manners of Mr. BLOOMFIELD, I shall, with the Author of this interesting
Letter, go beyond the mere fact; and give his narration of the cause and
manner of the _Discovery_, as well at the Discovery itself.
Mr. SWAN thus expresses himself:
"From the pleasure I receiv'd in reading the FARMER'S BOY, and from some
strange coincidences in the early part of Mr. Bloomfield's life with my
own, I was naturally enough anxious to become acquainted with the Author.
For this purpose I obtain'd his address, and found him ... the modest, the
unambitious person you describe; wondering at the praise and admiration
with which his Poem has been receiv'd; whose utmost ambition was to have
presented a fair copy to his aged Mother, as a pledge of filial affection,
and a picture of his juvenile avocations. So unexpected was the fame of
his production, that the whole of his good fortune appears to him as a
dream."--'I had no more idea,' says he, 'to be sent for by the Duke of
Grafton, and be so kindly and generously treated, than of the hour I shall
die.'
"I gave him," Mr. SWAN continues, "my card of address, an invitation to my
house, and a sincere profession of friendship; if, among his numerous
admirers, and noble and royal patrons, the latter was worthy of
acceptance."
"Last Sunday afternoon [Footnote: The Letter is dated 12 July, 1800.] I
was highly pleas'd with his company, and gratified and entertain'd with
his conversation.--Sir, he is all ... nay, more than you have describ'd."
"Among other subjects of conversation respecting the _Farmer's Boy_, I
wish'd to be inform'd of his manner of composition. I enquir'd, as he
compos'd it in a garret, amid the bustle and noise of six or seven fellow
workmen, whether he us'd a slate; or wrote it on paper with a pencil, or
pen and ink. But what was my surprize when told that he had us'd
neither.--My business, during the greatest part of my life having led me
into the line of litterary pursuits, and made me acquainted with litterary
men, I am, consequently, pretty well inform'd of the methods us'd by
authors for the retention of their productions. We are told, if my
recollection is just, that Milton took his Daughters as his amanuenses;
that Savage, when his poverty precluded him the conveniency of pen, ink,
and paper, us'd to study in the streets, and go into shops to record the
productions of his fertile genius; that Pope, when on visits at Lord
Bolingbroke's, us'd to ring up the servants at any hour in the night for
pen and ink, to write any thought that struck his lively and wakeful
imagination; that Dr. Blacklock, though blind, had the happy faculty of
writing down, in a very legible hand, the chaste and elegant productions
of his Muse."
"With these and many other methods of composition we are acquainted; but
that of a great part of _the Farmer's Boy_ stands, in my opinion, first on
the List of Litterary [Footnote: I have ventur'd to restore litterary to
that mode of spelling, with the double _t_, which the Analogy of our
language seems to require. L.] Phaenomena.--Sir, Mr. Bloomfield, either
from the contracted state of his pecuniary resources to purchase Paper, or
from other reasons, compos'd the latter part of his _Autumn_ and the whole
of his _Winter_ in his head, without committing one line to paper.--This
cannot fail to surprize the Litterary World: who are well acquainted with
the treacherousness of memory, and how soon the most happy ideas, for want
of sufficient quickness in noting down, are lost in the rapidity of
thought."
"But this is not all.--He went still a step farther.--He not only compos'd
and committed that part of the work to his retentive memory, but he
corrected it all in his head. And, as he said, when it was thus
prepar'd,... _I had nothing to do but to write it down_."
"By this new and wonderful mode of composition he studied and completed
his Farmer's Boy in a garret; among six or seven workmen, without their
ever suspecting any thing of the matter."
"Sir, this to me was both new and wonderful: and induc'd me rather to
communicate the information to you through the medium of the Press than by
writing; that it may meet the eye of many, who will be equally struck and
pleas'd with the novelty of the idea as myself."
I have on this part of the subject, only, after quoting thus much at
present from the Letter of Mr. SWAN, to add, that I entirely agree with
him, I believe, as to the force, clearness, and comprehensiveness of
intellect manifested by this experiment, and its success.
I now pass to part of what has been fully and excellently said by Dr.
DRAKE of HADLEIGH, while investigating the merits of this astonishing
Rural Poem.
In a Letter from HADLEIGH [Footnote: 9 March, 1800.] Dr. DRAKE had given
me this distinct and vivid representation of his general idea of the Poem.
"I have read THE FARMER'S BOY with a mixture of astonishment and delight.
There is a pathetic simplicity in his sentiments and descriptions that
does honour to his head and heart."
