THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 1ERN BRANCH, 
 
 TALIFORNIA, 
 
 ,
 
 THE 
 
 LJLJL_ E 
 
 , oj? 
 
 THOMAS CHATTERTON, 
 
 WITH 
 
 CRITICISMS 
 
 ON HIS 
 
 GNIUS AND WRITING S y 
 
 AND 
 
 A CONCISE VIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 CONTROVERSY 
 
 CONCERNING 
 
 ROWLEY'S POEMS. 
 
 BY G. GREGORY, D.D. F.A.S, 
 
 AUTHOR OF ESSAYS HISTORICAL AND MORAL, 
 
 Agora com pobreza aborrecida, 
 
 For hofpkios alheos degradado 5 
 Agora da efperanja^ ja adquirida, 
 
 De novo mais que nunca derribado. 
 
 CAMOEK ;, 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 PRINTED FOR G. KEARSLEY, No. 46, FLEET STREET. 
 
 1789. 
 [ Price Five Shillings fcwed. ]
 
 TO THE RIGHT HON. THE 
 
 MARQUIS of LANSDOWN, 
 
 MY LORD, 
 
 JL ERMIT me to introduce the unpatronifed 
 CHATTERTON to the only ftatefman of our 
 time who has manifefted a genuine zeal for 
 the promotion of literature and fcience. Had 
 the unfortunate fubject of thefe pages but 
 known, or had he made himfelf known to your 
 Lordihip, there is much probability that the 
 world would at this day have continued to 
 enjoy the increafing fruits of his uncommon 
 talents. 
 
 It would, however, be the extreme of injuf- 
 tice to confine your Lordfhip's commendation 
 to the exercife of private munificence, or the 
 admiration of learning. As one of that pub- 
 lic, therefore, who are probably indebted for 
 every thing which they poflefs or enjoy, to the 
 
 wifdom
 
 wifdom and virtue of your Lordfhip's admi- 
 niftration, allow me to unite with all the ho- 
 ned and difcerning part of the -community, in 
 exprefilng my gratitude for the moft honour- 
 able and advantageous Peace which was ever 
 atchieved by this nation. When the little 
 contentions of Party are no more, and the 
 clouds of Faftion are difllpated, the Friend of 
 Mankind and his Country will ftand confe- 
 crated to the veneration of pofterity j and it 
 will appear greater to have performed much 
 within a fhort period, than to have enjoyed 
 the emoluments of office for an age of inac- 
 tivity. 
 
 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 MY LORD, 
 With great refpeft, 
 
 Your Lordlhip's obliged 
 And faithful Servant, 
 
 The Author.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THE following pages were compofed at the requeft 
 of the refpe&able Editor of the Biographia Britannica, 
 in order to be inferted in that valuable work. The 
 author, however, requefted leave to print off a fmall 
 edition, in a feparate ftate, for the accommodation and 
 fatisfaction of a few friends, to whom he was indebted 
 on the occafion for fome valuable communications. 
 
 Perhaps the admirers of CHATTERTON, and thofe in 
 particular who have intereited themfelves in the contro- 
 verfy relating to Rowley's Poems, will not be difpleafed 
 at feeing collected in one view all the particulars which 
 are known concerning that extraordinary character. 
 
 The only claim to the public approbation, which the 
 author prefumes to aflert in favour of this little volume, 
 is that of authenticity, as the public may reft aflured 
 that no facT: has been admitted but upon the moft unex- 
 ceptionable teftimony. He is not at liberty to publilh 
 all his authorities, but whenever they are known he is 
 confident in the afiertion, that they will be found highly 
 refpedlable. The notes marked O. were added by a 
 moft learned and intelligent friend, who honoured the 
 manufcript with his perufal,
 
 (Jntcren at Stationers fy&il
 
 THE 
 
 LIFE 
 
 O F 
 
 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 HE anceftry of men of genius is fel- 
 dom of much importance to the public or 
 their biographers ; the commonwealth of 
 literature is almoft a perfect democracy, 
 in which the rife or promotion of in- 
 dividuals is generally the confequence 
 of their refpedtive merits. The family 
 
 of Chatterton, however, though in no 
 
 
 
 refpect illuftrious, is more nearly con- 
 nected with fome of the circumstances 
 of his literary hiftory than that of mofl 
 other votaries of the Mufes. It appears 
 that the office of fexton of St. Mary 
 B Redchffe
 
 2 L I F E O F 
 
 RedclifFe, in Briftol, had continued in 
 different branches of this farriily for more 
 than one hundred and fifty years ; and 
 that John Chatterton, the laft of the 
 name who enjoyed that office, was elected 
 in March 1725, and continued fexton till 
 his death, which happened in the year 
 1748 *. Thomas Chatterton, the nephew 
 of the preceding, and father to the extra- 
 ordinary perfon who is the fubjed: of thefe 
 memoirs, had, we are informed, been in the 
 early part of life in the ftation of a writing 
 ufher to a claffical fchool-f, was after- 
 wards engaged as a fmging man of the 
 Cathedral of Briftol, and latterly was maf- 
 ter of the free fchool in Pyle-ftreet in the 
 fame city $. He died in Auguft i752|| > 
 
 leaving 
 
 * Dr. Millcs's Preliminary DHTertation to Rowley's 
 Poems, page 6. 
 f Ibid. 
 
 I Ib. Mr. Bryant's Obf, p. 514, 
 Jl Ibid.
 
 CHATTERTON. 3 
 
 leaving his wife then pregnant of a fon, who 
 was born on the 2oth of November, and 
 baptized the i ft of January following, by 
 the name of THOMAS, at St. Mary Red* 
 clifFe, by the Rev. Mr. Gibbs, vicar of 
 that church. 
 
 The life of Chatterton, though fhort, 
 was eventful j it commenced as it end- 
 "" ed, in indigence and misfortune. By 
 the premature lofs of his father he was 
 deprived of that careful attention which 
 would probably have conducted his early 
 years through all the difficulties that 
 circumftances or difpolition might op- 
 pofe to the attainment of knowledge ; 
 and by the unpromifing afpect of his in- 
 fant faculties he was excluded a feminary, 
 *vhich might have afforded advantages fu- 
 perior to thofe he afterwards enjoyed. His 
 father had been fucceeded in the fchool 
 at Pyle-ftreet by a Mr. Love, and to his 
 care Chatterton was committed at the age 
 
 B 2 Of
 
 y. 1. I F E O F 
 
 of five years ; but either his faculties were 
 not yet opened, or the waywardnefs of 
 genius, .which will purfue only fuch ob- 
 jects as are felf-approved, incapacitated 
 him from receiving inflruction in the or- 
 dinary methods ; and he was remanded 
 to his mother as a dull boy, and incapable 
 of improvement*. Nothing is more fal- 
 lacious than the judgments which are 
 formed during infancy of the future abili- 
 ties of youth. Mrs. Chatterton was ren- 
 dered extremely unhappy by the apparently 
 tardy underftanding of her fon, till he fell 
 in fave, as me exprefTed herfelf, with the 
 illuminated capitals of an old mufical ma- 
 nuicript, in French, which enabled her, 
 by taking advantage of the momentary 
 paflion, to initiate him in the alphabet -j^. 
 She taught him afterwards to read from an 
 old black-lettered Teftament, or Bible J. 
 
 Perhaps 
 
 * Bryant's Obfervations, p. 519. 
 f Ib. Milles's Prelim. Difl*. p. 5. 
 3 Milles's Prelim. Difl'. p. 5.
 
 CHATTERTON. 5 
 
 Perhaps the bent of moft men's ftudies 
 may, in fome meafure, be determined by 
 accident, and frequently in very early life ; 
 nor is it unreafonable to fuppofe that his 
 peculiar attachment to antiquities may, in 
 a confiderable degree, have refulted from 
 this little circumftance. 
 
 We are not informed by what means or 
 by what recommendation he gained ad- 
 miffion into Colfton's charity- fchool; but 
 doubtlefs, in the fituation of his mother 
 at the time, it muft have been a moft de- 
 firable event ; however unfuitable fuch a 
 courfe of difcipline might be to the im- 
 provement of Chatterton's peculiar talents. 
 Moft of thofe prodigies of genius, who 
 had hitherto aftonimed mankind, by the 
 early difplay of abilities and learning, had 
 been aided by the advantage of able in- 
 ftru&ors, or had at leaft been left at liberty 
 to purfue the impulfe of their fuperior 
 understandings ; it was the lot of Chatter- 
 B 3 ton
 
 6 L I F E O F 
 
 ton to be confined to the mechanical 
 drudgery of a charity-fchool ; and the little 
 ordinary portions of leifure, with which 
 boys in his fituation are indulged, was the 
 only time allowed him to lay the founda- 
 tion of that extenlive and abitrufe erudition 
 which decorated even his early years. 
 This feminary, founded by Edward Col- 
 flon, Efq. is fituate at St. Auguftine's 
 Back in Briftol, and is much upon the 
 fame plan with Chrift's Hofpital in Lon- 
 don, (the only plan perhaps on which a 
 charity-fchool can be generally ufeful,) 
 the boys being boarded in the houfe, 
 clothed, and taught reading, writing, and 
 arithmetic. Chatterton, at this period, 
 wanted a few months of eight years of age, 
 being admitted on the 3^ of Auguft 1 760 *. 
 
 The 
 
 * On the authority of a letter figned G. B. dated Briftol, 
 Auguft 30, 1778, printed in the St. James's Chronicle. In 
 Dr. Milles's Prelim. DifT. it is 1761 ; but this rnuft be a 
 mifprint, as all agree that he was between feven and eight 
 years old when admitted.
 
 CHATTERTON. 7 
 
 The rules of this inftitution are ftrift. 
 The fchool hours in fummer are from 
 feven o'clock till twelve in the morning, 
 and from one till five in the afternoon ; and 
 in winter, from eight to twelve, and from 
 one to four. The boys are obliged to be 
 in bed every night in the year at eight 
 o'clock, and are never permitted to be ab- 
 fent from fchool, except on Saturdays and 
 Saints days, and then only from between 
 one and two in the afternoon till between 
 feven and eight in the evening. The de- 
 tail of triefe apparently trivial particulars 
 may at prefent favour of a culpable minute- 
 nefs ; but their importance will be ex- 
 perienced before I have concluded. 
 
 The firft years of his refidence at this 
 feminary paffed without notice, and per- 
 haps without effort. His lifter, indeed, 
 in her letter to Mr. Croft, remarks, that 
 he very early difcovered a thirft for pre- 
 eminence, and that even before he was 
 B 4 five
 
 8 L I F E O F 
 
 five years old he was accuftomed to prefide- 
 over his play-mates *. There is a curious 
 letter from Mr. Thiftlethwaite of Briftol, 
 publifhed by Dr. Milles in his edition of 
 Rowley's Poems, which contains many 
 interefting particulars concerning Chatter-^ 
 ton. In the fummer of 1763, Mr. Thiftle^ 
 thwaite, who was then very young, con-* 
 tracked an intimacy with one Thomas 
 Philips -f , an ufher or amftant-mafter at 
 Colfton's fchool. Though the education 
 of Philips had not been the moft liberal, 
 
 he 
 
 * Love and Mad nefs, p. 161. There is an anecdote of 
 Chatterton (it is given, however, only on a vague and in- 
 diftind report) partly to the fame purpofe When very 
 young, a manufacturer promifed to make Mrs. Chatterton's 
 children a prefent of feme earthen-ware ; on afking the boy 
 what device he would have painted on his " Paint me 
 (faid he) an angel, with wings, and a trumpet, to trumpet 
 my name over the world." 
 
 f In all probability the perfon on whofe death Chatterton 
 compofed an Elegy. I wiih we were pofTeiTed of more per- 
 fect memoirs of Philips. His tafte for poetry excited a fimi- 
 lar flame in feyeral young men, who made no mean figure 
 in the periodical publications of that day, in Chatterton^ 
 Thiftlethwaite, Cary, Fowler, and others.
 
 CHATTERTON. p 
 
 he yet pufleffed a tafte for hiftory and 
 poetry j and by his attempts in verfe, ex- 
 cited a degree of literary emulation among 
 the elder boys. It is very remarkable, that 
 Chatterton is faid to have appeared alto- 
 gether as an idle fpedtator of thefe poetical 
 conteils j he fimply contented himfelf with 
 the fports and paftimes which appeared 
 more immediately adapted to his age ; he 
 apparently pofTefled neither inclination nor 
 ability for literary purfuits, nor does Mr. 
 Thifllethwaite believe that he attempted a 
 fingle couplet during the firft three years 
 of his acquaintance with him*. Whatever 
 grounds Mr. Thiftlethwaite might have 
 for this opinion, it, however, only ferves 
 to furnifti an additional proof of the de- 
 ceitfulnefs of thofe conjectures which are 
 formed concerning the abilities of youth. 
 The pert and forward boy, of aftive, but 
 
 ^ fuperficial 
 
 9 Milles's Rowley, p. 454.
 
 IO L I F E O F 
 
 fuperfkial talents, generally bears away 
 the palm from the modefty and penfivenefs 
 of genius. Such a difpofition, which is 
 in reality the refult of infenfibility, too 
 frequently meets with encouragement, 
 which produces indolence, impudence, 
 and diffipation ; while the lefs mewy, but 
 more excellent understandings, are depi efT- 
 ed by neglect, or dimeartened by difcou- 
 ragement. Chatterton, doubtlefs, at that 
 very period, was poflcrTed of a vigour of 
 underftanding, of a quicknefs of penetra- 
 tion, a boldnefs of imagination, far fupe- 
 rior to the talents of his companions. 
 But that penetration itfelf led him, per- 
 haps, to feel more flrongly his own de- 
 ficiences ; thofe delicate, yet vivid feel- 
 ings which ufually accompany real abili- 
 ties, induced him to decline a conteft, in 
 which there was a danger of experiencing 
 the mortification of being inferior. If he 
 produced any compofitions, his exquifite 
 
 taile
 
 CHATTERTON. II 
 
 tafte led him to fupprefs them. In the 
 mean time he was laying in ftores of in- 
 formation, and improving both his imagi- 
 nation and his judgment. About his tenth 
 year he acquired a tafte for reading; and 
 out of the trifle, which was allowed him 
 by his mother for pocket-money, he be- 
 gan to hire books from a circulating library. 
 As his tafte was different from children 
 of his age, his difpofitions were alfo dif- 
 ferent. Inftead of the thoughtlefs levity 
 of childhood, he poffeiTed the gravity, 
 penfivenefs, and melancholy of maturer 
 life. His fpirits were uneven -, he was 
 frequently fo loft in contemplation, that 
 for many days together he would fay very 
 little, and apparently by conftraint. His 
 intimates in the fchool were few, and 
 thofe of the moft ferious caft. Between 
 his eleventh and twelfth year, he wrote a 
 Catalogue of the Books he had read, to 
 the number of feventy. It is rather un- 
 fortunate
 
 12 L I F E O F 
 
 fortunate that this Catalogue was not pre- 
 ferved ; his fifter only informs us that they 
 principally confifted of hiftory and divini- 
 ty *. At the hours allotted him for play, 
 he generally retired to read, and he was 
 particularly felicitous to borrow books -f. 
 Though he does not appear to have mani- 
 fefted any violent inclination to difplay his 
 abilities, yet we have undoubted proofs 
 that very early in life, he did not fail to 
 exercife himfelf in competition. His 
 fifter having made him a prefent of a 
 pocket-book as a New- Year's gift, he re- 
 turned it to her at the end of the year 
 filled with writing, chiefly poetry J. It 
 was probably from the remains of this 
 pocket-book, that the author of Love and 
 Madnefs tranfcribed a poem, which ap- 
 pears by the date (April i4th, 1764) to 
 
 have 
 
 * Mrs. Newton*s Letter in Love and Madnefs, 
 f Dr. Milles's Prelim. Diff. page 5. 
 | Mrs. Newton's Letter.
 
 CHATTERTON. 13 
 
 have been written at the age of eleven, 
 years and a half*. This fait is certainly 
 
 a ftrong 
 
 * It may not be improper to produce this poem, not only as 
 Jt is the earlieft exifting fpecimen of Chatterton's compofi- 
 tions, but alfo for the lake of fome remarks, which will pro- 
 bably throw Come light on the genius and character of its 
 author. 
 
 APOSTATE WILL, by T. C. 
 
 In days of old, when Wefley's pow'r 
 Gather'd new ftrength by every hour; 
 Apoftate Will juft funk in trade, 
 Refolv'd his bargain fliould be made ; 
 Then ftrait to Wefley he repairs, 
 And puts on grave and folemn airs, 
 Then thus the pious man addrefs'd, 
 Good Sir, I think your doctrine beft, 
 Your fervant will a Wefley be. 
 Therefore the principles teach me. 
 The preacher then instructions gave, 
 How he in this world mould behave, 
 He hears, aflents, and gives a nod. 
 Says every word's the word of God. 
 Then lifting his diflembling eyes, 
 How blefled is the feet he cries, 
 Nor Bingham, Young, nor Stillingfleet 
 Shall make me from this feet retreat. 
 He then his circumftance declared, 
 How hardly with him matters far'd, 
 Begg'd him next meeting for to make 
 A fmall collection for his fake j 
 tf The
 
 14 L I F E O F 
 
 a flrong contradiction to Mr. Thiftle- 
 thwaite's afTertion, yet perhaps it is not 
 
 on 
 
 The preacher faid, do not repine, 
 
 The whole collection lhall be thine. 
 
 With looks demure and cringing bows, 
 
 About his bufinefs ftrait he goes ; 
 
 His outward acls were grave and prim, 
 
 The Methodift appear'd in him ; 
 
 But, be his outward what it will, 
 
 His heart was an Apoftate's ftill ; 
 
 He'd oft profefs an hallow'd flame, 
 
 And every where preach'd Wefley's name ; 
 
 He was a preacher and what not, 
 
 As long as money could be got ; 
 
 He'd oft profefs with holy fire, 
 
 The labourer's worthy of his hire. 
 
 It happen 'd once upon a time, 
 When all his works were in their prime, 
 A noble place appear'd in view, 
 
 Then to the Methodifls, adieu ; 
 
 A Methodift no more he'll be, 
 The Proteilants ferve bell for be ; 
 Then to the curate ftrait he ran, 
 And thus addrefs'd the rev'rend man ; 
 I was a Methodiit, 'tis true, 
 With penitence I turn to you ; 
 O that it were your bounteous will 
 That I the vacant place might fill I 
 With juftice I'd myfelf acquit, 
 Do every thing that's right and fit. 
 
 The
 
 CHATTERTON. 15 
 
 on the whole fo difficult to be reconciled 
 as may at fir ft be fufpected. In the regifters 
 
 of 
 
 The curate ftraitway gave confent - 
 To take the place he quickly went. 
 Accordingly he took the place, 
 And keeps it with diflembled grace. < 
 
 April 14, 1764. 
 
 In the firft place, this poem {hews the early turn and 
 bent of his genius to fatire, which predominated throughout 
 his fhort life, and with which he began and ended his lite- 
 rary career. Not only his fchool- fellows and his instructors 
 became the fubjects of it at this early period, but his ac- 
 quaintance and his friends felt its force. 
 
 In the next place, it appears that he was then no Granger 
 to the works of Bingham, Young, and Stillingfleet, which 
 were probably among the books of divinity that compofed 
 the lift of thofe he had read or confulted, as mentioned icr 
 Mrs. Newton's Letter. 
 
 Laftly, let it be obferved, that the perfon he fatirizes 
 is fuppofed to have turned methodift for mercenary mo- 
 tives, and to have preached the gofpel merely to put 
 money in his purfe. Now Mr. Thiftlethwaite, in his letter 
 to Dean Milles, after mentioning Chatterton's intentions 
 of leaving his mailer's fervice and going to London, 
 fays " I interrogated him as to the objects of his views 
 and expectations, and what mode of life he intended to pur- 
 fue on his arrival at London. The anfwer I received was a 
 memorable one : My firft attempt, faid he, (hall be in the 
 literary way ; the promifes I have received are fufRcient to 
 difpel doubt ; but mould I, contrary to my expectations,
 
 l6 L I F E O F 
 
 of the memory, a few months is but a 
 trifling anachronifm -, befides, tho' Chat- 
 terton might compofe at that time, it 
 does not follow that he was under any ne- 
 ceffity of imparting his compofitions to 
 Mr. Thiftlethwaite or Mr. Philips ; in- 
 deed, he was the lefs likely to make them 
 public, as they were of the fatirical kind, 
 and confequently, if difcovfered, the boy 
 
 might 
 
 find myfelf deceived, I will in that cafe turn Methodift 
 preacher : Credulity is as potent a deity as ever, and a new 
 fel may eafily be devifcd," &c. - Milks' s Rowley, 
 page 459. 
 
 Chatterton might in fome meafure have in view the cha- 
 rafter which he had before fo fuccefsfully depifted, when he 
 thus exprefled himfelf to Mr. Thiftlethwaite. As his genius 
 was verfatile, and his reading extenfive, it is poffible this 
 profeffion might not be without fome ferious foundation ; 
 indeed, if we are to believe that the fragment of a fermon, 
 which he produced as Rowley's, was really his own compo- 
 fuion, certainly many a quack preacher fets out upon a 
 much flenderer flock of divinity than Chatterton was mafter 
 of at that time. The imagination, however, forms many 
 fchemes which the heart wants fortitude to reduce to action ; 
 and perhaps, after all, his declaration to Mr. T. might b 
 no more than a temporary piece of gaiety, and that he 
 might ftill, though releafed from religious fcruples, abjior 
 the difhonourable character of a hypocrite.
 
 CHATTERTON. 17 
 
 might be appreheniive of expofing himfelf 
 to punishment. 
 
 At twelve years old he was confirmed 
 by the Bifhop : His fitter adds, that he 
 made very fenfible and ferious remarks on 
 the awfulnefs of the ceremony, and on 
 his own feelings preparatory to it *. 
 Happy had it been for him if thefe fenti~ 
 ments, fo congenial to the amiable difpo- 
 fitions of youth, had continued to influ- 
 ence his conduct during his maturer years. 
 He foon after, during the week in which 
 he was door-keeper, made fome verfes on 
 the laft day, paraphrafed the ninth chapter 
 of Job, and fome chapters of Ifaiah. The 
 bent of his genius, however, more ftrongly 
 inclined him to fatire, of which he was 
 tolerably lavifh on his fchool- fellows, nor 
 did the upper- mafter, Mr. Warner, efcape 
 the rod of his reprehenfion. The firfl 
 C poetical 
 
 * Mri. Newton's Letter.
 
 f8 L I F E O F 
 
 poetical eflays of moft young authors are 
 in the paftoral ftyle, when the imagination 
 is luxuriant, the hopes and contemplations 
 romantic, and when the mind is better 
 acquainted with the- objects of nature and 
 of the fight than with any other; but 
 Chatterton, without the advantages of 
 education or encouragement, and, on thefe 
 accounts, diffident perhaps of his own 
 powers, wanted the ftimulative of indig- 
 nation to prompt him to action ; and a 
 quicknefs of refentment appears through 
 life to have been one of his moil diftin- 
 guifhing characterises *. From what has 
 been related, it is probable that Chatter- 
 ton was no great favourite with Mr. War- 
 ner 5 he, however, found a friend in the 
 
 under- 
 
 * A late French writer, in his Memoirs of the poet De 
 la Harpe, who had manifefted a like turn for fatirc in his 
 early years, fays " La fatyre ell la premiere qualitc qui fe 
 develope ordinaircment dans un jeune poete. Celui fe 
 1'exerce d'unefa5on, ridicule envers fes maiwes k meme 
 elvers M. Aflalin."
 
 under-mafter, Mr. Haynes, who conceived 
 for him, I have been informed, a ftrong 
 and affectionate attachment. 
 
 A very remarkable fa(ft is recorded by 
 Mr. Thiftlethwaite in the letter already 
 quoted. " Going down Horfe-ftreet, near 
 the fchool, one day," fays he, * I acci- 
 dentally met with Chatterton. Entering 
 into converfation with him, the fubjecli 
 of which I do not now recollect^ he in- 
 formed me that he was in the pofTeffion of 
 certain old manufcripts, which had been 
 found depofited in a chefl in RedclifFe 
 church, and that he had lent fome or one 
 of them to Philips. Within a day or two 
 after this I faw Philips^ and repeated to 
 him the information I had received from 
 Chatterton. Philips produced a manu- 
 fcript on parchment or vellum, which I 
 am confident was ElenoUre and Juga *, 
 C 2 a kind 
 
 * See Rowley's Poems, p. 19, third edition 4
 
 2O L I F E O F 
 
 a kind of paftoral eclogue, afterwards pub- 
 lifhed in the Town and Country Magazine 
 for May 1769. The parchment or vel- 
 lum appeared to have been clofely pared 
 round the margin ; for what purpofe, or 
 by what accident, I know not, but the 
 words were evidently entire and unmuti- 
 lated. As the writing was yellow and 
 pale, manifeftly (as I conceive) occafioned 
 by age, and confequently difficult to de- 
 cypher, Philips had with his pen traced 
 and gone over feveral of the lines, (which, 
 as far as my recollection ferves, were 
 written in the manner of profe, and with- 
 out any regard to punctuation,) and by 
 that means laboured to attain the object of 
 his purfuit, an inveftigation of their mean- 
 ing. I endeavoured to affifl him ; but 
 from an almoft total ignorance of the cha- 
 raders, manners, language, and orthogra- 
 phy of the age in which the lines were 
 written, all our efforts were unprofuably 
 
 exerted ;
 
 C HA T T E R T O N. 21 
 
 exerted ; and though we arrived at the ex- 
 planation of 4 , and connected many of the 
 words, ftill the fenfe was notorioufly de- 
 ficient *." If this narrative may be de- 
 pended on, Chatterton had difcovered thefe 
 manufcripts before he was twelve years of 
 age. It is, however, Scarcely confident 
 with other accounts, iince both Mrs. 
 Chatterton and her daughter feem to be of 
 opinion, that he knew nothing of the 
 parchments brought from Redcliffe church, 
 which were fuppofed to contain Rowley's 
 poems, till after he had left fchool-f-. 
 
 Under all the difadvantages of education, 
 the acquisitions of Chatterton were fur- 
 prifing. Befides the variety of reading 
 which he had gone through, the author of 
 Love and Madnefs remarks, he had feme 
 C 3 knowledge 
 
 * Milles's Rowley. 
 
 f Milles's Prelim. DifT. p. 5. There appears good rea- 
 fon for i'uipefting fomc miftake in Mr. Thiftlethwaite's nar- 
 rative, eicher as to the date, or foroe etlisr circumfonce.
 
 22 1 I F E O P 
 
 knowledge of mufic *. Is it not probable 
 that a few of the rudiments of vocal mu- 
 fic made a part of the education of a cha- 
 rity boy ? He had alfo acquired a tafte 
 for drawing, which afterwards he greatly 
 improved ; and the uftier of the fchool 
 afferted he had made a rapid progrefs in 
 arithmetic -f . Soon after he left fchool, 
 he corresponded with a boy, who had been 
 his bed-fellow while at Colfton's, and was 
 bound apprentice to a merchant at New- 
 York J, Mrs. Newton fays, he read a 
 letter at home, which he wrote to this 
 friend $ it confided of a collection of all 
 the hard words in the Englifti language, 
 and he recjuefted his friend to anfwer it in 
 
 the 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 167. 
 
 f Ibid. p. 161. 
 
 J At the defire of this friend, he wrote love verles to he 
 tranfmitted to him, and exhibited as his own. It is re r 
 markable, that when firft queftioned concerning the old 
 ppems, he faid he was engaged to tranfcribe them for a 
 gentleman, who alfo employed him to write verfes on a 
 lady wkh whom he was in Ipve,
 
 CHATTF. RTON. 2j 
 
 the fame ftyle. An extraordinary effect of 
 his difcovering an employment adapted 
 to his genius is remarked in the fame 
 letter. He had been gloomy from the 
 time he began to learn, but it was obferved 
 that he became more cheerful after he be- 
 gan to write poetry*. 
 
 On the i ft of July 1767, he left the 
 charity-fchool, and was bound apprentice 
 to Mr. John Lambert, attorney, of Briftol, 
 for feven years, to learn the art and myflery 
 of a fcrivener. The apprentice fee was 
 ten pounds ; the mailer was to find him in 
 meat, drink, lodging, and clothes ; the 
 mother in warning and mending. He 
 flept in the fame room with the foot-boy, 
 and went every morning at eight o'clock to 
 the office, which was at fome diftance, 
 and, except the ufual time for dinner, 
 continued there till eight o'clock at night, 
 C 4 after 
 
 f Milles's Prelim. DifT. p, 5.
 
 24 L I F E O F 
 
 after which he was at liberty till ten, 
 when he was always expected to be at 
 home. Mr. Lambert affords the mod 
 honourable teftimony in Chatterton's fa- 
 vour, with refpecl: to the regularity of 
 his attendance, as he never exceeded the 
 limited hours but once, when he had leave 
 to fpend the evening with his mother and 
 fome friends *. His hours of leifure alfo 
 Mr. Lambert had no reafon to fufpecl: were 
 fpent in improper company, but generally 
 with his mother, Mr. Clayfield, Mr. Bar- 
 rett, or Mr. Catcott. He never had occafion 
 to charge him with neglect of bufmefs, or 
 any ill behaviour whatever. Once, and 
 but once, he thought himfelf under the 
 neceflity of correcting him, and that was 
 the pure effedt of his difpofition for fatire. 
 A ihort time after he was bound to Mr. 
 Lambert, his old fchoolmafter received a 
 
 very 
 
 * Mrs. Newton's Letter above quoted.
 
 CHATTERTON. 2$ 
 
 very abufive anonymous letter, which he 
 fufpected came from Chatterton, and he 
 complained of it to his matter, who 
 was foon convinced of the juftice of the 
 complaint, not only from the hand- writing, 
 which was ill-difguifed *, but from the 
 letter being written on the fame paper 
 with that which was ufed in the office. Oa 
 this occafion Mr. Lambert corrected the 
 boy with a blow or two. He, however, 
 accufes him of a fallen and gloomy tem- 
 per, which particularly difplayed itfelf 
 among the fervants -f-. Chatterton's fu- 
 perior abilities, and fuperior information, 
 with the pride which ufually accompanies 
 thefe qualities, doubtlefs rendered him an 
 unfit inhabitant of the kitchen, where his 
 
 ignorant 
 
 * This circumftance is not unworthy of notice. If Chat- 
 terton was really the forger of the MSS. attributed to 
 Rowley, how came he in this iftftance to be unable to dif- 
 guife his own hand-writing ? 
 
 f From the information of Mr. Lambert to a friend of . 
 the author.
 
 26 L I r E O F 
 
 ignorant afTociates would naturally be in- 
 clined to envy, and would affect to defpife 
 thofe accomplishments, which he held in the 
 higheft eftimation - y and even the familiari- 
 ty of vulgar and illiterate perfons, muft un- 
 doubtedly be rather difgufting than agree- 
 able to a mind like his. 
 
 Mr. Lambert's was a fituation not un- 
 favourable to the cultivation of his genius. 
 Though much confined, he had much 
 leifure. His matter's bufinefs confumed a 
 very frnall portion of his time j frequent- 
 ly, his filler fays, it did not engage him 
 above two hours in a day*. While Mr. 
 Lambert was from home, and no particu- 
 lar bufinefs interfered, his ftated employ- 
 ment was to copy precedents ; a book of 
 which, containing 344 large folio pages, 
 clofely written by Chatterton while he re- 
 mained in the office, is, I believe, flill 
 in the pofTefiion of Mr. Lambert, as 
 
 well 
 
 * Mrs. Newton's Letter above quoted.
 
 -E H A T T E R T O N. 27 
 
 well as another of about 30 pages. 
 The office library contained nothing 
 but law books ; except an old edition 
 of Cambden's Britannia. There is no 
 doubt, however, but Chatterton took 
 care amply to fupply his mental wants 
 from his old acquaintance "at the circu- 
 lating libraries. 
 
 He had continued this courfe of life for 
 upwards of a year; not, however, with- 
 out fome fymptoms of an averfion for his 
 profeffion, before he began to attract the 
 notice of the literary world. In the be- 
 ginning of October 1768, the new bridge 
 at Briftol was finimed ; at that time there 
 appeared, in Farley's Briftol Journal, an 
 account of the ceremonies on opening the 
 old bridge, introduced by a letter to the 
 printer, intimating that " The following 
 defcription of the Fryars Jirjl fajjing over 
 the old bridge, was taken from an ancient 
 manufcript,"and figned "DunhelmusBrif-
 
 28 L I F E O F 
 
 tolienfis *." The paper, if it be allowed 
 to be the fabrication of modern times, de- 
 monftrates ftrong powers of invention, and 
 an uncommon knowledge of ancient cuf- 
 
 toms. 
 
 * " Defcription of the Fryars pafling over the Old Bridge, 
 taken from an ancient manufcript. 
 
 " On Fridaie was the time fixed for paffing the new- 
 ** brydge. Aboute the time of tollynge the tenth clocke, 
 " Mafter Greggoire Dalbenye mounted on a fergreyne 
 " horfe, informed Mafter Maier all thynges were pre- 
 " pared, when two Beadils went firft ftreying ftre. Next 
 " came a manne drefled up as follows, hofe of gootfltyne 
 " crinepart outwards, doublette & waifcot, alfo over which 
 " a white robe without fleeves, much like an albe but not 
 ** fo long, reachinge but to his hands. A girdle of azure 
 " over his left moulder, rechede alfo to his hands on the 
 ' right & doubled back to his left, bucklynge with a gouiden 
 " buckle dangled to his knee, thereby reprefentinge a Saxon 
 *' earlderman. 
 
 " Jn his hands he bare a mield, the maiftre of Gille a 
 *' Brogton, who painted the fame, reprefenting Sainte 
 *' Warburghjcroffing the foorde ; then a mickle^rong man 
 "' in armour, carried a huge anlace, after whom came fix 
 ' claryons & fix minftrels, who fong the fong of Sainte 
 " Warburgh. Then came Mafter Maier mounted on a 
 ' white horfe dight with fable trappyngs wrought about by 
 * f the Nunnes of Saint Kenna, with go u Id and Silver, his 
 *' hayre braded with ribbons & a chaperon with the auntient 
 " armes of Briftcwe faftened on his forehead. Mafter Mair 
 " bare in his hande a gou^den rodde, $c a congean fquire 
 
 bare
 
 CHATTERTON. 29 
 
 toms. So fingular a memoir could not 
 fail to excite curiofity, and many perfens 
 became anxious to fee the original. The 
 printer, Mr. Farley, could give no account 
 
 of 
 
 bare in his hande, his helmet waulkinge by the fyde of 
 the horfe. Then came the earlderman & city broders, 
 mounted on fabyell horfes dyght with white trappyngs & 
 plumes & fcarlet caps & chaperons having thereon fable 
 plumes ; after them, the preelts & frears, pariih mendicant 
 & fecular, fome fyngynge Sainte Warburghs ibnge, 
 others foundynge clarions thereto & others fome citri- 
 alles. 
 
 " In thilke manner reachynge the brydge the raanne 
 with the anlace ftode on the fyrft top of a mounde, yreed 
 in the midft of the brydge, than went up the manne 
 with the fheelde, after him the minftrels & clarions ; 
 and then the preeiles & freeres all in white albes, 
 making a moil goodly fliewe, the maier & earldermea 
 flandinge rounde, they fonge with the found of claryons, 
 the fcnge of Sainte Baldvvyne, which being done, the 
 manne on the top threw with great myght his anlace into 
 the fta & the clarions founded an auncient charge & 
 fc.loyne. Then theie fong again the fong of Sainte 
 Warburge, & proceeded up Xts hill to the crofle, 
 
 ; where a Latin fermon was preached by Ralph de Blun- 
 derville, & with found of clarion theyeagaine want to the 
 brydge and there dined, fpendynge the reft of the daye 
 
 ' in fports and plaies, the freers of Sainte Auguftyne doing 
 
 ' the play of the knights o! Briftow meekynge a great fire 
 
 ' at night on Kynflate hill."
 
 30 L I F E O fr 
 
 of it, nor of the perfon who brought the 
 copy ; but after much inquiry, it was dif- 
 covered that the manufcript was brought by 
 a youth between fifteen and fixteen years of 
 age, of the name of Thomas Chatterton *. 
 " To the threats of thofe who treated 
 him (agreeably to his appearance) as a 
 child, he returned nothing but haughti- 
 nefs, and a refufal to give any account -f-." 
 By milder ufage he was fomewhat foften-* 
 ed, and appeared inclined to give all the 
 information in his power. He at firft al- 
 ledged, that he was employed to tranfcribe 
 the contents of certain ancient manufcripts 
 by a gentleman, who alfo had engaged 
 him to furnim complimentary verfes, in- 
 fcribed to a lady with whom that gentle- 
 man was in love. On being further preffed, 
 he at lail informed the inquirers, that he 
 had received the paper in queftion, together 
 with many other manufcripts, from his 
 
 father, 
 
 Preface to Rowley's Poems. 
 
 -f- Croft's Love and Madnefs, p. 145.
 
 CHATTERTON. 3! 
 
 father, who had found them in a large 
 cheft-in the upper room over the chapel, 
 on the north fide of Redcliffe church*. 
 But a ftill more circumflantial account of 
 the difcovery of thefe manufcripts, is pre* 
 ferved in Mr. Bryant's Obfervations on 
 Rowley's Poems. Over the north 'porch 
 of St. Mary RedclirFc church, which was 
 founded, or at leaft rebuilt, by Mr. W. 
 Canynge, (an eminent merchant of Briftol 
 in the i5th century, and in the reign of 
 Edward the Fourth,) there is a kind of 
 muniment room, in which were deposited 
 fix or feven chefts, one of which in par- 
 ticular was called Mr. Canynge s cofre -j- ; 
 this cheft > it is faid, was fecured by fix 
 
 keys, 
 
 * See Mr. Catcott's account in the preface to Rowley'? 
 poems. 
 
 f When rents were received and kept in fpecie, it was 
 ufual for corporate bodies to keep the writings and rents of 
 eftates left for particular purpofes, in chefb appropriated to 
 each particular benefaclion, and called by the benefa&or' 
 name ; feveral old chefts of this kind are ftill exifting in the 
 Univerfity of Cambridge. O .
 
