THE
AND
OTHER POEMS.
____
IN TWO VOLUMES.
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
…………………………………..………………………………………………………….
……………………………………………………..………………………………………..
[Portrait]
JOHN CLARE.
by W.
Hilton, R.A.
Published May 21st.
1821 by Taylor & Hessey, Fleet St. London.
………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………….
THE
VILLAGE MINSTREL,
AND
OTHER POEMS.
BY JOHN CLARE,
THE NORTHAMPTONSHIRE PEASANT;
AUTHOR OF “POEMS ON RURAL
LIFE AND SCENERY.”
_________
“I never list presume to Parnasse Hill,
“But piping low, in shade of lowly grove,
“I play to please myself.”------
Spenser’s Shep.Kal.
_______
VOL. I.
____________
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR TAYLOR AND
HESSEY, FLEET STREET;
AND E. DRURY, STAMFORD.
1821.
…………………………………………………………………...……………………………….…………….……….
_______________________
T.Miller, Printer, Noble
Street,
Cheapside, London.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
CONTENTS.
_____
VOL.
I.
Page
INTRODUCTION
………………………………….……………….. vii
The Village Minstrel
………………………….…………………….. 1
Effusion
……………………………………………………………… 65
Address to my Father
……………………………………………… 68
Holywell ……………………………………………………………… 70
Description of a
Thunder-Storm ………………………………… 78
To an early Cowslip ……………………………………………….. 82
After reading in a Letter
proposals for building a Cottage ….… 83
Autumn ………………………………………………………………. 86
Ballad—“A weedling
wild” ………………………………………… 96
On the Sight of Spring …………………………………………….. 98
A Pastoral—“Surely, Lucy,
love returns” ………………………100
Ballad—“Where the dark ivy” …………………………………… 103
Song—“Swamps of wild
rush-beds” ……………………………. 105
Song—“The sultry day” …………………………………………. 107
Cowper Green …………………………………………………….. 109
Song—“One gloomy eve” ………………………………………. 120
The Gipsy’s Camp ………………………………………………. 122
Recollections after a
Ramble …………………………………… 124
A Sigh—“Again freckled
cowslips” ………………………….. 140
………………………………………..………………………………………………………………………….
Page
To a Bower …………………………………………………….… 141
Ballad—“When nature’s beauty
shone complete” ……….. 143
To Poesy
………………………………………………………… 146
To the Clouds ……………………………………………………. 147
Song—“Dropt here and there
upon the flower” …………… 149
To a dead Tree ………………………………………………….. 151
The Disappointment ……………………………………………. 153
To an infant Daughter …………………………………………. 162
Langley Bush …………………………………………………….. 164
Sorrows for a favourite
tabby Cat ……………………………. 165
The Widower’s Lament ……………………………………….. 170
Sunday ……………………………………………………………. 171
A look at the Heavens ………………………………………… 176
To a city Girl …………………………………………………… 177
To Health ………………………………………………………. 180
Absence …………………………………………………………. 182
May-Day ……………………………………………………….. 186
William and Robin …………………………………………… 189
Ballad—“I love thee, sweet
Mary” …………………………. 195
Winter Rainbow ……………………………………………….. 197
The Request ……………………………………………………. 198
Solitude ………………………………………………………….. 200
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
INTRODUCTION.
____
THE former volume of JOHN CLARE’s Poems was
published on the 16th of January, 1820. It im-
mediately received the most flattering notice from
several periodical publications, and the interest
which was directly taken in the Poet’s fate by all
ranks, is a circumstance most clearly indicative of
the good taste and generous feelings of the nation.
A pleasant and judicious account of the author,
which was published in the first number of the
London Magazine, greatly contributed to this rapid 10
acknowledgement of the merits of the work, and of
the justice of the author’s pretensions to the dis-
tinction of public patronage. It was written by Mr.
Gilchrist, of Stamford, whose kindness to CLARE
did not cease with that effort in his favour. To
him, and all those who, by sympathising with CLARE
in his days of his distress, have a peculiar title to
be named among his benefactors, the pleasure of
viii ……………………………………………………………………………………….………….
befriending a man of true genius is of itself a
sufficient
reward:— 20
“——The
praise is better than the price,
The glory eke much greater than the gain—”
But among these early patrons, one in particular, the
Rev. Mr. Mounsey, of the grammar school, Stam-
ford, deserves to be mentioned, as the first person
who subscribed to CLARE’s intended publication of
his own Poems, and the first who gave any encou-
ragement to his faint hopes of success. The naming
of this project of our poor author requires that some
account should be given of it, as none has ap- 30
peared in the former Introduction.
