In support of the assumption of the inaccuracy of her memory, in reference to the date of her brother's confirmation, it should be recollected that her letter was written on the 22nd of September, 1778, fourteen years after the period assigned by her as that when the event took place; and when the circumstances under which she wrote are also considered, it appears but reasonable to conclude that whether fourteen or sixteen years had elapsed since the period to which she refers, was a point on which her memory was not unlikely to prove fallacious.

Neither is there any improbability to contend with in assigning Chatterton's confirmation to so early a period of his life. More than five years had then elapsed since "the wond'rous boy" fell in love, to use his mother's expression, with the rudiments of literature; and such was the ardour he evinced in the pursuit of knowledge, that at the very time to which it is contended the circumstance of his confirmation should be assigned, he was in the habit, as his sister informs us, of expending what was given him for pocket money in hiring books from a circulating library.

In addition to these suggestions in favour of the supposition that Chatterton was confirmed at the age of ten instead of twelve years, the verses themselves, now produced as those which he wrote upon the occasion, combined with the circumstances connected with their publication, may be confidently adduced as tending in a very high degree to establish the position. Beside the identity of subject, they consist of sixteen lines, approximating to Mrs. Newton's statement in that respect, as nearly as can be expected from the indeterminate manner in which she expresses herself; they contain abundant internal proof of the juvenility of the writer; they were inserted in the Bristol newspaper to

which Chatterton, as well as his literary associates, were subsequently in the habit of communicating their productions; and they appeared in the seventh week after he had attained the tenth year of his age.

If the reasons thus stated should be considered sufficient to establish the fact that Chatterton was confirmed when he was ten instead of twelve years old, there can be no doubt as to the identity of the following lines, as those which he composed on the occasion. It is with a feeling of gratification that they are rescued from the obscurity in which they were enveloped, and placed before the public eye, as exhibiting the flutterings of the unfledged eaglet.

" ON THE LAST EPIPHANY, OR CHRIST COMING TO

JUDGMENT.

"Behold! just coming from above,
The Judge, with majesty and love!
The sky divides, and rolls away,
T'admit him thro' the realms of day!

The sun astonish'd, hides its face,
The moon and stars with wonder gaze
At JESU's bright superior rays!
Dread light'nings flash, and thunders roar,
And shake the earth, and briny shore ;
The trumpet sounds at heaven's command,
And pierceth thro' the sea and land;
The dead in each now hear the voice,
The sinners fear and saints rejoice;
For now the awful hour is come,

When ev'ry tenant of the tomb

Must rise, and take his everlasting doom."

Felix Farley's Bristol Journal, January 8, 1763.

The notice of the reader shall now be directed to a satirical poem by Chatterton, hitherto unknown as such, and probably his first production in that class of composition. It was published in the seventh week after he had attained his eleventh year, and may consequently dispute the claim of priority with the verses entitled "Sly Dick," his earliest production hitherto known, and stated by Sir Herbert Croft to have been written about his eleventh year.

In Felix Farley's Bristol Journal of Saturday, December 17, 1763, and some following numbers, a succession of satirical attacks, in verse and prose, are inserted, on a churchwarden who is accused of having ordered the levelling of the church-yard entrusted to his care, and of hauling away the clay to be used for the purposes of his trade as a brick maker. One of the pieces states that the churchyard alluded to "is an appendage to the grandest structure in this city;" thus clearly indicating it to be that of St. Mary Redcliffe, the churchwarden of which for the year 1763 was Joseph Thomas; and by a familiar abbreviation of whose Christian name the person satirized is addressed in the lines about to be produced. With respect to their authorship, the locality of the circumstance to which they relate would directly point to Chatterton, in whose mind the subject could not fail of exciting an interest; in addition to which it presented a tempting opportunity of indulging the propensity to satire, which formed so prominent a trait in his character.

But Chatterton's title to the composition in question requires no other proof than a comparison with the satire entitled " Sly Dick," the commencement of which is here transcribed to facilitate the reader's immediate reference.

"Sharp was the frost, the wind was high,
And sparkling stars bedeckt the sky;

Sly Dick in arts of cunning skill'd,
Whose rapine all his pockets fill'd,

Had laid him down to take his rest

And soothe with sleep his anxious breast.
Twas thus a dark infernal sprite."

"THE CHURCHWARDEN AND THE APPARITION.

A FABLE.

"The night was cold, the wind was high,

And stars bespangled all the sky;

Churchwarden J*E. had laid him down,

And slept secure on bed of down;

But still the pleasing hope of gain

That never left his active brain,
Expos'd the church-yard to his view,
That seat of treasure wholly new.

Pull down that cross, he quickly cried,

The mason instantly complied:
When, lo! behold the golden prize
Appears-joy sparkles in his eyes.

The door now creaks,-the window shakes,
With sudden fear he starts and wakes,

Quaking and pale in eager haste

His haggard eyes around he cast,

A ghastly phantom, lean and wan,

That instant rose, and thus began:

Weak wretch-to think to blind my eyes,

Hypocrisy's a thin disguise;

Your humble mien and fawning tongue

Have oft deceiv'd the old and young.

On this side now, and now on that,

The very emblem of the batt:

Whatever part you take, we know

'Tis only interest makes it so.

And tho' with sacred zeal you burn,

Religion's only for your turn.

I'm conscience call'd ;-J*E. greatly fear'd;
The light'ning flash'd, it disappear'd."h

The paper from which this poem is extracted, contains a letter, addressed to the printer, on the same subject, with the signature of "FULLFORD, the Grave-digger." To enter into any argument to prove that it was written by Chatterton would be trifling with the reader's judgment; for to no other person than the author of the "Bristowe Tragedy" would such a signature have occurred. The observation, however, should not be omitted, that this circumstance affords a decided proof of Chatterton's acquaintance with the subject of one of the finest of Rowley's poems, upwards of four years before the least intimation was given of the discovery of any ancient manuscripts. Here follows the letter.

"Mr. Printer,

Being old and having enjoyed my place many a long year, I have buried or rather dug the graves for one half of our parish; and could tell, to an inch, where and how their bodies lie, and are ranged under ground :—and by this my skill am always consulted by my master, the sexton, where such and such a family are interred, and have never failed of giving great satisfaction in the discharge of my office. But, alas! I am like to be robbed, at once, of all my

h Felix Farley's Bristol Journal, January 7, 1764.