monastery, both for monks and nuns, but which was afterwards for nuns only; and a long series of deeds relative to his descendants, who were of Malvesyn-Ridware, will be seen in Shaw's History of that country, vol I. William Malvoisin was Bishop of Glasgow and Saint Andrew's, and Peter, Bishop of Ossory. Sir Guy Malvoisin occurs among the crusaders. Peter and John died Governors of the Castle of Oswestry in Shropshire, which they held under the Baron Marchers by the hardy tenure of Border service. John Malveysin, the last of the line of Berwick-Maviston, who died without issue, was killed at a huntingmatch with men of Shropshire, in the immediate vicinity of the celebrated mountain called the Wrekin, in the reign of King Henry the Fourth; and Sir Robert, of the Mauvesine-Ridware branch, died fighting for that king at Battlefield, near Shrewsbury, in the year 1403. By the marriage of Edith, the daugh ter of Alan Malvoisin, and niece of John who was slain at the Wrekin, the lordship and estates at BerwickMaviston were carried into the family of Wydecombe, or Whitcomb, of Somersetshire; from whom a portion of it passed in 1689 to the family of Hambrook of Gloucestershire, and others. This property has subsequently been in the several possessions of the families of Grant of Berwick-Maviston, Burton of Longner, Salop, Russell of Berwick-Maviston, Calcott of Abbat's Betton, Salop, Blakeway of Cronkhill, Salop, and others; from whom the late Noel Hill, esquire, who was elevated to the peerage, and his eldest son, the late Thomas Noel, Lord Berwick, became possessed, by purchase and exchange, of the lordship, and almost the entirety of the lands within the township of Berwick-Maviston; which territory now forms part of the extensive domain of Attingham, the seat and inheritance of the Right Honourable William Noel, Lord Berwick. ANECODTES OF CHATTERTON AND HIS ASSOCIATES. Mr. URBAN, Bristol. I HAVE read with great pleasure the August communication from Cornwall, and think that Mr. Le Grice deserves the thanks of all those who feel an interest in the fame and the fate of "A wretch of promises and hopes, A boy of learning, and a bard of tropes." That I should be myself alive to all that concerns him, will be readily understood when I inform you who your new correspondent is. The unhappy, but most highly talented youth has been, during the last 70 years, so mixed up with my ancestors, that the names of Catcott, Smith, and Chatterton will run inseparably down the stream of time together. Under these circumstances, probably, a few notices concerning them ought to be left upon record, especially since the names are not quite unknown to Sylvanus Urban, as a reference to your pages in 1778 will shew. Sir, two of my paternal uncles were his constant playmates; three of my maternal uncles were very intimate with him; and to this list may be added an aunt and my own father. T. F. D. Every one of these he by turns laughed at, ridiculed, censured, and with the exception of the female, satirized most unmercifully, and abused most grossly. I begin with my aunt. She incurred the boy's displeasure by one day taking him to task, and giving him some good advice. Chatterton revenged himself by writing to her a scolding epistlethis has long since been consigned to "the tomb of all the Capulets"-but inclosed was something else, which is now at my elbow. It is her coat of arms, surrounded by a garter, which garter is surmounted by a queer-looking flower, tinted gules, with a scroll over it, and the words "The rose of virginity." For, Sir, my aunt Martha was one of those pious and wise women yclepped old maids. She told me that young Chatterton was a sad wag of a boy, and always upon some joke or another." Alexander Catcott was the son of the many-years master of the grammar-school in Bristol. He was one of the best Hebrew scholars in his time, and otherwise a man of great learning. He was amongst the first who turned their attention to what is now called Geology. In the year 1750 he explored the antediluvian caves of Banwell, a village in Somersetshire, about 16 miles from hence, and brought away the bones and teeth of hyænas and so forth. In short, he was the Buckland of the day. All these fossil remains are now in our City Library. Also, the whole Hutchinsonian Philosophy question, together with his History of the Deluge, the object of which was to prove that the Mosaic account of that event was true. After slumbering in dust upon the