his shoulder, and a cheery voice said,--

'Eh, Tom, my lad, what are you dreaming about? Come with me to sup at Mr
Barrett's and meet my brother Alexander, the parson. I'll warrant you
have got some more bits of history for him to put into his big book.
Come, come, don't look so glum, and we'll take a glass at the tavern in
Wine Street on the way.'

'No,' was the reply; 'you are very good sir, but I am in no mood for
taverns to-night.'

'Well, a little bird whispered in my ear that you were seen in Redcliffe
Meadows walking with a mighty pretty young lady, with a figure like a
sylph and a face like an angel. Now then, Tom, don't be shy, but out
with it, and tell the truth.'

'There's nothing to tell, sir. Miss Palmer is so unfortunate as to be
under the same roof with me in Dowry Square, and misfortunes make us
akin. She has great literary taste, and--'

'Ah, can see the beauties of Rowley's poems! Well, I am glad to hear it.
They are wonders--wonders, and, Tom, you are a wonder for bringing them
to light.' 'Then you are a poet, you know, a real poet, and Bristol will
be proud of you some day. Why, there is not a lad of your age who can
boast of his verses being taken by a London magazine and printed and
admired. Come, Tom, don't be downcast; you should hear what my brother
the reverend Alexander says of you, and he is a judge. A man who can
write a book about the Deluge must be a judge--eh?'

Mr Catcott was a pewterer by trade, and a simple-hearted, kindly man, a
staunch friend of Chatterton from first to last, never wavering in his
allegiance nor in his faith in Rowley the priest; no, not even when not
long after the great Dr Johnson asserted that the poems were a forgery,
though at the same time he acknowledged that it was wonderful how the
_whelp_ had written such things. The honest pewterer now put his arm
through Chatterton's, and soon his sympathy and perfect faith dispelled
the cloud, and by the time they reached Mr Barrett's house Chatterton
was his most winning self again.

Mr Barrett was a surgeon in good practice, and a man of culture, who
found time to pursue his historical studies without neglecting his
professional duties. In this he was very different from the ordinary
general country practitioners of his times, who were for the most part
men of scant education. Mr Barrett's introduction to Thomas Chatterton
was brought about by the boy assuring Mr Burgum, Mr Catcott's partner in
the pewtering bu