracy against him, which the king was, not without reason, believed to have favored. While the minister was thus extending the power of the crown at home, he did not neglect the aggrandizement of the monarchy abroad. The thirty years' war gave him an opportunity of effecting this object. The same man who persecuted, with the greatest severity, the Protestants in France, employed all the arts of negotiation, and even force of arms, to protect the same sect in Germany, for the purpose of humbling the house of Austria. The king of Sweden, the great bulwark of religious liberty in Germany, received aid of every kind from Richelieu, as long as he was not in danger of becoming formidable to France; but when the brilliant victories of Gustavus Adolphus gave the cardinal reason to consider his power as more dangerous than that of Austria, he abandoned that prince in the midst of his successes. The war which he undertook against Spain, and which continued till 1659, put France in possession of Catalonia and Roussillon, and the separation of Portugal from Spain was effected by his assistance. He also endeavored to weakened the Austrian influence in Italy, and procured the transfer of the duchy of Mantua to the duke of Nevers. In general, however objectionable may have been his character as a man, the duke de Richelieu must be allowed to have deserved the character of a great statesman : he cannot be denied the glory of having raised the power of the sovereign in France to its highest pitch; but he was proud, arrogant, vindictive and unprincipled. The protection which he gave to letters and art (in the establishment of the French Academy, 1635, and of the Jardin des Plantes, for example) cannot reconcile us to his faults. (See Corneille.) Richelieu died December 4, 1642, after having indicated Mazarin as his successor. Louis XIII died a few months after him; but in the long reign of Louis XIV (q. v.), the

effects of Richelieu's policy became visible. See Maximes d'Etat ou Testament politique du Cardinal de Richelieu (Paris, 1764), Leclerc's Vie de Richelieu, and Jay's Histoire du Ministère de Richelieu (1815).

RICHELIEU, Louis François Armand du Plessis, duke de, marshal of France, member of the French academy, and of the academy of sciences, was born at Paris in 1696. His handsome person, his vivacity, and his wit, early made him a favorite at court, and particularly with the duchess of Burgundy (1711). His childish follies were made a handle of by malice, and the jolie poupée, as he was called at court, was thrown into the Bastile. After his release, he was made aid of marshal Villars, who was pleased with his liveliness, and his free and reckless manners. He was distinguished, even at the court of the regent, for his amours and affairs of honor, and was twice confined in the Bastile. In the twenty-fourth year of his age, the French academy chose him one of its members, although he had never written any thing beyond a billet doux, and was entirely ignorant of orthography. Fontenelle, Campistron, and Destouches, each, prepared for him an inaugural discourse, from each of which he selected such parts as he liked, to form a whole. He distinguished himself at the siege of Philipsburg (1734), and in the battle of Fontenoy (1745), by his courage and presence of mind. On the occasion of the marriage of the dauphin with the princess of Saxony, he was sent as ambassador to the court of Dresden, where he made the most extraordinary display of pomp. Nothing, however, could equal the magnificence of his entry into Vienna, as ambassador to that court, when the horses of his retinue were shod with silver, in such a manner that the shoes should fall off, to be picked up by the populace. In 1756, he was created marshal, and commanded at the siege of Mahon, which was occupied by the English. After the capture of that place (June 28, 1756), he received the command of the French army in Germany. But the marshal had offended Mad. de Pompadour, by rejecting her proposal of a match between his son and her daughter; and after the convention of Closter Seven (1757), he was recalled. He had enriched himself while in Germany, where he had also indulged his soldiers in license and plunder, by his exactions. It should always be remembered to his credit, that he dissuaded Louis XV from persecuting the Protes

tants. His example contributed greatly to extend the prevalence of licentiousness in France, since he was the dictator of fashion. He continued to prosecute affairs of gallantry even in his old age, and was married, the third time, at the age of eighty-four years. The Mémoires du Maréchal de Richelieu were written, under his direction, by Soulavie. He died August 3, 1788, ninety-three years old; and two days before his death, a lady having observed to him that his face still retained its beauty, he replied, "Madame, you take my face for your mirror." Marshal Richelieu had the courage, the fortune and the talents of a great general, the sagacity, prudence and penetration of a great statesman; but, with these and many amiable qualities, he chose to be nothing but a common courtier.

RICHELIEU, Armand Emanuel du Plessis, duke de, minister of state under Louis XVIII, grandson of the preceding, was born at Paris in 1766, and, after studying in the college of Plessis, travelled in Italy, whence he returned, at the commencement of the revolution, in 1789. He soon after obtained permission from the king to go to Vienna, where he was well received by the emperor Joseph II; but he soon quitted that capital with the young prince de Ligne, and entered into the service of Catharine II, then at war with the Turks. He distinguished himself at the taking of Ismail by Suwarrow, and was rewarded with the rank of major-general. In 1794, he was with Louis XVIII in England, whence he returned to Russia; but, not being well treated by the emperor Paul, he quitted that country, and, after the peace of 1801, revisited France, where Bonaparte in vain attempted to attach him to his service. He went again to St. Petersburg, and, at the commencement of 1803, was nominated civil and military governor of Odessa, a Russian colony on the Black sea, which flourished greatly under his superintendence. On the restoration of Louis XVIII, the duke de Richelieu took his seat in the chamber of peers, and resumed his functions as first gentleman of the bed-chamber. In March, 1815, he accompanied the king to Ghent, and, returning with him to Paris, after the battle of Waterloo, he was appointed president of the council of ministers, and placed at the head of the foreign department. He presided at the installation of the four academies in April, 1818, and in September following he was made president of the French academy. In the same month, he ap