Among George Bloomfield’s papers is the following kind letter to him,
from his brother Robert. The feeble, tremulous handwriting of the
original corroborates its expressions of illness, and is a sad memorial
of the shattered health of the author of the _Farmer’s Boy_, three years
before his death.
“_Shefford_, July 18, 1820.
“Dear brother George,
“No quarrel exists--be at ease. I have this morning seen your excellent
letters to your son, and your poem on the Thetford Waters, and am with
my son and daughter delighted to find that your spark seems to brighten
as you advance in years. You think that I have been weak enough to be
offended--there has been no such thing! I have been extremely unwell,
and am still a poor creature, but I now _force_ myself to write these
few words to thank you for the pleasure you have just given me.
“My son, or my daughter, shall write for me soon.
“Yours unalterably,
“Brother, and Brother Bard,
“ROB. BLOOMFIELD.”
It may be remembered that _Giles_, the “Farmer’s Boy,” was Robert
Bloomfield himself, and that his master, the “Farmer,” was Mr. W. Austin
of Sapiston. In reference to his home at the farm Robert wrote, of
himself,
“the ploughman smiles.
And oft the joke runs hard on sheepish _Giles_,
Who sits joint-tenant of the corner stool,
The converse sharing, though in Duty’s school.”
_Farmer’s Boy._
The son of the benevolent protector of Robert in his childhood sunk
under misfortune, and George records the fact by the following lines,
written in 1820:--