 32 L I F E O F 
 
 keys, two of which were entrufted to the 
 minifter and procurator of the church, two 
 to the mayor, and one to each of the 
 church- wardens. In procefs of time, 
 however, the fix keys appear to have been 
 loft; and about the year 1727, a notion 
 prevailed that fome title deeds, and other 
 writings of value, were contained in Mr. 
 Canynge's cofre. In confequence of this 
 opinion, an order of veftry was made, that 
 the cheft fhould be opened under the in- 
 fpeclion of an attorney - y and that thofe 
 writings which appeared of confequence, 
 fhould be removed to the fouth porch of 
 the church. The locks were therefore 
 forced, and not only the principal cheft, 
 but the others, which were alfo fuppofed 
 to contain writings, were all broken open. 
 The deeds immediately relating to the 
 church were removed, and the other ma- 
 nufcripts were left expofed as of no value. 
 Confiderable depredations had, from time 
 
 to
 
 CHATTER TON. 33 
 
 to time, been committed upon them, by 
 different perfons -, but the mofr, infatiate 
 of thefe plunderers was the father of Chat* 
 terton. His uncle being fexton of St. 
 Mary Redcliffe gave him free accefs to 
 the church. He carried off, from time 
 to time, parcels of the parchments, and 
 one time alone, with the aiTiftance of his 
 boys, is known to have rilled a large balket 
 with them. They were depofited in a 
 cupboard in the^fchool, and employed for 
 different purpofes, fuch as the covering of 
 copybooks, &c. ; in particular, Mr. Gibbs, 
 the minifter of the parim, having prefent- 
 ed the boys with twenty bibles, Mr. 
 Chatterton, in order to preferve thefe books 
 from being damaged, covered them, 
 with fome of the parchments. At his 
 death, the widow being under a necefiity 
 of removing, carried the remainder of then! 
 to her own habitation. Of the difcovery 
 x>f their value by the younger Chatterton, 
 D the
 
 34 L I F E O F 
 
 the account of Mr. Smith, a very intimate 
 acquaintance, which he gave to Dr, Glynn 
 of Cambridge, is too interefting to be 
 omitted. " When young Chatterton was 
 firft articled to Mr. Lambert, he ufed 
 frequently to come home to his mother, 
 by way of a mort vifit. There, one day, 
 his eye was caught by one of thefe parch- 
 ments, which had been converted into a, 
 thread-paper. Pie found not only the 
 writing to be very, old, the characters very 
 different from common characters, but 
 that the fubje<5r. therein treated was different 
 from common fubj eels. Being naturally 
 of an iaquifitive and curious turn, he wr.s 
 very much ftruck with their appearance, 
 and, as might be expected, began to quef- 
 tion his mother what thofe thread-papers 
 were, how me got them, and whence 
 they came.. Upon farther enquiry, he was 
 led to a full difcovery of all the parch- 
 ments
 
 CHATTERTON. 35 
 
 ments which remained*;" the bulk of 
 them confined of poetical and other com- 
 poiitions, by Mr. Canynge, and a particu- 
 lar friend of his, Thomas Rowley, whom 
 Chatterton at firfl called a monk, and af- 
 terwa'rds a fecuhr prieft of the fifteenth 
 century. Such, at leaft, appears to be 
 the account which Chatterton thought 
 proper to give, and which he wiihed to be 
 believed. It is, indeed, confirmed by the 
 teftimony of his mother and fitter. Mrs. 
 Chatterton informed a friend of the Dean 
 of Exeter, that on her removal from 
 Pyle-ftreet, me emptied the cupboard of 
 its contents, partly into a large long deal 
 box, where her huiband ufed to keep his 
 clothes, and partly into a fquare oak box 
 of a fmaller fize -, carrying both with their ; 
 contents to her lodgings, where, accord- 
 ing to her account, they continued negleded 
 D 2 and 
 
 * Bryant's Observations, p. 511 529.
 
 36 L I F E O F 
 
 and undifturbed, till her fon firft difcover- 
 ed their value ; who having examined 
 their contents, told his mother, ' that he 
 had found a treafure, and was fo glad 
 nothing could be like it.' That he then 
 removed all thefe parchments out of the 
 large long deal box, in which his father 
 ufed to keep his clothes, into the fquare 
 oak box : That he was perpetually ran- 
 facking every corner of the houfe for more 
 parchments, and, from time to time, carried 
 away thofe he had already found by pockets 
 full : That one day happening to fee 
 Clarke's Hiftory of the Bible covered with 
 one of thofe parchments, he fwore a great 
 
 oath, and Gripping the book, put the 
 / 
 cover into his pocket, and canied it awayj 
 
 at the fame time {tripping a common little 
 Bible, but rinding no writing upon the 
 cover, replaced it again very leifurely *. 
 
 " Upon 
 
 * Miftes's Prelim. Diff p. 7. It does not appear that 
 a ny of the parchments exhibited to Mr. Barrett, or Mr. 
 
 Catcott*
 
 CHATTERTON. 37 
 
 " Upon being informed of the manner in 
 which his father had procured the parch- 
 ments, he went himfelf to the place, and 
 picked up four more, which, if Mrs. 
 Chatterton rightly remembers, Mr. Barrett 
 has at this time in his pofTeffion *." 
 " Mrs. Newton, his fifter, being afked, 
 if (he remembers his having mentioned 
 Rowley's poems, after the difcovery of the 
 parchments j fays, that he was perpetually 
 talking on that fubjecl;, and once in par- 
 ticular, (about two years before he left 
 Briftol) when a relation, one Mr. Stephens 
 of Sali{bury, made them a vifit, he talked 
 of .nothing el fc-f ." 
 
 Nearly about the time when the paper 
 
 in Farley's Journal, concerning the old 
 
 bridge, became the fubjecl: of converfation, 
 
 03 -as 
 
 Catcott, were of a fize fufficient for a covering for an o&avo 
 book, much lefs for a quarto or folio. O. 
 
 * Milles's Prelim. DiiT. p. 7. 
 ' f Ibid.
 
 38 L I F E , O F 
 
 as Mr. Catcott of Briftol, a gentleman of 
 an inquiiitive turn, and fond of reading, 
 was walking with a friend in Redcliffe 
 church, he was informed by him of feve- 
 ral ancient pieces of poetry, which had 
 been found there, and which were in the 
 poiTeffion of a young perfon with whom he 
 was acquainted. This perfon proved to 
 be Chatterton, to whom Mr. Catcott de- 
 fired to be introduced. He accordingly 
 had an interview ; and foon after obtained 
 from him, very readily, without any re- 
 ward, the Briftow Tragedy*, Rowley's 
 Epitaph upon Mr. Canynge's anceftor "f% 
 with fome other fmaller pieces. In a few 
 days he brought fome more, among which 
 was the Tellow Roll. About this period, 
 Mr. Barrett, a refpectable furgeon in Brif- 
 tol, and a man of letters, had projected a 
 hiftory of his native city, and was anxi- 
 
 ouily 
 
 * See Rowley's Poems, p. 44. 
 f Ibid. p. 277.
 
 CHATTERTON. 39 
 
 oufly collecting materials for that work. 
 Such a difcovery, therefore, as that of 
 Chatterton, could fcarcely efcape the vigi- 
 lance of Mr. Barrett's friends. The pieces 
 in Mr. Catcott's poiTeffion, of which fome 
 were copies and fome originals, were im- 
 mediately communicated to Mr. Barrett, 
 whofe friendmip and patronage by thefe 
 means our young literary adventurer was 
 fortunate enough to fecure. During the 
 firft converfations which Mr. Catcott had 
 with him, he heard him mention the 
 names of mofl of the poems fmce printed, 
 as being in his pofleflion. He afterwards 
 grew more fufpicious and referved ; and it 
 was but rarely, and with difficulty, that 
 any more originals could be obtained 
 from him. He ccnfeiTed to Mr. Catcott 
 that he had deftroyed feveral ; and fome 
 which he owned to have been in his pof- 
 iefTion, were never afterwards feen. One 
 of thefe was the tragedy of the Apoftate, 
 D 4 of
 
 40 L I F E O F 
 
 of which a fmall part only has been pre- 
 ferved by Mr. Barrett. The fubjecl: of it 
 was the apoftatizing of a perfon from the 
 Chriftian to the Jewifli faith *. Mr. Bar- 
 rett, however, obtained from him at dif- 
 ferent times feveral fragments, fome of 
 them of a conliderable length ; they are all 
 written upon vellum, and he aflerted them 
 to be a part of the original manufcripts, 
 which he had obtained in the manner which 
 has been already related. A fac Jimik of 
 one of thefe fragments is pu&lifhed in 
 Mr. Tyrwhitt's and Dr. Milles's editions 
 of Rowley's Poems ; and the fragments in 
 profe, which are confiderably larger, we 
 are taught to expedt in Mr. Barrett's Hif- 
 tory of Briftol. In the fame work we are 
 alfo promifed " A Dtfcorje on Briftoiue, 
 and the other hiftorical pieces in profe, 
 which Chatterton at different times de- 
 livered 
 
 * Bryant's Obfervafions, p. 517.
 
 CHATTERTON. 41 
 
 livered out, as copied from Rowley's ma- 
 nufcripts *." 
 
 The friendmip of Mr. Barrett and Mr. 
 Catcott was of confiderable advantage to 
 Chatterton. They fupplied him occafion- 
 ally with money, as a compenfation for 
 fome of the fragments of Rowley, with 
 which he gratified them -f-. He fpent 
 many agreeable hours in their company ; 
 and their acquaintance introduced him into 
 a more refpectable line than he could eafily 
 have attained without it. His fifter re- 
 marks, that after he was introduced to 
 thefe gentlemen, his ambition daily and 
 perceptibly encreafed ; and he would fre- 
 quently 
 
 * Preface to Rowley's Poems, p. 11. Tt is now faid 
 that Mr. K. does not mean to infeit any of thefe pieces in 
 his Hiftbry. 
 
 f Some of his later compofitions, however, demonftrate, 
 that he was not thoroughly fatisfied with his Briftol patrons ; 
 and Mr. Thiftlethwr ite does not hefitate to aflert, that he 
 felt himfelf greatly difappointed in his expectations of pe- 
 cuniary rewards for his communications, K.
 
 42 X, I F E O F 
 
 quently fpeak in raptures of the undoubted 
 fuccefs of his plan for" future life. " When 
 in fpirits, he would enjoy his rifing fame, 
 and, confident of advancement, he would 
 promife his mother and I mould be par- 
 takers of his fuccefs *." Both thefe 
 gentlemen alfo lent him books - 3 Mr. Bar- 
 rett lent him feveral medical authors -f-, 
 and, at his requeft, gave him fome in- 
 inftrudtions in furgery. His tafte was 
 verfatile, and his jftudies various. In the 
 courfe of the years 1768 and 1769, Mr. 
 Thiftlethwaite frequently faw him, and 
 defcribes in a lively manner the employ- 
 ment of his leifure hours. " One day," 
 fays Mr. T. " he might be found bufily 
 employed in the fludy of heraldry and 
 Englim antiquities, both of which are 
 numbered among the moil favourite of his 
 
 purfuits ; 
 
 * Mrs. Newton's letter before quoted. 
 f Ibid.
 
 CHATTERTON. 43 
 
 purfuits ; the next difcovered him deeply 
 engaged, confounded and perplexed amidft 
 the fubtleties of metaphyfical difquifition, 
 or loft and bewildered in the abftrufe 
 labyrinth of mathematical refearches ; and 
 thefe in an inftant again neglected and 
 thrown afide, to make room for mufic 
 and aftronomy, of both which fciences his 
 knowledge was entirely confined to theory. 
 Even phyfic was not without a charm to 
 allure his imagination, and he would talk 
 of Galen, Hippocrates, and Paracelfus, 
 with all the confidence and familiarity of a 
 modern empirick *." It may naturally be 
 fuppofed, that his acquaintance withmoft 
 of thefe fciences was very fuperficial ; but 
 his knowledge of antiquities was extenfive, 
 and we might perhaps fay profound. With 
 a view of perfecting himfelf in thefe fa- 
 vourite fludies, he borrowed Skinner's 
 
 Etymologicon 
 
 * Milles's Rowley, p. 456.
 
 44 L I F E O F 
 
 Etymologicon of Mr. Barrett, but return- 
 ed it in a few days as ufelefs, moft of the 
 interpretations being in Latin. He alfo 
 borrowed Benfon's Saxon Vocabulary, but 
 returned it immediately on the fame ac- 
 count *. His difappointment was partly 
 compenfated by the acquifition of Ker- 
 fey's Dictionary, and Speght's Chaucer, 
 (the GlolTary to which he carefully 
 tranfcribed -(-.) With thefe books he 
 was furnimed by Mr. Green, a book- 
 feller in Briftol. Probably the morti- 
 fication he received at not being able to 
 make that ufe which he delired of Skinner 
 and of Benfpn, might be an additional fH- 
 mulative to the great inclination which 
 he manifefled to acquaint himfelf with 
 Latin, and his defign to attempt it with- 
 out a matter. From this project his friend, 
 Mr. Smith, took great pains to diffuade 
 
 him, 
 
 * Bryant's Obferv. p. 532. 
 
 f Milles's Prelim. Diff. p. 5, and 17.
 
 CHATTERTON. 45 
 
 him, and advifed him rather to apply to 
 French, a competent knowledge of which 
 might be fooner attained, and which pro- 
 mifed to be of more efTential fervice*. 
 Whatever plan he adopted, he entered upon 
 it with an earneftnefs and fervour almoft un- 
 exampled. Indeed, the poetic enthufiafm was 
 never more ftrongly exhibited than in Chat- 
 terton. Like Milton, he fancied he was 
 more capable of writing well at fome par- 
 ticular times than at others, and the full of 
 the moon was the feafon when he imagined 
 his genius to be in perfection; at which 
 period, as if the immediate prefence of that 
 luminary added to the infpiration, he fre- 
 quently devoted a confiderable portion of 
 the night to compofition-f-. *' He was al- 
 ways," fays Mr. Smith, " extremely fond of 
 walking in the fields, particularly in Red- 
 cliffe meadows, and of talking about thefe 
 
 (Row- 
 
 * Bryant's Obferv. p. 532. 
 
 f Mrs. Newton's letter to Mr. C.
 
 46 L I F E O F 
 
 (Rowley's) manufcripts, and fometimes 
 reading them there. " Come {he would 
 " fay) you and I will take a walk in the 
 * { meadow. I have got the clevereft thing 
 " for you imaginable. It is worth ^half- 
 " a- crown merely to have a fight of it, 
 " and to hear me read it to you." When 
 we arrived at the place propofed, he would 
 produce his parchment, mew it and read 
 it to me. There was one fpot in particu- 
 lar, full in view of the church, in which 
 he feemed to take a peculiar delight. He 
 would frequently lay himfelf down, fix 
 his eyes upon the church, and feem as if 
 he were in a kind of trance. Then, on a 
 iudden and abruptly, he would tell me, 
 " that fteeple was burnt down by light- 
 ** ning : that was the place where they 
 " formerly acted plays*." His Sundays 
 were commonly fpent in walking alone in- 
 to the country about Briflol, as far as the 
 
 duration 
 
 * Bryant's Obferv/ p. 530,
 
 CHATTERTON. 47 
 
 duration of day-light would allow ; and 
 from thefe excurfions he never failed to 
 bring home with him drawings of church- 
 es, or of fome other objects, which had 
 imprefled his romantic imagination *. 
 
 His attention, while at Briftol, was not 
 confined to Rowley -, his pen was exer- 
 cifed in a variety of pieces, chiefly fatirical, 
 and feveral eflays, both in profe and verfe, 
 which he fent to the Magazines. I have 
 not been able to trace any thing of Chat- 
 terton's in the Town and Country Maga- 
 zine (with which he appears to^have firft 
 correfponded) before February 1769$ but 
 in the acknowledgments to correfpondents 
 for November 1768, we find " D. B. of 
 Briftol's favour will be gladly received." 
 
 Dunhelmus 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 159. The Dean of Exeter 
 mentions drawings by Rowley of Briftol Caftle, which he 
 fuppofes genuine, but which Mr. Warton reprobates a? 
 hdions of Chatterton, the reprefentations of a building 
 which never exifted, in a capricious, aftefted ftyle of Gothic 
 architecture, reducible to no fyfte.m, O.
 
 48 LIFE OF 
 
 Dunbelmus 'Briftolienjis was the fignaturc 
 he generally employed. In the courfe of 
 the year 1769, he was a confiderable con- 
 tributor to that publication. One of the 
 firft of his pieces which appeared was a 
 letter on the tindlures of the Saxon heralds, 
 dated Briftol, February 4; and in the 
 fame Magazine a poem was inferted on 
 Mr. Alcock, of Briftol, an excellent mini- 
 ature painter, figned Afap/ides*. In the 
 fame Magazine for March are fome ex- 
 tracts from Rowley's manufcripts ; and in 
 different numbers for the fucceeding 
 months, fome pieces called Saxon poems, 
 written in the ftyle of Oflian. 
 
 The whole of Chatterton's life prefents 
 a fund of ufeful inftrudion to young per- 
 fons of brilliant and lively talents, and 
 affords a ftrong difluafive againfl that im- 
 
 petuolity 
 
 * This piece, with two or three others in Chatterton's 
 Mifcellanies, was claimed by John Lockftone, a linen- 
 draper in Briftol, a great friend of Chatterton ; by his cot*. 
 feflion, however, it was coirefted by the latter.
 
 CHATTEfcTOrt. 49 
 
 petuofity of expectation, and thofe delu- 
 iive hopes of fuccefs, founded upon the 
 confcioufnefs of genius and merit, which 
 lead them to neglect the ordinary means of 
 acquiring competence and independence. 
 The early difguft which Chatterton con- 
 ceived for his profeffion, may be account- 
 ed one of the prime fources of his misfor- 
 tunes. Among the efforts which he made 
 to extricate himfelf from this irkfome fitua- 
 tion, the moft remarkable is his application 
 to the Hon. Horace Walpole, in March 
 1769 * ; the ground of which was an offer 
 to furnilh him with fome accounts of a 
 feries of great painters, who had flourished 
 at Briftol, which Chatterton faid had been 
 lately difcovered, with fome old poems, 
 in that city. The pacquet fent by Chat- 
 terton was left at Bathurft's, Mr. Wai- 
 pole's bookfeller, and contained, befide 
 E this 
 
 * Two Letters by the Honourable Horace Walpole, 
 P 55-
 
 5O L I F E O F 
 
 this letter, an ode or little poem, of two 
 or three flanzas in alternate rhyme, on the 
 death of Richard I. as a fpecimen of the 
 poems tvhich were found. Mr. Walpole had 
 but juft before been made the inftrument 
 of introducing into the world Mr. M'Pher- 
 fon's forgeries; a fimilar application, there- 
 fore, ferved at once to awaken his fufpi- 
 cion. He, however, anfwered Chatter- 
 ton's letter, denying further information -, 
 and in reply, was informed, that " he 
 (Chatterton) was the fon of a poor widow, 
 who fupported him with great difficulty $ 
 that he was apprentice to an attorney, but 
 had a tafte for more elegant ftudies." The 
 letter hinted a wifti that Mr. Walpole 
 would affift him in emerging from fo dull 
 a profefiion, by procuring fome place, in 
 which he might purfue the natural bias 
 of his genius. He affirmed that great 
 treafures of ancient poetry had been dif- 
 covered at Briftol, and were in the hands 
 of a perfon, who had lent him the fpeci- 
 men
 
 CHATTERTON. 51 
 
 men already tranfmitted, as well as a paf- 
 toral (Elinoure and Juga) which accom- 
 panied this fecond letter. Mr. Walpole 
 wrote to a friend, a noble lady at Bath, 
 to enquire after the author of thefe letters, 
 who found his account of himfelf verified 
 in every particular. In the mean time the 
 fpecimens were communicated to Mr. 
 Gray and Mr. Mafon, and thofe gentle- 
 men, at firffc fight, pronounced them 
 forgeries. Mr. Walpole, though con- 
 vinced of the author's intention to impofe 
 upon him, could not, as he himfelf con- 
 fefles, help admiring the fpirit of poetry 
 which animated thefe compofitions. The 
 teftimonies of his approbation, however, 
 were too cold to produce in Chatterton 
 any thing but lafting difguft. Mr. Wai- 
 pole's reply was indeed (according to his 
 own account) rather too much in the 
 common-place flyle of Court replies ; 
 though fome allowance is to be made for 
 E 2 his
 
 52 L I F E O F 
 
 his peculiar iituation, and for his juft ap- 
 prehenfion of a new impofition to be prac- 
 tifed oh him. He complained in general 
 terms of his want of power to be a patron, 
 and advifed the young man to apply him- 
 felf to the duties of his profefiion, as more 
 certain means of attaining the independence 
 and leifure of which he was defirous. 
 This frigid reception extracted immedi- 
 ately from Chatterton, " a peevifh letter," 
 defiring the manufcripts back, as they 
 jvere the property of another > and Mr. 
 Walpole, either offended at the warm and 
 independent fpirit which was manifefted 
 by the boy, or pleafed to be diiengaged 
 from the buiinefs in fo eafy a manner, 
 proceeded on a journey to Paris, without 
 taking any further notice of him. On 
 his return, which was not for /bme time, 
 he found another epiftle from Chatterton, 
 in a flyle (as he terms it) " lingularly im- 
 pertinent -" expreffive of much refent- 
 
 ment
 
 CHATTERTON. $3 
 
 ment on account of the detention of his 
 poems, roughly demanding them back, 
 and adding, " that Mr. Walpole would 
 not have dared to ufe him fo ill, had he 
 not been acquainted with the narrownefs 
 of his circumstances." The confequence 
 was, therefore, fuch as might be expected. 
 Mr. Walpole returned his poems and his 
 letters in a blank cover, and never after- 
 wards heard from him or of him during his 
 life *. The affront was never forgiven by 
 the difappointed poe% though it is perhaps 
 more than repaid by the ridiculous portrait 
 
 which he has exhibited of Mr. W , 
 
 in the Memoirs of a Sad Dog, under the 
 character of " the redoubted Baron Otran- 
 to \ , who has fpent his whole life in con- 
 jectures." 
 
 On the fcore of thefe tranfadtions, Mr. 
 
 Walpole has incurred more cenfure than 
 
 E 3 he 
 
 * Ib. pafiim. 
 
 f Chat. Mifcel. p. 184.
 
 54 L I F E O .F 
 
 he really deferved. In an age when liter- 
 ature is fo little patronized by thofe who 
 wield all the powers of the ftate, and have 
 in trull for the public the diftributioii of 
 its emoluments ; when men of the firft 
 abilities, actually engaged in the learned 
 profeflions, are permitted to languish in 
 obfcurity and poverty, without any of thofe 
 rewards, which are appropriated to the 
 profeffions they exercife, and are compelled 
 to depend for a precarious fubfiftence on 
 the fcanty pittance, which they derive 
 from diurnal drudgery in the fervice of 
 bookfellers, it can fcarcely be deemed an 
 inftance of extraordinary illiberality that a 
 private man, though a man of fortune, 
 fhould be inattentive to the petition of a 
 perfeft ftranger, a young man, whofe 
 birth or education entitled him to no high 
 pretenfions, and who had only conceived 
 an unreafonable diflike to a profefiion both 
 lucrative and refpe&able. If Chatterton 
 2 had
 
 C H A T T E R T O N. $$ 
 
 had actually avowed the poems, perhaps a 
 very generous and feeling heart, fuch as 
 rarely exifts at prefent, and leaft of all in 
 the higher circles of life, might have been 
 more ftrongly affected with their beauties, 
 and might probably have extended fome 
 fmall degree of encouragement. But con- 
 fidering things as they are, and not as they 
 ought to be, it was a degree of unufual 
 condefcenfion to take any notice whatever 
 of the application -, and when Chatterton 
 felt fo poignantly his difappointment, he 
 only demonftrated his ignorance of the 
 ftate of patronage in this country, and acted 
 like a young and ingenuous perfon, who 
 judged of the feelings of courtiers by the 
 generous emotions of his own breafr., or 
 the practice of times, which exift now on- 
 ly in the records of romance. Mr. Wai- 
 pole afterwards regretted, and I believe fin- 
 cerely, that he had not feen this extraor- 
 dinary youth, and that he did not pay a 
 E 4 more
 
 56 L I F E O F 
 
 more favourable attention to his corref r 
 pondence; but, to be negledted in life, 
 and regretted and admired when thefe 
 paffions can be no longer of fervice, Has 
 been the ufual fate of learning and genius. 
 Mr. Walpole was certainly under no obli- 
 gation of patronizing Chatterton. To 
 have encouraged and befriended him, would 
 have been an exertion of liberality and mu- 
 nificence uncommon in the prefent day - r 
 but to afcribe to Mr. Walpole's negleft 
 (if it can even merit fo harm an appella- 
 tion) the dreadful cataftrophe, which hap- 
 pened at the diftance of nearly two years 
 after, would be the higheft degree of in- 
 juftice and abfurdity *, 
 
 The 
 
 * A learned and refpe&able friend, on reading thefe me- 
 moirs in manufcript, favoured me with the following able 
 vindication of Mr. W. which, for the fatisfaclion of thofe 
 who wifh for the fulleft information on the fubjecl, I infert 
 intire. 
 
 It has already been Hated, that, in March 1769, Chat- 
 terton, not long after his acquaintance with Mr. Barrett 
 
 and
 
 CHATTERTON. 57 
 
 The reader has hitherto contemplated 
 Chatterton in the pleafmg light of an in- 
 genious 
 
 and Mr.. Catcott, to whom he had communicated fome ori- 
 ginals and fome tranfcripts of Rowley's Poems, wrote a letter 
 to Mr. H. Walpole, inclofing alfo a fpecimen of the poems, 
 and foliciting his patronage. Let the reader take the ac- 
 count in Mr. Walpole's own words, from an extraft of a 
 letter to Mr. W. B. added to another letter to the Editor 
 of Chatterton's Mifcellanies, and printed at Strawberry- 
 hill, 1779. 
 
 " I am far from determined to publiih any thing about 
 " Chatterton. It would almoft look like making myfelf a 
 " party. I do not love controverfy ; if I print, my chief 
 " reafon would be, that both in the account of the poems, 
 " and in Mr. V/arton's laft volume, my name has been 
 " brought in with fo little circumfpeftiopi and accuracy, 
 " that it looks as if my rejection of Chatterton had drivea 
 " him to defpair ; whereas I was the firft pcrfon on whorh 
 " he efiayed his art and ambition, ihftead of being the 
 " lail. I never faw him ; there was an interval of near two 
 " years between his application to me and his difmal end ; 
 " nor had lie quitted his mailer, nor was neceffitous, nor 
 " otherwife poor than attornies clerks ufualiy are ; nor had 
 " he come to London, nor launched into diffipation, whea 
 " his correfpondence with me flopped. As faithfully as I 
 *' can recoiled the circumftances, without dates, and 
 " without fearching for what few memorandums I pre- 
 " ferved relative to him, I will recapitulate his hiftory 
 ' with me. Bathurft, my bookfeller, brought me a 
 " pac^aet left with him ; it contained an ode, or little 
 
 ' poem,
 
 58 L I F E O F 
 
 nious and virtuous youth. I reluctantly 
 proceed to develope the only circumftance 
 
 which 
 
 " poem, of two or three ftanzas in alternate rhyme, on the 
 death of Richard the Firft, and I was told, in very few 
 " lines, that it had been found at Briftol, with many other 
 " old poems, and that the pofieffor could furnifti me with 
 " accounts of a feries of great painters, who had flourimed 
 " at Briftol. 
 
 " Here I muft paufe, to mention my own reflexions. 
 " At firft I concluded that fomebody having met with my 
 *' Anecdotes of Painting, had a mind to laugh at me ; I 
 t thought not very ingenuoufly, as I was not likely to 
 fwallow a fucceffion of great painters at Briflol. The 
 4C ode, or fonnet*, as I think it was called, was too pretty 
 " to be part of the plan ; and, as is eafy with all the other 
 " fuppofed poems of Rowley, it was not difficult to make it 
 " modern by changing the old words for new, though yet 
 " more difficult than with moil of them. You fee I tell you 
 ' fairly the cafe. 
 
 "I wrote, according to the inclofed direction, for farther 
 " particulars. Chatterton, in anfwer, informed me that 
 " he was the fon of a poor widow, who fupported him with 
 " great difficulty ; that he was clerk or apprentice to an at- 
 " torney, but had a tafte and turn for more elegant ftudies j 
 te and hinted a wifti that I would affift him with my intereft 
 " in emerging out of fo dull a profeflion, by procuring 
 " him fome place, in which he could purfue his natural 
 " bent. He affirmed that great treafures of ancient poetry 
 
 " had 
 
 I 
 
 <* Richard of Lyon* 5 Heart to fight is gone/*
 
 C II A.T T E R T O N. 59 
 
 which has involved his name and charac- 
 ter in difgrace, and which certainly de- 
 prived 
 
 had been discovered in his native city, and were in the 
 hands of a perfon, who had lent him thofe he had tranf- 
 mitted to me ; for he now fent me others, amongft which 
 was an abfolute modern pafloral in dialogue, thinly 
 fprinkled with old words *. Pray obferve, Sir, that he 
 affirmed having received the poems from another perfon ; 
 whereas it is afcertained that the gentleman at Briftol, 
 who pofTefTes the fund of Rowley's poems, received them 
 from Chatterton. 
 
 " I wrote to a relation of mine at Bath, to enquire into 
 the fituation and character of Chatterton, according to 
 his own account of himfelf ; nothing was returned about 
 his character, but his ftory was verified. 
 " In the mean time I communicated the poems to Mr. 
 Gray aad Mr. Mafon, who at once pronounced them 
 forgeries, and declared there was no fymptom in them of 
 their being the productions of near fo diftant an age ; the 
 language and metres being totally unlike any thing an- 
 cient. 
 
 " Well, Sir, being fatisfied with my intelligence about 
 
 Chatterton, I wrote him a letter with as much kindnefs 
 
 and tendernefs as if I had been his guardian ; for though 
 
 ' I had no doubt of his impofitions, fuch a fpirit of poetry 
 
 breathed in his coinage, as interefted me for him ; nor 
 
 was it a grave crime in a young bard to have forged falfe 
 
 ' notes of hand, that were to pafs current only in the parifh 
 
 of 
 
 * Elinourc and Juga.
 
 6O L I F E O F 
 
 prived the world prematurely of his excel- 
 lent abilities. When or how he was un- 
 fortunate 
 
 " of Parnaffus. I undecived him about my being a perfon 
 " of any intereft, and urged, that in duty and gratitude to 
 " his mother, who had ftraitened herfelf to breed him up to 
 ** a profeffion, he ought to labour in it, that in her old age 
 " he might abfolve his filial debt ; and I told him, that 
 " when he mould have made a fortune, he might unbend 
 " himfelf with the ftudies confonant to his inclinations. I 
 " told him alfo, that I had communicated his tranfcripts to 
 " better judges, and that they were by no means fathfied 
 tf with the authenticity of his fuppofea MSS. He wrote 
 " me rather a peevifli anfwer, faid he could not conteft with 
 " a perfon of my learning, (a compliment by no means due 
 " to me, and which I certainly had not afiumed, having 
 " mentioned my having confulted abler judges,) main- 
 ' tained the genuinenefs of the poems, and demanded to 
 " have them returned, as thy ivere tie property of another 
 " gentleman. Remember this. 
 
 " When I received this letter, I was going to Paris in a 
 " day or two, and either forgot his requeil of the poem?, 
 <c or perhaps not having time to have them copied, 
 " deferred complying 'till my return, which was to be in 
 " fix weeks. I proteil I do not remember which was the 
 " cafe ; and yet, though in a caufe of fo little importance, 
 <c I will not utter a fyllable of which I am not pofitively 
 " certain, nor will not charge my memory with a tittle be- 
 " yond what it retains. Soon after my return from France, 
 k * I received another letter from Chatterton, the ftyle of 
 ' whicli was Angularly impertinent. He demanded his 
 
 ** poems
 
 CHATTER TON. 6 I 
 
 fortunate enough to receive a tincture of 
 infidelity, we are not informed. Early in 
 
 the 
 
 poems roughly ; and added, that I fhould not have dared 
 to ufe him fo ill, if he had not acquainted me with the 
 narrovvnefs of his circumftances My heart did not accule 
 me of infolence to him. I wrote an anfwer to him, ex- 
 poftulating with him on his injuftice, and renewing good 
 advice ; but upon fecond thoughts, reflecting that fo 
 wrong-headed a young man, of whom I knew nothing, 
 and whom I had never feen, might be abfurd enough to 
 print my letter, I flung it into the fire ; and wrapping up 
 both his poems and letters, without taking a copy of 
 either, for which I am now forry, I returned all to him, 
 and thought no more about him or them, till about a year 
 and a half after, when dining at the Royal Academy, 
 Dr. Goldfmith drew the attention of the company with 
 an account of a marvellous treafure of ancient poems 
 lately difcovered at Briftol, a 1 exprefled enthufialtic be- 
 lief in them, for which he was laughed at by Dr. John- 
 fon, who was prefent. I foon found this was the trou- 
 vaille of my friend Chatterton ; and I told Dr Goldfmith. 
 that this novelty was none to me, who might, if I had 
 pleafed, have had the honour of uihering the great dif- 
 covery to the learned world. You may imagine, Sir, 
 we did not at all agree in the meafure of cur faith ; but 
 though his credulity diverted me, my mirth was foon 
 darned ; for on aflcing about Chatterton, he told me he 
 had been in London, and had destroyed, himfelf. 1 
 heartily wilhed then that I had been the dupe of all the 
 poor young man had written to me ; for who would, not 
 
 * have
 
 62 1 I * E O F 
 
 the year 1769, it appears from a poem on 
 Happinefs, addrefled to Mr. Catcott, that 
 
 he 
 
 " have his undemanding impofed upon to fave a fellow 
 
 " being from the utmoft wretchednefs, defpair, and fuicide ! 
 
 ' and a poor young man, not eighteen, and of fuch miracu- 
 
 " lous talents ; for, dear Sir, if 1 wanted credulity on 
 
 * one hand, it is ample on the other. Yet heap all the 
 
 " improbabilities you pleafe on the head of Chatterton, the 
 
 " impofiibility on Rowley's fide will remain. An amazing 
 
 " genius for poetry, which one of them poffefTed, might 
 
 ' fiafli out in the darkeft age ; but could Rowley anticipate 
 
 " the phrafeology of the eighteenth century ? His poetic 
 
 " fire might burft through the obftacles of the times ; like 
 
 " Homer, or otiier original bards, he might have formed 
 
 " a poetical flyle ; but would it have been precifely that 
 * of an age fubfequent to him by fome hundred years ? 
 
 " Nobody can admire the poetry of the poems in queflion 
 
 " more than I do, but except being better than moft nio- 
 
 *' dern \ r erfes, in what do they differ in the conftruclion ? 
 
 " The words are old, the conduction evidently of yefter- 
 
 *' day ; and, by fubftituting modern words, aye, fingle 
 
 " words, to the old, or to thofe invented by Chatterton, 
 
 " in what do they differ ? Try that method with any com- 
 
 " pofition, even in profe, of the reign of Henry VI. and 
 
 ." fee if the conkquence will be the fame. But I am get- 
 
 " ting into the controverfy, inilead of concluding my nar- 
 
 " rative, which indeed is ended." 
 
 Whatever imputation might have lain on Mr. Walpole 
 with regard to the treatment of Chatter ton, before thefe 
 particulars were known, and this narrative appeared, furely 
 
 there
 
 CHATTERTON. 63 
 
 he had drank deeply of the poifoned 
 fpring : And in the conclufion of a letter 
 
 to 
 
 there can be no impartial reader of it who will not acquit 
 him of any ill treatment of a perfon who appeared to him ia 
 fo queftionable a fhape ; and allow that in Mr. Walpole's 
 fituation, he cpuld fcarcely have afted otherwife than he did. 
 For what was the cafe ? A youth of fixteen years of age, 
 clerk *o an attorney at Briftol, totally unknown to Mr. 
 Walpole, fends him a letter, acquainting him that the 
 writer, though bred to the law, had a tafte for politer ftudies, 
 particularly poetry, and wiftied to be drawn out of his 
 prefent fituation, and placed in one more at his eafe, 
 \vhere he might purfue the ftudies more congenial to his tafte 
 and genius ; but of this tafte and genius he produces no otheif 
 proof than tranfcripts of fome old poems, faid to have beert 
 found at Briftol, and to be the property of another perfon. 
 Thefe poems being exhibited by Mr. Walpole to Mr. Gray 
 and Mr. Mafon, thefe excellent and impartial judges agreed 
 in opinion that they muft be modern productions, difguifed 
 in antiquated phrafes ; and, with regard to a long lift of 
 Briftol artifts, carvellers and painters, announced alfo as 
 part of this treafure, Mr. Walpole was as confident that 
 none fuch ever had any exiftence, and therefore he could 
 not help concluding that the whole was a fiction, contrived 
 by fome one or more literary wags, who wifhed to impofe 
 on his credulity, and to laugh at him if they fucceeded, and 
 that Chatterton was only the inftrument employed to intro- 
 duce and recommend thefe old writings. His youth and 
 fituation could not lead Mr. Walpole to fuppofe he was 
 himielf the author an$i cor.triver, more efpecially as he had 
 
 aflerted
 
 64 L I F E O F 
 
 to the fame gentleman, after- he left Brif- 
 tol, he exprefles himfelf : " Heaven fend 
 
 }OU 
 
 afTerted them to be the property or a perfon at Briftol then 
 alive. He had indeed repreiented himfelf as a lover of 
 the mufes, but had given no fpecimens of his oivn compofi- 
 tions : The kindeft thing therefore' Mr. Walpole could do 
 for a young man in this fituation, was, after a gentle hint 
 of his fufpicions of the authenticity of the poems, to re- 
 commend to his correfpondent to purfue the line of bufinefs 
 in which he was placed, as moft likely to fecure a decent 
 maintenance for himfelf, and enable him to affift his mo- 
 ther. However difappointed Chatterton might have been 
 at the time, and angry with Mr. Walpole for this rebuff, 
 it mould feem as if he had not harboured any long or ftrong 
 refentment againft that gentleman ; for in a copy of verfes 
 addreffed to Mifs M. R. and fent by him to the Town and 
 Country Magazine, and printed in the Number for January 
 1770, is the following ftanza : 
 
 " Yet when that bloom and dancing fire, 
 " In filver'd reverence mall expire, 
 
 " Aged, wrinkled, and defac'd, 
 " To keep one lover's flame alive 
 " Requires the genius of a dive, 
 
 " With WALPOLE 's mental tafle. 
 
