St. John he conducted a weekly publication entitled the London

Review, which he relinquished in 1830, and removed with his family to Normandy. Here he wrote "Romance of French History," and "The Game of Life," a novel. He contributed the text to twelve volumes of "The Picturesque Annual." He then became editor of the Era, a London weekly newspaper, and afterwards settled in Edinburgh as editor of Chambers' Journal, publishing from time to time books of a popular character. In 1862 he received a pension on the civil list, for his literary services. He died on the 14th January, 1865. RITSON, Isaac, a miscellaneous writer, was born near Penrith in 1761. From his sixteenth to his twentieth year he supported himself by teaching a school. In 1781 he repaired to Edinburgh, and commenced the study of medicine. He then went to London, where he attended the hospitals, maintaining himself meanwhile by literary labours, and by contributing medical articles to the Monthly Review. This promising youth died in 1789, in the twenty-eighth year of his age. He was the author of a translation of Homer's Hymn to Venus, and of the Preface to Clarke's Survey of the Lakes. He also wrote essays on moral and philosophical subjects, which are still in MS.—J. T. RITSON, Joseph, a literary antiquary and critic, celebrated for the acuteness and the acerbity of his criticisms, was born at Stockton-upon-Tees, on the 2d of October, 1752. After receiving the usual schooling at Stockton, he was articled to a solicitor in the same place, and subsequently removed to the office of Mr. Bradley, a barrister, in order to learn conveyancing. Some verses of his composition, addressed to the ladies of Stockton, appeared in the Newcastle Miscellany of 1772. It was in the same year, when he was but nineteen years old, that he was led by the perusal of Mandeville's Fable of the Bees, to form a resolution, to which he firmly adhered for the remaining thirty years of his life, never knowingly to eat of fish, flesh, or fowl, but to rely for his sustenance on a milk and vegetable diet. He did not object to eating eggs, a practice which "deprives no animal of life, though it may prevent some from coming into the world to be murdered and devoured by others." This mixture of humanity and eccentricity characterized Ritson through life. In 1773 he made a tour to Edinburgh, which, though full of interest to him, cost him more than he had anticipated, so that at the end of twelve days he reached home penniless, but carrying some books he had purchased. Two years later he settled in London, as manager of the conveyancing department at a lawyer's in Gray's inn, with a salary of £150 a year. His letters home, written at this time to his parents and family, place his character in the most amiable light. His political sentiments are also pretty clearly indicated at the time of the Gordon riots, by his expressions of detestation for "the scoundrel ministry of the day." From "Tables showing the descent of the Crown of England," which he published in 1778, and which was reprinted in 1783, it further appears that Ritson was a jacobite, for his line of sovereigns inheriting from William the Conqueror ends with the young Pretender, whom he styles Charles III. In 1782 appeared—"Observations on the History of English poetry, in a familiar letter to the author," a rude and severe, but not groundless criticism of the well-known work of Dr. Warton, whose numerous and powerful friends greatly resented the boldness of the writer, who was soon discovered to be Ritson. A sharp controversy ensued, carried on mainly in the pages of the Gentleman's Magazine. Ritson's power and originality were unmistakable, and his observations on Johnson and Steevens' Shakspeare, published in 1783, further extended his reputation for knowledge of old English poetry, and for remorseless enmity to the errors of commentators. He now began to publish those collections of English songs, ballads, metrical romances, &c., with which his name is identified, and a list of which will be found in Nichols' Anecdotes, viii., 135; Lowndes' Manual, and Nicolas' Life. He continued this service to literature for a period of twenty years, having, by the appointment of high bailiff of the liberty of Savoy, in the duchy of Lancaster office, secured a large addition to his leisure. His Jacobite opinions in favour of divine right were changed in 1790 to a warm sympathy with the French revolutionists. In 1803 he was seized with paralysis, which reached the brain, and he expired on the 3d of September at Hoxton.—(Life and Letters of Ritson by Sir Harris Nicolas, 2 vols., 1833.)