"His copies from Nature are truly original and faithful, and are touched
with the hand of a Master.... His versification occasionally displays an
energy and harmony which might decorate even the pages of a DARWIN."
"The general characteristics of his Style, however, are sweetness and
ease. In short, I have no hesitation in declaring, that I think it, as a
Rural and descriptive Poem, superior to any production since the days of
THOMSON."
"It wants no reference to its Author's uneducated poverty to render its
excellence the more striking; they are such as would confer durable Fame
on the first and most polish'd Poet in the Kingdom."
I shall now take the liberty of extracting part of the CRITIQUE which Dr.
DRAKE, agreeably to his intimation to me, has made of the FARMER'S BOY in
his LITTERARY HOURS.[Footnote: Vol. II, Ess. xxxix, p. 444.]
"From the pleasing duty of describing such a 'character' (meaning the
personal character of Mr. BLOOMFIELD) let us now turn our attention to
the species of composition of which his Poem is so perfect a specimen. It
has been observ'd in my sixteenth number that PASTORAL POETRY in this
country, with very few exceptions, has exhibited a tame and servile
adherence to classical imagery and costume; at the same time totally
overlooking that profusion of picturesque beauty, and that originality of
manner and peculiarity of employment, which our climate and our rustics
every where present."
"A few Authors were mention'd in that Essay as having judiciously deviated
from the customary plan: to these may now be added the name of
_Boomfield_; the _Farmers Boy_, though not assuming the form of an
Eclogue, being peculiarly and exclusively, throughout, a _pastoral
Composition_; not like the Poem of _Thomson_, taking a wide excursion
through all the phenomena of the _Seasons_, but nearly limited to the
rural _occupation_ and business of the fields, the dairy, and the farm
yard."
"As with these employments, however, the vicissitudes of the Year are
immediately and necessarily connected, Mr. Bloomfield has, with propriety,
divided his Poem into _Four_ Books, affixing to those Books the Titles of
the Seasons."
"Such indeed are the merits of this Work, that in true _pastoral_ imagery
and simplicity I do not think any production can be put in competition
with it since the days of Theocritus." [Footnote: I have heard that the
opinion of no less a Judge than Dr. WATSON, Bishop of LLANDAFF, is by no
means short of the encomium implied in this comparison, high and ample as
it is. L.]
"To that charming simplicity which particularizes the Grecian, are added
the individuality, [Footnote: Much of these qualities indeed is certainly
in _Theocritus_ also. L.] fidelity, and boldness of description, which
render Thomson so interesting to the lovers of Nature."
"GESNER possesses the most engaging sentiment, and the most refin'd
simplicity of manners; but he wants that rustic wildness and naïveté in
delineation characteristic of the Sicilian, and of the composition before
us."
"WARNER and DRAYTON have much to recommend them: but they are very
unequal; and are devoid of the _sweet and pensive morality_ which pervade
almost every page of _the Farmers Boy_; nor can they establish any
pretensions to that fecundity in painting the oeconomy of rural life,
which this Poem, drawn from actual experience, so richly displays."
"It is astonishing indeed what various and striking circumstances,
peculiar to the occupation of the _British Farmer_, and which are adapted
to all the purposes of the _pastoral_ Muse, had escaped our Poets,
previous to the publication of Mr. _Bloomfield's_ Work."
"Those who are partial to the _Country_;--and where is the man of Genius
who feels not a delight approaching to ecstasy from the contemplation of
its scenery, and the happiness which its cultivation diffuses?--those who
have paid attention to the process of husbandry, and who view its
occurrences with interest; who are at the same time alive to all the
minutiae of the animal and vegetable creation; who mark
'_How Nature paints for colours, how the Bee
Sits on the bloom, extracting liquid sweet_,'
will derive from the study of this Poem a gratification the most permanent
and pure."
Though I have thus largely extracted I cannot omit transferring hither the
ANALYSIS of the Poem, as given by Dr. Drake.
"The _first_ Book, intitled _Spring_, opens with an appropriate
invocation. A transition is then made to the artless character of _Giles_,
the _Farmer's Boy_; after which the scene near _Euston_ in Suffolk is
describ'd, and an amiable portrait of Mr. _Austin_, immediately follows.
"Seed-time, harrowing, the devastation of the rooks,[Footnote: I will not
say much: but I was glad to see since the second Edition of this Poem the
cause of the Rooks had again been advocated, in the _Newcastle Chronicle_.
L.] wood-scenery, the melody of birds, cows milking, and the operations of
the dairy, occupy the chief part of this Season: which is clos'd by a
beautiful Personification of the Spring and her attendants, and an
admirable delineation of the sportive pleasures of the young Lambs."
