The revival of interest in mediaeval life and literature during the 18th century, led to a fanatical search for antiquarian literary treasures. Where there was such a strong demand, literary forgers and impostors such as James Macpherson, William Henry Ireland and Thomas Chatterton provided them to their willing and eager patrons. Chatterton was born to poverty in Bristol in 1752 and died in poverty in London in 1770. As a child, he began writing assured verse before indulging in the production of the Rowley Poems, imitation mediaeval English poetry. He wrote on scraps of old parchment and...
The revival of interest in mediaeval life and literature during the 18th century, led to a fanatical search for antiquarian literary treasures. Where ...
