“You will do Mr. Malone great injustice if you suppose him to be in all respects what I may have endeavoured to represent him in some. In order that he may recover your more favourable opinion, let me recommend to your perusal, the discussion, in his prolegomena, intitled "Shakspeare, Ford and Jonson ;." and his "Dissertation on the three parts of King Henry the Sixth" (to which I am more indebted for an acquaintance with the manner of our great dramatic poet than to any thing I ever read).”

English antiquary

Joseph Ritson was an English antiquary active in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He is known for editing the first scholarly collection of Robin Hood ballads in 1795, and for his work on English nursery rhymes. He became a strong supporter of the French Revolution after visiting France in 1791, and later emerged as an influential advocate of vegetarianism. He also assembled nursery rhyme collections such as Gammer Gurton's Garland, or The Nursery Parnassus, published in London by Joseph Johnson, including familiar verses like "Roses Are Red" and "Little Bo-Peep".