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 Thomas Chatterton and the vicar of Tempi 
 
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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92401 31 70554 
 
THOMAS CHATTERTON 
 
 AND THE 
 
 VICAR OF TEMPLE CHURCH, 
 
 BRISTOL 
 
 [a.d. 1768-1770.] 
 
/^ 
 
 
 
 Temi'LE Toweu, Bristol. 
 
VICAR OF TEMPLE CH 
 
 BRISTOL, 
 
 [a.d. 1768-1770.J 
 
 THE POET'S ACCOUNT OF THE "K 
 TEMPLATES CHYRCHE." 
 
The following pamphlet is based upon a paper which 
 appeared in The Bristol Times and Mirror of July 25th, 
 1887, being the day before the Somersetshire Archieo- 
 logical and Natural History Society's visit to Bristol, 
 where they held their 39th annual meeting. 
 
 At the head of the article appeared this editorial 
 
 note : — 
 
 For the following interesting paper on Chatterton we are 
 indebted to the Rev. Wm. Hazledine, Vicar of Temple, 
 to wh om the original manuscript here printed belongs, and 
 who very kindly placed it at our disposal ; and to Mr. 
 William George, the well-known local antiquarian and 
 conscientious student of Chattertoniana, who has at 
 great pains explained and amplified the record, added 
 a glossary, and constructed, from data which he has been 
 at considerable trouble loootain, a most readable contri- 
 bution, which would be very acceptable at any time, but 
 is espeeialljf so on the eve of the visit to this city of the 
 Somersetshire Archaeological Society, whose members 
 to-morrow go to Temple church, and will have an oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the original Chatterton manuscript. 
 
 The view of Temple Tower is from a photograph 
 taken in 1872. The wood-cut of the Seal of the 
 Knights Templars is copied from C. G. Addison's 
 History of that Order. 
 
 W. G. 
 
COISTTEISTTS. 
 
 The first Rowley fiction Cliatterton communicated to tlie 
 
 public... ... ... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Chatterton's introduction to G. S. Catcott, W. Barrett, 
 
 and the Rev. A. Catcott... ... ... ... 1 
 
 Chatterton gives Rowley's "original" account of Temple 
 
 Church to the Rev. A. Catcott ... ... ... 2 
 
 Transcribed by Barrett, and inaccurately printed in his 
 
 " History of Bristol " (1789) r, 
 
 Rev. A. Catcott's " Treatise on the Deluge " and Chatter- 
 ton's satirical " Epistle " to its author ... ... .J 
 
 Chatterton's own copy of the " Treatise " ... ... 4 
 
 The Rev. A. Catcott on Chatterton's creative powers ... 4 
 
 Dean Milles and his edition of the " Rowley Poems " ... 4-5 
 
 Chatterton's supposed appeal to his unrelenting critics ... 5 
 
 The account of the " Knightes Templaries Chyrclie " now 
 
 iirst printed from Chatterton's own MS. ... ... C-S 
 
 The leaning Tower of Temple church ... ... ... 9-12 
 

 r,, t^-T^=OJ 
 
 
 V 
 
 The Old Vkjaraije, near Temple Ohuech, Bristol. 
 (From a Braving hij Paul Hardy, 1SS5.J 
 
'Wxaimis (Ehitttci'toit anb the l^icat of 
 %tmfk (Ehiii'ch, fiiBtol. 
 
 [A.D. 1768-1770.] 
 
 The Vicar of Temple, during the time Chatterton was 
 pi'oducing his spurious Rowley manuscripts in Bristol — 
 1768 to 1770— was the Rev. Alexander Catcott, M.A., 
 with whom, for a short time, the boy-poet was on 
 friendly terms. The first of the Rowley fictions that 
 Chatterton communicated to the public — " a description 
 of the Mayor's first passing over the Old Bridge," built 
 about 1247— appeared in Felix Farleif s BristolJournal 
 of October the 1st, 1768; just a fortnight after the 
 present Bristol Bridge was opened for foot-passengers. 
 A new and enlarged edition of the Rev. Alexander 
 Catcott' s well-Icnown "Treatise on the Deluge" was 
 advertised in the same newspaper of November the 
 19th, 1768. Between these dates Chatterton was 
 introduced to George Symes Catcott, the pewterer (then 
 in partnership with Heni'y Burgum), and to William 
 Barrett, the surgeon, who was then gathering materials 
 for his " History of Bristol." Chatterton' s sister says, 
 that after those introductions, "his ambition increas'd 
 dayly." It is not known when the Vicar and the poet 
 first became acquainted ; but it is assumed to have been 
 soon after his introduction to C S. Catcott, who was a 
 younger brother of the Vicar, and lived with him at the 
 Temple parsonage, then situated on the north side of 
 " Temple-Church-pavement," and close to the massive 
 tower and the west entrance to that grand old church. 
 
 Writing from Bristol, in 1769, to his relative Mr. 
 Stephens, a leather-breeches maker, of Salisbury, 
 Chatterton vauntingly says : " In this city ray principal 
 acquaintances are Mr. Barrett, now writing at a vast 
 eipence an ancient and modern Sistory of Bristol, a 
 task more difficult than cleansing the Augean stable. 
 
2 
 
 Many have attempted, but none succeeded in it ; yet 
 will this work, when finished, please not only his fellow- 
 citizens, but all the world ; [and] Mr. Catcott, author 
 of that excellent Treatise on the Deluge, and other 
 Pieces, to enumerate which would argue a supposition 
 that you were not acquainted with the literary world. 
 To the studies of these gentlemen I am always admitted, 
 and they are not below asking my advice in any matters 
 of antiquity." 
 
 Chatterton, from his fictitious Rowley store, furnished 
 Barrett with numerous notices of old Bristol churches, 
 which the latter, nineteen years after the poet' s death, 
 printed in his " History of Bristol." Our historian's 
 credulity is to be regretted. However, as "everything 
 derived from young Kowley is in Barrett given with 
 caution, and is as sepai'able from the substance of his 
 account as is one word from another in Johnson's 
 Dictionary,' ' those who consult his History, which is a 
 store-house of valuable local information, need not be 
 led astray. 
 
 Of Chatterton' s romantic account of Temple church 
 two manuscripts are extant : one of them is a so-called 
 "original" Rowley document ; the other, Chatterton' s 
 transcript from it, with thirteen lines of prose and 
 verse added by him. The pretended "original" the 
 poet gave to his new friend, the Vicar of Temple, who, 
 shortly afterwards, presented it to Barrett, who added 
 it to his Rowley store, which, after the historian's 
 death, was given to his friend Dr. Robert Glynn, a 
 zealous Rowleyan, who bequeathed the whole collection 
 to the British Museum. The writing on the " original ' ' 
 in question — a scrap of stained pai'chment, about five 
 inches square — is now partly illegible. 
 
 The transcript was, a few years ago, found in a box 
 of papers relating " to the affairs ' ' of Temple parish, 
 which the Rev. A. Catcott, who died in 1779, bequeathed 
 " to the Vicar of the parish of Temple, for the time 
 being, for ever ; ' ' and desired " that each Vicar in his 
 turn would preserve them in safety for his successors."(l) 
 (Will of Rev. A. Catcott). When or from whom tha 
 Vicar obtained the manuscript found in his box is not 
 known. Not, it would appear, from Chatterton himself ; 
 for G.S. Catcott wrote to Dean Milles, April 8th, 1779: — 
 " With regard to my brother, I do assure you Chatter, 
 ton never gave him anything, either in prose or 
 verse, except the Fragment of a Sermon and the 
 Account of Temple Church : the latter was an original.' ' 
 Nothing more of the history of Chatterton' s transcript 
 
 (1) If every future incumbent of Temple should prove 
 like the present Vicar, its parish muniments will be 
 preserved for many centuries. 
 
of this "original" can be gleaned than what has been 
 given above. However, after lying in the Vicar's box 
 for more than a century, Chatterton's account of 
 Temple church — or, more correctly, of its rebuilding — 
 is now for the first time printed verbatim et literatim 
 from the poet' s own manuscript. It is written on both 
 sides of half a sheet of foolscap, which has been recently 
 placed between two sheets of glass and framed, so that 
 both front and back may be read. Though somewhat 
 worn at the folds and the edges frayed, half of one 
 word only is torn off. After these proper precautions 
 were taken for its preservation, it was placed in Temple 
 vestry ; where, let us hope, it will long remain. 
 Bristolians who are interested in the marvellous Colston 
 boy will be gratified with what has been done ; for it is 
 the only account of a Bristol church, in Chatterton's 
 handwriting, that has not been acquired by the British 
 Museum. 
 
 The reputed " original" Rowley manuscript on parch- 
 ment, which, as previously mentioned, the Vioar of 
 Temple gave to Barrett, the latter transcribed and 
 printed in his " History of Bristol ' ' (Of the Church and 
 Parish of Temple, p. 512). On collating what Barrett has 
 printed from his "original " with Chatterton's copy of 
 the same document, numerous orthographical and 
 several verbal difEerences were found; and tifty o£ 
 Chatterton's initial capitals — to the use of which, as 
 remarked by Professor Skeat, he was singularly 
 addicted — appear in Barrett in small roman type. 
 
 Of Chatterton's Bristol acquaintances, the Vicar of 
 Temple was the most highly cultured. The Rev. W. 
 Jones, of Nayland, testifies to his Hebrew scholarship 
 ("Memoirs of Bishop Home," 1795, p. 23); and John 
 Wesley, who often preached in Temple church, to his 
 eminent piety ("Journal," March 18, 1781). Dr. 
 Buckland and Dean Conybeare quote his " Treatise on 
 the Deluge" with approval; while Sir Charles Lyell 
 and the Edinburgh Review admit that his literary 
 labours promoted the progress of geological inquiry. 
 
 Before the end of 1769, and when Ohatterton was 17 
 years of age, the Vicar and the wayward poet came into 
 collision. The former having done Chatterton " the 
 honour to criticise " his triiies, the young satirist, in an 
 "effort of poetical vengeance," addressed a long 
 rhyming " Epistle " to his reverend censor, in which 
 he freely satirized the " Treatise on the Deluge ' ' and 
 its author. The " Epistle," which is dated December 
 6th, 1769, exemplifies the truth of Chatterton's assertion 
 in " Kew Gardens,' ' where he says of himself : 
 
 When raving in the lunacy o( ink, 
 
 I catch my pen and publish what I think. 
 
By the unscrupulous ridicule of the "Epistle," the 
 
 friendly intercourse that had subsisted between the 
 
 Vicar and the erratic poet was bi-ought to an abrupt 
 
 conclusion. The Vicar's amiable character was not 
 
 unnoticed or um-eoorded by Chatterton. A few months 
 
 before he was buried by strangers, in a pauper's grave 
 
 in London, he wrote of the " Treatise ' ' and its author : 
 
 If Catcott' s flimsy system can't be proved. 
 Let it alone, for Catcott' s much beloved. 
 
 [Chatterton' s own copy of the "Treatise," with his 
 irreverent " Epistle' ' to its author in the poet' s auto- 
 graph, was about twenty years ago bought at a little 
 village public-house near Oxford. For the pleasure 
 of inspecting this Chatterton relic the pre- 
 sent writer is indebted to Mr. F. Madan, of the 
 Bodleian Library, Oxford,who had previously informed 
 him that this interesting volume was contained in that 
 library.] 
 
 On the top of the Temple manuscript is this note, in 
 the Kev. A. Catcott' s handwriting : — 
 
 " N.B. — The following Account was copied from two 
 antient writings found (with many othei's) in an old 
 chest in Kedcliff Church." 
 
 No doubt as to the character of the sources from which 
 the "Account" is professedly derived being here ex- 
 pressed, it is assumed the Vicar wrote the above shortly 
 after the paper came Into his possession, for as soon as 
 the authenticity of the Kowley manuscripts became the 
 subject of literai-y discussion, the Vicar at once pro- 
 nounced them to be spurious. Indeed, he was the only 
 one of Chatterton' s Bristol acquaintances who formed 
 a true estimate of the Colston boy' s creative powers. 
 On this subject we produce some interesting informa- 
 tion, not contained in any life of Chatterton, and which 
 we copied from G. S. Catcott' s own transcripts of the 
 letters about to be quoted. 
 
 Dean Milles, president of the Antiquarian Society, 
 having heard that the Vicar "never believed in 
 Rowley," and " used frequently to say that Chatterton 
 was equal to anything," wrote to C S. Catcott to learn 
 "more authentically what his (brother's) thoughts were 
 about ' ' the poet. Catcott replied, Sept. 11th, 1780 : — 
 "The information you received concerning my late 
 brother' s sentiments was strictly true. I have frequently 
 heard him say he was capable of writing anything attri. 
 buted to Kowley, and that he was, upon the whole, the 
 most extraordinary genius he ever met with." In a 
 subsequent letter he told the same correspondent : — " I 
 once recollect to have heard him (his brother) say, he 
 did not believe there were any papers of the poetical or 
 historical kind in Mr, Oanynge's chest " (i.e., the chest 
 
in the munimout-ioora above the north'porch of Redcliff 
 church, which became a very purse of Fovtunatus to 
 Chatterton, wherein he professedly found the subjects of 
 which he loved to write, and his Bristol patrons loved to 
 read). The astonishment of the pewterer, when he heard 
 his brother enunciate his " sentiments,' ' must have been 
 as great as that of the Dean, when he I'ead them— for 
 both were persistent, Rowleyans. The pewterer vainly 
 laboured for years to prove Chatterton incapable 
 of writing those Rowleyan jjieces in prose and verse, 
 which, we now know, had no other origin than his 
 fertile brain ; and the Dean published a large quarto 
 edition of the "Rowley Poems," with copious notes 
 and a defence of their antiquity. His notes Professor 
 Skeat pronounces to be " the most surprising trash . . 
 that has ever perhaps been penned." Dean Milles 
 will long be remembered by the contemptuous phrase in 
 which, for calumniating Chatterton, he was sibbeted 
 by Coleridge, as "An owl mangling a poor dead 
 nightingale.' ' 
 
 Chatterton' 3 prose writings on the history and 
 antiquities of Bristol contain no new facts relating to 
 it. They should be read as part of his wonderful 
 Rowley romance — for it is certain that the manuscripts, 
 whether in prose or verse, exhibited by him as 
 "originals,' ' or as literal transcripts from the "Rowley' ' 
 parchments, were the work of no human being but 
 himself. Although he produced no new fact 
 in the history of his native city, he bequeathed her 
 a precious literary inheritance. And now " St. Mary 
 Redclifi is not more a masterpiece of Bristol architec- 
 ture than is Chatterton the highest representative of 
 the personal genius of that place ; and Redcliff is not 
 more superior to parish churches in general than is the 
 boy-poet prouldy eminent above all but the greater poets 
 of England." (2) 
 
 Those who are still disposed to condemn 
 
 Chatterton for his literary masquerading must not 
 
 forget that literary masquerading was the fashion of the 
 
 day— even Horace Walpole played at the game— and 
 
 that Chatterton died before he was eighteen— a mere 
 
 liid, wayward and erring, but whose fragment of a life 
 
 was not devoid of genuine traits of personal worth. In 
 
 the lines uttered by one of the persons of his imagination 
 
 may we not suppose Chatterton himself appeals to his 
 
 unrelenting critics : — 
 
 Let all my faults be buried in the grave ; 
 All obloquies be rotted with my dust ; 
 Let him first carpen that no faults can hare ; 
 'Tis past man's nature to be always just. (3.) 
 
