The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1892-07-23

Spettdl UefTf990hSe7cc q ne 4MCfagfaaf'
BGiszoL, ESoLASD, July II, 1902.
The name, tho birth.spot aud the
shrine OF chattertoa arc all that will
ordinarily impel tho traveller to turn
aside from p!casantor English sights
and SCIENCES to loitcr in tho matter-of-
fact old city OF Bristol.
Above its hard, dark streets, its
grimy smoke stacks and haFbor spars,
atthe whim OF tho Severn tidcs over
topping is tslIest warehouses or again
disappearing below tho D.ossy, crumbl-
ing qunYs, the cro name, moro Had and
clear ardlum.nous taan all other acts
or facts in its history, SCENE to ccniurc
all else Of tiyie. commercial, esclcsias-
tic or literary interest in tho ancient
seaport's mo!dy past,
And Sliat marvellous proof Is hero
Of tan oystsna'lowius quality Ct liter
airy fame II seems 10 r,s to furnish
one OF the most Impressive illustrations
known 10 zen.
CAattort1n j:9d August 81, 1770. be.
fore he wad eighteen Yeas Of age. Yet
ihis stripping, starved IN Bristol aud
honnied 10 ieStn by Indifference and
desperation in London. N wha. had
been done BY us pen frern lifetime he
was ten years old 10 the morning
they found him dead in the, London
garrett and pitched his poor body into
the Shuc Lane workhouse potter's
field, GU: higher snd Ieepar niches in
tho Adamaatine walls of fame than all
otllcr Of the rlilli0as who have lived
and died in Bristol. More has been
felt, said and wTlttnu about this one
delicate lad, lis mis!ortunes and
achievements, than altogether has evor
been produced OF completely orcon-
corning Bristol or Bristol folk.
Sor rLsAsISo rsoPLE. T.
This Bristol and those Bristol folS,
sayein few shining exceptions. have
nevcr been pleased with this. The old
town has always seemed to wish tho
glalnor OF immortality on it's own ac-
count; for its wisgcd pudses Of rulers,
its wicked old slaye traders, its old
time pedantic and hypocritical mer:
chant princes, its churches, docks and
warehouses; and resent to this day the
pilgrims coming to the one shrine
which the whole world has forced upon
the place in spite Of itself, us If to re-
trieve it from infamy and contempt.
Something like the canny and almost
brutal suspicion and watchfulness OF
Chatterton's attorney master OF infa-
nous memory, John Lambert, has al
WAYS pervaded the town, in its attitude
to the memory Of Chatterton, and to
those strangers who come to Bristol
with sad and tender thoughts OF the boy
poet. From the first vindictive efforts
to uphold tho currish Walpole's defa.
nation OF the dead boy, in his own de-
tense, to almost the latest Bristol publ.
cations on Chatterton, the effort has
been ceaseless to befoul his character
and disparage his achievements.
Ecclesiastical consistories, animated
by inconceivable venom, hunted the
very memory Of the lad TO Probationary
finality, as far as their little power
could go, fighting bitterly to the lastt
erection OF q monument 10 his name in
the churchyard of Redcliffe church, un.
til nearly one hundred years had elapsed
from the time OF the poets death be-
fore this paltry requital was forced
upon Bristol; while ten thousand trav-
elers every year come here, aud espec-
tally to. the beautiful church OF ST.
Mary OF Radcliffe, because Of Chatter
toms associations with the latter, to one
who come to SEQ Bristol or Radcliffe on
their own account; and still the hard
old civic and ecclesiastic heads are
blind to the worlds judgment OF them,
selves and Chatterton.
Mournfully ludicrous does this feel
ing display itself to strangers, even to
this day. II you arc in charge OF guide
the potter!cs: tho Downs; the docks;
the Avon bridge; the place whore Sir
Humphrey Dayey had charge OF the
Pneumatic Institution IN Dowry Square;
the Council House, rich in ancient
parchment lore, unique oil charters and
sombre pictures by Knellor and Van.
dve; tho museum and peep Mt the
famous miniature likeness on ivory OF
Oliver Cronwoll; tho ancient stone
images Of Brennus and Bolinus, Bris.
tolls tutelar deitios removed from an an
cient church to their present place in
the old city gateway arch In the Four
tenth century; to that wonderful old
Norman archway i'll the gateway load
ing into lower College Green; and to
scores moro places and objects OF mod,
ern antiquarian interest. Dnt he will
never have word or a moment to de-
vote to your longings regarding the
personality OF and objects associative
with Chatterton.
QUEER CONDUCT.
+ II atlaat you humbly beg to know OF
these, his interest of your interest is at
an end. Even your landlord will re-
gard you with contempt ii you mention
the nano OF Chatterton. II you at.
tempt to penetrate the dust mounds OF
tho local antiquarians, everything Is ut
your disposal until that unfortunate
name 10 heard. They arc then US all
instantly dead, voicelcss and mummied
as the moldy old stuff upon which
their lives are passed. happening into
several old bookstores with tho hope Of
finding odds and ends regarding tho
poet and his birth spot, after tho inev-
itably unsuccessful search was made,
timid Inquiry after what wished in
variably put to flight tho weakened
habitues OF the place as though pcsti-
lence came with the breath that formed
But most curious OF all was tho con-
duct OF the yerger OF tho Radcliffe
church, which owes its chief notoriety
and its richest offerings to its hateful
hostility to Chatterton, his triftng as.
ISOLATION with its old imminent room
ami 4ha miserlv ChnttArton ccnotaph