 See Cbatterton 's Mifcellanies, p. 88, 
 
 It" (hould feem alfo, that Chatterton had in part adopted 
 Mr. Walpole's advice, by continuing with his mailer a full 
 twelvemonth after his application to that gentlemen. Then 
 
 he
 
 CHATTERTON. 65 
 
 you the comforts of Chriftianity ; I re- 
 them not, for I am no Chriftian." 
 
 Infidelity, 
 
 he got difmifled from his mailer and went to London, in full con- 
 fidence that his literary talents would find ample employment 
 and encouragement from the London bookieilers; but being 
 difappointed in his expectation, the fatal conclufion which has 
 juft been mentioned took place. Had this been the cafe imme- 
 diately on his receipt of Mr. Walpole's lait letter, fomefliadow 
 of foundation might have appeared for the harih cenfures 
 paflcd on Mr. Walpole's treatment of this ill-fated youth; 
 though even then, no real one, all circumflances con- 
 lldered. 
 
 From the fpirited reply of Mr. Walpole to one of thefe 
 cenfurers, (the Editor of Chatterton's Mifcellanies,) and\ 
 printed in the fame pamphlet as the letter to W; B. the 
 following extraft is given, as equally applicable to all ob- 
 jeftors. 
 
 " Was it the part of a juft man to couple Chatterton's 
 " firft unfuccefsful application with his fatal exit, and load 
 " me with both ? Does your enthufiaftic admiration of 
 < his abilities, or your regrets for the honour of England's 
 " poetry, warrant fuch a concatenation of ideas ? Was 
 ** poor Chatterton fo modeft, or fo defponding, as to aban- 
 " don his enterprizes on their being damped by me ? Did 
 " he not continue to purfue them ? Is this country fo defti- 
 " tute of patrons of genius, or do I move in fo eminent and 
 ' diftinguifhed a fphere, that a repulfe from me is a dagger 
 *' to talents ? Did not Chatterton come to London after 
 " that mifcarriage ? Did he relinquifh his counterfeiting 
 *' propenfity on its being loft on me ? Was he an inoften- 
 F ' ' five
 
 66 L I F E O F 
 
 Infidelity, or fcepticifm at leaft, may be 
 termed the difeafe of young, lively, and 
 half-informed minds. There is fomething 
 
 like 
 
 *' five ingenuous youth, fmit with the love of the mufes, 
 " and foaring above a fordid and fervile profeffion, whofe 
 early bloffoms being blighted by my infolence, withered 
 ' in mortified obfcurity, and on feeing his hopes of fame 
 blafted, funk beneath the frowns of ignorant andinfolent 
 *' wealth ? or did he, after launching into all the exceffes 
 " you defcribe, and vainly hoping to gratify his ambition 
 " by adulation to, or fatires on all ranks and parties of 
 men, fall a viftim to his own ungovernable fpirit, r.nd to 
 " the deplorable ftraits to which he had reduced himfelf ? 
 c The interval was fhort, I own ; but as every moment of 
 ' fo extraordinary a life was crouded with efforts of his en- 
 " terprifmg genius, allow me to fay with truth, that there 
 tc was a large chafm between his application to me and his 
 " miferableconclufion. You know there was ; and though 
 " my falling into his faare might have varied the zra of 
 ' his exploits, it is more likely that that fuccefs would 
 " rather have encouraged than checked his enterprifes. 
 ' When he purfued his turn for fabricating ancient writings, 
 <c in fpite of the mortification he received from me, it is 
 tf not probable that he would have been correfted by fuc- 
 ' cefs; fuch is not the nature of faccefs, when it is the 
 " reward of artifice. I fhould be more juftly reproachable 
 " for having contributed to cherifh an impoftor, than I am 
 *' for having accelerated his fate. I cannot repeat the 
 " words without emotions of indignation on my own ac- 
 fl couat, and of companion on his." O.
 
 CHATTERfON. 67 
 
 like difcovery in the rejection of truths to 
 which they have been from infancy in 
 trammels. A little learning, too, mifleads 
 the underftanding, in an opinion of its 
 own powers. When we have acquired 
 the outlines of fcience, we are apt to fup- 
 pofe that every thing is within our com- 
 prehenfion. Much fludy and much in- 
 formation are required to difcover the dif- 
 ficulties in which the fyftems of infidels 
 are involved. There are profound, as well 
 as popular arguments, in favour of revealed 
 religion 5 but when the flippancy of Vol- 
 taire or Hume has taught young perfons 
 to fuppofe that they have defeated the for- 
 mer, their underftandings feldom recover 
 fufficient vigour to purfue the latter with 
 the ability and perfeverance of a Newton 
 or a Bryant. 
 
 The evil effect of thefe principles upon 
 
 the morals of youth, is often found to fur- 
 
 vive the fpeculative impreffions which they 
 
 F 2 have
 
 68 L I F E O F 
 
 have made on the intellect. Wretched 
 is that perfon, who, in the ardour and 
 impetuofity of youth, finds himfelf re- 
 leafed from all the falutary reftraints 
 of duty and religion ; wretched is he, 
 who, deprived of all the comforting 
 hopes of another flate, is reduced to feek 
 for happinefs in the vicious gratifications 
 of this life; who, under fuch delufions, 
 acquires habits of profligacy or difcontent ! 
 The progrefs, however, from fpeculative 
 to practical irreligion, is not fo rapid as is 
 commonly fuppofed. The greateft advan- 
 tage of a ftricl: and orderly education is the 
 refinance which virtuous habits, early ac- 
 quired, oppofe to the allurements of vice. 
 Thofe who have fullied the youth of Chat- 
 terton with the imputation of extraordi- 
 nary vices or irregularities, and have arTert- 
 ed, that " his profligacy was, at leaft, as 
 confpicuous as his abilities*," have, I 
 conceive, rather grounded thefe afTertions 
 
 on 
 
 * Preface to Chauerton's Mifcellanie*, p. 18.
 
 C H A. F r E R T O N. 69 
 
 on the apparently profane and immoral 
 tendency of fome of his productions, than 
 en perfonal knowledge or a correct re- 
 view of his conduct. During his refidence 
 at Briftol, we have the moft refpectable 
 evidence in favour of the regularity of his 
 conduct, namely, that of his mailer, Mr. 
 Lambert. Of few young men in his fitu- 
 ation it can be faid, that during a courfe 
 of nearly three years, he feldom encroach- 
 ed upon the ftrict limits which were 
 arligned him, with refpect to his hours of 
 liberty ; that his mafler could never accufe 
 him of improper behaviour, and that he 
 had the utmoft reafon to be fatisfied he 
 never fpent his hours of leifure in any but 
 refpedable company. 
 
 Mrs. Newton, with that unaffected fim- 
 plicity which fo eminently charafterifes her 
 letter, mod powerfully controverts the 
 obloquy which had been thrown upon 
 her brother's memory. She fays, that 
 he was at Mr. Lambert's, he vifited 
 F 3 his
 
 7$ i. i F E 
 
 his mother regularly moft evenings 
 before nine o'clock, and they were feU 
 dom two evenings together without feeing 
 him. He was for a confiderable time re ^ 
 markably indifferent to females. He de- 
 clared to his fifter, that he had always feen 
 the whole fex with perfect indifference, 
 except thofe whom nature had rendered 
 dear. He remarked, at the fame time, 
 the tendency of fevere ftudy to four the 
 temper, and indicated his inclination to 
 form an acquaintance with a young female 
 411 the neighbourhood, apprehending that 
 it might foften that aufterity of temper 
 which had refulted from folitary fludy. 
 The juvenile Petrarch wanted a Laura, to 
 polim his manners and exercife his fancy. 
 He addrelled a poem to Mifs Rumfey ; 
 and they commenced, Mrs. Newton adds, 
 a correfponding acquaintance. " He 
 would allb frequently," (he fays, " walk 
 the College Green with the young girls 
 that f rated ly paraded there to fhew their 
 
 finery j"
 
 CHATTERTON. Jl 
 
 nnery * ;" but (he is perfuaded that the 
 reports which charge him with libertinifm 
 are ill-founded -f*. She could not perhaps 
 have added a better proof of it, than his 
 inclination to affociate with modeft women. 
 The teftimony of Mr. Thiftlethwaite is 
 not lefs explicit or lefs honourable to Chat- 
 terton. " The opportunities," fays he, 
 " which a long acquaintance with him 
 F 4 afforded 
 
 * In a letter from London to his fifter, he particularizes 
 ten Briftol females of his acquaintance, and adds, " I pro- 
 " mifed to write to feme hundreds, I believe; but what 
 " with writing for publications, and going to places of 
 " public diverfion, which is as abfolutely neceflary to me 
 " as my food, I find but little time to write to you." O. 
 
 f Mrs. Newton's letter. I cannot help remarking a 
 pleafant miftake of the Dean of Exeter : The orthography 
 of Mrs. N. in the letter printed in Love and Madnels, is 
 not the moft correft. Her words are, " I really believe he 
 was no debauchee (though fome have reported it) j the dear 
 unhappy, boy had faults enough, I faw with concern ; he 
 was proud and exceedingly imperious, but that of venality 
 he could not be juftly accufed with." It is eafy to fee that 
 Mrs. N. by <venality means libertinifm ; but the Dean taking 
 the word in the ufual fenfe, makes ufe of it to difprovc, 
 what is feldom fufpefted of a poet, and lead of all of Chat- 
 terton, that he was avaricious.
 
 ^2 t I F E O F 
 
 afforded me, juflify me in faying, that 
 whilfl he lived a,t Briilol, he was not th? 
 debauched character he has. been reprefent- 
 ed. Temperate in his living,, moderate in 
 his pleafures, and regular in his exercifcs, 
 he was undeferving. of the afperfion. I 
 admit that amongft his papers may, be 
 found many paffages, not only immoral, 
 but bordering upon a libertinifm grofs and 
 unpardonable. It is not my intention to 
 attempt a vindication of thofe paffages, 
 which, for the regard I bear his memory, 
 I vvifli he had never written, but which I 
 ncverthelefs believe to have originated ra- 
 ther from a warmth of imagination, aided 
 by a vain affectation of iingularity, than, 
 from any natural depravity, or from a heart 
 vitiated by evil example*/' 
 
 * Ivliiles's Rowley, p. 461. Whether the fpllpvvi.ng pa- 
 fage from Chatterton's Kevv Gardens (a poem not publifhed 
 in any of the collections of his works) be received as a cor- 
 friend's teftimony in his favour, pr the con,- 
 
 tra : y,
 
 CMATTERTON. 73 
 
 But though it may not always be the 
 effedt of infidel principles, to plunge the 
 perfon who becomes unfortunately infedled 
 with them into an immediate courfe of 
 flagrant and fhamelefs depravity, they fel- 
 
 dom 
 
 trary, it is, however, worth preferring. An officious 
 friend is introduced accofting him in the following lines : 
 
 " Is there a ftreet within this fpacious place, 
 f That boafts the happinefs of one fair face, 
 ' c Whofe converfation does not turn on you ? 
 *' Blaming your wild amours, and morals too. 
 '.' Oaths, facred and tremendous oaths you fwear, 
 
 <f Oaths which might mock a L 's foul to hear ; 
 
 *' Whilft the too tender and believing maid, 
 
 f Remember pretty is betray 'd. 
 
 " Then your religion ! oh, beware! beware! 
 
 f ' Although a Deift is no monfter here, 
 
 " Think not the merit of a jingling long 
 
 " Can countenance the author's adling wrong. 
 
 ff Reform your manners, and with folemn air, 
 
 f ' Hear Catcott bray, and Robins fqueak in prayer. 
 
 " Damn'd narrow notions, notions which difgrace 
 
 '.' The bcafted freedom of the human race ; 
 
 V Briitol may keep her prudent maxims dill, 
 
 '* I fcorn her prudence, and I ever will. 
 
 ' ' Since all my vices magnified are here, 
 
 * ' She cannot paint me worfe than I appear. 
 
 " When raving in the lunacy of ink, 
 
 < J[ catch the pen, and publifh what I think." 0.
 
 74 L I F E O F 
 
 dom fail to unhinge the mind, and render 
 it the fport of fome paiTion, unfriendly to 
 our happinefs and profperity. One of their 
 firft effedts in Chatterton was to render the 
 idea of fuicide familiar, and to difpofe 
 him to think lightly of the moft facred 
 depofit with which man is entrufted by 
 his Creator. It has been fuppofed that 
 his violent death in London, was the fud- 
 den or almoft inftant effed; of extreme 
 poverty and difappointment. It appears, 
 however, that long before he left Briftol, 
 he had repeatedly intimated to the fervants 
 of Mr. Lambert, his intention of putting 
 an end to his exiftence. Mr. Lambert's 
 mother was particularly terrified, but me 
 was unable to perfuade her fon of the 
 reality of his threats, till he found by ac- 
 cident upon his defk a paper, entitled, 
 the " Laft Will and Teftament of Thomas 
 Chatterton *," in which he ferioufly indi- 
 cated 
 
 * See the Will in the Appendix to Chatterton's Mifc.
 
 CHATTERTON. 75 
 
 cated his defign of committing fuicide on 
 the following day, namely, Eafter Sun- 
 day, April 1 5th, 1770. The paper was 
 probably rather the refult of temporary 
 uneafinefs *, than of that fixed averlion to 
 his fituation which he conftantly manifeft- 
 ed ; but with principles and paffions fuch 
 as Chatterton difplayed, Mr. Lambert 
 confidered it as no longer prudent, after 
 fo decifive a proof, to continue him in the 
 houfe ; he accordingly difmifled him im- 
 mediately from his fervice, in which he 
 had continued two years, nine months, 
 and thirteen days. 
 
 If there was any fmcerity in the inten^ 
 tions of committing fuicide, which he ex- 
 prefled in the paper above alluded to, he was 
 diverted from it for the prefent by the gold- 
 en profpe&s with which he flattered him- 
 felf from a new plan, of life, on which he 
 
 entered 
 
 * I have been informed from good authority, that it was 
 pccafioncd by the refufal of a gentleman, whom he had oc- 
 cafionally complimented in his poems, to accommodate him 
 with a fupply of money.
 
 76 L I F E O F 
 
 entered with his ufualenthufiafm. A few 
 months before he left Briflol, he had writ- 
 ten letters to feveral bookfellers in Lon- 
 don *, " who," Mr. Thiftlethwaite fays, 
 " finding him of advantage to them in 
 their publications, were by no means 
 fparing of their praifes and compliments j 
 adding the moil liberal promifes of amft- 
 ance and employment, mould he choofe 
 to make London the place of his refi- 
 dence-f-." To the interrogatories of this 
 gentleman concerning the plan of life 
 which he intended to purfue on his arrival 
 at London, his ahfvver was remarkable, 
 and corresponds with what has been juft 
 related. " My firfk attempt," faid he, 
 " (hall be in the literary way : The pro- 
 mifes I have received are fufficient to dif- 
 pel doubt; but fhould I, contrary to my 
 expectation, find myfelf deceived, I will 
 in that cafe turn Methodift preacher : Cre- 
 dulity is as potent a deity as ever, and a 
 
 new 
 
 * Mrs. Newton's Letter, 
 f Milles's Rowley, p. 460,
 
 CHATTERTON. *JJ 
 
 new feet may eafily be devifed. But if that 
 too mould fail me, my laft and final re- 
 fource is a piftol." 
 
 Before he quitted 'Briftol, he had enter* 
 ed deeply into politics, and had embraced 
 what was termed the patriotic party. In 
 March 1770, he wrote a fatirical poem, 
 called " Kew Gardens," confifting of 
 above 1300 lines. This he tranfmitted, 
 in different packets, to Mr. George Wil- 
 liam Edmunds, No. 73, Shoe-lane, Printer 
 of a patriotic newfpaper. At the bot- 
 tom of the firft packet, which contained 
 about 300 lines, written in Chatterton's 
 own hand, is this poftfcript. " Mr. Ed- 
 munds will fend the author, Thomas 
 Chatterton, twenty of the Journals, in 
 which the above poem (which I ihall 
 continue) fhall appear, by the machine, if 
 be thinks proper to put it in; the money 
 (hall be paid to his orders." The poem is 
 a fatire on the Princefs Dowager of Wales, 
 
 Lord
 
 78 L I F E O F 
 
 Lord Bute, and their Friends in London 
 and Briftol, but particularly on thofe in 
 Briftol, who had diftinguimed themfelves 
 in favour of the Miniftry. His fignature 
 on this occalion was DECIMUS j but whe- 
 ther the poem was ever printed or not, I 
 have not been able to afcertain. I have 
 been alfo informed of another political 
 fatire of near 600 lines, the manufcript of 
 which, in Chatterton's hand-writing, is 
 in the pofieflion of a friend of Mr. Catcott. 
 It is called " The Whore of Babylon." 
 The fatire of this poem is alfo directed 
 againft the Miniftry, and, like the former, 
 it includes feveral of the Briflol people, 
 not excepting Mr. George Catcott, and 
 his brother the clergyman. But his party 
 efforts were not confined altogether to 
 poetry j he wrote an invective in prole 
 againft Bimop Newton, alfo figned Deci- 
 mus, which, I belisve, appeared in fome 
 of the periodical publications of the times. 
 
 The
 
 CHATTER TON. 79 
 
 The manufcript of this letter is in Mr. 
 Catcott's pofleffion ; but the ftyle appears 
 much inferior to that of his profe publica- 
 tions pofterior to his arrival in London. 
 To write well in profe is perhaps more 
 the effect of art, of ftudy, and of habit, than 
 of natural genius. The rules of metrical 
 compofition are fewer, more fimple, and 
 require a lefs conftant exercife of the judg- 
 ment. In the infancy of focieties, as well 
 as of individuals, therefore, the art of 
 poetry is antecedent to thofe of rhetoric 
 and criticifm, and arrives at perfection 
 long before the language of profe attains 
 that degree of ftrength, concifenefs, and 
 harmony, which is requiilte to fatisfy a 
 delicate ear. Chatterton wrote alfo an 
 indecent fatirical poem, called " The Ex- 
 hibition," occafioned by the improper 
 behaviour of a perfon in Briftol. The 
 fatire of this poem is chiefly local, and the 
 characters of moll of the furgeons in Brif- 
 
 tol
 
 80 t I F E O p 
 
 are delineated in it. Some defcriptivd 
 pafFages in this poem have great merit* 
 Thus, fpeaking of a favourite organift> 
 probably Mr. Allen, he fays : 
 
 " He keeps the paflions with the found in play, 
 
 " And the foul trembles with the trembling key*." 
 
 There are a number of other unpublifh- 
 ed works of his difperfed in the hands of 
 different perfons. The activity of his 
 mind is indeed almoft unparalleled. But 
 our furprife muft decreafe, when we con- 
 fider that he flept but little ; and that his 
 whole attention was diredied to literary 
 purfuits ; for he declares himfelf fo igno- 
 rant of his profeffion, that he was unable 
 to draw out a clearance from his appren^ 
 ticefhip, which Mr. Lambert demanded -f-* 
 He was alfo unfettered by the ftudy of the 
 dead languages, which ufually abforb much 
 
 of 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 167. 
 
 f See the third letter of Chatterton, publilhed in Love 
 and Madnefs, p. 198.
 
 CHATTERTON. Si 
 
 of the time and attention of young per- 
 fons ; and though they may be ufeful to 
 the attainment of correftnefs, perhaps 
 they do not much contribute to fluency in 
 writing. Mr. Catcott declared, that when 
 he firft knew Chatterton, he was ignorant 
 even of Grammar *. 
 
 There are three great seras in the life of 
 Chatterton, his admiffion into Colflon's 
 fchool, his being put apprentice to Mr. 
 Lambert, and his expedition to London. 
 In the latter end of April, 1770, he bade 
 his native city (from which he had never 
 previoufly been abfent further than he 
 could walk in half a Sunday) a final 
 adieu -f-. In a letter to his mother, dated 
 April 26th, he defcribes in a lively ftyle 
 the little adventures of his journey, and 
 his reception from his patrons, the book- 
 fellers and printers with whom he had 
 G cor- 
 
 * From the information of Mr. Scward. 
 f Love and Madnefs, p. 191.
 
 82 L I F E O F 
 
 correfponded 5 thefe were Mr. Edmunds, 
 whom I lately had occafion to mention as 
 a noted patriotic printer at that period ; 
 Mr. Fell, publifher of the Freeholder's 
 Magazine ; Mr. Hamilton, proprietor of 
 the Town and Country ; and Mr. Dodfley, 
 of Pall -Mall. From all of them he pro- 
 feffes to have received great encourage- 
 ment, adding, that all approved of his de- 
 fign, and that he mould probably be foon 
 fettled. In the fame letter, he defires his 
 mother to call upon Mr. Lambert. " Shew 
 him this," fays he, with uncommon dig- 
 nity and fpirit, " or tell him, if I deferve 
 a recommendation, he would oblige me 
 to give me one if I do not, it would be 
 beneath him to take notice of me*." 
 
 His firft habitation after his arrival in 
 London was at Mr. Walmfley's, a plaifter- 
 er in Shoreditch, to whom he was intro- 
 duced by a relation of his, a Mrs. Ballance, 
 
 who 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 192.
 
 CHATTERtON. 83 
 
 who refided in the fame houfe. Of his 
 firft eftabliftiment, his report is favourable* 
 " I am fettled," fays he, in a letter to 
 his mother, dated May 6th, " and in fuch 
 a fettlement as I could defire. I get four 
 guineas a month by one magazine $ mall 
 engage to write a hiftory of pngland, and 
 other pieces, which will more than double 
 that fum. Occafional efTays for the daily 
 papers would more than fupport me. 
 What a glorious profpecl * !" In confe- 
 quence of his engagements with the dif- 
 ferent magazines, we find him, about the 
 fame time, foliciting communications from 
 his poetical and literary friends at Briftol, 
 and defiring them to read the Freeholder's 
 Magazine. In a letter dated the i4th of 
 the fame month, he writes in the fame 
 high flow of fpirits : He fpeaks of the 
 great encouragement which genius meets 
 with in London ; adding, with exultation, 
 G 2 "If 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 197.
 
 84 L I F E O F 
 
 t{ If Rowley had been a Londoner inflead 
 of a Briftowyan, I might have lived by 
 copying his works. *" He exhorts his fitter 
 to " improve in copying mufic, drawing, 
 and every tiling which requires genius ;" 
 obferving that although, *' in Briftol's 
 mercantile fryle, thole things may be ufe- 
 lefs, if not a detriment to her ; here 
 they are very profitable -f 1 . " His en- 
 gagements at that period indeed appear to 
 have been numerous ; for befides his em- 
 ployment in the. magazines, he fpeaks of 
 a connection which he had formed with 
 a doctor in mufic, to write fongs for Ra- 
 nelagh, Vauxhall, &c. > and in a letter 
 of the 3oth to his fifler, he mentions 
 another with a Scottifh bookfeller, to com- 
 pile a voluminous hiftory of London, to 
 appear in numbers, for which he was to 
 
 have 
 
 * Yet it does not appear that any of Rowley's pieces werff 
 -exhibited after C. left Briltol. O. 
 
 f Love and Madnefs, p. 201.
 
 CHATTERTON. 85 
 
 have his board at the book feller's houfe, 
 and a handfome premium*. 
 
 Party writing, however, feems to have 
 been one of his favourite employments. 
 It was agreeable to the fatirical turn of his 
 difpofition, and it gratified his vanity, by 
 the profpect of elevating him into imme- 
 diate notice. When his relation, Mrs. 
 Ballance, recommended it to him to endea- 
 vour to get into fome office, he ftormed 
 like a madman, and alarmed the good 
 old lady in no inconfiderable degree, by 
 telling her, " he hoped, with the blefT- 
 ing of God, very foon to be fent pri- 
 foner to the Tower, which would make 
 his fortune." In his fecond letter to his 
 mother. from London, he fays, " Mr. 
 Wilkes knew me by my writings, fince I firft 
 G 3 cor- 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 202. The Editor of Chatter- 
 ton's Mifcellanies confounds this with Northook'sHiftory of 
 London ; but that gentleman, in a letter printed in the 
 St. James's Chronicle, denies having eyer had the leaft 
 knowledge of C. Indeed the fcheme above alluded to ap- 
 pears not to have been proceeded in.
 
 S6 L I F E O F 
 
 correfponded with the bookfellers here. 
 I mall vifit him next week, and by his in- 
 tereft will infure Mrs. Ballance the Trini- 
 ty Houfe. He affirmed that what Mr. 
 Fell had of mine could not be the writings 
 of a youth, and exprefTed a defire to know 
 the author. By means of another book- 
 feller, I (hall be introduced to Townfhend 
 and Sawbridge. J am quite familiar at the 
 Chapter Coffee-houfe, and know all the 
 geniuffes there. A character is now un- 
 neceiTary -, an author carries his character 
 in his pen *." He informs his fitter that, 
 if money flowed as fail upon him as ho- 
 nours, he would give her a portion of five 
 thoufand pounds. This extraordinary ele- 
 vation of fpirits arofe from an introduction 
 to the celebrated patriotic Lord Mayor, 
 W. Beckford. Chatterton had, it feems, 
 addrefled an eflay to him, which was fq 
 well received, that it encouraged him to 
 
 wait 
 
 I* Love and Madnefs, p. 194.
 
 CHATTERTON. 87 
 
 upon his Lordihip,' in order to obtain his ap- 
 probation to addrefs a fecond letter to him, 
 on the fubjecl: of the city remonftrance, 
 and its reception. " His Lordmip (adds 
 he) received me as politely as a citizen, 
 could, and warmly invited me to call on 
 him again. The reft is a fecret." His 
 inclination doubtlefs led him to efpoufe 
 the party of oppofition ; but he complains, 
 that " no money is to be got on that fide 
 ri the queftion ; intereft is on the other fide. 
 But he is a poor author who cannot write 
 on both fides. I believe I may be intro- 
 duced (and if I am not, I'll introduce my- 
 felf) to a ruling power in the Court 
 party *." When Beckford died, he is faid 
 to have been almoft frantic -f , and to have 
 exclaimed, that he was ruined. The elegy, 
 however, in which he has celebrated him J, 
 G 4 contains 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 203. 
 
 f Ibid. Pa 2.4. 
 
 I that. Mifcel. p. 76;
 
 88 L I F E O F 
 
 contains more of frigid praife, than of ar- 
 dent feeling; nor is there in it a fingle 
 line which appears to flow from the heart. 
 Indeed, that he was ferious in his inten- 
 tion of writing on both fides, is evident 
 from a lift of pieces written by Chatterton, 
 but never, publifhed, which Mr. Walpole 
 has preferved. No. V. of thefe pieces is 
 a letter to Lord North, dated May 26th, 
 1770, ligned Moderator, and beginning, 
 " My Lord, It gives me a painful plea- 
 fure, &c." It contains,' as Mr. Walpole 
 informs us, an encomium on Adminiftra* 
 tion for rejecting the City Remonftrance, 
 On the other hand, No. VL is a letter to 
 the Lord Mayor, Beckfofd, (probably that 
 which he defired his permiflion to addrefs 
 to him). It is alfo dated May 26, figned 
 Probus, an4 contains a virulent invective 
 againft Government for rejecting the Re-< 
 monftrance, beginning, "When the en*r 
 deavours of a fpirited people to free them-
 
 CHATTERTON. 89 
 
 felves from infupportable flavery, &c." On 
 the back of this eflay, which is directed 
 to Mr. Gary, a particular friend of Chat- 
 terton in Briftol, is this indorfement : 
 " Accepted by Bingley fet for, and 
 thrown out of the North Briton, 21 ft 
 June, on account of the Lord Mayor's 
 death. 
 
 Loft by his death on this Eflay, . i 1 1 6 
 Gained in Elegies, j. 2 2 O 
 
 , In EiTays, 33 
 
 550 
 
 Am glad he is dead by . 3 13 6*" 
 
 " ElTays," again fays he to his fifter, 
 " on the patriotic fide, fetch no more than 
 what the copy is fold for. As the patriots 
 themfelves are fearching for a place, they 
 have no gratuities to fpare. On the other 
 hand, unpopular efTays will not even be 
 accepted, and you muft pay to have them 
 
 printed ; 
 
 '* Two letter? printed at Strawberry-hill,
 
 9O L I F E .O F 
 
 printed $ but then you feldom lofe by it. 
 Courtiers are fo fenfibie of their deficiency 
 in merit, that they generally reward all 
 who know how to daub them with an 
 appearance of it *." Either Chatterton, 
 on this occafion, fpoke from hear-fay, or 
 there is reafon to believe that the minif- 
 terial arrangements are greatly altered in 
 this refpect, and that moft of the late ad- 
 miniftrations have found a more effectual, 
 if a more expenfivc fupport, from a venal 
 majority in the Houfe, than from a venal 
 phalanx of mendicant authors in the daily 
 papers. 
 
 On this fandy foundation of party writ- 
 ing Chatterton creeled a vilionary fabric of 
 future greatnefs ; and, in the waking dreams 
 of a poetical imagination, he was already 
 a man of confiderable public importance. 
 It was a common affertion with him, 
 " that he would fettle the nation before he 
 
 had 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 204.
 
 CHATTERTON. 91 
 
 had done*." In a letter to his fitter of the 
 2oth July, he tells her, " My company is 
 courted every where ; and, could I humble 
 myfelf to go into a compter, could have 
 had twenty places before now; but I mujfc 
 be among the great ; flate matters fuit me 
 better than commercial -f-." In a former 
 letter he intimates, that he " might have 
 had a recommendation to Sir George Cole- 
 brooke, an Eaft- India Director, as quali- 
 fied for an office no ways defpicable, but," 
 he adds, " I mall not take a ftep to the 
 fea, whilft I can continue on landj." 
 His tafte for diffipation feems to have 
 kept pace with the increafe of his vanity. 
 To frequent places of public amufement, 
 he accounts as neceflary to him as food. 
 ** I employ my money," fays he, " now 
 in fitting myfelf fafhionably, and getting 
 
 into 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 214. 
 f Ibid. p. 210. 
 { Ibid. p. 203. 
 || Ibid. p. 200.
 
 92 L I F E F 
 
 into good company; this laft article always 
 brings me in intereft *." 
 
 While engaged in the examination of 
 thefe curious letters, it is impoffible not 
 to be attracted by a remarkable paflage. 
 Chatterton informs his mother in the let- 
 ter of May 1 4th, " A gentleman, who 
 knows me at the Chapter, as an author, 
 would have introduced me as a companion 
 to the young Duke of Northumberland, 
 in his intended general tour; but, alas! 
 I fpeak no tongue but my own-f ." It is 
 not very credible, that any of the conftant 
 frequenters of the Chapter CorTee-houfe 
 fhould be poffeiled of influence fufficient 
 to recommend a perfon to the Duke of 
 Northumberland, to fo important an office 
 as that of the care of his fon ; much lefs 
 credible is it, that fuch a perfon would 
 recommend a young literary adventurer, 
 
 tvhofe 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p, 202; 
 f Ibid, p, 198.
 
 CHATTERTON. 93 
 
 whofe character was only known by an 
 accidental meeting at a coffee-houfe j and 
 leaft credible of all it is, that fuch a perfon 
 was likely to be accepted on fo flender a 
 ground 9f recommendation. It is no un- 
 frequent fport with little minds to play 
 with the fanguine tempers and expectations 
 of young and unexperienced minds : Poor 
 Chatterton had tolerable experience of 
 thefe prodigal promifers, from the patriotic 
 Beckford to his pretended patron at the 
 Chapter Coffee-houfe. 
 
 The fplendid vifions of promotion and 
 confequence however foon vanimed, and 
 our adventurer found no patrons but the 
 bookfellers -, and even here he feems not 
 to have efcaped the poignant fting of dif- 
 appointment. Soon after his arrival in 
 London, he writes to his mother, " The 
 poverty of authors is a common obferva- 
 tion, but not always a true one. No 
 author can be poor who underftands the 
 
 arts
 
 94 L I F E O F 
 
 arts of bookfellers ; without this neceflary 
 knowledge the greateft genius may ftarve, 
 and with it the greateft dunce may live in 
 fplendour. This knowledge I have pretty 
 well dipped into *." This knowledge, 
 however, inftead of conducting to opulence 
 and independence, proved a delufive guide -, 
 and though he boafls of having pieces in 
 the month of June 1770 in the Gofpel 
 Magazine, the Town and Country, the 
 Court and City, the London, the Political 
 Regifter, 6cc. and that almoft the whole 
 Town and Country for the following month 
 was his -f-, yet it appears, fo fcanty is the 
 remuneration for thofe periodical labours, 
 that even thefe uncommon exertions of 
 induftry and genius were infufficient to 
 ward off the approach of poverty ; and he 
 feems to have funk almoft at once from 
 the higheft elevation of hope and illufion, 
 
 te 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 195. 
 f Ibid. p. 210.
 
 CHATTERTON. 95 
 
 to the depths of defpair. Early in July 
 he removed his lodgings from Shoreditch 
 to Mrs. Angel's, a fack-maker in Brook- 
 ftreet, Holborn. Mr. Walmfley's family 
 affirmed that he afligned no reafon for 
 quitting their houfe. The author of Love 
 and Madnefs attributes the change to the 
 neceffity he was under, from the nature of 
 his employments, of frequenting public 
 places *. Is it not probable that he 
 might remove, left his friends in Shore- 
 ditch, who had heard his frequent boafts, 
 and obferved his dream of greatnefs, mould 
 be the fpedators of his approaching indi- 
 gence ? [JPride was the ruling paffion of 
 Chatterton, and a too acute fenfe of fhame 
 is ever found to accompany literary pride. 
 But however he might be delirous of pre- 
 ferving appearances to the world, he was 
 fufficiently lowered in his own expecta- 
 tions 5 and great indeed muft have been 
 
 his 
 
 * Love end Madnefs, p, 189.
 
 g6 L i F E o F 
 
 his humiliation, when we find his tower- 
 ing ambition reduced to the miferable hope 
 of fecuring the very ineligible appointment 
 of a furgeon's mate to Africa. To his 
 friend Mr. Barrett he applied in his dif- 
 trefs for a recommendation to this un- 
 promifing ftation. Even in this dreary 
 profpect he was not, however, without 
 the confolations of his mufej his fancy 
 delighted itfelf with the expectation of 
 contemplating the wonders of a country, 
 where " Nature flourishes in her moft 
 perfect vigour ; where the purple aloe, 
 and the fear let JefTamine, diffufe their rich 
 perfumes ; where the reeking tygers baik 
 in the fedges, or wanton with their madows 
 in the ftream."* 
 
 His refolution was announced in a poem 
 to Mifs Bum,-f in the ftyle of Cowley, that 
 is, with too much affectation of wit for real 
 
 feeling. 
 
 * See the African Eclogues, Chat. Mif. p. 5661. 
 t Chat. Mifc. p. 85,
 
 CHATTERTON. 97 
 
 feeling. Probably, indeed, when he com- 
 pofed the African Eclogues, which was 
 jufl before, he might not be without a 
 diflant contemplation of a limilar deiign ; 
 and perhaps we are to attribute a ipart of 
 the exulting exprefiions, which occur in 
 the letters to his mother and filler, to the 
 kind and laudable intention cf making 
 them happy with refpeft to his prof- 
 pedls in life; fince we find him, ahnoft 
 at the very crifis of his diflrefs, fending a 
 number of little unnecefiary prefents to 
 them and his grandmother, while perhaps 
 he was himfelf almoft in want of the ne- 
 ceiTaries of life. 
 
 On the fcore erf incapacity probably, 
 Mr. Barrett refufed him the neceflary re- 
 commendation, and his lail hope was blaft- 
 ed*. Of Mrs. Angel, with whom he 
 H laft 
 
 * This circumftance reflects no difgracc, but rather ho- 
 nour upon Mr. B. as he could not poffibly forefee the me- 
 lancholy confequer.ee, and he could not in conference be the 
 
 iiiftrument
 
 98 L I F E O F 
 
 lafl refided, no enquiries have afforded 
 any fat is factory intelligence j but there 
 can be little doubt that his death was pre- 
 ceded by extreme indigence. Mr. Crofs, 
 an apothecary in Brook-ftreet, informed 
 Mr. Warton, that while Chatterton lived 
 in the neighbourhood, he frequently called 
 at the (hop, and was repeatedly prefled by 
 Mr. Crofs to dine or fup with him in vain. 
 One evening, however, human frailty fo 
 far prevailed over his dignity, as to tempt 
 him to partake of the regale of a bar- 
 rel of oyfters, when he was obferved to 
 eat moft voracioufly {-, Mrs. Wolfe, a 
 barber's wife, within a few doors of the 
 houfe .where Mrs. Angel lived, has alfo 
 afforded ample teflimcny, both to his po- 
 verty and his pride. She fays, " that 
 Mrs. Angel told her, after his death, that 
 on the 24th of Auguft, as fhe knew he 
 
 had 
 
 inftrument of committing the lives of a ccnfiderable number 
 of pei fons to one totally inadequate to the charge. 
 *t V r ar ton's Inquiry, f. 107,
 
 CHATTERTON* 9$ 
 
 had not eaten any thing for two or three 
 days, flie begged he would take fome din- 
 ner with her; but he was offended at her 
 expreffions, which feemed to hint he was 
 in want, and allured her he was not 
 hungry*." In thefe defperate circurn- 
 ilances, his mind reverted to what (we 
 learn from Mr. Thiftlethwaite, and other 
 quarters) he had accuftomed hunfeif to 
 regard as a laft refource. t( C. 
 death, for the fake of the world," 
 author of Love and Madnefs, " I would 
 willingly draw a veil. But this muft not 
 be. They who ar^ in a condition to 
 patronife merit, and they who feel a con- 
 fcioufnefs of merit which is not patronifed, 
 may form their own reiblutions from the 
 cataftrophe of his tale ; thofe, to lofe no 
 opportunity of befriending genius ; thefe, 
 to feize every opportunity of befriending 
 themfelves, and, upon no account, to 
 H 2 harbour 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 219,
 
 joo LIFE or 
 
 harbour the moft diftant idea of quitting 
 the world, however it may be unworthy 
 of them, left defpondency mould at laft 
 deceive them into fo unpardonable a ftep. 
 Chatterton, as appears by the Coroner's 
 Inqueft, fvval lowed arfenick in water, on 
 the 24th of Auguft 1770, and died in con- 
 fequence thereof the next day. He was 
 buried in a fhell, in the burying ground 
 of Shoe-lane work-houfe *." Whatever 
 unfinished pieces he might have, he cau- 
 tiouily deftroyed them before his death - y 
 and his room, when broken open, was 
 found covered with little fcraps of pa- 
 per -f. What muft increafe our regret 
 for this hafty and unhappy ftep, is the in- 
 formation that the late Dr. Fry, head of 
 St. John's College in Oxford, went to 
 Briftol in the latter end of Auguft 1770, 
 in order to fearch into the hiftory of Row- 
 ley and Chatterton, and to patronife the 
 
 latter, 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 221. 
 f Ibid. p. 222.
 
