Joseph, a meritorious critic and antiquary, was born at Stockton-upon-Tees on the 2d October 1752. His family, whose original name seems to have been Richardson, were respectable yeomen in Westmoreland, and could trace their descent as far back as the reign of Edward VI. He received a solid education from the Rev. John Thompson, the incumbent of his native town, was articled first to a solicitor, and subsequently to a barrister, previous to his setting out for London. His earliest literary effort, which possesses very little merit, was an address to the ladies of Stockton, printed in the Newcastle Miscellany in 1772. Ritson had now reached his nineteenth year, and his personal eccentricities had already begun to develop themselves in ways which spoke more for the determination of the future critic than for his eminent personal courtesy. He then began the practice, to which he adhered through life, of restricting himself to a milk and vegetable diet. His biographer, Sir Harris Nicolas, informs us that Ritson made this resolution from "a most refined sense of humanity." Unfortunately, the future conduct of the acri- monious critic rather clouds this pretty motive; and however sentimental may have been the origin of the practice, its continuance must be attributed, "during the whole course of those thirty years," to a quite different cause. As illustrative of Ritson's character, however, it throws much light on that determination, which occasionally approached something like doggedness, to judge on every subject for himself. In 1773 he visited Edinburgh on a short holiday excursion, and so much had he already been smitten with the antiquarian fever that he finds, on summing up his purchases of "tartans" and other items, that there was "not money left to pay my reckoning," at which he expresses great distress. In 1775 Ritson settled in London as a conveyancer, at a salary of £150. He seems to have lost both his parents during these years, to whom he was very much attached. In 1778 he printed a broadside entitled *Tables showing the Descent of the Crown of England*, which displayed accuracy and research, and proved the writer to be a firm Jacobite. He visited Oxford in 1779 to explore the literary treasures of the Bodleian; and his diary during this journey affords the first evidence of his sceptical opinions. He printed anonymously, in 1781, a small satirical tract termed *The Stockton Jubilee, or Shakespeare in his Glory*; in 1782 he visited Cambridge, and made the acquaintance of Dr Farmer, whom he describes as "a most sensible, liberal, benevolent, and worthy man." He was busily occupied at this time with his "scurrilous libel upon Warton," as he jocularly called his *Observations on the History of English Poetry*. The rude and bold style of this work, the severity of its criticisms, and the reckless personal taunts in which the writer indulged, brought down upon him a perfect horde of enemies, from whom his erudition, research, and candour served in vain to shield him. In vain it was that Ritson disclaimed all personal motives, that he averred he had no other object but truth and justice; he had been guilty of coarse and intemperate treatment of a highly respectable man, and such an offence could not be tolerated. A controversy accordingly raged in the *Gentleman's Magazine*, in which the formidable critic played of course a very important part. It may not be unworthy of remark that a late editor of Warton's *History of English Poetry* adopted the greater part of Ritson's observations. In 1783 he published a volume of *Remarks, Critical and Illustrative, on the Text of the last edition of Shakespeare*, in which he fell foul of Johnson and Stevens in a very unceremonious manner for the very careless way in which they had gone about their task. Despite, however, the acerbity of the writer, the public had much reason to thank him for his profound research, his felicitous conjectures, and his singular acquaintance with the great poet. This year was one of the most prolific of Ritson's pen. Besides editing *Gammer Gurton's Garland, or the Nursery Parnassus*, he published a *Select Collection of English Songs*, in 3 vols., to which he prefixed a historical essay of very great merit. In 1784 he published a slight tract called the *Bishopric Garland, or Durham Minstrel*; and about the same period was appointed high bailiff of the Liberty of the Savoy. The ensuing four years he seems to have devoted to his profession. There is one work from his pen during this period, entitled the *Spartan Manual, or Tablet of Morality*, for "the improvement of youth, and the promoting of wisdom and virtue." His *Quip Modest* was published during the same year, which was the letting out of a deadly feud between the author and the *Critical Review*. In 1790 appeared Ritson's *Ancient Songs*, and the succeeding year witnessed the publication of his *Pieces of Ancient Popular Poetry*, in an unusual style of typographical elegance. During the same year he visited Paris, and the ancient Jacobite found himself called upon to venerate the new order of things in the French metropolis; and he went so far as to adopt the French calendar in dating, and the republican style in closing his letters to his "citizen" friends. His nervous system was gradually giving way; and he could only write, he tells us, with great difficulty. Yet his labour must have been incessant. Between the years 1793 and 1795 appeared his *English Anthology*, his *Scottish Songs*, his *Poems of Laurence Minot* written in 1552, and his celebrated *Collection of the Robin Hood Ballads*. After a short respite, his pen was again busy; and in 1803 he brought out his *Bibliographia Poetica*, being a catalogue of English poets between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries; a *Collection of English Metrical Romances*; and, as his final effort, *An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food as a Moral Duty*. Of the numerous literary friends of Ritson, one of the most genial was Sir Walter Scott, who alludes to him frequently in his poems and novels in terms of kindness and respect. But the busy strife of men was already waxing fainter and fainter on his ear, more dimly shone to him the pleasant sunlight, and tangible things were gradually becoming more and more intangible, when a great summons came on the 23rd of September 1803. He left a number of works all but ready for the press, which have since appeared under the care of his nephew. They are, *The Life of King Arthur; Memoirs of the Celts and Gauls; Annals of the Caledonians; Fairy Tales.* (See the *Letters of Joseph Ritson, Esq.*, with a memoir of the author, by Sir Harris Nicolas, 2 vols. 1833.)