In the summer of 1817 CLARE left Helpstone
and went into the employment of Mr. Wilders, of
Bridge Casterton, Rutlandshire. Here he first met
with Patty, who was destined to be his future com-
panion through life—but as he observes in one of
his letters at this period, “a poor man’s meeting
with a wife is reckoned but little improvement to
his condition, particularly with the embarrassments
I laboured under at the time.” With the view of 40
relieving himself from some of these troubles, and
thinking it but fair that his love of poesy should con-
tribute to his support as well as his amusement, the
viii latter only being too great a luxury for a poor man
ix ……………………………………………..………………………………….……………….
to indulge in, he began to consider seriously about
publishing a small volume of Poems by subscrip-
tion; and having some time before ascertained,
from a Printer at Market Deeping, that the expense
of three hundred copies of a Prospectus would not
be more than one pound, he set himself resolutely 50
to work to obtain that sum. But the story is best
told in his own simple words.
“At the latter end of the year I left Casterton
and went to Pickworth, a hamlet which seems by
its large stretch of old foundations and ruins to
have been a town of some magnitude in past times,
though it is now nothing more than a half solitude
of huts, and odd farm-houses, scattered about, some
furlongs asunder: the marks of the ruins may be
traced two miles further, from beginning to end. 60
Here by hard working, day and night, I at last got
my one pound saved, for the printing of the pro-
posals, which I never lost sight of; and having
written many more Poems excited by a change of
scenery, and being over head and ears in love,—
above all, having the most urgent propensity to
scribbling, and considering my latter materials
much better than my former, which no doubt was
the case,—I considered myself more qualified for
the undertaking: so I wrote a letter from this place 70
ix immediately to Henson, of Market Deeping, wish-
x ……………………………………………………………………………………………….
ing him to begin the proposals and address the
public himself, urging that he could do it far better
than I could, but his answer was that I must do it.
After this, I made some attempts, but not having a
fit place for doing any thing of that kind, from
lodging at a public house, and being pestered with
many inconveniences, I could not suit myself by
doing it immediately, and so from time to time it
was put off. At last I determined, good or bad, to 80
produce something, and as we had another lime-
kiln at Ryhall, about three miles from Pickworth,
[CLARE was at this time employed in lime-burning]
I often went there to work by myself, where I had
leisure to study over such things on my journeys of
going and returning. On these walks, morning
and night, I have dropped down, five or six times,
to plan an Address, &c. In one of these musings,
my prose thoughts lost themselves in rhyme. Taking
a view, as I sat beneath the shelter of a woodland 90
hedge, of my parents’ distresses at home, of my
labouring so hard and so vainly to get out of debt,
and of my still added perplexities of ill-timed love,
—striving to remedy all, and all to no purpose,—I
burst out into an exclamation of distress, “What is
Life!” and instantly recollecting that such a subject
would be a good one for a poem, I hastily scratted
x down the two first verses of it, as it stands, as the
xi …………………………………………………………………………………………………….
beginning of the plan which I intended to adopt,
and continued my journey to work. But when I 100
got to the kiln I could not work, for thinking about
what I had so long been trying at; so I sat me
down on a lime-skuttle, and out with my pencil for
an Address of some sort, which, good or bad, I de-
termined to send off that day; and for that purpose,
when it was finished, I started to Stamford with it,
about three miles off: still, along the road, I was
in a hundred minds whether I should throw up all
thoughts about the matter, or stay till a fitter op-
portunity, to have the advice of some friend or 110
other; but, on turning it over in my mind again, a
second thought informed me that I had no friend;
I was turned adrift on the broad ocean of life, and
must either sink or swim: so I weighed matters on
both sides, and fancied, let what bad would come,
it could but balance with the former: if my hopes
of the Poems failed, I should not be a pin worse
than usual; I could but work then as I did already:
nay, I considered that I should reap benefit from
the disappointment; the downfall of my hopes would 120
free my mind, and let me know that I had nothing
to trust to but work. So with this favourable idea
I pursued my intention, dropping down on a stone-
heap before I entered the town, to give it a second
xi reading, and correct what I thought amiss.”
xii ………………………………………………………………….……………………………………..