 (2) Mr. John Taylor, in " The Dictionary of Bristol.' ' 
 
 (3) The Parliament of Sprites (modernised). 
 
To most of his Rowley poems Chatterton added 
 copious notes explaining the spurious old English in 
 which he masked them ; but his Bowleyan pieces in 
 prose, which fill more than a hundred pages of Southey 
 and Cottle's edition of his works, are without these 
 necessary explanations. Those given below are from 
 Chatterton' s glossary to his poems, and from other 
 sources given within parentheses. 
 
 " Knightes Templaeibs Ohyrche. 
 
 " Tys uncouthe (4) whanne thys Churche was fyrste 
 ybuilden Natheles (5) I reede yn the Bochord (6) of the 
 Bevestrie (7) that ynne 1271 Syx womenne in Easter 
 wake dyd doe pennaunce for Ewbrice (8), goeynge from 
 Seyente Paulles Cresse (9) to the Newe Chyrche of 
 Templarres— Certis (10) ys the Evente knowen howgates 
 ytt beecame crouched (11) Gremordei, a Lumbard dyd 
 make greete boaste that hee woulde ybuildenne a, 
 Chyrche moe freme thanne anie in Brystowe. The 
 Knyghtes Templars eftsoons (12) dyd hem emploie, 
 Gnoffeyngelie despysinge the Argues of Johannes a 
 Brixter, a Brystowe Manne borne, who the same 
 whoulde have ybuylden on the Hylle cleped (13) Celnil 
 Hylle and sythence (14) Pill-Hylle (15), alleageynge 
 therefore that the Kyver han (16) formerlie ranne 
 
 (4) "Uncouthe;" unknown (Chatterton). 
 
 (5) " Natheles ; " nevertheless (Bailey's "Diction- 
 ary"). Kersey's and Bayley's Dictionaries "were the 
 books to which Chatterton trusted [for his old words] 
 from first to last. ..If we take Rowley to be a mere 
 pseudonym for Kersey or Bailey, we shall hardly ever 
 err ' ' (Professor Skeat). 
 
 (6) "Bochord;" from Bailey's "Bock-Monl, a 
 place where books, writings, &c., are kept." 
 
 (7) " Kevestrie ; " the vestry. 
 
 (8) "Ewrbrice;" adultery (Chatterton). 
 
 (9) Temple Cross, otherwise Stallage cross, formely in 
 Temple-street? The cross was removed late in the last 
 century. G. S. Catcott published a^newspaper lamenta- 
 tion on its loss, for it was the last of the many 
 crosses which once adorned his native city. 
 
 (10) "Certes;" certainly (Bailey). 
 
 (11) "Howgates ytt beecame crouched;" how it 
 became crooked. 
 
 (12) "Eftsoons;" quickly (Chatterton). 
 
 (13) " Cleped ;" named (Milles). 
 
 (14) "Sythence;" since then (MUles). 
 
 (15) Pile-hill. Its alleged older name is invented. 
 
 (16) "Han;" had (Milles). 
 
thorowe Seyncte Paules Streate (17) and a Lane anear 
 whylome (18) was cleped (19) Khistreate in Saxonne 
 Tongue the Streate of the Ryver (20), bie Keasonne 
 whereof the bottomme mote be moddie and ne able to 
 beare a Chyrche— Natheless (21) the Hallie (22) warke 
 was begonne in theverrieLane of Rhiatreate. but Tyme 
 eftsoons (23) shewed the Trouthe forre the Towerre ne 
 highe nor heuvie sonke awaie to the Southe, tareynge a 
 large Gappe from the Chyrchis Bodie ; a Maconne 
 was kyllen and three of more aneuthe (2+) sleene. 
 To observynge Byne the whole Orderr of the Chyrche 
 ys wronge and' semethe as thoughe shooken bie an 
 Erthequake. The Knyghtes Templarres lette ytte lie 
 unconsecrated, unthyll Syxteene Yeeres, whanne tor 
 Gremordie agaynie despysinge Johne a Brixter yt was 
 crenelled (25) at Toppe, goeynge no hygher than beef ore, 
 glayzeinge the wyndowes and syngeynge thereyn. 
 Botte the Pryncypalle (26) dyeynge, another dyd hym 
 succeed ; Who dyd sende for Johne a Bryxter and 
 emploied him— He than beganne To staie the same bie 
 Pyles, and raysed the same as hie agayne ynne the 
 Towre, makeynge ytte stronge and lasteable, leaveynge 
 the fyrste Battlementes to shew howe farre he dyd 
 raise ytte. Hee dyed, and yn 1296 Thomie Kuggilie 
 added the three smalle Chapeles for dailie Chauntrie. 
 One of Whyche was graunted too the Weavers bie Kynge 
 Edwarde of that name the fyrst. 
 
 (17) Temple-street? In one of the "Eowley" 
 manuscripts, in the British Museum, too palpably 
 spurious tor even Barrett to print. Temple-gate is named 
 "the Gate of Seynete Paules." The apocryphal 
 names young Eowley has given to Temple Street, its 
 cross and gate, were probably suggested by St. Paul' s 
 fair, which, in Chatterton's time, was held in Temple 
 Street. 
 
 (18) "Whylome;" of old, formerly (Sharpe). 
 
 (19) "Cleped;" named (Milles). 
 
 (20) Water-lane, near Temple church? For Jthi or 
 Bfiea, " Saxonne for river, see Camden' s "Britannia.' ' 
 Chatterton found an old edition of that work amongst 
 Lambert' s books. 
 
 (21) " Natheless ; " nevertheless (Bailey). 
 
 (22) " Hallie ; ' ' holy (Chatterton). Printed " halle ' ' 
 in Barrett: thus turning "the Hallie warke" of the 
 MS. into " the halle worke.' ' 
 
 (23) "Eftsoons;" quickly (Chatterton). 
 
 (24) "Aneuthe;" "almost" (handwriting of Rev. A. 
 Catcott). 
 
 (25) " Crenelled ; " " Crenelle in Heraldry, embattled 
 or indented" (Kersey, 1721). 
 
 (26) " Of the Templars' ' (interpretation of Rev. A. 
 Catcott). 
 
8 
 
 Gotten for Mastre Canynge 
 bie Thomas Rowleie. 
 In an Interlude exhibited before Mr. Canynge on the 
 dedicating of the Church of Eedclift are the folU Lines 
 relative to the Church of Knights Templars supposed 
 to be spoken by them— 
 Nor dyd wee lette owre Ryches unthylle (27) lie, 
 Butte dyd ybuylde the Temple Ohyrche so fyne, 
 The whyche y= wroughte aboute soe bysmarelie,(28) 
 Ytte seemeth Camoise (29) to the wonderynge Eyne. 
 And ever and anone whanne Belles rynged 
 Fro[m] place to place ytte mooveth y ttes hie headde. (30) 
 N.B. T. Rowley Author of the above was Priest of St. 
 John's Church in Bristowe & Father Confessor to 
 William Canynge Founder of Kedclift Church. He 
 lived in the Year 1460.' ' 
 
 (27) "Unthylle ;" useless (Chatterton). "The word 
 is naught ' ' (Professor Skeat). 
 
 (28) " Bysmarelie ; ' ' curiously (Chatterton). 
 
 (29) "Camoise;" crooked upwards. Lat : Simus 
 (Chatterton). 
 
 (30) From Chatterton' s " Parlyamente of Sprytes," 
 first printed by Barrett in his "History of Bristol," 
 1789. The first line of the quotation in the text, 
 
 " Nor dyd wee lette owre Riches unthylle lie,' ' 
 appears in Barrett (p. 608), in Southey & Cottle's 
 edition of Chatterton' s works (1803, ii. p. 54^) and in 
 Willoox' s (Cambridge, 1842, i. p. 276), as— 
 
 " Nee dyd we lette oure ryches untyle bee.' ' 
 In Professor Skeat' s modernised version of the Rowley 
 Poems, the line in question reads : — 
 
 "Nor did we let our riches useless be.'" 
 Here Chatterton' s own equivalent (useless) is correctly 
 substituted for the Rowleyan " untyle " —used, Pro- 
 fessor Skeat says, " perhaps for ' untilled ' "—but the 
 reading of " be " for " lie " remains (Aldine Chatterton, 
 1875, ii. p. 24-0) ; and " nntyle bee " will be found in all 
 other editions of the Rowley Poems. Whether Ohati 
 terton inadvertently wrote untyle be in Barrett's 
 manuscript (now in the British Museum, additional 
 MSS. 7566, B.) instead of unthylle lie, as in the Temple 
 manuscript, can be only conjectured. If the latter 
 reading be substituted, the obscurity of the line as 
 printed in all editions of the Rowley Poems, will 
 disappear. 
 
 A Knight Templar's sprite speaJcs, 
 Nor did we let our riches useless lie, 
 But did y-build the Temple Church so fine, 
 The which is wrought about so bismarlie. 
 It seemeth crooked to the wondering eyne. 
 And ever and anon when hells ringed, 
 From place to place it moveth its high head. 
 
 It may be here noted that " wroughte aboute soe 
 bysmarelie ' ' (curiously) in the third line of the quota- 
 tion in the text, appears in Professor Skeat' s version 
 as "brought about so bismarlie" (lb. ii. p. 240)— a 
 typographical error which escaped the proof-reader. 
 

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 /^ i:'^^ 
 
 
TEMPLE TOWER. 
 
 Temple Church derives its name from having 
 belonged to a cell of the Knights Templars, the founda- 
 tions of whose small church (parva ecclesiaj were 
 discovered during the alterations in 1872. The graphic 
 account of the church, communicated by the supposed 
 ghost of Kowley to Chatterton, is wholly fictitious. 
 The oldest portions of the stately fabric are the 
 Weavers' chapel and parts of the chancel, which 
 are of the Decorated style and belong to the 
 fourteenth century. The nave and aisles are of the 
 fifteenth century, or Perpendicular period. (31) 
 
 As to the date of the erection of the tower, which, 
 from its great inclination, has given Temple a distinc- 
 tive fame amongst the churches of Bristol, local 
 historians widely differ. As far as the trefoil band — 
 " the fyrste battlementes ' ' of Chatterton' s story— John 
 Evans assigns to the year 1161, and adds, " whether 
 Chatterton' s ' Greraordei a Lumburd,' was the original 
 architect or not, cannot be readily disputed." (32) 
 " For my own part,' ' George Pryce says, " I believe the 
 lower portion of the tower was being built in 1390 5 
 and that the upper portion was added about the year 
 1460." (33) 
 
 Some new information relative to the tower is con- 
 tained in the Rev. T. P. Wadley's " Notes or Abstracts 
 of the Wills contained in The Great Orphan Book and 
 Book of Wills, in the Council House at Bristol," 
 recently issued by the Bristol and Gloucestershire 
 Archajologioal Society. Reginald Taillour, burgess of 
 Bristol, in his will dated Sept. 18th, 1397, desired to 
 be buried in the Church of Holy Cross Temple of 
 Bristol, and bequeathed "to the work of the tower 
 there, if it should be renovated, 100s.' ' (34) 
 
 John Sely, Mayor of Bristol in 1410-11, in his will 
 dated Dec. 22nd, 1413, bequeathed "to the work of 
 Temple tower, if it should be constructed anew, 100s.' ' 
 (35) Thomas Blount, merchant, in his will dated May 
 
 (31) John Taylor's Ecclesiastical Bristol, 1881, pp. 
 140, 142. This is the fullest history of Bristol churches 
 published. It forms the second volume of " Bristol 
 Past and Present.' ' 
 
 (32) "History of Bristol," 1824, p. 96, note. 
 
 (33) "Popular History of Bristol," pp. 299, 300. See 
 also Burder, Hine and Godwin's " Architectural Anti- 
 quities of Bristol,' ' 1851, p. 11. 
 
 (34) Rev. T. P. Wadley's "Notes of Bristol Wills," 
 1886, p. 54. 
 
 (35) "Si de noua fu'it constructu' C's."— Ibid. 
 91-92. 
 
10 
 
 26th, 14*1, desired to be buried in the cemetery of Holy 
 Cross Temple ; and if the parishioners intend to build 
 the tower of that Church they are to have forty shil- 
 lings "of his goods when they shall have built the 
 tower anew.' ' (36) These quotations from the wills of 
 Temple parishioners evidence that the older tower of 
 their church was dilapidated at the end of the four- 
 teenth century, and a new one contemplated early in 
 the fifteenth, which, in 14-41, had not been erected. The 
 only other contemporary evidence relating to it is con- 
 tained in the Itinerary of William Worcester, who 
 says, " the new squai'e tower [of Temple Church] was 
 built about A.D. 1460, by the parishioners for the tolling 
 and ringing of the great bells.' ' (37) As Worcester 
 was born in Bristol, there spent his youth, and did not 
 go to Oxford until 1432, he must have been familiar 
 with the appearance of the older tower. In the decline 
 of life he returned to Bristol and made a survey of the 
 town, and, in his note-book, twice over mentions the 
 fact that the tower he then saw was new. (38). On this 
 point his testimony ought to be conclusive. (39) 
 
 From these authentic records it is evident that about 
 the time William Canynges, " with the helpe of others 
 of ye worshipfulle towne of Bristol," was restoring the 
 church of St. Mary RedclifE, and while John Shipward, 
 the builder of the magnificent tower of St. Stephen's, 
 was still living, the weavers, the tuckers, and other 
 parishioners of Temple were erecting the present 
 stately tower, which, as Worcester saw it in 1480, 
 "must," Dr. B. A. Freeman remarks, "have ranked as 
 quite the second steeple" of a city famed for its fine 
 steeples. (40) 
 
 " On October 9th, 1772," the Rev. A. Catcott says, 
 "I plummeted Temple Tower in order to know its 
 exact deviation from the perpendicular," and found it 
 to be " just 3 feet 9 inches and a halt." (MS., Temple 
 
 (36) "De bonis meis cu' ip'i idem Campanile de 
 nouo edificau'int." — Ibid,, 129-30. 
 
 (37) " Pro campanis magnificis pulsandis et sonandis." 
 —Itinerarium, edit. Nasmith (Cant. 1778), p. 228. 
 
 (38) Ibid., pp. 203, 228. 
 
 (39). On leaving Oxford, Worcester entered the 
 service of Sir John Fastolf, of Caistor, in Norfolk, and 
 became his private secretary, and was appointed one of 
 his executors. Worcester's testy old master, it may be 
 noted, was the historic " Sir John Fastolte " of Shaks- 
 peare's Henry VI., but not " FalstafE " the vapouring 
 Knight of Henry IV., and The Merry Wives of Windsor. 
 —{Saturday Bevieio, Jan. 18th, 1879.) 
 
