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translated from the originals, with the following title: "Poems by Thomas Rowley, priest of St. John's, in the city of Bristol, containing the Tournament and Interlude; and a piece by Cannynge, called the Gouler's (Usurer's) Requiem."

A few days after his promise to Mr. Burgum, he presented him with the book alluded to, to which was prefixed the De Burgham arms, laboriously painted on parchment,17 and which bore all the appearance of an ancient document. It may be important to state, that it is precisely the same kind of parchment as that on which all the presumed originals of Rowley are written; now placed in the British Museum. The title of the book is "An Account of the Family of the De Burgham's, from the Norman Conquest to this time; collected from Original Records, Tournament Rolls, and the Heralds of March and Garter Records, by T. Chatterton." Chatterton stated that the documents in Redcliff Church extended only to a certain period, and that he had been obliged to fill up the hiatus by a reference to other sources.

We may conceive the exultation of Mr. Burgum, when he first perused this singular document, on finding that he was descended from Simon de Leyncte Lyze, alias Lenliz, in the reign of William the Conqueror, who married Matilda, daughter of Waltheof,

17 Now in Mr. Cottle's possession.

Earl of Northumberland, Northampton, and Huntingdon, of Burgham Castle, in Northumberland. Not doubting the validity of the record, in which his own honours were so deeply implicated, he presented the poor blue-coat boy, who had been so fortunate in finding so much, and so assiduous in his endeavours to collect the remainder, with the plebeian remuneration of five shillings. Five shillings, however, was perhaps more by half-a-crown than poor Chatterton had expected to receive; and observing that Mr. Burgum thought it unnecessary to question him very minutely as to the miraculous manner in which this precious document was preserved for so many ages, amid the revolution of states and the decay of empires, he, a fortnight afterwards, presented the pewterer with a second book, being a supplement to the pedigree, bearing the following title. "Continuation of the Account of the Family of the De Burghams, from the Norman Conquest to this time, by T. Chatterton."

In this second part, to flatter his Mæcenas, as well as to remove suspicion, Chatterton introduced one of the identical poems which he said he had found in the muniment room, in the true old English, with a modernization by himself. But the singularity was augmented by its being found that the following genuine old poem, entitled, "the Romaunte of the Cnyghte" was absolutely written by John De Burgham, one of Mr. Burgum's own ancestors! who was, according to

Chatterton, "the greatest ornament of his age;" and whom he introduces in the following familiar way: "To give you, (Mr. Burgum) an idea of the poetry of the age, take the following piece, wrote about 1320."

"THE ROMAUNTEa OF THE CNYGHTE,

BY JOHN DE BERGHAM.

"The sunne ento Vyrgyne was gotten,
The floureys al arounde onspryngedi,c
The woddied grassie blaunchede the fenne
The quenis ermyne arised fro bedde;

Syr knyhte dyd ymounte oponn a stede

Ne rouncief ne drybblettes of make

Thanne asterteh for dur'siei dede

Wythe morglaicj hys fooemeunek to make blede,

Ekel swythy nm as wynde. Trees, theyre harty to shake,

Al doune in a delle a merken dernie delle

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Rouncie, a cart-horse, or one put to menial services.

& Drybblette, small, little.

Asterte, passed, or went forth.

i Dur'sie, from duress, hardship, signifying hardness.

3 Morglaie, a fatal sword.

Fooemeune, foes.

Eke, also.

m Swythyn, quickly. "Merke, dark.

Where coppys eke thighe trees there bee,
There dyd he perchaunceo I see

A damoselle askedde for ayde on her kne

An cnyghte dydde bie her stonde

Hee hollyd herr faeste bie her honde,

Discorteous cnyghte, I doe praie now thou telle
Whirst doeste thee be soe to the Damselle.

The knyghte him assoledp eftsoones,

Itte beethe ne mattere of thyne,

Begon for I wayte notte thye boones.

The knyghte sed I proon on thie gaberdyner

Alyches boars enchafedt to fyghte heie flies.

The discoorteous knyghte bee stryngeu botte strynger the

righte,

The dynney bee herde a'myle, for fuirew in the fyghte,

Tyl the false knyghte yfallentre and dyes.

Damoysel, quod the knyghte, now comme thou wi me,
Y wottex welle quod shee I nede thee ne fere,

The knyghte yfallen badd wolde I schulde bee,

Butte loe he ys dedde maie ilte spede heavenwere.y

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P Assoled, answered. Used by Rowley in the same sense.

Eftsoones, quickly, presently.

'Gaberdyne, a manner of challenging. So in Rowley's Tournament :

"Thanne, theeres my gauntlette on the gaberdyne."

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For the better information of Mr. Burgum, Chatterton modernized this poem, and so delighted was the pewterer with the idea of his being descended from one of the sons of Parnassus, that he presented his informant with a second five shillings. This pedigree, being, as Mr. Cottle justly states, "one of the most ingenious and complicated of Chatterton forgeries," is contained in two volumes, each the size of a school-boy's copy book, and is reprinted, at the end of this work.

Mr. Cottle was informed by the officers at the herald's college, that Mr. Burgum formerly submitted to them this, his pedigree, stating it to have been found, for the most part, in the archives of Redcliff Church. Its authenticity, he affirmed, could not be questioned for a moment, and he appeared to have brought it to the college, not to excite doubt or to provoke discussion, but merely as a matter of course, to receive the herald's corroborative attestation. The affair, however, was not so soon to be settled. The officers of the institution examined this authentic pedigree with the closest attention; this very pedigree, which was founded, professedly, on the records of March and Garter, and yet the very Heralds of March and Garter unspeakably surprised and mortified the halfenobled Mr. Burgum, by informing him that the whole was a hoax, by that prodigy of genius the Bristol boy, Thomas Chatterton.

Nor was Mr. Burgum the only person for whom

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