The Poetical Works of Thomas Chatterton with an essay on the Rowley poems by the Rev. Walter W. Skeat and a memoir by Edward Bell |
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 | The Poetical Works of Thomas Chatterton |  |
PROLOGUE
[Whilom by writers much ungentle name]
MADE BY MAISTRE WILLIAM CANYNGE.
I
Whilom by writers much ungentle nameHath upon Godwin, Earl of Kent, been laid,
Thereby depriving him of faith and fame;
Ungentle divinistres e'en have said,
That he was knowen to no holy wurche;
But this was all his fault, he gifted not the church.
II
The author of this piece which we enact,Although a clergyman, the truth will write;
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Even a king might be well pleased tonight.
Attend, and mark the parts now to be done,
We, better for to do, do challenge any one.
| The Poetical Works of Thomas Chatterton | |