 (40) " On the Perpendicular of Somerset," in Pro- 
 ceedings of the Somerset Archwological Society, vol. 
 II., ii., p. 52. 
 
11 
 
 muniments.) At what time the foundation sunk and 
 caused this alarming declination is unknown. The 
 earliest notice of its instability contained in our local 
 annals is under the year 1567, when Thomas Howard, 
 Duke of Norfolk (beheaded in 1572), Lord Rich, and 
 other noblemen visited Temple, and "had the bells 
 rung to try the truth of the tower's shaking at such 
 times." (41) 
 
 When Abraham Ortelius, the celebrated geographer, 
 visited Bristol, about 1575, he says he dropped a stone 
 as large as a goose-egg into the chinck which opened 
 between the tower and the church wall when the bells 
 were rung, and saw it crushed ; and when he placed 
 his back against the tower, he became apprehensive he 
 might be buried under its ruins. Ortelius adds that 
 the Mayor and others assured him the whole body of 
 the structure, before the rent and separation took place, 
 had tottered and been agitated so violently that the 
 lamps used to be extinguished, and the oil thrown out 
 of them ; of which fact there were then living witnesses 
 (42). 
 
 Similar to the above, but not so full, is the account 
 in Camden's "Britannia," (43) which Tyrwhitt, the 
 learned editor of the iirst edition of the Rowley Poems 
 (1777) says, " I am persuaded gave rise to the whole of 
 Chatterton's romantic story concerning the Temple 
 Church at Bristol." (44) 
 
 "The perpendicular height of the tower is 114 feet 
 2 inches and a half.— Alexander Catcott, Vicar, 
 1772." (MS., Temple muniments.) 
 
 " It appears from measuring the tower with a level, 
 that the south-west corner is 22 inches and a half sunk 
 more than the south-east corner, which occasions the 
 tower to lean towards the street." (MS. note by Arthur 
 Bedford, Vicar of Temple, 1708.) 
 
 (41) Seyer's "Memoirs of Bristol," ii., p. 240. 
 
 (42) Braun, " Civitates Orbis Terrarum,' ' iii. (1581), 2. 
 
 (43) Bp. Gibson's edition, 1695, "Somersetshire," 
 col. 74. 
 
 (44) Vindication of the Appendix to the Poems, 
 called Rowley's, 1782, p. 213. The whole of Camden's 
 description of Bristol is reprinted in the first part of 
 Andrew Hooke's " BristoUia," published in 1748. 
 This is another book Chatterton is known to have used. 
 
12 
 
 " The fact that the tower has been in much the same 
 position, as at present, for the last 350 years, and has 
 been subject dui-ing that time to frequent oscillation, 
 increases the beholder's surprise at its stability, and 
 his admiration at the great masonic skill evinced in 
 its construction." (Burder, Hine, and Godwin's 
 "Architectural Antiquities of Bristol,'' 1851, p. 10.) 
 
 " The ancient arras of the church were the same as 
 those of the Knights Templars, and of the Temple in 
 London— the Holy Lamb and Cross ' ' (Barrett, p. 54-4) ; 
 and not as now represented on the vane, and on a shield 
 over the western entrance — a lion holding the same 
 sacred emblem. 
 
 Seal used hj the Master and Chapter of the 
 Knights Templars in England. 
 
 T. D. Taylor, Son, & Hawkins, "Times & Mirror," Bristol. 
 
CHATTERTON AND TEMPLE 
 CHURCH. 
 
 If it is surprising how much has been said about 
 Chatterton, it is also surprising how much has been 
 left unsaid. Of gleaners after the reapers have done 
 Mr. William George has been one of the most 
 industrious : and he has had his reward in the dis- 
 covery of many fresh particulars in illustration of 
 the young poet's literary career. His last pamphlet, 
 " Thomas Chatterton and the Vicar of Temple 
 Church, Bristol," shows that there was one man in 
 Bristol who could discern the old monk-poet Rowley 
 in the Redclift boy Chatterton, and who was not to 
 be imposed upon by the spurious niedisevalism of 
 an account of the " Knightes Templaries Ohyrche" 
 which the artful fabricator had brought him, from 
 (he said) Canynge's coffer in the famous north 
 porch of Our Lady's church close by. The Rev. 
 Alexander Catcott, to whom we are referring, saw 
 the monk's hood in the attorney's clerk, whom he 
 considered to be " upon the whole the most extra- 
 ordinary genius he ever met with." Much profitless 
 controversy between Rowleians and Anti-Rowleians 
 would have been saved if his view of Chatterton' s 
 sufficiency for the Rowleian inventions had been 
 unanimous among literary men. Rowleians are 
 now all dead, but we need not be surprised in these 
 Donelly days at a re-birth of such-l»Hj(,for it is onljy 
 to deny that Chatterton was a youth of genius ana 
 he will become as ignoble and incapable as Shaks- 
 pere himself among Baconians. Mr. George has 
 produced an admirable fac-simile of the curious 
 paper on the Templars' Church, of wl;iich the 
 "original," on parchment, is in the British 
 Museum; but a copy in the poet's handwriting is 
 preserved in the vestry of Temple chui-ch, Bristol. 
 From this copy (to which Chatterton has added 
 thirteen lines of prose and verse) Mr. George has 
 been able to produce a much-amended edition of 
 the piece, which he has elucidated by a good glossary 
 of obscure words. The other illustrations in the 
 pamphlet are "TerapleTower," '"The Old Vicarage, 
 near Temple church," and a vignette of the "Seal 
 used by the Master and Chapter of the Knights 
 Templars In England." From old Bristol wills 
 the author has gathered some new and interesting 
 information relative to the history and date of con- 
 struction of the famous leaning tower of Temple.— 
 Bristol Times and Mirror, June 18, 1888. 
 
ASTIQUABIAN PAMPHLETS. 
 
 l^EW FACTS relating to the- CHATTEETOST FAMILY, 
 -1-1 gathered from Manuscript Entries in a "History of the Bible," which 
 once belonged to the PARENTS of THOMAS CHATTEBTON the Poet, 
 and from PARISH REGISTERS. 8vo., 16 pp., wrapper, Is., or half- 
 bound, lettered, 2s. Large paper, 4to. 2s. 
 
 " This contribution will be welcome to the collector of Chattertoniana. 
 The editor's annotated index is a marvel of exhaustiveness, and is possibly- 
 unique in its way." — Bristol Times and Mirror. 
 
 " • ■ • Is a valuable contribution to English literary history." — 
 The Bookseller. 
 
 " Is well worth reading, if only as an example of how documentary 
 evidence is sometimes set on one side because it clashes with foregone con- 
 clusions." — Notes and Queries. 
 
 QOME ACCOUNT of the OLDEST PLANS of BEISTOL. 
 
 kj With 8 Illustrations. (1) " Bristollia," 1480, Hand Coloured ; (2) 
 " Brightstowe," 1581, folding full-size Pae-simile ; (-3) Seyer's Bristol 
 between 1250 and 1850. 4to, 12 pp., 2s. 6d., post free. 
 
 " It is difficult to overrate the value of ground plans to antiquaries. 
 In the present instance a good explanatory text is added." — AthencEum. 
 
 "Ought to be prized by every Bristolian who feels an intelligent 
 interest in his birth-place." — Bristol Mercury. 
 
 "Mr. William George is a painstaking and conscientious antiquary. 
 One of the three illustrations he gives is the plan attributed to Hoefnagle 
 (1581) ; one of the most picturesque bird's-eye views we have of the old 
 city." — Bristol Times and Mirror. 
 
 LTTE'S CAEY MANOE HOUSE, SOMEESET, and its 
 LITERARY ASSOCIATIONS, gvo., with 2 Illustrations, Is. 6d., or 
 half-bound, lettered, 2s. 6d. Large and thick paper, 4to., 8s. 6d. 
 
 " Will be found full of interest, and is worthy of careful preservation." 
 — Notes and Queries. 
 
 " Is a painstaking study of a picturesque Tudor Mansion. There are 
 many biographical particulars of the early Lytes." — Athenceum. 
 " A delightful little book." — Dorset Chronicle. 
 
 ON an INSCEIBED STONE, at OECHARD WYNDHAM, 
 SOMERSET, called "OLD MOTHER SHIPTON'S TOMB;" 
 with "MOTHER SHIPTON INTERVIEWED," a Legend in Verse ; and 
 an Account of Mother Shipton, and the earliest editions of her 
 "Prophecies." 8vo. 32 pp., 6 Illustrations, Is., or half-bound, lettered, 2s. 
 Large and thick paper, 4to., 8s. 6d. 
 
 " Near Orchard Wyndham is an upright stone 7 feet high, bearing a 
 star and female head, and inscription, long supposed to be a memorial 
 tablet to a young Roman lady — Julia Martima — but proved by Mr. W. 
 George of Bristol to be a modern forgery." — Murray's Handbook of 
 Somerset, edited by Canon Venaeles, 1882, p. 448. 
 
 " Mr. George has well exposed the counterfeit, and shown how the 
 inaccurate copy of the true [Roman] stone made by Gordon [1726] has 
 been followed by the forger." — Rev. Pbeb. Scabth, iaArchceological Journal 
 (Institute), No. 144, p. 331. 
 
 ' ' An impudent forgery, which has led to a perplexing and contradictory 
 antiquarian question, Mr. George has completely exposed for all time." — 
 Cumberland and West. Archao. Society's Trs. iii., 281. 
 
 ' ' Mother Shipton, as well as her tomb, have been mercilessly dealt 
 with by Mr. George. "^-Uorsei County Chronicle. 
 
 " Scattered through the pamphlet are many notes that afford interesting 
 local information not readily obtainable elsewhere." — Bristol Times and 
 Mirror. 
 
 WILLIAM GEORGE'S SONS, 
 Top oe Pabk Street, Bbistol. 
 
e 
 
 relating io 
 
 ts 
 
 
 
 m^ 
 
 (^t^attexton 
 
 ^i 
 
 :imilp. 
 
 O ^ -, - ^-^ -^ ^= & 
 
NEW FACTS RELATING TO 
 
 |t ilnti^riutt l[itmtl^ 
 
 GATHEEED PEOM MANUSCRIPT ENTRIES IN A 
 
 "HISTORY OF THE BIBLE" 
 
 WHICH ONCE BELONGED TO 
 
 THE PARENTS OF 
 
 C^omas C^att^rtnn t^t "§0^ 
 
 AND PROM 
 
 ^arisl^ Jlcgislers. 
 
 BRISTOL: 
 
 W. GEORGE & SON, 26, PABK STREET, 
 
 1883 
 
The interesting manuscript records in the Cliatterton family 
 History of the Bible were discovered by Mr. John Taylor, Librarian 
 of the Bristol Museum and Library, and communicated by him to 
 the " Athenfflum," in which journal they appeared December 10th, 
 1881. The following pages contain a re-print of Mr. Taylor's com- 
 munication, and a selection from the controversial letters it evoked, 
 to which are added a few notes and an index. — W. Gr. 
 
The blaster's House, Pile-street Free Sehool. 
 (Prom "Bristol: Past and Present.") 
 
Tl„: Master Ih 
 
 PI S/j / ri ei- Sr/ oof 11 I I 
 (From " Brhtol: PokI n,,,/ J'r, .< 
 
 I I 
 ••'■■') 
 
 ■.s Pur. III.-!. 
 
 N 
 
 JEW FAOTS relating' to the CHATTERTON FAIMILY, o-athered 
 
 from Manuscript Kntvies in a " Histury (jf the Bihli'," wliicli riucu lielungcil 
 
 TPTOMAS CHATTKRTON t)u' I'urt, :nu\ tmn, PAKISH 
 
 t- the PAFvKNTS 
 
 REGISTKRS. Svo., 16 j.p., U. : or on WgL- papi-v, 4tn,. -.V, p.-st fi 
 
 "■In the pre^^cnt revival of interest in <^hattertnii litrratiire, 
 will be welcome to the collector of C'liattcrtoiiiana. The ' l>il>h' 
 to is now in the jiosscs.sion of tlie pulilisber of the [laniphlcf, ai 
 the controversy between Mr. John Taylor, Mr. .1. H. liiuian 
 
 [1S83.] 
 
 ntnhution 
 
 ." ' referred 
 
 iio one can read 
 
 ml Mr. (teoriie 
 
 this 
 Hist 
 
 I/Ar; 
 
 //. and is here repnli- 
 is a veritalile relic of 
 the ' Xew Facts' are 
 
 \hanstiveness, and is 
 
 himself — which aitpeared some time since in tl 
 lished — without coming to the conviction tliat the ^-idiun 
 the Chattei'ton liousehold, and that the entries enHtainin 
 genuine. The imMishcr's annotated Index is a marvel of 
 possilily unique ni its ^vay.'"—B}■(sfoI Tin}'.-' (im^ Mirrnr. 
 
 '"Mr. William (icorge, Avhose skilful ehicidatiims ut snmr Irn.'al archaeological 
 problems are known to our leaders, has just issued, under the title of "Some 
 New Facts relating to the (.'hatterton Family," a selei.'tiuu fmni the controversial 
 letters which have appeared in reference to the i-ecent discovery of the Chatterton 
 family Bil lie. It will be rememl.iered that tlie entries nf hinlis and V'aptism.s in 
 the volume in question, when made known l)y Mr. John Tayh'r, of the Bristol 
 Library, were condemned as forgeries by a London critic, vdiose asperity was 
 more conspicuous than his knowledge The attack, ho\\'ever, put Mr. Taylor and 
 Mr. George on their mettle, and they soon successfully established the accuracy 
 of the manuscript (iiid ihe hirorrecines^ of a!/ iJie bionraph'n's <is ri-'f/ards tli'-'' j'O'i'ts 
 iitdisjivte. jMr. (-Jcorgc has added a valuable Index to the papers. "' — Fjri-<tol Merc in- ij. 
 
 "The result of this little work is that the following New Facts relating to the 
 Ghatterton family have lieen established be3'ond further dispute: — (1) That the 
 ]ioet"s parents were married at Chipping Sodlmry, and that the maiden name of 
 Chatterton's mother ^vas Sarah Young : (2} That the poet had a Ijrother who was 
 christened *.i^iles Malpas, in Redclitf Church, on the day stated in the inscription 
 m the 'Bible History ;" (3) That Mavy, the poet's sister, was baptised in Bedcliff 
 Church on tlie day recorded in the ' Bible History ;' and (41 that her age inscribed 
 on the familv toniltstone, in Bcdclitf' churchvani, is an error. "^C7/7'('o/? Chroitidt. 
 
 WILLIAM UEOKGF .\: SOX, 2(> Park Sikeet, BRISTOL. 
 
THE CHATTERTON FAMILY. 
 
 I. 
 
 (From the Athenmum, December lOth, 1881. 
 
