In the same
Magazine
for May 1769, are three communications from
Bristol, with the same signature, D.
Bristol, with the same signature, D.
Thomas Chatterton - Rowley Poems
In either case, the decision must
finally depend upon the internal evidence.
It may be expected perhaps, that the Editor should give an opinion
upon this important question; but he rather chooses, for many reasons,
to leave it to the determination of the unprejudiced and intelligent
Reader. He had long been desirous that these Poems should be printed;
and therefore readily undertook the charge of superintending the
edition. This he has executed in the manner, which seemed to him best
suited to such a publication; and here he means that his task should
end. Whether the Poems be really antient, or modern; the compositions
of Rowley, or the forgeries of Chatterton; they must always be
considered as a most singular literary curiosity.
[Footnote 1: The history of this youth is so intimately connected with
that of the poems now published, that the Reader cannot be too early
apprized of the principal circumstances of his short life. He was born
on the 20th of November 1752, and educated at a charity-school on St.
Augustin's Back, where nothing more was taught than reading, writing,
and accounts. At the age of fourteen, he was articled clerk to an
attorney, with whom he continued till he left Bristol in April 1770.
Though his education was thus confined, he discovered an early turn
towards poetry and English antiquities, particularly heraldry. How
soon he began to be an author is not known. In the _Town and Country
Magazine_ for March 1769, are two letters, probably, from him, as they
are dated at Bristol, and subscribed with his usual signature, D. B.
The first contains short extracts from two MSS. , "_written three
hundred years ago by one Rowley, a Monk_" concerning dress in the age
of Henry II; the other, "ETHELGAR, _a Saxon poem_" in bombast prose.
In the same Magazine for May 1769, are three communications from
Bristol, with the same signature, D. B. _viz_. CERDICK, _translated
from the Saxon_ (in the same style with ETHELGAR), p.
233. --_Observations upon Saxon heraldry_, with drawings of _Saxon
atchievements_, &c. p. 245. --ELINOURE and JUGA, _written three hundred
years ago by_ T. ROWLEY, _a secular priest_, p. 273. This last poem is
reprinted in this volume, p. 19. In the subsequent months of 1769 and
1770 there are several other pieces in the same Magazine, which are
undoubtedly of his composition.
In April 1770, he left Bristol and came to London, in hopes of
advancing his fortune by his talents for writing, of which, by this
time, he had conceived a very high opinion. In the prosecution of this
scheme, he appears to have almost entirely depended upon the patronage
of a set of gentlemen, whom an eminent author long ago pointed out, as
_not the very worst judges or rewarders of merit_, the booksellers of
this great city.
finally depend upon the internal evidence.
It may be expected perhaps, that the Editor should give an opinion
upon this important question; but he rather chooses, for many reasons,
to leave it to the determination of the unprejudiced and intelligent
Reader. He had long been desirous that these Poems should be printed;
and therefore readily undertook the charge of superintending the
edition. This he has executed in the manner, which seemed to him best
suited to such a publication; and here he means that his task should
end. Whether the Poems be really antient, or modern; the compositions
of Rowley, or the forgeries of Chatterton; they must always be
considered as a most singular literary curiosity.
[Footnote 1: The history of this youth is so intimately connected with
that of the poems now published, that the Reader cannot be too early
apprized of the principal circumstances of his short life. He was born
on the 20th of November 1752, and educated at a charity-school on St.
Augustin's Back, where nothing more was taught than reading, writing,
and accounts. At the age of fourteen, he was articled clerk to an
attorney, with whom he continued till he left Bristol in April 1770.
Though his education was thus confined, he discovered an early turn
towards poetry and English antiquities, particularly heraldry. How
soon he began to be an author is not known. In the _Town and Country
Magazine_ for March 1769, are two letters, probably, from him, as they
are dated at Bristol, and subscribed with his usual signature, D. B.
The first contains short extracts from two MSS. , "_written three
hundred years ago by one Rowley, a Monk_" concerning dress in the age
of Henry II; the other, "ETHELGAR, _a Saxon poem_" in bombast prose.
In the same Magazine for May 1769, are three communications from
Bristol, with the same signature, D. B. _viz_. CERDICK, _translated
from the Saxon_ (in the same style with ETHELGAR), p.
233. --_Observations upon Saxon heraldry_, with drawings of _Saxon
atchievements_, &c. p. 245. --ELINOURE and JUGA, _written three hundred
years ago by_ T. ROWLEY, _a secular priest_, p. 273. This last poem is
reprinted in this volume, p. 19. In the subsequent months of 1769 and
1770 there are several other pieces in the same Magazine, which are
undoubtedly of his composition.
In April 1770, he left Bristol and came to London, in hopes of
advancing his fortune by his talents for writing, of which, by this
time, he had conceived a very high opinion. In the prosecution of this
scheme, he appears to have almost entirely depended upon the patronage
of a set of gentlemen, whom an eminent author long ago pointed out, as
_not the very worst judges or rewarders of merit_, the booksellers of
this great city.
