Riccar´do, commander of Plymouth fortress, a Puritan to whom Lord Walton has promised his daughter, Elvira, in marriage. Riccardo learns that the lady is in love with Arthur Talbot, and when Arthur is taken prisoner by Cromwell’s soldiers, Riccardo promises to use his efforts to obtain his pardon. This, however, is not needful, for Cromwell, feeling quite secure of his position, orders all the captives of war to be released. Riccardo is the Italian form of Sir Richard Forth.—Bellini, I Puritani (opera, 1834).
Ricciardetto, son of Aymon, and brother of Bradamante.—Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516).
Rice. Eating rice with a bodkin. Aminê, the beautiful wife of Sidi Nouman, ate rice with a bodkin, but she was a ghoul. (See Amine.)
Richard, a fine, honest lad, by trade a smith. He marries, on New Year’s Day, Meg, the daughter of Toby Veck.—C. Dickens, The Chimes (1844).
Richard (Squire), eldest son of Sir Francis Wronghead, of Bumper Hall. A country bumpkin, wholly ignorant of the world and of literature.—Vanbrugh and Cibber, The Provoked Husband (1727).
Robert Wetherilt [1708-1745] came to Drury Lane a boy, where he showed his rising genius in the part of “Squire Richard.”—Chetwood, History of the Stage.
Richard (Prince), eldest son of King Henry II.—Sir W. Scott, The Betrothed (time, Henry II.).
Richard “Cœur de Lion,” introduced in two novels by Sir W. Scott (The Talisman and Ivanhoe). In the latter he first appears as “The Black Knight,” at the tournament, and is called Le Noir Fainéant, or “The Black Sluggard;” also “The Knight of the Fetter-lock.”
Richard a Name of Terror. The name of Richard I., like that of Attila, Bonaparte, Corvīnus, Narses, Sebastian, Talbot, Tamerlane, and other great conquerors, was at one time employed in terrorem to disobedient children. (See [Names of Terror].)
His tremendous name was employed by the Syrian mothers to silence their infants; and if a horse suddenly started from the way, his rider was wont to exclaim, “Dost thou think King Richard is in the bush?”—Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, xi. 146 (1776-88).