 Museum and Library, Bristol. 
 A Bristol dealer in curiosities has now on sale an imperfect quarto 
 history of the Bible, printed in the last century, but undated, con- 
 taining the original family entries of the birth and baptism of 
 Chatterton, and the like of his brother and sister. The book has 
 escaped the collectors, and was lately bought by its present owner 
 from a poor person in Bristol. The title-page of the Old Testament 
 portion is missing, and the work, which is much thumbed, partly no 
 doubt by the young poet himself, begins with " Book II." The New 
 Testament history retains the title, which is as follows : — " A Oom- 
 pleat History of the Holy Gospel : containing the Incarnation, Birth, 
 Doctrine, Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Illustrated with Notes, explaining several difiBoult Passages 
 and reconciling many Texts that are seemingly Contradictory." 
 The inscriptions, which are unquestionably genuine and contain 
 particulars not to be found in the biographies, are on the back 
 of this title, except one at the end of the book, which is crossed 
 through. The firm, round, schoolmaster's style of penmanship shows 
 the hand of the poet's father, who conducted the Pile-street School. 
 It may be inferred that he was a believer in astrology, for he has 
 given the ages of the moon for casting the horoscopes of his children's 
 births. It is curious that the name first appears as ' ' Chadderdon " : — 
 
 Mary, the Daughter of Thomas and Sarah Chadderdon, was born in Pile- 
 street, Teusday Morning about 8 a Clock, the 14th day of February, Anno 
 Domini 1748-9, and Baptized the 13th March following by the Eeverend 
 Wm. WilUams in St. Mary Eedcliff Church. 
 
 &li^^rng°7Sy;?rr ' } <^o^^^^^r. 
 
 ^re&l^odnoothers. 
 
 Moon first Quarter 13 day 1 morning. 
 
 Giles Malpas, the Son of Thomas Chatterton by Sarah his Wife, was 
 born at the Charity School in Pile Street, on a Wednesday Morning between 
 4 & 6 a clock, 12th Dece. 1750, and was Baptized in St. Mary Eedchff 
 Church the first day of January following by the Keverd. Mr. Wm. 
 WilUams. 
 
 Andrea fuhrer I ri„j*„+i,„,.= 
 J. Fredrick Moser f <^odfathers. 
 
 i?Xdfe^rl<^°d-t'^-- 
 
 Moon last Quarter 9 Decern. 3 in ye Afternoon, and died April the 16 
 
 Aged 4 months and 4 days. 
 
 Thomas, the son of Thomas and Sarah Chatterton, was Born November 
 
 the 20 in 1752, on a Monday Night between 6 and 7 o Clock, and was baptized 
 
 in St. Mary Eedcliff Church the 1 {?) Day of January following by the Eev. 
 
 Mr. Giles. 
 
 Full Moon the 22 at 3 and 4 Bveniag. 
 
8 
 
 wherein, under the head " Baptizeings," and the year 1748, March 
 13th, I find " Mary, daughter of Thomas Chatterton." This shows 
 that there is not an antedating of the event in question, but that the 
 date exactly coincides with the inscription in the Bible history. With 
 respect to the information "that the poet had a brother, and that 
 brother was christened by the suggestive names of ' Giles Malpas,' " 
 Mr. Ingram confesses it to be so original that strong confirmation is 
 required to prove the fact. I will undertake to convince even him. 
 Under the proper date, then, 1760, January 1st, I find in the same 
 baptismal register, " Giles Malpas, son of Thomas Chatterton." 
 " This hitherto unknown boy," adds Mr. Ingram, derisively, " it 
 should be noticed, was born in the same year as Mary Chatterton's 
 birth really took place." Who asserts this unlikely fact ? Not I, 
 nor the register, but Mr. Ingram ! A tablet inserted in the front 
 wall of the master's house in connexion with the Pile Street School 
 gives the reason why this odd name was adopted by the poet's 
 father : — " This house was erected by Giles Malpas, of St. Thomas 
 Parish, Gent., for the use of the Master of this School, a.d. 1749." 
 This was one year before Giles Malpas Chatterton was bom, and it 
 tends to show that in naming his eldest son after his patron the much 
 decried schoolmaster was not altogether destitute of the feeling of 
 gratitude. 
 
 The third entry in the register, though the most interesting, Mr. 
 Ingram does not object to, but I may as well quote it : " 1753, Jan. 
 1. Thomas, son of Thomas and Sarah Chatterton." As to the ob- 
 jection contained in the assertion that " no such clergyman as the 
 Bev. William Williams* or the Rev. Mr. Giles held benefices in 
 Bristol during the last century," it is so weak as to be hardly worth 
 adverting to. It is true that the " Eev. Mr. Broughton was Vicar 
 of St. Mary Eedcliff from 1744 to 1772 ; " but can Mr. Ingram 
 seriously believe that so busy a Uterary man could conduct the affairs 
 of so large a church and district as those of Redcliff as well as per- 
 form the duties of the mother church of Bedminster, of which 
 KedclifE was a chapelry, without the assistance of curates P Unfor- 
 tunately, on my late visit to the church the books containing the 
 names of the past curates were inaccessible ; but I fearlessly 
 challenge Mr. Ingram to prove that Williams and Giles are not 
 among these names. A letter to the vicar (Eev. Archdeacon Norris) 
 would enable him to ascertain the accuracy of my citations from the 
 register, together with the names of the clergy who christened the 
 three young Ohattertons. Another letter to the Vicar of Sodbury 
 would enable him also to find whether the maiden name of the poet's 
 mother was Sarah Young, as given in my quotation of the MS. 
 entry in the family Bible history. If your correspondent can yet 
 
 * Amongst the names of the subscribers prefixed to Thomas Eichards's 
 " AntiquEe Linguse Britannicte," printed in Bristol, by Felix Farley, in 
 1753, is that of the clergyman who christened Mary Chatterton and her 
 brother Giles Malpas. It is entered there as follows : — 
 
 " Eev. William WilUams, Curate of St. Mary-Eedcliff, Bristol." 
 This proves him to have been a curate of that church during the time 
 the Eev. T. Broughton was the vicar. W. G. 
 
believe that the inscriptions I have supplied you with from that 
 V olume are a " fabrication," an " imposture," a " forgery," and a 
 
 " hoax," I shall be glad to hear his further reasons in your columns. 
 
 For my own part I still hold, both from internal and external evidence 
 
 to the opinion, or rather assertion, that they are unquestionably 
 
 genuine. 
 
 ' John TAyLOB. 
 
 IV. 
 
 (From the Athenceum, January 7tli, 1882.) 
 
 Bristol, January 2nd, 1882. 
 
 Thbeb out of the four MS. inscriptions in the Chatterton quarto 
 Mr. John Taylor has verified by the Redoliff parish register. From 
 an equally pure source I can prove the undoubted genuineness of the 
 fourth, which records the marriage of the poet's father and mother 
 " at Sodbury Church in Grloucestershire " ( " Athenseum," December 
 10th, 1881). The following extract from the marriage register of 
 Chipping-Sodbury is certified by the vicar, the Rev. W. H. P. 
 Harvey: — "Weddings, 1749. — April 25th, Thomas Chatterton of 
 ye Parish of St. Mary RedclifE and Sarah Young of Stapleton." 
 The accuracy of the information afforded by the fourth inscription 
 is thus substantiated by the church register, and proves beyond cavil 
 that the maiden name of the poet's mother was " Sarah Young" — a 
 piece of information which Mr. John H. Ingram assures us is 
 " certainly not " to be found in the biographies of the poet 
 ( " Athenseum," December 17th, 1881). 
 
 "John Pipping" and "George Pew," Mary Chatterton's god- 
 fathers, I have been able to trace. The former, in 1764, was a 
 " haberdasher," the latter a " baker." Both voted for Beokford and 
 Phillips, as did " Giles Malpas, Gent.," after whom the poet's elder 
 brother was named (Bristol Poll Book, B. Farley [1754], pp. 17, 112, 
 119). 
 
 " Chatterton's mother," wrote Dean Milles in 1782, " informed a 
 gentleman of credit " that on one of her son's visits to his home, 
 happening to see Clarke's ' History of the Bible '■ — which was covered 
 with one of the old parchments from Redcliff Church — " he swore a 
 great oath, and, stripping the book, put the cover in his pocket, and 
 carried it away." At the same time he stripped " a common little 
 Bible, but, finding no writing on the cover, replaced it again very 
 leisurely" (Rowley's 'Poems,' 4to., 1782, p. 7). Eleven years after 
 the poet's death, Mrs. Chatterton, when showing Clarke's book to 
 Jacob Bryant, mentioned its former parchment covering (Bryant's 
 ' Observations on Rowley,' 1781, p. 521). 
 
 The Bible history from which Mr. Taylor copied the Chattertonian 
 inscriptions printed in the " Athenaeum " (December 10th, 1881) is 
 now before me. Although very imperfect and without the title-page, 
 
10 
 
 it can be identified, as the name of the author, " Laurence Clarke," 
 is appended to all the dedicatory inscriptions on the engravings. 
 According to Dr. Allibone, Laurence Clarke's ' History of the Bible ' 
 was published in 1737, in two volumes quarto. The present example, 
 which is bound in one volume, appears to be the identical book that 
 Chatterton so roughly despoiled of its covering as related by his 
 mother. Notwithstanding Mr. Ingram's assertions that the MS. 
 records in it are " palpable fabrications," &c., I have no more doubt 
 of their genuineness than the " dealer in curiosities " had of the 
 genuineness of the banknotes paid him (six days after Mr. Ingram's 
 letter appeared) for the ragged quarto that contained them. 
 
 " No sooner is its true character displayed," writes Mr. Ingram, 
 " than the quarto will doubtless disappear." This prophecy has yet 
 to be fulfilled. Its true character makes it worthy of careful 
 preservation as a very precious relic associated with Bristol's "mar- 
 vellous boy." The book will now occupy a special glass case, which 
 it is hoped may preserve it from being again exposed to the risk of 
 destruction similar to that from which it has recently been rescued. 
 I need hardly add that I shall always have pleasure in showing it to 
 those interested in Chatterton. 
 
 William GtEobge. 
 
 V. 
 
 (Extract from Mr. John H. Ingeam's Letter in the Aihencewm, 
 January 7th, 1882.) 
 
 The few details Mr. Taylor proffers for use in my paper on Chat- 
 terton would be of no value even if they were not too late, as my 
 paper concerns the poet and not his relatives. As regards the date of 
 Mary Ohatterton's birth, let me state that one of my authorities is the 
 family tombstone in St. Mary Eedcliffi churchyard — a record which, 
 strange to say, makes no allusion to " G-iles Malpas," although it is so 
 minute in its family history as to include two unnamed sons and a 
 daughter of the aforesaid Mary. If this tombstone is to be relied 
 on, and does refer to the same branches of the Chatterton family as 
 the register referred to by Mr. Taylor, it proves that the poet's 
 mother was only seventeen when this daughter Mary was bom. 
 
 VI. 
 
 (Extract from Mr. John Tatlob's Letter in the Athenceum, 
 January 14.th, 1882.) 
 
 I am aware that the family tombstone in St. Mary Redcliff 
 " makes no allusion to ' Giles Malpas,' and that the date of Mary 
 Ohatterton's birth there disagrees with my authority; but the 
 
11 
 
 gravestone, like Mr. Ingram's own information, requires to be 
 corrected by the parish register — tbe parisb register being the 
 Sacred Writ of the genealogist. As to Mr. Ingram's depreciation of 
 these corrections, and of the fresh details supplied by the quarto, 
 I am not concerned. He says that for the purpose of his article on 
 Ohatterton they " would be of no value even if they were not too 
 late, as my paper concerns the poet and not his relatives." Chatter- 
 ton's family ties, however, were of a very interesting kind, and, 
 though I have no doubt of the ability of Mr. Ingram's paper, I hope 
 he will have considered them m.ore than he gives us to anticipate. 
 
 VII. 
 
 (From the Bristol Times and Mirror, February 20th, 1882.) 
 
 Our readers have already been made acquainted with the newly- 
 ascertained facts relative to the family of the poet Ohatterton, which 
 had been communicated to the " AtheuEeum " by Mr. John Taylor, 
 and have been proved correct in spite of the animadversions of Mr. 
 Ingram, of the London Post-office ; or rather in consequence of the 
 warm controversy between him and the librarian of our Museum 
 and Library. Mr. Taylor, in his last letter to the " Athenasum " (Jan. 
 28) rather keenly tells his censor that he declined " any further 
 correspondence on the subject of Ohatterton until Mr. Ingram had 
 referred to original as well as second-hand authorities." The 
 following letter, which is the last on the point in dispute, appeared in 
 last Saturday's " Athenaeum." The writer, Mr. William George, is 
 the present owner of the Ohatterton quarto, which he bought after 
 Mr. Ingram's condemnatory letter appeared, in which he calls 
 the inscriptions it contains " palpable fabrications," &o. Indeed, as 
 Mr. Taylor wrote in his reply, Mr. Ingram's fierce epistle " was the 
 incentive to Mr. G-eorge becoming the purchaser." We would 
 remind our married readers that at the date of the marriage referred 
 to in the following letter, the ceremony of registering it was not the 
 elaborate " sign, seal, and deliver" ordeal they so nervously passed 
 through. In the old parish registers, under the heading of " Wed- 
 dings," the names of the " happy couple" and the place they came 
 from were entered — simple particulars that were frequently contained 
 in a single line of the register. Even the name of the clergyman 
 who officiated was not appended to the brief entry. Before 1763, 
 births, marriages, and deaths were generally entered in the same 
 register. This is the case in that of Sodbury. Mr. George says :^ 
 
 Bristol, February 10th, 1882. 
 After Mr. Ingram wrote in the "Athen»um" (December 17th, 
 1881) that ' some more satisfactory evidence ' should be produced as 
 to the maiden name of the poet's mother being ' Sarah Young,' as 
 recorded in the Ohatterton quarto, I sent you an extract from the 
 marriage register of Chipping Sodbury, which proved that was her 
 name, and at the same time I supphed other information not to be 
 found in the biographies of Ohatterton. 
 
