was so uncertain as to bring his literary work to a standstill. Pecuniary troubles subsequently harassed him. He engaged in hazardous speculation, and lost heavily, with the result that to meet his debts he had to sell his property in the north and portions of his library. But his interest in his literary projects revived about 1800, when Sir Walter Scott applied to him for aid in his contemplated work on ‘Border Minstrelsy.’ Scott had formed a high opinion of Ritson's literary sagacity, and his compliments conquered Ritson's asperity. In 1801 he visited Scott at Lasswade, and, despite an inconveniently strict adherence to a vegetarian diet and occasional displays of bad temper, did not forfeit his host's respect. They corresponded amicably until Ritson's health finally broke. On returning from Lasswade to London, Ritson resumed his literary labours with renewed energy, and in 1802 he produced two works of value. The earlier, the suggestion of which he acknowledged was due to Steevens, was the useful ‘Bibliographia Poetica: a Catalogue of English Poets of the Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth Centurys, with a Short Account of their Works,’ 1802, 8vo. The second was his ‘Ancient Engleish Metrical Romanceës,’ 1802, 3 vols. 8vo, which opens with a learned dissertation, once more censuring Bishop Percy. The romances include ‘Iwaine and Gawin,’ ‘Sir Launfal,’ ‘Emare,’ and eight others of early date. The notes and glossary are very elaborate.
But Ritson's nervous ailment was rapidly reaching an acute stage. ‘An Essay on Abstinence from Animal Food as a Moral Duty,’ which Richard Phillips [q. v.] published in 1802, after it had been refused by many other publishers, bears marks of incipient insanity. Its perverse arguments were caustically exposed by the ‘Edinburgh Review’ in April 1803 in an article jointly written by Lord Brougham and Sydney Smith (cf. Moore's Correspondence, vii. 13). For declining to obey the precepts set forth in the pamphlet, Ritson is said to have driven his nephew from his house. After some months' incessant work Ritson's brain completely gave way. Barricading himself within his chambers at Gray's Inn early in September 1803, he threatened with violence all who approached him. On 10 Sept. he set fire to masses of manuscripts, including a valuable catalogue of romances; and the steward of Gray's Inn broke into his rooms in the fear that he would burn the house down. To a neighbour and a bencher of the inn, Robert Smith, he explained, when challenged to account for his conduct, that ‘he was then writing a pamphlet proving Jesus Christ an impostor.’ A few days later he was removed to the house of Sir Jonathan Miles at Hoxton, where he died of paralysis of the brain on 23 Sept. 1803. He was buried four days later in Bunhill Fields. His executor and sole legatee was his nephew, Joseph Frank of Stockton. His library was sold by Leigh & Sotheby on 5 Dec. 1803. It contained many rare books and several manuscripts by Ritson. Among the latter were a ‘Villare Dunelmense,’ a ‘Bibliographia Scotica’ (reputed to be of great value, which was purchased by George Chalmers), and an annotated copy of Johnson's and Steevens's edition of Shakespeare, including three volumes of manuscript notes, which was purchased by Longman for 110l. The whole collection of 986 lots fetched 681l. 5s. 9d. Ritson combined much pedantry with his scholarship; but he sought a far higher ideal of accuracy than is common among antiquaries, while he spared no pains in accumulating information. Sir Walter Scott wrote that ‘he had an honesty of principle about him which, if it went to ridiculous extremities, was still respectable from the soundness of the foundation.’ But Scott did not overlook his friend's peculiarities, and in verses written for the Bannatyne Club in 1823 he referred to ‘Little Ritson’
As bitter as gall, and as sharp as a razor,
And feeding on herbs as a Nebuchadnezzar.
Ritson's impatience of inaccuracy led him to unduly underrate the labours of his contemporaries, and his suspicions of imposture were often unwarranted. But his irritability and eccentricity were mainly due to mental malady. He showed when in good health many generous instincts, and he cherished no personal animosity against those on whose published work he made his splenetic attacks. With Surtees, George Paton, Walter Scott, and his nephew he corresponded good-humouredly to the end. He produced his works with every typographical advantage, and employed Bewick and Stothard to illustrate many of them. It is doubtful if any of his literary ventures proved remunerative.
In person, according to his friend Robert Smith, Ritson resembled a spider. A caricature of him by Gillray represents him in a tall hat and a long closely buttoned coat. A silhouette by William Park of Hampstead is prefixed to Haslewood's ‘Account’ and to the ‘Caledonian Muse,’ 1821.
After Ritson's death many new editions of his anthologies were issued by his nephew, in addition to his printed but unpublished ‘Caledonian Muse’ (1821, by R. Triphook).