 CHATTERTON. IQI 
 
 latter, if he appeared to defer ve afTi (lance 
 when, alas ! all the intelligence he could 
 procure was, that Chattertoa had, within 
 a few days, deftroyed hirnfelf *. 
 
 I have beea induced, from the circum- 
 ftances of the narrative, repeatedly to con- 
 fider the character of Chatterton iri the 
 different ftages of life in which I had oc- 
 cafion to contemplate him. Indeed, the 
 character of any man is better underflood 
 from a fair and accurate flatement of his 
 life and conduct, than from the comments 
 of any critic or biographer whatever. A 
 few general obfervations, which could not 
 with fo much propriety be introduced into 
 the body of the narrative, 1 (hall, how- 
 ever, venture to fubjoin ; though I flatter 
 myfelf the reader is not at this time unac- 
 quainted with the outline of his moral por- 
 trait. 
 
 The perfon of Chatterton, like his 
 
 genius, was premature; he had a man- 
 
 H 3 line fa 
 
 * Jvove and Madnefs, p. 226.
 
 102 LIFE OF 
 
 linefs and dignity beyond his years, and 
 there was a Icmething about him un- 
 commonly prepoffeffing. His moft re- 
 markable feature was his eyes, "which, 
 though gray, were uncommonly pierc- 
 ing ; when he was warmed in argument, 
 or otherwife, they fparked with fire, and 
 one eye, it is faid, was frill more re- 
 markable than the other .*. His genius 
 will be moft completely efiimated from his 
 writings. He had an uncommon ardour 
 in the purfuit of knowledge, and uncom- 
 mon facility in the attainment of it. It 
 was a favourite maxim with him, that 
 f< man is equal to any thing, and that 
 every thing might be atchieved by dili- 
 gence and abftinence -f ." His imagina- 
 tion, - 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 27'. 
 
 f Ibid. p. 183. If any uncommon character was men- 
 tioned in his hearing, " All boy *s he was, he would only 
 obferve, that the perfon in queftion merited praife ; but 
 that God had fent his creatures into the world with arms 
 long enough to reach any thing, if they would be at the 
 fi cubic of extending them," Ib.
 
 CHATTERTON. 103 
 
 tion, like Dryden's, was more fertile than 
 correct ; and he feems to have erred rather 
 through hafte and negligence, than through 
 any deficiency of tafle. He was above that 
 puerile affectation which pretends to bor- 
 row nothing; he knew that original genius 
 confifts in forming new and happy com- 
 binations, rather than in fearching after 
 thoughts and ideas which never had oc- 
 curred before; and that the man who 
 never imitated, has feldom acquired a habit 
 of good writing. If thofe poems, which 
 pafs under the name of Rowley, be really 
 the productions of Chatterton, he pofleffed 
 the ftrongeft marks of a vigorous imagina- 
 tion and a found judgment, in forming 
 great, confident, and ingenious plots, and 
 making choice of the moft interefting fub- 
 jeds. If Rowley and Chatterton be the 
 fame, it will be difficult to fay whether he 
 excelled moft in the fublime or the fatiri- 
 cal ; and as a univerfal genius, he muft rank 
 H 4 above
 
 J04 LIFE OF 
 
 above Dryden, and perhaps only fland fe- 
 cond toShakefpeare, If, on the other hand, 
 we are to judge altogether from thofe pieces 
 which arc confefTedly his own, we muft 
 undoubtedly ailign the preference to thofe 
 of the fatirical clafs. In moft of his feri- 
 ous writings, there is little that indicates 
 their being compofed with a full relifh j 
 when he is fatirical, his foul glows in his 
 composition. 
 
 Mr. Catcott affirms that Chatterton un- 
 derflood no language but his mother 
 tongue -, the fame fact feems to be implied 
 in his own confeffion, " that he fpoke no 
 tongue but his own *;" and it receives de- 
 cide confirmation from the teftimony of 
 Mr. Smith, in his converfation with Dr. 
 Glynn; yet we find him, even fo early 
 as the year 1768, annexing a Latin figna~ 
 ture to the " Accounte of the Fryers 
 
 patting 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, p. 198.
 
 CHATTERTON* 
 
 paffin'g the old Bridge," and there are 
 fome attempts atinfcriptions in old French, 
 in the defign which he planned for his 
 own tomb -ftone *. He, probably, might 
 have acquired fome little knowledge of 
 both thefe languages ; but even if this 
 were the cafe, there can be no doubt that 
 it was very fuperficial. When we con- 
 fider the variety of his engagements while 
 at Briftol, his extenfive reading, and the 
 great knowledge he had acquired of the 
 ancient language of his native country, we 
 cannot wonder that he had not time to 
 occupy bimfelf in the fludy of other lan- 
 guages ; and after his arrival in London, 
 h h..u a new and neceffary fcience to learn, 
 the world ; and that he made the moil ad- 
 v;:rfa^eo'.?s ufe of his time is evident from 
 the exteniive knowledge of mankind dif- 
 played in the different efTays, which he 
 produced occafionally for periodical publi- 
 cations. 
 hatterton's Will, in App. to Mjfc,
 
 106 LIFE OF 
 
 cations. The lively and vigorous imagi- 
 nation of Chatterton contributed, doubt- 
 lefs, to animate him with that fpirit of 
 cnterprife, which led him to form fo many 
 impracticable and vifionary fchemes, for 
 the acquifition of fame and fortune. His 
 ambition was evident from his earlieft 
 youth ; and perhaps the inequality of his 
 fpirits might, in a great meafure, depend 
 upon the fairnefs of his views, or the diffi- 
 pation of his projects. His melancholy 
 was extreme on fome occafions, and, at 
 thofe times, he conftantly argued in fa- 
 vour of fuicide. Mr. Catcott left him one 
 evening totally deprefled ; but he returned 
 the next morning with unufual fpirits. 
 He faid, " he had fprung a mine," and 
 produced a parchment, containing the 
 Sprytes^ a poem, now in the poiTeffion of 
 Mr. Barrett *. 
 
 His 
 
 * From the information of Mr. Seward,
 
 CHATTERTO N. 107 
 
 His natural melancholy was not correct- 
 ed by the irreligious 'principles, which he 
 had fo unfortunately imbibed. To thefe 
 we are certainly to attribute his premature 
 death , and, if he can be proved guilty of 
 the licentioufnefs which is by fome laid to 
 his charge, it is reafonable to believe that 
 a fyftem, which exonerates the mind from 
 the apprehenflon of future punifhment, 
 would noi; contribute much to reftrain the 
 criminal exceiTes of the paffions. Had 
 Chatterton lived, and been fortunate enough 
 to fall into fettled and fober habits of life, 
 his excellent understanding would, in all 
 probability, have led him' to fee the fallacy 
 of thole principles, which he had haftily 
 emuaic.d; as it was, the only preferva- 
 tives of which he was poffefTed againft the 
 contagion of vice, were the enthufiafm of 
 literature, and that delicacy of fentiment 
 which tafle and reading infpire. But 
 [ though ^thefe auxiliaries are not wholly to 
 
 be.
 
 io8 LIFE OF 
 
 defpifed, we have too many inftances of 
 their inefficacy in fupporting the caufe of 
 virtue, to place any confident reliance on 
 them. 
 
 Under fuch circumftances there is little 
 caufe for furprize, if the paffions of Chat- 
 terton mould frequently have trefpaffed 
 the boundaries of reafon and moral duty, 
 That he had ftrong refentments is evident 
 from his great difpofition to fatire, and 
 particularly from the letter which has been 
 mentioned as written by him to his fchool- 
 maftcr, foon after the commencement of 
 his apprenticefhip. That he was "proud 
 and imperious," is allowed by his fitter, 
 and the generality of his acquaintance. 
 He ftands charged with a profligate at- 
 tachment to women; the accufation, 
 however, is ftated in a vague and deful- 
 tory manner, as if from common report, 
 without any direct or decided evidence in 
 fupport of the opinion. To the regula- 
 rity
 
 CHATTERTON. 109 
 
 rity of his condud: during his refidence in 
 Brifto'l, fome refpectable teftimonies have 
 been already exhibited. It is, indeed, by 
 no means improbable, that a young, man, 
 of flrong paffions, and unprotected by re- 
 ligious principles, might frequently be 
 unprepared to refill: the temptations of a 
 licentious metropolis - t yet, even after his 
 arrival in London, there are fome proofs in 
 his favour, which ought not to be difre- 
 garded. During a refidence of nine weeks 
 at Mr. Walmfley's, he never flaid out be- 
 yond the family hours, except one night, 
 when Mrs. Ballance knew that he lodged 
 at the houfe of a relation*. 
 
 Whatever may be the truth of thefe 
 reports, the lift of his virtues ftill appears 
 to exceed the catalogue of his faults. His 
 temperance was in fome refpects exem- 
 plary. He feldom eat animal food, and 
 never tafted any frrong or fpirituous li- 
 quors : 
 * Love arid Madnefs, p. 261.
 
 IIO LIFE OF 
 
 quors : he lived chiefly on a morfel of 
 bread or a tart, with a draught of water. 
 His fifter affirms, that he was a lover of 
 truth from the earlieft dawn of reafon; 
 and that his fchool-mafter depended on 
 his veracity on all occafions *: the pride of 
 genius will feldom defcend to the moft con- 
 temptible of vices, falfchood. His high 
 fenfe of dignity has been already noticed 
 in two moft ftriking inftances ; but the 
 moft amiable feature in his character, was 
 his generoiity and attachment to his mo- 
 ther and relations. Every favourite pro- 
 ject for his advancement in life was ac- 
 companied with promifes and encourage- 
 ment to them j while in London, he con- 
 tinued to fend them prefents, at a time 
 when he was known himfelf to be in 
 want : and indeed, the unremitting at- 
 tention, kindnefs and refpeft, which ap- 
 pear in the whole of his con du eft towards 
 them, are deferving the imitation of thofe 
 
 der 
 
 * Mrs. N' letter, ibicl.
 
 CHATTERTON, III 
 
 in more fortunate circUmftances, and un- 
 der the influence of better principles of 
 faith than Chatterton poflelTed *. 
 
 He had a number of friends, and not- 
 withftanding his difpofition to fatire, he 
 is fcarcely known to have had any ene- 
 mies. By the accounts of all who were 
 acquainted with him, there was fome- 
 thing uncommonly infmuating in his 
 manner and converfation. Mr. Crofs in- 
 formed Mr. Warton, that in Chatter- 
 ton's frequent vifits while he refided at 
 Brook-flreet, he found his converfation, 
 a little infidelity excepted, moft captivat- 
 ing "f-. His extend ve, though in many in - 
 ffonces, fuperficial knowledge, united with 
 his genius, wit and fluency, muft have 
 admirably accomplimed nim for the plea- 
 fures of fociety. His pride, which per- 
 haps 
 
 * It can never be fufficiently lamented, that this amiable 
 propenfity was not more uniform in Chatterton. A real 
 love for his relations ought to have arrelled the hand of 
 fuicide ; but when religion is loft, all uniformity of prin- 
 ciple is loft. O. 
 
 f Warton's Inquiry, 107.
 
 112 L I F -E OF 
 
 haps fliould rather be termed the flrong 
 confcioufnefs of intellectual excellence, 
 did not deftroy his affability. He was 
 always acceflible, and rather forward to 
 make acquaintance, than apt to decline 
 the advances of others*. There is reafon 
 however to believe, that the inequality of 
 his fpirits, affe&ed greatly his behaviour 
 in company. His fits of abfence were 
 frequent and long. " He would often 
 look ftedfaftly in a perfon's face without 
 fpeaking, or feemirg to fee the perfon, 
 for a quarter of an hour or more-f ." 
 
 Chatterton had one ruling paffion which 
 governed his whole conduct, and that was 
 the defire of literary fame ; this paffion in- 
 truded itfelf on every occafion,and abforbed 
 his whole attention. Whether he would 
 
 have 
 
 * " Laft week being in the pit of Drury Lane theatre, 
 " I contra&ed an immediate acquaintance (which you know 
 "is no hard talk to me) with a young gentleman, &c 
 Letter to his mother, Love and Madnefs, p. 197. 
 
 t Love and Madnefs, p. 214,
 
 CttATTERTON. 113 
 
 have continued to improve or the contrary, 
 muft have depended in forne meafure on the 
 circumftances of his future life. Had he 
 fallen into profligate habits and connec- 
 tions, he would probably have lofl a great 
 part of his ardour for the cultivation of 
 his mind ; and his maturer age would 
 only have diminifhed the admiration 
 which the efforts of his childhood have 
 fo juftly excited. 
 
 At the fhrine of Chatterton, fome grate- 
 ful inqenfe has been offered. Mr. War- 
 ton fpeaks of him as " a prodigy of ge- 
 nius," as, " afingular inftance of a prema- 
 turity of abilities." He adds, that "he 
 pofTeiTed'a comprehenfion of mind, and 
 an activity of underftanding, which pre- 
 dominated over his fituation in life, and 
 his opportunities of inftru&ion*." And 
 Air. Malone " believes him to have been 
 the greateft genius that England has pro- 
 I duced 
 
 * Hiflory of EngHIh poetry.
 
 U4 LIFE o In- 
 
 duced fince the days of Shake fpear*." 
 Mr. Croft f, the ingenious author of 
 Love and Madnefs, to whom in the 
 courfe of this work I have had many 
 obligations, is ftill more unqualified in his 
 praifes. He afTerts, that "no fuch human 
 being, at any period of life, has ever been 
 known, or poiTibly ever will be known." 
 He adds, in another place, " an army of 
 Macedonian and Swedish mad butchers, 
 indeed, fly before him \ nor does my me- 
 mory fupply me with any human being, 
 who, at fuch an age, with fuch difadvan- 
 tages, has produced fuch compofitions J. 
 
 Under 
 
 * Curfory Obfervations on the Poems attributed to Row- 
 ley, p. 41. 
 
 f Editor of an intended new Englifti Didionary. 
 
 J Mohammed, it is true, with hardly the ufual education of 
 his illiterate tribe, unable (as was imagined, and he pre- 
 tended) even to read or write, forged the KORAN ; which 
 is to this day the molt elegant compofition in the Arabic 
 language, and its ftandard of excellence. Upon the argu- 
 ment of improbability, that a man fo illiterate fhould com- 
 pofc a book fo admired, Makammtd artfully refted the prin- 
 
 ciptal
 
 CHATTERTON. II 
 
 Under the Heathen mythology, fuper- 
 flition and admiration would have ex- 
 plained all by bringing Apollo upon, 
 earth : nor would the god ever have 
 defcended with more credit to himfelf." 
 
 The following parallel alfo by the 
 fame ingenious critic, does equal credit 
 to the ingenuity of its author, and the 
 reputation of Chatterton. 
 
 Milton enjoyed every ad- Chatterton wanted every 
 vantage not only of private, advantage of every poffible 
 but of public, not only of education, 
 domeftic, but of foreign edu- 
 cation. 
 
 Milton Chatterton 
 
 cipal evidence of his Koran's divinity. (Sale's Koran, 
 P. Difcourfe, p. 42, 60.) He, who, merely from impro- 
 bability, denies Chatterton to be the author of Rowley's 
 Poems, muft go near to admit God to be the author of the 
 Koran. But, before we compare together Chatterton and 
 Mohammed, it mould be remembered that Mohammed was 
 forty when he commenced prophet. Perhaps the moft ex- 
 traordinary circumftance about Mohammed is, that even 
 familiarity could not fink him into contempt; that he 
 contrived to be a hero and a prophet, even to his wives and 
 his valets a'e cbambre. Even his fits of the epilepfy he con- 
 verted into proofs of his divine million. It is probable, 
 that, if Mohammed had been lefs falacious, and net iubjea 
 I 2 to
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 Milton in. his youth re- 
 ceived fuch inftrudtions from 
 teachers and fchoolmafters, 
 that, in his age, he was able 
 to become a fchoolmafter, 
 and a teacher to others. 
 
 Milton's juvenile writings 
 would not have juftified a 
 prophecy of Paradife Loft : 
 but the author of them flat- 
 ters himfelf, by dating his 
 life 15 till he had turned 16. 
 
 Milton did not produce Co- 
 mus much earlier than in his 
 26th year ; iince it was nrft 
 prefented at Ludlow in 1634, 
 and he was born in 1608. 
 In 1645, when he was 
 37, Allegro and Penferofo, 
 firft appeared. In 1655, 
 when he was 47, after long 
 cbotfeng, and beginning late, 
 he fet himfelf to turn a 
 Jtrange thing, called a My- 
 itery, into an epic poem ; 
 which was not completed in 
 left than Chatterton's whole 
 active exiflence, fince the 
 copy was not fold till April, 
 1667, 
 
 to the falling ficknefs, out of thirty equal dmfions of the 
 known world, whereof Chriftianity claims five, and Pa?a- 
 nifm nineteen, the inhabitants of fix would not now believe 
 in the Koran. 
 
 Chatterton became hi* 
 own teacher and his own 
 fchoolmafter before other 
 children are fubjefts for in- 
 ftruftion ; and never knew 
 any other. 
 
 Few, if any, of Milton's 
 j uvenile writings would have 
 been owned by Chatterton, 
 at leaft by Rowley, could he 
 have paft for the author of 
 them. 
 
 Chatterton, not fuffered 
 to be long chocjing, or to be- 
 gin late, in 17 years and 9 
 months, reckoning from his 
 cradle to his grave, produced 
 the volume of Rowley's 
 poems, his volume of Mif- 
 cellanies, and many things 
 which are not printed, be- 
 fide what his indignation 
 tore in pieces the day he 
 fpurned at the world, and 
 threw himfelf on the anger 
 of his Creator.
 
 CHATTERTON. llj 
 
 1667, and then confifted 
 only of 10 books. With all 
 its glorious perfections, Pa- 
 radife Loft contains puerili- 
 ties, to which Chatterton 
 was a ftranger. In 3 years 
 more, when he was 62, ap- 
 peared Milton's Hiftory of 
 England. Paradife Regained, 
 and Sampfon,were publifhed 
 in the fame year. Lycidas I 
 had forgotten. It was written 
 in his agth year. That pro- 
 priety of character and fitu- 
 ation, which Chatterton can 
 feldom have violated, or he 
 would not to this moment 
 deceive fuch and fo many 
 men, Milton feldom pre- 
 fer ves in Lycidas. If, in 
 the courfe of an exiftence 
 almoft. four times longer 
 than Chatterton's, this man 
 (fallen on evil days and evil 
 tongues, with lefs truth than 
 Chatterton), who bore no 
 fruit worth gathering till 
 after the age at which Chat- 
 terton was withered by the 
 hand of Death if, I fay, 
 this great man produced other 
 writings, he will not quarrel 
 that pofterity has forgotten 
 them ; if he mould, pofterity 
 will ftill perhaps forget them. 
 
 Milton's I 3 What
 
 Ji8 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 Milton's manufcripts, pre- 
 ferved at Cambridge, bear 
 teftimony to his frequent and 
 commendable corre&ion. 
 
 Milton, as Elhvood re- 
 lates, could never bear to 
 hear Paradife Loft preferred 
 before Paradife Regained. 
 He is known to have pro- 
 nounced Dr^den to be no 
 poet. 
 
 Milton, more from incli- 
 nation than want of bread, 
 it feems, entered into party 
 difputes, whether a king 
 might be lawfully beheaded, 
 &c. with a fervility and a vi- 
 rulence, and let out his praife 
 to hire, perhaps, with a mean- 
 nefs, at all periods of his 
 life, which the worft ene- 
 mies of Chatterton cannot 
 prove him to have equalled. 
 
 Milton, in affluence (if 
 compared with others befide 
 Chatterton) 
 
 What time could Chatter- 
 ton have found for alteration 
 or correction, when I main- 
 tain that any boy who mould 
 only have fairly tntft/cribtJ, 
 before his 1 8th year, all that 
 Chatterton, before his i8th 
 year, invented and com- 
 pofed, would be thought 
 to deferve the reputation of 
 diligence, and the praife of 
 application ? 
 
 If Chatterton, much ear. 
 Her in life than Milton was 
 calculated either to be an 
 author or a critick, Jiad not 
 pcfleffed a charter judgment, 
 he would not fti;l impcfe 
 on fo many criticks and au- 
 thors. 
 
 Chatterton, in order to 
 procure bread for himfelf, a 
 grandmother, mother and 
 fitter, was ready to prove the 
 patriotifm of Bute, or of 
 Beckford, in writings, which 
 older men need not blufh to 
 own, and in an age when 
 older men did not blufh at 
 fuch a frofejjion. 
 
 Chatterton, fteeped to the 
 
 lips in poverty, entertained, 
 
 long
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 119 
 
 Ckatterton) felt on his brows 
 thofe laurels which others 
 could not fee ; and was per- 
 fuaded that, " by labour and 
 et intenfe ftudy, his portion 
 ** in this life, he might 
 fc leave fomething fo written 
 " to after-times, as they 
 " mould not willingly let it 
 " die." 
 
 Paradife Loft produced the 
 author and the widow only 
 28 pounds. The meaner, 
 more fervile, and more ver- 
 fatile abilities of the author 
 produced him indeed enough 
 to be deprived of four thou- 
 fand pounds by ill-fortune, 
 and to leave fifteen hundred 
 pounds to his family. 
 
 Phillips relates of Milton, 
 from his own mouth, that 
 " his vein never happily 
 " flowed but from the 
 " autumnal equinox to 
 " the vernal." Richardfon 
 writes, that " his poetical 
 " faculty would on a fubr 
 " den rufli upon him with 
 fl an impetus or asftrum." 
 
 Milton, when a man, fel- 
 dom drank any thing ftrong : 
 he ate with delicacy and 
 temperance. 
 
 Milton's 
 
 long before he had lived 1 8 
 years, ideas, hopes, -perfua- 
 fions, (by labour and intenfe 
 ftudy more truly bis portion 
 in this life than Milton's) of 
 living to all eternity in the 
 memory of Fame. 
 
 Mr. Catcott and Mr. Bar- 
 rett muft inform the world 
 whether Rowley's poems and 
 his own together produced 
 Chatterton 28 millings. 
 
 What is faid of Chatter- 
 ton, and of the moon's efteft 
 upon him, you have read. 
 
 Chatterton, when a boy, 
 
 hardly ever touched meat, 
 
 and drank only water : when 
 
 a child, he would often re- 
 
 I 4 fufc
 
 I2O 
 
 LIFE 
 
 O F 
 
 Milton's hiftorians and 
 grand-daughter admit his 
 
 fufe to take any thing but 
 bread and water, even if it 
 did happen that his mother 
 had a hot meal, " becaufe 
 < e he had a work in hand, 
 " and he mu{l not make 
 *' himfelf more flupid than 
 <e God had made him.'', 
 
 Chatterton's mother, his 
 fitter and his letters, can 
 
 morcfenefs to his children, fpeak beft of his heart, and 
 and that he would not let of his wimes that his fiflei- 
 
 them learn to write. 
 
 might learn every thing. 
 
 To thefe I mall add the teftimony of 
 Mr. Knox : 
 
 " Unfortunate boy ! (hortand evil were 
 thy days, but thy fame fhall be immortal, 
 Hadft thou been known to the munificent 
 patrons of genius > 
 
 <f Unfortunate boy ! poorly waft thou 
 accommodated during thy fhort fojourning 
 among us ; rudely waft thou treated, > 
 forely did thy feeling foul fuffer from the, 
 fcorn of the unworthy 3 and there are, at 
 
 laft,
 
 CHATTERTON. 121 
 
 Jaft, thofe who wifh to rob thee of thy 
 only meed, thy pofthumous glory. Se- 
 vere too are the cenfurers of thy morals. 
 In the gloomy moments of defpondency, 
 I fear thou haft uttered impious and blaf- 
 phemous thoughts, which none can de- 
 fend, and which neither thy youth, nor 
 thy fiery fpirit, nor thy fituation, can ex- 
 cufe. But let thy more rigid cenfors re- 
 flect, that thou wail literally and finally 
 but a boy. Let many of thy bittereft 
 enemies reflect what were their own re- 
 ligious principles, and whether they had 
 any, at the age of fourteen, fifteen, and 
 fixteen. Surely it is a fevere and an un- 
 jufl furmife, that thou wouldeft probably 
 have ended thy life as a victim of the 
 laws, if thou hadft not finiflied it as thou 
 didft ; fince the very act by which thou 
 durft put an end to thy painful exigence, 
 proves that thou thoughtefl it better to 
 
 die/
 
 122 LIFE OF 
 
 die, than to fupport life by theft or vio- 
 lence. 
 
 *' The fpectulative errors of a boy who 
 wrote from the fudden fuggeftions of paf- 
 iion or defpondency, who is not convicted 
 of any immoral or difhoneft aft in con- 
 fequence of his fpeculations, ought to be 
 configned to oblivion. But there feems 
 to be a general and inveterate diflike to 
 the boy, exclufively of the poet ; a dif- 
 like which many will be ready to impute, 
 and, indeed, not without the appearance 
 of reafon, to that infolence and envy of 
 the little great, which cannot bear to ac- 
 knowledge fo tranfcendent and command- 
 ing a fuperiority in the humble child of 
 want and obfcurity. 
 
 " Malice, if there was any, may furely 
 now be at reft ; for " Cold he lies in the 
 grave below." But where were ye, O ye 
 friends to genius, when, flung with dif- 
 
 appointmentj
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 123 
 
 appointment, diftrefTed for food and rai- 
 ment, with every frightful form of hu- 
 man mifery painted on his fine imagina- 
 tion, poor Chatterton funk in defpair ? 
 Alas ! ye knew him not then, and now it 
 is to late, 
 
 For now he is dead; 
 Gone to his death bed, 
 All under the willow tree. 
 
 So fang the fweet youth, in as tender 
 an elegy as ever flowed from a feeling 
 heart. 
 
 " In return for the pleafure I have re- 
 ceived from thy poems, I pay thee, poor 
 boy, the trifling tribute of my praife. 
 Thyfelf thou haft emblazoned ; thine 
 own monument thou haft erected : But 
 they whom thou haft delighted, feel a 
 pleafure in vindicating thine honours 
 from the rude attacks of detrac- 
 tion *". 
 
 The 
 
 Knox's Eflays, No. 144.
 
 124 LIFE OF 
 
 The poetic eulogiums have, however, 
 exceeded, both in number and excellence, 
 the compliments of critical writers j a 
 few remarkably interefting and beautiful, 
 I mall felect, with the double view of 
 adorning the work, and gratifying the 
 reader. 
 
 A poet, whofe fuperior elegance and 
 claffical tafte do not appear to have met 
 with all the applaufe they have deferved, 
 thus fpeaks of Chatterton : 
 
 " Yet as with ftreaming eye the forrowing mufe, 
 " Pale CHATTERTON'S untimely urn bedews ; 
 " Her accents {hall arraign the partial care, 
 " That ihielded not her Ton from cold defpair * . 
 
 There is a beautiful monody written 
 by Mrs. Cowley, inferred in the laft edi- 
 tion of Love and Madnefs. It is as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 O CHATTERTON! for thee the penfive fong I raiic, 
 Thou objeft of my wonder, pity, envy, praife ! 
 Bright Star of Genius ! torn from life and fame, 
 My tears, my verfe, Ihall confecrate thy name ! 
 
 Ye 
 
 '* Pyc'e Progrffs of Refinement, Part 2. .
 
 CHATTERTON. T 
 
 Ye Mufes ! who around his natal bed 
 Triumphant lung, and all your influence fhed ; 
 APOLLO! thou who rapt his infant breaft, 
 And in his daedal numbers flione confert, 
 Ah ! why, ia vain, fuch mighty gifts beftow ? 
 Why give frefli tortures to the Child of Woe ? 
 Why thus, with barb'rous care, illume his mind, 
 Adding new fenfe to all the ills behind ? 
 
 Thou haggard Poverty ! whofe cheerlefs eye 
 Transforms young Rapture to the pond'rous figh, 
 In whofe drear cave no Mufe e'er ftruck the lyre, 
 Nor Bard e'er madden'd with poetic fire j 
 Why all thy fpells for CHATTERTON combine? 
 His thought creative, why muft thou confine ? 
 Subdu'd by thee, his pen no'more obeys, 
 No longer gives the fong of ancient days ; 
 Nor paints in glowing tints from diftant flues, 
 
 Nor bids wild fcen'ry rum upon our eyes 
 
 Check'd in her flight, his rapid Genius cowers, 
 Drops her fad plumes, and yields to thee her powers. 
 
 Behold him, Mufes ! fee your fav'rite fon 
 The prey of want, ere manhood is begun ! 
 The bpfom ye have fill'd, with anguifh torn 
 The mind you cherifh'd, drooping and forlorn ! 
 
 And now Defpair her fable form extends, 
 Creeps to his ccuch, and o'er his pillow bends. 
 Ah, fee ! a deadly bowl the fiend conceal'd, 
 Which to his eye with caution is reveal'd 
 Seize it, Apollo ! feize tb l ; q"id fnare ! 
 Dam it to earth, or djfTipnte in air ! 
 Stay, hapleis Youth ! refrain abhor the draught, 
 With pangs, with rucks, with deep repentance fraught ! 
 
 Oh,
 
 126 LIFE OF 
 
 Oh, hold ! the cup with woe ETERNAL flows, 
 More more than Death the pois'nous juice beftows \ 
 In vain ! he drinks and now the fearching fires 
 Rum through his veins, and writhing he expires ! 
 No forrowing friend, no fitter, parent, nigh, 
 To footh his pangs, or catch his parting figh ; 
 Alone, unknown, the Mufe's darling dies, 
 And with the vulgar dead unnoted lies ! 
 Bright Star of Genius ! torn from life and fame, 
 My tears, my verfe, mall confecrate thy name ! 
 
 Nor has the Mufe of Amwell been 
 backward in commendation. 
 
 And BRISTOL ! why thy fcenes explore, 
 
 And why thofe fcenes fo foon refign, 
 And fail to feek the fpot that bore 
 
 That wonderous tuneful Youth of thine, 
 The Bard, whofe boafted ancient ftore 
 Rofe recent from his own exhauftlefs mine f ! 
 
 Though Fortune all her gifts denied, 
 
 Though Learning made him not her choice, 
 
 The Mufe ftill placed him at her fide. 
 And bade him in her fmile rejoice 
 
 Defcription ftill his pen fupplied, 
 Pathos his thought, and Melody his voice ! 
 
 Confcious and proud of merit high, 
 
 Fame's wreath he boldly claim'd to wear ; 
 
 But 
 
 f This is at leaft the Author's opinion, notwithftanding all that has 
 hitherto appeared on the other fide of the queftion. The laft line 
 alludes to one of the ingenious Mr. Mafon in his Elegy to a young 
 Nobleman : 
 
 " See from the depths of his exhauftlefs Jnine 
 
 " His glittering {lores the tuneful fpendthrift throws."
 
 CHATTERTON. J2/ 
 
 But Fame, regardlefs, pafs'd him by, 
 
 Unknown, or deem'd unworth her care : 
 The Sun of Kope forfook his fky ; 
 And all his land look'd dreary, bleak, and bare ! 
 
 Then Poverty, grim fpedlre, rofe, 
 
 And horror o'er the profpeft threw 
 His deep diftrefs too nice to expofe ; 
 
 Too nice for common aid to fue, 
 A dire alternative he chofe, 
 And rafhly from the painful fcene withdrew. 
 
 Ah! why for Genius' headftrong rage 
 
 Did Virtue's hand no curb prepare ? 
 What boots, poor youth ! that now thy page 
 
 Can boaft the public praife to fhare, 
 The learn'd in deep refearch engage, 
 And lightly entertain the gentle fair ? 
 
 Ye, who fuperfluous wealth command, 
 
 why your kind relief delay'd ? 
 
 O why not fnatch'd his defperate hand ? 
 
 His foot on Fate's dread brink not ftay'd ? 
 What thanks had you your native land 
 For a new SHAKESPEARE or new MILTON paid! 
 
 For me Imagination's power 
 
 Leads oft infenfibly my way, 
 To where, at midnight's filent hour, 
 
 The crefcent moon's flow-weftering ray 
 Pours full on REDCLIFF'S lofty tower, 
 And gilds with yellow light its walls of grey. 
 
 'Midil Toil and Commerce Cumbering round, 
 
 Lull'd by the rifing tide's hoarfe roar, 
 There Frome and Avon willow-crown'd, 
 
 1 view fad-wandering by the fliore, 
 
 With
 
 128 LIFE OF 
 
 With ftreaming tears, and notes of mournful found, 
 Too late their haplefs Bard, untimely loft, deplore. 
 
 The following lines are uncommonly 
 animated and poetical : 
 
 If changing times fuggcft the pleafing hope, 
 That Bards no more with adverfe fortune cope ; 
 That in this alter'd clime, where Arts increafe, 
 And make our polifh'd Ifle a fecond Greece ; 
 That now, if Poefy proclaims her Son, 
 And challenges the wreath by Fancy won ; 
 Both Fame and Wealth adopt him as their heir, 
 And liberal Grandeur makes his life her care ; 
 From fuch vain thoughts thy erring mind defend, 
 And look on CHATTERTON'S difaftrous end. 
 Oh, ill-ftarr'd Youth, whom Nature form'd in vain, 
 With powers on Pindus' fplendid height to reign ! 
 O dread example of what pangs await 
 Young Genius ftruggling with malignant fate ! 
 What could the Mufe, who fir'd thy infant frame 
 With the rich promife of Poetic fame ; 
 Who taught thy hand its magic art to hide, 
 And mock the infolence of Critic pride ; 
 What cou'd her unavailing cares oppcfe, 
 To fave her darling from his defperate foes ; 
 From preffing Want's calamitous controul, 
 And Pride, the fever of the ardent foul ? 
 Ah, fee, too confcious of her failing power, 
 She quits her Nuriling in his deathful hour ! 
 In a chill room, within whofe wretched wall 
 No cheering voice replies to Mifery's ca 1 ; 
 Near a vile bed, too crazy to fuftain 
 Misfortune's wafted limbs, convuls'd with paio, 
 
 On
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 On the bare floor, with heaven -dire&ed eyes, 
 The haplef- Youth in fpeechlefs horror lies 1 
 The pois'nous phial, by diftraftion drain'd, 
 Rolls from his hand, in wild contortion ftrain'd : 
 Pale with life-wafting pangs, it's dire effect, 
 And ftung to madnefs by the world's neglecl, 
 He, in abhorrence of the dangerous Art, 
 Once the dear idol of his glowing heart, 
 Tears from his Harp the vain detefted wires, 
 And in the frenzy of Defpair expires* ! 
 
 Again, with all thehoneft refentment of 
 indignant Genius, 
 
 Search the dark fcenes were drooping Genius lies, 
 And keep from forrieft fights a nation's eyes, 
 That, from expiring Want's .reproaches free, 
 Our generous country ne'er may weep to fee 
 A future CHATTERTON by poifon dc^d, 
 An OTWAY fainting for a little breadf . 
 
 To thefe elegant offerings to the genius 
 of Chatterton, it is with peculiar plea- 
 fure I add a fonnet to expreffion, from the 
 poliftied and pathetic pen of Mifs Helen 
 Maria Williams. 
 
 Expreffion, child of foul ! I fondly trace 
 
 Thy ftrong enchantments, when the poet's lyre, 
 The painter's pencil catch thy facred fire, 
 
 And beauty wakes for thee her touching grace 
 
 But from this frighted glance thy form avert 
 
 When horrors check thy tear, thy ftruggling figh, 
 When frenzy rolls in thy impaffion'd eye, 
 
 Or guilt fits heavy on thy lab'ring heart 
 
 K Nor 
 
 * Hayicy's tffay on Epic t>otry, Ep, Jv. 1. til to 4. 
 
 f Ibid, y>b to 542.
 
 1^0 L I F E O F 
 
 Nor ever let my (hudd'ring fancy bear 
 
 The wafting groan, or view the pallid look 
 Of him * the Mufes lov'd when hope forfook 
 
 His fpirit, vainly to the Mufes dear ! 
 
 For charm'd with heav'nly fong, this bleeding breaft, 
 
 Mourns the bleft power of verfe could give defpair no 
 reft. 
 
 Independent of the poems attributed to 
 Rowley, Chattcrton has left behind him 
 a variety of pieces, publifhed and unpub- 
 lifhed ; the moft confiderable of the for- 
 mer are to be found in a volume of mif- 
 cellanies, publifhed in 1778, to which is 
 prefixed a fketch for the late Alderman 
 Beckford's flatue, a fpecimen of Chatter- 
 ton's abilities in the arts of drawing and 
 defign ; and this publication was followed 
 in 1786, by " afuppliment to the mifcel- 
 lanies of Thomas Chatterton." Thecom- 
 pofitions contained in both thefe volumes 
 are fcarcely to be infpedled with all the 
 feverity of criticifm. Confiderable allow- 
 ances ought to be made for the exercifes 
 
 of
 
 CHATTERTON* joj 
 
 of his infantine years, for the incorrecT: 
 effufions of momentary refentment, for a 
 few lines thrown together in a playful 
 mood to pleafe an illiterate female, or to 
 amufe a fchool-fellow, and perhaps not 
 lefs for the hafty and involuntary produc- 
 tions of indigence and neceflity, conflrucT:- 
 ed for a magazine, and calculated for the 
 fole purpofe of procuring a fubfiftence. 
 Of the poetical part of thefe mifcellanies, 
 I have already intimated, that the ferious 
 are inferior to the fatirical. 
 
 In the elegy to the memory of Mr. 
 Thomas Phillips, of Fairford, we, how- 
 ever, meet with fome defer iptive flanzas, 
 perhaps not unworthy the author of Row- 
 ley's poems: 
 
 " Pale rugged Winter bending o'er his head, 
 
 His grizzled hair bedropt with icy dew ; 
 
 His eyes, a dufky light, congealed and dead ; 
 
 His robe, a tinge of bright ethereal blue. 
 
 His train a motley'd, fanguine fable cloud, 
 
 He limps along the ruflet dreary moor; 
 
 Whilft rifing whirlwinds, blafting, keen and loud, 
 
 Roll the white purges to the- founding fliore." 
 
