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Books and Bookmen by Andrew Lang
page 59 of 116 (50%)
in the university library, and, under pretence of giving various
readings, corrected Marchena's faults in prosody. Another sham
Catullus, by Corradino, a Venetian, was published in 1738.

The most famous forgeries of the eighteenth century were those of
Macpherson, Chatterton, and Ireland. Space (fortunately) does not
permit a discussion of the Ossianic question. That fragments of
Ossianic legend (if not of Ossianic poetry) survive in oral Gaelic
traditions, seems certain. How much Macpherson knew of these, and
how little he used them in the bombastic prose which Napoleon loved
(and spelled "Ocean"), it is next to impossible to discover. The
case of Chatterton is too well known to need much more than mention.
The most extraordinary poet for his years who ever lived began with
the forgery of a sham feudal pedigree for Mr. Bergum, a pewterer.
Ireland started on his career in much the same way, unless Ireland's
'Confessions' be themselves a fraud, based on what he knew about
Chatterton. Once launched in his career, Chatterton drew endless
stores of poetry from "Rowley's MS." and the muniment chest in St.
Mary Redcliffe's. Jacob Bryant believed in them and wrote an
'Apology' for the credulous. Bryant, who believed in his own system
of mythology, might have believed in anything. When Chatterton sent
his "discoveries" to Walpole (himself somewhat of a mediaeval
imitator), Gray and Mason detected the imposture, and Walpole, his
feelings as an antiquary injured took no more notice of the boy.
Chatterton's death was due to his precocity. Had his genius come to
him later, it would have found him wiser, and better able to command
the fatal demon of intellect, for which he had to find work, like
Michael Scott in the legend.

The end of the eighteenth century, which had been puzzled or
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