Dr. Matthew Allen, of Fair Mead House, into whose asylum Clare had been
taken, was among the first reformers who adopted the mild system of
treatment for the insane, both on medical and philanthropic grounds. He
argued, in the teeth of a whole legion of irate professional brethren,
that kindness would be more powerful than cruelty in curing human beings
deranged in intellect, and that, even if incurable, the poor creatures
whom God had afflicted did not deserve being laid in fetters and treated
like savage animals. The doctor necessarily made a great many enemies by
preaching this new doctrine; but he likewise was fortunate enough to gain
a few friends, who advocated his cause and rendered active aid in
carrying it into practice. It was with the help of these friends that Dr.
Allen was enabled to set up a large private asylum in the centre of
Epping Forest, the establishment consisting of half-a-dozen houses,
connected together, and surrounded by large gardens. Here the unhappy
sufferers from mental derangement were kept under no more restraint than
was absolutely necessary for their own safety and that of others; and,
while under the best medical care and attention, were allowed an abundant
amount of indoor recreation as well as out-door exercise. When Clare
arrived, there were about fifty inmates at Fair Mead House, all of them
belonging to the middle and upper classes. Feeling deep sympathy with the
unfortunate position of the poet, Dr. Allen admitted him at a mere
nominal rate of payment, treating him nevertheless exactly on the same
footing as the most favoured of his patients.
The poet's existence at Fair Mead House for several years flowed on
monotonous enough; even more so than that of the other inmates of the
asylum. He longed to see his family, to meet familiar faces, and to read
and write poetry; but neither wife, nor children, nor any friends ever
came to visit him, and the supply of books was necessarily scant and not
altogether to his taste. Dr. Allen's treatment of his patients was based
on the principle of giving them as much physical labour and exercise as
possible, so as to destroy all tendency to a morbid concentration of
thought; and thus Clare was kept away from books and paper, and made to
go into the garden, to plant, and dig, and water the flowers. He seemed
to fret at first on being deprived of the solace of his poetry, and
eagerly seized every occasion to scribble verses upon odd slips of paper,
or with, chalk against the wall. But as the months passed on, his new
forced habits grew upon him, and he left off writing to a great extent,
and was foremost among the workers in the fields and garden. His mental
state, however, did not improve, although his physical strength appeared
to gain by this change. He got stout and robust, and able to go through a
greater amount of physical labour than in former days. What seemed to
contribute to sooth and quiet--or, perhaps, deaden--his mental energies,
was the habit of smoking, which he acquired from his companions. He would
smoke for whole days and weeks, either working in the garden, or sitting
on the stump of a tree in Epping Forest, without uttering a word.
Yet notwithstanding the visible and increasing derangement of his mental
faculties, Clare's poetical powers seemed to be nearly as great and as
brilliant as ever. Rare as were the opportunities when he was allowed to
indulge in the luxury of writing verses, whenever they offered, the
stream of poetry came flowing on swiftly and sweetly. Some accidental
visitors to Fair Mead House one day offered him a pencil and sheet of
paper, when he sat down on a bench in the garden, and without further
musing wrote the following lines:--
'By a cottage near the wood
Where lark and thrushes sing,
In dreaming hours I stood,
Through summer and through spring:
There dwells a lovely maiden
Whose name I sought in vain--
Some call her pretty Lucy,
And others honest Jane.
By that cottage near a wood
I often stood alone
In sad or happy mood,
And wished she was my own.
The birds kept sweetly singing,
But nature pleased in vain;
For the dark and lovely maiden
I never saw again.
By the cottage near the wood
I wished in peace to be:
The blossoms where she stood
Were more than gems to me.
More fair or sweeter blossoms
My rambles sought in vain;
But the dark and lovely maiden
I never found again.
By that cottage near a wood
The children held her gown,
And on the turf before her
Ran laughing up and down.
They played around her beauty,
While I sought joys in vain;
She fled--the lovely maiden
I could not find again.
By that cottage near the wood,
Where children used to play,
Spring often burst the bud,
And as often passed away.
And with them passed my visions
Of her whom I adore;
For the dark and lovely maiden,
I love her evermore.'
When Clare had been above a year at the asylum, and it was found that he
was perfectly harmless and inoffensive, he was allowed to roam at his
will all over the neighbourhood and through the whole of the forest. This
freedom he greatly enjoyed, and not a day passed without his taking long
excursions in all directions. In these wanderings he was mostly
accompanied by T. Campbell, the only son of the author of 'The Pleasures
of Hope,' with whom he had come to form an intimate acquaintance. Clare
wrote a sketch of his forest promenades in a sonnet which he handed to
Dr. Allen. It ran:--
'I love the forest and its airy hounds,
Where friendly Campbell takes his daily rounds;
I love the break-neck hills, that headlong go,
And leave me high, and half the world below.
I love to see the Beech Hill mounting high,
The brook without a bridge, and nearly dry.
There's Bucket's Hill, a place of furze and clouds,
Which evening in a golden blaze enshrouds:
I hear the cows go home with tinkling bell,
And see the woodman in the forest dwell,
Whose dog runs eager where the rabbit's gone;
He eats the grass, then kicks and hurries on;
Then scrapes for hoarded bone, and tries to play,
And barks at larger dogs and runs away.