 K 2 " Fancy,
 
 132 LIFE OF 
 
 " Fancy, whofe various, figure-tinctured veft 
 " Was ever changing to a different hue ; 
 " Her head, with varied bays and flow'rets dreft, 
 " Her eyes two fpangles of the morning dew." 
 
 " Now as the mantle of the evening fwells, 
 
 " Upon my mind I feel a thick'ning gloom ! 
 
 " Ah ! could I charm, by friendfliip's potent fpells, 
 
 *' -The foul of Philip's from the deathy tomb ! 
 
 " Then would we wander thro' the dark'ned vale, 
 
 " In converfe fuch as heavenly fpirits ufe, 
 
 " And borne upon the plumage of the gale, 
 
 " Hymn the creator and exhort the Mufe*." 
 
 In a letter to his friend Gary, dated 
 London, July i, 1770, Chatterton tells 
 him, " in the laft London magazine, and 
 in that which comes out to day, are the 
 only two pieces of mine I have the vanity 
 to call poetry." Thefe were the two 
 African Eclogues, publiflied in his Mif- 
 cellanies. I am forry I cannot unite with 
 the author in the commendation of thefe 
 pieces ; but Chatterton, as well as Mil- 
 ton, feems to have been incapable of efti- 
 mating rightly the refpedlive merits of his 
 
 own 
 
 * Chatterton 1 ! Mifllaies
 
 CHATTERTON. 133 
 
 own productions * . They are uncon- 
 nected and unequal, though it muft be 
 confefTed, that they contain fome excel- 
 lent lines -, the following occur almoft at 
 the beginning of the firft eclogue, and are 
 animated, exprefiive and harmonious : 
 
 " High from the ground the youthful warriors fprung, 
 
 " Loud on the concave fhell the lances rung : 
 
 " In all the myftic mazes of the dance, 
 
 " The youths of Banny's burning fands advance, 
 
 " Whilft the foft virgin, panting, looks behind, 
 
 " And rides upon the pinions of the windf." 
 
 Of the correctnefs of the following 
 fimile in the fecond eclogue, I fhall not 
 determine; but the livelinefs of the de- 
 fcription evinces a moft vigorous imagi- 
 nation. 
 
 ' On Tiber's banks, clofe rank'd, a warring train, 
 
 " Stretch'd to the diftant edge of Galca's plain : 
 
 " So when arrived at Gaigra's higheft fteep, 
 
 " We view the wide expanfion of the deep ; 
 
 " See in the gilding of her wat'iy robe, 
 
 '* The quick declenfion of the circling globe; 
 
 K 3 "From 
 
 * I know fome refpeftable friends, who efteem this inftance of bad 
 tafte, as a ftrong prefumptive argument ag.-xinft Chattcrton being the aw- 
 thor of Rowley's poems. 
 
 f Chatterton's Mifcellanieg, p. 56^
 
 J34 LIFE OF 
 
 cc From the blue fea a chain of mountains rife, 
 
 " Blended at once with water and with Ikies : 
 
 " Beyond our fight in vaft extenfion curl'd, 
 
 ' The check of waves, the guardian of the world *." 
 
 The fatire of Chatterton has more of 
 the luxuriance, fluency, and negligence 
 of Dryden, than of the terfenefs and re- 
 finement of Pope. The following lines 
 are in the flyle of the former : 
 
 " Search nature o'er, procure me, if you can, 
 " The fancied character, an honeft man. 
 " A man of fenfe not honeft by conftraint, 
 " (For fools are canvafs, living but in paint) 
 " To Mammon, or to fuperftition flaves, 
 tf All orders of mankind are fools or knaves : 
 *' In the firft attribute by none furpafs'd, 
 ****** endeavours to obtain the lafl f.'* 
 
 The following is an evident imitation 
 of Mr. Pope, even to the cadence of the 
 verfe, but it is not equally fuccefsful with 
 the laft fpecimen : 
 
 ' But why muft Chatterton fele&ed fit, 
 The butt of every Critic's little wit ? 
 ' Am I alone for ever in a crime, 
 Nonfenfe in frofe, or blafpbemy in rhyme ? 
 
 << AU 
 
 * Chatrerton's Mifcellanics, p. 56. 
 
 \ Epiftteto the Rev, Mr, Catcott, Append, to Chat. Mif. p. 13.
 
 C H A T T E R T O H, 
 
 All monofyllab^es a line appears ! 
 
 Is it not very often fo in Shears ? 
 
 See gen'rous Eccas, length'ning out my praife, 
 
 Inraptured With the mufic of my lays; 
 
 In all the arts of panegyric grac'd, 
 
 The cream of modern literary tafte V 
 
 In a poem on Happinefs, inferted in 
 Love and Madnefs, are fome ftrokes of 
 fat ire in a fuperior ftyle : 
 
 '* Come to my pen, companion of the lay, 
 
 *' And fpeak of worth, where merit 
 
 " Let lazy B undiftinguilh'd fnore, 
 
 " Nor lam his generofity to , 
 
 " Praife him for fermons of his curate bought, 
 
 " His eafy flow of words, his depth of thought ; 
 
 " His aftive fpirit ever in difplay, 
 
 " His great devotion when he drawls to pray, 
 
 " His fainted foul diftinguifhably feen, 
 
 With all the virtues of a modern Deanf."- 
 
 *' Pulvis, whofe knowledge centres in degrees, 
 *' Is never happy but when taking fees : 
 ' Bleft with a bufliy wig and folemn pace, 
 " Catcott admires him for a fojjlle face." 
 " Mould'ringin duft the fair Lavinia lies, 
 " Death> and our Doclor clos'd her fparkling eyes, 
 ' O all ye pow'rs, the guardians of the world I 
 " Where is the ufelefs bolt of vengeance hurl'd ? 
 
 K 4 Say 
 
 * The Defence, ibid. p. 37. 
 J- LOTC and Madnefs, p. 155.
 
 1 36 LIFE OF 
 
 te Say, mall this leaden fword of plague prevail, 
 " And kill the mighty where the mighty fail ? 
 " Let the red bolus tremble o'er his head, 
 ' And with his guardian julep iirike him dead * !'* 
 
 In the volume of his mifcellanies are 
 two political pieces, the Conluliad, writ- 
 ten at Briltol, and in the highcfl ftrain of 
 party fcurriiity -f ; and the Prophecy, 
 written apparently a fhort time after, 
 which is in the befl flyle of Swift's mi- 
 nor 
 
 * Love and Madnefs, 156. 
 
 f The introduction to this poem is not deflitute of merit* 
 Of warring fenators, and battles dire, 
 Of quails uneaten ; Mufe, aw:ike the lyre. 
 Where C pb 11 's chimneys overlook the fquare, 
 And N t n's future profpedls hang in air; 
 Where counfellors diipute, and cockers match, 
 And Caledonian earls in concert fcratch ; 
 A group of heroes, occupied the round, 
 Long in the rolls of infamy renown'd. 
 Circling the table all in filence fat, 
 Now tearing bloody lean, now champing fat ; 
 Now picking ortolans, and chicken flain, 
 TO form the whimfies of an a-la-reine: 
 Now ftorming caitles of the newefl tafte, 
 And granting articles to fors of pafte : 
 Now fwallowing bitter draughts of Pruflian beer | 
 fucking tallow of falubriows deer,
 
 CHATTERTON. 137 
 
 nor pieces, and appears to be the genuine 
 effufion of that enthufiaftic love of liberty, 
 which in tumultuous times generally takes 
 pofleffion of young and fanguine difpo- 
 fitions*. Of 
 
 *THE PROPHECY. 
 This truth of old was forrow's friend, 
 " Times at the worft will furely mend." 
 The difficulty's then to know, 
 Kow long oppreffion's clock can go ; 
 When Britain's Tons may ceafe to figh, 
 And hope that their redemption's nigh. 
 
 When Vice exalted takes the lead, 
 And Vengeance hangs but by a thread; 
 Gay peereffes turn'd out o'doors ; 
 Whoremafters peers, and fons of whores ; 
 Look up, ye Britons ! ceafe to figh, 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When vile Corruption's brazen face*- 
 At council-board mall take her place ; 
 And lords-commiffioners refort, 
 To welcome her at Britain.'s court ; 
 Look up, ye Briotns ! ceafe to figh, 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 See Penfion's harboor large and clear, 
 Pefended by St. Stephen's pier ! 
 The entrance fafe, by Current led, 
 Tiding round G 's jetty head; 
 Look up, ye Britons ! ceafe to figh, 
 
 for your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When
 
 138 LIFE OF 
 
 Of the profe competitions of Chatterton, 
 his imitations of Offian are certainly the 
 worft : he has not indeed improved upon 
 
 an 
 
 When Civil- Power fhall fnore at cafe, 
 While foldiers fire to keep the peace; 
 When murders fancluary find, 
 And petticoats can Juftice blind ; 
 Look up, ye Britons! ceafe to figh, 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 Commerce o'er Bondage will prevail, 
 Free as the wind, that fills her fail. 
 When me complains of vile reftraint, 
 And Power is deaf to her complaint ; 
 Look up, ye Britons ! ceafe to figh, 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When raw projectors mail begin 
 Oppreflion's hedge, to keep her in ; 
 She in difdain will take her flight, 
 And bid the Gotham fools good night j 
 Look up, ye Britons ! ceafe to figh. 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When tax is laid, to fave debate, 
 By prudent minilters of ftate ; 
 And, what the people did not give, 
 Is levied by prerogative ; 
 Look up, ye Britons ! ceafe to figh, 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When Popifh bifhops dare to claim 
 Authority, in George's names 
 
 By
 
 CHATTERTON. 139 
 
 an indifferent model.. They are full of 
 wild imagery and inconfiftent metaphor, 
 
 with 
 
 By Treafon's hand fet up, in fpite 
 Of George's title, William's right ; 
 Look up, ye Britons ! ceafe to figh, 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When Popifh prieft a penfion draws 
 From ftarv'd exchequer, for the caufij 
 Commiffion'd, profelytes to make 
 In Britifh realms, for Britain's fake; 
 Look up, ye Britons! ceafe to figh, 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When fnug in power, fly recufants 
 Make laws for Britifh Proteftants ; 
 
 And d g William's Revolution, 
 
 As Juftices claim execution ; 
 
 Look up, ye Britons J ceafe to figh, 
 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When foldiers, paid for our defence, 
 
 In wanton pride flay innocence j 
 
 Blood from the ground for vengeance reeks, 
 
 Till Heaven the inquifition makes ; 
 
 Look up, ye Britons ! ceafe to figh, 
 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When at Bute's feet poor Freedom lies, 
 Mark'd by the prieft for facrifice, 
 And doom'd a vi&im, for the fins 
 Of half the outs, and all the ins ; 
 , , Look up, ye Britons! ceafe to figh, 
 For yow redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When
 
 140 . L I F O F 
 
 with little either of plot or of character 
 to recommend them. 
 
 His lighter Eilays, fuch as the adven- 
 tures of a ftar, the memoirs of a fad dog, 
 
 the 
 
 When Stewards pafs a loot account, 
 And credit for the grofs amount; 
 Then to replace exhaufted ftore, 
 Mortgage the land to borrow more ; 
 Look up, ye Britons ! ceafe to figh, 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When fcrutineers, for private ends, 
 Againft the vote declare their friends; 
 Or judge, as you ftand there alive, 
 That five is more than forty- five ; 
 Look up, ye Britons ! ceafe to figh, 
 For your redemption draweth nigh. 
 
 When George (hall condefcend to hear 
 "The modeil fuit, the humble prayer ; 
 A prince, to purpled pride unknown ! 
 No favourites difgrace the throne ! 
 Look up, ye Britons ! figh no more, 
 For your redemption's at the door. 
 
 When time fhall bring your wifh about, 
 Or, feven-years leafe, you fold, is out j 
 No future contract to fulfil; 
 Your tenants holding at your will; 
 Raifc up your heads ! your right demand ! 
 For your redemption's in your hand. 
 
 Then
 
 CHATTER TON. 
 
 141 
 
 the hunter of oddities, &c. difplay con- 
 fiderable knowledge of what is called the 
 town, and demonftrate the keennefs of his 
 obfervation, and his quicknefs in acquir- 
 ing any branch of knowledge, or in adapt- 
 ing himfelfto any fituation. We are to 
 remember, however, that he had been long 
 converfant in this fpecies of competition, 
 and that a confiderable fund of reading in 
 magazines, reviews, &c. which Mr. War- 
 ton obferves " form the fchool of the peo- 
 ple" had prepared him well to exercife 
 the profeffion of a periodical writer. An- 
 tiquities, however, conflituted his favor- 
 ite ftudy, and in them his genius always 
 appears to the greateft advantage; even the 
 moft humorous of his pieces (Tony Sel- 
 
 wood's 
 
 Then is your time to {hike the 
 And let the Jlaves of Mammon know, 
 Britain's true fons A BRIBE can fcorn, 
 And die as free as they were born. 
 VIRTUE again fhall take her feat, 
 And your redemption Hand comp!0it,
 
 142 LIFE OF 
 
 wood's letter *) derives its principal ex- 
 cellence from his knowledge of ancient 
 cufloms. 
 
 In the volume of Mifcellanies attribut- 
 ed to him, there are fome pieces to which 
 his title is not well afcertained. Some 
 with the fignature of Afaphides, are claim- 
 ed by one Lockftone, a linen-draper, and 
 a particular acquaintance of Chatterton ; 
 and the {lory of Maria Friendlefs, which 
 Chatterton himfelf fent to the Town and 
 Country Magazine, probably for the fake 
 of obtaining an immediate and neceflary 
 fupply of money, is almoft a literal 
 tranfcript of the letter of Mifella in the 
 Rambler. 
 
 If the reputation of Chatterton, how- 
 ever, refted folely on thofe works, which 
 he acknowledged as his own, it would 
 neither be fo extenfive as it is, nor pro- 
 bably 
 
 * Chatterton's Mifcellanies, p. 209.
 
 CHATTERTON, 143 
 
 bably fo permanent as it is likely to con- 
 tinue, Rowley's poems have defervedly 
 immortalized the name of Chatterton, 
 and the controverfy which their publica- 
 tion excited, is the moft curious and ex- 
 traordinary controverfy, which, fince the 
 days of Bentley has divided the literary 
 world. 
 
 - I have already noticed the manner in 
 which thefe poems are faid to have been 
 difcovered. The account which Chat- 
 terton himfelf gave of the fuppofed au- 
 thor is nearly as follows : 
 
 THOMAS ROWLEY was born at Nor- 
 ton Mal-feward in Somerfetmire, and 
 educated at the convent of St. Kenna, at 
 Keynemam * . He was of the clerical 
 profeffion, was confelTor to the two 
 Canynge's, Robert and William, about the 
 latter end of the reign of Henfy the Vlth, 
 
 or 
 
 * Note prefixed to " Ballade of Charhie." Rowley's 
 poems, p. 203.
 
 144 LIFE OF 
 
 or about the beginning of that of Ed- 
 ward IV. ; and was at leaft connected with 
 our lady's church in Briftol *; though he 
 is elfe where ftyled the " parifh prieft of 
 St. John's, in the city of Briftol -f ." After 
 the death of Mr. Robert Canyhge, (who 
 at his brother's defire, bequeathed Row- 
 ley 100 marks) he was employed by that 
 brother, Mr. William, to travel through 
 a confiderable part of England to collect 
 drawings. Mr. Canynge was fo well fa- 
 tisfied with his fuccefs, that he rewarded 
 him with a purfe of two hundred pounds, 
 and promifed him that he mould never 
 be in want. He continued afterwards 
 the confidential friend of Canynge. He 
 wrote a variety of poems, many of them 
 addrelled to that extraordinary character. 
 He firft lived in a houfe on the hill, and 
 
 afterwards . 
 
 * Memoirs of Sir W. Canynge, Chatterton's Mifcel- 
 lanies, p. 122. 
 
 f Introdu&ion to the Battle of Haftings, Rowley's poem*, 
 p. 21.
 
 CHATTERTON, 
 
 afterwards in one by the Tower*; he 
 furvived his patron, and died at Weftbury, 
 in Gloucefterfhire ~\-. Such is Chatter- 
 ton's account ; but it is only fair to men- 
 tion, that the exiftence of any fuch per- 
 fon as Rowley, is totally denied by the 
 difputants on one fide of the controverfy. 
 There can, however, be no doubt con- 
 cerning the exiftence of W. Canynge, 
 the patron of Rowley, fince it is attefted 
 by fuch a number of contemporary hiftori- 
 ans, and his remains lie interred in the 
 church of which he was the founder. 
 He is called by Chatterton, Sir William 
 Canynge. Pie was the younger fon of 
 a citizen of Briflol, and in his youth af- 
 forded early prognoftics of wifdom and 
 ability. He was of a handfome perfon, 
 and married for love, without a fortune. 
 Soon after his marriage, his father and 
 L his 
 
 . * Chattertqn's Mifcellanies, p. 127 & 128. 
 f Rowley's Poems, p. 203.
 
 146 LIFE OF 
 
 his eldeft brother (who both loved money 
 as much as he defpifed it) died, and left 
 him large eftates in land and money, 
 and his brother John dependent upon 
 him, whom he placed in fuch an advan- 
 tageous line of bufmefs, that he after- 
 wards became Lord-Mayor of London. 
 
 This dawn of profperity was, however, 
 foon clouded by the death of his wife$ 
 to whofe memory he afforded the moft 
 affectionate teftimony, in rejecting the 
 moft fplendid propofals for a fecond mar- 
 riage. Of his native city he was Mayor 
 five times; and in the year 1461, when 
 Sir Baldwin Fulford was executed for 
 treafon, Canynge being then Mayor, 
 pleaded for the criminal in vain. When 
 he was knighted does not appear -, but in 
 the year 1467, a fecond marriage being 
 propofed by the King, between him and 
 one of the Widdeville, (the Queen's) fa- 
 mily, Sir William went into holy orders 
 
 purpofely
 
 CHAT TEUTON. 147 
 
 purpofely to avoid it ; and was ordained 
 Acolythe by his friend Carpenter, Bifliop 
 of Worcefter, the ipth of September. 
 He was afterwards dean of the Collegiate 
 church of Weflbury in Wilts ; with his 
 ufual munificence he rebuilt that college, 
 and died in the year 1474, with the univer- 
 fal character of learning and virtue. Among 
 the proofs of his munificence there flill ex- 
 ift an alms-houfe or hofpital> with a cha- 
 pel, and the beautiful church of St. Mary 
 Redcliffe, in Briftol*. At a great ex- 
 penfe he had collected a cabinet of curi- 
 ofities-f ; his collection of manufcripts, 
 .among which were copies of his own and 
 Rowley's poems, were depofited in a 
 room in Redcliffe church : of the actual 
 or pretended difcovery of which I have 
 already treated. Such is Chatterton's 
 hiftory of Canynge, in which, though 
 L 2 there 
 
 * Story of W. Canynge, Rowley's poems, Chattcrpon'* 
 Mifcellanies, p. 1 12 to 122.
 
 148 LIFE OF 
 
 there are fome fads, which are amply 
 confirmed, there are alfo feveral which 
 are difputed by thofe who deny the au- 
 thenticity of Rowley's poems. 
 
 Thefe poems, we have already feen, 
 were produced by Chatterton at different 
 times, who afTerted that he had copied 
 them from the fragments of thofe ancient 
 parchments, which his father had pro- 
 cured from the Redcliffe cheft j he could 
 never be prevailed upon to produce any 
 originals, except a few fragments, the 
 largeft not more than eight inches long, 
 and four and a half wide. The writing 
 on thefe fragments was at leaft a toler* 
 able imitation of ancient manufcript, and 
 the parchment or vellum had every mark 
 ' of age. The only poetical originals which 
 he produced were, the challenge to Lyd- 
 gate, the fong to Ella, and Lydgate's an- 
 fvver, all contained in one parchment ; the 
 account of W. Canynge's feafl; the epi- 
 taph
 
 CHATTERTON. 149 
 
 taph on Robert Canynge, and part of the 
 flory of W. Canynge ; beildes thefe there 
 are fome profe compofitions, and a few 
 drawings, ftill in the hands of Mr. Bar- 
 rett *. 
 
 The poems attributed to Rowley were 
 firft collected in an oftavo volume, and 
 publifhed by Mr. Tyrwhitt, the learned 
 editor of Chaucer ; a very fplendid edi- 
 tion was afterwards publifhed in quarto, 
 by the late Dr. Milles, dean of Exeter, 
 and president of the Society of Antiqua- 
 ries, with a preliminary difTertation, and 
 notes tending to prove that they were 
 really written by Rowley and others in 
 the i 5th century. 
 
 The 
 
 * A complete lift of the original parchments, which 
 \vere given to Mr. Barret by Chatterton, and which he has 
 HOW in his hands, was communicated by that gentleman to 
 Dr. Milles, and is as follows : 
 
 The Song to Ella, with the challenge to Lydgate and the 
 L 3 Anfwer.
 
 t I F E F Q 
 
 The poetical merit of thefe pieces is - 
 
 confiderable. The fubjedts are interefting, 
 
 and infinite imagination is difplayed in the 
 
 conftruclipn pf the plots or fables, IH the 
 
 ( arrangement 
 
 Anfwer. This poem wa? fent by Mr. Barret to a friend^ 
 and is unfortunately loft. 
 
 Canynge's Feaft, a Poem. 
 
 The firft thirty-fix lines pf the Storie pf William Can r 
 ynge. 
 
 The following are Uiftorical Profe Compojitions. 
 
 j. The Yellow Roll, containing an account of the origin of 
 coinage in England, and of the curiofities in Canynge's 
 cabinet. This alfo was lent with the fong to Ella, by 
 Mr. Barret to a friend, and i$ loft. 
 
 2. The purple Roll, thirteen inches by ten, containing an 
 account pf particular Coins, and the fecond and third 
 Sections of Turgotus's Hiftory of Briflol. N. B. The 
 firft Section above quoted is alfo extant in Chatterton's 
 own hand, but the original does not appear. 
 
 3. Vita Burtoni, a parchment roll, about eight inches long; 
 and four broad, very clofely written ; containing an ac- 
 count of Sir Simon de Burton, and his rebuilding Red^ 
 clift church. 
 
 4.. Knights Templars Church ; a Hiftory of ita founda- 
 tion, &c. 
 
 c. St. Mary's Church of the Port ; a Hiftory of it from its 
 foundation, ending with the verfes on Robert Canynge. 
 
 3. Roll of RarthoJqmew's Priory, with a Lift of the Priors, 
 
 7- A <*
 
 CHATTERTON. 151 
 
 arrangement of the incidents, and the 
 delineation of the characters. The beau- 
 ties of poetry are fcattered through them 
 with no fparing hand. The Lyric pro- 
 du<5tions in particular, fuch as the chorus's 
 in the Tragedies, abound with luxuriant 
 defcription, moft vivid imagery, and fink- 
 ing metaphors. Through the veil of an- 
 cient language- a happy adaptation of 
 
 words 
 
 7. An account of the Chapel and Houfe of Calendaries ; 
 
 a drawing of the chapel, and underneath an explanation 
 
 of it. 
 S. Ella's Chappie. No drawing, except to the Kift of Ella, 
 
 but there is an account of its foundation, 
 
 9. St. Mary Magdalen's Chapel. A drawing only. 
 
 10. Grey Frjars Church- A drawing only. 
 
 11. Drawing of three monumental Jnfcriptions, 
 
 12. Ancient Monument and Rudhall ; mere delineations. 
 
 13. Leffer and Greater St. John's : only a rude delineation. 
 
 14. Several Drawings of the Caftle of Briftol. 
 
 15. Strong Hold of the Caftle: a drawing and account of 
 its foundation, by Robert Earl of Gloucefter, and Site 
 thereof. 
 
 1 6. Old Wall of Briftol ; mere drawings, 
 
 J7, Carne of Robert Curthofes Mynde in Caftle fteed : a 
 drawing or figure, with the words Carne, &c. under* 
 neath. Millet's Rowley, page 438.
 
 I. I, F E OF 
 
 words is flill apparent, and a flyle both 
 energetic and expreffive. Contrary to al- 
 moft all the poetical productions of the 
 times, when they are fuppofed to have 
 been compofed, they are in general con- 
 fpicuous for the harmony and elegance of 
 the verfe. Indeed, fome paffages are in- 
 ferior in none of the efTentials of poetry, 
 to the moft finimed productions of mo- 
 dern times. 
 
 On the other hand, it muft not be dif- 
 fembled that fome (and many will think 
 no inconiiderable) part of the charm of 
 thefe poems may probably refult from the 
 Gothic fublimity of the ftyle. What- 
 ever is vulgar in language is loft by time, 
 and a fmall degree of obfcurity in an an- 
 cient author gives a latitude to the fancy 
 of the reader, who generally imagines 
 the ftyle to be more forcible and ex- 
 preffive than perhaps it intrinfically is. 
 W? gaze with wonder on an antique fa- 
 
 brick,
 
 CHATTEftTON. 153 
 
 brick ; and when novelty of thought ft 
 not to be obtained, the novelty of lan- 
 guage to which we are unaccuflomed, is 
 frequently accepted as a fubftitute. Moft 
 poets therefore, at leaft fuch as have af- 
 pired to the fublime, have thrown their 
 dialect at leaft a century behind the com- 
 mon profe, 'and colloquial phrafelogy of 
 their time ; nor can we entertain a doubt, 
 but that even Shakefpear and Milton have 
 derived advantages from the antique ilruc- 
 ture of fome of their moft admired paf- 
 fages. The facility of compofition is alfo 
 greatly increafed where full latitude is 
 permitted in the ufe of an obfolete dia- 
 ledt; fince an author is indulged in the 
 occafional ufe of both the old and the 
 modern phrafeology, and if the one does 
 not fupply him with the word for which 
 he has immediate occafion, the other in 
 gll probability will not difappoint him. 
 
 That
 
 LIFE op 
 
 That the fubje&s of Rowley's poems 
 are in general interesting and well chofen, 
 cannot, I think, be doubted by the judi- 
 cious reader, but ftill it muft be confefled, 
 that the detail is occasionally heavy, flat, 
 and infipid. The imagery and metaphors 
 are frequently very common-place, and 
 it is poffible to labour through feveral 
 ftanzas without finding any ftriking beau- 
 ty, when the attention of the reader is 
 kept alive by the fubjecl: alone. Many 
 defects of ftyle, and many pafTages of rant 
 and bombaft are concealed or excufed by 
 the appearance of antiquity; and where 
 the harmony of the verfe (which indeed 
 |s not often the cafe) is, perhaps, radically 
 deficient, we are inclined to attribute it to 
 a different mode of accenting, or to our ig^. 
 norance of the ancient pronunciation. 
 
 The piece of moft confpicuous merit 
 in the collection, is Ella, a Tragical In-i- 
 terlude, which is a moft complete and
 
 GHATTERTQN. 
 
 well-written tragedy. The plot is both 
 interefting and full of variety, though the 
 dialogue is in fome places tedious. The 
 character of Celmonde reminds us of 
 Glenalvon in Douglas, but it is better 
 drawn : His foliloquy is beautiful and 
 charadteriftic *. The fir ft chorus, or 
 *' Mynftrelles Songe" in this piece, is a 
 
 perfect 
 
 * CELMONDE. 
 
 Hope, hallie fufter, fweepeynge thro' the fkie, 
 Jn crowne of goulde, and robe of lillie whyte, 
 Whyche farre abrode ynne gentle ayre doe flic, 
 Meetynge from diftaunce the enjoyous fyghte, 
 Albeytte efte thou takeft thie hie flyghte 
 Hecket l ynne a myfte, and wyth thyne eyne yblentc, 
 Nowe commeft thou to mee wythe ftarrie lyghte ; 
 Ontoe thie vefte the rodde fonne ys adente a ; 
 The Sommer tyde, the month of Maie appere, 
 pepyfte wythe fkylledd honde upponn thie wyde auraerc. 
 
 J from a nete of hopelen am adawed, 
 Awhaped 3 atte the fety venefs of dale j 
 ^lla, bie nete moe thann hys myndbruche awed, 
 Is gone, and I mofte followe, toe the fraie. 
 Celmonde canne ne'er from anie byker (laie. 
 Pothe warre begynne ? there's Clemonde yn the place. 
 
 Botte 
 
 1 'VT'rapped clofely, covered. * fattened,
 
 156 LIFE OF 
 
 perfeft paftoral. It abounds in natural 
 and tender fentiments, and appofite im- 
 agery, and the fertility of the author's ge- 
 
 nius ' 
 
 Botte whanne the warre ys donne, 1*11 hafte awaie. 
 The refte from nethe tymes mafque muft Ihew yttes face. 
 I fee onnombered joies arounde mee ryfe ; 
 Blake I ftondethe future doome, and joie dothe mee alyfe. 
 
 O honnoure, honnoure, whatt ys bie thee hanne ? 
 Hailie the robber and the bordelyer, 
 Who kens ne thee, or ys to thee beftanne, 
 And nothynge does thie myckle gaftnefs fere. 
 Faygne woulde I from mie bofomme alle thee tare. 
 Thou there dyfperpelleft 2 thie levynne-bronde ; 
 Whyleft mie foulgh's forwyned, thou art the gare; 
 Sleene ys mie comforte bie thie ferie honde ; 
 As fomme talle hylle, whann wynds doe make the ground, 
 Itte kerveth all abroade, bie brafteynge hyltren wounde. 
 
 Honnoure, whatt bee ytte ? tys a fliadowes made, 
 A thynge of wychencref, an idle dreme ; 
 On of the fonnis whych the clerche have made 
 Menne vvydhoute fprytes, and wommen for to fleme ; 
 Knyghtes, who efte kenne the loude dynne of the beme, 
 Schulde be forgarde to fyke enfeeblynge waies, 
 Make everych afte, alyche theyr foules, be breme, 
 And for theyre chyvalrie alleyne have prayfe. 
 
 O thou, whatteer thie name, 
 Or Zabalus or Queed, 
 
 Comme, fteel mie fable fpryte, 
 For fremde 3 .and dolefulle dede. 
 
 z Scq.ttereft,
 
 CHATTERTON. 157 
 
 nius is difplayed in this little ballad; fince 
 fhort as it is, it contains a complete plot 
 
 or fable *. 
 
 There 
 
 * M A N N E. 
 
 Tourne thee to thie Shepfterr T fwayne ; 
 Bryghte fonne has ne droncke the dewe 
 From the floures of yellowe hue ; 
 Tourne thee, Alyce, backe agayne. 
 W O M A N N E. 
 
 No, beftoikerre 2 , I wylle go, 
 Softlie tryppynge o'ere the mees 3, 
 Lyche the fylver-footed doe, 
 Seekynge flielterr yn grene trees. 
 
 M A N N E. 
 
 See the mofs-growne daifey'd banke, 
 Pereynge ynne the ftreme belowe; 
 Here we'lle fytte, yn dewie danke ; 
 Tourne ?hee, Alyce, do notte goe. 
 
 W O M A N N E. 
 I've hearde erfte mie grandame faie, 
 Yonge damoyfelles fchulde ne bee, 
 Inne the fwotie moonthe of Male, 
 Wythe yonge menne bie the grene wode tree. 
 
 M A N N E. 
 
 Sytte thee, Alyce, fytte and harke, 
 Howe the ouzle 4 chauntes hys noate, 
 ' The chelandree 5, greie morn larke, 
 Chauntynge from theyre lyttel throate ; 
 
 i Shepherd. a deceJTer. 3 meadow*. 4 The black-bird. 
 5 Goldfinch.
 
 158 LIFE OF 
 
 There arc extant two parts, or rather two 
 different copies of the Battle of Haftings* 
 
 Thefe 
 
 W O M A N N E. 
 I heare them from eche grene wode tree^ 
 Chauntynge owte fo blatauntlie J , 
 Telly nge lefturnyes z to mee, 
 Myfcheefe ys whanne you are nygh. 
 
 M A N N E. 
 See alonge the mees fo grene 
 Pied daifies, kynge-coppes f\vote ; 
 A lie wee fee, bie non bee feene, 
 Nete botte fhepe fettes here a fote. 
 
 W O M A N N E. 
 Shepfter fwayne, you tare mie gratcheJ, 
 Oute uponne ye ! lette me goe. 
 Leave mee fwythe, or I 'lie alatche. 
 Robynne, thys youre dame mall knowe- 
 
 M A N N E. 
 See ! the crokynge brionie 
 Rounde the popler twyfte hys fpraie ; 
 Rounde the oake the greene ivie 
 Florryfchethe and lyveth aie. 
 
 Lette us feate us bie thys tree, 
 Laughe, and fynge to lovynge ayres j 
 Comme, and doe notte coyen bee ; 
 Nature made all thynges bie payres* 
 
 I>;oorled 
 2 Loudly. ^ lefturct.
 
 CHATTERTON. 159 
 
 Thefe appear to hive been higher in the 
 eftimation of Chatterton, as well as of 
 Dr. Milles, than moft of the other pro- 
 
 du&ions 
 
 Drooried cattes wylle after kynde; 
 Gentle doves wylle kyfs and coe : 
 W O M A N N E. 
 Botte manne, hee mofte bee ywrynde, 
 Tylle fyr preefte make on of two.- 
 Tempe mee ne to the foule thynge ; 
 I wylle no marines lemanne be ; 
 Tyll fyr preefte hys fonge doethe fynge, 
 
 Thou fhalt neere fynde aught of mee. 
 MANNE. 
 
 Bie cure ladie her yborne, 
 
 To-morrowe, foone as ytte ys dale, 
 
 I'lle make thee wyfe, ne bee forfwornc, 
 
 So tyde me lyfe or dcthe for aie. 
 W O M A N N E. 
 
 Whatt dothe lette, botte thatte nowe 
 
 Wee attenes * , thos honde yn honde. 
 
 Unto diviniftre 2 goe, 
 
 And bee lyncked yn wedlocke bonde t 
 MANN E. 
 
 I agree, and thus I plyghte 
 
 Honde, and harte, and all that's myne; 
 
 Good fyr Rogerr, do us ryghte, 
 
 Make us one, at Cothbertes fhryne. 
 
 B O T H E, 
 
 I At ance. a a dirine.
 
 i6o 1 i f o 
 
 duclions of Rowley. When Chatterton 
 brought the firfl part to Mr: Barret, be- 
 ing greatly prefled to produce the poem 
 in the original hand- writing, * he at laft 
 faid, that he had written this poem him- 
 felf for a friend ; but that he had another, 
 the copy of an original by Rowley : and 
 being then defired to produce that poem, 
 he brought, after fome time, to Mr. 
 Barrett, the poem which is marked 
 in Mr. Tyrwhit's and Dr. Milles's edi- 
 tions, as No. 2 *. 
 
 The firft of thefe poems I cannot help 
 clafling among the mofl inferior of Row- 
 ley's. The mere detail of violence and 
 carnage, with nothing to intereft curi- 
 ofity, or engage the more tender paffions, 
 
 can 
 
 B O T H E. 
 
 We vvylle ynn a bordelle J lyve, 
 liailie, thoughe of no eftate ; 
 Everyche clocke moe love fhall gyve ; 
 Wee ynn godcncfle wylle bee greatc. 
 
 1 A cottage, 
 9 Intral. Accoaflt prefixed (o Rowley's poems, p. 21.
 
 CHATTERTOJtf. i6t 
 
 ( 
 
 can be pleafing to few readers. There is 
 not a Tingle epifode to enliven the tedious 
 narrative, and but few of the beauties of 
 poetry to relieve the mind from the dif- 
 gufting fubjecl:. 
 
 The fecond part is far fuperior. There 
 is more of poetical defcription in it, more 
 of nature, more of chara<5ter. The im- 
 agery is more animated, the incidents 
 more varied. The character of Tancar- 
 ville is well drawn, and the fpirit of can- 
 dour and humanity which pervades it, is 
 perhaps unparalleled in any writer before 
 the age of Shakefpear. The whole epi- 
 fode of Gyrtha is well conducted, and the 
 altercation between him and his brother 
 Harold, is interefting. But the defcrip- 
 tion of morning *, and that of Salifbury 
 
 plain 
 
 * And now the greie. eyd rrtOrne with vi'lets dreft, 
 Shakyng the dewdrops on the flourie meedes, 
 Fled with her rofie radiance to the Weft i 
 Forth from the Eafterne gatte the fyerie fteedes 
 
 M Of
 
 162 LIFE OF 
 
 plain *, would "be alone Sufficient to ref- 
 cue the whole poem from oblivion, and 
 to entitle it to a place upon a claffic fhelf. 
 
 The 
 
 Of the bright funne awaytynge fpirits leedes : 
 The funne, in nerie pompe enthrond on hie, 
 Swyfter than thoughte alonge hys jernie gledes, 
 And fcatters nyghtes remaynes from oute the fk.ie : 
 He favve the armies make for bloudie fraie, 
 And ftopt his driving fteeds, and hid his lyghtfome raye. 
 
 * Where fruytlefs heathes and meadows cladde in grele, 
 Save where derne hawthornes reare theyr humble heade, 
 The hungrie traveller upon his waie 
 Sees a huge defarte alle arounde hym fpredde, 
 The diftaunte citie fcantlie to be fpedde, 
 The curlynge force of fmoke he fees in vayne, 
 Tis too far diftaunte, and hys onlie bedde 
 Iwimpled in hys cloke ys on the playne, 
 Whylfte rattlynge thonder forrey oer his hedde, 
 And raines come down to wette hys harde uncouthlie bedde. 
 
 A wondrous pyle of rugged mountaynes flandes, 
 Placd on eche other in a dreare arraie, 
 It ne could be the worke of human handes^ 
 It ne was reared up bie menne of claie. 
 Here did the Brutons adoration paye 
 To the falfe god whom they did Tauran name, 
 Dightynge hys altarre with greete fyres in Maie, 
 Roaftynge their vy&ualle round aboute the flame, 
 'Twas here thatHengyft did the Brytons flee, 
 As they were mette in council for to bee.
 
 CHATTERTON. 163 
 
 The utmoft efforts of the author, however, 
 cannot always impart intereft or variety to 
 the dull catalogue of names, which have 
 ceafed to be remembered, and the unva- 
 ried recital of wounds and deaths. But 
 Homer himfelf nods when engaged upon 
 a topic fo unfavourable to genius. 
 
 The Briftowe Tragedy, or the Deathe of 
 Syr Charles Bawdin, has little but its pa- 
 thetic fimplicity to recommend it. There 
 is nothing ingenious in the plot, or ftrik- 
 ing in the execution - t and it only ranks 
 upon a par with a number of tragic bal- 
 lads, both ancient and modern, in the 
 fame flyle. 
 
