the seed of Oryza sativa (Linn.), a beautiful tropical grass (Graminaceae), believed to be originally a native of some part of India. It is now extensively cultivated in the East Indies, China, parts of Africa and Southern Europe, and in tropical America. Rice is second in importance only to wheat as an article of human food, and forms the chief nutriment of at least a third of mankind. Marsden, in his History of Sumatra, says it is "the grand material of food on which a hundred millions of the inhabitants of the earth subsist." It is admirably adapted to the wants of the inhabitants of the tropics, as it is not so heating to the human system as any of the other cereals, and it is almost a cure for diarrhoea and dysentery, which are so prevalent in warm climates.

Rice was known to the ancients, and is described under the name of "Opoz" by Theophrastus, "Opoz" by Dioscorides, and "Oriza" by Pliny. The last-mentioned author, from the description given in his Natural History, appears to have been quite ignorant of the plant, or else mistaken in the grain altogether, for he describes it as a bulbous-rooted plant, with thick, fleshy leaves and purple blossoms. In its native country (India), rice has most probably been cultivated from the earliest times. It is naturally a marsh plant, and consequently requires a damp soil and a moist atmosphere; it is there usually cultivated in low lands, which are either naturally liable to be flooded, or which admit of easy and copious irrigation. There are, however, varieties cultivated which endure a much drier soil, and are adapted for hill culture. The upland or hill rice is smaller in grain and less valuable; but it is nevertheless cultivated in great quantities, the manure employed being chiefly the dung of animals mixed with wood-ashes. In India the varieties of rice are very numerous. No less than one hundred and sixty-one are enumerated in Mon's Catalogue of Ceylon Plants as being known in that island.

The finest rice in the world is that raised in North and South Carolina, in the United States, where the prevalence of swampy lands and a rich vegetable soil render its cultivation easy and very profitable. The rice of Carolina is remarkable for its pure white colour and large size; and as it contains a considerable proportion of gluten, it is most valued as an article of food. Rice in the husk is generally called paddy. In this state it is largely imported into Great Britain and husked at the rice-cleaning mills, which are now established in all our large ports; when kept in the husk, it is said to retain its vitality for many years.

The cultivation of this cereal is very much varied by the circumstances of the locality in which it is grown: in many places it is scattered over the land whilst still flooded, and as it sinks and settles in the mud it speedily germinates, and springs up as soon as the land is uncovered; in other places buffaloes are driven over the muddy surface as soon as the floods have retired, and a few grains are placed in each foot-mark, the rice often being made to germinate before being placed in the holes. Two crops of flooded rice are obtained annually in India; the first is cut in February and March, the second is reaped in October. The earlier one is by far the most valuable.

The quantity of rice consumed in this country, and in Europe generally, is very large; our imports in 1858 were, —of husked rice, 206,000 tons; and of unhusked rice, or paddy, $3,601 quarters.

Canadian Rice is the seed of Zizania aquatica, Hort. Kew (Nat. Ord. Graminaceae). It grows on the margins of shallow streams and running waters, and produces an abundance of wholesome farinaceous grain. It is called in Canada lake rice, tuscarora, or mahmonome; and is found in shallow waters from Florida to the Canadian lakes. It is regularly harvested by the Indians, this work being chiefly performed by their squaws; but it is not gathered in any quantity by the white population, although it is esteemed a great delicacy. It has been tried in this country, and it is likely that it would succeed if it should become an object of demand; and as it is aquatic, it can be cheaply cultivated.

Rich, Claudius James, a distinguished traveller and scholar, was born in 1787 near Dijon in Burgundy, and having been removed to England, was brought up at Bristol. His youth was characterised by an extraordinary aptitude for languages. When a mere child he picked up a knowledge of several modern tongues. At the age of nine he sat down to decipher some Arabic manuscripts, with no other aid than a grammar and dictionary. Not long afterwards he was reading Hebrew, Syriac, Persian, and Turkish. The boy, in fact, became such a remarkable orientalist that in 1804 the East India Directors despatched him to a writership in Bombay, and at the same time gave him permission to make any delays on the road for the purpose of increasing his knowledge. Rich took care to avail himself of this privilege to the utmost. As he sailed along the Mediterranean he formed the resolution of imbuing himself thoroughly with eastern manners and attainments. Placing himself in a school at Smyrna, he soon became metamorphosed into a young Turk. Then repairing to Alexandria, he began to acquire the language and martial accomplishments of a wild Arab. At the end of a year or two he had become so complete an orientalist that he set out in the disguise of a Mameluke to travel over land to the Persian Gulf. Nor was this difficult impersonation unsuccessful. He wandered over a great part of Palestine and Syria, entered the grand mosque at Damascus along with the Mohammedan pilgrims, and arrived at Bussora without ever having been challenged for a Christian. Rich's good fortune attended him to Bombay. On his arrival there in 1807, Sir James Mackintosh welcomed him to his house. A few months afterwards the eldest daughter of that philosopher bestowed upon him her hand. His abilities continued to attract interest, until in 1808 he was appointed resident at Bagdad. A wide field of investigation was now opened up to the ever-active and all-observant mind of Rich. He set himself, with characteristic enthusiasm, to make a sweeping survey of the district. Every research that could increase human knowledge was undertaken. The geography, history, manners, and statistics of the country were studied. Oriental manuscripts were collected from all quarters. Ancient medals, coins, and gems were picked up among the remains of Nineveh and Cresiphon. The ruins of Babylon were repeatedly explored, and his discoveries published in the form of two memoirs. Even astronomical observations were taken with all the enthusiasm and success of a professed mathematician. He had in fact amassed a most wonderful amount of multifarious knowledge, when he was cut off by the cholera at Shiraz on the 5th of October 1821. Rich's Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, accompanied by a short memoir, was published by his widow, in 2 vols., London, 1836. His valuable collection of oriental MSS., coins, and antiquities, is now in the British Museum.

