tance of nearly two years after, would be the highest degree of injustice and absurdity.

The

Our author now entered into politics; and, in March, 1770, composed a satirical poem of one thousand three hundred lines, entitled Kew Gardens, in which he abused the Princess-dowager of Wales and Lord Bute, together with the partisans of ministry at Bristol, not excepting Mr. Catcott, and other of his friends and patrons. His character, also, in other respects, began to develope itself in an unfavourable light; but the assertion that he plunged into profligacy at this period, is contradicted by unexceptionable testimony. most prominent feature in his conduct was his continued and open avowal of infidelity, and of his intention to commit suicide as soon as life should become burthensome to him. He had also grown thoroughly disgusted with his profession; and purposely, it is supposed, leaving upon his desk a paper, entitled his Last Will, in which he avowed his determination to destroy himself on Easter Sunday, he gladly received his dismissal from Mr. Lambert, into whose hands the document had fallen. He now determined to repair to London; and on being questioned by Mr. Thistlethwaite concerning his plan of life, returned this remarkable answer: "My first attempt," said he, "shall be in the literary way; the promises I have received are sufficient to dispel doubt; but should I, contrary to expectation, find myself deceived, I will, in that case, turn methodist preacher. Credulity is as potent a deity as ever, and a new sect may easily be devised. But if that, too, should fail me, my last and final resource is a pistol." Such was the language of one not much beyond seventeen years of age; certainly, as Dr. Aikin observes, not that of a simple, ingenious youth, "smit with the love of sacred song," a Beattie's minstrel, as some of Chatterton's admirers have chosen to paint him.

At the end of April, he arrived in the metropolis; and, on the 6th of May, writes to his mother that he is in such a settlement as he could desire. "I get," he adds, "four guineas a month by one magazine; shall engage to write a history of England, and other pieces,

which will more than double that sum. Occasional essays for the daily papers would more than support me. What a glorious prospect!" His engagements, in fact, appear to have been numerous and profitable; but we are cautioned, by Dr. Gregory, against giving implicit credence to every part of Chatterton's letters, written at this time, relative to his literary and political friends in the metropolis. It seems, however, that he had been introduced to Mr. Beckford, then lord mayor, and had formed high expectations of patronage from the opposition party, which he at first espoused; but the death of Beckford, at which he is said to have gone almost frantic, and the scarcity of money which he found on the opposition side, altered his intentions. He observed to a friend, that he was a poor author, who could write on both sides;" and it appears that he actually did so, as two essays were found after his death, one eulogizing, and the other abusing, the administration, for rejecting the city remonstrance. On the latter, addressed to Mr. Beckford, is this indorsement :

His hopes of obtaining eminence as a political writer now became extravagantly sanguine, and he already seems to have considered himself a man of considerable public importance. "My company," he says, in a letter to his sister, 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." These bright prospects, about July, appear to have been suddenly clouded; and, after a short career of dissipation, which kept pace with his hopes, he found that he had nothing to expect from the patronage of the great; and, to escape the scene of his mortification, made an unsuccessful attempt to obtain the post of surgeon'smate to the coast of Africa. It is less

certain to what extent he was now employed by the booksellers, than that he felt the idea of dependence upon them insupportable, and soon fell into such a state of indigence, as to be reduced to the want of necessary food. Such was his pride, however, that when, after a fast of three days, his landlady invited him to dinner, he refused the invitation as an insult, assuring her he was not hungry. This is the last act recorded of his life; a few hours afterwards, he swallowed a dose of arsenic, and was found dead the next morning, August the 25th, 1770, surrounded by fragments of numerous manuscripts, which he appeared to have destroyed. His suicide took place in Brook Street, Holborn, and he was interred in a shell, in the buryingground of Shoe Lane workhouse. This melancholy catastrophe is heightened by the fact, that Dr. Fry, head of St. John's College, Oxford, had just gone to Bristol, for the purpose of assisting Chatterton, when he was there informed of his death.

The controversy respecting the authenticity of the poems attributed to Rowley, is now at an end; though there are still a few, perhaps, who may side with Dean Milles and others, against the host of writers, including Gibbon, Johnson, and the two Wartons, who ascribe the entire authorship to Chatterton. The latter have, perhaps, come to a conclusion, which is not likely to be again disputed, viz. that however extraordinary it was for Chatterton to produce them in the eighteenth century, it was impossible that Rowley could have written them in the fifteenth. But, whether Chatterton was or was not the author of the poems ascribed to Rowley, his transcendent genius must ever be the subject of wonder and admiration. The eulogy of his friends, and the opinions of the controversialists respecting him, are certainly too extravagant. Dean Milles prefers Rowley to Homer, Virgil, Spenser, and Shakspeare; Mr. Malone believes Chatterton to have been the greatest genius that England has produced since the days of Shakspeare;" and Mr. Croft, the author of Love and Madness, asserts, that "no such human being, at any period of life, has ever been known, or possibly ever will be known." This enthusiastic praise is not confined to the critical

writers; the British muse has paid some of her most beautiful tributes to the genius and memory of Chatterton. The poems of Rowley, as published by Dean Milles, consist of pieces of all the principal classes of poetical composition: tragedies, lyric, and heroic poems, pastorals, epistles, ballads, &c. Sublimity and beauty pervade many of them; and they display wonderful powers of imagination and facility of composition; yet, says Dr. Aikin, there is also much of the common-place flatness and extravagance, that might be expected from a juvenile writer, whose fertility was greater than his judgment, and who had fed his mind upon stores collected with more avidity than choice. The haste and ardour, with which he pursued his various literary designs, was in accordance with his favourite maxim, "that God had sent His creatures into the world with arms long enough to reach any thing, if they would be at the trouble of extending them."

