Hunter of Oddities, To Miss Bush, &c. Court and City. London. Political Re gister, &c. &c. "The Christian Magazine, as they are not to be had perfect, are not worth buying.—I remain, "July 11, 1770." "Your's, "T. CHATTERTON. "I am now about an Oratorio, which, when finished, will purchase you a gown. You may be certain of seeing me before the 1st January, 1771.-The clearance is immaterial.-My mother may expect more patterns. Almost all the next Town and Country Magazine is mine. I have an universal acquaintance: -my company is courted every where; and, could I humble myself to go into a compter, could have had twenty places before now:-but I must be among the great; state matters suit me better than commercial. The ladies are not out of my acquaintance. I have a deal of business now, and must therefore bid you adieu. You will have a longer letter from me soon-and more to the purpose. "Sir, To Mr. G. Catcott. "London, August 12, 1770. "A correspondent from Bristol had raised my admiration to the highest pitch by informing me, that an appearance of spirit and generosity had crept into the niches of avarice and meanness ;-that the murderer of Newton 10 (Ferguson) had met with every encouragement that ignorance could bestow; that an episcopal palace was to be erected for the enemy of the Whore of Babylon, and the present turned into a stable for his ten-headed beast-that a spire was to be patched to St. Mary Redcliffe, and the streets kept cleaner, with many other impossibilities: but when Mr. Catcott (the Champion of Bristol) doubts it, it may be doubted. Your description of the intended steeple struck me. I have seen it, but not as the invention of Mr. All that he can boast is Gothicising it.-Give yourself the trouble to send to Weobley's, Holborn, for a View of the Church of St. Mary de la Annunciation, at Madrid, and you will see a spire almost the parallel of what you describe.-The conduct of is no more than what I expected: I had received information that he was absolutely engaged in the defence of the Ministry, and had a pamphlet on the stocks, which was to have been paid with a translation. In conse 10 Sir Isaac. quence of this information, I inserted the following paragraph in one of my exhibitions: "Revelation Unravelled, by What "The Ministry are indefatigable in establishing themselves: they spare no expence, so long as the expence does not lie upon them. This piece represents the tools of Administration offering the Doctor a pension, or translation, to new-model his Treatise on the Revelations, and to prove Wilkes to be an Atheist.' "The editor of Baddeley's Bath Journal has done me the honour to murder most of my hieroglyphics, that they may be abbreviated for his paper. ever may be the political sentiments of your inferior clergy, their superiors are all flamingly Ministerial. Should your scheme for a single row of houses in Bridge-street take place, conscience must tell you, that Bristol will owe even that beauty to avarice; since the absolute impossibility of finding tenants for a double row is the only occasion of your having but one. The Gothic dome I mentioned was not designed by Hogarth. I have no great opinion of him out of his ludicrous walk-there he was undoubtedly inimitable. It was designed by the great Cipriani. The following description may give you a faint idea of it. From an hexagonal spiral tower (such I believe Redcliffe is) rose a similar palisado of Gothic pillars, three in a cluster on every angle, but single and at equal distance in angular spaces. The pillars were trifoliated (as Rowlie terms it) and supported by a majestic oval dome, not absolutely circular, (that would not be Gothic) but terminating in a point, surmounted with a cross, and on the top of the cross a globe. The two last ornaments may perhaps throw you into a fit of religious reflection, and give rise to many pious reflections. Heaven send you the comforts of Christianity! I request them not, for I am no Christian.-Angels are, according to the orthodox doctrine, creatures of the epicene gender, like the Temple beaux * * * *. "I intend going abroad as a surgeon. Mr. Barrett has it in his power to assist me greatly, by his giving me a physical character. I hope he will. I hope he will. I trouble you with a copy of an Essay I intend publishing. "I remain, "Your much obliged humble Servant, "THOMAS CHATTERTON. "Direct to me at Mrs. Angel's, Sack-maker, Brookstreet, Holborn." It will be seen by the foregoing letters, that Chatterton's first residence in London was at Mrs. Walmsley's, in Shoreditch, where also lodged Mrs. Ballance, a relative of his. Mrs. Ballance describes him as having been exceedingly proud; once, when after he had been in London three weeks, she recommended him to obtain a situation in some office, he stormed about the room like a madman, and told her, that he hoped, with the blessing of God, very soon to be sent prisoner to the tower, which would make his fortune. His expectations rose to the highest degree, from the circumstance of his introduction to the Lord Mayor Beckford, and from this he looked forward to the most prosperous results. He had addressed an essay to him which had met with approbation. Beckford died soon after, and the young bard is said to have been almost frantic, and to have exclaimed that he was ruined; but the genuineness of his sorrow may be questioned, on a perusal of the calculation made by his eulogist, as to the pecuniary advantages resulting from his death.11 Early in the month of July he removed from Mrs. Walmsley's to a Mrs. Angel's, sack maker, in Brookstreet, Holborn. His finances were becoming more and more contracted. The booksellers were far from being as liberal as he had anticipated, and his pride could not brook, that his friends, to whom, on first reaching the metropolis, he had communicated his dreams of greatness, should witness the decline of his hopes. In the pocket-book which Chatterton took with him to London, and which was presented to Mr. Cottle by the poet's sister, is Chatterton's private cash 11 Vide p. 150. |