Richard, the name of three English kings. Richard I., surnamed Cœur de Lion (the "Lion-hearted"), was born in 1157, succeeded his father Henry II. in 1189, and was killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in 1199. Richard II., the son of the Black Prince, was born in 1366, succeeded his grandfather Edward III. in 1377, was deposed by Bolingbroke in 1399, and is said to have been put to death in Pontefract Castle in 1400. Richard III., the son of Richard, Duke of York, was born in 1452, usurped the crown from his nephew Edward V. in 1483, and was slain on Bosworth field in 1485. (See England.)

Richard de Bury, a learned English statesman, was born at Bury St Edmunds in 1287, and was educated at Oxford. A bright career of preferment was early opened up before him. Scarcely had he finished his studies before he was appointed tutor to the Prince of Wales (afterwards Edward III.). The devoted manner in which this office was discharged was the means of accelerating his rise. No sooner had his pupil succeeded to the throne than a shower of dignities, both civil and ecclesiastical, began to fall upon his head. He was made treasurer of the wardrobe and clerk of the privy seal. The revenues of many rich benefices were placed at his disposal. He was twice despatched to Rome with a splendid retinue as legate to Pope John XXII. At length he reached the climax of his good fortune by being appointed bishop of Durham in 1333, and treasurer and high chancellor of England in 1334. Richard adorned this high station by appearing as an enthusiastic and enlightened lover of books. In the course of his travels he had devoted both his time and his money to the collecting of literary works. It now became the congenial task of his declining years to complete his collection. Every library in the kingdom was examined in quest of new treatises. Those that could be bought he purchased. Those that could only be borrowed he caused to be copied by men who were kept in his palace expressly for that purpose. Thus did he procure a splendid assortment of books, which, at his death in 1345, he bequeathed to that hall at Oxford which is now called Trinity College.

Richard de Bury left a treatise upon his own book-collecting labours, entitled Philobiblon. It was published at Cologne in 1473, at Spires in 1483, at Paris in 1500, and at Oxford in 1599. An English translation by Mr J. B. Inglis was published in 1832. (See English Cyclopaedia of Biography.)

Richard of Cirencester, an old monkish historian, was born in the beginning of the fourteenth century at Cirencester in Gloucestershire, and entered the Benedictine monastery of St Peter, Westminster, in 1350. During his leisure hours in the cloister he addressed himself to the study of British history and antiquities. To perfect his information, he is said to have explored all the different libraries in England. The chief result of his labour and investigation began to appear in the form of a treatise, De Situ Britanniae. The body of the matter was compiled from Caesar and other classical authors. The Itinerary he professed to have taken chiefly from certain fragments left by a Roman general. The work was proceeding successfully when the author met with an interruption. His ecclesiastical superior the abbot found fault with him for wasting his consecrated time upon such secular pursuits. He indeed vindicated his conduct in an enlightened and spirited manner; but he felt himself obliged to bow to authority, and to bring his book to a premature close. The death of Richard is supposed to have taken place about 1401. The above-mentioned work was discovered in 1747, and published in 1757 by Charles Julius Bertram, professor of English in the Royal Marine Academy at Copenhagen. An English translation appeared in 1848, forming, along with five other old English chronicles, a volume of Bohan's "Antiquarian Library." Richard of Cirencester is also the author of the following unpublished works:—Historia ab Hengisto ad Ann. 1348, the former part of which is in the public library of the university of Cambridge; and Tractatus super Symbolum Majus et Minus; and Liber de Officiis Ecclesiasticis, both in the Peterborough library.