in his history of the county of Durham, as well as by others; but the local biography of this work would be incomplete without a due notice of this ingenious native of the place. Indeed the writer is called upon to acknowledge, with every proper regard, the obliging communication which he made of his Collections, towards the first edition of this history; having once had it in contemplation to have given some account of his native town, and for that purpose had made considerable research in public libraries and public offices.

Mr. Ritson was the son of Joseph Ritson, of Stockton, who was in the employment of Leonard Robinson, Esq,, an eminent merchant there. He was born Oct. 2nd, 1751; and was indentured to John Stapylton Raisbeck, Esq., a very worthy and eminent solicitor of Stockton, and son-inlaw of Mr. Robinson. From this situation he was transferred to the office of Ralph Bradley, Esq., barrister at law, whose name appears in a preceding article, in which he remained till his removal to the metropolis. During this period he gave considerable proof of ability, and had a good prospect of success in his profession. His first and only schoolmaster, the Rev. John Thompson, then of Stockton, now vicar of Warden, in Northumberland (1825) recently acquainted the writer of this narrative that Ritson was one of the earliest and best scholars that he had. He recounted indeed some instances of his equally early excentricities of thinking and acting, giving earnest of the singularity of his future life.

Ritson was entered at Gray's Inn, May 6th, 1784, and was called to the bar by that society, May 20, 1789. That he was ingenious and clever, every man must allow ; and even those who condemn the severity of his pen, will

acknowledge his indefatigable research and persevering industry. He can hardly be said to have done himself justice in that learned profession of which he was a member. Polite literature, and antiquarian investigation, were his chief characteristics; and these he advocated with such alacrity of mind, such critical acumen, and pertinacity of manner, as to absorb almost all other studies. I am unwilling to unveil what his friends looked upon with concern: but I adopt most heartily, and receive most acceptably, an intimation in Haslewood's memoir :-" Of the wavering notions of Ritson," he says, "upon the subject of the Christian religion, although he, at one period, entertained and expressed himself thereon too freely, let it suffice that a letter of his own was written to a surviving correspondent, declaring his poignant regret, even to tearfulness, that it had been his misfortune to live an unbeliever."

As I enter not into any critical account of Ritson, and his labours, I have only to remark that he died at Hoxton, in the vicinity of London, in the house of Sir Jonathan Miles, under a fatal attack of his mental faculties, September 23rd, 1803, in the 52nd year of his age.*+

"The Life of King Arthur, by Joseph Ritson," has been recently published by his nephew, Joseph Frank, Esq., of Stockton.

+ The following extract from "An Essay on abstinence from animal food as a moral duty, by Joseph Ritson, 1802," will afford some idea both of the manner and principles of Ritson,

:

"Mr. Richard Phillips, the publisher of this compilation, a lustye, healthy, active, and wellooking man, has desisted from animal food for 20 years and the compileer himself, induc'd to serious reflection, by the perusal of Mandeville's Fable of the Bees, in the year 1772, being the 19th of his age, has ever since to the reviseal of this sheet, firmly adhere'd to a milk and vegitable diet, haveing, at least, never tasteed,

JEREMIAH MOORE, ESQ.,

Mariner.

"He

I am unable to discover from whence the subject of this article sprung, or what were his connections. After an eventful life, it appears that he settled at Norton, where he died July 20th, 1753, aged 57 years. was the last of his family; and had, in the former part of his life, suffered extreme hardships, through the cruelty of his elder brother; by whose means he was carried into Turkish slavery; and at the time of his brother's death was a common seaman in the navy, having been pressed in the Mediterranean, after having made his escape from the Turks. When he came to his estate, he converted it into money, and settled in the north, exercising acts of goodness to all his poor neighbours, to whom he left largely. Having no relations, he bequeathed to six gentlemen, who were kind to him in his adversity, £1500 a piece; and to his housekeeper, Mrs. Ann Kendal, his executrix and residuary legatee £3000, in trust for her son.

"All the legatees were enjoined to receive their legacies at his house in Norton, over a large bowl of punch,

during the whole course of those 30 years, a morsel of fish, flesh, or fowl, or any thing, to his knowledge, prepare'd in or with those substances, or any extract thereof, unless, on one occasion, when tempted by wet, cold, and hunger, in the south of Scotland, he venture'd to eat a few potatos, dress'd under the roast: nothing less repugnant to his feelings, being to be had; or except by ignorance, or imposition; unless it may be in eating egs, which, however, deprives no animal of life, though it may prevent some from comeing into the world to be murder'd and devour'd by others."-P. 201.

on the first of March next after his death; and they were required yearly to commemorate that day as long as they lived, it being the day he escaped from slavery."Hutchinson.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Middleton-Moor-Fowler-Christopher-Brunton.

CAPTAIN CHRISTOPHER MIDDLETON, Navigator to the Arctic Regions.

HIS intrepid commander of an expedition to the polar regions was born near Stockton, supposed Newton Bewley, near Billingham, about the beginning of the last century; and claims both our attention and protection to remove an obloquy which had been attached to his character, in consequence of the misinterpretation or misconception of those who employed him, on his dangerous voyage. Middleton appears to have been engaged in the sea-faring line from his youth; and generally, if not always, on board of one of the vessels in the service of the Hudson's Bay company. The object of these voyages is to collect furs. As the Hudson's Bay fur trade was considered an exclusive trade, a sort of mysterious jealousy appears to have been preserved respecting it.

About the year 1707, a gentleman of science and fortune, of the name of Dobbs, from the observations of former navigators respecting the tides and whales observed in the Welcome, the copper-mine river, from which there was so easy a communication with the sea, and from the chart made by the natives, was impressed with a conviction that a passage might be found into the great western ocean, by an opening not far distant from the course taken by the company's ships. He prevailed with the company to send out two small vessels on this service. It does not appear that they returned with any intelligence of importance, having reached only 624° N. Lat. but confirmed former reports respecting the tides. This gave no satisfaction to Mr. Dobbs, but drew from him severe reprehension of the Hudson's Bay company.

He prevailed on the Lords of the Admiralty to appropriate a ship of the navy to the purposes of discovery, and to give the command of her to Captain Middleton. The Furnace bomb, and the Discovery pink, were accordingly put under his orders, the latter being commanded by Mr. William Moor. They sailed, 1741, wintered in Churchill river, lat. 58° 36', where he, as Barrow says, unaccountably remained till July 1st, 1742. As soon as the ice allowed he began to sail up the Welcome, and his attention was attracted by an inlet or river, 6 or 8 miles in breadth. The entrance of this river, called the Wager, lies in lat. 65° 201. They expected here to have found a passage, but they constantly found the tide of flood coming from the eastward, or in at the mouth of the Wager. This put an end to all expectations here. In lat. 65° 38' they came to another opening, 13 leagues in width; here they came to a cape, or headland, and