Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, a Dictionary of arts, sciences, and miscellaneous literature : enlarged and improved. Illustrated with nearly six hundred engravings > Volume 18, RHI-SCR

Rising,
Ridiey.
RID [ 27 ] RID
valleys. In one place they front, in another they rife
above, in another they fink below the point of view j
they are feen fonaetimes retiring beyond each other, and
darkening as they recede j and foraetimes an opening
between two is clofed by a third at a diftance beyond
them. A point, called the Lover's Leap, commands a
continued furface of the thickeft foliage, which over-
fpreads a vail hollow immediately underneath. Below
the Chinefe feat the courfe of the Wye is in the (hape of
a horfe-fhoe : it is on one fide inclofed by a femicircular
hanging wood; the direft fteeps of a table-hill ihut it
in on the other 5 and the great rock fills the interval
between them : in the midil of this rude feene lies the
peninfula formed by the river, a mile at the leaft in
length, and in the higheit ftate of cultivation t near the
ifthmus the ground rifes confiderably, and thence de-
feends in a broken furface, till it flattens to the water’s
edge at the other extremity. The whole is divided in¬
to corn fields and paftures j they are feparated by hedge¬
rows, coppices, and thickets •, open clumps and fingle
trees ftand out in the meadows 5 and houfes and other
buildings, which belong to the farms, are fcAttered
amongft them: nature fo cultivated, 1’urrounded by
nature fo wild, compofe a moft lovely landfcape toge¬
ther.
The communications between thefe feveral points are
generally by clofe walks j but the covert ends near the
Chinefe feat; and a path is afterwards conducted through
the upper park to a ruftic temple, which overlooks on
one fide fome of the romantic views which have been
deferibed, and on the other the cultivated hills and val¬
leys of Monmouthfhire. To the rude and magnificent
feenes of nature now fucceeds a pleafant, fertile, and
beautiful country, divided into inclofures, not covered
with woods, nor broken by rocks and precipices, but
only varied by eafy fwells and gentle declivities. Yet
the profpedl is not tame *, the hills in it are high ; and
it is bounded by a vaft fweep of the Severn, which is
here vifible for many miles together, and receives in its
courfe the Wye and the Avon.
From the temple a road leads to the Windcliff, an
eminence much above the reft, and commanding the
whole in one view. The Wye runs at the foot of the
hill 5 the peninfula lies juft below ; the deep bofom of
the femicircular hanging wood is full in fight *, over
part of it the great rock appears $ all its bafe, all its
accompaniments, are feen 5 the country immediately
beyond it is full of lovely hillocks j and the higher
grounds in the counties of Somerfet and Gloucefter rife
in the horizon. The Severn feems to be, as it really is,
above Chepftowe, three or four miles wide j below the
town it fpreads almoft to a fea j the county of Mon¬
mouth is there the hither ftiore, and between its beau¬
tiful hills appear at a great diftance the mountains of
Brecknock and Glamorganftnre. In extent, in varie¬
ty, and grandeur, few profpe&s are equal to this. It
comprehends all the noble feenes of Persfield, encom-
pafied by fome of the fineft country in Britain. See
Gardening.
RIDLEY, Nicholas, bifhop of London, and a
martyr to the Reformation, was defeended of an ancient
family, and born in the beginning of the 16th century,
at Wilmontfwick in Northumberland. From the gram-
mar-fchool at Newcaftle upon Tyne, he was fent to
Pembroke-hall in Cambridge, in the year 1518, where
he was fupported by his uncle Dr Robert Ridley, fel¬
low of Queen’s college. In 1522 he took his firft de¬
gree in arts ; two years after, was ele&ed fellow j and,
in 152?, he commenced matter of arts. In 1527, ha¬
ving taken orders, he was fent by his uncle, for further
improvement, to the Sorbonne at Paris 5 from thence
he went to Louvain, and continued abroad till the year
1529. On his return to Cambridge, he was chofen un-
der-treafurer of the univerfity 5 and, in 1533, was eleft-
ed fenior proctor. He afterwards proceeded bachelor
of divinity, and was chofen chaplain ol the univerfity,
orator, and tnagijler glorncrice. At this time he was
much admired as a preacher and difputant. He loft his
kind uncle in 1536 j but was foon after patronifed by
Dr Cranmer, arehbilhop of Canterbury, who made him
his domettic chaplain, and prefented him to the vicarage
of Herne in Eatt Kent •, where, we are told, he preach¬
ed the doftrine of the Reformation. In 1540, having
commenced do6tor of divinity, he was made king’s chap¬
lain $ and in the fame year, was eledled matter of his
college in Cambridge. Soon after, Ridley wTas collated
to a prebend in the church of Canterbury ; and it was
not long before he was accufed in the bilhop’s court, at.
the inftigation of Biftiop Gardiner, of preaching againft
the doctrine of the Six Articles. The matter being refer¬
red to Cranmer, Ridley was acquitted. In 1545, he was
made a prebendary of Weftminfter abbey j in 1547 was
prefented, by the fellows of Pembroke-hall, to the liv¬
ing of Soham, to the dioeefe of Norwich ; and the fame
year wras confecrated bilhop of Rochefter. In 1550 he
was tranftated to the fee of London ; in which year he
was one of the commiflioners for examining Bilhop Gar¬
diner, and concurred in his deprivation. In the year
1552, our prelate returning from Cambridge, unfortu¬
nately for himffclf, paid a vifit to the Princefs, afterwards
Queen Mary •, to whom, prompted by his zeal for re¬
formation, he exprefied himfelf with too much freedom :
for ftie was fcarcely feated on the throne when Ridley
was doomed a viftim to her revenge. With Cranmer
and Latimer he was burnt alive at Oxford, on the 16th
»f Oftober 1555. He wrote, 1. A treatile concerning
images in churches. 2. Brief declaration of the Lord’s
Supper. 3. Certain godly and comfortable conferences
between Bifhop Ridley and Mr Hugh Latimer, during
their imprifonment. 4. A comparifen between the com¬
fortable dodtrine of the Gofpel and the traditions of the
Popifh religion ; and other works.
Ridley, Dr Glojler, was of the fame family with
the preceding. He was born at fea, in the year 1702,
on board the Gloucefter Eaft Indiaman, from which
circumftance he obtained his Chriftian name. He was
educated at Winehefter fchool, and afterwards obtain¬
ed a fellow (hip at New College, Oxford. He paid his
court to the mufes at an early period, and laid the
foundation of thofe folid and elegant acquifitions which
afterwards diftinguifhed him fo eminently as a divine,
hiftorian, and poet. During a vacation in 1728, he
joined w ith four friends in compofing a tragedy called
“ The Fruitlefs Redrefs,” each undertaking an aft
agreeably to a plan which they had previoufly concert¬
ed. It was offered to Mr Wilkes, but never afted, and
is ftill in manufeript. Dr Ridley in his youth was ex¬
tremely attached to theatrical performances. The Re¬
drefs, and another called Jugurtha, were exhibited at
Midhurif in Suflex, and the aftors were chiefly the gen-
D 2 tie men