pectre-hound still lingers in the wild parts of
the north country of England, and in Nidderdale, Yorkshire, nurses frighten
children with its name.

See Wirt Sikes, _British Goblins_ (1880); _Notes and Queries_, first
series, ii. 51; Joseph Ritson, _Fairy Tales_ (Lond. 1831), p. 58;
_Lancashire Folklore_ (1867); Joseph Lucas, _Studies in Nidderdale_
(Pateley Bridge, 1882).

BARHAM, RICHARD HARRIS (1788-1845), English humourist, better known by his
_nom de plume_ of THOMAS INGOLDSBY, was born at Canterbury on the 6th of
December 1788. At seven years of age he lost his father, who left him a
small estate, part of which was the manor of Tappington, so frequently
mentioned in the _Legends_. At nine he was sent to St Paul's school, but
his studies were interrupted by an accident which shattered his arm and
partially crippled it for life. Thus deprived of the power of bodily
activity, he became a great reader and diligent student. In 1807 he entered
Brasenose College, Oxford, intending at first to study for the profession
of the law. Circumstances, however, induced him to change his mind and to
enter the church. In 1813 he was ordained and took a country curacy; he
married in the following year, and in 1821 removed to London on obtaining
the appointment of minor canon of St Paul's cathedral. Three years later he
became one of the priests in ordinary of the King's Chapel Royal, and was
appointed to a city living. In 1826 he first contributed to _Blackwood's
Magazine_; and on the establishment of _Bentley's Miscellany_ in 1837 he
began to furnish the series of grotesque metrical tales known as _The
Ingoldsby Legends_. These became very popular, were published in a
collected form and have since passed through numerous editions. In variety
and whimsicality of rhymes these verses have hardly a rival since the days
of _Hudibras_. But beneath this obvious popular quality there lies a store
of solid antiquarian learning, the fruit of patient enthusiastic research,
in out-of-the-way old books, which few readers who laugh over his pages
detect. His life was grave, dignified and highly honoured. His sound
judgment and his kind heart made him the trusted counsellor, the valued
friend and the frequent peacemaker; and he was intolerant of all that was
mean and base and false. In politics he was a Tory of the old school; yet
he was the lifelong friend of the liberal Sydney Smith, whom in many
respects he singularly resembled. Theodore Hook