Burd—Eight Unedited Letters of Joseph Ritson 5 
Memoir of Eitson. 3) The following, from Eitson, is a reply 
to the first of these. 4) 
MS. Montagu d. 15, fol. 219, 219b. 
Stockton 5) Friday 
—th Augt. 1772 
Dear Sir , . 
The pleasure I received from your agreeable favor 
was a little damped by your treating as Flattery the most sin¬ 
cere Expressions my pen could commit to paper. 
I can have small hopes of enjoying the least share in your 
Thoughts when you will not believe me if I speak Truth. But 
I had rather that you should tell me I lye than a 1000 others 
I could name should commend me for speaking Truth. 
As to your Expectations of seeing Lane. 6) and me at 
Durham in the Eace Week. I am sorry they had so bad a 
foundation. The pleasure I would have received from seeing 
you would have abundantly compensated for any trouble I 
might have been at in the Journey. But as I have never had 
a Day nor the Offer of a Day (except Sunday) from my 
Master 7) since I entered his office, I never could have ex¬ 
pected to succeed had I asked him. I believe Lane, is much 
8 The Letters of Joseph Ritson, Esq., Edited chiefly from originals in the 
possession of his nephew. To which is prefixed a Memoir of the Author by 
Sir Ha/rris Nicolas., 2 vols., London, 1833, Vol. I, pp. viii-x. 
* Ritson manifested an especial interest in Cunning-ham. Several of his 
songs, together with an estimate of his poetic ability, were printed in A 
Select Collection of English Songs, with their Original Airs; and a Historical 
Essay on the Origin and Progress of National Song, Second edition, 3 vols., 
London, 1813, Vol. 1, pp. xc, 230, 236 ; Vol. II, p. 165 ; and still others were 
included in The Northumberland Garland; or Newcastle Nightingale; a 
Matchless Collection of Famous Songs, Newcastle, 1793, p. 69. At the time 
of the poet’s death Ritson collected a great many newspaper extracts concern¬ 
ing him, and from these and his personal knowledge, wrote a short biograph¬ 
ical sketch, which was printed by Nicolas, Op. Cit., Vol. I, p. vii note. See 
also Letters, Vol. 1, p. 144, and J* *. C. Walker, Historical Memoirs of the Irish 
Bards, London, 1786, p. 85. 
® Although Ritson was born and bred at Stockton-upon-Tees, he seldom 
used the full address in his correspondence. As a result of this abbreviation 
there arose a dispute as to the place of his birth, some maintaining that it 
was Stockton in Yorkshire. See John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the 
Eighteenth Century, 9 vols., London, 1812—15, Vol. VIII, p. 133 note, and 
Illustrations of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century, 8 vols., 
London, 1817-58, Vol.-VIII, p. 588. 
* Probably a fellow apprentice, Lancaster. 
^ Ralph Bradley, distinguished conveyancer, author of Practical Points, or, 
Maxims in Conveyancing, London, 1804. 
