[Rio Grande do Sul] (645), the southmost state in Brazil, lies N. of Uruguay, fronting the Atlantic; capital, Rio Grande (18).
[Rio Negro], 1, One of the larger tributaries of the Amazon, rises as the Guainia in SE. Columbia; crosses Venezuela and Brazil in a more or less SE. direction, and joins the Amazon (the Marañon here) near Manaos after a course of 1350 m.; some of its tributaries connect the Orinoco with the Amazon. 2, Has its source in a small lake in the Chilian Andes, flows NE. and E. to the Atlantic, is some 500 m. long, and easily navigated.
[Rioja] (80), a province of W. Argentina, embraces some of the most fruitful valleys of the Andes which grow cereals, vines, cotton, &c.; some mining in copper, silver, and gold is done. The capital, Rioja (6), is prettily planted in a vine and orange district at the base of the Sierra Velasco 350 m. NW. of Cordoba.
[Riom] (10), a pretty little French town in the dep. of Puy-de-Dôme, noted for its many quaint old houses of the Renaissance period; does a good trade in tobacco, linen, &c.
[Rip Van Winkle], a Dutch colonist of New York who, driven from home by a termagant wife strolls into a ravine of the Katskill Mountains, falls in with a strange man whom he assists in carrying a keg, and comes upon a company of odd-looking creatures playing at ninepins, but never uttering a word, when, seizing an opportunity that offered, he took up one of the kegs he had carried, fell into a stupor, and slept 20 years, to find his beard and all the world about him quite changed.
[Ripley], 1, a manufacturing town (7) of Derbyshire, situated 10 m. NE. of Derby, in a busy coal and iron district; manufactures silk lace. 2. A Yorkshire village on the Nidd, 3½ m. NW. of Harrowgate; has an interesting castle, old church, &c.
[Ripley, George], American transcendentalist, born in Massachusetts; a friend of Emerson's and founder of [Brook Farm] (q. v.); took to Carlyle as Carlyle to him, though he was "grieved to see him" taken up with the "Progress of Species" set, and "confusing himself" thereby (1802-1880).
[Ripon, Frederick John Robinson, Earl of], statesman, younger son of Lord Grantham, entered Parliament in 1806 as a Tory; rose to be Chancellor of the Exchequer, and was for a few months in 1827 Prime Minister; was subsequently in different Cabinets Colonial Secretary, Lord Privy Seal, and President of the Board of Trade; created an Earl In 1833 (1782-1859).
[Ripon, George Frederick Samuel Robinson, Marquis of], statesman, born in London, son of preceding; entered House of Commons in 1852 as a Liberal; became Secretary for War (1863), and three years later for India; was President of the Council in 1868, a popular Viceroy of India (1880-84), First Lord of the Admiralty in 1886, and Colonial Secretary in 1892-95; was created Marquis in 1871; went over to the Catholic Church in 1874, resigning in consequence the Grand-Mastership of the Freemasons; b. 1827.
[Rishanger, William] ("Chronigraphus"), an annalist and monk of St. Albans; wrote what is in effect a continuation of [Matthew Paris's] (q. v.) "Chronicle," and practically a history of his own times from 1259 to 1307, which is both a spirited and trustworthy account, albeit in parts not original; b. 1250.