_Nov. 3, 1803._
* * * * *
Prefixed to some MS. verses, written by George Bloomfield in 1808, is
the subjoined account of the occasion that awakened his muse.
“THE APRIL FOOL.
“When on the wrong side of fifty I married a second time! My best
friends declared it was madness to risk a second family, &c. &c. We
married 7th of February, 1807. Early in 1808 it was discovered I should
have an increase, and Charles Blomfield, Esq. asked me when it would
happen. I answered, in _April_. ‘Sure,’ says he, ‘it won’t happen on the
_First_!’--I felt the force of the remark--the probability of my being
an _April Fool_--and wrote the following lines, and sent them to Mr. B.,
from whom I received a note enclosing another, value one pound. The note
said, ‘My daughters are foolish enough to be pleased with your _April
Fool_, and I am so pleased to see them pleased, I send the enclosed,
&c.’”
Trifles like these are only of importance as traits of the individual.
The next is abstracted from a letter to an overseer, with whom George
Bloomfield necessarily corresponded, as may be surmised from the
contents.
To Mr. HAYWARD, _Thetford_.
_Bury St. Edmund’s_, Nov. 23, 1819.
Sir,--When a perfect stranger to you, you treated me with great
condescension and kindness, I therefore enclose some lines I wrote and
addressed to the guardians of the poor in this town. They have assessed
all such persons as are not _legally_ settled here to the poor and
church rates, and they have assessed me full double what I ought to pay.
What renders it more distressing, our magistrates say that by the local
act they are restrained from interfering, otherwise I should have been
exempt, on account of my age and poverty. So I sent my rhymes, and Mr.
Gall, one of the guardians, sent for me, and gave me a piece of beef,
&c. I had sold the only coat I had that was worth a shilling, and was
prepared to pay the first seven shillings and sixpence, but the
guardians seem to think, (as I do,) that I can never go on paying--they
are confident the gentlemen of St. Peter’s parish will pay it for
me--bade me wait a fortnight, &c. The pressure of the times is so great
that the poor blame the rich, and the rich blame the poor.
----There is a figure in use called the _hyperbole_; thus we sometimes
say of an old man, “he is one foot in the grave, and t’other out.” I
might say I am one foot in Thetford workhouse, and t’other out.--The
scripture tells me, that the providence of God rules over all and in all
places, consequently to me a workhouse is, _on my own account_, no such
very dreadful thing; but I have two little girls whom I dread to
imprison there. I trust in Providence, and hope both rich and poor will
see better days.
Your humble servant,