The reader may be curious to see the prose pro-
duction, which gave our poor poet so much more
trouble than any of his poetry. The original paper
cannot be in the hands of many persons; even the
writer of these pages knew nothing of it when he 130
introduced CLARE’s former volume to the notice of
the public, having had the first intimation of its ex-
istence from the
critique in the Quarterly Review.
“Proposals for publishing by Subscription, a Collection of
Original Trifles, on miscellaneous Subjects,
religious and moral, in
Verse, by JOHN CLARE, of Helpstone.
“Some like to laugh their time away,
To dance while pipes and fiddles play,
And have nae sense of ony want,
As long as they can drink and rant. 140
The rattling drum and trumpet’s tout
Delight your swankies that are stout:
May I be happy in my lays,
And win a lasting wreath of bays!
Is a’ my wish; well pleas’d to sing
Beneath a tree, or by a spring.”
Ramsay.
“CONDITIONS.
“1. The price shall not exceed three shillings and sixpence, in
boards; and unless three hundred copies are
subscribed for, the 150
work will not be published.
“2. The work shall be put to press immediately after the
above number of copies are subscribed for.
“3. It shall be printed on a superfine yellow wove foolscap
paper, in octavo size, forming a neat pocket
volume.
“4. That it shall be delivered to the subscribers (free of any
additional expence) as soon as published, and
to be paid for on
xii delivery.—A list of
subscribers to be printed in the book.
xiii ……………………………………………………………………………………….…………….
“ADDRESS TO THE PUBLIC.
“The Public are requested to observe, that the TRIFLES 160
humbly offered for their candid perusal can
lay no claim to elo-
quence of poetical composition, (whoever
thinks so will be de-
ceived,) the greater part of them being Juvenile
productions; and
those of a later date offsprings of those
leisure intervals which the
short remittance from hard and manual labour
sparingly afforded
to compose them. It is hoped that the humble
situation which
distinguishes their author will be some
excuse in their favour,
and serve to make an atonement for the many
inaccuracies and
imperfections that will be found in them. The
least touch from
the iron hand of Criticism is able to
crush them to nothing, and 170
sink them at once to utter oblivion. May they
be allowed to
live their little day, and give satisfaction
to those who may choose
to honour them with a perusal, they will gain
the end for which
they were designed, and their author’s wishes
will be gratified.
Meeting with this encouragement, it will
induce him to publish a
similar collection, of which this is offered
as a specimen.”
Then followed the Sonnet to the
Setting Sun,
as it is printed in the former collection.
The Poet was disappointed, as might be con-
ceived, in his expectations of success from this 180
appeal to the poetic taste and discrimination of his
neighbours; but it would hardly be thought pos-
sible that, when all his prospectuses were distri-
buted, he could only obtain the names of seven
subscribers.
“I distributed my papers,” says the poor
author, “but as I could get at no way of pushing
them into higher circles than those with whom I was
xiii acquainted, they consequently passed off as quietly
xiv ……………………………………………………………………………………………………
as if they had still been in my possession, unprinted 190
and unseen.” It appears, however, to have been
one of these prospectuses thus freely circulated by
CLARE, which, bringing on proposals from another
quarter, ended in the publication of the Poems in
London.
His friend in Market Deeping now
offered to
print the work if only one hundred subscriber
were obtained, and after that he proposed to com-
mence his operations if CLARE would advance
him fifteen pounds; this demand was subsequently 200
reduced to ten pounds, but CLARE’s subscribers
did not increase with this temptation; they still
answered with the little girl, in Wordsworth’s Poems,
“Nay, master, we are seven:” and so far was CLARE
from having ten or fifteen pounds to spare, that he
had not at that
time fifteen pence to call his own.
