Within a few weeks of the appearance of "Poems Descriptive of Rural
Life and Scenery," a private subscription was set on foot by Lord
Radstock for the benefit of Clare and his family. Messrs. Taylor and
Hessey headed the list with the handsome donation of L100. Earl
Fitzwilliam followed with a corresponding amount; The Duke of
Bedford and the Duke of Devonshire gave L20 each; Prince Leopold
of Saxe-Coburg (afterwards King of the Belgians), the Duke of
Northumberland, the Earl of Cardigan, Lord John Russell, Sir Thomas
Baring, Lord Kenyon, and several other noblemen and gentlemen,
L10 each, making with numerous smaller subscriptions a total of
L420-12-0. This sum was invested, in the name of trustees, in Navy
Five per Cents and yielded, until the conversion of that security
to a lower denomination, about L20 a year.
About the same time the attention of Earl Spencer was called to
Clare's circumstances by Mr. J. S. Bell, a Stamford surgeon, and his
lordship signified to Mr. Bell his intention to settle upon the poet
an annuity of L10 for life. These various benefactions, with the
Marquis of Exeter's annuity of L15, put Clare in the possession of
L45 a year, and his friends were profuse in their congratulations on
his good fortune. As he had now a fixed income greater than that he
had ever derived from labour, it was thought that by occasional farm
work and by the profit resulting from the sale of his poems he would
be relieved from anxiety about domestic affairs, and be enabled to
devote at least one half of his time to the cultivation of his poetic
faculties. The expectation appears to have been a reasonable one, but
as will be seen hereafter it was only imperfectly realized.
The first volume of poems passed rapidly through three editions, and
a fourth was printed. Several of Clare's influential friends took
exception to a few passages in the first issue on the ground that
they were rather too outspoken in their rusticity, and Lord Radstock
strongly urged the omission in subsequent editions of several lines
which he characterized as "Radical slang." Mr. Taylor contested both
points for some time, but Lord Radstock threatened to disown Clare if
he declined to oblige his patrons, and the poet at length made the
desired concessions. The following were the passages over which his
lordship exercised censorship:--
Accursed Wealth! o'erbounding human laws,
Of every evil thou remain'st the cause.
Sweet rest and peace, ye dear, departed charms,
Which industry once cherished in her arms,
When ease and plenty, known but now to few,
Were known to all, and labour had its due.
The rough, rude ploughman, off his fallow-grounds,
(That necessary tool of wealth and pride)--
Being strongly urged thereto by Mr. Taylor, Clare sent to London a
large bundle of manuscripts with permission to his editor to make a
selection therefrom for a new work. The correspondence connected with
this project extended over several months, and in the autumn of 1821
the "Village Minstrel and other Poems" made its appearance in two
volumes, with a portrait after Hilton and a view of the poet's
cottage.