CHATTOOGA CHAUCER 341 no one, declined the invitation of his landlady to a dinner after he had been three days without food, spent his last penny for a dose of arsenic, and was found dead in his room surrounded by numerous manuscripts which he had torn into shreds. He was interred in the pauper bury- ing ground of Shoe lane, and the citizens of Bristol have erected a monument to his mem- ory. It was several years before he became an object of public interest, and the result of the discussion concerning the poems which he ascribed to Rowley and other old poets is the general belief that, however extraordinary it was for Chatterton to have written them, it was impossible for them to have been written in the 15th century. In a life of less than 18 years this misdirected genius made himself proficient in the most various studies, created the person, history, and language of an ancient poet, composed epics, tragedies, satires, elegies, ballads, and long narrative poems^ and exhibit- ed not only a facility of versification but a lux- uriance of fancy and power of invention which promised him a high position among English poets. The early poems of Pope and Cowley are not comparable to those of Chatterton, and even the almost fabulous Mirandola was less precocious if not less great. Warton called him a "prodigy of genius ;" Shelley acknowl- edged his " solemn agency ;" Wordsworth names him " the marvellous boy ;" Keats dedi- cated " Endyraion " to his memory ; and Alfred de Vigny has made him the subject of one of his finest dramas, in which he represents him as the type of suffering and unrequited genius. The personal appearance of Chatterton was proud, manly, and very prepossessing. His eyes were gray and piercing, and, as in the case of Lord Byron, one of them was more brilliant than the other. Chatterton's "Miscellanies in Prose and Verse" were published in 1778. An edition of his works, with his life, was prepared by Southey and Cottle in 1803. There have been several editions and biogra- phies, the latest published in London, 1872. See " Chatterton, a Biographical Study," by Daniel Wilson (London, 1870). CHATTOOGA. I. Or Chatnga, one of the head branches of the Savannah river, rises near the S. frontier of North Carolina, and flows S. W. about 40 m. along the boundary between South Carolina and Georgia. II. A river of N. W. Georgia, rises in Walker co., and flows S. S. W. about 55 m. through Chattooga co. to the Coosa in Cherokee co., Ala. CHATTOOGA, a N". W. county of Georgia, bordering on Alabama, and intersected by the Chattooga river; area, 360 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 6,902, of whom 1,503 were colored. The surface is diversified by valleys and moun- tains connected with the Blue Ridge. The principal summits are Taylor's ridge, John's mountain, and Dirtseller mountain. Lime- stone, marble, iron, and lead are abundant. The chief productions in 1870 were 68,232 bushels of wheat, 145,403 of Indian corn, 17,802 of oats, and 901 bales of cotton. There were 803 horses, 1,094 milch cows, 2,110 other cattle, 3,623 sheep, and 8,732 swine. Capital, Summerville. (UAH Kit, Geoffrey, an English poet, born probably in London in 1328, died there, Oct. 25, 1400. Sharon Turner, however, suggests that the year 1340 is more likely to have been that in which Chaucer was born than 1328. The principal events of his life are tinged with uncertainty. Leland represents him to have studied both at Cambridge and at Oxford, and at the latter place to have diligently frequent- ed the public schools and disputations, and even there to have affected the opinions of Wyclitt'e in religion. Tyrwhitt doubts his having studied at either university. He ap- pears to have been entered at the Inner Temple ; but the evidence of this is stated to rest simply upon the record of one Geoffrey Chaucer hav- ing been fined two shillings for beating a Fran- ciscan friar in Fleet street. Leland states that he engaged in the practice of the law, while Mr. Tyrwhitt contests the point. He had un- doubtedly early ingratiated himself into the friendship of persons of distinction, was a page to King Edward III., and was rewarded by that monarch in 1367 with an annuity of 20 marks, equivalent to about 200 of present money. These facts are verified by public documents appended to the biography by God- win. He appears afterward to have become gentleman of the bedchamber to the king, and in 1370 was sent abroad as a royal envoy. Two years later he was sent to Genoa, with two other ambassadors, to negotiate for ships for a naval force ; and it appears that his suc- cess was so great as to win many proofs of royal favor. He was made on his return par- tial comptroller of the customs of London, and was allowed to receive daily from the butler of England a pitcher of wine. In 1377 he is referred to by Froissart as an English envoy employed on the continent on secret service. The object of this mission, according to the same authority, was a treaty of peace and a marriage of the king's grandson, after- ward Richard II., with the French princess Mary. Neither of these aims was accom- plished, and Edward dying in June of the same year (1377), there was an end of this great patronage. In the mean time the poet and diplomatist had married one of the maids of honor to the queen, Philippa Rouet, whose sister, the widow of Sir Hugh Swinford, be- came first the mistress and then the wife of John of Gaunt, " time-honored Lancaster." This high connection obtained for Chaucer a continuation of royal favor under the new king, Richard II., and he was commissioned upon several urgent matters in various parts of the kingdom. For the safe prosecution of these unknown errands, the king granted him a spe- cies of safe conduct, or protection from arrest or injury. After Richard's deposition in 1399, all his donations to Chaucer were immediately
