al on medical subjects; and from him he
obtained also some instructions in chirurgery. He is represented by one
of his companions to have extended his curiosity, at this time, to many
other objects of inquiry; and to have employed himself not only in the
lighter studies of heraldry and English antiquities, but in the theory
of music, mathematics, metaphysics, and astronomy.

He now became a contributor of prose and verse to the Magazines. Among
the acknowledgments to correspondents in the Town and Country Magazine
for November, 1768, one of his letters appears to be noticed; but
nothing of his writing in that miscellany, the first with which he is
known to have corresponded, has been discovered before the February of
the following year.

The attention he had drawn to himself in his native city soon induced
him to aspire after higher notice. In March he addressed the following
letter to the Honourable Horace Walpole;

Sir,--Being versed a little in antiquities, I have met with several
curious manuscripts, among which the following may be of service to
you in any future edition of your truly entertaining Anecdotes of
Painting.
In correcting the mistakes (if any) in the notes, you will greatly
oblige

Your most humble servant,

THOMAS CHATTERTON.

Bristol, March 25th, Corn Street.

This was accompanied by a manuscript, entitled "The Ryse of Peyneteyne
in Englande, wroten by T. Rowleie, 1469, for Mastre Canynge:" to which
Chatterton had annexed his own remarks. Walpole returned a polite
answer, and asked for further communications. On the receipt of a second
letter from Chatterton, Walpole repeated his wish to know more
concerning Rowley and his poems; in reply to which, Chatterton took
occasion to represent his own situation, that he was the son of an
indigent widow, and clerk to an attorney, but that his inclinations led
him to more elegant pursuits; and he intimated a hope that Walpole would
assist in placing him where he might be able to gratify such
propensities. His letter was accompanied by more of the Rowleian poems,
and contained an assurance, that the person who had lent them to him to
transcribe, possessed other valuable relics of ancient poetry. Some
inquiries which Walpole made, confirmed the account given by Chatterton
of himself; but in answer to his solicitation for patronage, Walpole
declared that he had not the means of exerting it; and recommended a
sedulous attention to busine