Note * — APPENDIX
Reading edition
Do not smile at my lugging in John the Painter till you consider how it applies. His secrecy was wonderful, yet less wonderful that Chatterton’s in exact proportion as his secret was more criminal, and more nearly concerned his life. But you will not deny it to be odd, what I know for a fact, that among his papers were some observations on Rowley’s poems. If they have not been destroyed, they might surely be published. They could not endanger our dockyards, though written by John the Painter. Cannot you give a hint of this kind, some day, at your house? Most probably he has them.