12 
 
 In last week's ' Athenaeum ' (February 4tli), Mr. Ingram, for 
 the second time, animadverts upon the variation of a year in the 
 date of the marriage as given in the two records. The discrepancy 
 did not escape my notice. That the truth might be ascertained, a 
 copy of the marriage certificate was sent entire, leaving the point in 
 question for further inquiry. As all the other dates in the inscrip- 
 tions in the Ohatterton quarto have now been proved to be accurate, 
 I hope ultimately to show that this one is also, which dates the 
 marriage as ' Monday, the 25th day of April, in the year 1748.' 
 The 25th of April, 1749— the year of the marriage as given in the 
 Sodbury register— fell on a Tuesday. Mary Ohatterton was born in 
 Pile-street in the latter year, her father then being master of the 
 free school in that street, and also sub-chanter of Bristol Cathedral 
 (at the time when the distinguished author of the ' Analogy ' was 
 bishop), which ofiices he held till his death. Can it be conceived that 
 five weeks after her baptism in Eedcliff Church her parents were 
 married at Sodbury ; and that this delayed wedding occurred in the 
 very town in which fourteen years of her father's life had been 
 
 The statement on the Chatterton tombstone, in St. Mary Eedcliff 
 churchyard, that Mary Newton (the abovenamed Mary Chatterton) 
 was at the time of death ' aged fifty-three years,' is erroneous. As 
 she was bom ' 14th day of February, 1748-9 ' (i.e., 1749 present com- 
 putation), and died ' 23rd February, 1804,' her true age— after 
 deducting the eleven days dropped in Sept., 1762, through the 
 alteration of the calendar — was fifty-four years and 363 days. When 
 Jacob Bryant visited Mrs. Chatterton and her daughter in 1781, the 
 latter told him that she was ' somewhat more than three years older 
 than her brother ' [the poet, born November 20th, 1752], (Bryant's 
 ' Observations on Rowley,' 1781, p. 521). This statement agrees 
 with the above-cited record of her birth from the Chatterton quarto, 
 and with the entry of her burial in the register of St. Mary EedcUff , 
 a copy of which the vicar (Archdeacon Norris) has kindly sent me, 
 It is as follows : — ' Burials, 1804. Mary Newtouj Feb. 27th, aged 
 fifty-five." 
 
 This proves beyond doubt that the age ' fifty-three ' on the tomb- 
 stone is an error for ' fifty-five.' As the inscription containing this 
 blunder is one of the authorities quoted by Dr. Wilson, Mr. Ingram, 
 and other writers on Chatterton, I assume it has escaped detection. 
 I intend shortly to produce a facsimile of the inscriptions in the 
 Chatterton quarto, accompanied by some new information on the 
 subject. ■ 
 
 William George. 
 
 Fkom the preceding correspondence (1) it will be seen that by Church 
 Registers and the Inscriptions in the History of the Bible, the follow- 
 ing 11SIV facts relating to the Ohatterton family have been established 
 beyond further dispute : 
 
 1. — That the poet's parents were married at Chipping Sodbury, 
 Gloucestershire, and that the maiden name of the poet's mother was 
 Sarah Young (2). 
 
13 
 
 2. — That the poet had a brother who was christened " Giles 
 Malpas," in Redcliffi church, on the day stated in the inscription in 
 the Bible History (3). 
 
 3. — That Mary, the poet's sister, was baptised in RedclifE Church 
 on the day recorded in the Bible History (4), and that her age 
 inscribed on the family tombstone, in Redoliffi Churchyard, is an 
 error (6). 
 
 These fresh details concerning the Ohatterton family will have to 
 be embodied by some future biographer of the poet, who, like Dr. 
 Wilson, is in sympathy with his subject, and finds an interest in 
 whatever may help to a more adequate understanding of the local 
 family connections of one who has excited so much interest in the 
 literary world. 
 
 (1). Other Letters on the subject appeared in the " Athenaeum " of Jan. 
 21st, 28th; Feb. 4th and 25th, 1882. These are not reprinted, as 
 nothing in them affects the three points mentioned in the text. 
 
 (2). See Letter IV. page 9. (3). See Letter III. page 8. (4). See 
 Letter III. page 8. (5). See Certificate of her burial, page 12. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 AUibone's "Dictionary of Au- 
 thorsj" referred to, 10 
 
 Andrews, Ann, Giles Malpas 
 Chatterton's godmother, 5 
 
 Arden, Jane, Mary Chatterton's 
 godmother, 5 
 
 " AthenEeum," the, da+es of letters 
 in, on " Chatterton Contro- 
 versy," not referred to in this 
 pamphlet, 13 
 
 Beckford, Eichard, M.P. for 
 Bristol, 1754-56; mentioned, 9 
 
 "Betty at ye Beans," Griles Malpas 
 Chatterton's godmother, 5 
 
 " Bristol Poll-Book, 1754," quoted, 
 9 
 
 "Bristol Times and Mirror," 
 observations in, on " Chatterton 
 Controversy," 11-12 
 
 Broughton, Eev. Thomas, vicar of 
 St. Mary, Eedcliff, 1744-1772 
 [and prebendary of Salisbury, 
 rector of Stipington, vicar of 
 Bedminster, with the chapelries 
 of St. Thomas and Abbots 
 Leigh] 6j a busy literary m an, 
 8 
 
 Bryant, Jacob, visits Mrs. Chatter- 
 ton and her daughter, 9, 12 ; his 
 " Observations on the Poems of 
 Eowley," quoted, 9, 12 
 
 Butler, , Bp. of Bristol, 1738-50 ; 
 alluded to, 12 
 
 Calendar, alteration of, in 1752, 12 
 
 Catcott, George Symes, quoted, 6 
 
 Chadderton, ancient form of 
 spelling Chatterton, 5, 6. [Dr. 
 John CJiadderton, prebendary of 
 Southwell, 1366. Le Neve's 
 "Fasti," III., 4SS— Thomas de 
 Chaderton, rector of Winslow, 
 Cheshire, died 1349 — Earwa- 
 ker's " Cheshire," I. 87] 
 
 Chatterton, Thomas, (father of the 
 poet, master of Pile-street Free 
 School, writing-master, and sub- 
 chanter of the Bristol Cathedral, 
 died 1752) ; records, in Clarke's 
 Bible History, his marriage to 
 Sarah Toung, and the births of 
 Mary and Giles Malpas, their 
 children, 5, 6 ; discrepancy in his 
 date of his marriage and that in 
 Chippiug Sodbury register, 12 ; 
 thelatter assumed to be er- 
 roneous, 12 
 
 Chatterton, Mrs. (mother of the 
 poet) her age at Mary's birth, 10 j 
 visited by Jacob Bryant, 9, 12 ; 
 Clarke's Bible History then in 
 her possession, 9 ; her maiden 
 name (Sarah Young) unknown 
 to her son's biographers, 6 
 
 Chatterton, Mary (sister of the 
 poet) ; her father's record of her 
 birth and baptism, 5 ; her god- 
 parents, ib. ; baptism from Eed- 
 cliff register, 8 ; more than three 
 years older than the poet, 12; 
 date of her death and burial, 
 ib. ; her age on family tombstone 
 an error, ib. 
 
 Chatterton, Giles Malpas (brother 
 of the poet) ; Ms father's record 
 of his birth and baptism, 5 ; his 
 godparents, 5; baptism from 
 Eedcliff register, 8; his name 
 unknown to the poet's bio- 
 graphers, 6; "no allusion to" 
 on family tombstone, 10; after 
 whom named, 8 ; mentioned, 13 
 
 Chatterton, Thomas (the poet); 
 record of birth and baptism in 
 the Chatterton Bible history, 5 ; 
 not in his father's handwriting, 
 6-7 ; baptism from Eedcliff 
 register, 8 ; strips the Bible 
 history of its covering, 9 ; since 
 his death the victim of " fabri- 
 cators," 7 
 
 Chatterton's "Works, edited by 
 Professor Skeat; Mr. Ingram's 
 remarks on, 7 
 
 Chatterton Family tombstone, in 
 Eedcliff churchyard; age of 
 Mary Newton (the poet's sister) 
 on it an error, 12 ; copied by Dr. 
 Wilson and others, 12; one of 
 the authorities of Mr. Ingram, 
 10 ; contains no allusion to Giles 
 Malpas Chatterton, 10 
 
 Chatterton Family; summary of 
 the New Facts relating to them, 
 as established by records in 
 their family Bible history, and 
 from parish registers, 12-13 
 
 Clarke, Laurence ; his " History 
 of the Bible," possessed by Mrs. 
 Chatterton, 9; in 1881 by a 
 " dealer ia curiosities," 5 ; and 
 sold to W. George, 10-11 ; copy 
 of its Chatterton records, 6-6 
 
15 
 
 Coats, Eev. J., 6 
 
 Colston's hospital, 6 
 
 Tarley, Felix, printer, 8, note 
 
 Parley, (Elizabeth, printer, widow 
 of Felix), 9 
 
 Fuhrer, Andrea, Giles Malpas 
 Chatterton's godfather, 5. 
 
 G-eorge, William; his transcript 
 from Chipping Sodbury register 
 of T. Chatterton's " wedding," 
 9 ; impugns accuracy of its date, 
 12; traces Mary Chatterton's 
 godfathers, 9 ; his copy of the 
 Bible history, the one possessed 
 by the Chattertons, 9 ; proves 
 the age of the poet's sister on 
 gravestone erroneous, 12 ; sum- 
 marises the New Facts relating 
 to the Chatterton family, 12-13 ; 
 identifies the clergyman who 
 baptised Mary and Giles Malpas 
 Chatterton, 8, note 
 
 Giles, "Eev. Mr.," 6,8 
 
 Harvey, Eev. W. H. P., vicar of 
 Chipping Sodbury, certifies ex- 
 tract from his parish register, of 
 marriage of the poet's parents, 9 
 
 Ingram, John H. (Editor of Poe's 
 Works, 4 vols.) ; his animad- 
 versions on Mr. J. Taylor's 
 letter to "Athenaeum," 6-7; 
 terms the MS. inscriptions in 
 Bible history " forgeries," &c., 
 6; prophecies the quarto con- 
 taining them will soon disap- 
 pear, 7; extract from his 
 second letterto "Athenseum," 
 10; his projected article on 
 Chatterton concerns the poet 
 only, 10; mentioned, 9, 10, 11, 
 12 
 
 Malpas, Giles, gent., erects house 
 for master of Pile-street school, 
 8 ; copy of inscription on it, ib. ; 
 votes at Bristol election, 17.54, 9 
 
 MiUes, Dean ; his edition of the 
 Eowley Poems, quoted, 9 
 
 Moon's phases at births of the 
 children of Thomas and Mary 
 Chatterton, 5 
 
 Moser, J. Frederick, godfather to 
 Giles Malpas Chatterton, 5 
 
 Moses, Jane, godmother to Mary 
 Chatterton, 5 
 
 Newton, Mrs. — see " Chatterton, 
 Mary" 
 
 Norris, Ven. Archdeacon; certifies 
 extract of Mary Newton's burial, 
 12 
 
 Pew, George, Mary Chatterton's 
 godfather, 5 ; votes at Bristol 
 election, 1754, 9 
 Philips, Sir John, Bart, candi- 
 date at Bristol election, 1754, 9 
 
 Pile-street Free School, 5 ; in- 
 scription on the master's house, 
 8 
 
 Pipping, John, Mary Chatterton's 
 godfather, 5 ; votes at Bristol 
 election, 1754, 9 
 
 EedcUff church registers, ex- 
 tracts from, 8, 12 
 
 [Sharp, Sir Cuthbert], quoted, 7 
 
 Skeat, Prof. W. W. ; remarks on 
 his edition of Chatterton's 
 Works, 7 
 
 Taylor, John (author of " Eccle- 
 siastical Bristol," &c.) ; dis- 
 covers the Chatterton inscrip- 
 tions in their Bible history, 5 ; 
 sends transcripts of them to 
 " AthenESum," 5-6 ; his reply to 
 Mr. Ingram's attack in that 
 journal, 7-8 ; his extracts of 
 baptisms from Eedoliff register, 
 8 ; proves the inscriptions in 
 Bible history not to be " fabrica^ 
 tions," 8 ; extract frnm his re- 
 ply to Mr. Ingram's second 
 letter, 10-11 ; affords him a few 
 details for his projected paper 
 on Chatterton, 7; mentioned, 
 9, 10, 11 
 
 Thomas, Moy; his article on the 
 Chatterton inquest imposition, 
 mentioned, 6 
 
 "Weddings," brief way of enter- 
 ing in parish registers before 
 1753, 11 
 
 WOliams, Eev. William, 5 ; " held 
 no benefice in Bristol," 6, 8; 
 identified, 8, note 
 
 Wilson, Dr. D. (author of "Chat 
 terton : a Biographical Study'') ; 
 has cited the erroneous inscrip- 
 tion on tombstone as an evi- 
 dence, 12; a biographer who 
 takes an interest in the poet's 
 family, 13 
 
 Young, Sarah, married to Thomas 
 Chatterton, 6, 9; her maiden 
 name unknown to her son's 
 biographers, 6 ; mentioned, 11, 
 12. See " Chatterton, Mrs." 
 
Jlntiquarian ^amp^Icfs. 
 
 C|OME ACCOUNT of the OLDEST PLANS of BEISTOL. 
 
 ^ With 3 Illustrations. (1) " Bristollia," 1480, Hand Coloured; (2) 
 " Brightstowe," 1581, folding full-sized Fao-simile ; (3) Seyer's Bristol 
 between 1250 and 1350. 4to. 12 pp., 2s. 6d. post free. 
 
 " It is difficult to overrate the value of ground plans to antiquaries. 
 In the present instance a good explanatory text is added." — Atheruewm. 
 
 " Mr. George's pamphlet is made additionally interesting by the 
 introduction of three valuable illustrations." — The Aniiquary. 
 
 " Ought to be prized by every Bristolian who feels an intelligent 
 interest in his birth-place." — Bristol Mercury. 
 
 " Mr. William George is a pains-taking and conscientious antiquary. 
 One of the three illustrations he gives is the plan attributed to Hoefnagle 
 (1S81) ; one of the most picturesque bird's-eye views we have of the old 
 city." — Bristol Times and Mirror. 
 
 TTTES CART MANOR HOUSE, SOMERSET, and its 
 J-t LITBRAET ASSOCIATIONS. 8vo., with 2 Photographs. Is. 6d. 
 post free. Large and thick paper, 4to., 3s. 6d. 
 
 " Will be found full of interest, and is worthy of careful preservation." 
 — Notes and Queries. 
 
 " Is a pains-taking study of a picturesque Tudor Mansion. There are 
 many biographical particulars of the early Lytes." — Athenaeum. 
 
 " A delightful little book." — Dorset Chronicle. 
 
 ON an INSCRIBED STONE, at ORCHARD WYNDHAM, 
 SOMBESET, called "OLD MOTHEE SHIPTON'S TOMB;" 
 with "MOTHEE SHIPTON INTEEVIEWED," a Legend in 
 Verse; and an Account of Mother Shipton, and the earliest editions of 
 her "Prophecies." 8vo. 82 pages, 6 Illustrations, Is. On large and thick 
 paper, 4to., 3s. 6d.-post free. 
 
 " ' Mother Shipton,' as well as her tomb, have been mercilessly dealt 
 with by Mr. George, who leaves no doubt in the mind that the ' trouble- 
 some prophetess' has no more c'aim to prophetic honours than her so- 
 called tomb to be considered of Eoman origin."— Dorset County Chronicle. 
 
 " Mr. George's sagacity and perseverance in pursuing his investigation 
 are only equalled by his success in detecting and exposing this imposture." 
 — TransacUons of the Bristol and Gloucester Archceological Society, III. 399. 
 
 " Mr. George has well exposed the counterfeit, and shown how the 
 inaccurate copy of the true stone made by Gordon [1726] has been followed 
 by the forger."— Eev. Peeb. Scabth, in Archceological Journal (Institute), 
 No. 144, p. 331. 
 
