Rowley and Chatterton in the shades : or, Nugae antiquae et novae (1782)

Rowley and Chatterton in the shades : or, Nugae antiquae et novae (1782) - George Hardinge [These notes were made in 1981:]. 1979 reprint; source - Robarts. Finished July 4/81. As the informative and well-written introduction makes known, this was a contribution to the controversy over Chatterton's "Rowley" poems - many thought they were genuinely mediaeval. It's in the form of a dialogue between spirits in Elysium, and Ossian/Macpherson and various clever imitations of other poets like Piers Ploughman and Chaucer are introduced. Had the introduction not been there to place it in context and appreciatively point out its virtues, I doubt if I would have enjoyed it nearly as much. It's a clever piece of work, and if ephemeral because it's topical, well, so is a lot of stuff we English students read. It was enough to send me to my anthologies to see if I had any Chatterton.