THE LIFE

OF

THOMAS CHATTERTON.

"To wryte of a Mannes Lyfe mote bee enowe to saie of somme he was ybore and deceased; odher somme lacketh recytalle, as manie notable matteres bee contained in yer storie." Lyfe of W. Canynge, bie Rowley.

I.

His Birth-Parentage-Education.

THOMAS CHATTERTON,1 whose life we are about to record, was born at Bristol on the 20th of November, 1752. He was of humble origin. His father in the early part of his life is said to have filled the office of

1 The materials for this biography are derived from Dean Milles's Preliminary Dissertation to Rowley's Poems; Dr. Gregory's Life of Chatterton; Bryant's Observations; Sir Herbert Croft's Love and Madness; Warton's Enquiry into the Authenticity of the Poems attributed to Rowley, and the eighth section of his History of English Poetry; Malone's Cursory Observations; Barrett's History of Bristol; Life of Chatterton, by Chalmers; Edition of his Works, by Southey and Cottle: Britton's History of Redcliffe Church; Campbell's Specimens of the British Poets; Chatterton's Life, by Dix; Cottle's Early Recollections of Coleridge, and miscellaneous articles in various Magazines and Reviews.-ED.