shelves of the Bibliomanist for many years, the latter is now in great request, being " very scarce." The former yet remains in a state of profound qui escence. The mad genius writes, "Reform your manners, and with solemn air Hear Catcott bray, and Robins squeak, in prayer." Again, "This truth, this mighty truth, if truth can shine In the smooth polish of a laboured line, "If Catcott's flimsy system can't be proved, Let it alone-for Catcott's much beloved." In fact, Chatterton was vain of his acquaintance with him, boasted that he had " access whenever he pleased to the parson's study," which he considered to be a feather in his cap. This I know to have been somewhat beyond the right reading; but Mr. Catcott, having proved his love for the Muses, by a metrical translation of the Books of Job and Isaiah, could not but admire the genius and precocious talents of the youth, however he might censure his conduct. Besides, Redcliff and Temple parishes adjoin each other, and the proximity of the parsonage-house of the latter to the Pile-street school, where Chatterton resided, might throw them often into contact. Mr. Catcott died in 1779. Mr. George Symes Catcott was the person who inquired at Rudhall's printing-office, in October, 1768, respecting "Dunhelmus Bristoliensis,” the title assumed by the person who left" the description of the Mayor's passing over the Old Bridge;" and thus was ferreted out Chatterton, then just beyond 15! An acquaintance was soon scraped, and from the latter the former received the exquisitely beautiful "Ode to Ella;" the tragedy of Ella; the Death of Sir Charles Bawdin, or the Brystowe Tragedy; the Battle of Hastings, and other pieces. All which, seven years after Chatterton's death, Mr. Catcott sold for 50l. to Payne and Son, the London booksellers. There is no memorandum extant of the moneys which Chatterton had of Mr. Catcott, but the following is now before me, in the poet's autograph: : Mr. George Catcott, Dr. To the Executors of Rowley. To pleasure received in perusing his Historic Works Do. to his Poetic Works £5 5 0 5 5 0 This does not wear the look of money for a purchase, but a bold-faced means of obtaining a gratuity. Mr. Catcott unfortunately joined in the pewter trade one Bergum, and was by him robbed of his all, 3000l. Bergum was a presumptuous, vulgar, ignorant fellow, who boasted of his ancestry. Chatterton saw this weak point, and brought him a copy-book filled with the pedigree of the De Burghams, who came over with Rollo Duke of Normandy. In it the family was traced, with their several shields and armorial bearings, down to the Pewterer of Bristol. He had the mo desty to take it, and give in return five shillings. In "the Will" the youth alludes to this:"Gods! what would Burgum give to get a : name, And snatch his blundering dialect from shame? Futurity he rates at two pound two! The De Bergham pedigree was purchased by Mr. Joseph Cottle of this city from the family for five guineas, and is in his possession at this mo ment. I may, perhaps, be pardoned for tacking on an anecdote respecting this book. One evening it was shewn to Samuel Ireland, the person who palmed upon the public "the tragedy of Vortigern and Rowena," which he asserted to be in Shakspeare's own handwriting. See Gent. Mag. 1796 and 7. Ireland admired the fabrication of the De Bergham progeny, and, at the request of Mr. Cottle, wrote on a vacant leaf fac-similes of all the various ways in which good Queen Bess and Will Shakspeare have autographed their names. This book will for ever remain a great curiosity. But to return to Mr. Catcott. The fame of Rowley had been reflected upon "his Midwife," as my uncle was nicknamed, and it was supposed that he must be "" a most learned Theban;" which was a great mistake, for he had "small Latin and no Greek ;" in fact, he was nothing more than a simple, plain, single-hearted, honest mantoo simple, indeed, or he would not have fallen into the snare spread for him, and for his Chattertonian manuscripts, by the Rev. Herbert Croft (a shameful transaction), afterwards so ably exposed by Dr. Robert Southey the Laureate (see Monthly Mag. Oct. 1799). That Mr. Catcott should not be a great scholar was a matter of wonderment to many strangers, who came in shoals to see him and his papers. Amongst these were the following persons, and with the greater part of them he corresponded upon the subject when the controversy began: Dr. Samuel