 " An impudent forgery, which has led to a perplexing and contradictory 
 antiquarian question, Mr. George has completely exposed for all tiine." 
 — Transactions of the Cum,he^-land and Westmoreland Archceological Society, 
 III. 281. 
 
 IN PEEPAEATION. 
 
 PHATTERTONIANA : Gatherings from Manuscripts and 
 ^ other Sources. Illustrations of the Family, Connections, and Bio- 
 graphy of the poet Chatterton. 
 WiU contain fac-similes of the Inscriptions in the Chatterton " Bible 
 History." ^^^^ ^,^,^_ 
 
 WILLIAM GEOEGE & SON, 
 26, PARK STREET, BRISTOL. 
 
dCTOBEE. 
 By Thomas Chatterton. ( 1 ) 
 
 [Reprinted, without alteration of spelling, from Felix Farley's Bristol 
 Journal for October 28th, 1769.] 
 
 SEE, far extended o' er the verdant lawn 
 The filmy mist obstructs the pleasing view ; 
 And, fondly hanging on the glimm' ring dawn, 
 Evaporates in spires of drilling (2) dew. 
 
 The saffron chequers of the east are lost, 
 The shrouded sun a sanguine red displays, 
 
 No wavy silver cloud, with fire embossed; 
 Reflects the dazzle of his bright' ning rafys. 
 
 The lab' ring light the darkned scene refines, 
 
 Tte' dew-drops gleam a transitory glare ; 
 With swelling splendor now the ether shines. 
 
 On every side the op' ning prospects clear. 
 
 The distant mountain is obscurely seen. 
 
 The village turret steals upon the eye ; 
 The meadow, mantled in a gold-ting' d green, 
 
 Glows with new life and throws the vapor by. 
 
 The lofty branches of the lordly oak 
 
 Immerging f ron* the yellow leaf arise ; 
 And, in defiamce ofjhe light' nings stroke. 
 
 Check the loud whirlwinds and embrace the skies. 
 
 (1) This poem is evidently by Chatterton, though not included in any 
 
 edition of his works ; neither, since it appeared in the columns of 
 Felix Farley, has it, as far as known to me, been reprinted. The 
 external and internal evidences prove it to be Chatterton' s. The 
 external evidences are (1) the newspaper in which it appeared ; (2) the 
 dfete of its appearance ; and (3) the signature "B." — (BrisloliensisJ 
 being the second letter of his signature "D. B." appended to 
 ** February, an Elegy," and to many of his other contributions, in 
 1769-70, to The Toion and Country Magazine. The internal evidences 
 are supplied by comparison with other poems by Chatterton, written 
 about the same time as " October.' ' Some examples are given at 
 the end of the poem. 
 
 (2) "To Drill,to draw in, or entice." Kersey's Dictionary, 1721;" — to 
 
 draw on or entice." Bailey' s Dictionary, 1751. " The Dictionaries of 
 Bailey and Kersey are the books Chatterton trusted to from first to 
 
The skirted pasture and the rushy moor 
 Smile with new beauties in the grazing herd ; 
 
 On airy wing the envious wai biers soar, 
 Fir' d with the music of the morning bird. 
 
 The purple clusters bend the yielding vine, 
 The fragrant apple scents the breathing gale ; 
 
 The rustic swain, upon his crook supine, 
 Sings to the ecchoes (3) of the stubbed vale. 
 
 The winding horn resounds along the dells ; 
 
 The stretching pack' s reverberating sound 
 Upon the wings of every zephyr swells, 
 
 And makes the russet waste enchanted ground. 
 
 These are the pleasures in October' s train. 
 
 Whose bleak attendants roughly charm the soul ; 
 And, w^en the veil of darkness shrouds the plain, 
 Bid friendship consecrate the festive bowl. 
 Bristol, Oct. 24 [1769]. " ' B. 
 
 Two days after this poem appeared in Felix Farley' s Bristol Journal, 
 Chatterton addressed to Michael Clayfield (4) his " Elegy" on the death of 
 his sympathetic friend and adviser' Thomas Phillips (5). The poet com- 
 mences his lament with this stanza, t — 
 
 " No more I hail ttie morntng's golden gleam, 
 No more the wonders oJE the view I sing ; 
 Friendship reciuires a melancholy theme, 
 At her commandj the awful lyre I string ! ' ' 
 
 In the first two lines, does not Chatterton allude to his " October,' ' in 
 which a few days before he sang" the wonders of the view ? ' ' 
 
 last. If we take Rowley to be a mere "pseudonym for Kersey and 
 Bailey, we shall hafdlyever err." — Professor Skeat. 'The only 
 authority for the use of "To drill, ' ' in the sense of " to draw slowly, ' ' 
 that Dr. Johnson could find, was Thomson : 
 
 " Drill' d through the sandy stratum everyway, 
 The waters with the sandy stratum rise.' 
 
 —Thomson's Seasons, Autum.ti. 
 
 See Todd's Johnson's Dictionary, 1827, s.v. " Mr. Clayfield said that 
 he had heard Chatterton read Milton and Thomson," Bryant on 
 Rowley, 1781, p. 533. 
 
 (3) Eccho so spelt in the Rowley Poems. (Chatterton' s Works. Aldine 
 Bdn. I. 257 note) ; and in Kersey's Dictionary, 1721. 
 
 (4-) The lines sent with the Elegy to Clayfield are dated "Bristol, Monday 
 Bvng., Octr. 30 — 69." See fac-siniile of the poem "engraved from 
 the original in the British Museum," in Chatterton' s "Poetical 
 Works,'' Cambridge, 1842, vol. II., plate 1. 
 
 (5) " Chatterton' s true teacher, as far as the training of others had any 
 share in the development of his genius, appears to have been the 
 junior master or usher [of Colston's School], Thomas Phillips, to 
 whose example and influence his first contributions to Felix Farley' s 
 Bristol Journal were probably due.' ' — Professor Wilson. 
 
In " An Elegy," written seven raontlis later (May 20, 1770), he appears 
 to refer to the same poem : — 
 
 " Once, ere the gold-haired sun shot the new ray 
 Through the grey twilight of the dubious morn,. 
 To woodlands, lawns, and hills, I took my way, 
 And listened, to the echoes of the horn." 
 
 Many carefully selected poetic words in "October" re-appear i,n the 
 "Elegy" on Phillips, and in later poems, written in the same metre. 
 Let the reader compare the following examples,, ^he first line of each being 
 from " October.' ' 
 
 1. See, far extended o'er the verdant lav;n (b)i v, 1. 
 See '. see ! the pitchy vapour hides the lavm,. 
 
 Efegy on Phillips, v. 30. 
 
 2. Evaporates in spires of drilling dew ; v. I.. 
 The bounding hail, or drilling rain descend. 
 
 February, an Elegy, Feb. 12 [1770.] 
 
 3. The saffron chequers of the east are lost ; v. 2. 
 The west faint glimmers with the saffron fires. 
 
 Elegy on Phillips, v. 24. 
 
 4. The dew-drops gleam a transitory glare ; v. 3. 
 The clouded sun emits a, feeble glare. 
 
 Elegy [after Gray] Nov. 1769. 
 When glimmering dew-drops 'stound the traveller' s eyne. 
 
 Fragment by Rowley, II. 276. 
 
 5. The meadow, mantled in a gold-ting' d green ; v» 4. 
 When sickening sorrow wets the yellow green. 
 
 Elegy [after Gray] Nov., 1769. 
 
 6. Check the loud whirlwinds and embrace the sides ; v. 5. 
 Whilst rising lohirlwinds, lasting^ keen,, and loud. 
 
 Elegy on Phillips, v. 12. 
 
 7. The skirted pasture and the rushy moor ; v. 6. 
 The velvet mantle of the skirled mead. 
 
 Elegy [May, 1770.] 
 
 8. The purple clusters bend the yielding vine ; v., 7. 
 From purple clusters prest the foamy wine. 
 
 Elegy on Phillips, v. 6. 
 
 9. Sings to the ecchoes (7) of the stubbed vale ; v. 7. 
 I catch the ecchoes of their feet. 
 
 The Complaint [Nov. 1769.] 
 10. Upon the wings of every zephyr swells ; v. 8« 
 
 Whilst softly floating on the zephyr's tuings. 
 
 Elegy, May [n70.] 
 
 (6) To the original copy of the "Elegy," Chatterton afterwards added six 
 
 new stanzas, and altered others. ■ The quotations in the text arp from 
 the improved copy, printed in the Aldine "Chatterton," I. pp. 50 — 56. 
 
 (7) For Chatterton' s peculiar spelling of "Eccho" see note 3, lage 6. 
 
11. And makes the russet waste enchanted ground ; v. 8. 
 He [Winter] limps along the russet dreary moor. 
 
 Elegy on Phillips, v. 12. 
 
 12. These are the pleasures in October' s train ; v. 9. 
 The rough October has his pleasures too. 
 
 Elegy on Phillips, v. 12. (8) 
 
 No one living in Bristol in 1769, save Thomas Chatterton, could have 
 written the poem here reprinted from the whity-brown pages of Felix 
 Farley. The following verse is a specimen of the " original poetry" that 
 graced its columns in that year. 'Tis the eighteenth and last of "An 
 Elegy" on "Mr. Abraham Rich. Hawksworth, late of this city : " — 
 
 " Such gen'ral Grief has rarely been 
 Sincere, for one lov' d subject seen ; 
 
 On Kings great show attend : 
 All mourn for thee — both Rich and Poor, 
 Aged and Young — Hawksworth (9) deplore. 
 
 They know they've lost their friend.' ' 
 
 (8) Several other parallelisms have been noted. Those given above are 
 
 thought to answer the purpose for which they are quoted. 
 
 (9) Hawksworth is mentioned by Chatterton in his "Elegy on .John 
 
 Tandey, Senr.' ' Barrett, the Bristol historian, married Mr. Tandey' s 
 daughter Mary, -who died May the 8th, 1763, aged 32, and was 
 buried with her ancestors in Redcliff church. Her father died 
 January the 5th, 1769, aged 76, and was laid in the same vault as his 
 daughter. In the south transept of Redcliff Church, Bam-tt 
 placed a marble tablet, with a Latin inscription, to the mennjry 
 of his wife. Referring to this memorial in his "History," 
 Barrett says it is " to the memory of one who justly deserved the 
 character here given her by her husband : she was taken from him in 
 early life : — Eheu! dies atro carbone notanda." From the day "to be 
 marked with black chalk," to the time (1789) he was making this note 
 for his "History," more than a quarter of a century had elapsed, since 
 his wife " calmly fell asleep in the Lord without a sigh.' ' (In Domino, 
 tandem sine gemitu, placidl abdormivitj. A few months after he wrote 
 the above brief and touching reference to her, the historian was 
 laid in his grave at Hirfi Ham, Somerset, of which parish his son 
 the Rev. William Tandy Barrett, was rector. Mrs. Barrett' s memorial 
 was originally " affixed to a column near the tomb of William 
 Canynges." It is not there now ; neither, as far as I can discover 
 in any other part of the church. 
 
 Since the above was in type the Sexton (Mr. S. Cross) has kindly informed 
 me that he had " found Mrs. Barrett' s Memorial.' ' It is now under 
 the tower at the west end of the north aisle It is on the north wall 
 and is fixed about eighteen feet from the floor. Owing to this, and to 
 my looking for "a small marble tablet," as it is described (but 
 erroneously) in the "Guide to Redcliff Church" (1856 p 27) it 
 escaped my search. ' 
 
THE REV. ALEXAXDER CATCOTT, VICAR OF TEMPLE 
 CHURCH, BRISTOL. 
 
 CONTEMPORARY NOTICES OP HIS CHARACTER AND DEATH. 
 
 THIS amiable clergyman, whose last moments (according to the account 
 in Mr. Thomas Kerslake' s interesting extract from the Life of Bishop 
 Home) (1) were disturbed by the continual barking of an uncivil 
 neighbour's dog, resided at the Vicarage-house, near Temple church. 
 His brother, George Symes, and their sister Martha, lived with him. All 
 three being single, the residents of the Vicarage wore known amongst their 
 friends as "the good people at the monastery." The Vicar's name and 
 address, in a Bristol Directory, published four years before his death, 
 are thus given — "Rev. Mr. Catcott, Temple-church-pavement." The old 
 Vicarage-house still exists, and is used by the present energetic Vicar of 
 Temple for parish purposes. George Catcott' s name will be found cut on 
 the glass of one of the windows of the upper rooms. It was here that 
 Chatterton visited the author of the "Treatise on the Deluge" — so 
 the old Vicarage has literary associations of much interest. 
 
 Whether the Vicar's father, the Rev. A. S. Catcott, (2) ever lived in 
 Queen-square or not, I do not know. Any information on the subject 
 would be as acceptable to me as Mr. T. Kerslake' s account of his son's 
 death is. In the Bristol election, 1Y39, "Alexander Stopford Catcott, 
 Clerk, Fr. St. Michael, Upper Master of the Grammar School," voted for 
 Henry Combe, the unsuccessful Whig candidate (Bristol Poll-Book, 
 " printed and sold by Felix Farley, in Castle-green," page 4). In 1752, 
 appeared " Sermons by the late Rev. A. S. Catcott, LL.B., . . late 
 Rector of St. Stephen's, in the City of Bristol. Printed by Felix Farley, 
 Small-street." This was published by subscription, and edited by his 
 son Alexander, afterwards Vicar of Temple. George Symes Catcott, the 
 literary pewterer (of Chattertonian fame), and author of an " Account of 
 
 (1) The Extract referred to is given in note ^, page 10. 
 
 (2) Among the followers of Hutchinsonianism were the two Catcotts, 
 
 father and son, clergymen of Bristol, so that it was from Bristol 
 these two theological luminaries of the last century [Bp. Home and 
 Bev. W. Jones, of Nayland] were innoculated with this nowexjiloded 
 crochet — Jones by the younger Catcott, and his friend Bishop Home 
 took the infection from him. Mr. Thomas Kerslake, in Lristul 
 Times and Mirror. 
 
10 
 
 Fen-Park Hole,"' &c., was another of his aons. Mr. Richard Smith, the 
 eminent surgeon and antiquary — whose graphic account of the Bridge Riots, 
 in 1793, was lately printed in the antiquarian column of Saturday' s Times 
 and Mirror — was the Rev. A. S. Catcott's grandson. From the fact of 
 there being in Bristol during the last century three of the Catcott family, all 
 of whom were authors, much confusion respecting them and their works has 
 crept into biographical dictionaries and local histories. Two of them being 
 clergymen with the same Christian name' has in no way tended to lessen the 
 confusion. (See Pryce' s ' ' Popular History of Bristol, ' ' 262, 584- ; Dr. AUibone' 3 
 "Dictionary of Authors," I., 351; " Bristol, Past and Present," III., 
 281; Watt's " Bibliotheca Britannica," I., 202; Orme'a "Bib. Biblica," 
 91-2; and Barrett's "Bristol," 1789,54-6). This must be my apology for 
 wandering from my subject. (3) 
 
 George Syraes Catcott, the literary pewterer, was a frequent corres- 
 pondent of Dr. Jeremiah Milles, Dean 'of Exeter, and editor of a handsome 
 quarto edition of Chatterton' s Rowley Poems, published in 1782. 
 