 The eclogues are to be accounted fome 
 t of the moft perfect fpecimens among the 
 poems of Rowley. Indeed, I am not ac- 
 quainted with any paflorals fuperior to 
 them, either ancient or modern. The 
 firft of them bears a remote refem- 
 'blance to the firft eclogue of Virgil ; 
 M 2 aad
 
 164 LIFEOF 
 
 and contains a beautiful and pathetic pic- 
 ture of the flate of England, during the 
 civil wars between the houfes of York 
 and Lancafter. The thoughts arid im- 
 ages are all truly pafloral ; and it is im- 
 poffible to read it, without experiencing 
 thofe lively, yet melancholy feelings, 
 which a true delineation of nature alone 
 can infpire. I cannot help feeling an 
 irrefiftable inclination to prefent the rea- 
 der with two ftanzas, which have ever 
 appeared to me particularly beautiful. 
 
 R A U F E. 
 
 Sale to mee nete ; I kenne thie woe in myne ; 
 O ! I've a tale that Sabalus 1 mote * telle. 
 Swote 3 flouretts, mantled meedows, foreftes dygne 4 ; 
 Gravots 5 far-kend 6 arounde the Errmiets 7 cell ; 
 The fwote ribible 8 dynning 9 yn the dell ; 
 [ The joyous jiaunceynge ynn the hoaftrie I0 courte; 
 Eke ii the highe fonge and everych joie farewell, 
 Farewell the verie {hade of fayre dyfporte 12. : 
 Impeflering J 3 trobble onn mie heade doe comme, 
 Ne on kynde Seyn&e to warde Htheaye^encreafyngedome. 
 
 R O- 
 
 I The Devil. z might. 3 fwcet. 4 good, neat, genteel; 
 
 5 groves, fometimcs ufed for a coppice. 6 far-feen. 7 Hermit. 
 
 8 violin. 9 founding. 10 inn, or public-houf;. nalfoi 12 plea- 
 fure. 13 ajonoying. 14 to keep off. 15 ever, always.
 
 CHATTERTON. 165 
 
 R O B E R T E. 
 
 Oh ! I coulde waile mie kynge-coppe-decked mees l6 , 
 
 Mie fpreedynge flockes of fhepe of lillie white, 
 
 Mie tendre applynges 17, and embodyde 18 trees, 
 
 Mie Parker's Grange 19, far fpreedynge to the fyghte, 
 
 Mie cuyen 2kynezi, mie bullockes ftringe " yn fyghte. 
 
 Mie gome 23 emblaunched 24 with the comfreie 2.5 plante, 
 
 Mie floure * 6 Seyndle Marie Ihotteyng wyth the lyghte, 
 
 Mie ftore of all the bleflynges Heaven can grant. 
 
 I amm durefied 27 unto forrowes blowe, 
 
 Jhanten'd *% to thepeyne, will lettene falteteare flowe. 
 
 16 Meadows. 17 grafted trees. 18 thick, ftout. 19 liberty of paf. 
 ture given to the Parker. 20 tender. 21 cows. 22 ftrong. 23 gar- 
 den. 24 whit.-ned. 25 cmnfrey, a favourite dirti at that tim. 
 26 marygold. 27 hardened. 28 accuftomccl. 
 
 The fecond eclogue is an eulogium on 
 the aftions of Richard I. in the Holy- 
 land, which will be read with additional 
 pleafure by thofe who have feen the fhort 
 but fpirited fketch of thefe wars in Mr. 
 Gibbon's laft volumes. The poem is 
 fuppofed to be fung by a young (hepherd, 
 whofe father is abfent on the Holy war ; 
 and the Epode, or burthen, is happily 
 imagined : 
 
 " Sprytes of the bleft, and every feynfle ydedde, 
 Pour out your pleafaunce on my fadre's hedde.'* 
 
 M 3 Before
 
 l66 LIFE OF 
 
 Before he has concluded his fong, he is 
 cheered by the light of the veflfel in 
 which his father returns victorious. 
 
 The third paftoral is chiefly to be ad- 
 mired for its excellent morality ; it is, 
 however, enlivened by a variety of appro- 
 priate imagery, and many of the orna- 
 ments of true-poetry. 
 
 The laft of thefe paftorals, called Eli- 
 noure and Juga, is one of the finefl pa- 
 thetic tales I have ever read. The com- 
 plaint of two young females lamenting 
 their lovers ilain in the wars of York 
 and Lancafter, was one of the happier! 
 fubjects that could be chofen for a tragic 
 paftoral. Two flanzas of this poem, will, 
 I flatter myfelf, amply juftify this opi- 
 nion : part of the former has been fup- 
 pofed, by the Anti-Rowleians, to be an 
 imitation of a ffonza in Mr. Gray's elegy, 
 
 f ' The breezy call of inceufe breathing morn, &c." 
 
 E L I N*
 
 CHATTERTQtf. 167 
 
 E L I N O U R E. 
 
 No moe the mifkynette l fhall wake the morne, 
 The minltrelle daunce, good cheere, and morrycc plaie ; 
 No moe the amblynge palfrie and the home 
 Shall from the le/Tel i rouze the foxe awaie ; 
 I'll feke the forefte alle the lyve-longe dale; 
 Alle nete amenge the gravde chyrche 3 glebe will goe, 
 And to the paflante Spryghtes le&ure 4 mie tale of woe. 
 
 J U G A. 
 
 Whan mokie 5 cloudis do hange upon the leme 
 Of leden 6 Moon, ynn iylver mantels dyghte ; 
 The tryppeynge Faeries vveve the golden dreme 
 Of Selynefs 7, whyche flyethe wythe the nyghte ; 
 Thenne (botte the Seynftes forbydde ! ) gif to a fpryte 
 Syrr Rychardes forme ys lyped, I'll holde dyftraughte 
 Hys bledeynge claie-colde corfe, and die eche daie ynn, 
 thoughte. 
 
 i A fmall bagpipe. 2 in a confined fenfe, a bufh or hedjc, though 
 fomctimes ufed as a foreft. 3 church-yard. 4 relate, 5 black. 
 6 decreafing. 7 happinefs. 
 
 The ballad of Charity is an imitation 
 of the moft beautiful and affe&ing of our 
 Saviour's parables, the good Samaritan. 
 The poetical defcriptions are truly r-io 
 turefque. We feel the horror of the 
 dark, cold night; we fee " the big drops 
 fall," and the " full flocks driving o'er 
 M 4 the
 
 l68 ' LIFE OF 
 
 the plain." " The welkin opens, and 
 the yellow lightening flies," " The thun- 
 der's rattling found moves flowly on, and 
 fwelling, burfts into a violent crafhj {hakes 
 the high fpire," &c. If Chattertgn 
 were really the author of this poem, he 
 probably alluded to his own deferted litu- 
 ation, fince, it is faid, he gave it to the 
 publifher of the Town and Country Ma- 
 gazine, only a month before his death : 
 
 " Hafte to thie church-glebe houfe i afhrewed 2 manne! 
 " Hafte to thie kifte 3, thic only dortoufe 4 bedde. 
 " Cale as the claie, \vhiche will gre on thie hedde, 
 " Is charitie and love aminge 5 highe elves ; 
 (f Knights and barons live for pleafure and themfelves." 
 
 j The grave. 2 unfortunate. 3 coffin. 4 a fleefing room , 5 amwg 
 
 The leiTer pieces in this colledlion are 
 not without merit. There is much ele- 
 gant fatire in the two epiftles to Canynge 
 prefixed to Ella * ; and fome ftrokes of 
 pleafantry in the " Storie of Canynge. ". 
 
 As 
 
 * I have felecied the firii of thefe epiftles as a fpecimen 
 pf the fatiric powers of Rowley. 'Tys
 
 CHATTERTON. 169 
 
 As a complete fpecimen of this author's 
 abilities in Lyric competition, it is only 
 
 necefTary 
 
 'Tys fonge bie mynftrelles, thatte yn auntyent tym, 
 Whan Reafonn hylt * herfelfe in cloudcs of nyghte, 
 The preeite delyvered alle the lege z yn rhym ; 
 Lyche peyn&ed 3 tyltynge fpeares to pleafe the fyghte, 
 The whyche yn yttes felle ufe doe make moke 4 dere 5, 
 Syke dyd theire auncyante lee deftlie 6 delyghte the eare. 
 Perchaunce yn Vyrtues gare 7 rhym mote bee thenne, 
 Butte efte 8 nowe flyeth to the odher fyde j 
 In hallie 9 preefte apperes the ribaudes J0 penne, 
 Inne lithe " moncke apperes the barronnes pryde : 
 But rhym wythe fomme, as nedere i 2 \vidhout teethe, 
 
 Make pleafaunce to the fenfe, botte maie do lyttel fcathe '3. 
 Syr Johne, a knyghte, who hath a barne of lore *4, 
 Kenns 1 5 Latyn att fyrft fyghte from Frenche or Greke, 
 Pyghethe J< > hys knowlachynge -/ ten yeres or more, 
 To rynge upon the Latynne worde to fpeke. 
 Whoever fpekethe Englyfch ys defpyfed, 
 
 The Englyfch hym to pleafe mode fyrfte be latynized. 
 Vevyan, a moncke, good a requiem l8 fynges; 
 Can preache fo wele, eche hynde '9 hys meneynge knovves 
 Albeytte thefe gode guyfts avvaie he flynges, 
 Peeynge as badde yn vearfe as goode yn profe. 
 Hee fynges of feyndtes who dyed for yer Godde, 
 
 Everych wynter nyghte afrefche he fheddes theyr blodde. 
 
 To 
 
 i Hid, concealed. ^ law. 3 painted. 4 much. 5 hurt, damage, 
 6fweet!y. 7 caufc. Soft. 9 holy. 10 rake, lewd perfon. n hum- 
 ble, izadder. 13 hurt, damage, i/j-learning. 15 knows. i6pluck* 
 or tortures. 17 knowledge, i? a fcrvice ufed over the dead. 19 j>ca- 
 fat.
 
 IJG LIFE .OF 
 
 necefTary to cite the incomparable ode or 
 
 chorus 
 
 To maydens, hufwyfes, and unlored 2 dames, 
 Hee redes hys tales of merryment & woe. 
 Loughe 21 loudie dynneth ^^ from the dolte 23 adramesM ; 
 He fwelles on laudes of fooles, tho' kennes 25 hem foe. 
 Sommetyme at tragedie theie laughe and fynge, 
 At merrie yapeda6 fage*7 fomme hard-drayned water brynge. 
 
 Yette Vevyan ys ne foole, beyinde 28 hys lynes. 
 Geofroie makes yearfe, as handycrafts theyr ware ; 
 Wordes wythoute fenfe fulle grofFyngelye 2 9he twynes, 
 Cotteynge hys ftorie off as wythe a iheere ; 
 Waytes monthes on nothynge, & hys ftorie donne, 
 Ne moe you from ytte kenn, than gyf 3 you neere begonne. 
 
 Enowe of odhers ; of miefelfe to write, 
 Requyrynge whatt I doe notte nowe pofiefs, 
 To you I leave the tafke ; I kenne your myghte 
 Wyll make mie faultes, mie meynte 31 of faultes, be lefs. 
 &LLA wythe thys I fende, and hope that you 
 Wylle from ytte cafte awaie, whatte lynes maie be untrue. 
 
 Playcs made from hallie 3 2 tales I holde unmeete ; 
 Lette fomme greate ftorie of a manne be fonge ; 
 Whanne, as a manne, we Godde and Jefus treate, 
 In mie pore mynde, we doe the Godhedde wronge. 
 Botte lette ne wordes, whyche 33 droorie mote ne heare, 
 Bee placed yn the fame. Adieu untyll anere 34. 
 
 THOMAS ROWLEIE. 
 
 10 Unlearned. 21 laugh. 22 founds. 23 foolifh. 24 churls. 
 15 knows. 26 laughable. 27 tale, jeft. 28 beyond. 29 foolishly. 
 30 if. 31. many. 32 holy. 33 ftrange perrerfion of words. Drain: 
 in its ancient fignification ftood for mvdtfty. 34 another.
 
 C H A T T E R T O N. 17! 
 
 chorus in Goddwyn, a tragedy, which he 
 has left imperfeft. 
 
 CHORUS, &c. 
 
 When Freedome, drefle yn blodde-fteyned veftc. 
 
 To everie knyghte her warre-fonge funge, 
 Uponne her hedde wylde wedes were fpredde ; 
 A gorie anlace bye her honge. 
 
 She daunced onne the heathe ; 
 She hearde the voice of deathe ; 
 Pale-eyned affryghte, hys harte of fylver hue, 
 In vayne aflayled i her bofomme to acale 2 ; 
 She hearde onflemed 3 the fhriekinge voice of woe. 
 And fadnefle ynne the owlette (hake the dale. 
 She {hooke the burled 4 fpeere, 
 On hie (he jefte 5 her Iheelde, 
 Her foemen 6 all appere, 
 And flizze 7 alonge the feelde. 
 Power, wythe his heafod S ftraught 9 ynto the fkyes, 
 Hys fpeere a fonne-beame, and his fheelde a ftarre, 
 Alyche I0 twaie " brendeyuge 12 gronfyres 1 3 rolls hys eyes j 
 . Chaftes J 4 with hys yronne feete and foundes to war. 
 She fyttes upon a rocke, 
 She bendes before hys fpeere, 
 She ryfes from the fliocke, 
 Wielding her owne in ayre. 
 Harde as the thonder dothe fhe drive ytte on, 
 Wytte fcillye J 5 \vympled rf gies 17 ytte to his crowne, 
 
 Hys 
 
 I Endeavoured, 2 freeze. 3 undifmayed. 4 armed, pointed. 
 
 5 hoifted on high, raifed. 6 foes, enemies. 7 fly. 8 head. 9 ftretchcd. 
 
 10 like. ii two. iz flaming. 13 meteors. 14 beats, llarnps. 
 ?5 clofcly, 16 mantled, covered. 17 guides,
 
 17* 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 Hys longe fharpc fpere, hys fpreddynge fheelde is gon, 
 He falles, and fallynge rolleth thoufandes down. 
 
 War, goare-faced war, bie envie burld J S, arift 9> 
 Hys feerie heaulme 20 noddynge to the ayre, 
 Tenne bloddie arrowes ynne hys ftreynynge fyfte 
 
 18 Armed. 19 arofe. 20 helmet. 
 
 The poems of Rowley had not been 
 long made public before their authenti- 
 city underwent a fevere fcrutiny; and a 
 number of gentlemen converfant in anti- 
 quities, declared, that they could not be the 
 productions of the fifteenth century, and 
 openly pronounced them the forgeries of 
 Chatterton. Their authenticity was de- 
 fended by other perfons of no inconfider- 
 able note in the literary world. The con- 
 troverfy foon became voluminous ; and 
 the reader will not be inclined to confider 
 it as unimportant, when on one fide the 
 names of Walpole, Tyrwhitt, Warton*, 
 
 Croft, 
 
 * I have been well informed that both Mr. Warton and 
 Mr. Tyrwhit were formerly of fentiments direftly oppofite 
 to thofe which they profefs in their publications ; if the, 
 poems therefore be forgeries of Chatterton, thefe gentlemer\ 
 were at leaft among the firlt on whom he impofed.
 
 CHATTERTON. 173 
 
 Croft, and Malone, are mentioned : and 
 on the other, thofe of Milles and Bryant ; 
 and I think I may venture to add, that 
 of Mr. Matthias, though his candour and 
 modefty, almort exempt him from being 
 confidered as a partizan. 
 
 I mail endeavour to exhibit a fhort 
 iketch of the arguments on both fides of 
 the queftion, and mall leave my readers to 
 form their own conclufions. 
 
 The evidence on this fubjecl: natur- 
 ally divides itfelf into two branches, ex- 
 ternal and internal : of the former, there 
 is little fatisfactory to be obtained ; and it 
 muft be confefled, that the bulk of the 
 external evidence is rather againft that 
 party which denies the authenticity of the 
 poems. There are, however, a few facts 
 on that fide of the queftion which are 
 of too much confequence to be difre- 
 garded. 
 
 A&GU-
 
 174 LIFE OF 
 
 ARGUMENTS AGAINST the AUTHEN- 
 TICITY of ROWLEY'S POEMS. 
 
 "External "Evidence. 
 
 I. The firft ferious obje&ion which oc- 
 curs againft the authenticity of the poems, 
 is, that Chatterton never could be prevailed 
 upon to produce more than four of the 
 originals, and thefe extremely ihort, the 
 whole not containing more than 124 
 verfes *. Had fuch a treafure of ancient 
 poetry fallen into the hands of a young 
 and ingenuous perfon, would he, it is faid, 
 have cautioufly produced them to the 
 world one by one ? Would he not rather 
 have been proud of his good fortune ? 
 Would not the communicativenefs of youth 
 have induced him to blaze the difcovery 
 abroad, and to call every lover of poetry 
 and antiquity, to a participation of the 
 
 pleafure ? 
 
 * Tyrwhitt's Vindication, p. 133.
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 pleafure ? Would not the hope and offers 
 of reward at leafl have prevented his do- 
 flroying what, if preferved, would certainly 
 be produ&ive of profit, but the deftruc- 
 tion of which could anfwer no purpofe 
 whatever * ? 
 
 II. The deficiency of proof in favour 
 of Rowley, is flrongly aided by the very 
 probable proofs in favour of Chatterton. 
 His abilities were in every refpedt calcu- 
 lated for fuch a deception. He had been 
 in the habit of writing verfes from his 
 earlieft youth, and produced fome excel- 
 lent poetry. He was known to have been 
 converfant with our old Englifh poets 
 and hiftorians, particularly Chaucer. His 
 fondnefs for heraldry, introduced many 
 books of antiquities to his notice; and 
 
 even 
 
 * An examination, &c. p. 9. Tyrwhitt's Vindication, 
 p. 155. See alfo forae excellent remarks to the fame pur- 
 pofe, by the late Mr. Badceck, Monthly Review for May, 
 1782.
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 even his profeffion difpofed him to thefe 
 ftudies, and enabled him with facility to 
 imitate ancient writings. In the Cbriftmas 
 games, which are acknowledged to be his 
 own, there is much of that peculiar 
 learning in Britim antiquities, which was 
 necefTary to lay the foundation of Row- 
 ley's poems ; and in his Eflay on Sculp- 
 ture, there is much of the fame general 
 information with which thofe compofi- 
 tions abound *. The tranfport and de- 
 
 ; light, 
 
 * In the fupplement to the works of Chattertori , (printed 
 for Becket, 1784,) there is inferted a piece which has 
 been already referred to, called Chatter ton's will. This 
 appears to have been written a few days before he left 
 Briitol to go to London ; when in confequence, as it Ihould 
 feem, of his being refufed a fmall fum of money by a 
 gentleman, whom he had occasionally complimented in his 
 poems, he had taken a refolution of deftroying himfelf the 
 next day. What prevented him from carrying this defign 
 at that time into execution does not appear ; but the 
 whole writing on this occafion is worth attention, as it 
 throws much light on his real character, his acquaintance 
 with old Englifli writers, and his capability of underftand- 
 ing and imitating old French and Latin infcriptions, not 
 indeed grarnatically, but fufficient to anfwer the purpofes 
 
 to
 
 CHATTERTON. 777 
 
 light, which Chatterton always difcovered 
 on reading the poems to Mr. Smith, his 
 fitter, and his different friends, could not, 
 it is faid, have refulted from the mere 
 pleafure of a difcovery : it was the fe- 
 cret, but ardent feeling of his own abili- 
 ties, and the confcioufnefs that the praifes 
 which were beftowed upon them were all 
 his own, which filled him with exultation, 
 
 and 
 
 i 
 
 to which he often applied this knowledge. From this 
 writing it alfo appears that he would not allow King David 
 to have been a holy man, from the ftrains of piety and 
 devotion in his pfalms, becaufe a great genius can effeft any 
 thing ; that is, affume any character and modest writing he 
 pleafes. This is an anfwer from Chatterton himfelf, to one 
 argument, and a very powerful one, in fupport of the authen- 
 ticity of Rowley's poems. In that part of the will ad- 
 drefled to Mr. George Catcot, Chatterton mentions Row- 
 ley's poems, but in fo guarded a manner, that it is not 
 cafy to draw any certain information for or againft their 
 authenticity; though the parties on both fides have at- 
 tempted it. The addrefs to Mr. Barrett does no lefs 
 credit to his own feelings, than to that gentleman's treat- 
 ment of him ; and the apology that follows to the two Mr. 
 Catcotts, for fome efFufions of his fatire upon them, is 
 the bed recompence he then had in his power to make to 
 thofe gentlemen, from whom he had experienced much 
 civility and kindnefs. O. 
 
 N
 
 LIFE OP 
 
 and produced thofe flrong emotions, 
 which even his habitual referve on this 
 fubject was unable to conceal *. 
 
 III. The declaration of ChaUerton to 
 Mr. Barrett, concerning the firft part of 
 the Battle of Haftings, which he con- 
 feJTed he had 'written himfelf, is a pre- 
 fumption againfl the reft. He was then 
 taken by furprizCj but at other times 
 preferved a degree of confiftency in his 
 falfehood. 
 
 IV. Mr. Ruddall, an intimate acquain- 
 tance of Chatterton, declared to Mr. 
 Croft, that he faw him (Chatterton) dif- 
 guife feveral pieces of parchment with 
 the appearances of age, and that Chatter- 
 ton told him, that the parchment which 
 Mr. Ruddali had affifted him in black- 
 ing and difguiling, was the very parch- 
 ment he had fent to the printer's, con- 
 taining 
 
 * Monthly Review for March 1792.
 
 CHATTERTON. 179 
 
 taining " the account of the Fryers pafT- 
 ing the old bridge *." 
 
 V. The 
 
 * " To GEORGS STEEVENS, Efq. Hampftead Heath, 
 
 "DEAR SIR, 
 
 ct IT gives me pleafure that LOVE AND MAD NESS, which 
 I put together in a few idle hours, as much for the fake of 
 doing juftice to poor Chatterton as of blunting the edge of 
 Hackman's mocking example, has fo well anfwered the 
 former purpofe. 
 
 " Where'er (his bones at refte) 
 
 " His fpryte to haunte delyghteth befte," 
 Chatterton mutt be now not a little gratified when he looks 
 down upon the fquabbles he has raifed on earth. Every 
 fyllable which I have madeHackman relate of him in LOVE 
 AND MADNESS is, I firmly believe, religioufly true. 
 Walmfly was my tenant for the houfe in Shoreditch, where 
 Chatterton lodged with him, at the time he gave me the 
 information contained in my book. Chatterton's letters 
 which I printed, and which are hardly lefs fingular perhaps 
 than Rowley's poems, are confefledly original. 
 
 " As I cannot fpare time from my profeflion to enter any 
 further into this difpute, and as you inform me that Mr. 
 Warton is going to publifh fomething, I write this letter, 
 according to your defire, in anfwer to your's of yefterday, 
 refpefting what long fince I faid to you of Mr. Ruddall ; 
 and it is perfectly at Mr. Walton's fervice. But I mufl 
 defire he will print it exactly as I fend it you. When I 
 have fpoken for myfelf, he may draw his own arguments 
 from my communication. 
 
 N 2 The
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 V. The Rev. Mr. Catcott, brother to 
 the Mr. Catcott before mentioned, af- 
 firmed, 
 
 e The left hand column is an extract from Dean Miiles's 
 quarto edition of Rowley's, i. e. of Chatterton's poems, 
 p. 436, 7. The right hand column is my account of the 
 fame bulinefs. In fome material circumftances he certainly 
 errs. It were eafy to mew, the Dean has condemned 
 Chatter ton, and robbed him of Rowley's poems upon 
 Slighter evidence of lefs material miftakes, 
 
 " That the Dean mould have received all his informa- 
 tion of this bufinefs from Mr. Ruddall, is certainly impof- 
 iible, becaufe fome part of his account of it is certainly un- 
 true. The paflags in the Dean's account, on which 1 
 comment, are marked, that they may be printed in Italics. 
 
 The circumftance is fin- 
 gular, and I have always 
 thought fo ; but it has never 
 yet, I believe, been communi- 
 cated to the Pubhck ; though 
 I certainly meant it mould, 
 fome time or other. 
 
 circumftance 
 
 relating to the hiftory of this 
 ceremony ("of paffing the 
 *' old bridge") has been 
 tommunicated to the Publick 
 nvitbin thefe two laft years ; 
 and candour requires that it 
 fhould not pafs unnoticed 
 here, efpecially as the cha- 
 raaer of the relator leaves 
 no room for fufpicion. The 
 objedlors to the authenticity 
 of thefe poems may poffibly 
 triumph in the difcovery of a, 
 fa&, which contains, in their 
 opinion, a decifive proof that 
 Chauertou
 
 C H A T T E R T O N. 
 
 181 
 
 It is not clear to me, that 
 the advocates for Chatterton 
 have occafion to be appro- 
 henfive, if the circumftances 
 Jbould be attentively examined 
 even according to the Dean's 
 own {hewing. But mine ia 
 fomewhat different. 
 
 6rmed, that having had a converfation one 
 evening with Chatterton, he traced the 
 
 very 
 
 Chatterton was the author of 
 this paper, and (as they 
 would infer) of all the poetry 
 which he produced under 
 Rowley's namej but, when 
 the circumjlances are atten- 
 tively examined, the reader 
 will probably find, that even 
 this fad tends rather to efta- 
 blifh, than to invalidate, the 
 authenticity of the poems* 
 
 Mr. John Ruddall, a na- 
 tive and inhabitant of Briftol, 
 and formerly apprentice to 
 Mr. Francis Grefley, an apo- 
 thecary in that city, was well 
 acquainted with Chatterton, 
 whilft he was apprentice to 
 Mr. Lambert. During that 
 time, Chatterton frequently 
 called upon him at his mat- 
 ter's houfe, and,_/oo after he 
 had printed this account of the 
 Bridge in the Briftol paper, 
 told Mr. Ruddall, that he 
 <was the author of it ; but, it 
 securing to him afterguards, 
 that he might be called upon to 
 produce the original, he brought
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 very fubilance of this converfation, in a 
 piece which that indefatigable genius pro- 
 duced fometime after as Rowley's. 
 
 VI. Chat- 
 
 to him one day a piece of 
 Parchment, about the Jize of 
 g, half Sheet of Poors - Cap 
 paper ; Mr. Ruddall does 
 not think that any thing *was 
 written on it when produced 
 ly Chattertan, but he favj 
 hint 'write federal Words, if 
 nit lines, in a Charafler iahich 
 Mr. Ruddc.ll did net under- 
 Jland, luhich he fays ivas to- 
 tally unlike Englijh, and, as 
 he apprehended, 'was meant by 
 Chatterton, to imitate or re- 
 prefent the original from ivhich 
 this Account was printed. 
 He cannot determine pre- 
 cifely how much Chatterton 
 wrote in this manner, but 
 fays, that the time he fpent 
 in that Vifit did not exceed 
 three quarters of an hour; 
 the Size of the Parchment, 
 however, (even fuppofing it 
 to have been filled with writ- 
 ing) will in fome meafure af- 
 certain the quantity which it 
 coauined. 
 
 My vifit to Briftol of a few 
 days, in order to collect in- 
 formation concerning Chat- 
 terton, was on the 23d of 
 July, 1778. At that time I 
 gave fomethlng to the Mo- 
 ther and Sifter for their vo- 
 luntary communications to 
 me. After I publimed Love 
 AND MADNESS, I laid a 
 larger plan for their benefit, 
 which I hope ftill to fee car- 
 ried into execution ; and I 
 deftined fomething more to 
 the family of him whofe ge- 
 nius I fo much refpe&ed, 
 though I well knew his fa- 
 mily deemed me their enemy 
 for endeavouring to prove 
 him guilty of Forgery. Pre- 
 vented from going to Bath, 
 and confequently from giv- 
 ing what I had fet apart for 
 this purpofe, with my own 
 Ha.nds, I gladly feized the 
 liberty allowed me by a 
 friend of Mr. Ruddall to 
 beg this favour of him. On 
 the
 
 CHATTERTON. 183 
 
 VI. Chatterton at firft exhibited the 
 Songe to Ella in his own hand-writing ; 
 and afterwards in the parchment, which he 
 
 gave 
 
 the zzd of March, 1781, I 
 wrote to Mr. Ruddall, to 
 whom I was then a perfect 
 ftranger, making ufe of his 
 Friend's name, and enclof- 
 ing a Draught to him or his 
 Order for ten pounds, re- 
 quefting he would give the 
 Money to Chatterton's Mo- 
 ther and Sifter. On the 3cth 
 of the fame Month, Mr. 
 Ruddall called upon me ia 
 Lincoln's Inn ; appeared, as 
 I imagined, to lean to the 
 iide of this queftion which I 
 have ever thought to be the 
 right; and told me, of his 
 own accord, what certainly 
 agrees no more with the 
 Dean's account, than what I 
 have already related agree* 
 with the Dean's faying that 
 Mr. Ruddall told this, in 
 1779, on the profpett of pro- 
 curing a gratuity often Pounds 
 fir C&atterton's Mother, from 
 a Gentleman 'wko came to Brif- 
 He N 4 * </
 
 184 
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 gave to Mr. Barrett as the original, there 
 were found feveral variations, which it is 
 
 fuppofed 
 
 tol in order to collect informa- 
 tion concerning the Son's Hif- 
 tory. 
 
 If my Memory not only 
 fails me now, but failed me 
 the fame day, and has failed 
 me ever fince, Mr. Ruddall 
 will correft me. To him I 
 appeal, and by him I muil 
 fubmit to be corrected.- But, 
 on the 30th of March, 1781, 
 he told me, AS I THINK, 
 that be ajjifted Chatterton in 
 difguijing SEVERAL pieces of 
 Parchment with the appear- 
 ances cfAge,juft before " the 
 <( Account of pajjing the 
 f< Bridge** appeared in Far- 
 ley's 'Journal ; that, after t key- 
 bad made feveral experiments, 
 Chatter ton faid, ' ' this will 
 "do, now I will black THE 
 "Parchment;" that, whe- 
 ther he told him at tbt time 
 what THE Parchment was, 
 he could not remember ; that 
 he believed he did not fee Chat- 
 terton black THE Parchment, 
 but that Chatterton told him, 
 after 
 
 He fays alfa, that when 
 Chatterton had written on the 
 Parchment, he held it over the 
 Candle, to give it the ap- 
 pearance of antiquity, which 
 changed the Colour of the Ink, 
 and made the Parchment ap- 
 pear black and a little con- 
 trailed : he never faw him 
 make any Jimilar attempt, nor 
 was the Parchment produced 
 afterwards by Chatterton to 
 him, or (as far as he knows) 
 to any other perfon. From 
 a perfect knowledge of Chat- 
 terton's abilities, he thinks 
 him to have bten incapable cf 
 writing tJ:s Rattle ofHjftings, 
 cr Kny of thoj'e Poems produced 
 by him under the nams of. Row- 
 ley, nor does he remember 
 that Chatterton ever men- 
 tioned Rowley's Poems to 
 him, either as original or 
 the contrary ; but fometimes 
 (ihough very rarely) inti- 
 m-tted
 
 CHATTERTON. 185 
 
 fuppofed he had admitted through forget- 
 fulnefs, or perhaps, as aftual corrections, 
 
 conlidering 
 
 mated that he was pofTefled % after " the Account of paf- 
 
 of fome valuable literary pro- " fi"g the Bridge" had ap- 
 
 du&ions. Mr. Ruddall had peared in the Nenvs-paper f 
 
 promifed Chatterton not to re- that THE Parchment <wbicb 
 
 -veal this Secret, and he fcru- he had blacked and difguifed* 
 
 pulc:>Jly kept his word till the after their experiments, was 
 
 year 1779; but, ON THE nuhat he hadfent to the Printer 
 
 PROSPECT OF PROCURING containing the Accou NT.'* 
 
 A GRATUITY OF TEN 
 
 POUNDS, FOR CHATTER- 
 TON'S MOTHER, FROM A 
 GENTLEMAN WHO CAME 
 TO BRISTOL IN ORDER TO 
 COLLECT INFORMATION 
 
 CONCERNING HER SON'S 
 
 HISTORY, he thought fo 
 material a benefit to the Fa- 
 mily would fully juftify him 
 for divulging a fecret by 
 which no perfon now living- 
 could be a fufferer." 
 
 " As this appeared to me the taoft decifive evidence, I 
 afked Mr. Rudd^ll's leave to make ufe of his name about 
 it, which he granted me; and I made a Memorandum of 
 it, the fame day, at the diftance of a few hours. But' it is 
 {till pofiible my Memory might deceive me. In matters 
 more ferious than the authenticity of Poems, which are 
 
 certain I/
 
 l86 LIFE OF 
 
 confidering that the parchment was the 
 copy which pro 
 as aftandard *. 
 
 copy which probably would be reforted to 
 
 VII. The 
 
 certainly exquifite, whoever wrote them, it is not my way, 
 1 hope, to be more pofitive than I ought. 
 
 " Mr. Ruddall will excufe me if I fay, that I cannot pof- 
 fibly allow him, or any one, to determine the authenticity 
 of the Poems, by telling the Dean, or the world, that, 
 " from a perfect knowledge of Chatterton's abilities, HE 
 ' thinks him to have been incapable of writing the Battle of 
 *' Railings, or any of thofe Poems produced by him under 
 " the name of Rowley." 
 
 " It appears to me that I cannot poflibly, all this time, 
 have been noticing what does not relate to me, becaufe 
 Chatterton's Sifter, when ihe thanks me in a Letter dated 
 April the zoth, 1781, for what I fent her and her Mother, 
 through Mr. Ruddall, fays, that " the only "benefits they 
 " have reaped from the labours of her dear Jlr -other ," ar 
 what they have received from me. 
 
 " Convey this to Mr. Warton, if you choofe it, with many 
 thanks for the pleafure I have received from his Hiftory oi 
 Engliih Poetry ; and believe me to be, 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 *' Your obliged friend, 
 
 Lincolns-inn, " HERBERT CROFT, jun,*' 
 
 Feb. 5, 1782. 
 
 * Curfory Obfervations on Rowley's poems, p. 44.
 
 CHATTERTON. 187 
 
 VII. The hand-writing of the frag- 
 ment containing the ftorie of W. Can- 
 ynge, is quite different from the hand- 
 writing of that which contains " the 
 accounte of W. Canyinge's feaft ;" and 
 neither of them is written in the ufual 
 record hand of the age to which they 
 are attributed. Indeed, in the " accounte 
 of W. Canynge's Feafle," the Arabian 
 numerals, (63) are faid to be perfectly 
 modern, totally different from the figures 
 ufed in the fifteenth century, and exactly 
 fuch as Chatterton himfelf was accuftom- 
 ed to make*. 
 
 VIII. The very exiftence of any fuch 
 perfonas ROWLEY is queftioned, and up- 
 on apparently good ground. He is not fo 
 much as noticed by William of Worceftre, 
 who lived nearly about the fuppofed time 
 of Rowley, was himfelf of Briftol, and makes 
 
 frequent 
 
 See Milles's Rowley, p. 429. Tyrwhitt's Vindication, 
 p. 135. Monthly Review, by Badcock, for March 1782.
 
 l88 LIFE OP 
 
 frequent mention of Canynge. " Bale, 
 who lived two hundred years nearer to 
 Rowley than we, and who, by unwearried 
 induftry, dug a thoufand bad authors out 
 of obfcurity," has never taken the leaft 
 notice of fuch aperfon*; nor yet Leland, 
 Pitts, or Tanner, nor indeed any other lite- 
 rary biographer. That no copies of any 
 of his works mould exift, but thofe de- 
 pofited in Redcliffe church, is alfo an un- 
 accountable circumftance not eafy to be 
 furmounted -f . 
 
 IX. Objections are even made to the 
 manner in which the poems are faid to 
 have been prefer ved. That title deeds 
 relating to the church or even hiflorical 
 records might be lodged in the muni- 
 ment room of Redcliffe church, is allow- 
 ed to be fufficiently probable; but that 
 poems fhould have been configned to a 
 
 cheft 
 
 * Wai pole's two letters, p. 31. 
 
 f Tyrvvhitt's Vindication, p. 1:9, 121.
 
 CHATTERTON. 189 
 
 chefl with fix keys, kept in a private 
 room in a church with title deeds and con- 
 veyances, and that thefe keys mould be in- 
 truiled, not to the heads of a college, or 
 any literary fociety, but to aldermen and 
 church- wardens, is a fuppofition replete 
 with abfurdity ; and the improbability is 
 increafed, when we confider that thefe 
 very papers pafled through the hands of 
 perfons of forne literature, of Chatterton's 
 father in' particular, who had a tafte for 
 poetry, and yet without the leafl difcovery 
 of their intrinfic value *. 
 
 Internal Evidence. 
 
 I. In point of STYLE, COMPOSITION, 
 and SENTIMENT, it is urged by Mr. 
 Warton, - and thofe who adopt the fame 
 fide of the controverfy, that the poems of 
 Rowley are infinitely fuperior to every 
 Qther production of the century, which is 
 
 faid 
 
 * $ee Monthly Review for March 1782.
 
 190 LIFE OF 
 
 faid to have produced them. Our an- 
 cient poets are minute and particular, 
 they do not deal in abftraction and general 
 exhibition, but dwell on realities; but 
 the writer of thefe poems adopts ideal 
 terms and artificial modes of explaining 
 a fact, and employs too frequently the aid 
 of metaphor and perfonification *. Our 
 ancient bards abound in unnatural concep- 
 tions, ftrange imaginations, and even the 
 moft ridiculous inconfiflencies ; but Row- 
 ley's poems prefent us with no incongru- 
 ous combinations, no mixture of man- 
 ners, inftitutions, ufages and characters : 
 they contain no violent or grofs impro- 
 prieties -f-. One of the Striking charac- 
 teriftics of old English poetry, is a con- 
 tinued tenor of difparity. In Gower, 
 Chaucer, and Lydgate, elegant defcrip- 
 tions, ornamental images, &c. bear no 
 
 proportion 
 
 * Matthias's Eflay on Evid, p. 64 , 
 
 f Warton's Inquiry, p. 21.
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 proportion to pages of languor, medio- 
 crity, profaic and uninterefting details j 
 but the poems in queftion are uniformly 
 fupported, and are throughout poetical and 
 animated *. Poetry, like other fciences 
 (fay thefe critics) has its gradual acceffions 
 and advancements ; and the poems in quef- 
 tion poiTefs all that elegance, firmnefs of 
 contexture, ftrength and brilliancy, which 
 did not appear in our poetry before the 
 middle of the prefent century. 
 