In 1778, a miscellaneous volume of the avowed writings of Chatterton was published; and, in 1803, an edition of his works appeared, in three volumes, octavo, with an account of his life, by Dr. Gregory, from whom we have before quoted. The general character of his productions has been well appreciated by Lord Orford, who, after expatiating upon his quick intuition, his humour, his vein of satire, the rapidity with which he seized all the topics of conversation, whether of politics, literature, or fashion, remarks, "Nothing in Chatterton can be separated from Chatterton. His noblest flight, his sweetest strain, his grossest ribaldry, and his most common-place imitations of the productions of magazines, were all the effervescences of the same ungovernable impulse, which, cameleon-like, imbibed the colours of all it looked on. It was Ossian, or a Saxon monk, or Gray, or Smollett, or Junius; and if it failed most in what it most affected to be, a poet of the fifteenth century, it was because it could not imitate what had not existed." In person, Chatterton is said to have been, like his genius, premature; he had, says his biographer, a manliness and dignity beyond his years, and there was a something about him uncommonly prepossessing. His most remarkable feature was his eyes

useif he grew wid, abstracted,

and ncanerent, and a setted coominess

I enga nuk possession of his counmance via is a presage of his fun. He has been accused af bernism, but there are no proofs af us turn is resutence either at Landon or Bristal: though many of his productions snow a axcy of principle,

angit justly the supposition. The best qualites in his character were the derive mes of temperance and afection for his family, to whom he sent small presents out at us frit gains. and always spoke of her welfire as one of the principa ents of his exeron 18. But what deeper affccion cold he have brought upon them than that cause i cy the last act of his tile? His sister says, that he was a lover of truth from the earliest dava of reason;" yet his life was one continued career of decension. He is to be pined for his misfortunes, and admired for his genius; but, with Kirke White in our remembrance, we could wan to forget all else that belonged to Chatterton.

WILLIAM ROSCOE, the son of a tavern-keeper, was born at Liverpool, on the 18th of March, 1752, and after having studied little more than reading, writing, and arithmetic, was, at the age of sixteen, articled to Mr. Eyes, an attorney, in his native town. A passion for the classics now took possession of him; and, without neglecting his professional duties, he, in a short space of time, made himself master of the French, Latin, and Italian languages, besides developing no mean talent for poetical composition. At the expiration of his articles, he was taken into partnership with Mr. Aspinall; but his attention to his clients did not hinder him from paying his repects to the muses. In 1773, he recited, before the society formed at Liverpool for the encouragement of drawing, painting, &c., an ode, which was afterwards published with Mount Pleasant, his first poetical production, which was written in his sixteenth year.

He subsequently con

tributed to Dr. Enfield's Speaker an Elegy to Pity, and an Ode to Education, containing some strong remarks against the slave trade, on which subject he wrote several tracts; and, in 1788, a poem in two parts, entitled The Wrongs of Africa. On the occasion of the French revolution, he composed the songs of Millions, be Free! The Vine-covered Hilis, &c., which became popular both at home and abroad.

In 1790, he joined Dr. Currie in a series of essays, in the Weekly Liver pool Herald, under the title of The Recluse; and, in the same year, he began to compose his Lorenzo de Medici, which was published, in 1796, in two volumes, quarto. It soon went through three editions, and has been translated into Italian by the Chevalier Mecherini, and into German by Professor Sprenyel. In 1805, appeared his Life of Leo the Tenth, which was also translated into French and German,

and added considerably to the already established reputation of the author.

Mr. Roscoe had, some years ago, ceased to practise as an attorney, and entered himself a member of Gray's Inn, with a view of studying for the bar; but it does not appear that he was ever called, and he finally chose the business of a banker in his native town, in partnership with Messrs. Clarke. While in this capacity, the general election of 1806 took place; and as many of the Liverpool inhabitants were anxious for an anti-slavery member, they put in nomination our author, with an understanding that he should be returned free of expense; for which purpose, a subscription of £5,000 was collected in one day. The attempt was successful; but, in consequence of the outrages which had occurred during the progress of the last election, he declined a contest, after the dissolution of parlia- | ment in 1807.

