Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/623

* CHATTEL. 543 CHATTERTON. ir.nler a title upon the jnantee. (See, also, Fkaids. Statite ok. as aftVctiiif; the sale of chattels.) The various branches (if the law of chattels are specifically treated under the vari- ous titles relating to them, such as Sales; t'AVEAT Emptor; Title: Hei'levin ; Conver- Mox, etc., and the authorities mentioned under ihose titles, as well as under 1'ersoxal Pkop- FJiTY, may he consulted for a fuller statement (•f the law. Kor the early law as to ownership of chattels in ICngland, consult Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law (Boston, 1899). CHATTEL MORTGAGE. The transfer of jicrsonal property as security' for a debt or obli- gation in such manner a^ to pa«s title to the tran.sferee or nuutgagee which niaj- be revested in the transferrer or mortgagor >ipon payment of the debt or performance of the obligation ; but upon his failure to pay or perform, the title be- comes absolute in the mortgagee. Courts of equity, however, will allow the mortgagor to redeem the mortgaged chattel after the debt or obligation becomes due. (See Mortg.^ge; Pledge.) The mortgagor of chattels is general- ly held to have title even in jurisdictions where the mortgagee of real estate is deemed to acquire only an equitable lien, as distinguished from a legal title. At common law a chattel mortgage might be made without writing or other for- mality, provided the chattel was delivered to the mortgagee ; but under modern statutes, particu- larly those relating to registration (q.v.) of mort- gages, a chattel mortgage is required to be in writing and recorded in order to give it validity against third parties, and in some jurisdictions, by statute, chattel mortgages become void unless refiled or otherwise renewed, as by statute re- quired, from year to year. Consult Cobliey, A Practical Treatise on the Law of Chattel Mortgage (Saint Paul, 1893). CHATTERER. A term formerly applied to the waxwiiii;* and some related birds with little applicability. It is now, with more or less pro- priety, restricted by ornithologists to the South -American passerine family Cotingidie, which may be better called cotingas. See Cotinga and Waxwixg. CHAT'TERTON, Thomas (1752-1770). An English poet, born in Bristol. November 20, 17.i2. His father, who had once been a sexton of Saint Mary Kedclilfe. Bristol, and also master of a charity school, died about two months be- fore the poet's birth. Chatterton was educated at the school of which his father had been master, and was thought a dull child; but. mak- ing acquaintance with a black-letter Bible which his mother often used, the dormant spirit Hashed up. From this book he learned to read. From early years he was fond of all kinds of antiqui- ties: he clung around old walls like the ivy, and haunted twilight ruins like the bat. .t the ape of fourteen he was apprenticed to .Tohn lianibert. an attorney. His situation here was uncomfortable: he took his meals in the kitchen with the foothoy, and, when refractor^', was chas- tised with a ruler. In OctolH>r, 17fi8, the new lirid;.'c at Bristol was opened, ami Chatterton f-ent to n newspaper an account, in antique phraseology' and spelling, of the ceremonies at- tending the opening of the old one in 1248. the whole purporting to he taken from an ancient ni;inuscript. In the preceding year he presented himself to a certain Bristol pewterer, Burgum by name, and astonished the craftsman by the sight of a parchment in which his pedigre<' was traced back to the Xorman Conquest. He also exhibited to his friends copies of old poems, wliich, he said, were composed by one Thomas Kowlcy, a mythical monk of the Fifteenth Cen- tuiy. These manuscripts made some stir in his native city, but not enough to satisfy Cliatterton. Accordingly, Horace Walpole, at that time col- lecting additional materials for his Anecdotes of I'aintinfi in England, received from Chatterton several [lagcs of antique writing, accompanied by a short note (17<ii)). The i)retended manuscript gave biographical sketches of celebrated painters who had flourished in England several centuries before, and of whose existence Walpole had never dreamed. Walpole. put oil" his guard, answered liis unknown correspondent at once; expressed his delight at receiving the manuscript; and de- sired, as a personal favor, that all the other antique writings, poems included, mentioned in the note should be forwarded. Chatterton im- mediately sent account-s of a great many more painters and poets, and also gave some slight sketch of his personal history. On receipt of this second communication. Walpole suspected a trick. The poems he showed to ilason and tiray, who at once pronounced them forgeries. He then wrote Chatterton, administering a great deal of excellent advice. Chatterton replied, de- siring that the manuscript should be returned at once; but by the time the letter reached Lon- don Walpole was about to start for Paris, and it was allowed to remain unanswered. It was returned three months later. From his earliest youth Chatterton had a .i;hastly familiarity with the idea of suicide. Among his papers preserved in the British Museum is a last will and testa- ment, "executed in the presence of Omniscience, the 14th of April, 1770," full of the wildest wit and profanity. This and similar documents falling into the hands of his friends, led to his dismissal from Lambert's office. Released from the slavery of law. Chatterton left for London, -April 24, 1770. taking with him the Rowley manuscripts. He found shelter in the house of one Walnisley, a plasterer, in Shorcditch. Xo sooner had he settled there than he began to work as with a hundred hands. During the last few months of his life he poured forth squibs, satiric poems, political essays, burlettas. letters in the style of .lunius, and meditated writing a history of England, to appear in parts. For a time his prospects seemed very bright. He ob- tained an introduction to Lord Mayor Beckford: he sent glowing letters home, accompanied by presents to his mother and sisters, lltimately he left the plasterer's in Shorcditch. and took lodgings in Brooke Street, adjoining Holborn. Unhappily for him. editors of opposition papers were willing enough to insert and praise his articles, but were disinclined to render an equivalent in cash. The means of life were now fast failing. On -August 2.5. 1770, his landlady, alarmed that her lodger did not make bis ap- pearance, had the door of his room broken open: saw the lloor littered with small pieces of paper, anil Chatterton "lying on the l)ed with his legs han},'inL' over, quite dead." He had taken arsenic, in anticipation of a slower death from starvation.