 II. There appears in thefe poems none 
 of that LEARNING, which peculiarly 
 marks all the compofitions of the fif- 
 teenth century. Our old poets are per- 
 petually confounding Gothic and claffi- 
 cal allufions ; Ovid and St. Auftin are 
 fometimes cited in the fame line. A flu- 
 dious ecclefiaftic of that period would 
 give us a variety of ufelefs authorities 
 
 from 
 
 * Ibid. p. 20; Monthly Review, Mny 1782.
 
 192 LIFE OF 
 
 from Ariftotle, from Boethius, and from 
 the Fathers : and the whole would be in- 
 terfperfed with allufions to another kind 
 of reading, viz. the old romances -, the 
 round table, with Sir Launcelott, and 
 Sir Triftram, and Charlemagne, would 
 have been conftantly cited *. Poems from 
 fuch an author, would alfo have occafion- 
 ally exhibited prolix devotional epifodes, 
 mingled with texts of Scripture, and ad- 
 drefles to the Saints and blelTed Virgin ; 
 inftead of apoftrophes to fuch allegori- 
 cal divinities as Truth and Content, and 
 others of Pagan original -f-. 
 
 As to the hiflorical allufions which arc 
 really found in thefe poems, it is afferted, 
 that they are only fuch as might be fup- 
 plied by books which are eaiily obtained, 
 fuch as Hollingfhead and Fox, Fuller's 
 church hiftory, Geofry of Monmouth, and 
 
 others 
 
 * Warton's Inquiry, 21, 97, 99. 
 f Ibid 98.
 
 CHATTERTON* 193 
 
 Others of a fimilar nature * ; and that 
 general reading has been miftaken for pro- 
 found erudition -f 
 
 Hi. Some ANACHRONISMS have alfd 
 been pointed out in the manufcripts of 
 Rowley. Thus the art of knitting Jiock* 
 ings is alluded to in the Tragedy of 
 Ella J ; whereas it is a well eflablifhed 
 
 faft, 
 
 * Matthias's Efiay, p. 69. An Examination of Rowley's 
 Poems, p. 24. 
 
 f Warton's Inquiry. 
 
 % As Elynour bie the green leffelle was fyttynge, 
 
 As from the fones'hete me harried, 
 She fayde, as herr whytte hondes whyte hofen was knyt 
 
 tynge, 
 Whatte pleafure ytt ys to be married ! 
 
 Mie hulbande, Lorde Thomas, a forrefter boulde, 
 
 As ever clove pynne, or the balkette, 
 Does no cheryfauncys from Elynour houlde, 
 
 I have ytte as foone as I aike ytte* 
 
 I lyved wyth mie fadre yn merrle Clowd-dellj 
 Tho' t\\as at my liefe to mynde fpynnynge, 
 I ftylle wanted fomethynge, botte whatte ne coulde telle, 
 Mie Icrde fadres barbde haulle han ne wynnynge.
 
 194 LIFE OF 
 
 fact, that the art was utterly unknown 
 in the reign of Edward IV. Briftol is 
 called a city, though it was not fuch till 
 long after the death of that monarch. 
 Canynge is faid to have poffeffed a cabi- 
 net of coins, drawings, &c. though thefe 
 words were not then in ufe ; and manu- 
 fcripts are fpoken of as rarities, at a time 
 when there were fcarcely any other books : 
 when, in truth, a printed book muft have 
 been a much greater curiofity *. 
 
 IV. The 
 
 Eche monynge I ryfe, doe I fette mie maydennes, 
 
 Somme to fpynn, fommeto curdell, fomme bleachynge, 
 
 Gyff any new entered doe afke for mie aidens, 
 Thann fwythynne you fynde mee a teachynge. 
 
 Lorde Walterre, mie fadre, he loved me welle, 
 
 And nothynge unto mee was nedeynge, 
 Botte fchulde I agen goe to merrie Cloud-dell, 
 
 In fothen twoulde bee wythoote redeynge. 
 
 Shee fayde, and lorde Thomas came over the lea, 
 As hee the fatte derkynnes wae chacynge, 
 
 Shee putte uppe her knyttynge, and to hym wente fhee j 
 So wee leave hem bothe kyndelie embracynge. 
 
 * Curfory Obfervations on Rowley's pocms> p. 2225.
 
 CHATTERTON. 195 
 
 IV. The METRE of the old Englifli 
 poetry, is faid to be totally different from 
 that of Rowley. The ftanza in which 
 the majority of thefe poems are written, 
 confifls of ten lines, the two firft qua- 
 trains of which rhyme alternately, and it 
 clofes with an alexandrine; no example 
 of which occurs in Chaucer, Lydgate or 
 Gower. Spencer extended the old odlavo 
 ftanza to nine lines, clofing with an alex- 
 andrine, to which Prior added a tenth *. 
 Above all, the extraordinary inftance of an 
 Englifh Pindaric in the fifteenth century, 
 is ridiculed by Mr. Warton, which no- 
 velty (he fays) " was referved for the 
 capricious ambition of Cowley's mufe." 
 That Rowley mould ever have feen the 
 original model of this irregular ftyle of 
 compofition, is utterly improbable, fmce 
 O 2 Pindar 
 
 Matthias's Eflay, p. 66.
 
 196 LIFE OF 
 
 Pindar was one of the laft daffies that 
 emerged at the reiteration of literature *. 
 
 To- this head may be refered the ex- 
 traordinary Jmootbnefs of the verfe, which 
 is utterly unparalleled in any poet for 
 more than a century after the fuppofed 
 age of Rowley -f-; the accent or cadence, 
 which is always modern ; and the per- 
 fection and harmony of the rhyme J. 
 
 V. While the compofition, metre, 6cc. 
 are wholly modern, the LANGUAGE is 
 aflerted to be too ancient for the date of 
 the poems. It is not the language of 
 any particular period, but of two entire 
 centuries . The didlion and verification 
 are at perpetual variance || . The author 
 appears to have borrowed all his ancient 
 language, not from the ufage of common 
 
 life, 
 
 Warton's Inquiry, p. 33, 39. 
 f Curibry Obfervations, p. 5.* 
 J Matthias's Eflay, p. 67. 
 $ Curfoty Obfervations, p. 32. 
 it Warton's Inquiry, p. 42.
 
 CHA.TTERTON. 
 
 life, but from Speght, Skinner, and other 
 lexicographers, and to have copied their 
 miftakes *. He has even introduced 
 words which never made a part of the 
 Englifh language, and which are evident- 
 ly the coinage of fancy, analogy, or mif- 
 take -f. 
 
 VI. Notwithftanding this affectation of 
 ancient language, it is added, that the 
 tinfel of MODERN PHRASEOLOGY may in 
 too many inftances be detected. Thus fuch 
 phrafes as " Puerilitie -, before his optics - y 
 blamelefs tongue ; the aucthoure of the piece} 
 vefTel wreckt upon the tragic fand; thepro- 
 to-JIeynemzn,"&c. could not be the language 
 of the fifteenth century. We findalfo a num- 
 ber of modern formularies and combina- 
 tions, e. g. " Syfters in forrow; poygnant 
 arrowes typfd with deftinie ; Oh, Goddes ! 
 O 3 Now 
 
 * Matthias's Effay, p- 68. Tyrwhitt's Appendix to 
 Rowley's Poems, and Vindication paffim. 
 Ibid.
 
 198 LIFE OF 
 
 Now by the Goddes -, Ah, what avaulde j 
 Awaie, awaie ! (which is the cant of mo- 
 dern tragedy) Oh, thou, whate'er thie 
 name ;" with a number of compound epi- 
 thets *, and other almoft certain marks 
 of modern compofition -f*. 
 
 VIII. To thefe may be added fome paf- 
 fages which appear to be imitations of 
 modern poets. Many of thofe, which 
 have been cited to convict Chatterton of 
 plagiarifm, are, it muft be confeffed, fuch 
 obvious thoughts, that they might be 
 adopted by a perfon who had never feeh 
 the modern publications in which they 
 appear; but fuch coincidences as the fol- 
 lowing are palpable : 
 
 " O ! for a mufe of fire !" Shakef. Hen. V. 
 
 " O forre a fpryte al feere !" Ella, 1. 729. 
 
 ' His beard all white as fnow. 
 
 ' All flaxen was his pole." Hamlet. 
 
 Black 
 
 Warton's Inquiry, p. 23, 24. 
 Curfory Obfervations, p. 12, 13,
 
 CHATTERTON. 199 
 
 " Black his cryne as the winter nyghte, 
 
 " White his rode, as the fommer fnowe." Ella, 1. g- 1, 
 
 " No, no,, he is dead, 
 
 " Gone to his death bed." Hamlet. 
 
 fe Mie love is dedde, 
 
 " Gone to his deathe-bedde." Ella, I. 855. 
 
 " Unhoufell'd, unanointed, unaknelFd" 
 
 Hamlet in Pope's edit. 
 
 ft Unburled, undelievre, unefpryte." Goddwyn, 1. 27. 
 " Their fouls from corpfes unaknelFd depart." 
 
 Bat. of Haft, part i, 1. 288. 
 
 " The grey-goofe wing that was thereon, 
 
 ft In his hearts-blood was wet." Cbevy-Chace. 
 
 " The grey-goofe pynion, that thereon was fett, 
 " Eftfoons wyth fmokyng crimfon bloudwa; ivett." 
 
 Bat. of Haft, part i, 1. 200. 
 
 Witbfuth a force and vehement might 
 
 He did his body gore, 
 The fpear went thro' the other fide 
 
 A large cloth-yard and more. Chevy-Chace. 
 
 With thilk a force it did his body gore t 
 
 That in his tender guts it entered, 
 
 In veritie, a full cloth-yard or more. Bat. of Haft *. 
 
 " Clos'd his eyes in endlefs night." Gray's bard. 
 
 ft He clos'd his eyne in everlaftynge nyghte." 
 
 Bat, of Haft, part 2. 1.278^ 
 4 The 
 
 * See Monthly Review. 
 
 \ See a tetter prefixed to Chatterton's Mifcellanics, p. 24.
 
 2oo LIFE OF 
 
 The advocates of Rowley, are, how- 
 ever, not deflitute of arguments in their 
 fupport ; I ihall therefore divide the evi- 
 dence in the fame manner as in ftatjng the 
 former, and endeavour to exhibit as fair 
 a fummary as poffible, 
 
 ARGUMENTS- TO PROVE THAT THE 
 POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO ROWLEY, 
 WERE REALLY WRITTEN BY HIM 
 
 AND OTHERS IN THE I^th CENTURY. 
 
 External Evidence. 
 
 I. The firft grand argument which the 
 advocates on this fide advance, is the con- 
 ftant and uniform aflertion (except in a 
 Jingle inftance) of Chatterton himfelf, 
 who is reprefented by his fifcer, and all 
 his intimates, as a lover of truth from the- 
 earlieft dawn of reafon, He was alfo moft 
 jnfatiableof fame, and abounded in vanity. 
 Jie felt himfelf negleded, and many paf-
 
 C H A T T E R T O N. 
 
 fages of his writings are full of invective 
 on this fubjedt. Is it probable, that fuch 
 a perfon fhould barter \he fair character of 
 truth, which he Joyed, for the fake of 
 perfifling in falfehood, which he deteft- 
 ed ? Is it probable, that a perfon of his 
 confummate vanity, (hould uniformly give 
 the honour of all his more excellent com- 
 pofitions to another, and only infcribe his 
 name to thofe which were evidently in- 
 ferior ? But even though a man might 
 be thus carelefs of his reputation during 
 his life time, under the conviction that 
 he might aiTume the honour whenever he 
 pleafed, would this carelefsnefs continue 
 even at the hour of death ? Would he at 
 a moment, when he actually meditated 
 his own deftruction -, in a paper which he 
 infcribes " All this wrote between n 
 and 2 o'clock Saturday (Evening), in the 
 utmoft diftrefs of mind," ftill repeat 
 with the utmoft fplemnity the fame falfe 
 
 aflertion
 
 202 LIFE OF 
 
 affertion that he had affirmed during the 
 former part of his life ? there was at leaft 
 "" no occafion to introduce the fubject at that 
 time, and he might have been filent, if he 
 did not chufe to clofe his exiftence with a 
 direct falfehood *. If we confider the joy 
 which he manifefted on the difcovery of 
 the parchments, the avidity with which 
 he read them, he muft be the moft com- 
 plete of diffemblers, if really they con- 
 tained no fuch treafure as he pretended. 
 To another very extraordinary circum- 
 ilance Mr. Catcott has pledged himfelf, 
 which is, that on his firft acquaintance with 
 Chatterton, the latter mentioned by name 
 almofl all the poems which have fince ap- 
 peared in print, and that at a time, when, 
 if he were the author, one-tenth of them 
 could not be written -f*. 
 
 II, Next 
 
 * See Chatferton's will, Appendix to Mifcellanies. See 
 alfo the learned Mr. Bryant's Obfervations, p. 499, 547. 
 f Ibid. 548,
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 II. Next to the affeverations of Chat- 
 terton himfelf, we are bound to pay at 
 leaft fome attention to thofe of all his 
 friends. His mother accurately remem- 
 bers the whole tranfadtion concerning the 
 parchments, as I have already ftated it. 
 His fifter alfo recollects to have feen the 
 original parchment of the poem on our 
 Lady's Church, and, me thinks, of the 
 Battle of Haftings : me remembers to 
 have heard her brother mention frequently 
 the names of Turgot, and of John Stowe, 
 befides that of Rowley. *Mr. Smith, 
 who was one of the moft intirqate friends 
 of Chatterton, remembers to have feen 
 manufcripts upon vellum, to the number 
 of a dozen in his poiTeffion, many of them 
 ornamented with the heads of kings or 
 of popes, and fome of them as broad as 
 the bottom of a large fized chair -f-. He 
 
 ufed 
 
 * Milles's Preliminary Diflertation, p. S. 
 f Bryant's Qbfervations, p. 528.
 
 204 LIFE OF 
 
 ufed frequently to read to Mr. Smith, 
 fometimes parts, and fometimes whole 
 treatiles from thefe old manufcripts ; and 
 Mr. Smith has very often been prefent 
 while he tranfcribed them at Mr. Lam- 
 bert's*. Mr. Capel, a jeweller, -at Briftol, 
 aflured Mr. Bryant, that he had frequent- 
 ly called upon Chatterton, while at Mr. 
 Lambert's, and had at times found him 
 tranfcribing ancient manufcripts anfwer- 
 ing to the former defcription-f. Mr. 
 Thiftlethwaite, in the curious letter al- 
 ready quoted, relates, that during the 
 year 1768, " at divers vifits, he found 
 Chatterton employed in copying Rowley 
 from what he flill confiders as undoubted 
 originals J." Mr. Carey alfo, another 
 intimate acquaintance, frequently heard 
 Chatterton mention thefe manufcripts 
 foon after he left Col (Ion's fchool. Every 
 
 one 
 
 * Bryant's Obfervations. 
 
 f- Ibid, p. 523. 
 
 J Milles's Rowley, p. 457;
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 one of thefe gentlemen, as well as Mr. 
 Clayfield and Mr. Ruddall, declare un- 
 equivocally, from an intimate knowledge 
 of Chatterton's learning and abililies, that 
 they believe him incapable of producing 
 the poems of Rowley. 
 
 III. That a number of manufcripts 
 were found in ; Redpliffe church, cannot 
 poffibly be doubted after the variety of 
 evidence which has been adduced to that 
 purpofe. Perrot, the old Sexton, who 
 fucceeded Chatterton's great uncle, took 
 Mr. Shiercliffe, a miniature painter, of 
 Briftol, as early as the year 1749, through 
 RedclifFe church ; he (hewed him in the 
 North porch a number of parchments, 
 fome loofe and fome tied up, and inti- 
 mated, " that there were things there, 
 which would one day be better known ; 
 and that in proper hands, they might 
 prove a treafure*." Many of the manu- 
 fcripts 
 
 * Bryant's Obfervations, p. 513,
 
 206 LIFE OF 
 
 nufcripts in Mr. Barrett's hands bear all 
 the marks of age, and are " figned by 
 Rowley himfelf. The characters in each 
 inftance appear to be fimilar; and tht 
 hand-writing the fame in all *." 
 
 IV. The fhort time which Chatterton 
 had to produce all thefe poems, is an ex- 
 traordinary circumftance. It has been 
 already flated, that he continued at Coulf- 
 ton's fchool from the age of eight till 
 that of fourteen and feven months : that 
 he continued each day in fchool from fe- 
 ven or eight o'clock till twelve in the 
 morning, and from one till four or five in 
 the evening, and went to bed at eight. 
 There is alfo reafon to believe, that he 
 
 did 
 
 Bryant's Obfervationsp. 548. Mr. Barrett, and he only, 
 has it in his power finally to determine the controverfy con- 
 cerning Rowley's poems. Let him produce all the manu- 
 fcripts which he obtained from Chatterton, and let them be 
 put into the hands of fome perfons converfant in old writ- 
 ings, who may poffibly be able to decide concerning the 
 probable date of the hand-writing. O.
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 did not difcover or begin to copy thefe 
 poems, or even to apply himfelf to anti- 
 quities, before the age of fifteen. In about 
 the fpace therefore of two years and a 
 half, he made himfelf mafter of the an- 
 cient language of this country j he pro- 
 duced more than two volumes of poetry, 
 which are publifhed, and about as many 
 compofitions, in profe and verfe, as would 
 nearly fill two volumes more. During 
 this time he muft have read a confiderable 
 variety of books. He was ftudying me- 
 dicine, heraldry, and other fciences ; he 
 was practicing drawing ; he copied a large 
 book of precedents ; and Mr. Lambert's 
 bufinefs, though not extenfive, muft have 
 occupied at leaft fome part of his atten- 
 tion. Which, therefore, is the eafier 
 fuppofition, fay the advocates for Row- 
 ley, that this almoft miracle of induftry 
 r ability was performed by a boy; or 
 
 that
 
 20S LIFE OP 
 
 that Chatterton really copied the poems 
 from ancient documents * ? 
 
 V. Chat- 
 
 * Of thefe old writings, which he is fuppofed to have 
 tranfcribed from obfcure and almoft illegible manufcripts, 
 (exclufive of his mifcellaneous and political writings,} the 
 poetical alone fills 288 oftavo pages in Mr. Tywrhitt's 
 edition ; and perhaps there are others, with a quantity of 
 profe writings which might fill another fuch volume. See 
 Milles's edition, p. 438. 
 
 Thefe muft liave been tranfcribed by him, either in Mf. 
 Lambert's office, or during the few hours he fpent at home 
 with his mother in an evening. Neither Mr. Lambert nor 
 his mother or fifter, take upon them to fay, that they ever 
 faw him this way employed. When not engaged in the 
 immediate bufinefs of his profeflion, he was employed by his 
 mafter to copy forms and precedents, as well to improve 
 him in the law as to keep him employed. Of thefe Irv* 
 forms and precedents, Mr. Lambert has in his poffeffion a 
 folio book containing 334 pages, clofely written by Chat- 
 terton ; alfo 36 pages in another. In the noting book, 36 
 notarial a&s ; and in the letter book, 38 letters copied. 
 
 Add to all this his o*u> acknowledged compofitions, fill- 
 ing 240 pages in the printed copy, and perhaps as many 
 more in manufcript not yet publifhed. 
 
 The greateft part of thefe compofitions^ both under 
 Rowley's name and his own, was written before he went to 
 London, in April 1 770, he being then aged i 7 years and five 
 months ; and of the former, Rowley's pieces, they were 
 almoft all exhibited a twelve month earlier, before April 
 1769. 
 
 Now
 
 CHATTERTON. 209 
 
 V. Chatterton is faid further to have dif- 
 covered great marks of ignorance on the 
 manufcripts coming firft into his pofleffton. 
 He read the name Rotilie inftead of Rowley, 
 till he was fet right by Mr. Barrett *. 
 In the acknowledged writings of Chatter- 
 ton, there are alfo palpable miflakes, and 
 marks of ignorance in hiftory, geography, 
 &c. j whereas no fuch appear in the poems 
 of Rowley -J-. But what is of ftill greater 
 confequence, Mr. Bryant has laboured to 
 prove, that in almoft innumerable in/lan- 
 ces, Chatterton did not underftand the 
 language of Rowley, but that he has ac- 
 P tually 
 
 Now the time taken up in preparing the parchment and 
 imitating the old writing, muft probably have been greater 
 than the time fpent in compofmg them. If he was in pcf- 
 feffionofthe originals, furely he would not have beftowed 
 all this time and pains in tranfcribing from originals, which 
 he might have parted with to greater advantage ; and if 
 he did tranfcribe them, why deftroy the greateft part of 
 them, and exhibit only fcraps and detached lines, for fuch 
 cnly appear now to exift ? O. 
 
 Remarks on Warton, p. 9. 
 
 f Bryant's Obfervations, p. 477.
 
 210 L I F E O F 
 
 tually mifmterpreted, and fometimes mi. 
 tranfcribed him. Thus in " the En- 
 glim metamorphofis," ver. 14. 
 
 "Their myghte is kncpped ynne the frdlle of fere." 
 
 Chatterton having recourfe to Chaucer 
 and Skinner, has interpreted to knop, to tie, 
 Qtfaften -, whereas it really means, and the 
 context requires that it mould mean, to 
 nip. Thus in the Second Battle of Hail- 
 ings, 548, defcribinga facrifice : 
 
 f( Roaftynge their vyBuallc round about the flame ;" 
 
 which Mr. Tyrwhitt himfelf has allowed 
 ought to be vy&iirtes, and has accordingly 
 cancelled the other word. Thus in Ella, 
 v. 678, we find : 
 
 *' Theyre throngynge corfes ftiall onljgbte the ftarres." 
 
 The word onlygbte, Chatterton has here 
 ftrangely applied as meaning to darken the 
 ftars, whereas Mr. Byrant, by recurring to 
 the Saxon, very reafonably fuppofes cn- 
 
 hcb
 
 CHATTERTON. 2H 
 
 fycb to have been the proper word, and the 
 line will then mean to be like, or to equal 
 the ftars in number. The word cberl* 
 
 faunei, which Chatterton has inferted in 
 the " Introdutionne to Ella," never did 
 really exift, and Mr. Bryant fliews that 
 the original word was certainly cherlfauncei 
 and in the Second Eclogue, Chatterton 
 has explained the word amemtfed, by leff*- 
 
 . ened t or dlmlnijhed ' 9 whereas the fame able 
 critic fhews, that it never had any fuch 
 meaning, but that it really fignifies ac- 
 curfed or abominable. Thefe and other 
 fimilar miftakes (of which Mr. Bryant 
 fpecifies a great number) he afferts, could 
 never have happened, had Chatterton 
 been any more than the mere tranfcriber 
 of thefe extraordinary poems *. 
 
 VI. With refped: to the objection, that 
 Rowley is not mentioned by other wri- 
 ters, it is anfwered, that there exifted fo 
 P 2 little 
 
 See Mr. Bryant';. Obfervations, paffim.
 
 212 LIFE OF 
 
 little communication among mankind at 
 that time, that Leland, who is a very 
 curious writer, never makes the fmalleft 
 mention of Canynge, Lydgate, or Oc- 
 cleve. That William of Worceftre, does 
 not mention Rowley,, becaufe, unlefs hif- 
 tory demands it, writers do not commonly 
 commemorate perfons before their death, 
 and Rowley was apparently alive when 
 William of Worceftre was at Briflol. In 
 the regifler of the Diocefe of Wells, 
 however, there are two perfons of the 
 name of Thomas Rowley, mentioned as 
 admitted into Holy Orders, one of whom 
 might be the author of the poems*. In 
 anfwer to the objection, why thefe manu- 
 fcripts remained fo long unknown to the 
 world, Mr. Bryant fays, " We may not 
 be able to account any more for thefe ma- 
 nufcripts being fo long neglected, than for 
 thofe of Hefychius, Phcedrus, and Velle- 
 
 ius 
 
 * Mr, Bryant's Obf. p. 535, 543 544,
 
 CHATTERTON. 213 
 
 ius Paterculus having been in the fame 
 fituation * :" and with refpedt to the fe- 
 creting of the originals by Chatterton, it 
 is deemed a fufficient reply, that he might 
 conceive very highly of their value, and 
 therefore did not with to part with them, 
 or he might be apprehenfive that they 
 would be taken from him j and at laft, in 
 his indignation againft the world, he pro- 
 bably deftroyed all of them that remained 
 at the time when he determined upon 
 putting an end to his exiftence. 
 
 VII. The conceffions of the adverfaries 
 ought not to pafs unnoticed on this occa- 
 fion. Mr. Warton admits, " that fome 
 poems written by Rowley might have been 
 preferved in Canynge's cheft ; but if there 
 were any, they were fo enlarged and im- 
 proved by Chatterton, as to become en- 
 tirely new compofitions -f-;" and in a fub- 
 P ^ fequent 
 
 * Ibid, 499. 
 
 f Hiftory of Englifh Poetry.
 
 214 , LIFE O ? 
 
 fequent publication, fays, ' " I will not 
 deny that Chatterton might difcover 
 parchments of humble profe, containing 
 local memoirs and authentic deeds, illuf- 
 trating the hiftory of Briftol. He might 
 have difcovered biographical diaries, or 
 other notices of the lives of Canynge, 
 Ifcham, and Gorges," Thefe concefTions 
 at leaft imply fomething of a doubt on the 
 mind of the Laureat, concerning the ex- 
 iftence of fome important manufcripts, 
 and feem of fome coniidcration in the 
 fcale of controverfy. 
 
 Internal Evidence in favour of the authen- 
 ticity of Rowley s Poems. 
 
 I. The internal evidence (which we 
 may call pofitive) on this fide of the quef- 
 tion is not very extenfive, and the bulk 
 of it confifts in negative arguments, or a 
 refutation of the adversaries' objections. 
 The moil material proof is derived from 
 
 the
 
 CHATTERTON. 215 
 
 the ALLUSIONS TO FACTS and CUSTOMS, 
 of which there is not much probability, 
 that Chatterton could have a competent 
 knowledge. Thus, if the " Dethe of 
 Sir Charles Bawdin" be fuppofbd, as Mr. 
 Tyrwhitt himfelf thinks probable, to re- 
 fer to the execution of Sir Baldwin of 
 Fulford, the fact meets confirmation in 
 all its circumftances, from a fragment 
 publimed by Hearne, and alfo from a par- 
 liamentary roll of the eighth of Edward 
 IV; neither which there is the lead pro- 
 bability that Chatterton everfaw*. Thus 
 the names which occur iq. the Battle of 
 Haftings, may almoft all be authenticated 
 from the old hiftorians ; but they are 
 fcattered in fuch a variety of books, that 
 they could not be extracted without infi- 
 nite labour, and feveral of the books 
 were in all probability not acceffible by 
 Chatterton. 
 
 P 4 To 
 
 * Obfcrvations on Rowley's poems, p. 14.
 
 2l6 LIFE OF 
 
 To this head we may refer many par- 
 ticulars concerning Canynge, &c. as re- 
 lated by Chatter ton, fuch as his paying 
 3000 marks to the king, pro face fua 
 habenda, &c. which are confirmed in an 
 extraordinary manner by W. of Worceftre, 
 whofe book was not made public till 1778* 
 and which it was therefore impofiible 
 Chatterton could fee previous to the pub- 
 lication of his memoirs ; fuch is alfo the 
 time of Canynge's entering into Holy Or- 
 ders, which is confirmed by the Epifco- 
 pal regifter of Worcefter ; and the anec- 
 dote of the fteeple of Redcliffe church 
 being burnt down by lightning in 1446. 
 Of a fimiliar kind is a circumftance in the 
 the orthography of the name Fefcampe, 
 (which is the right orthography,) while 
 Holingmead, the only author acceffible to 
 Chatterton, has it Flifchampe. The name 
 of Robert Conful alfo, whom Rowley re- 
 prefents as having repaired the caftle of 
 
 Briflol,
 
 Briftol, occurs in Leland, as the proprie- 
 tor of that Caftle*. 
 
 II. With regard to the STYLE, COM- 
 POSITION, and SENTIMENT. If the* 
 poems appear fuperior to the efforts of the 
 firil fcholars at the revival of letters ; 
 what are they, when confidered as the 
 productions of an uneducated charity boy, 
 not quite feventeen ? Thofe alfo who think 
 that Chatterton could not reduce his genius 
 to the ftandard of the age of Rowley, 
 fhould, perhaps, rather wonder why he 
 could never raife his own avowed produc- 
 tions to an equal degree of excellence -f-. 
 The poems attributed to Rowley, if his, 
 are as much the work of his infantine 
 years, as his own mifcellancous poems; 
 
 indeed, 
 
 * See Bryant's Obfervations, p. 314, 326, 343, &c. 
 
 f The moft effential difference that ftrikes me betwir 
 the poems of Rowley and Chatterton is, that the forn^,,. 
 are always built upon fome confiftent interefting plot, and 
 are more uniformly excellent in the execution ; the latter are 
 irregular Tallies upon ill-felefted or trifling fubjefts.
 
 21 8 T. I P' F O' F 
 
 indeed, many of the latter were <:ompofed 
 fome time after mod of Rowley's were 
 exhibited to the world ; that they fhould 
 be inferior in every excellence of poetry, 
 is therefore a myftery not eafy to be ac- 
 counted for. Againft the general propofi- 
 tion, that poetry like other arts is progref-- 
 five, and never arrived to perfection in an 
 early age -, it has been judicioufly urged, that 
 " Genius is peculiar neither to age nor 
 country," but that we have an example 
 of one man (Homer), who in the very 
 infancy of all arts, without guide or pre- 
 en rfor, " gave to the world a work, which 
 has been the adrriiration and model of all 
 fucceeding poets -f-." And though it be 
 admitted, that Rowley's poems are per- 
 vaded by an uniform ftrain of excellence 
 and tafte, which does not appear in the 
 ^ther works of his age "now -extant, yet 
 
 when 
 
 * Matthias's EfTay, p. 98.
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 when we: compare any compofition with 
 another of the fame or of any prior age, 
 the difference fubfifting, will frequently 
 be found not to depend upon time, but 
 upon the tuation, genius and judgment 
 of the refpective authors -f . 
 
 III. As to METRE, it is faid, that 
 in all languages the modes and meafures. 
 of verie were originally invented aad 
 adopted from accidental circumftances, 
 and agreeably to the tafle of different au- 
 thors ; and that very early in the Englifh- 
 poetry, a great variety of meafures are 
 known to have prevailed, .fuch is the 
 octave ftanza, which is not many re- 
 moves from the ufual ffonza of Rowley, 
 the feven lined ftanza, or Rithm Royal, 
 and that of ten lines ufed by Chaucer in 
 one of his fmaller poems. The argument 
 founded on the fmoothnefs of the verfe, 
 is attempted to be overturned by Mr. 
 
 Bryant, 
 
 * Matthias's Effay, p. 72.
 
 LIFE OF 
 
 Bryant, who has produced extracts from 
 poems flill older than the age of Rowley, 
 which are deficient neither in harmony 
 nor cadence *. 
 
 IV. The objection founded on the an- 
 cient LANGUAGE of Rowley, is anfwer- 
 ed by fuppoling that his language was 
 probably provincial -)-. Several of the 
 words objected to as of Chatterton's coin- 
 ing, have by more profound refearches 
 been traced in ancient writers. Many 
 words in Rowley's poems cannot be found 
 in thofe dictionaries and gloffaries, to 
 which Chatterton had accefsj, and Chat- 
 terton's miftakes in tranfcribing and ex- 
 plaining the old language of Rowley, 
 have already been inftanced. 
 
 V. Many of the pretended IMITA- 
 TIONS of THE MODERN pOCtS tO be 
 
 found 
 
 Obfervations, p. 425, &c. 552. 
 
 f Ibid, p, i, to 25. 
 
 J Matthias's Effay, p. 77.
 
 CHATTERTON. 
 
 found in Rowley, are objected to upon 
 good grounds, as being ideas obvious to 
 Rowley or any man; and as to the 
 others, why may we not fuppofe them, 
 " infertions of Chatterton, either to pleafe 
 his own ear, or to reftore fome parts 
 which were loft, or in places where the 
 words were difficult to be decypered*?" 
 This argument acquires great weight, 
 when the temper and genius of Chatter- 
 ton is confidered, and when it is recol- 
 le&ed that all parties agree in the proba- 
 bility of many interpolations being made 
 by him; and if this argument be ad- 
 mitted, it will in a great meafure account 
 for the modern phrafelogy which ib 
 quently occurs in thefe poems. 
 
 In rejoinder to thefe arguments, a few 
 fadls have been flated by thofe who fup- 
 
 port 
 
 f Matthias's Eflay, p, 105.
 
 222 LIFE OF 
 
 port the title of Chatterton. rft. That no 
 writings or cheft depofited in RedclifFe 
 church are mentioned in Mr. Canynge's 
 will, which has been carefully infpected, 
 nor any books except two, called '* Lig- 
 gers cum integra legenda," which he 
 leaves to be ufed occafionally in the choir 
 by the 'two chaplains eftablimed by him*, 
 sd. To account for Chatterton's extenfive 
 acquaintance with old books out of the 
 common, line of reading, it is alledged that 
 the old library at Briftol was, during his 
 life time, of univerfal accefs, and Chatter- 
 ton was actually introduced to it by the 
 Rev. Mr. Catcott +. 3d. Chatterton's ac- 
 count of Canynge, 6cc. as far as it is coun- 
 tenanced by William of Worceftre, (that 
 is, as far as refpects his taking orders and 
 paying a fine to the king) may be found 
 in the epitaph on Mailer Canynge, ftill re- 
 maining to be read by every perfon, both in 
 
 Latin 
 
 Tywrhitt's Vindication, p. 117. 
 f Warton's Inquiry, p. 1 1 1.
 
 CHATTER TON. 
 
 Latin and Englifli, in RedclifFe church, 
 which indeed appears to be the authority, 
 that William of Worceftre himfelf has 
 followed. Chatterton's account alfo of 
 RedcHife fteeple, is to be found at the 
 bottom of a print of that church, pub- 
 limed in 1746, by one John Halfpenny, 
 " in which was recounted the ruin of the 
 fteeple in 1446, by a tempeft and fire*." 
 4th. As to the old vellum, or parchment 
 on which Chatterton tranfcribed his frag- 
 ments, it is obferved, that " at the bot- 
 tom of each meet of old deeds, (of which 
 there were many in the Briftol cheft) there 
 is ufually a blank fpace of about four or 
 five inches in breadth/' and this ex- 
 aftly agrees with the fhape and fize of the 
 largeft fragment which he has exhibited, 
 viz. Eight and a half inches long, and 
 four and a- half broad -\- . 
 
 * Tywrhitt's Vindication, p. 113, 212. 
 t Curfory Obfervations, p. 29. 
 
 THUS
 
 THUS I have exhibited as faithfully as 
 I was able, an abftraft of the arguments 
 on both fides of this curious literary quef- 
 tion. To the examination 1 fat down with 
 a fceptical mind ; nor can I recollect be- 
 ing influenced during the progrefs of the 
 inquiry in a fingle inflance, by the au- 
 thority of names, by the force of ridicule, 
 or the partialities of friendship. Some 
 remarks, I believe, I may have added, 
 which are not to be found in other books ; 
 in this, however, I am not confcious of 
 having favoured one party more than 
 the other, but efleemed it a part of my 
 duty to flate the obfervations as they rofe 
 in my mind from a confederation of the 
 fads. I fhall not intrude upon my rea- 
 ders any verdift of my own concerning 
 the iflue of the controverfy; fince my 
 only intention was to enable them, from a 
 view of the arguments, to form their own 
 conclufions ; leaving them flill open to 
 
 the
 
 CHATTERTON. 225 
 
 the impreffion of any additional or more 
 fads factory evidence that may hereafter 
 arife. | I cannot, however, lay afide my 
 pen without one general reflection. It is 
 impoffible to perufe the ftate of this con- 
 troverfy, without fmiling at the folly and 
 vanity of pofthumous fame. The author 
 of thefe poems, whoever he was, certainly 
 never flattered himfelf with the expecta- 
 tion that they would ever excite half the 
 curioiity, or half the admiration which 
 they have excited in the literary world. 
 If they really be the productions of Row- 
 ley, one of the firft, both in order and 
 in merit of our Englifh poets, is defraud- 
 ed of more than half his reputation ; if 
 they be the works of Chatterton, they 
 neither ferved to raife him in the opinion 
 of his^ intimate acquaintance and friends, 
 nor to procure for him the comforts or 
 even the necefTaries of life. He has de- 
 fcended to his grave with a dubious cha- 
 Q^ rafter ;
 
 226 LIFE OF 
 
 racter - } and the only praife which can be 
 accorded him by the warmeft of his ad- 
 mirers, is that of an elegant and ingenious 
 impoflor. 
 
 For the fatisfac~lion of thofe readers, 
 who may wifh to review the whole con- 
 troverfy at large, and for the information 
 of pofterity, I fubjoin the moil accurate 
 lift I have been able to procure of all the 
 publications which have appeared on both 
 fides. 
 
 A Lift of the various Publications upon the Subject of 
 ROWLEY'S POEMS, for and againfi their Authenticity. 
 
 EDITIONS OF ROWLEY. 
 
 PoEMs,fuppofcd to have been written at Briftol by Thomas 
 Rowley, and others, in the Fifteenth Century ; the greateft 
 Part now firft publifhed from the moll authentic Copies, 
 with an engraved Specimen of one of the MS. To which 
 are added, a Preface, an Introductory Account of the fc- 
 veral Pieces, and a GlofTary. Ed. 8vo. 1777. 
 N. B. This Edition has been reprinted. 
 
 Ditto : with a Commentary, in which the Antiquity of 
 them is confidered and defended, by Jeremiah Milles, 
 D.D. Dean of Exeter, Ed. 410. ijSz. 
 
 THE
 
 CHATTERTON. 227 
 
 THE EIGHTH Seflion of Mr. Warton's Second Volume of 
 the Hiftory of Engliih Poetry, with the Notes to it. 
 
 REMARKS on the Eighth Se&ion of Mr. Warton's Second 
 Volume of the hiftory of Englifh Poetry. 
 
 Payne, Mew s -Gate. 
 
 Two Letters by the Hon. Mr. Horace Walpole ; printed 
 at Strawberry-hill. Reprinted, (by his permiflion) in 
 the Gentleman's Magazines for April, May, June, July, 
 1782. 
 
