Thomas Chatterton Manuscript Project
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​Chatterton’s Seven Works
Written on the blank pages of
his personal copy of :
Reverend Alexander Catcott's
A Treatise on The Deluge, 1756-68*​​​
(Bodleian Library. Ref : MS. Eng. poet. e.6.)
The book was discovered among the rest of Chatterton's meagre belongings, when his attic room was broken open on the morning of 25 August 1770, and he was found dead on his pallet bed.
​​The Seven Works
Epistle to the Revd Mr [Alexander] Catcott.
Chatterton’s remarks on Rev. Alexander Catcott.
If wishing for the mystic Joys of Love.
Heccar and Gaira.
The Methodist.
The Defence.
Sentiment.
Control Panel ↓ :
Chatterton’s Original Autograph Manuscripts :
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Written on the blank pages of a copy of the Rev. Alexander Catcott’s book [brother of George Catcott].
*A Treatise on The Deluge 1768, & Remarks on the Second Part of The Lord Bishop of Clogher's…Mosaic account …Creation and Deluge, 1756. Two books bound as one, located at the :
Bodleian Library. Ref. MS. Eng. poet. e.6.
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Provenance of the book :
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Macray describes finding the book in a pub in Oxford, in an article in :
‘Notes and Queries’, 1858 : View Panel 17
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Provenance Note from the Bodleian. : View Panel 18
(QE!) It's an amazing story of good fortune. The book was given to Chatterton by the Rev. Alexander Catcott. Chatterton used the blank endpapers of the book to write some of his works. More than a hundred years later it was rescued from the shelves of a pub in Oxford by the Rev. Mr Macray.
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Continue scrolling to read the Chatterton content as it appears in the book, or select from the list below.
Chatterton’s Seven Works in the book :
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Epistle to the Revd Mr [Alex] Catcott. Decr 16 1769 :
View Panel 4 View Control Page
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Chatterton’s remarks on Rev. Alexander Catcott : View Panel 5 View Control Page
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‘The Sentiment’ : View Panel 12 View Control Page
Consisting of seven lines, complete, at the top of the page, followed by the start of :
‘The Methodist’.
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‘The Methodist’ : View Panels 12 + 13 View Control Page
Starts on panel 12, continues on panel 13, and ends before the squiggly line.
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‘If wishing for the mystic Joys of Love’ : View Panel 13 View Control Page
Starts directly after the squiggly line, and ends on same page.
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The Defence : View Panel 14 View Control Page
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Heccar and Gaira - An African Eclogue. : View Panel 15 View Control Page
Additional Drawings and marks :
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Chatterton : Coat of Arms and name, on p.17. : View Panel 8
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A roughly oval ink mark, on p.257. : View Panel 9
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Three words in ink ‘Hmm this Part’ [?], on p.416. : View Panel 10
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Notes & Additional Links :
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Front Cover, Verso Endpaper : Chrisr Jeaspeson? ; Jos Oldham; W. D. Macray : View Panel 1
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Heccar and Gaira - A note tipped in re the final two pages of Heccar and Gaira : ​“The two leaves at the end containing lines 1 - 92 of Heccar and Gaira were restored to their place by the bequest of E. H. W. Meyerstein in 1953 ; see MS. Eng. poet. e.6.” : View Panel 2
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​Ms. Letter of 3 pages from William R. Morfill, tipped in. : Each of the 3 pages is followed by a transcript. Letter has information on Chatterton’s works. (transcripts by (QE!). View Panel 3-5
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Title page of ‘Remarks on…The Lord Bishop of Clogher’s…Creation and Deluge, by Rev. Alexander Catcott, with Jos Oldham's signature : View Panel 7
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Title Page of ​​ ‘A Treatise on the Deluge’, by Rev. Alexander. Catcott. : View Panel 11
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Back Cover - reminiscent of the Turin Shroud? : View Panel 16
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Read an online copy of the book (without Chatterton’s works) : A Treatise on The Deluge 1768, & Remarks on the Second Part of The Lord Bishop of Clogher's…Mosaic account …Creation and Deluge, 1756 : View my doc for links to the two books​
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If you have trouble viewing these pages, and why would you, but just in case you do, I have put all of the contents of Bodleian MS. Eng. Poet. E6 into a Google doc : View
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Abbreviations : View my doc
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Provenance and Working Notes : View Panel 20
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Panel 1 : ↓
Verso front cover pd. Christopher Jeaspeson? ; Jos Oldham; W. D. Macray Back to Top
Panel 2 : ↓ Back to Top
A library note stating that the final two leaves of Heccar and Gaira, lines 1 - 92, were restored to the end of the poem thanks to the bequest of E.H.W. Meyerstein in 1953.
Transcript of the note below by (QE!) :
‘The two leaves at the end containing lines 1 - 92 of Heccar and Gaira were restored to their place by the bequest of E. H. W. Meyerstein in 1953 MS. Eng. poet. e.6.’
The verso of the above page is completely blank and not shown.
