A Brief Thomas Chatterton Bio

Chatterton (Thomas), the marvellous boy poet, b. Bristol, 20 Nov, 1752. His poems, which he pretended were written by one Thomas Rowley in the fourteenth century and discovered [76]by him in an old chest in Redcliffe Church, attracted much attention. In 1769 he visited London in hopes of rising by his talents, but after a bitter experience of writing for the magazines, destroyed himself in a fit of despair 25 Aug. 1770. Several of his poems betray deistic opinions.