 The following hitherto unpublished account of his brother's death 
 and character (4) is copied from G. S. Catcott' s own transcript of his letter 
 to Dean Milles, dated " Bristol,,.. Aug. 3, 1773 " : — 
 
 It is with the utmost concern I -itifprm yoji .that ray late good heather 
 died 18th ult., in 53rd year ofj- lus age.-.- ^ever was any parish clergyman 
 more universally lamented by people of all pei:suasi_9ns. He was attended to his 
 grave by many of our most respectable ocitigerve, who all - expressed the most 
 heartfelt concern for h'is irreparable loss. In private life he was uniformly good, 
 and remarkable for his filial piety. . . Indeed a man so amiable in his 
 behaviour, so pure in his morals, and so regular and constant in the discharge 
 of his clerical duty, could not but claim the tributary tear from every eye. 
 He was an excellent scholar, a dutiful son, an affectionate brother, and a 
 stedfast and sincere friend : and, what is infinitely' nriore than all, was a pious 
 and orthodox divine who fully practised what' he tau'ght. Never did I before 
 see so perfect a pattern of resignation— not the least murmur ever escaped his 
 lips during his long and very painful illness, which he bore with all the fortitude 
 of a primitive martyr.' . . . God of his infinite mercy grant that my latter 
 end' may resemble his. 
 
 -f* '', '. ' ~ " 
 
 (3) For a list of the respective works of the Catcotts, see page 21. 
 
 (4) This good and innocent man, whose heart was well affected to all mankind, 
 
 died before his time ; and the manner of bis death, if it has been truly 
 reported, will raise the indignation of every sensible and well-disposed 
 mind. He kept his bed with a bad fever ; and vvlicn rest was necessary, he 
 was distarbed byJ.hej;ontinual barking ol .a dog that was chained up near 
 at hand. When his friends sent a civil message desiring that the dog might 
 be removed till the patient was better, it was refused ; and, in the event, he 
 was fairly barked to death. If this fact be true, how cheap are the lives 
 and sufferings of some men in the estimation of ot'iers ! Hcrcule! hoinini 
 plurimaexliomine sunt mala.'—toT the dog intended no harm. Of this 
 gentleman himself, we are informed by one of his intimate friends, that, 
 when he settled his account at the year's end, he con-idered all the money 
 th-it remained after his own debts were paid as the property, not of himself 
 but of the poor, to whose use (being a single man)' be" never failed to 
 apply it. — J^jnes'a ''Life of Bishop Home." 
 
IT 
 
 The "18th u!t." in the foregoing extract would be the 18th of July, 
 but the Vicar died the 18th of June, and on Wednesday, 21th, wa3_ buried 
 in a brick grave, in Temple churchyard. (5) The day after hig funeral the 
 following notice of him appeared in The Bristol Gazette : — 
 
 On Friday last, died in the 53rd year of his age, the Rev. Mr. Catcott, Vicar 
 of Temple, in this city, and chaplain to the Karl of Buchan. His character as a 
 minister was consistently pious, as a man, uniformly good. In the discharge of 
 his public functions he was remarkably regular and punctual ; but he did not 
 rest in the exterior of devotion, nor did he ever think that the duties of a Christian 
 minister were confined to the narrow limits of public instruction. His zeal in 
 the cause of God was accompanied with the most fervent charity for his fellow- 
 creatures ; and while he earnestly preached the doctrines of Christianity, his 
 practice illustrated his preaching, and his works evidenced his Faith, His 
 unwearied attention to the sick, his warm benevolence to the poor, will make his 
 loss severely felt, and his name be held in lasting remembrance. 
 
 The Rev. A. Catcott says in his will, dated March 2«h, 1778 : — 
 
 I give and bequeath to the Mayor, Burgesses, and Commonalty of the city of 
 Bristol . . to be kept in their Library room, situate in King-street . . all my 
 fossils and natural shells, together with the cabinet and drawers containing 
 them . . all my MS. joiSrpals. . . which will be fouhd in one drawfcr in 
 the beaureau in my present study; also my two sets of ■ Mr. Hutchinson's 
 Works, and all my Hutchinsonian miscellanies . . all my 4to, 8vo, and 12mo 
 books . . in any way relating to the natural history of the earth , . Borlase' s 
 Natural History of Cornwall . . the second edition of my Treatise on the 
 Deluge. . . I will also that one of the keys of the aforesaid Fossilliary be kept 
 by the librarian . . and whenever he shall have occasion to show the said 
 fossils (especially if it be to persons unknown to him), he will take all possible 
 care that the spectators do not transgress the eighth commandment (for curious 
 people generally make no scruple of stealing curiosities). (6) 
 
 The books— the bulk of which Carlyle would have classed with those 
 that.are " never more to be read by mortal man" — remain on the shelves 
 of the Bristol City Library, but the " Fossilliary" and its contents have 
 been lately removed to the Bristol Museum and Library. 
 
 Of all Chatterton's Bristol acquaintances, the Vioar of Temple was 
 the most scholarly. The boy-poet's intercourse with him, and his satirical 
 "Epistle to the Beverend Mr. Catcott," will be the subject of my 
 next communication. 
 
 (5> " Burials, 1779. June 23, The Rev. Alexander Catcott, Vicar, in a Brick Grave 
 ihyeChurch Yard."— From Register of Temple Church, per Mr. Edward 
 G. Doggett. 
 
 (^ "The slight poke he gives to ' curious people ' may be inferred, was the result 
 of experience." Mr. Charles Tovey's "History of the City Library," 1862 
 page 29. On page 28 Mr. Tovey-gives a longer extract from the will. 
 
12 
 
 CHATTEETON AND THE VICAE OF TEMPLE, 
 1768—1770. 
 
 'friHE Eev. Alexander Oatcott, M.A., was presented to the Vicarage cf 
 J- Temple church in 1767, being the same year in which Thomas Chatterton 
 ■left Colston's School. In the year following, after Bristol-hridge was 
 opened, Chatterton became acquainted with the Vicar of Temple's brother, 
 George Symes Catcott, who was then in partnership with Henry Biirgum. 
 " Burgum and Catcott, pewterers, 2, Bridge-foot," so the firm is entered 
 in a Bristol Directory for 1775. " 2, Bridge-foot ' ' is now 2, Bridge-parade. 
 
 The house, at the end of the last century, was occupied by " Thos. 
 Sanders & Co., seed, corn, and hop merchants ' ' (Bristol Directory, 
 1798), and now by Messrs. Ward and Co., corn merchants, who succeeded 
 to the old-established business of Messrs. Sanders and Co. 
 
 The Vicar of Temple was, intellectually, a, very different man from his 
 brother, the notable pewterer. The Vicar was a scholar, with scientific 
 tastes and literary aspirations. He had long been known as an author. 
 In the very year that his brother became acquainted with Chatterton (1768), 
 a new and enlarged edition of the Vicar's well-known "Treatise on the 
 Deluge' ' (1) issued from the press. 
 
 He has been spoken of as a good Hebrew scholar. Poetry, however, he 
 considered to have an idle, if not an evil tendency. All " light reading" 
 he banished from his library. A copy of old Barclay's " Ship of Fools " 
 —which would have gladdened the heart of his book-loving brother George^ 
 he sent to his kitchen to be used as waste paper. If you visit him, writes 
 one of his contemporaries, he conducts you into his best parlour, where.are 
 deposited his collection of minerals and fossils. "After he has explained 
 the beauty and remarkableness of each class, the place where they wei-e 
 found, and how they came into his possession, he asks you, with a look of 
 infinite satisfaction, whether all those things do not plainly prove a deluge? ' ' 
 
 When Chatterton first came in contact with the reverend geologist ia 
 not known, but it is assumed to have been soon after the boy-poet's 
 introduction, in 1768, to the Bristol pewterer. Writing from Bristol, in 
 
 (1) "This work is framed on the principles of Hutchinson, and contains 
 what the author considers a full explanation of the Scripture history 
 of the flood.' ' Orme' s " Bibliotheca Biblica.' ' 
 
1-3 
 
 •1169, to his relative, Mr. Stevens, of Salisbury, diatterton vauntingly says, 
 •"In this city, my principal acquaintances are — Mr. Barrett, now writing at 
 a vast expense an ancient and modern history of Bristol, a task more difficult 
 than cleaning the Augean stable ; many have attempted, but none succeeded 
 in it . . and Mr. Catcott, author of that excellent Treatise on the Deluge, 
 and other pieces, to enumerate which would argue a supposition that you 
 were not acquainted with the literary world. To the studies of these 
 gentlemen I am always admitted, and they are not below asking my advice 
 in any matter of antiquity." 
 
 The young poet not only lauded the Vicar of Temple, gave him a 
 proclamation of Canynges and Rowley, and an account of the "Knyghte's 
 Templar's Chyrch," but he occasionally attended the service there. " Mr. 
 Corser, of Totterdown," writes Mr. J. Dix, "was intimately acquainted 
 with Chattorton, and well remembers that he once met him on a Sunday 
 morning at the gate of Temple church, when the bells were chiming for 
 service ; there being yet some time to spare, before the prayers commenced, 
 Chattorton proposed their taking ii walk together in the churchyard, 
 which was then open to the public and laid out like a garden (2). ' Come,' 
 said he, ' I want to read you something I have just written,' and M'hen 
 a.rrived at a secluded spot, he read to Mr. Corser a treatise on Astronomy, 
 and stated that he had not yet finished it, but that he intended to make it 
 the subject of a poem,' ' which, under the title of " The Copernican System,' ' 
 Boon afterwards appeared in the Tovm and Country Mcu/aziiif, with the date, 
 " Bristol, December 23, 1769." The poem closes with this couplet : — 
 
 These are Thy wondrous works, first Source of good ! 
 Now more admired in being understood. 
 
 But in the relations between the unimpassioned philosopher, who 
 professed to despise poetry, and the "wondrous boy" of whom a, 
 brother-bard writes— 
 
 To him alone in this benighted age 
 
 Was that diviner inspiration given 
 
 Which glows in Milton' s, and in Shakspeare' s page, 
 
 The pomp and prodigality of heaven ! 
 
 "there was no foundation for permanent friendship. 
 
 (S) In 1743, when Rooque's large "Plan of the City of Bristol" was 
 published, two double rows of trees graced Temple Churchyard, one 
 row extended from B. to W., the other from S.B. to S.W. See also 
 the plan (dated 1780) prefixed to Barrett' s Bristol. 
 
 " Poor Hickey, ruined by his fine survey, 
 Perpetuates Edoii in the saving lay.' ' 
 
 Chattorton' s "Kew Gardens." 
 
 Hickey was the publisher of Rocque's "fine survey," which is 
 dedicated to the Right Worshipful Sir Abraham Elton. Bart., Mayor, 
 .the Worshipful Recorder, Aldermen," &c., &c., of the C.ty of Bristol. 
 
1-i 
 
 Before the ■ end of 1769— that ig^when Ghatterton- was aevepteen years of 
 age— the Vicar and the poet came into collision. The forme,]-, having done 
 Chatterton " the honour to criticise his trifles,' ' the young aatirist„,in " an 
 effort of poetical vengeance," addressed a rhyming "Epistle" to his 
 raverend censor, dated December 6th, 1769, beginning thus : — 
 
 What strange infatuations rule mankind I 
 How narrow' are «Ur prospects, how confined 1 
 With universal vaijjty possessed, 
 We fondly think our own ideas best ; 
 Our tott' ring arguments are ever strong ; 
 We're always eelf^sufiicient in the wrong. 
 
 After a review of the pride and dogmatism of philosophic sages in 
 general, the reverend geologist is pictured showing his collection of minerals 
 and' fossils -to an assembly of "wondering cits" and fair philosophers : — 
 
 The ladies are quite ravished as he tells 
 
 The short adventures of the pretty shells ; 
 
 Miss Biddy sickens to indulge her touch ; 
 
 Madame," mdte prudent, thinks ' twould be-too much; 
 
 Where is the priestly;soul of Catcott now } 
 See what a triumph sit? upon his brow ! 
 And can the poor applause of things like thesOy 
 Whose souls and .sentiments are all disease,. 
 Raise little triumph in a man like you, 
 Catcott, the foremost of the judging few i. 
 
 The Epistle, which consists of two hundred and seventy lines, exemplifies 
 the truth of Chatterton' s assertion in " Kew Gardens," wliere he says : — 
 
 When raving in the lunacy of ink, 
 
 I catch my pen and publish what! think. 
 
 By the unscrupulous ridicule of the rhyiuing Epistle, whicli- he sent to 
 the Vicar, the friendly intercourse that had subsisted between the 
 philosopher and poet was brought to an abrupt conclusion. Chatterton, 
 however, inhislater satire, entitled" The Exhibition," introduces the Vicar, 
 and deals withihim in terms still freer than in the Ejristle. In the " Exhi- 
 bition," too, the Rev. T. Broughton, "Prebendary of Salisbury, rector 
 of Stepington, Herts, vicar of Bedminster," vicar of Redcliff, &c., &c. 
 (see inscription on his marble tablet in- Rodcliff ehuroh), is not forgotten. 
 Of the rev. pluralist — who appears to be the only person connected with 
 Redoliff church who failed to win the poet' s regard — he says : — 
 
 Hell gave us Broughton and Heav' n gave us Price 
 That one' s devotion, so had God decreed, 
 Should counteract the other' s evil deed. 
 
 And closes the forty lines devoted to him with 
 
 Enough of Broughton— Price now sweeps along 
 Rich witli the flatt' ry of celestial song. 
 
15 
 
 (" Pi-ico" was the Rev. John Price, of St. James's, previously Vicar of 
 Temple, whom C'ateott succeeded.) 
 
 " From repeated allusions in Chatterton' s satires,' ' writes Dr.Wilson, "it 
 is obvious that, in spite of all the fond associations of KedclifE church, its 
 preacher and preaching were alike distasteful to him ; and the appoint- 
 ment of Mr. Catcott to the vicarage of the adjoining parish, in 1767, 
 probably helped, ere long, to induce his withdrawal from it." 
 
