Cursory Observations On The Poems Attributed To Thomas Rowley (1782) Part 3

"Fen-vapours blast thy every manly power!"

taken from the same author:

"As wicked _dew_ as e'er my mother brushed "With raven's feather from unwholesome _fen_, "Light on you both!" [_Tempest._]

"Ye _fen-suck'd fogs_, drawn by the powerful sun, "To fall and _blast_ &c." [_King Lear._]

Thus again in _Ella_:

"O thou, whate'er thy name, or Zabalus or Queede, "Come steel my sable spright, for fremde and doleful deed--"

from the _Dunciad_:

"O thou, whatever t.i.tle please thine ear, "Dean, Drapier, &c."

But in all these, and twenty other places, not a word is said by the editor. --I am ashamed of taking up the time of my readers in discussing such points as these. Such plain and direct imitations as Chatterton's, could scarcely impose on a boy of fifteen at Westminster School.

In the _Battle of Hastings_ we meet

"His n.o.ble soul came rus.h.i.+ng from the wound--"

from Dryden's Virgil--

"And the disdainful soul came rus.h.i.+ng through the wound--[B]"

and in Sir Charles Bawdin,

"And tears began to flow;"

Dryden's very words in _Alexander's Feast_. But it was hardly possible, says the learned Commentator, for these thoughts to be expressed in any other words. Indeed! I suppose five or six different modes of expressing the latter thought will occur to every reader.

[Footnote B: It is observable, that this is the last line of the translation of the aeneid.]

Can it be believed, that every one of the lines I have now quoted, this gentleman maintains to have been written by a poet of the fifteenth century (for all that Chatterton ever did, according to his system, was supplying lacunae, if there were any in the Mss., or modernizing a few antiquated phrases)? He argues indeed very rightly, that the _whole_ of these poems must have been written by _one_ person. "Two poets, (he observes, p. 81,) so distant in their aera [as Rowley and Chatterton], so different from each other in their age and disposition, could not have united their labours [he _means_, their labours could not unite or coalesce] in the same poem to any effect, without such apparent difference in their style, language, and sentiments, as would have defeated Chatterton's intent of imposing his works on the public, as the original and entire composition of Rowley." --Most readers, I suppose, will more readily agree with his premises than his conclusion. Every part of these poems was undoubtedly written by one person; but that person was not Rowley, but Chatterton.

What reason have we to doubt, that he who imitated all the English poets with whom he was acquainted, likewise borrowed his Homerick images from the versions of Chapman and Pope; in the latter of which he found these allusions dressed out in all the splendid ornaments of the eighteenth century?

In the new commentary, indeed, on the _Battle of Hastings_, we are told again and again, that many of the similies which the poet has copied from Homer, contain circ.u.mstances that are found in the Greek, but omitted in Mr. Pope's translation. "Here therefore we have a certain proof that the authour of these poems could read Homer in the original[C]." But the youngest gownsman at Oxford or Cambridge will inform the reverend critick, that this is a _non sequitur_; for the poet might have had the a.s.sistance of _other_ translations, besides those of Pope; the English prose version from that of Madame Dacier, the translations by Chapman and by Hobbes. Nor yet will it follow from his having _occasionally_ consulted _these_ versions, that he was _not at all indebted to Pope_; as this gentleman endeavours to persuade us in p. 82. and 106. He availed himself, without doubt, of them all. Whenever the Commentator can show a single thought in these imitations of the Grecian Bard, that is found in the original, and not in _any_ of those translations, I will readily acknowledge that _the Battle of Hastings_, and all the other pieces contained in his quarto volume, were written by Rowley, or Turgot, or Alfred the Great, or Merlin, or whatever other existent or non-existent ancient he or Mr. Bryant shall choose to ascribe them to. Most a.s.suredly no such instance can be pointed out.