"The _second_ Book, or _Summer_, commences with a characteristic sketch of
the prudent yet benevolent Farmer. The genial influence of the rain is
then welcom'd; to which succeeds a most delicious picture of a green and
woody covert with all its insect tribe. The ascension of the sky-lark, the
peaceful repose of _Giles_, a view of the ripening harvest, with some
moral reflections on Nature and her great Creator, are introduc'd:
follow'd by animated descriptions of reaping, gleaning, the honest
exultation of the Farmer, the beauty of the Country Girl, and the
wholesome refreshment of the field. Animals teazed by insects, the cruelty
of docking horses, the insolence of the gander, the apathy of the swine,
are drawn in a striking manner: and the Book concludes with masterly
pictures of a twilight repose, a midnight storm of thunder and lightning,
and views of the ancient and present mode of celebrating Harvest-home."
"The _third_ Book, _Autumn_, is introduc'd with a delineation of forest
scenery, and pigs fattening on fallen acorns. Sketches of wild ducks and
their haunts, of hogs settling to repose in a wood, and of wheat sowing,
succeed. The sound of village bells suggests a most pleasing digression:
of which the church and its pastor, the rustic amusements of a Sunday, the
Village Maids, and a most pathetic description of a distracted Female, are
the prominent features. Returning to rural business, _Giles_ is drawn
guarding the rising wheat from birds:--his little hut, with his
preparation for the reception of his playmates, their treachery and his
disappointment, are conceiv'd and colour'd in an exquisite style.
Fox-hunting, the Fox-hound's epitaph, the long autumnal evenings, a
description of domestic fowl, and a welcome to the snowy nights of Winter,
form the concluding topics of this Season."
"The _fourth_ Book, under the appellation of _Winter_, is usher'd in by
some humane injunctions for the treatment of storm-pinch'd cattle. The
frozen turnips are broken for them: and the cowyard at night is describ'd.
The conviviality of a Christmas evening, and the conversation round the
fire, with the admonitions from the Master's chair, are depicted in a
manner truly pleasing. The _Sea Boy_ and the _Farmers Boy_ are contrasted
with much effect: and the ploughman feeding his horses at night, with the
comparison between the cart-horse and post-horse, have great merit. The
mastiff turn'd sheep-biter is next delineated; succeeded by a description
of a moon-light night, and the appearance of a spectre."
"The counting of the Sheep in the fold, and the adopted Lambs, are
beautiful paintings: and with the Triumph of GILES on the conclusion of
the Year, and his Address to the DEITY, the Book and Poem close."
"Such are the Materials of which THE FARMER'S BOY is constructed. Several
of the topics, it will be perceiv'd, are new to Poetry; and of those which
are in their _title_ familiar to the readers of our descriptive Bards, it
will be found that the imagery and adjunctive circumstances are original,
and the effort of a mind practis'd in the rare art of selecting and
combining the most striking and picturesque features of an object."
Dr. Drake after this well accounts for the poetic singularity that the
Poetry of _Thomson_ should have past through a mind so enthusiastically
enamor'd of it, without impairing the originality of its character, when
exercis'd on a subject so much leading to imitation. This he explains, and
justly, by the vivid impressions on a most sensible and powerful
imagination in his earliest youth, anterior to the study of any Poet.
Dr. Drake expresses his astonishment at the VERSIFICATION and DICTION of
this Poem. And says most truly, "I am well aware that smooth and flowing
lines are of easy purchase, and the property of almost every poetaster of
the day: but the versification of Mr. _Bloomfield_ is of another
character; it displays beauties of the most positive kind, and those
witcheries of expression which are only to be acquir'd by the united
efforts of Genius and Study."
"The _general_ characteristics of his versification are facility and
sweetness; that ease which is, in fact, the result of unremitted labour,
and one of the most valuable acquisitions of litterature. It displays
occasionally likewise a vigour and a brilliancy of polish that might
endure comparison with the high-wrought texture of the Muse of DARWIN.
From the nature of his subject, however, this splendid mode of decoration
could be us'd but with a sparing hand: and it is not one of his least
merits that his diction and harmony should so admirably correspond with
the scene which he has chosen."
"To excel," Dr. DRAKE continues, "in rural IMAGERY, it is necessary that
the Poet should diligently study Nature for himself; and not peruse her as
is but too common, '_through the spectacles of Books_' [Footnote: The
happy illustration of DRYDEN in his admirable character of SHAKESPERE.]