The present Publishers gave CLARE twenty
pounds for his Poems, and brought them out on the
16th of January, 1820; and so promptly was the
benevolence of the higher ranks exerted in behalf of 210
the author, that before the expiration of a month
CLARE was in possession of a little fortune. The
noble family at Milton Abbey sent for him at the
beginning of February, and with a kindness which
in its manner made a deeper impression on his
heart than even the bounty with which it was
xiv accompanied, inquired into the situation and cir-
xv ……………………………………………………………..……………………………..
cumstances of himself, and of his aged parents:
Lord Milton then gave him ten pounds, to which
the Earl Fitzwilliam added five pounds: and on 220
the following day several articles of clothing and
furniture were sent in, to contribute towards the
comfort of his father and mother. In the middle of
the same month, the Marquis of Exeter appointed
CLARE to come to Burghley House, where, after
learning the simple particulars of his life, and the
means he had of supporting himself, his Lordship
told him, that as it appeared he was able to earn
thirty pounds a year by working every day, he
would allow him an annuity of fifteen guineas for 230
life, that he might, without injury to his income,
devote half that time to poetry. The regard for
CLARE’s welfare, which dictated this proposal, is
no less kind than the liberality of the benefaction;
but unfortunately some of the habits of a literary
life are inconsistent with laborious occupations:
CLARE has often been called from the harvest
field three or four times a day, to gratify the
curiosity of strangers who went to Helpstone for
the purpose of seeing him. This very considerably 240
interrupted the usual course of his employments,
and prevented him from deriving that income, from
the half labour of his life, which had been antici-
pated. But his good fortune was determined to
xv supply a counterpoise to every disadvantage.
xvi…………………………………………………………..………………………………..
About the very time that the Marquis of Exeter
laid so amply the foundation of CLARE’s indepen-
dence on the one hand, the Earl Fitzwilliam sent
one hundred pounds to his Publishers, which, with
the like sum advanced by them, was laid out in 250
the purchase of stock, with the view of securing
our Poet from the condition of extreme poverty
which otherwise might await him when, like other
novelties of the day, he, in his turn, should be
forgotten. This fund was immediately augmented
by the contributions of several noblemen and gentle-
men*, chiefly through the instrumentality of Admiral
* The following are the names of the
principal contributors:—
His R. H. the Prince Leopold . . . . £10
0
The Duke of Bedford . ……… . . . . 20 0
The Duke of Devonshire . …… . . . 20 0
The Duke of Northumberland . . .. . 10
0
The Earl of Cardigan . . . . . . 10 0
The Earl of Brownlow . . . . . 10 0
The Earl of Winchilsea . . . . . 10 0
The Earl Manvers . . . . . . 10 0
The Earl of Egremont . . . . . . 10 0
The Earl Rivers . . . . . . 5 0
Lord Kenyon . . . . . . 10 0
Lord Northwick . . . . . . 10 0
Lord John Russell . . . . . . 10 0
Lord Arden . . . . . . . 5 5
Sir Thomas Baring, Bart. . . . . . 10 0
Sir Thomas Plumer . . . . . . 5 0
Jesse Watts Russell, Esq. M. P. . . . . 5
0
Edward Lee, Esq. . . . . . . 5 0
xvi With several smaller donations.
xvii……………………………………………………………..………………………………..
Lord Radstock, whose zeal for the improvement of
CLARE’s condition, in every sense, is as much
above all praise, as his Lordship’s assiduity in his 260
benevolent career is probably without parallel.
The sums thus collected, amounting to two hundred
and twenty pounds thirteen shillings, were, with
the former two hundred, invested in the Navy five
per cents. in the names of trustees; and, at Mid-
summer, the interest resulting from this source
amounted to twenty pounds per annum. This esta-
blishment of CLARE’s future income on a firm basis
was completed by an allowance from the Earl
Spencer of ten pounds per ann. for life: his Lord- 270
ship was at Naples when he heard of CLARE’s talents
and penury, in a letter from Mr. Bell of Stamford:
he became interested in the fate of the Poet, and
promised his assistance. But the honour of being
the patron of poesy is hereditary in the family of
Spencer, and seems of right to belong to the kins-
man of the prince of poets.
From these various gifts and annuities CLARE
became possessed of an income of forty-five pounds
a year, which may be said to have been conferred 280
upon him from the 1st of January, 1820, the re-
spective payments having all commenced from
that day. His means of living it is hoped will be
xvii increased still further by the publication of the
xviii……………………………………………………..………………………………………….
present work, and by the profit which may arise
from the continued
sale of his first production.