[Footnote C: To show how very weak and inconclusive the arguments of Chatterton's new Editor are on this head, I shall cite but one pa.s.sage, from which the reader may form a judgment of all the other ill.u.s.trations with which he has decorated the _Battle of Hastings_:

----"Siere de Broque an arrowe longe lett _flie_, Intending Herewaldus to have sleyne; It _miss'd_, but hytte Edardus on the eye, And at his pole came out with horrid payne."

So Homer (says the Commentator):

------??st?? ?p? ?e???f?? ?a??e?

??t???? ??t????, a??e?? d? ? ?et? ?????

?a? t?? ?? ?' ?f?a??' ? d' ????a G????????a ???? ??? ???????, ?at? st???? ??e? ??.

Il. T. v. 300.

"He said, and tw.a.n.g'd the string, the weapon _flies_ "At _Hector_'s breast, and sings along the skies; "He _miss'd_ the mark, but pierc'd Gorgythio's heart."

POPE, B. viii. v. 365.

"The imitation here seems to be very apparent, but it is the imitation of Homer, and not of Pope; both Homer and Rowley express the intention of the archer, which is dropped by the translator of the Greek poet." Chatterton's _Poems_, quarto, p. 83. Edit.

Milles.

To my apprehension, the intention of the archer is very clearly expressed in Pope's lines; but it is unnecessary to contest that point, for lo! thus has old Chapman translated the same pa.s.sage:

"This said, another arrow forth from his stiffe string he sent "At Hector, _whom he long'd to wound_; but still amisse it went; "His shaft smit faire Gorgythion."

Of such reasoning is the new Commentary on Chatterton's poems composed.]

I do not however rest the matter here. What are we to conclude, if in Chatterton's imitations of Homer, we discover some circ.u.mstances that exist in Pope's translation, of which but very faint traces appear in the original Greek? Such, I believe, may be found. It is observable, that in all the similies we meet with many of the very rhymes that Pope has used. Will this Commentator contend, that the learned Rowley not only understood Homer, at a time when his contemporaries had scarcely heard of his name, but also foresaw in the reign of Edward IV. those additional graces with which Mr. Pope would embellish him three hundred years afterwards?

III. The Anachronisms come next under our consideration. Of these also the modern-antique compositions which we are now examining, afford a very plentiful supply; and not a little has been the labour of the reverend Commentator to do away their force. The first that I have happened to light upon is in the tragedy of _Ella_, p. 212:

"She said, as her white hands white hosen were knitting.

"What pleasure it is to be married!"

It is certain that the art of knitting stockings was unknown in the time of king Edward IV., the era of the pretended Rowley. This difficulty, therefore, was by all means to be gotten over. And whom of all men, think you, courteous reader, this sagacious editor has chosen as an authority to ascertain the high antiquity of this practice? No other than our great poet Shakspeare; who was born in 1564, and died in 1616.

Poor Shakspeare, who gave to all the countries in the world, and to all preceding eras, the customs of his own age and country, he is the authour that is chosen for this purpose! "If this Scotch art (says the Commentator) was so far advanced in a foreign country in the beginning of the sixteenth century, can there be a doubt of its being known in England half a century earlier? At least the art of knitting, and weaving bone-lace, was _more ancient_ than queen Elizabeth's time; for Shakspeare speaks of _old_ and _antick_ songs, which

"The spinsters and the _knitters_ in the sun, "And the free maids that _weave their thread with bone_, "Did use to chaunt."

_Twelfth Night_, Act II. Sc. 4.

It might be sufficient to observe, that the old songs which were chaunted by the spinsters and knitters of Shakspeare's days, do not very clearly ascertain the antiquity of the _operation_ on which they were employed; for I apprehend, though the art of knitting had not been invented till 1564, when the poet was born, the practisers of it might yet the very next day after it was known, sing ballads that were written a hundred years before. --In order, however, to give some colour to the forced inference that the commentator has endeavoured to extract from this pa.s.sage, he has misquoted it; for Shakspeare does not say, as he has been represented, that the spinsters of old time _did_ use to chaunt these songs: his words are,

"O fellow, come, the song we had last night; "Mark it, Cesario, it is old and plain: "The spinsters and the knitters in the sun, "And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, "_Do_ use to chaunt it."

