12 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
Grays Inn, 20th Novr. 1793. 
My good friend, 
I have purposed writing to you for some time, but as 
you would have got nothing by it, you will think it just as well 
perhaps that i 31) have defered my letter till it became produc¬ 
tive of some little advantage. I am vexed, at the same time, 
that i could not write yesterday, as most likely such of the above 
numbers as i wish most to see are already disposed of. I dare 
not mention Sibbald, as in the first place i suspect it not to be 
complete, and secondly, i am terrifyed at the idea of your un¬ 
expressed & inconceivable charge. You may put up the few 
articles you send me (if not too late) in Egerton’s 32) parcel; 
& i will pay the charge into your account with them. I will 
also pay them if agreeable to you, the sum of ten guineas which 
you will be so good as to pay over to Mr. Allan 33) to whom i 
write by this post. My book is nearly ready for publication, & 
will certainly appear by or about Christmas. 34) I have not 
taken the liberty to put your name to it, for which, i take it, on a 
perusal of the introduction, you will think yourself not a little 
obliged to me. 35) I cannot easyly reconcile your assurance 
of the sale of a number of copies with your indetermination to 
take one. The expense of sending a parcel to Edinburgh may 
^ Ritson’s first publication, a group of amatory Versees addressed to the 
Ladies of Stockton, 1772, exhibited a mode of spelling characterized by dis¬ 
carding the capital I except at the beginning of sentences, and by giving 
all words ending in e their full form when suffixes were added. This system 
he employed in his later publications, expanding it as he gained confidence. 
Toward the close of his life some of his books were refused by publishers 
because of orthographic mutilations. That he was by no means consistent in 
his orthographic practice is evidenced by these letters. See a factitious letter 
in the Monthly Mirror for Aug., 1803, put together by “Old Nick”, which ludi¬ 
crously exposes Ritson’s variations. 
T. and J. Egerton, London booksellers, published Ritson’s English An¬ 
thology, 1793-4, and Scotish Songs, 1794. 
33 George Allan (1736-1800), celebrated antiquary of Darlington, after 
interesting Ritson in antiquarian study, introduced him to the British 
Museum. In return Ritson aided Allan materially with some of his publica¬ 
tions. See Letters, passim. 
Scotish Songs, 2 vols„ London, 1794. This work had been in process of 
compilation for several years, and in the press for some months, but was 
not published until the March following this letter. 
3® An introductory “Historical Essay of Scotish Song” contains a strong 
indictment of the Scottish literati as the world’s most notorious forgers. 
Ritson was as unsparing as Dr. Johnson in his ridicule and condemnation 
of the Scottish. On one occasion he remarked, “The character given of 
Scotish men by old surly Johnson was, generally speaking, far from unjust. 
They prefer anything to truth, when the latter is at all injurious to the 
national honour: nor are they, so far as I can perceive, very solicitous about 
it on any occasion”. Letters, Vol. I, p. 191. 