In the Spring of 1820, CLARE married “Patty
of the Vale,”—“the Rosebud in humble Life,”—or,
to speak in prose, Martha Turner, the daughter of a
cottage farmer residing at Walkherd Lodge in the 290
neighbourhood of Bridge Casterton, whose portion
consisted of nothing beyond the virtues of industry,
frugality, neatness, good-temper, and a sincere love
for her husband; qualities, indeed, which contribute
more than wealth to the happiness of the marriage
state; but money is still a desirable accompani-
ment, and for want of it our Poet’s finances are
somewhat too much straitened to support his
family with comfort. His household consists at
the present time of his father and mother, who are 300
aged and infirm, his wife, and a little girl who
bids fair to be the eldest of a family, which at this
rate may be expected to be pretty numerous.
They all live together in the cottage in which
CLARE was born.
Since sending his former Poems to
the press,
CLARE has written the whole of the following col-
lection, with the exception of the Excursion to
Burghley Park, Helpstone Green, To the Violet,
The Wood-Cutter’s Night Song, To the Butterfly, 310
xviii To Health, May-Day, William and Robin, and the
xix……………………………………..………………………………………………………
first five Sonnets.—The third Sonnet and May-Day
were written on the illness and death of a youth
who was CLARE’s earliest friend and favourite play-
fellow, and the brother of John Turnill, the excise-
man who taught CLARE to write. Some of these
Poems are ten or twelve years old. The pastoral,
William and Robin, one of his earliest efforts,
exhibits a degree of refinement, and elegant sen-
sibility, which many persons can hardly believe a 320
poor uneducated clown could have possessed: the
delicacy of one of the lovers towards the object of
his attachment is as perfectly inborn and unaffected
as if he were a Philip Sidney.—It also shews that a
style of writing, caught from the accredited pastoral
poets, which so many admire, was not above
CLARE’s reach, had not his good sense taught him
to abandon it for the more difficult but less ap-
preciated
language of nature.
The Village Minstrel was begun in
the autumn 330
of 1819: the writer of these lines saw in November
about one hundred stanzas of it, and it was finished
soon after the former volume made its appearance.
To the fate of that volume the author alludes with
much natural
anxiety at the end of this poem,
“And
wishes time her secrets would explain,
If he may live for joys, or sink in
’whelming pain.”
xix And the state of dreary misery in which he then
xx………………………………………………….…………………………………………….
lived must be his excuse for some apparently dis-
contented stanzas about the middle of the poem, if 340
any excuse be necessary for some of the most vigor-
ous and beautiful ebullitions of true poesy that can
be met with in our language.
The regret of a poet for the loss of some object
in nature, to which many of the dearest recollections
of his earliest and happiest days had attached them-
selves, is always vehement; but who can wonder at
or condemn it? If an old post had such attrac-
tions for Pope, surrounded as he was with comfort
and luxury, what allowance ought not to be made 350
for the passionate regard of poor CLARE for things
which were the landmarks of his life, the depositaries
of almost all his joys? But the poet can be as much
a philosopher as another man when the fit is off: in
a letter to the writer of these lines he laments the
purposed destruction of two elm trees which overhang
his little cottage, in language which would surprise
a man whose blood is never above temperate; but
the reflection of
a wiser head instantly follows:—
“My two favourite elm trees at the back of the hut 360
are condemned to die—it shocks me to relate it,
but ’tis true. The savage who owns them thinks
they have done their best, and now he wants to
make use of the benefits he can get from selling them.
xx O was this country Egypt, and was I but a caliph,
xxi…………………………………………………….………………………………………..
the owner should lose his ears for his arrogant pre-
sumption; and the first wretch that buried his axe
in their roots should hang on their branches as a
terror to the rest. I have been several mornings to
bid them farewel. Had I one hundred pounds to 370
spare I would buy them reprieves—but they must
die. Yet this mourning over trees is all foolish-
ness—they feel no pains—they are but wood, cut up
or not. A second thought tells me I am a fool:
were people all to feel as I do, the world could not
be carried on,—a green would not be ploughed—a
tree or bush would not be cut for firing or furniture,
and every thing they found when boys would re-
main in that state till they died. This is my indis-
position, and you
will laugh at it.” 380
A few references are made in the
Village Min-
strel, to country sports and customs, which, per-
haps, need a little explanation, and it is offered the
rather because it can be given in the Poet’s own
words.