He should trace her in all her windings, in her deepest recesses, in all
her varied forms. It was thus that LUCRETIUS and VIRGIL, that THOMSON and
COWPER were enabled to unfold their scenery with such distinctness and
truth: and on this plan, while wandering through his native fields,
attentive to '_each rural sight, each rural sound_,' has Mr. BLOOMFIELD
built his charming Poem."
"It is a Work which proves how inexhaustible the features of the World we
inhabit: how from objects which the mass of mankind is daily accustom'd to
pass with indifference and neglect. GENIUS can still produce pictures the
most fascinating, and of the most interesting tendency. For it is not to
_imagery_ alone, though such as here depicted might ensure the meed of
Fame, that the Farmer's Boy will owe its value with us and with posterity.
A _Morality_ the most _pathetic_ and pure, the feelings of a heart alive
to all the tenderest duties of humanity and religion, consecrate its
glowing landscapes, and shed an interest over them, a spirit of devotion,
that calm and rational delight which the goodness and greatness of the
Creator ought ever to inspire."
Dr. DRAKE confirms, by copious and very judicious _Extracts_ from the
various parts of the Poem, as they offer themselves to critical selection,
in accompanying the Farmer's Boy through the Circle of his year, the
Judgment which he has form'd with so much ability, taste, and feeling, and
has to agreeably express'd, of the Merits of our ENGLISH GEORGIC. And he
speaks in his _third_ and last Essay on it thus:
"From the review we have now taken of THE FARMER'S BOY, it will be
evident, I think, that owing to its harmony and sweetness of
versification, its benevolence of sentiment, and originality of imagery,
it is entitled to rank very high in the class of descriptive and
_pastoral_ Poetry."
He concludes with an highly animated and feeling anticipation of that
public attention to the Poem and to its Author, merited in every view, and
which already has manifested itself in such an extent.
I understand there is a Paper on "_The Farmer's Boy_" in a Work lately
publish'd by Dr. ANDERSON; and assuredly from its subject well entitled to
attention, as well as from the abilities and public spirit of its
Editor;--AGRICULTURAL RECREATIONS. Where indeed with more appropriate
Honor could such a Poem be notic'd?
In the _Critical Remarks_ I intended I find myself so much agreeing in
sentiment with Dr. Drake that I shall attempt little more than merely to
offer some few observations. One of these relates to the _coincidences_ of
thought and manner in the Farmer's Boy with other writings. These, as
would previously be expected from what has been said, are extremely few
indeed. And almost all that are particularly of moment in appreciating the
poetical excellences of the Work are most truly _coincidences_, and cannot
be otherwise consider'd.
For the first of these which I shall mention I am indebted to WILLIAM
SMITH, Esq. of BURY, who had largely his share of Public Admiration, when
he sustain'd for many years with great skill and judgment, and great
natural advantages, almost every character of our Drama which had been
eminently favor'd by either Muse; and who now enjoys retirement with
honor and merited esteem.
He mention'd to me in conversation, and since by Letter, a passage very
closely resembling one in the IDYLLIA of AUSONIUS. It is this in _Spring_.
Like the torn flower the fair assemblage fly.
Ah, fallen _Rose_! sad emblem of their doom;
Frail as thyself, _they perish while they bloom_! I.v. 388-40.
The passage to which Mr. Smith referr'd me is this. (It is not in my
Edition of _Ausonius_; but he sent me a Copy.)
"Conquerimur, Natura, brevis quod Gratia florum est;
Ostentara oculis illico dona rapis.
Quam longa una dies aetas tarn longa rosarum,
Ques _pubescentes juncta senecta pressit_."
ID. xiv.
I am favor'd with a Translation made by Mr. SMITH in his very early days.
And hope that as a brother _Etonian_ he allows me to quote it.
Nature, we grieve that thou giv'st flowers so gay,
Then snatchest Gifts thou shew'st so swift away.
A Day's a Rose's Life.--_How quickly meet_,
Sweet Flower, _thy Blossom and thy Winding sheet_!
In the _Procession_ of SPRING there is a fine series of allegorical
Images.
Advancing SPRING profusely spreads abroad
_Flowers of kinds, with sweetest fragrance stor'd_:
Where she treads LOVE gladdens every plain;
_Delight_ on tip-toe beats her lucid train;
Sweet _Hope_ with conscious brow _before_ her flies,
Anticipating wealth from summer skies.
I. v. 271--6.
Compare now this of LUCRETIUS.
It VER et VENUS et Veneris _praenuntius ante_
Prunatus _graditur_ Zephyrus vestigia propter.
