In the course of the correspondence there occurs the following
passage, which has an interest of its own, in a letter from Mr.
Taylor:--
"Keats, you know, broke a blood-vessel, and has been very ill. He is
now recovering, and it is necessary for his getting through the
winter that he should go to Italy. Rome is the place recommended. You
are now a richer man than poor K., and how much more fortunate! We
have some trouble to get through 500 copies of his work, though it is
highly spoken of in the periodical works, but what is most against
him it has been thought necessary in the leading review, the
'Quarterly,' to damn his fame on account of his political opinions.
D--n them, I say, who could act in so cruel a way to a young man of
undoubted genius." And again (March 26, 1821):--
"The life of poor Keats is ended at last: he died at the age of
twenty-five. He used to say he should effect nothing which he would
rest his fame upon until he was thirty, and all hopes are over at
twenty-five. But he has left enough, though he did not think so, and
if his biographer cannot do him justice the advocate is in fault, and
not the cause. Poor fellow! Perhaps your feeling will produce some
lines to his memory. One of the very few poets of this day is gone.
Let another beware of Stamford. I wish you may keep to your
resolution of shunning that place, for it will do you immense injury
if you do not. You know what I would say. Farewell."
"THE VILLAGE MINSTREL"
There is little doubt that by the closing hint Mr. Taylor desired to
put Clare on his guard against the indiscreet hospitality of well-to-do
friends at Stamford. While the "Village Minstrel" was in course of
preparation the "London Magazine" passed into the possession of
Messrs. Taylor & Hessey, and they at once invited Clare to
contribute, offering payment at the rate of one guinea per page, with
the right to re-publish at any time on the original terms of half
profits. Clare accepted the offer, and as he contributed almost
regularly for some time, a substantial addition was made to his
income. Among Clare's fellow-contributors in 1821 were Charles Lamb
and De Quincey, the former with "Essays of Elia," and the latter with
"Confessions of an English Opium-Eater." Two thousand copies of the
"Village Minstrel" were printed, and by the beginning of December
eight hundred had been sold. This was a very modified success, but a
number of circumstances combined to make the season an unfavourable
one for the publication of such a work. That the poetry of the
"Village Minstrel" is far superior both in conception and execution
to much contained in Clare's first book was undisputed, and indeed it
may be said at once that every successive work which he published was
an improvement upon its predecessor, until in the "Rural Muse" a
vigour of conception and polish of diction are displayed which the
most ardent admirers of Clare in his younger days--(Mrs. Emmerson
always excepted, who believed him to be at least Shakespeare's
equal)--would not have ventured to predict. The "Village Minstrel"
was so named after the principal poem, which contains one hundred and
nineteen Spenserian stanzas, and is to a considerable extent
autobiographical. It was composed in 1819, at which time Clare was
wretchedly poor, and this will no doubt account for the repining tone
of a few of the verses. It abounds, however, in poetical beauties, of
which the following stanzas may be taken as examples:--
O who can tell the sweets of May-day's morn,
To waken rapture in a feeling mind,
When the gilt East unveils her dappled dawn,
And the gay wood-lark has its nest resigned,
As slow the sun creeps up the hill behind;
Moon reddening round, and daylight's spotless hue,
As seemingly with rose and lily lined;
While all the prospect round beams fair to view,
Like a sweet Spring flower with its unsullied dew.
Ah, often, brushing through the dripping grass,
Has he been seen to catch this early charm,
List'ning to the "love song" of the healthy lass
Passing with milk-pail on her well-turned arm,
Or meeting objects from the rousing farm--
The jingling plough-teams driving down the steep
Waggon and cart, and shepherd dog's alarm,
Raising the bleatings of unfolding sheep,
As o'er the mountain top the red sun 'gins to peep.
The first volume contains also a poem entitled "William and Robin,"
of which Mr. Taylor says in his introduction:--
"The pastoral, 'William and Robin,' one of Clare's earliest efforts,
exhibits a degree of refinement and elegant sensibility which many
persons can hardly believe a poor uneducated clown could have
possessed: the delicacy of one of the lover towards the object of his
attachment is as perfectly inborn and unaffected as if he were a
Philip Sidney."
Among the minor pieces of the "Village Minstrel" are the following,
which are given as additional illustrations, the first of Clare's
descriptive and the latter of his amatory manner:--