Johnson, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Tyrwhitt, Dr. Glynn, David Garrick, Lord Charlemont, Dr. Fry, Dr. Woodward, Rev. Herbert Croft, Jacob Bryant, Thomas Warton, Jeremiah Milles, Dean of Exeter and President of the Antiquarian Society, William Mason the poet, Bishop Percy, Lord Dacre, Dr. Gregory, and others. Mr. Catcott having copied all their letters and his answers, the book now lies upon my table, and is a valuable relic. I have some of the originals, but the greatest part is destroyed. Chatterton's Will, dated April 14, 1770, the original of which is deposited in the Bristol Institution, has these lines "Catcott, for thee, I know thy heart is good, If ever obligated to thy purse, Mr. Catcott desired him to write upon Happiness, which he did in 1770. This is what he says of his patron :— "Catcott is very fond of talk and fame, Ride four-inched bridges-clouded turrets climb, And bravely die, to live in after time! The twentieth century only find thy name! Stamp thy whole self, original as 'tis, And propagate thy whimsies, name, and phiz. Then,when the tottering spires or chimnies fall, A Catcott shall remain, admired by all!” Many passages in the above lines relate to the strange and most eccentric history of Mr. Catcott. He died in To the last he never would believe that Chatterton was the author of "the Poems." I have often talked with him upon the subject. "What, Sir! (he would say) he write Rowley? No! no! no! I knew him well-he was a clever fellow, but he could not write Rowley-there was a mystery about the Poems beyond me-but Tom no more wrote them than I did-he could not!" Such was the undeviating opinion of his everyday companion. Mr. Le Grice is right in his conjectures as to the signature-Flasmot Eychaoritt. It is clearly an anagram of Thomas Chatterton, and the wonder only is that it did not so occur to Chatterton's Southey and Cottle. autograph is gone; but my uncle's copy lies before me, and he has made the H so like to the letters Fl, that I do not wonder at the error of the compositor, and so again of the other misprints. Peter Smith was another bon compagnon, and incurred, by his irregularities with Chatterton, the displeasure of his father, so that he was most severely lectured; of which such was the effect, that he retired to his chamber, and set to his associate an example that was but too soon followed. Richard Smith was my father, a gentleman of great abilities, who died the senior surgeon of the Bristol Infirmary in 1791, universally respected, beloved, and regretted by the whole city. At first, Chatterton and himself were good friends, but the unhappy affair of his brother Peter estranged them, as Mr. Smith attributed the wretched catastrophe to congenial opinions in morals and religion. Scattered about his works, Chatterton every here and there casts a sneer at him. In a piece called "The Exhibition," a poem consisting of 444 lines, Mr. Smith is the prime mover. To show with what rapidity the youth wrote, I mention that he dates the first line on the 1st of May, and the last line on the 3rd, 1770! The subject of the satire is a frail professional brother, who was guilty of a misdemeanor, for which Mr. Smith arraigns him before all the physicians and surgeons of the day. It is filled with personal satire and abuse, in which the clergy partake largely; many of the lines, however, breathe all the fire of the author, and, to use Macbeth's term," their spirits shine through them." In the exordium or invocation Chatterton writes: "With honest indignation nobly fill He ended, and, as usual in his way, The piece closes thus "He ended; and a murmer of applause [jaws. Dropt from each Carcass-Butcher's rotten All the rough gang to mercy were inclin'd; For now the clock struck three-and none had din'd!" Mr. Le Grice will be pleased to hear, that that which is with him only a rumour, is with us a certainty. Nearly a hundred pounds have been subscribed for a monument, but as the coat must be cut according to the cloth, any one who may be pleased to help on the matter will be good enough to favour us with a donation paid at Messrs. Grote, Prescott, and Co. to the credit of Charles Bowles Fripp, Esq. of this city, through whose persevering indefatigable exertions the measure is accomplished. I mention, too, with satisfaction, that the monument will be erected at no great distance from the muniment-tower of Saint Mary Redcliff, where the eyes of the wonderful boy were first cast upon the triple-locked iron-bound