Panel 3 : ↓ Ms. Letter tipped in, 3 pages : followed by transcript by (QE!). Back to Top
Transcript of the above by (QE!) :
'My Dear Sir, The interesting book of Chatterton’s which you were good enough to show me today at the Bodleian has clearly been in the hands of some of his former editors. I find not only the Epistle to Catcott reprinted (as you told me) both in Southey’s ed. (1803) & '
Transcript of the above by (QE!) :
'that published at Cambridge (in 1842) but curiously enough (as may have escaped your notice) Chatterton’s remarks on his indifference occurs in both editions verbatim. It is not likely that he would have transcribed these. I find in one of his last letters from London (May 14, 1770) he wants his mother to send him his works— ‘particularly Hutchinsonian jargon'
Transcript of the above by (QE!) :
On the Deluge, and the MS glossary, composed of one small book, annexed to a larger’ If you have not previously met with this notice it will probably interest you.
Yours very truly, W. R. Morfill, 4 Clarendon Villas, Tuesday
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[Prof. William Richard Morfill (1834–1909) was a Slavonic languages scholar.]
[The verso of the above page is completely blank and not shown.]
Panel 4 : ↓ Epistle to the Revd Mr [Alexander] Catcott. Decr 16 1769. Back to Top
Panel 5 : ↓ Remarks on Rev. Alexander Catcott. Back to Top
Panel 6 : ↓ The above shown in situ. Back to Top
Panel 7 : ↓
Title page with signature of Jos Oldham. Back to Top
Panel 8 : ↓ Chatterton Coat of Arms and name at the foot of Page 17. Back to Top
Panel 9 : ↓ Chatterton : A roughly oval mark in ink foot of Page 257. Back to Top
Panel 10 : ↓ Chatterton : Three words in ink ‘Hmm this Part’ [?] Back to Top
Panel 11 : ↓ Title Page : A Treatise on the Deluge. Rev. Alexander Catcott. Back to Top
Panel 12 : ↓ Back to Top
Two Poems by Chatterton. ‘Sentiment,’ & ‘The Methodist’
‘Sentiment’ : A poem of seven lines at the top of the page.
‘The Methodist’ : Starts directly after ‘Sentiment’, and continues for 12 lines on the
following page. Some unknown hand has written in pencil ‘The Methodist’.
Taylor has allocated the same title to this little work (Tp446)
Panel 13 : ↓ Back to Top
Parts of two poems on this page:
‘The Methodist’ continues on this page for 12 lines, and ends at the squiggly line.
‘If wishing for the mystic Joys of Love’ This work starts after the squiggly line and ends on this page.
Panel 14 : ↓ The Defence Back to Top
Panel 15 : ↓ Heccar and Gaira - An African Eclogue. Back to Top
[The Last Four Lines Read as Follows :]
I bent the bow, the never-erring dart,
Pierc'd his rough armor, but efcap'd his heart.
He fled, though wounded to a distant waste,
I urg'd the furious flight with fatal haste.
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Note by (QE!) :
My verbatim transcript above of the last four lines on this page are from The Court and City Magazine, February, 1770. Note that Chatterton dates the poem, 3 January 1770.
As Taylor rightly suggests, this would make this version a revision of the poem in The Court and City Magazine.
Compare the whole poem to The Court and City copy, dated 12 December 1769 : View
[The Last Four Lines Read as Follows :]
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In ever-reeking blood this javlin dy'd,
With vengeance shall be never satisfied.
I'll strow the beaches with the mighty dead,
And tinge the lilly of their features red.
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Note by (QE!) :
My verbatim transcript, above, of the last four lines on this page is from The Court and City Magazine, February, 1770. Note that Chatterton dates the poem, 3 January 1770. (QE!)
As Taylor rightly suggests, this would make this version a revision of the poem in The Court and City Magazine.
Compare the whole poem to The Court and City copy, dated 12 December 1769 : View
Panel 16 : ↓ Back Cover - reminiscent of the Turin Shroud? Back to Top
Panel 17 ↓ : Macray’s article. ‘Notes and Queries’, 1858 : Snipped from Online copy Back to Top
Panel 18 ↓ : Provenance Note from Bodleian: Back to Top
Provenance Note from Bodleian:
Purchased by Bodleian in 1877 for £15 from W. D. Macray; see Macray 390.
William Dunn Macray (1826-1916); purchased in 1858 at a pub in Clifton Hampden, Oxfordshire; signature, dated July 1858, on the front pastedown; see Macray 390-1, with reference to his article in Notes & Queries, at p.182: 'An interesting Chatterton relic has lately come into my possession in the following singular manner. Stepping into a little village publichouse in the neighbourhood of Oxford, after a country walk, to procure some refreshment, my attention was attracted to some half-dozen volumes on a bookshelf. Amongst these I found Catcott's Treatise on the Deluge, in two parts (1756-68) ... For a trifle I became possessor of the volume ...'
Christopher Jefferson (fl. 1792); gift from Oldham, see inscription on front pastedown: 'Chris. Jeaffreson, e dono Jos. Oldham, March 12th, 1792'.
Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770); see ODNB; manuscript leaves at beginning and end of volume containing verses and other material, dated 1769-70,including a letter to Catcott, in his hand, for which see Macray, 'Chatterton', 182; name and coat of arms in black ink on p. 17 of item 2; presumably the book was a gift from the author, see Macray 390; Summary Catalogue no. 29126; letter, dated Aug. 1866, from Prof. W[illiam] R[ichard] Morfill (1834-1909), first Professor of Russian and Slavonic Languages, University of Oxford, attached to the front endleaf. Note on the recto of the front endleaf (in the hand of R. W. Hunt), indicating that the two leaves at the end of the volume, containing lines 1-92 of 'Heccar and Gaira', were restored to their place by the bequest to the Bodleian of E. H. W. Meyerstein (1889-1952) in 1953; these leaves had originally been removed from this volume in 1812, and came to the Library in Meyerstein's bequest, as part of what is now MS. Eng. poet. b. 6 (Summary Catalogue no. 46319), from which they were extracted in 1953.
Alexander Catcott (1725-1779), author; see ODNB.
Joseph Oldham (fl. 1792); name on title-page of item 1.
Panel 19 : ↓ Bodleian, Weston Library, Oxford Back to Top
Panel 20 : ↓ Provenance of the Book with Working Notes. Back to Top
​​A key name in the provenance of the book is John Oldham. He was, according to Meyerstein, a button seller, of the button and silk warehouse in Lombard Street, London. Two years after Chatterton's death he married Beliza, the sister of John Lambert the Attorney, and employer of Chatterton during his apprenticeship. See Holden's 1802-4 Directory, and the Post Office Directory for 1809 (Beliza's name?).
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Transcribed by (QE! ) from Meyerstein, p.421 and notes:
Other London friends were a Mr. John Oldham, a button-seller, of the button and silk warehouse, 25 Lombard Street, who married John Lambert, the attorney's, sister Beliza, two years after Chatterton's death‡ (in Holden's 1802-4 Directory, and the Post Office Directory for 1809, the business is carried on at the same address under her name), his brother a surgeon, one Baylis, also a surgeon, and Booth a journeyman to Oldham. John Oldham was in Chatterton's company two or three times; his testimony, as given by Lort (July 21, 1777) is as follows:
"Mr. O. says that he had a particular spleen to the present Bishop of Bristol to whose patronage he had been early recommended but did not profit from it. He had wonderful faculty for writing and would exhibit some pieces to his acquaintance without mentioning the author, only asking how he liked them. Mr Oldham said that in appearance he seemed to be at least twenty years of age and had a shabby genteel dress."
Croft was informed that he wrote no more letters home after that of July 20 to his sister, which Mrs. Chatterton suffered the author of Love and Madness to retain "as a curiosity".
Ex. inf. the Rev. R. W. Oldham, great-grandson of Joseph, brother of John Oldham (the latter died in 1789, Gentleman's Magazine, 1789, p. 1058); Beliza Oldham died in 1812 (ibid., 1812, p. 594, Vol. II), their seven children o.s.p. John Oldham’s age in 1770 has not been ascertained; his father, Nathaniel Oldham, was born in 1712. See Times Literary Supplement, Apr. 6, 1922.
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A short history of ownership of the book :
1768-69 : Reverend Alexander Catcott.
1769-70 : Thomas Chatterton - A gift from Alexander Catcott.
1770-89 : John Oldham from Chatterton's attic room in Holborn
1789-92 : Jos Oldham (brother of John Oldham)
1792-1812 Christopher Jeasperson (A gift from Jos Oldham)
1812-???? Christopher Jeasperson (Without two leaves of Heccar and Gaira)
1858-1877 : W. D. Macray (without two leaves of Heccar and Gaira)
1877- current : Bodleian Library.
1812-1931+ Mrs Roberts. The two leaves of Heccar and Gaira owned by Mrs Roberts, a gift from Chris Jeasperson
​1931+- 1952 Meyerstein (owns the two leaves of Heccar and Gaira).
1953 The two leaves were bequeathed to the Bodleian and replaced in the book after Meyerstein's death.
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The spine titles were added after the book was discovered in a pub by Mr. W. D. Macray, or by the Bodleian when they purchased the book from him for £15 in 1877, the equivalent of £2,269 in 2026.
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Chatterton asks his mother to send him Catcott's Deluge 14 May 1770. Also his MS Glossary.
Jos Oldham (the name on the front pastedown) was the brother of John Oldham (John died in 1789, GM P.1058 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015010955006&seq=516 ).
John Oldham visited Chatterton's attic room shortly after Chatterton's death and took away what belonged to Chatterton, including his stained Pocketbook and Catcott's Treatise on the Deluge.
The book found it's way back to Bristol in 1770, but was retained by John Oldham. He or his brother married into John Lambert's family. John Oldham having died in 1789 the book fell to Joseph Oldham who, in 1792, gifted it to Chris Jeasperson. Whereabouts of the book was unknown until it appeared on the shelf of the pub in Oxford to be discovered there by Macray.
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