Where is the priestly soul of Catcott now? And can the poor applause of things like these, Ruling the noisy multitude with ease,- Dec. 20th, 1769. MR. CATCOTT will be pleased to observe that I admire many things in his learned Remarks. This poem is an innocent effort of poetical vengeance, as Mr. Catcott has done me the honour to criticise my trifles. I have taken great poetical liberties, and what I dislike in verse possibly deserves my approbation in the plain prose of Truth.-The many admirers of Mr. Catcott may, on perusal of this, rank me as an enemy: but I am indifferent in all things-I value neither the praise nor the censure of the multitude. SINCE We can die but once, what matters it, Tho' varied is the cause, the effect's the same : THE DEFENCE. Dec. 25th, 1769. No more, dear Smith, the hacknied tale renew; I own their censure, I approve it too. For how can idiots, destitute of thought, * Though it may not always be the effect of infidel principles, to plunge the person who becomes unfortunately infected with them into an immediate course of flagrant and shameless depravity, they seldom fail to unhinge the mind, and render it the sport of some passion unfriendly to our happiness and prosperity. One of their first effects in Chatterton was to render the idea of suicide familiar, and to dispose him to think lightly of the most sacred deposit with which man is entrusted by his Creator. It has been supposed that his violent death in London was the sudden and almost instant effect of extreme poverty and disappointment. It appears, however, that long before he left Bristol he had repeatedly intimated his intention of putting an end to his existence.-DR. GREGORY. Say, can the satirizing pen of Shears, Religion's but Opinion's bastard son, A perfect mystery, more than three in one. Nor dreads the path where Athanasius trod. Who, not by priest but Reason, rules his span: Thro' gloomy Revelation's thick’ning bed, Search the thick multitudes of ev'ry sect, The Church supreme, with Whitfield's new Elect; No individual can their God define, No, not great Penny, in his nervous line. But why must Chatterton selected sit The butt of ev'ry critic's little wit? Nonsense in prose, or blasphemy in rhyme? Is it not very often so in Shears? See gen'rous Eccas, length'ning out my praise, Why, to be sure, the metaphoric line I own a God, immortal, boundless, wise, These lines are an evident imitation of Pope, even to the cadence of the verse.-DR. GREGORY. Who form'd his varied likeness in mankind, Why then, dear Smith, since doctors disagree, • 'Sorts' is written under 'sects'; both in the author's hand-writing, and uncancelled. + Setting aside the opinions of those uncharitable biographers whose imaginations have conducted Chatterton to the gibbet, it may be owned that his unformed character exhibited strong and conflicting elements of good and evil. Even the momentary project of the infidel boy to become a methodist preacher, betrays an obliquity of design, and a contempt of human credulity, that is not very amiable. But had he been spared, his pride and ambition would have come to flow in proper channels; his understanding would have taught him the practical value of truth and the dignity of virtue, and he would have despised artifice when he had felt the strength and security of wisdom.CAMPBELL. |