chest, containing certainly valuable documents, although probably no poetry. I have a full recollection of the pleasure with which I myself contemplated "the ponderous and wooden jaws" of the chest, when about sixteen years of age. Some remains are yet in the room, but the "relic mania" has carried off the locks and chips of the wood in abundance. Now for Mr. Le Grice's postcript. A friend of mine gave himself great trouble in endeavouring to find out the residence of Mrs. Angel, but without success; my uncle's letter to him, and Chatterton's autograph answer, are both before me; the former does not give the number of the house, and is in all respects as printed, except a "Post paid 4d." The rumour respecting the removal of the body 1 consider to be quite apocryphal; certainly there is no memorial in Redcliff churchyard; and it is unlikely that, after incurring the expenses of a removal, the parties should have neglected to mark the spot, or to write a notice in the newspapers of the day. Now, Mr. Urban, for one point more, and I have done: your Cornwall correspondent is glad to see the Portrait of Chatterton, and promises to make some remarks. I think it a duty therefore at once to put this matter to rights, least my silence may lead that gentleman, and perhaps others, into a useless expenditure of time and talent. Hearing of the forthcoming portrait, and that it was in the hands of Mr. Branwhite, who was making a small copy for the engraver, I called upon him in an eager fit of curiosity. That gentleman is an artist of first-rate talent, and he has executed his work in the same admirable style in which he finishes all that he undertakes. I was shown the painting, and determined to know, if possible, upon what grounds the authenticity was proved: the following is the result, being an answer to an inquiry : "Sugar House, Back-street, Nov. 23rd, 1837. My dear Miller, "For a wonder, I did not come to town yesterday, or I would have replied to your note by the bearer. You therein ask me to state what I know concerning the Portrait of Chatterton lately published by Mr. Dix; I will tell you. About twenty-five years ago, I became impressed with the notion that I had a taste for pictures, and fancied, like all so impressed, that I had only to rummage brokers' shops to possess myself of gems and hidden treasures without number; which illusion a little practical knowledge soon No. 8. "dismissed with costs." It happened that a gentleman in whose house I then resided, being at that time a bachelor, became also touched with the same mania, and in one of his peregrinations picked up the picture you mention of a broker in Castle Ditch, at a house now the Castle and Ball Tavern. The broker's name was Beer; at the back of the portrait was written with a brush-" F. Morris, aged 13," as well as I can recollect. The gentleman who purchased it, in a playful mood said, "This portrait will do for Chatterton," and immediately placed the name of Chatterton over that of F. Morris; what became of it afterwards, or how it came into the hands of the present possessor, 1 am quite ignorant of. While in the hands of the gentleman above mentioned, I showed it to Mr. Stewart the portrait-painter, who recognised it at once as the portrait of young Morris, the son of Morris the portraitpainter. This is all I know, and you are at liberty to make what use you please of it. "I am yours truly, GEO. BURGE.” Mr. Miller sent the above to the Rev. John Eagles, who gave the letter to me. The boy of the picture has on a scarlet coat, which struck me at the time as rather odd and improbable. The authenticity of the picture I now leave to the judgment of the reader; but it is needful for me to add that I am quite satisfied that the owner would never knowingly favour anything deceitful or untrue, being one of the most liberal-minded and honour able men in this city. Indeed I know of no one to whom we are so much indebted for the preservation of countless quantities of every thing which concerns Bristol, both ancient and modern; the gentleman's name is Braikenridge. Yours, &c. RICHARD SMITH. 38, Park Street, Bristol. CORRESPONDENCE OF WALTER MOYLE, Esq. No. IV. On a remarkable passage in Mr. Moyle to Mr. King. I HAVE three editions of Florus: Mad. Dacier and old Elzevir read the passage Sub aureo vitem cœlo.* But I find by the various readings at the end of old Elzevir that all the MSS. and an old edition of mine, have it Sub * Lib. iii. c. 5. s. 30. |