 It must be understood that there is no reason to suppose that the 
 wild effusions of the creator of the Rowley Poems, " when revelling in 
 the lunacy of ink," were ever intended by him for publication. "We 
 cannot indeed imagine," says Dr. Wilson, "he thought it (the Epistle to 
 the Rev. Mr. Catcott) worth preserving. But probably it was handed to 
 his brother in confirmation of opinions freely expressed as to his graceless 
 protigi, and the less sensitive pewterer added the satire to his literary 
 hoard." It was first printed in the Supplement to Chatterton' s Mis- 
 cellanies, 1781, and is contained in Professor W. W. Skeat's edition of 
 Chatterton' 3 " Poetical Works," 1875, Vol. I., pages 66-79. Chatterton's 
 own copy of " Catcott on the Deluge," with the Epistle in the poet's 
 autograph, was, a few years ago, " bought at a little village public-house in 
 the neighbourhood of Oxford." (1) 
 
 In these scoffing effusions Chatterton condescended to the debased 
 taste of the free-thinking, free-speaking age in which he lived, when Parson 
 Churchill was the model satirist, Jack Wilkes the political hero, and impure 
 novels had a place in the family library. (2) 
 
 But in his Rowley Poems Chatterton lived in an earlier and purer world 
 of his fancy' s creation ; moved amongst Carpenter the good bishop, Canynges 
 the merchant, and Rowley the poet-priest, and comported himself 
 accordingly. 
 
 When the controversy relating to the Rowley Poems was raging, 
 Chatterton's Bristol associates were canvassed for their opinion as to the 
 Colston-boy being their author. All of them resented recognition of the 
 lad' s creative genius. Even his so-called " bosom friend,' ' William Bradford 
 Smith, when talking with his nephew, Richard Smith, surgeon, on the 
 subject, thus delivered his opinion — "What, sir! he write Rowley? No! 
 no ! no ! I knew him well. Tom was a clever fellow, but he could not 
 write Rowley — there was a mystery about the poems beyond me ; but Tom 
 no more wrote them than I did. Hj could not ! " So said Tom's school- 
 master, so said prosy Barrett the historian, so said Catcott the pewterer, 
 Thistlethwaite the satirist, Eagles the merchant, Cary the clerk, Capel 
 the jeweller, Clayfield the distiller ; and Tom' s other Bristol acquaintances 
 joined the chorus with " And so say all of us." 
 
 (1) " Notes and Queries,' ' 2nd Series, vi. 182-3. 
 
 (2) It has become an established principle of criticism that, in j udging a man we 
 
 must take into account the age in which he lived, and^vliicii was as truly 
 a part of him as he of it. Hon. J. Russell Lowell, on ''Fielding,' 
 Sept. 4, 1883. 
 
16 
 
 No ; not all of Chatterton' a Bristol friends were incapable of appre- 
 ciating his intellectual endowments. Among them was one — and only one— 
 who had formed a true estimate of the poet' s creative powers— (and he 
 enunciated his opinion before the boy-poet had become celebrated) — and that 
 was the Rev. Alexander Catcott. " I have frequently heard my brother 
 say," writes G. S. Oatcott, "he [Chatterton] was capable of writing 
 anything attributed to Rowley, and that he was, upon the whole, the most 
 extraordinary genius he had ever met with." 
 
 From this it appears that Chatterton' s satirical "Epistle" to the 
 Vicar of Temple did not bias him in estimating the writer' s intellectual 
 capabilities, nor deter that good man from expressing his opinion in the 
 presence of his unbelieving brother, who, for years, with pen and tongue, 
 vainly laboured in trying to prove Chatterton incapable of writing the 
 so-called Rowley Poems, which, we now know, had no other origin than 
 the fertile brain of Chatterton. 
 
 The Rev. A. Catcott' s amiable character was not unnoticed or 
 unrecorded by Chatterton : four months before he was buried by strangers, 
 in a pauper's grave, in London, he wrote of the " Treatise on the Deluge" 
 and its author : — 
 
 If Catcott' s flimsy system can' the proved, 
 Let him alone— /or Catcott' s much beloved. 
 
17 
 
 CHATTERTOX'S BALLAD OF CHARITY. 
 
 THE "Ballad of Charity" was Chatterton'a last known production of 
 Rowley romance. Seven weeks before his death the boy-poet sent 
 the Ballad, " as wroten by the gode Prieste Thomas Rowley, 1464,' ' to 
 Hamilton, the printer of The Town and Country Magazine. It was 
 rejected, and the manuscript not returned. Tyrwhitt obtained Chatterton' s 
 manuscript from Hamilton, and printed the "Ballad" in .Uiis edition 
 of the Rowley Poems, first published in 1777— seven years after Chatterton' s 
 death. 
 
 The poems that Chatterton attributed to " the gode Prieste" Rowley, 
 are, remarks Sir Walter Scott, in poetical power and diction, incalculably 
 superior to those which the bard of Bristol owned as his own composition. 
 The "Ballad of Charity," though the latest, is not the least beautiful of 
 his Rowley creations. A hundred years ago, even I>ean Milles, the dullest, 
 but not the kindest of Chatterton' « critics--" An owl," Coleridge calls 
 him, "who mangled a poor dead niglitiuyalo " - praised it for its keen satire, 
 excellent morality, and wonderful dignity of uxiiression. Sir Walter Scott 
 copied two of the stanzas (second and iiftli) for the " beautiful description 
 of a landscape overshaded by a thunderstorm ' ' thry contain. 
 
 In an able critique on Keats, in a recent number of The Afheiuntiii 
 (Feb. 23rd, 1884-), Chatterton and his Ballad are thus spoken of:— "The 
 truth is that when poetry is considered as a, fine art lliu jierfection of 
 Keats' s odes becomes so astonishing that it is difficult to tliiuk of him save 
 as a classic artist. As regards English poetry at lo;ust, in no other poet — 
 save, perhaps, in Chatterton, ,is shown in his 'Ballad of Charity,' — was 
 the instinct of the poet as a mere artist so strong as in Keats." 
 
 The eulogy of The Alhenanim has induced me to reprint tlie 
 Ballad. The spurious old English with which Chatterton masked his 
 Rowley poems has deterred a large number from reading them. Many of 
 these orthographical disguises Professor W. W. Skeat, in his carefully 
 edited and copiously annotated Aldine edition of the poet's works, has 
 cleared away, and printed the poems, as far as rhyme and rhythm would 
 admit, in modern English. "The finest of the Rowley poems," writes 
 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, " rank absolutely with the finest poetry in our 
 language, and gain (not lose) bij modernisation." This being so, the 
 " Ballad ' ' as modernised by Professor Skeat, is here reprinted. The 
 glossarial foot-notes are selected from the Aldine " Cliatterton,' ' and other 
 sources given within parentheses. 
 
u 
 
 "An excelento 
 Balade of 
 Charitie.* ' 
 
 A gathering 
 storu). 
 
 The hapless 
 Pilgrim. 
 
 Perhaps it ia not known to all of my readers that the earliest of 
 Chatterton's Rowley fictions— which so sorely puzzled Barrett, Catcott, 
 and other Bristol Dryasdusts— first appeared in print in the columns of Felix 
 Farley' s BristolJournal ; which venerable Bristol newspaper, as an incor- 
 porated portion of the Times and Mirror, still flourishes. Chatterton, 
 in his "Will," mentions the printer of Felix Farley. To the same news- 
 paper he contributed the last poem, in modern English, known to have 
 been printed in Bristol during his lifetime. 
 
 AN EXCELBNTE BALADE OF OHARITIE. 
 [Reprinted from the Aldine edition of Chatterton' s Works.] 
 I. 
 In Virgo now the sultry sun did sheene (1), 
 And hot upon the meads did cast his ray ; 
 The apple reddened from its paly green. 
 And the soft pear did bend the leafy spray ; 
 The pied chelandry (2) sang the livelong day ; 
 ' Twas now the pride, the manhood of the year, 
 And eke the ground was decked in its most deft aumere (3). 
 II. 
 The sun was gleaming in the midst of day, 
 Dead-still the air, and eke the welkin blue. 
 When from the sea arose in drear array 
 A heap of clouds of sable sullen hue. 
 The which full fast unto the woodland drew„ 
 Hiding at once the sunn^s festive face, 
 And the black tempest swelled, and gathered up apace. 
 III. 
 Beneath a holm, fast by a pathway -side. 
 Which did unto Saint Godwin' s convent lead, 
 A hapless pilgrim moaning did abide. 
 Poor in his view, ungentle in his weed (4),. 
 Long brimful of the miseries of need.. 
 Where from the hailstorm could the beggar fly ! 
 He had no houses there, nor any convent nigh. 
 IV. 
 Look in his gloomed (5) face, his sprite there scan ; 
 How woe-begone, how withered, dwindled, dead ! 
 Haste to thy church-glebe-house! (6), accursed man ! 
 Haste to thy shroud, thy qply sleeping bed. 
 Cold as the clay which will grow on thy head 
 Are Charity and Lov.e among high elves ; 
 For knights andbarons live for pleasure and themselves (7). 
 
 (1) "Sheen"— shine. 
 
 (2) " Chelandry ' ' —pied goldfinch (Chatterton) ; a goldfinch, a kind of lark (Ash). 
 
 (3) " Aum(jre ' ' —a loose robe or mantle (Chatterton) ; apparel (Skeat). 
 
 (4) "Weed"— a garment, or suit of clothes ; still used for a friar's habit a 
 
 widow's veil, &c. (Kersey's "Dictionary," l'i'21). 
 
 (5), " Qloomfed ' ' —clouded, dejected (Chatterton). 
 
 (6) "Churoh-glebe-house"— the grave (Chattertoii) ; church-yard-house (Wilson). 
 
 (7) Chatterton is probably describing himself here (Skeat). 
 
"19 
 
 V. 
 
 The gathered storm 13 ripe ; the big drops tall, The storm 
 
 The sxin-burnt meadows smoke, and drink the rain; breaks. 
 
 The coming ghastncss (8) doth the cattle ' pall (9), ' 
 
 And the full flocks are driving o' er the plain ; 
 
 Dashed from the clouds, the waters fly again ; 
 
 The welkin opos ; the yellow lightning flies. 
 And the hot fiery steam in the wide flashings dies. 
 VI. 
 
 List! now the thunder' s rattling noisy sound 
 
 Moves slowly on, and then full-swollen clangs. 
 
 Shakes the high spire, and lost, expended, drowiied, 
 
 Still on the frighted ear of terror hangs ; 
 
 The winds are. up ; the lofty elmtree swangs ; 
 
 Again theJightning, and the thunder pours. 
 And the full clouds are buret at once in stony showers. 
 VII. 
 
 Spurring his.paUry o'er the watery plain. 
 
 The Abbot of Saint Godwin's convent came ; m. ,-.1. * * 
 
 ■ ' The Abbot of 
 
 His chapournette (10) was drenched with the rain, St. Godwin's. 
 
 His painted girdle met wit^h mickle shame ; 
 
 He aynewarde told his bedei;oll (11) at the same ; 
 
 The storm increases, and he d^ejK aside. 
 With the poor alms-craver near to ft]b^boim to bide. 
 VIII. 
 
 His cope was all of Lincoln cloth so fine, 
 
 With a gold button fastened n'eai''hte''clitn, 
 
 His autremete (12) was edged'wlth golden twine. 
 
 And his shoe' 3 peak a noble' s might have been.; 
 
 Full well it shewfed he thought cost no sin. 
 
 The trammels of his palfrey ^Jleased liis sight. 
 For the horse-milliner (13) his beaid with roses dight. 
 
 (3) " Gbastness ' ' — ghastllness, gloom ; a fine word, but lacking authority 
 (Skeat.) 
 
 (9) '"Pall"— appall. 
 
 (10) '* Champournette " — a small round hat, not unlike the shapournctte in 
 
 heraldry, formerly worn by Ecclesiastics and Lawyers (Chatterton). 
 
 (11) "He aynewarde told his bederoU" — He told his beads backwards; a 
 
 figurative expression to signify cursing (Chatterton) ; Jij/fnward— back 
 again (Kersey's "Dictionary," 1721). 
 
 (12) "Autremete"— a loose white robe, worn by priests (Chatterton); autremite, 
 
 a kind of vestment (Kersey's "Dictionary," 1721). 
 
 <13) "Horse-milliner" — certainly not a fifteenth-century word (Skeat). George 
 Stevens, the commentator on Shakespeare, saw the word in 1776 over a 
 saddler's shop-door in Bristol. Outside was a wooden horse fancifully 
 dressed with ribbons, to explain the nature of "horse-millinery.' ' Hence 
 the origin of the modern word Chatterton has used in his " 1464 ' ' poem. 
 Chatterton' s expression "horse-milliner" has been revived by Sir Walter 
 Scott:- 
 
 " One comes in foreign trashery 
 Of tinkling chain and spur, 
 A walking haberdashery 
 
 Of feathers, lace, and fur ; 
 In Rowley' s antiquated phrase. 
 Horse-milliner of modern days ' 
 
 —'Bridal of Triermain," il. 3. 
 
20 
 
 The storm 
 returns. 
 
 , A good 
 Samaritan. 
 
 IX. 
 
 '■' An alms'; sir' priest ! ' ' the drooping pilgrim said," 
 " Oil ! let me wait within your convent door. 
 Till the sun shineth high above our head, 
 And the loud tempest of the air is o' er. 
 Helpless and old am I, alas ! and poor. 
 No house, no friend, nor money in my pouch, 
 All that I call my own is this ray silver crouche (11).' ' 
 
 X. 
 " Varlet ! ' ' replied the Abbot, " cease your diu j 
 This is no seasoaalms and prayers to give. 
 My porter never lets a beggar in ; 
 None touch my ring (15) who not in honour live.' ' 
 And now the sun with the black clouds did strive. 
 And shot upon the ground his glaring ray ; 
 The Abbot spurred his steed, and eftsoons rode away. 
 
 XI. 
 Once more the sky was black, the thunder rolled. 
 Fast running o' er the plain a priest was seen ; 
 Not dight full proud, nor buttoned up in gold. 
 His cope and jape (16) were grey, and eke were clean ; 
 A limitor (17) he was of order seen ; 
 And from the pathway side then turned he, 
 "Where the poor beggar lay beneath the holmen tree. 
 
 XII. 
 " An alms, sir priest ! ' ' the drooping pilgrim said, 
 " For sweet Saint Mary and your order' s sake.' ' 
 The Limitor then loosened his pouch-thread. 
 And did thereout a groat of silver take ; 
 The needy pilgrim did for gladness shake ; 
 '• Here take this silver, it may ease thy care, 
 We are God's stewards all ; noughtof our own we bear. 
 
 XIII. 
 " But ah ! unhappy pilgrim, learn of me. 
 ■ Scarce any give a rentroU to their lord ; 
 Here, take my semicope (18), thou' rt bare, I see ; 
 ' Tis thine ; the saints will give me my reward.' ' 
 He left the pilgrim, and his way aborde (19). 
 Virgin and holy Saints, who sit in gloure (20), 
 Or give the mighty will, or give the good man power ! 
 
 "Crouche"— a cross, crucifix. 
 
 "Ring"— door-handle, probably (Wilson.) 
 
 "Jape"— a short surplice, worn by friars of an inferior class, and secular 
 priests (Chatterton). But where does it occur! (Skeat). 
 
 "Limitor"— a licensed begging friar, who begged within a iJartictilar 
 limit, or district (Skeat). 
 
 "Semicope"— a half cope, short cape or cloak (Skeat), 
 
 " His way aborde ' ' —went on his way ; but there is no such word as dborde