homas Phillips, spread a
poetical emulation among the elder boys, of whom Thistlethwaite, Cary,
and Fowler, figured in the periodical publications of the day.
Chatterton did not escape the contagion; and a pocket-book presented to
him by his sister, as a new-year's gift, was returned at the end of the
year filled with his writing, chiefly in verse. Phillips is probably the
person whose skill in poetry is extolled by Chatterton in an elegy on
the death of his acquaintance of that name, which has some stanzas of
remarkable beauty.

Soon after his confirmation by the bishop, at twelve years of age, he
was prompted by the serious reflections which the performance of that
ceremony had awakened in him, to compose some lines on the Last Day, and
a paraphrase of the ninth chapter of Job, and of some chapters in
Isaiah. Had his life been protracted, there is every reason to believe,
from the process which usually takes place in minds constituted like
his, that after an interval of scepticism, these feelings of piety would
have returned in their full force. At the same time he indulged himself
in satirical effusions on his master, and such of his schoolfellows as
had provoked either his resentment or his ridicule.

On the first of July, 1767, he was taken from school, and apprenticed
for seven years to Mr. John Lambert, attorney, of Bristol, to be
instructed in the art of a scrivener. The apprentice fee was only ten
pounds; he slept in the room with the footboy, and was confined to the
office from eight o'clock in the morning, with the usual interval for
dinner, till the same hour at night. His conduct was such as left his
master no room for blame. He never exceeded the hours limited for his
absence, except on one occasion, when he had been to spend an evening in
the company of his mother and some friends. Once only he incurred
correction. His old schoolmaster had received an abusive anonymous
letter; and Lambert having discovered from the hand-writing, which was
ill disguised, and by the paper, which was the same as that used in his
office, that Chatterton was the writer, thought it necessary to check so
mischievous a propensity, by inflicting on him one or two blows. Though
he was compelled to pass so large a portion of time in confinement, he
had much leisure left him, as his master's business frequently did not
occupy more than two hours in the day. His chief employment was the
copying of precedents, with which he filled a f