church of St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol;
and at the time of which we write his uncle was sexton. In the
muniment-room of the church were several coffers, containing old papers
and parchments in black letter, some of which were supposed to be of
value. The chests were examined by order of the vestry; the valuable
papers were removed, and of the rest, as perquisites of the sexton, some
fell into the hands of Chatterton's father. The boy, who had been, upon
leaving school, articled to an attorney, and had thus become familiar with
the old English text, caught sight of these, and seemed then to have first
formed the plan of turning them to account, as _The Rowlie papers_.

OLD MANUSCRIPTS.--If he could be believed, he found a variety of material
in this old collection. To a credulous and weak acquaintance, Mr. Burgum,
he went, beaming with joy, to present the pedigree and illuminated arms of
the de Bergham family--tracing the honest mechanic's descent to a noble
house which crossed the Channel with William the Conqueror. The delighted
Burgum gave him a crown, and Chatterton, pocketing the money, lampooned
his credulity thus:

Gods! what would Burgum give to get a name,
And snatch his blundering dialect from shame?
What would he give to hand his memory down
To time's remotest boundary? a crown!
Would you ask more, his swelling face looks blue--
Futurity he rates at two pound two!

In September, 1768, the inauguration or opening of the new bridge across
the Avon took place; and, taking advantage of the temporary interest it
excited, Chatterton, then sixteen, produced in the _Bristol Journal_ a
full description of the opening of the old bridge two hundred years
before, which he said he found among the old papers: "A description of the
Fryers first passing over the old bridge, taken from an ancient
manuscript," with details of the procession, and the Latin sermon preached
on the occasion by Ralph de Blundeville; ending with the dinner, the
sports, and the illumination on Kynwulph Hill.

This paper, which attracted general interest, was traced to Chatterton,
and when he was asked to show the original, it was soon manifest that
there was none, but that the whole was a creation of his fancy. The
question arises,--How did the statements made by Chatterton compare with
the known facts of local history?

There was in the olden time in Bristol a great merchant named William
Canynge, who was remembered f