Walpole was 51 when he received 16 year old Chatterton's first letter, containing his The Ryse of Peyncteynge, yn Englande​.

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Walpole died 2nd March, 1797, aged 79. 

The contents of Strawberry Hill went to auction in April of 1842. The sale lasted 24 days.

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Chatterton died 24th August, 1770, at 17 years & nine months of age. There was nothing left in his attic room but the clothes he died in; a pocket book; some scraps of paper; his pens & ink and other such 'worthless' paraphernalia and, on the windowsill,....an empty phial of kill or cure medicine.

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It is clear that Walpole was not responsible for the death of Chatterton and, in any case, it is accepted by those of us willing to read the facts, that Chatterton's death was caused by an accidental overdose and not by suicide!

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I have recently developed an improved appreciation of the works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford, although I do like to keep in mind that he was in a massively privileged position. It seems to me that he truly believed he was a step or two (or three or more) above the likes of Chatterton, which gave him the right to pass judgment and then to offer advice - basically, keep to your station.

I believe that every 'class' of person will face a personal 'struggle' of some sort or other, and that we should make allowances for this, but you simply must smile when you read the following excerpt from his: 'A Letter to the Editor of the Miscellanies of Thomas Chatterton, 1779': 

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‘My fortune is private and moderate; my situation, more private; my interest, none. I was neither born to wealth, nor to accumulate it: I have indulged a taste for expensive baubles, with little attention to economy; it did not become me to give myself airs of protection; and, though it might not be generous, I have been less fond of the company of authors, than of their works.'