In 1808, he published his Considerations on the Causes, Objects, and Consequences of the Present War, which, says the reviewer in The Monthly Repository of Literature, &c., " is a valuable offering to the shrine of peace and justice." In 1809, he procured the liberation of nine black slaves, who had been thrown into prison by a Portuguese captain for a false debt, for the purpose of preventing them from obtaining their freedom; and, in the same year, he was elected a corresponding member of the Amsterdam Royal Institution, though we were then at war with the Dutch. About this period, appeared his Review of the Speeches of the late Mr. Canning; and, in 1811, was published his Letter to Henry Brougham, Esq., on a Reform of the Representation of the People in Parliament.

In 1817, he published a discourse delivered on the opening of the Royal Institution of Liverpool, on the Origin and Vicissitudes of Literature, Science, and Arts; and, in 1824, he edited a new edition of the works of Pope, to which he prefixed a life of that poet. "While Mr. Roscoe's mind was chiefly occupied with his literary and political studies," observes one of his biographers, "a series of unforeseen circumstances, particularly several other failures, obliged the banking-house, in which he was engaged, to suspend pay

ment. The creditors, however, had so much confidence in his integrity, that time was given for the firm to recover from its embarrassments; and he, on first entering the bank after accommodation, was loudly greeted by the populace." His difficulties, however, were so great, that he was under the necessity of parting with the whole of his property, a circumstance which gave him great pain, as may be seen from his sonnet on parting with his library. It was, probably, after these pecuniary misfortunes, that the council of the Royal Society of Literature elected him one of the ten individuals from the honorary associates to receive the allowance of £100 per annum.

Mr. Roscoe's declining years are solaced by the affectionate attentions of justly and sincerely attached relations; and he is no less respected by the inhabitants of his native town, which owes many of its public institutions to his exertions. He is described as a man of the most benevolent heart, independent spirit, and generous disposition; and his conversation is said to be characteristic of his chaste and classic turn of thought. To name his friends and admirers, would be to recapitulate the élite of the noble, scientific, patriotic, and literary world. During his days of prosperity, his house was the resort of all the distinguished characters of the day, both foreign and native. Among his visitors were the Dukes of Sussex and Gloucester, many noblemen eminent for their talents as well as stations, and several of the highest literary characters of the age. His faculties are still in their vigour; and the same may be said of his generous love of liberty, and his ardent, unceasing benevolence.

In addition to the works already mentioned, Mr. Roscoe was the author of The Nurse, a poem from the Italian; Occasional Tracts relative to the War between Great Britain and France; An Address delivered before the Proprietors of the Botanic Garden at Liverpool; and three communications to the Transactions of the Linnæan Society. It appears, from a memoir of Mr. Roscoe's life, in the National Portrait Gallery, that he was strongly attached to botanical and agricultural studies; and that he, some years since,

GEORGE CRABBE was born at Aldborough, in Suffolk, on the 24th of December, 1754, where his father and grandfather were officers of the customs. He received his education at a neighbouring school, where he gained a prize for one of his poems, and left it with sufficient knowledge to qualify him for an apprentice to a surgeon and apothecary in his native town. His poetical taste is said to have been assisted in developing itself by a perusal of all the scraps of verses which his father used to tear off from different newspapers, and which young Crabbe collected together, and got most of them by heart. The attractions of the muse had probably overcome those of Esculapius, for, on the completion of his apprenticeship, giving up all hope of succeeding in his profession, he determined at once to quit it, and to depend for support upon his literary abilities. Accordingly, in 1778, he came to London with little more in his pocket than a bundle of his best poems, and took a lodging in the city, where he read and composed, but could prevail upon no bookseller to publish. At length, in 1780, he ventured to print, at his own expense, a poem, entitled The Candidate, which was favourably noticed in The Monthly Review, to the editor of which it was addressed. Finding, however, that he stood no chance of success or popularity whilst he remained personally unknown, he is said to have introduced himself to Edmund Burke, who received him with great kindness, and read his productions with approbation. Our author fortunately found in this gentleman both a friend and a patron;

he took Crabbe into his house, and introduced him to Fox; and, under their united auspices, appeared his poem of Ine Library, in 1781. In the same year, he was ordained deacon, and, in the following one, priest, and, for a short time, acted as curate at Aldborough. About the same period, he entered his name at Trinity Hail, Cambridge, but withdrew it without graduating, although he was subsequently presented with the degree of B. C. L After residing for some time at Belvoir Castle, as chaplain to the Duke of Rutland, by the recommendation of Mr. Burke, our author was introduced to Lord-chancellor Thurlow, who bestowed upon him, successively, the living of Frome St. Quintin, in Dorsetshire, and the rectories of Muston and West Alington, in the diocese of Lincoin. In the meantime, in 1785, he published The Newspaper, a poem; followed by a complete edition of his works, in 1807, which were received with marked and universal approbation.

In 1810, appeared his admirable poem of The Borough; in 1812, he published his Tales in Verse; and, in 1819, his celebrated Tales of the Hall, with which he concluded his known poetical labours. He had, in the interim, been presented to the rectory of Trowbridge, with the smaller benefice of Croxton Kerryel, in Leicestershire, where he still resides. His only prose publications are a funeral sermon on one of his early noble patrons, Charles, Duke of Rutland, preached in the chapel of Belvoir Castle, in 1789; and An Essay on the Natural History of the