 APPENDIX, containing fome Obfervations upon the Lan- 
 guage of the Poems attributed to Rowley, tending to 
 prove, that they were written not by any ancient Author* 
 but entirely by Thomas Chatterton. Payne, Mews-Gate. 
 
 N. B. This Appendix is now generally annexed to the 8vo. 
 Edition of Rowley's Poems. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS on the Poems attributed to Rowley, tend- 
 ing to prove, that they were really written by Him and 
 other Ancient Authors. To which are added, Remarks 
 on the Appendix of the Editor (of the 8vo. Ed) . of Row- 
 ley's Poems. Batburjl, Fleet-Street. 
 
 OBSERVATIONS upon the Poems of Thomas Rowley ; in 
 which the Authenticity of thofe Poems is afcertained. By 
 Jacob Bryant, Efq. Payne, Mews-Gate, &c. 
 
 Gu RSORY Obfervations on the Poems attributed to Thomas 
 Rowley, a Prieft in the fifteenth Century : with fome Re- 
 marks on the Commentaries on thefe Poems, by the Re- 
 verend Dr. Jeremiah Milles, Dean of Exeter, and Jacob 
 Bryant, Efq. Nichols and Walter, Charing-crofs. 
 
 AN ENQJ/IRY into the Authenticity of the Poems attribu- 
 ted to Thomas Rowley, in which the Arguments of the 
 Q 2 Dean
 
 228 LIFE OF CHATTERTON. 
 
 Dean of Exeter and Mr. Bryant are examined. By Tho- 
 mas Warton, Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford, and 
 F. S. A. Dot/ley, Pall. Mail. 
 
 STRICTURES upon a Pamphlet entitled, " Curfory Ob- 
 fervations on the Poems attributed to Rowley, a Prieft in 
 the Fifteenth Century." With a Poftfcript on Mr. Tho- 
 mas Warton's Enquiry into the fame Subjeft. By. E. B. 
 Greene, Efq. Stoikdale, Piccadilly. 
 
 A VINDICATION of the APPENDIX to the Poems called 
 Rowley's : In Reply to the Anfwers of the Dean of Exe- 
 ter, Jacob Bryant Efq. and a third anonymous Writer ; 
 with fome further obfervations upon thofe Poems, and an 
 Examination of the Evidence which has been produced in 
 Support of their Authenticity. By Thomas Tyrwhitt. 
 
 Payne, Meiv's-Gatf. 
 
 AN ESSAY on the Evidence, External and Internal, relating 
 to the Poems attributed to Thomas Rowley and others, 
 in the Fifteenth Century, containing a general View of 
 the whole Controverfy. By Thomas James Mathias. 
 
 Becket, Pall Mall. 
 
 To which may be added various fhorter Compofitions on the 
 Subjeft (too numerous to fpecify) inferted in the different 
 monthly Magazines. 
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 the following Poem was copied from a manufcript 
 of CHATTERTON, and the Editor believes has 
 never before been prejented to the Public. 
 
 The ART of PUFFING, 
 
 By a BOOKSELLER'S JOURNEYMAN. 
 
 V ERS'D by experience in the fubtle art, 
 The myft'ries of a title I impart : 
 Teach the young author how to pleafe the town ; 
 And make the heavy drug of rhime go down. 
 Since Curl, immortal, never dying name, 
 A double pica in the book of fame, 
 By various arts did various dunces prop, 
 And tickled every fancy to his fhop : 
 Who can like Pottinger enfure a book ? 
 Who judges with the folid tafte of Cooke ? 
 Villains exalted in the midway flcy, 
 Shall live again, to drain your purfes dry : 
 Nor yet unrivall'd they ; fee Baldwin comes, 
 Rich in inventions, patents, cuts and hums : 
 The honorable Bofwell writes, 'tis true, 
 What elfe can Paoli's fupporter do ? 
 
 CL3 The
 
 230 APPENDIX. 
 
 The trading wits endeavour to attain, 
 Like bookfellers, the world's firft idol gain : 
 For this they puff the heavy Goldfmith's line, 
 And hail his fentiment tho' trite, divine ; 
 For this, the patriotic bard complains, 
 And Bingley binds poor liberty in chains : 
 For this was every reader's faith deceiv'd, 
 And Edmund fvvore what nobody belie v'd: 
 For thio the wits in clofe difguifes fight ; 
 For this the varying politicians write ; 
 For this each month new magazines are fold, 
 With dullnefs fill'd and tranfcripts of the old:. 
 The Town and Country ftruck a lucky hit, 
 Was novel, fentimental, full of wit : 
 Apeing her walk, the fame fuccefs to find, 
 The Court and City hobbles far behind : 
 Sons of Apollo learn, merit's no more 
 Than a good frontifpiece to grace her door ; 
 The author who invents a title well, 
 Will always find his cover'd dullnefs fell ; 
 Flexney and every bookfeller will buy, 
 Bound in neat calf, the work will never die. 
 
 VAMP. 
 July 2?> 1770, 
 
 LETTERS
 
 LETTERS 
 
 O F 
 
 THOMAS CHATTERTON. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 London, April 26, 1770. 
 
 Dear Mother, 
 
 HERE I am, fafe, and in high fpirits 
 To give you a journal of my tour 
 would not be unnecefTary. After riding 
 in the bafket to Briflington, I mounted 
 the top of the coach, and rid eafy ; and 
 agreeably entertained with the converfa- 
 tion of a quaker in drefs, but little fo in 
 perfonals and behaviour. This laughing 
 friend, who is a carver, lamented his 
 having fent his tools to Worcefler, as 
 otherwife he would have accompanied me 
 Q-4 to
 
 232 APPENDIX. 
 
 to London. I left him at Bath; when,, 
 finding' it rained pretty faft, I entered an 
 infide pafTenger to Speenhamland, the 
 half-way ftage, paying feven {hillings. 
 'Twas lucky I did fo, fbr it fnowetf aU 
 night, and on Marlborough Downs the 
 fnow was near a foot high. 
 
 At feven in the morning I breakfafted 
 at Speenhamland, and then mounted the 
 coach-box for the remainder of the day, 
 which was a remarkable fine one. - HO- 
 neft gee- ho complimented me with af- 
 fu ring me, that I fat bolder and tighter 
 than any perfon who ever rid with him. 
 Dined at Stroud moil luxuriantly, 
 with a young gentleman who had flept 
 all the preceding night in the machine 
 and an old mercantile genius, whofe 
 fchool-boy fon had a great deal of wit, 
 as the father thought, in remarking that 
 Wind for- was as old as our Saviour s. 
 time* 
 
 Got
 
 APPENDIX. 233 
 
 Got into London about five o'clock in 
 the evening called upon Mr. Edmunds, 
 Mr. Fell, Mr. Hamilton, and Mr. Dodf- 
 ley. Great encouragement from them; 
 all approved of my defign ; (hall foon 
 
 be fettled. Call upon Mr. Lambert; 
 
 (hew him this, or tell him, if I dcfervc 
 a recommendation, he would oblige ma 
 to give me one if I do not, it will be 
 beneath him to take notice of me. Seen 
 all aunts, coufins all well and I am. 
 welcome. Mr. T. Wenfley is alive, and 
 
 coming home. -Sifter, grandmother, 
 
 &c. &c. 6cc. remember. I remain, 
 
 Your dutiful fon, 
 
 T. Chatterton.. 
 
 LETTER
 
 234 
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Shoreditch, London, May 6, 1770. 
 
 Dear Mother, 
 
 I am furprifed that no letter has been 
 fent in anfwer to my laft. I am fettled, 
 and in fuch a fettlement as I would de- 
 Jire. I get four guineas a month by one 
 Magazine: mall engage to write a Hif- 
 tory of England, and other pieces, which 
 will more than double that fum. Occa- 
 fional eflays for the daily papers would 
 more than fupport me. What a glorious 
 profpect ! Mr. Wilkes knew me by my 
 writings lince I firft correfponded with 
 the bookfellers here. I fhall vifit him 
 next week, and by his intereft will in- 
 fure Mrs. Ballance the Trinity- Houfe. 
 He affirmed that what Mr. Fell had of 
 mine could not be the writings of a 
 youth; and exprefTed a defire to know 
 the author. By the means of another 
 
 bookfeller
 
 APPENDIX. 235 
 
 bookfeller I (hall be introduced to Townf- 
 hend and Sawbridge. I am quite familiar 
 at the Chapter CofFee-houfe, and know 
 all the geniufes there. A character is 
 now unnecefTary ; an author carries his 
 character in his pen. My fitter will im- 
 prove herfelf in drawing. My grand- 
 mother is, I hope, well. Briftol's mer- 
 cenary walls were never deflined to hold 
 me there, I was out of my element; 
 now, I am in it London ! Good God ! 
 how fuperior is London to that defpica- 
 ble place Briftol ! Here is none of your 
 little meannefles, none of your mercenary 
 fecurities, which difgrace that miferable 
 hamlet. Drefs, which is in Briftol ari 
 eternal fund of fcandal, is here only in- 
 troduced as a fubject of praife; if a man 
 dreffes well, he has tafte; if carelefs, he 
 has his own reafons for fo doing, and is 
 prudent. Need I remind you of the 
 contrafl? The poverty of authors is a 
 
 common
 
 236 APPENDIX. 
 
 common obfervation, but not always a 
 true one. No author can be poor who 
 understands the arts of bookfellers 
 Without this neceflary knowledge, the 
 greateft genius may ftarve -, and, with 
 it, the greateft dunce live in fplendor. 
 This knowledge I have pretty well dipped 
 into. The Levant man of war, in 
 which T* Wenfley went out, is at Portf- 
 mouth -, but no news from him yet. 
 I lodge in one of Mr. Walmfley's beft 
 rooms. Let Mr. Gary copy the letters on 
 the other fide, and give them to the per- 
 fons for whom they are defigned, if not 
 too much labour for him. 
 
 J remain, yours, &c. 
 
 T. Chatterton. 
 
 P. S. I have fome trifling prefents for 
 my mother, fitter Thorne, &c. 
 
 Sunday morning, 
 
 For
 
 APPENDIX* 237 
 
 For Mr. T. GARY. 
 
 I have fent you a tafk. I hope no 
 unpleafing one. Tell all your acquaint- 
 ance for the future to read the Freehold- 
 er's Magazine. -When you have any thing 
 for publication, fend it to me, and it fhall 
 moft certainly appear in fome periodical 
 compilation. Your laft piece was, by the 
 ignorance of a corrector, jumbled under 
 the confiderations in the acknowledge- 
 ments. But I refcued it, and infifted on 
 its appearance. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 T. C. 
 
 Direct for me, to be left at the Chapter 
 CofFee-houfe, Pater- nofter -row. 
 
 Mr, HENRY KATOR. 
 If you have not forgot Lady Betty, 'any 
 Complaint, Rebus, or Enigma, on the 
 dear charmer, directed for me, to be left at 
 
 the
 
 238 APPENDIX. 
 
 the Chapter CofFee-houfe, Pater- nofier- 
 row fhall find a place in fome Magazine, 
 or other ; as I am engaged in many. 
 Your friend, 
 
 T. Chatterton. 
 
 Mr. WILLIAM SMITH. 
 When you have any poetry for publi- 
 cation, fend it to me, to be left at the 
 Chapter CofFee-houfe, Pater- nofter- row, 
 and it (hall moil certainly appear. 
 Your friend, 
 
 T, C. 
 
 Mrs. BAKER. 
 
 The fooner I fee you the better fend 
 me as foonas poffible Rymfdyk's addrefs. 
 
 (Mr. Gary will leave this at Mr. Flower's, 
 Small-ftreet.) 
 
 Mr. MASON. 
 
 Give me a fhort profe defcription of the 
 fituation of Nam and the poetic addition 
 
 {hall
 
 APPENDIX, 263 
 
 fhall appear in fome Magazine. Send me 
 alfo whatever you would have publifhed, 
 and diredt for me, to be left at the Chap- 
 ter CofFee-houfe, Pater-nofter-row. 
 Your friend, 
 
 T. Chatter ton. 
 
 Mr. MAT. MEASE. 
 
 Begging Mr. Meafe's pardon for making 
 public ufe of his name lately I hope he 
 will remember me, and tell all his ac- 
 quaintance to read the Freeholder's Maga- 
 zine for the future. 
 
 T. Chatterton. 
 
 TEL L 
 
 Mr. Thaire Mr. Rudhall Mr.Ward 
 
 Mr. Gafler Mr. Thomas Mr. Kala 
 
 Mr.A.Broughton Mr. Carty Mr.Smith 
 Mr.J. Broughton Mr. Hanmor $cc. &c. 
 Mr. Williams Mr. Vaughan 
 
 to read the Freeholder's .Magazine. 
 
 LETTER
 
 240 APPENDJX* 
 
 LETTER III. 
 King's Bench, for the prefent. May 14, 17701 
 
 Dear Madam, 
 
 Don't be furprized at the name of the 
 place. I am not here as a prifoner. Mat- 
 ters go on fwimmingly : Mr. Fell having 
 offended certain perfons, they have fet his 
 creditors upon him,; and he is fafe in the 
 King's Bench. I have been bettered by 
 this accident : His fucceflbrs in the Free- 
 holder's Magazine, knowing nothing of 
 the matter, will be glad to engage me, on 
 my own terms. Mr. Edmunds has been 
 tried before the Houfe of Lords, fentenced 
 to pay a fine, and thrown into Newgate. 
 His misfortunes will be to me of no little 
 fervice. Lafl week, being in the pit of 
 Drury Lane, Theatre, I contracted an im- 
 mediate acquaintance (which you know is 
 no hard tafk to me) with a young gentle- 
 man
 
 APPENDIX. 24! 
 
 man in Cheapfide ; partner in a mufic 
 (hop, the greateft in the city. Hearing I 
 could write, he defired me to write a few 
 fongs for him : this I did the fame night, 
 and conveyed them to him the next morn- 
 ing. Thefe he mewed to .a Doctor in 
 Mulic, and I am invited to treat with this 
 Doctor, on the footing of a compofer, for 
 Ranelagh and the Gardens. Bravo, hey 
 boys, up we go ! Befides the advantage 
 of vifiting thefe expenfiveand polite places 
 gratis ; my vanity will be fed with the 
 light of my name in copper-plate, and my 
 fitter will receive a bundle of printed fongs, 
 the words by her brother. Thefe are not 
 all my acquifitions : a gentleman who 
 knows me at the Chapter, as an author, 
 would have introduced me as a companion 
 to the young Duke of Northumberland, 
 in his intended general tour. But, alas ! 
 I fpeak no tongue but my own ! But 
 tQ return o.nce more to a place I am 
 H fickened
 
 242 APPENDIX. 
 
 fickened to write of, Briftol. Though, as 
 an apprentice, none had greater liberties, 
 yet the thoughts of fervitude killed me : 
 now I have that for my labour, I always 
 reckoned the firft of my pleafures, and 
 have flill, my liberty. As to the clearance, 
 I am ever ready to give it -, but really I 
 underftand fo little of the law, that I be- 
 lieve Mr. Lambert mufl draw it. Mrs. 
 L. brought what you mention. Mrs. 
 Hughes is as well as age will permit her 
 to be, and my coufin does very well. 
 
 I will get fome patterns worth your 
 acceptance ; and wifh you and my fifler 
 would improve yourfelves in drawing, as 
 it is here a valuable and never-failing ac- 
 
 quifition. My box fhall be attended 
 
 to ; I hope my books are in it if not, 
 fend them ; and particularly Catcott's 
 Hutchinfonian jargon on the Deluge, and 
 the M.S. Gloflary, compofed of one 
 
 fmall book, annexed to a larger. My 
 
 fifler
 
 APPENDIX. 243 
 
 fifter will remember me to Mifs Sandford. 
 I have not quite forgot her ; though there 
 are fo many pretty milleners, &c. that 
 
 I have almoft forgot myfelf. Carty 
 
 will think on me : upon inquiry, I find 
 his trade dwindled into nothing here. 
 A man may very nobly flarve by it ; but 
 he muft have luck indeed, who can live 
 
 by it. Mifs Rumfey, if me comes to 
 
 London, would do well, as an old ac- 
 quaintance, to fend me her addrefs. 
 London is not Briilol We may patrole 
 the town for a day, without raifing one 
 whifper, or nod of fcandal. If me re- 
 fufes, the curfe of all antiquated virgins 
 light on her : may (he be refufed, when 
 me mall requefl ! Mifs Rumfey will tell 
 Mifs Baker, and Mifs Baker will tell Mifs 
 Porter, that Mifs Porter's favoured hum- 
 ble fervant, though but a young man, is a 
 very old lover; and in the eight-and- 
 fiftieth year of his age : but that, as Lap- 
 R 2 pet
 
 244 APPENDIX. 
 
 pet fays, is the flower of a man's days ; 
 and when a lady can't get a young huf- 
 band, me muft put up with an old bed- 
 fellow. I left Mifs Singer, I am forry 
 to fay it, in a very bad way j that is, in a 
 
 way to be married. But mum Afk 
 
 Mifs Suky Webb the reft ; if (lie knows, 
 fhe'11 tell ye. I beg her pardon for re- 
 vealing the fecret ; but when the knot is 
 faftened, me mall know how I came by 
 it. Mifs Thatcher may depend upon it, 
 that, if I am not in love with her, I am 
 in love with nobody elfe : I hope me is 
 well j and if that whining, lighing, dy- 
 ing pulpit-fop, Lewis, has not rimmed 
 his languiming lectures, I hope me will 
 fee her amorofo next Sunday. If Mifs 
 Love has no objection to having a crambo 
 fong on her name publimed, it (hall be 
 done. Begging pardon of Mifs Cotton 
 for whatever has happened to offend her, 
 1 can affure her it has happened without 
 
 iny
 
 I 
 
 APPENDIX.' 245 
 
 my confent. 1 I did not give her this af- 
 furance when in Briftol, left it (hould 
 feem like an attempt to avoid the anger 
 of her furious brother. Inquire, when 
 you can, how Mifs Broughton received 
 her billet. Let my fitter fend me a jour- 
 nal of all the tranfactions of the females 
 within the circle of your acquaintance. 
 Let Mifs Wat kins know, that the letter 
 me made herfelf ridiculous by, was never 
 intended for her > but another young lady 
 in the neighbourhood, of the fame name. 
 I promifed, before my departure, to write 
 to fome hundreds, I believe; but, what 
 with writing for publications, and going 
 to places of public diverfion, which is 
 as abfolutely neceffary to me as food, I 
 find but little time to write to you. As 
 to Mr. Barrett, Mr. Catcott, Mr. Bur- 
 gum, &c. &c. they rate literary lumber 
 fo low, that I believe an author, in their 
 eflimation, muft be poor indeed! But 
 R 3 here
 
 246 APPENDIX. 
 
 here matters are otherwife ; had Rowley 
 been a Londoner, inftead of a Briftowyan, 
 I could have lived by copying his works. 
 
 In my humble opinion, I am under 
 
 very few obligations to any perfons in 
 Briftol : one, indeed, has obliged me ; but, 
 as moil do, in a manner which makes his 
 obligation no obligation. My youthful 
 acquaintances will not take it in dudgeon, 
 that I do not write oftener to them, than 
 I believe I {hall : but, as I had the happy 
 art of pleafing in converfation, my com- 
 pany was often liked, where I did not 
 like : and to continue a correfpondence 
 under fuch circumflances, would be ridi- 
 culous. Let my lifter improve in copying 
 mufic, drawing, and every thing which 
 requires genius : in Briftol's mercantile 
 flyle thofe things may be ufelefs, if not 
 a detriment to her; but here they are 
 
 highly profitable. Inform Mr. Rhife 
 
 that nothing mail be wanting, on my 
 
 part,
 
 APPENDIX. 247 
 
 part, in the buiinefs he was fo kind as to 
 employ me in; mould be glad of a line 
 from him, to know whether he would 
 engage in the marine department; or 
 fpend the reft of his days, fafe, on dry 
 ground. Intended waiting on the Duke 
 of Bedford relative to the Trinity-Houfe ; 
 but his Grace is dangeroufly ill. My 
 grandmother, I hope, enjoys the ftate of 
 health I left her in. I am Mifs Webb's 
 humble fervant. Thorne fhall not be 
 forgot, when I remit the fmall trifles to 
 you. Notwithstanding Mrs. B's not be- 
 ing able to inform me of Mr. Garfed's 
 addrefs, through the clofenefs of the pi- 
 ous Mr. Ewer, I luckily ftumbled upon 
 it this morning. 
 
 I remain, &c. 6cc. &c. &c. 
 Monday Evening. Thomas Chatterton. 
 
 (Direa for me, at Mr. Walmfley's,at Shoreditch only.) 
 R 4 LETTER
 
 248 APPENDIX* 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Tom's Ccffee-houfe, London, May 30, 1770. 
 
 Dear Sifter, 
 
 There is fuch a noife of bufmefs and 
 politicks in the room, that my inaccuracy 
 in writing here, is highly excufable. My 
 prcfent profeffion obliges me to frequent 
 places of the bdl re fort. To begin with, 
 what every female converfation begins 
 with, drefs : I employ my money now in 
 fitting myfelf fafliionabJy, and getting into 
 good company ; tK- iafl article always 
 brings me in intweft. I I have en- 
 gaged to live with : .leman, the bro- 
 ther of a Lord ( scotch one indeed), 
 who is going to advance pretty deeply 
 into the bookfelling branches : I mall 
 have lodging and boarding, genteel and 
 elegant, gratis: this article, in the quar-^ 
 ter of the town he lives, with worfe ac- 
 commodations, would be 50!. per annum. 
 
 I mall
 
 - 
 
 r vo 
 
 APPENDIX. 249 
 
 I fhall have, likewife, no inconfiderable 
 premium; and aflure yourfelf every month 
 all end to your advantage : I will fend 
 you two filks this fummer; and expert, 
 in anfwer to this, what colours you pre- 
 fer. My mother (hall not be forgotten. 
 My employment will be writing a volu- 
 minous Hiftory of London, to appear in 
 numbers the beginning of the next win- 
 ter. As this will not, like writing poli- 
 tical efTays, oblige me to go to the coffee- 
 houfe, I mall be able to ferve you the 
 more by it : but it will neceffitate me to 
 go to Oxford, Cambridge, Lincoln, Co- 
 ventry, and every collegiate church near; 
 not at all difagreeable journeys, and not 
 to me expenfive. The Manufcript Glof- 
 fary, I mentioned in my laft, mufl not 
 be omitted. If money flowed as fail 
 upon me as honours, I would give you a 
 portion of 5600!. You have, doubtlefs, 
 heard of the Lord Mayor's remonftrating 
 
 and
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 and addreffing the King : but it will be 
 a piece of news, to inform you that I 
 have been with the Lord Mayor on the 
 occaiion. Having addreffed an eflay to' 
 his Lordmip, it was very well received ; 
 perhaps better than it deferred *, and I 
 waited on his Lordfhip, to have his ap- 
 probation, to addrefs a fecond letter to 
 him, on the fubject of the remonftrance, 
 and its reception. His Lordhip received 
 me as politely as a citizen could - y and 
 warmly invited me to call on him again. 
 
 The reft is a fecret But the devil of 
 
 the matter is, there's no money to be got 
 of this fide the queftion. Interefl is of 
 the other fide. But he is a poor author, 
 who cannot write on both fides. I be- 
 lieve I may be introduced (and, if I am 
 not, I'll introduce myfelf ) to a ruling 
 power in the Court party. I might have 
 a recommendation to Sir George Cole- 
 brook, an EafUIndia Director, as quali- 
 fied
 
 JL 11, 
 
 : 
 
 APPENDIX. 251 
 
 fied for an office no ways defpicable ; but 
 I fhall not take a ftep to the fea, whilft I 
 continue on land. I went yefterday 
 Woolwich, to fee Mr. Wenfley; he is 
 paid to-day. The artillery is no unplea- 
 ling fight, if we bar reflection, and do 
 not conlider how much mifchief it may 
 do. Greenwich Hofpital and St. Paul's 
 Cathedral are the only flructures which 
 could reconcile me to any thing out of 
 the Gothic. Mr. Carty will hear from 
 me foon : multiplicity of literary bufi- 
 nefs muft be my excufe. I condole with 
 him, and my dear Mifs Sandford, in the 
 misfortune of Mrs. Carty : my phyfical 
 advice is, to leech her temples plenti- 
 fully : keep her very low in diet ; as 
 much in the dark as poffible. Nor is 
 this laft prefcription the whim of an old 
 woman : whatever hurts the eyes, affects 
 the brain : and the particles of light, 
 
 when
 
 252 APPENDIX. 
 
 when the fun is in the fummer figns, are 
 highly prejudicial to 7 the eyes; and it is 
 from this fympathetic effedt, that 
 head-ach is general in fummer. 
 above all, talk to her but little, and ne- 
 ver contradict her in any thing. This 
 may be of fervice. I hope it will. Did 
 a paragraph appear in your paper of Sa- 
 turday la'ft, mentioning the inhabitants of 
 London's having opened another view of 
 St. Paul's ; and advifmg the corporation, 
 or veftry of Redclift, to procure: a more 
 compleat view of Redclift church ? My 
 compliments to Mifs Thatcher : if I am 
 in love, I am ; though the devil take me, 
 if I can tell with whom it is. I believe 
 I may addrefs her in the words of Scrip- 
 ture, which no doubt me reveres ; " If 
 you had not ploughed with my heifer " 
 (or bullock rather), " you had not found 
 out my riddle." Humbly thanking Mifs 
 
 Rumfey
 
 APPENDIX. 253 
 
 Rumfey for her complimentary expreffion, 
 
 * can not think it fatisfadtory. Does (he, 
 does me not, intend coming to Lon- 
 don ? Mrs. O'Coffin has not yet got a 
 place ; but there is not the leaft doubt 
 but (he will in a little time. 
 
 ElTay-writing has this advantage, you 
 are fure of conftant pay; and when you 
 have once wrote a piece which makes the 
 author enquired after, you may bring the 
 bookfellers to your own terms. Eflays 
 on the patriotic fide fetch no more than 
 what the copy is fold for. As the patriots 
 themfelves are fearching for a place, they 
 have no gratuities to fpare. So fays one 
 of the beggars/ in a temporary alteration 
 of mine, in the Jovial Crew : 
 
 A patriot was my occupation, 
 
 It got' me a name but no pelf: ' 
 
 Till, ftarv'd for the good of the nation, 
 
 I begg'd for the good of myfelf. 
 
 Fal, lal. &c. 
 
 1 told
 
 54 APPENDIX. 
 
 I told them, if 'twas not for me, 
 Their freedoms would all go to pot; 
 
 I promis'd to fet them all free, 
 But never a farthing I got. 
 
 Fal, lal, &c. 
 
 I 
 
 On the other hand, unpopular efTays 
 will not even be accepted -, and you muft 
 pay to have them printed : but then you 
 feldom lofe by it. Courtiers are fo fen- 
 lible of their deficiency in merit, that 
 they generally reward all who know how 
 to daub them with an appearance of it. 
 
 To return to private affairs Friend 
 
 Slude may depend upon my endeavouring 
 to find the publications you mention. 
 They publifh the Gofpel Magazine here. 
 For a whim I write in it. I believe there 
 are not any fent to Briftol ; they are hard- 
 ly worth the carriage methodiftical, and 
 unmeaning. With the ufual ceremonies 
 to my mother, and grandmother; and fin- 
 cerely, without ceremony, wiming them 
 
 both
 
 APPENDIX. 255 
 
 both happy , when it is in my power to 
 make them fo, they (hall be fo; and with 
 my kind remembrance to Mifs Webb, and 
 Mifs Thome -, I remain, as I ever was, 
 Yours, &c. to the end of the chapter, 
 
 Thomas Chatterton. 
 
 P. S. I am this minute pierced through 
 the heart by 'the black eye of a young 
 lady, driving along in a Hackney-coach. 
 
 1 am quite in love : if my love lafts 
 
 till that time, you fhall hear of it in my 
 next. 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 June 19, 1770. 
 
 Dear Sifter, 
 
 I have an horrid cold The relation 
 
 of the manner of my catching it may 
 give you more pleafure than the circum- 
 fiance itfelf. As I wrote very late Sunday 
 
 night
 
 2 $6 APPENDIX. 
 
 night (or rather very early Monday morn- 
 ing), I thought to have gone to bed 
 pretty foon laft night: when, being half^' 
 undrefled, I heard a very doleful voice, 
 finging Mifs Hill's favorite bedlamite 
 fong. The hum-drum of the voice fo 
 ftruck me, that though I was obliged to 
 liflen a long while before I could hear 
 the words, I found the fimilitude in the 
 found. After hearing her with pleafure 
 drawl for above half an hour, me jumped 
 into a brifker tune, and hobbled out the 
 ever-famous fong, in which poor Jack 
 Fowler was to have been fatirized. 
 " I put my hand into a bum : I prick'd 
 f * my finger to the bone : I faw a fhip 
 " failing along : I thought the fweeteft 
 '* flowers to find : " and other pretty 
 flowery expreffions, were twanged with 
 
 no inharmonious bray. 1 now ran to 
 
 the window, and threw up the fam ; re- 
 folved to be fatisfied, whether or no it 
 
 was
 
 APPENDIX. 257 
 
 was the identical Mifs Hill, in propria 
 
 perfona. But, alas ! it was a perfon 
 
 whofe twang is very well known, when 
 fhe is awake, but who had drank fo much 
 royal bob (the gingerbread-baker for that, 
 you know), that fhe was now Tinging her- 
 felf afleep. This fomnifying liquor had 
 made her voice fo like the fweet echo of 
 Mifs Hill's, that if I had not confidered 
 that (he could not fee her way up to 
 London, I mould abfolutely have ima- 
 gined it hers < There was a fellow and 
 a girl in one corner, more bufy in at- 
 tending to their own affairs, than the 
 melody. 
 
 ^hls part of the letter, for feme lines, 
 is not legible. 
 
 the morning) from Marybone 
 
 gardens j I faw the fellow in the cage at 
 the watch-houfe, in the parim of St. 
 Giles ; and the nymph is an inhabitant of 
 
 one of Cupid's inns of Court. There 
 
 was one fimilitude it would be injuftice 
 S
 
 258 APPENDIX. 
 
 to let flip. A drunken fimman, who fells 
 foufe mackarel, and other delicious dain-' 
 
 ties, to the eternal detriment of all two- 
 
 
 penny ordinaries ; as his beft commodity, 
 
 his falmon, goes off at three halfpence 
 the piece : this itinerant merchant, this 
 moveable fim-ftall, having lil^ewife had 
 his dofe of bob -royal, flood ftill for a 
 while; and then joined chorus, in a tone 
 which would have laid half a dozen law- 
 yers, pleading for their fees, faft afleep : 
 this naturally reminded me of Mr. Hay- 
 thorne's fong of 
 
 " Says Plato, who oy oy oy (hould man be vain?" 
 
 However, my entertainment, though 
 fweet enough in itfelf has a dim of four 
 fauce ferved up in it; for I have a mofl 
 horrible wheezing in the throat : but I 
 don't repent that I have this cold; for 
 there are fo many n,oftrums here, that 'tis 
 worth a man's while to get a diftemper, 
 he can be cured fo cheap. 
 
 June zpth, 1770. 
 
 My
 
 APPENDIX. 259 
 
 My cold is over and gone. If the 
 
 above did not recall to your mind fome 
 
 fcenes of laughter, you have loft your 
 ideas of rifibility. 
 
 LETTER VI.* 
 
 Dear Mother* 
 
 I fend you in the box fix cups and 
 faucers with two bafons, for my fifter 
 If a china tea pot and cream pot, is in 
 your opinion, neceffary, I will fend them, 
 but I am informed they are unfamion- 
 able, and that the red china, which you 
 
 are provided with, is more in ufe- a 
 
 cargo of patterns, for yourfelf, with a 
 muff box> right French and very curious 
 in my opinion. 
 
 S 2 Two 
 
 * Chatterton had probably changed his lodging a little 
 before he wrote this letter. It is a remarkable pafTnge 
 where he fays, he wifhes fhe had fent him up his red pocket 
 book, " as 'tis very material." More graver," in the 
 I 3 th line, confirms Mr. Bryant's opinion, p. 481, " that hs 
 was not well grounded in the firft principles of Grammar,'/
 
 260 APPEND* X. 
 
 Two fans the filver one, is more 
 graver than the other, which would fuit 
 
 my fifler beft -But that I leave to you 
 
 both. 
 
 Some Britifh herb muff, in the box 5 
 be careful how you open it (This I 
 omit left it injure the other matters) 
 
 Some Briti/h herb tobacco for my grand- 
 mother, fome trifles for Thorne. Be af- 
 fured whenever I have the power, my will 
 won't be wanting to teftify, that I re- 
 member you 
 
 Yours, 
 
 J ul y8, '770- T. Chatterton. 
 
 N. B. I mall foreftall your intended 
 journey, and pop down upon you at 
 Ch rift mas 
 
 I could have wimed, you had fent my 
 red pocket book, as 'tis very material 
 
 I bought two very curious twifted pipes 
 for my grandmother; but both breaking- 
 I was afraid to buy others left they mould 
 
 break
 
 APPENDIX. 26l 
 
 break in the box ; and being loofe, in- 
 jure the china. Have you heard any 
 thing further of the clearance 
 
 Dircft for me at Mrs. Angels', Sack-maker, Brooke 
 Street, Holborn. 
 
 Mrs. Chatterton." 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Dear Sifter, 
 
 I have fent you fome china and a fan. 
 You have your choice of two. I am fur- 
 prifed that you chofe purple and gold. I 
 went into the fhop to buy it : but it is 
 the moft difagreeable colour I ever faw 
 dead, lifelefs, and inelegant. Purple and 
 pink, or lemon and pink, are more gen- 
 teel and lively. Your anfwer in this af- 
 fair will oblige me. Be aflured, that I 
 fhall ever make your wants, my wants ; 
 and ftretch to the utmoft to ferve you. 
 Remember me to Mifs Sandford, Mifs 
 Rumfey, Mifs Singer, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 As
 
 262 APPENDIX. 
 
 As to the fongs, I have waited this 
 week for them, and have not had time to 
 copy one perfectly : when the feafon's 
 over, you will have 'em all in print. I 
 had pieces laft month in the following 
 Magazines : 
 
 Gofpel Magazine, 
 Town and Country, viz. 
 
 Maria Friendlefs. 
 
 Falfe Step. 
 
 Hunter of Oddities, 
 
 To Mifs Bufh, &c. 
 
 Court and City. London. Poli- 
 tical Regifler, &c. &e. 
 
 The Chriftian Magazine, as they arc 
 not to be had perfect, are not worth buy- 
 ing 1 remain, 
 
 Yours, 
 
 T. Chatterton. 
 
 July n, 1770. 
 
 LET-
 
 APPENDIX. 263 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 I am now about an Oratorio, which, 
 when finimed, will purchafe you a gown. 
 You may be certain of feeing me before 
 the ift of January, 1771. The clear- 
 ance is immaterial. -7- My mother may ex- 
 pect more patterns. Almoft all the next 
 Town and Country Magazine is mine. 
 I have an univerfal acquaintance : my 
 company is courted every where; and, 
 could I humble myfelf to go into a 
 compter, could have had twenty places 
 before now : but I muft be among the 
 great ; ftate matters fuit me better than 
 commercial. The ladies are not out of 
 my acquaintance. I have a deal of bufi 
 nefs now, and muft therefore bid you 
 adieu. You will have a longer letter from 
 
 me fpon an4 more to the purpofe. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 T. C. 
 
 soth July, 1770. 
 
 FINIS.
 
 THE RESIGNATION. ; RE GORY,D.a F.A.S. 
 
 O 
 
 BY THOS. CEfrATTERTON. 
 
 GOD i whofe thunders fhakoving SUBJECTS: 
 
 TIT L ,- ,- . n \ ,! f.,, On the Government of the Paf- 
 
 Whofe eye this atom globe iu '.- onSt 
 
 veys. The Chanden of the Hypo- 
 
 To thee, my Only rock, I fly ; ,rite and the Libertine compared. 
 
 Thy mercy in thy juftice pr-sife. On the Means of Improvement 
 The mvftic mazes of thy will, ' Religious Knowledge. 
 
 f be'lhadows of celeftial night On P = t,on for Death. 
 Ace paft the pow'rs of human IkiU; On Confcience. 
 
 But what the Eternal adts is On Toleration, 
 right. On Inoculation. 
 
 O teach me, in this trying hour, 
 
 When anguifh f wells the dewy 
 
 To ft ill ir.y forrows, own t 
 
 powr, 
 
 Thy goodness love, thy jufiice ^ s - 
 fear. 
 
 If in this bolbm aught but thee, 
 
 Incroachinsr, fought a boundlefs 
 
 fway", ^ AND MORAL: 
 
 Omnifcience could the danger fee, 
 And mercv took the cau(ea\vay. 
 
 \ n {\ thmi Republican Government corn- 
 Then why, my foul, (Joft thou t / wkh Monarchy< 
 
 Complain ? 'ne Principles of Morals. 
 
 Why drooping feek the dark re- he Atheiitkal Syftem, and the 
 
 ce f s p -als of the Ancients. 
 
 Shake off the melancholy chain, j^gwu^Eftabhfliments. 
 For God created all to bleis. [necration and Forefight. 
 But, ah-! my bread is human (till, ,; c i de . 
 
 The rifiiV' figh, the fallino; tear, avery and the Slave-Trade. 
 
 Mv languid vitals feeble rill, "tain c ? ufes ' ^ h T m y 
 
 The ficknefs of my (oul declare. ' e fubrerfive of Bnufh L.berty. 
 But vet, with fortitude refign'd, gs. 
 
 I'll thank the inflidor of the 
 
 blow i ~ 
 
 Forbid the figh, compofe my mind, 
 
 Nor let the gufh of mifery flow. ) POETK 
 The gloomy mantle of the nighr, ( 
 
 Which on my finkinp- fpirk 
 
 fleals Rev. R. LOWTH, I 
 
 *; V/i!l vaniflj at the morning light, r r Michaehs > and ^ 
 Which God, my Eaft, ray Sua 
 
 reveals> JOHNSON'S, No. 7, 
 
 au raui's Church Yard. 
 
 0-
 
 University of California 
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 
 
 Return this material to the library 
 
 from which it was borrowed. 
 
 REC'D LD-UF 
 . OCT18 
 
 SEP 19 
 
 UCLA YRL 
 JUN
 
 K50NAL LIBRARY FAOUTY 
 
 Illllll Illl Hill Hill Hill II 
 
 A 000000880 5