These lines, it must be acknowledged, prove that the art was _as_ old as the time of Shakspeare, but not one hour _more_ ancient; nor would they answer the Commentator's purpose, even if they had been uttered by Portia in _Julius Caesar_, by the Egyptian queen in _Antony and Cleopatra_, or by Nestor in _Troilus_ and _Cressida_; for, as I have already observed, our great poet gave to all preceding times the customs of his own age. --If the learned editor should hereafter have occasion to prove, that _d.i.c.k_ and _Hob_ were common names at Rome, and that it was an usual practice of the populace there, two thousand years ago, to throw up their caps in the air, when they were merry, or wished to do honour to their leaders, I recommend the play of _Coriola.n.u.s_ to his notice, where he will find proofs to this purpose, all equally satisfactory with that which he has produced from _Twelfth Night_, to show the antiquity of the art of knitting stockings in England.

Many of the poems and prose works attributed to Rowley, exhibit anachronisms similar to that now mentioned. Bristol is called a city, though it was not one till long after the death of king Edward IV.

Cannynge is spoken of as possessing a _Cabinet_ of coins and other curiosities[D], a century at least before any Englishman ever thought of forming such a collection. _Drawings_, in the modern and technical sense of delineations on paper or vellum, with chalks or Indian ink, are mentioned a hundred and fifty years before the word was ever used with that signification. _Ma.n.u.scripts_ are noticed as rarities, with the idea at present annexed to them; and eagerly sought after and purchased by Rowley, at a time when printed books were not known, and when all the literature of the times was to be found in ma.n.u.scripts alone. All these anachronisms _decisively_ prove the spuriousness of these compositions.

Other anachronisms may be traced in the poems before us, but they are of less weight, being more properly poetical deviations from _costume_.

However I will briefly mention them. Tilts and tournaments are mentioned at a period when they were unknown. _G.o.d and my Right_ is the word used by duke William in _the Battle of Hastings_, though it was first used by king Richard I. after the victory at Grizors; and hatchments and armorial bearings, which were first seen at the time of the Croisades, are introduced in other places with equal impropriety.

[Footnote D: Chatterton in his description of Cannynge's love of the arts, &c. seems often to have had Mr. Walpole in his eye; which was very natural, that gentleman being probably the first person who was at once a man of literature and rank, of whose character he had any knowledge. --Thus, Mr. W. having a very curious collection of pictures, prints, &c. Cannynge too must be furnished with a cabinet of coins and other rarities; and there being a private printing-press at Strawberry-Hill, (the only one perhaps in England,) the Bristol Mayor must likewise have one.

It is in one of his letters that has not yet been printed, that Chatterton mentions his having read an account in the Rowley Mss.

of Cannynge's intention to set up a _printing-press_ at Westbury!

This merchant died in 1474; during the greater part of his life printing was unknown; and even at the time of his death there was but one printing-press in this kingdom, namely, that set up by Caxton, in the Almonry of Westminster Abbey, about the year 1471.]

One of Chatterton's earliest fictions was an ode or short poem of two or three stanzas in _alternate rhyme_, on the death of that monarch, which he sent to Mr. Walpole, informing him at the same time, that it had been found at Bristol with many other ancient poems. This, however, either C.

or his friends thought proper afterwards to suppress. It is not, I believe, generally known, that this is the era which was originally fixed upon by this wonderful youth for his forgeries, though afterwards, as appears from Mr. Walpole's pamphlet already mentioned, having been informed that no such metres as he exhibited as ancient, were known in the age of Richard I., he thought proper to s.h.i.+ft the era of his productions. It is remarkable, that one line yet remains in these poems, evidently written on the first idea:

"Richard of lion's heart to fight _is_ gone."