His acquaintance with young Thomas Campbell brought to Clare occasional
presents, and now and then, the pleasant face of a visitor. Among them
was Mr. Cyrus Bedding, who left a record of his visit in the 'English
Journal.' Describing Dr. Allen's asylum, he says:--'The situation is
lofty; and the patients inhabit several houses at some distance from each
other. These houses stand in the midst of gardens, where the invalids may
be seen walking about, or cultivating the flowers, just as they feel
inclined.'
The visitor, who was accompanied by a friend who had known Clare
previously, found him working in a field, 'apart from his companions,
busily engaged with a hoe, and smoking. On being called, he came at once,
and very readily entered into conversation. Our friend was surprised to
see how much the poet was changed in personal appearance, having gained
flesh, and being no longer, as he was formerly, attenuated and pale of
complexion. We found a little man, of muscular frame and firmly set, his
complexion fresh and forehead high, a nose somewhat aquiline, and long
full chin. The expression of his countenance was more pleasing but
somewhat less intellectual than that in the engraved portrait prefixed to
his works in the edition of "The Village Minstrel," published in 1821. He
was communicative, and answered every question put to him in a manner
perfectly unembarrassed. He spoke of the quality of the ground which he
was amusing himself by hoeing, and the probability of its giving an
increased crop the present year, a continued smile playing upon his lips.
He made some remarks illustrative of the difference between the aspect of
the country at High Beech and that in the fens from whence he had
come--alluded to Northborough and Peterborough--and spoke of his
loneliness away from his wife, expressing a great desire to go home, and
to have the society of women. He said his solace was his pipe--he had no
other: he wanted books. On being asked what books, he said Byron; and we
promised to send that poet's works to him.
'The principal token of his mental eccentricity was the introduction of
prize-fighting, in which he seemed to imagine he was to engage; but the
allusion to it was made in the way of interpolation in the middle of the
subject on which he was discoursing, brought in abruptly, and abandoned
with equal suddenness, and an utter want of connexion with any
association of ideas which it could be thought might lead to the subject
at the time; as if the machinery of thought were dislocated, so that one
part of it got off its pivot, and protruded into the regular workings; or
as if a note had got into a piece of music which had no business there.
This was the only symptom of aberration of mind we observed about Clare;
though, being strangers to him, there might be something else in his
manner which those who knew him well could have pointed out. To our
seeming, his affection was slight; and it is not at all improbable that a
relief from mental anxiety might completely restore him. The finer
organization of such a humanity, if more easily put out of order than
that of a more obtuse character, is in all probability more likely to
re-tune itself, the evil cause being removed.'
Mr. Cyrus Bedding was mistaken in the anticipation that Clare's
'machinery of thought' would ever get again 'into the regular workings.'
At the very time when the visit described here took place, the poet's
mental state was worse than before, and there seemed less chance than
ever of restoring 'the finer organization of such a humanity.' Clare was
haunted now, wherever he went, by the vision of his first ideal love, his
ever-sought 'Mary.' He fancied that she was his wife, torn from him by
evil spirits, and that he was bound to seek her all over the earth. In
his wild hallucinations, he confounded his real with his ideal spouse,
addressing the latter in language wonderfully sweet, though exhibiting
strange flights of imagination. On one occasion, the poet handed to Dr.
Allen the following piece of poetry, which he called 'A Sonnet,' with the
remark that it should be sent to his wife:--
'Maid of Walkherd, meet again,
By the wilding in the glen;
By the oak against the door,
Where we often met before.
By thy bosom's heaving snow,
By thy fondness none shall know;
Maid of Walkherd, meet again,
By the wilding in the glen.
By thy hand of slender make,
By thy love I'll ne'er forsake,
By thy heart I'll ne'er betray,
Let me kiss thy fears away!
I will live and love thee ever,
Leave thee and forsake thee never!
Though far in other lands to be,
Yet never far from love and thee.'
Dr. Allen told his patient that he thought his verses very beautiful, at
which Clare seemed pleased, and expressed his intention to take them home
to his wife, his 'Mary.' The doctor paid little heed to this remark,
which, however, was seriously meant. To see his beloved Mary again, now
became the one all-absorbing thought of the poet's mind. He appeared to
have a vague notion that she was far away; but determined, nevertheless,
to seek her, even at the risk of his life. In the spring of 1841--having
been nearly four years at Fair Mead House--he made several attempts to
escape, but was frustrated each time, being brought back by people who
met him wandering at a distance. Dr. Allen, notwithstanding these
warnings, continued to allow full liberty to his patient, ascribing his
occasional flights to a mere propensity for roaming about. Clare, as
before, took his daily excursions, sometimes in company with his friend
Campbell, but oftener alone. One day, in the middle of July, 1841, he
stayed away unusually long. When the sun had set without his returning
home, attendants were despatched in all directions; but after a long and
minute search over the whole neighbourhood, they came back, late at
night, reporting that they had been unsuccessful in tracing the lost
patient. Some persons who knew him by sight had seen him passing through
Enfield in a northerly direction; but beyond this fact nothing could be
ascertained. Dr. Allen felt very uneasy at this mysterious disappearance,
and the next day despatched two horsemen in search of Clare. But even
they could discover no trace of him beyond Enfield. John Clare was never
seen again at Fair Mead House, Epping Forest.