“Old Ball.—You mean the shagg’d foal. It’s a
common tradition in villages that the devil often
appears in the form of a shagg’d foal; and a man
in our parish firmly believes that he saw him in that
character one morning early in harvest. ‘Like 390
offspring of old Ball,’ means nothing more than the
foal of a mare, only boys are particular in saying it
xxi was just like the foal of such a one.”
xxii…………………………………………………..…………………………………………….
“Fiery Parrot.—A candle lighted is placed on
the mantle-piece or elsewhere, and on the far side
of the house stands a tub full of water, with a sheet
over the top, on each side of which, on the edge of
the tub, sits a girl, while a young fellow is se-
lected out to sit between them (generally the rough-
est and rudest clown in the company); who, trans- 400
ported with the idea of having so pleasant a seat,
is generally very anxious and willing to perform it.
In proceeding to his seat of fancied paradise, he is
to walk backwards, looking earnestly at the candle
burning before him; and thus he goes on till he
gets between the young maidens, who, as he drops
down, rise in an instant, while the loosed sheet
gives way, and often lets him in over head and ears.
Thus bent in the confines of the tub, he cannot stir
till assistance releases him from his uncomfortable 410
disappointment.”
“Sheet-clad Crane.—A man holds in his hand a
long stick, with another tied at the top in the form
of an L reversed, which represents the long neck
and beak of the crane. This, with himself, is en-
tirely covered with a large sheet. He mostly makes
excellent sport, as he puts the whole company to
the rout, picking out the young girls, and pecking
at the bald heads of the old men; nor stands he upon
the least ceremony in this character, but takes the 420
xxii liberty to break the master’s pipe, and spill his beer,
xxiii………………………………………………………………………………………………
as freely as those of his men. It is generally a
private caution with one of the actors in this tragi-
comedy, to come into the room before the crane’s
approach, with an excuse to want several of the
candles for alleged uses, till there are but few left,
that the lights may be the more readily extinguish-
ed; which he generally contrives to put out on his
departure, leaving all in darkness and the utmost
confusion. This mostly begins the night’s diver- 430
sions, as the prologue to the rest; while the ‘booted
hogs’ wind up as the entertainment, and finish the
play of the harvest-supper night.”
“Booted Hogs.—A kind of punishment to such
boys as have carelessly neglected their duty in the
harvest, or treated their labour with negligence in-
stead of attention; as letting their cattle get pound-
ed, or overthrowing their loads, &c. A long form is
placed in the kitchen, upon which the boys who
have worked well sit, as a terror and disgrace to 440
the rest, in a bent posture, with their hands laid on
each other’s backs, forming a bridge for the hogs
(as the truant boys are called) to pass over; while
a strong chap stands on each side, with a boot
legging, soundly strapping them as they scuffle
over the bridge, which is done as fast as their in-
genuity can carry them.”
“The Dusty or Deaf Miller appears in the room
xxiii with a hunch back, and a brush in one hand, and a
xxiv……………………………………………….…………………………………………….
basket in the other. His man, a kind of Tom-Fool, 450
accompanies him, with a pair of bellows and a
smelling-bottle. The miller’s face is whitened with
chalk or whiting: in his basket he has bread and
cheese, and a bottle of ale, which he places on a
table behind him, where his wife is placed, as seem-
ingly unknown to him, and takes it away as fast as
he places it thereon. He affects to be surprised,
and pretending deafness, runs over a mess of sense-
less gibberish to his man, whom he beats for the
supposed theft; till at last, knocking his brush be- 460
hind, he accidentally brings his wife to the ground,
which coming to his knowledge throws him into a
great consternation, and he instantly begins to have
recourse to a remedy for bringing her to life, which
is done by using the bellows and the smelling-
bottle. On her recovery they hobble out of the
room, and the farce concludes.”
