THE PONDERER. No. 27. HEU, MISERANDE PUER, Manibus date lilia plenis, Purpureos spargam flores, animamque nepotis Much-pitied Youth! VIRGIL. Bring fragrant flowers, the whitest lilies bring, PITT. THE desire of posthumous glory is such an usual attendant upon genius, that it might, perhaps, be admitted to constitute one of its most indubitable characteristics. No reputation, bowever, can be durable, of which the source is enveloped in obscurity, or the origin uncertain; and that fame, which has been procured by a sacrifice of the higher excellencies of moral character, has no claim to the title of glory, and will infallibly disappear in the lapse of time-or if it leave any trace of its existence, it will only be found in the ample record of expectations which were never realized, and of hopes, which vanished in delusion. These observations are applicable, in some degree, to the literary character and reputation of the ever-to-be-lamented Chatterton. In the character of Rowley, he claims a place in the first order of genius; perhaps, yielding precedence only to the incomparable Shakespeare; in his own person, and estimated by productions avowedly and indisputably his own, a degree of inferiority must be acknowledged; but he still ranks among the most extraordinary characters of his age; and when his extensive acquisitions are contrasted with the depressing difficulties with which he had to contend, he must, unquestionably, be classed with the most illustrious human beings, which ever appeared" in the tide of times." In estimating the acquisitions of Chatterton, it must never be forgotten that he died a boy-that he terminated his carcer before others usually emerge from the insignificancy of puerile yearsthat he was neither nursed in the lap of ease, nor passed his youth amid academic bowers, "distilling sweetness from the Greek and Roman springs"-but that poor Chatterton was the orphan child of poverty, and that his mental powers were committed to the formation of the sparing H 3 hand of charity. Unhappy child of indigent ob scurity! of thee it is literally true, that Thy cradle was the couch of care- Fate seemed her saddest robe to wear, In these unpropitious circumstances, Chatterton demonstrated, that it is the prerogative of genius to scatter illumination even amid the glooms of despair; for, spurning the chains of ignorance with which poverty had enfettered him, he sprang to contemplate the splendours of science with the vigour of an eagle. Among the acquisitions of Chatterton, his knowledge of languages will, probably, be entitled to the first consideration. Of Latin he knew <something, of French more; but what is perhaps more difficult than either, in a knowledge of that particular dialect of the English language, of which the Poems of Rowley are either an original specimen, or a skilful imitation, it must be acknowledged that Chatterton had obtained considerable eminence. To these studies he added Lord Strangford's Camoens. 4 Gregory's Life of Chatterton. a knowledge of English Antiquities, which was certainly very extensive, and, in a youth, justly merited the appellation of profound. Music and drawing were among his favourite relaxations. But in the last of these he is said to have made a progress, which would have reflected no dishonour upon the pupil, who bestows upon this elegant accomplishment all the assiduity, which leisure allows, or attachment prompts. Nor were these objects sufficient in number to exhaust the ardour of a mind like Chatterton's. The abstract speculations of metaphysics, the absurd reveries of school-divinity, and the solid investigations of mathematical science, were all made tributary to his thirst of knowledge. To these are still to be added some skill in physic, a little information in Astronomy, and an extensive acquaintance with heraldry. To finish the mental portrait, however, let it be remembered that these were the acquisitions of a charity-boy who died before he was eighteen; and from the contemplation of the picture, we may form a conception of the intellectual superiority of the unfortunate Chatterton. It adds to the value of the picture that these powers were indisputably his, and consequently that whatever may be our decision respecting the Rowleian controversy, we cannot better display our admiration of genius than by an ardent veneration for his memory. But in no respect has poor Chatterton been more unfortunate than in the obloquy which has been thrown on his moral conduct. With the exception of the last act of his life, which no circumstances can justify and no sophistry palliate, his character combined much to excite respect and pity, but nothing to call forth indignation. From his birth to the period of his leaving Bristol, even Calumny herself has not been able to convict him of any immorality; and the only crime with which it could charge him was melancholy, or that consciousness of superiority, which how ever misnamed by Envy, or reproached by canting Hypocrisy, is inseparable from genius. Of the speculative errors of an uneducated youth, tinged as they were by the dark shades of his own despondency, but probably originating in the same morbid melancholy which made Johnson superstitious, let those be rigid censurers, who consider doubt a high misdemeanor, and a departure from popular creeds the worst of crimes. To the soul of sensibility the very errors of genius are sacred; but the wretched moles who rake among its ashes, and take a barbarous pleasure in exposing its imperfections to the vulgar gaze, justly |