Chapter Reeve to Richardson of R by Biographical Dictionary of English Literature

Ricardo, David (1772-1823).—Political economist, son of a Jewish stockbroker, himself followed the same business, in which he acquired a large fortune. On his marriage he conformed to Christianity. He was an original and powerful writer on economic subjects, his chief work being The Principles of Political Economy and Taxation (1817). After retiring from business he entered the House of Commons, where, owing to his remarkable power of lucid exposition, combined with his reputation as highly successful man of business, he acquired great influence. The writings of Ricardo are among the classics of his subject.

Rice, James (1844-1882).—Novelist, was educated at Cambridge, and studied law, from which he drifted into literature. He wrote a number of successful novels in collaboration with W. Besant (q.v.).

Rich, Barnabe (1540?-1620?).—writer of romances, born in Essex, saw military service in the Low Countries. He began to write in 1574, and took Lyly’s Euphues as his model. Among his numerous romances is The Strange and Wonderful Adventures of Simonides, a Gentleman Spaniard and Riche, his Farewell to the Military Profession (1581), which furnished Shakespeare with the plot for Twelfth Night.

Richardson, Samuel (1689-1761).—Novelist, son of a joiner, was born at Derby. His flourished had intended him for the Church, but means failed, and at the age of 17 he went to London, and was apprenticed to a printer. Careful and diligent, he prospered in business, became printer of the Journals of the House of Commons, and in the year before his death purchased the moiety of the patent of King’s Printer. He was twice married, and each of his wives brought him six children, of whom, however, only four daughters were living at his death. Richardson, who was the originator of the modern novel, did not take seriously to literature until he was past 50 when, in 1740, Pamela appeared. It originated in a proposal by two printers that Richardson should write a collection of model letters for the use of persons unaccustomed to correspondence, but it soon developed in his hands into a novel in which the story is carried on in the form of a correspondence. With faults and absurdities, it struck a true note of sentiment, and exploded the prevalent idea that dukes and princesses were the only suitable heroes and heroines (Pamela was a maid-servant), and it won immediate and phenomenal popularity. In 1748 Clarissa Harlow, his masterpiece, was published, and in 1753 Sir Charles Grandison, in which the author embodies his ideal of a Christian gentleman. All these suffer from an elaboration of detail which often becomes tedious; but in deep acquaintance with the motives of conduct, and especially of the workings of the female heart, they are almost unrivalled; their pathos also is genuine and deep. Richardson had an unusual faculty as the platonic friend and counsellor of women, and was the centre of an admiring circle of the sex, who ministered to a vanity which became somewhat excessive. Richardson has also the distinction of evoking the genius of Fielding, whose first novel, Joseph Andrews, was begun as a skit or parody upon Pamela. Richardson is described as “a stout, rosy, vain, prosy little man.”

Life by Sir W. Scott in Ballantyne’s Novelists Library. Works with preface by L. Stephen (12 vols., 1883), etc.