FLORA quibus mater praespergens, ante viai
Cuncta coloribus egregiis et odoribus opplet.
DE NAT. RES. L. V. v. 736-9.
Ed. Brindley 1749.
There SPRING, and VENUS, and her Harbinger,
Near to her moves the winged Zephyrus,
For whom maternal FLORA strews the way
_With Flowers of every charming scent and hue_.
Or in the very words of BLOOMFIELD,
Flowers of all hues with sweetest fragrance stor'd.
_Hope_ here occupies the place of _Zephyrus_. DELIGHT on tip-toe
supporting the _lucid_ train of _Spring_,--the image and attitude so full
of life and beauty,--is our Poet's own. And what Poet, what _Painter_,
would not have been proud of it?
In another passage,
The splendid raiment of the Spring peeps forth
Her universal Green--
This of Lucretius will be found to have much similitude:
Camposque per omnes
Florida fulserunt viridami prata colore.
782, 3.
_O'er every plain
The flowery meadows beam with verdant hue._
And that exceedingly fine verse,
_All Nature feels her venorating sway_,
calls to mind the ever-memorable exordium of the _Roman_ Poet.
If we admire the imitative force of this line in the epic majesty of
Virgilian numbers,
Quadrupedante putrem sonitu qualit ungula campum:
_Shakes the resounding hoof the trembling plain:_
shall we not admire the imitative harmony of this; attun'd certainly with
not less felicity to the sweetness of the pastoral reed,
_The green turf trembling as they bound along._
The pause on the first syllable of the verse has been an admir'd beauty in
Homer and Milton.
[Greek: Nux ech d'espchsen enchos.] II.
And over them triumphant Death his dart
Shook, but delay'd to strike. P.L.
We have this beauty,--coinciding with the best examples, though underiv'd
from them,--in a cadence of most pathetic softness.
Joys which the gay companions of her prime
Sip, as they drift along the stream of time.
III. v. 169, 70.
The beautiful Description of the Swine and Pigs feeding on fallen Acorns
reminds me of a most picturesque one, not now at hand, in GILPIN on
_Forest Scenery_.
The turn of this thought,
Say not, I'll come and cheer thy gloomy cell.
III. v. 241, &c.
I believe is from Scripture. Prov. iii. 28. And so I think certainly is
that,
'Till Folly's wages, wounds and thorns, they reap.
III. 37.
But the most remarkable of all, and where I had no expectation of finding
a similitude, is in near the close of the _Winter_.
Far yet above these wafted clouds are seen
(In a remoter sky yet more serene)
Others, detach'd in ranges through the air,
Spotless as snow, and countless as they're fair;
Scatter'd immensely wide from east to west,
_The beauteous semblance of a Flock at rest_.
IV. 255--60.
In HERCULES the LION-SLAYER there is this passage:
........ Tad epaeluthe piona maela,
Ech soianaes anionia mei aulia ie saechsie,
Ayiar epeiia soes, mala muriai, akkai ep allais
Erchomenai phainonth, osei NEPHE HYDATOENTA
'Hossat' en thrano eisi elaunomena prolepose
Aee Noloioio ziae ae Thraekos Boreao.
Ton meni thlis arithmos en aeeri ginei ionion,
Oui anusis lisa gar ie meia proloioi chulindei
Is anemth, iade i alla chorusselai authis ep allois
Toss aiei melopisthe zoon epi zthcholi aeei.
Pan dar eneplaesthae pedion, pasaile cheleuthai,
Aaeidos erchomenaes.
HAERAKL. LEONTOPH.
Idyll. Theocrito adscriptum. Brunckii Analect. I. 360.
........ On came the comely sheep,
From feed returning to their pens and fold.
And these the _Kine_, in multitudes, succeed;
One on the other rising to the eye;
As watery CLOUDS which in the Heavens are seen,
Driven by the south or Thracian _Boreas,
And, numberless, along the sky they glide:_
Nor cease; so many doth the powerful Blast
Speed foremost, and so many, fleece on fleece,
Successive rise, reflecting varied light
So still the herds of Kine successive drew
A far extended line: and fill'd the plain,
And all the pathways, with the coming troop.
* * * * *
I may possibly enlarge these Remarks in a future Edition. At present I am
happy to be stopt here, by so good a cause as the urgency of the
Publishers to complete a Third Edition; they informing me that the second
is entirely out of print. But it is pleasant to see these Coincidences
with CLASSIC POETS of other days and Nations in a CLASSIC of our own, of
the best School:
"_The fields his study, Nature was his book_."
C.L.
TROSTON, 22 Aug. 1800.
THE END.