[Ruysdael, Jacob], a famous Dutch landscape-painter, born and died at Haarlem; few particulars of his life are known; his best pictures, to be seen in the galleries of Dresden, Berlin, Paris, &c., display a fine poetic spirit (1628-1682).
[Ruyter, Michael de], a famous Dutch admiral, born of poor parents at Flushing; from a boy of 11 served in the merchant and naval service; commanded a ship under Van Tromp in the war with England 1652-1654; was ennobled in 1660 by the king of Denmark for services rendered in the Dano-Swedish war; for two years fought against Turkish pirates in the Mediterranean; commanded the Dutch fleet in the second war against England, and in 1667 struck terror into London by appearing and burning the shipping in the Thames; held his own against England and France in the war of 1672; co-operated with Spain against France; was routed and mortally wounded off the coast of Sicily; a man of sterling worth (1607-1675).
[Ryan, Loch], an arm of the sea penetrating Wigtownshire in a south-easterly direction, 8 m. long and from 1½ to 3 broad; at its landward end is [Stranraer] (q. v.); forms an excellent anchorage.
[Rybinsk] (20, 100 in the summer), a busy commercial town in Russia, on the Volga, 48 m. NW. of Yaroslav; connected by canal with St. Petersburg; industries embrace boat-building, brewing, distilling, &c.
[Ryde] (11), a popular old watering-place on the NE. coast of the Isle of Wight, 4½ m. SW. of Portsmouth; rises in pretty wooded terraces from the sea; has a fine promenade, park, pier, &c.
[Rye] (4), an interesting old port in the SE. corner of Sussex, situated on rising ground flanked by two streams, 63 m. SE. from London, one of the [Cinque Ports] (q. v.); the retiral of the sea has left it now 2 m. inland; has a fine Norman and Early English church.
[Rye House Plot], an abortive conspiracy in 1683 to assassinate Charles II. of England and his brother James, Duke of York, planned by Colonel Rumsey, Lieutenant-Colonel Walcot, the "plotter" Ferguson, and other reckless adherents of the Whig party. The conspirators were to conceal themselves at a farmhouse called Rye House, near Hertford, and to waylay the royal party returning from Newmarket; the plot miscarried owing to the king leaving Newmarket sooner than was expected; the chief conspirators were executed.
[Rymer, Thomas], the learned editor of the "Foedera," an invaluable collection of historical documents dealing with England's relations with foreign powers, born at Northallerton; was a Cambridge man and a barrister; turned to literature and wrote much both in prose and poetry, but to no great purpose; was Historiographer-royal; Macaulay in characteristic fashion calls him "the worst critic that ever lived"; but his "Foedera" is an enduring monument to his unwearied industry (1639-1714).
[Rysbrach, Michael], a well-known sculptor in the 18th century, born at Antwerp; established himself in London and executed busts and statues of the most prominent men of his day, including the monument to Sir Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey, statue of Marlborough, busts of Walpole, Bolingbroke, Pope, &c. (1694-1770).
[Ryswick, Peace of], signed on October 30, 1697, at the village of Ryswick, 2 m. S. of The Hague, by England, Holland, Germany, and Spain on the one hand and France on the other, terminating the sanguinary struggle which had begun In 1688; it lasted till 1702.