In 1681, he was tutor, or servant, at Edinburgh to the sons of a Mr. Gray, and took an active part in the burning of the Pope in effigy by the students; the clerk to the council wrote that Ridpath was not then a boy.
On the 8th Ridpath was committed to Newgate Prison for being the author of three libels in the Observator, to which he became a contributor in succession to John Tutchin in 1712, and in the Flying Post; but he was released on bail.
The trial was to a large extent a party matter, and Ridpath's counsel were Sergeant Pratt, Sir Peter King, and Messrs. Nicholas Lechmere, St. Leger, Fortescue, and Spencer Cowper.
On 1 May his recognisances of £600 were estreated, because he had failed to appear, in accordance with an order made on 27 April, and on the 25th a reward of £100 was offered by Henry Bolingbroke for his discovery; but without result: Ridpath had fled to Scotland, and then to Holland.
[1] After the accession of George I, Ridpath returned to England, and was made one of the patentees for serving the commissioners of the customs in Scotland with stationery wares.
These were attacked in Dr. Alexander Monro's Apology for the Clergy of Scotland, and The Spirit of Calumny and Slander examined, chastised, and exposed, in a letter to a malicious libeller.
[1] In 1695, Ridpath published, with a dedication to James Johnston, a translation of a Latin work De hominio disputatio adversus eos qui Scotiam feudum ligium Angliae, regemque Scotorum eo nomine hominium Anglo debere asserunt from 1605 of Sir Thomas Craig,[2][3] as Scotland's Sovereignty asserted; being a dispute concerning Homage, and in 1698 he translated N. de Souligné's Political Mischiefs of Popery.
[1] Ridpath's Scotland's Grievances relating to Darien, humbly offered to the consideration of the Parliament, 1700, contained remarks about a foreign yoke.
In 1703 he printed The Case of Scotsmen residing in England and in the English Plantations, and An Historical Account of the ancient Rights and Power of the Parliament of Scotland.
[1] In 1704–5, Ridpath assisted James Anderson, who was then preparing his Historical Essay showing that the Crown and Kingdom of Scotland is Imperial and Independent; and in 1705, he commenced a correspondence with the Rev.
The Scots' Representations to Her Majesty, against setting up the Common Prayer-Book in Scotland, 1711, was written, according to a note in the copy in the Advocates' Library, by Ridpath, William Carstares, and Defoe.
He was also employed in correcting Captain Woodes Rogers's Voyage; assisted in writing the periodical History of the Works of the Learned; invented the "Polygraphy", a writing-engine, moved by the foot, by which six or more copies could be written at once; contributed to the Medley in 1712; and was in constant strife with the Tory Post Boy, published by Abel Roper.
[1] In 1713, Ridpath wrote Some Thoughts concerning the Peace, and the Thanksgiving appointed by authority to be observed for it; and certain observations on the address of the Highlanders to Queen Anne, which he complained was signed only by ten, four of whom were Catholics, called forth The Honourable Chieftains of the Highland Clans vindicated from the false Aspersions and scurrilous Reflections thrown upon them by Ridpath, the scandalous and justly condemned Libeller, Edinburgh, 1713.
He had political correspondence with persons in Scotland, and in April he wrote The New Project examined, or the Design of the Faction to deprive the Hanover Family of the power to name Lord Justices anatomised, but it is doubtful whether this pamphlet was printed.