Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 1 (of 2)Howitt, William
History
Homes and Haunts of the Most Eminent British Poets, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Howitt, William
Literary landmarks -- Great Britain; Poets, English -- Homes and haunts
One of the spots in Bristol which we should visit with the intensest
interest connected with the history of Chatterton, would be the office
of Lambert the attorney, where he wrote the finest of his poems
attributed to Rowley. The first office of this person was on St. John's
Steps, but he left this during Chatterton's abode with him; and, ceasing
to be an office, it does not now seem to be exactly known in which house
it was. From this place he removed to the house now occupied by Mr.
Short, silversmith, in Cornhill, opposite to the Exchange; and here
Chatterton probably wrote the greater portion of Rowley's poems. Another
favorite haunt of Chatterton's, Redcliffe Meadow, is now no longer a
meadow, but is built all over; so rapidly has about seventy years
eradicated the footsteps of the poet in his native place. There are two
objects, however, which, from their public character, remain, and are
likely to remain, unchanged, and around which the recollections of
Chatterton and his singular history will forever vividly cling: these
are, Colston's School, and the Church of St. Mary's.
The school in Pyle-street, where he was sent at five years of age, and
which his father had taught, I believe no longer exists. The school on
St. Augustine's Back exists, and is likely to exist. It is one of those
endowments founded by the great merchants of England, which, if they had
been preserved from the harpy and perverting fingers of trustees, would
now suffice to educate the whole nation. This school, founded at a
comparatively recent date, and in the midst of an active city like
Bristol, seems to be well administered. There you find an ample
school-room, dining-hall, chapel, and spacious bed-rooms, all kept in
most clean and healthy order; a hundred boys, in their long, blue,
full-skirted coats and scarlet stockings, exactly as they were in the
days of Chatterton. You may look on them, and realize to yourself
precisely how Chatterton and his schoolfellows looked when he was busy
there devouring books of history, poetry, and antiquities, and planning
the Burgum pedigree, and the like. Take any fair boy of a similar age;
let him be one of the oldest and most attractive--for, says his
biographer, "there was a stateliness and a manly bearing in Chatterton
beyond what might have been expected from his years." "He had a proud
air," says Mrs. Edkins, and, according to the general evidence, he was
as remarkable for the prematurity of his person as he was for that of
his intellect and imagination. His mien and manner were exceedingly
prepossessing; his eyes were gray, but piercingly brilliant; and when he
was animated in conversation, or excited by any passing event, the fire
flashed and rolled in the lower part of the orbs in a wonderful and
almost fearful way. Mr. Calcott characterized Chatterton's eye "as a
kind of hawk's eye, and thought we could see his soul through it." As
with Byron, "one eye was more remarkable than the other; and its
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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