—R. H. RITTENHOUSE, David, an American astronomer and geodetician, was born at Germantown in Pennsylvania in 1732, and died at Philadelphia on the 20th of June, 1796. He was the son of a farmer, and was bred as a clockmaker; and in 1770 established himself in Philadelphia in that occupation, combined with that of a philosophical instrument maker. From time to time he made valuable astronomical observations in the observatory of Philadelphia. He was employed in some important geodetical operations connected with the fixing of the boundaries of the state of Pennsylvania. From 1777 till 1789 he was treasurer of that state; and from 1792 till 1795 master of the mint of the United States. In 1791 he succeeded Franklin as president of the Philosophical Society of Philadelphia, and in 1795 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society of London. His scientific writings appeared in the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society from 1785 till 1799.—W. J. M. R. RITTER, Heinrich, a German philosopher, was born at Zerbst in 1791, and educated in the gymnasium of that place. He studied theology at Halle, Göttingen, and Berlin. In 1813 he went to France. Returning to his native land he devoted himself exclusively to philosophy. After a short stay in Halle he repaired to Berlin in 1817, and at length became extraordinary professor in 1824. In 1833 he was called to Kiel, and in 1837 to Göttingen. Ritter's most important work is his "Geschichte der Philosophie," 12 vols., 1829, &c., embracing the history of philosophy, ancient and christian. It is a meritorious and carefully written work—not showing the highest qualities of a historical thinker and analyst, but characterized by careful elaboration and solidity. he also published "Versuch zur Verständigung über die neueste Deutsche Philosophie seit Kant," 1853, second edition; "Vorlesungen zur Einleitung in die Logik," 1823; "Abriss der Philosophischen Logik," 1824; "Über das Verhältniss der Philosophie zurn wissenschaftlichen Leben ueberhaupt," 1835; "Über die Erkentniss Gottes in der Welt," 1836; "Über das Böse," 1839; "Die Hallekantianer und der Pantheismus," 1827; "Kleine Philosophischen Shriften," 1839-40, 2 vols., and other works. Ritter occupied an independent position with reference to the various schools of philosophy in Germany, to none of which could he be said to belong. Intent on the historical development of each of their systems, he did not think out one for himself. He died in March, 1869. RITTER, Karl, was born at Quedlinburg, August 7, 1779. He was educated under Niemeyer at Halle for the calling of a teacher, and was received as such into the family of Bethmann-Hollweg at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, in 1798. Thence he accompanied his pupils to the academy at Geneva, and travelled with them through Switzerland, Savoy, France, and Italy. He was also at Göttingen, first with his pupils, and then alone, for the purpose of using the valuable library of the university, 1814-19. In 1819 he was called to the gymnasium at Frankfort as professor of history; and in 1820 to Berlin, as extraordinary professor of geography in the university. Several other offices were soon bestowed on him in the capital of Prussia. A new era in the history of geographical science commences with Ritter. He breathed into it new life, and expounded it with an eloquence and graphic power peculiar to himself. He died 28th September, 1859. The great work which has established his fame is his "Die Erdkunde im Verhaltniss zur Natur und zur Geschichte des Menschen," 2 vols., 1817-18, enlarged and remodelled in the second edition, 1822. The first part or book contains Africa. Parts 2-6 describe Eastern Asia, Middle Asia, Liberia, China, India. Parts 7-11 refer to Western Asia, including the Turanian and Iranian world, with the lands of the Tigris and Euphrates. Parts 12 and 13 contain Arabia. Parts 14-17 describe the Sinai peninsula, Palestine, and Syria. Parts 18 and 19 contain Asia Minor. Each of the four divisions into which the work is distributed contains a register or index. The second volume appeared in 1833, from which time the work steadily progressed till it reached nineteen parts; but it is unfortunately incomplete. Ritter is also the author of "Europa, ein geographisch-historisch-statisches Gemälde," 2 vols., 1807; "Die Stupas, oder die Architektonischen Denkmale an der Indobaktrischen Kœnigstrasse und, die Kolosse von Bamyan," 1838; "Die Colonisiation von Neuseeland," 1842; "Ein Blick in das Nilquelland," 1844; "Der Jordan und die Beschiffung des todten Meeres," 1850; "Ein Blick auf Palaestina und seine christliche Bevölkerung," 1852; "Einleitung zur allgemeinen vergleichenden Geographie," 1852. He has also written valuable treatises or essays on geography and its cognate branches in the Transactions of the Academy of Sciences; in the Monatsberichten of