“Scotch Pedlars, or the Scotchman’s Pack.—
Two men come in, covered with blankets stuffed
with straw, at their back. They call out as they 470
come in ‘Corks and Blue,’ and then sit down and
call for ale, the scene being a public house. They
begin to drink, and run over droll stories and re-
collections of their former travels, &c. One seem-
ing more covetous of beer than the other (whose
tongue keeps him employed), takes every now and
xxiv then a pull at the tankard as opportunity offers,
xxv……………………………………………………….………………………………………
unknown to his talkative companion, in conse-
quence of which the tankard is often empty and
filled; and on calling for the reckoning, the other 480
who has been busied in discourse, starts, surprised
at the largeness of the bill, and refuses payment.
The other, nearly drunk, reels and staggers about,
and stubbornly resists all persuasions of satisfaction
on his part, which brings on a duel with their long
staves, driving each other out of the room as a ter-
mination to the
scene.”
It is not our province to comment
on the following
Poems,—we must leave it to the professed critics to
exercise their usual discrimination, in bringing for- 490
ward the faults and beauties of the author. Of the
former the detection is not difficult,—but it requires
something of generosity and high-mindedness to
perceive and appreciate beauties,—some consan-
guinity with the poet to feel what we would express,
—and some wisdom to admit, in doubtful places,
where the judgment of the poet and the critic differ,
that he may be right, and that an appeal ought
not to be made from the higher to the lower tri-
bunal:—for the critic is not the poet’s superior, 500
though he often affects to be so, on the strength of
having had, probably, a better education; as if the
Latin and Greek which can be driven into a boy’s
xxv head at school, for a certain sum of money, were a
xxvi……………………………………………………………………………………………..
more valuable possession than the rarely found, un-
bought, unpurchasable endowment of genius from
the hand of the
Creator.
“What more felicity can fall to creature
Than to enjoy delight with liberty,
And to be lord of all the works of nature, 510
To reign in th’ air from th’earth to highest sky,
To feed on flowers and weeds of glorious feature,
To take whatever thing doth please the eye?”—
The poet enjoys all this right royally, but he does
not reserve it for his own gratification: he makes
all the rest of his fellow-creatures happy, in the
same degree, by placing before them “whatever
thing doth please the eye.” Thus CLARE bids his
inspired flowers and trees grow up in our sight,
and assume characters which we did not discover 520
in them before. He saw them, having his vision
cleared by the euphrasy of a poetical imagination:
he brings them out into the clear light of day, and
sets them as pictures and statues in a gallery, to be
the charm and glory of many a future age; “such
tricks hath strong imagination,” even in the mind
of an illiterate
peasant.
“Thus Nature works as if to mock at Art,
And in defiance of her rival powers;
By these fortuitous and random strokes 530
Performing such inimitable feats
xxvi As
she with all her rules can never reach.”
xxvii…………………………………………….…………………………………………
CLARE
has created more of these never-dying
forms, in the personification of things inanimate
and abstract,—he has scattered them more pro-
fusely about our paths, than perhaps any poet of
the age except one;—and having contributed so
much to our gratification, what ought we to render
in return to him?—He deserves our favour, as
one who tries to please us—our thanks, for having 540
so richly increased the stores of our most innocent
enjoyments—our sympathy, and something more
substantial than mere pity, because he is placed in
circumstances, grievous enough to vulgar minds,
but to a man of his sensibility more than commonly
distressing;—and our regard and admiration, that,
sustaining so many checks and obstructions, his
constant mind should have at length shone out with
the splendour which animates it in these produc-
tions: 550
“For who would ever care to do brave deed,
Or strive in virtue others to
excel,
If none should yield him his deserved meed,
Due praise, that is the spur of doing
well?”
Poets of all ages have been cherished and re-
warded, and this, not as of mere favour, but from
a feeling that they have claim to be so considered.
If of late years a less generous treatment has been
xxvii experienced by any, it is not chargeable on the
xxviii…………………………………………………………………………………………………
nature of man in general, but on an illiberal spirit 560
of criticism, which, catching its character from the
bad temper of the age, has “let slip the dogs of
war” in the flowery fields of poesy. We may hope
that kinder feelings are returning, that “olives of
endless age” will grace the future Belles Lettres of
our country, and that especially the old and natural
relation of poet and patron may be again acknow-
ledged, as it has
been in the present instance:—
“The kindly dew drops from the higher tree
And wets the little plants that lowly dwell.” 570
xxviii
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