[ 1.] A good general account of the controversy can be found in E. H. W. Meyerstein’s A Life of Thomas Chatterton (London, 1930). I wish to thank the University of Western Ontario for the grant enabling me to work at the British Museum and Bodleian Library. I am indebted to my colleague Herbert Berry for his useful suggestions.
[ 2.] Poems, supposed to have been written at Bristol, by Thomas Rowley and Others, in the Fifteenth Century; the greatest part now first published from the most authentic copies, with an engraved specimen of one of the MSS.... The earliest advertisement that I have seen for this edition is in the London Chronicle, No. 3158 (1-4 March 1777).
[ 3.] Until Professor James M. Osborn’s biography of Malone is ready, Sir James Prior’s Life (London, 1860) remains standard. Concerning Malone’s private opinions about Rowley, see his letter to Charlemont quoted below.
[ 4.] A convenient reprinting of this edition is The Rowley Poems by Thomas Chatterton, ed. M. E. Hare (Oxford, 1911).
[ 5.] II (London, 1778), 139-164—perhaps more accessible in Richard Price’s edition of the History, II (London, 1840), 338-360.
[ 6.] Letters from Francis Woodward to Lord Charlemont on 21 July 1778 and 8 April 1779 give brief accounts of the progress of Milles’ research. See the Twelfth Report of the Historical MSS Commission, Appendix X: The Manuscripts and Correspondence of James, First Earl of Charlemont (London, 1891), I, 340-341 and 345.
[ 7.] An advertisement in the St. James’s Chronicle, No. 3233 (24-27 Nov.) says that the Observations will be published “Saturday next.” An advertisement in No. 3235 (29 Nov.-1 Dec.) says that the Observations “this day were published.” The latter phrase was often used in consecutive advertisements of a work during this period, but in view of the announcement in No. 3233, it would seem that Bryant’s work did appear on 1 Dec.
[ 8.] Milles reprinted Tyrwhitt’s edition (except for the “Appendix,” Tyrwhitt’s essay against the authenticity of the poems), correcting the errata and adding a few new pieces. His commentary includes a long answer to Tyrwhitt, a “Preliminary Dissertation,” introductions to various poems, and footnotes throughout the text. Since 1782 is the year imprinted on the title-page, bibliographies have always given this as the year of publication. But No. 3239 of the St. James’s Chronicle (8-11 Dec. 1781) advertises the work as published. A MS note by Joseph Haslewood in a pamphlet at the British Museum (shelf-mark C.39.f.16) mentions his having seen a copy of Milles’ work which Richard Gough obtained on 12 Dec. 1781.
[ 9.] History, ed. Price, II, 340.
[10.] Rowley Poems, ed. Hare, p. 311.