Books: Life and Remains of John Clare
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J. L. Cherry >> Life and Remains of John Clare
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"The darksome daughter of Chaos has now enveloped our hemisphere
(which a short time since was enubilous of clouds) in the grossest
blackness. The drowsy god reigns predominantly, and the obstreperous
world is wrapped in profound silence. No sounds gliding through the
ambient air salute my attentive auricles, save the frightful notes
which at different intervals issue from that common marauder of
nocturnal peace--the lonesome, ruin-dwelling owl. Wearied rustics,
exhausted by the toils of the day, are enjoying a sweet and tranquil
repose. No direful visions appal their happy souls, nor terrific
ghosts of quondam hours stand arrayed before them. Every sense is
lost in the oblivious stream. Even those who on the light, fantastic
toe lately tripped through the tangled dance of mirth have sunk into
the arms of Tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep. Meditation,
avaunt! Respected (tho' unknown) Sir,--Out of the abundant store of
your immutable condescension graciously deign to pardon the bold
assurance and presumptuous liberty of an animated mass of
undistinguished dust, whose fragile composition is most miraculously
composed of congenial atoms so promiscuously concentred as to
personify in an abstracted degree the beauteous form of man, to
convey by proxy to your brilliant opthalmic organs the sincere thanks
of a mild, gentle, and grateful heart for the delightful amusement I
have experienced and the instruction I have reaped by reading your
excellent poems, in (several of) which you have exquisitely given
dame nature her natural form, and delineated her in colours so
admirable that on the perusal of them I was led to exclaim with
extacy Clare everywhere excels in the descriptive. But your literary
prowess is too circuitously authenticated to admit of any punctilious
commendation from my debilitated pen, and under its umbrageous
recess, serenely segregated, from the malapert and hypochondriachal
vapours of myopic critics (as I am no acromatic philosopher) I trust
every solecism contained in this autographical epistle will find a
salvable retirement. Tho' no Solitaire, I am irreversibly resolved to
be on this occasion heteroclitical. I will not insult your good sense
by lamenting the exigencies of the present times, as doubtless it
always dictates to you to be (whilst travelling through the mazy
labyrinth of joy and sorrow) humble in the lucent days of prosperity
and omnific in the tenebricous moments of adversity."
Clare's claim to the title of poet having been established, his noble
neighbours at Milton and Burghley invited him to visit them. At
Milton Park he was graciously received by Earl Fitzwilliam and Lord
and Lady Milton, after he had dined with the servants. A long
conversation on his health, means, expectations, and principles was
held, and he was dismissed with a very handsome present--an earnest
of greater favours to come.
The visit to the Marquis of Exeter was equally gratifying. His
lordship made himself acquainted with the state of the poet's
affairs, and having read a number of unpublished effusions which
Clare had taken with him, told him that it was his intention to allow
him an annuity of fifteen pounds for life. The delight of the poor
bard may be imagined without difficulty, for now he doubted not he
could reconcile Patty's parents to the long hoped-for marriage, and
deliver his mistress from anxieties which had for some time made life
almost intolerable. He dined in the servants' hall. About the same
time Clare also visited by invitation General Birch Reynardson, of
Holywell Park--a visit full of romance, as narrated by Mr. Martin, a
beautiful young lady, governess to the General's children, having to
all appearances fallen desperately in love with the poet at first
sight. The only unromantic incident of the day was the customary
dinner at the servants' table. Clare's biographer, with excusable
warmth, says that his local patrons, however much they might differ
on other subjects, held that the true place of a poet was among
footmen and kitchen maids. But it should not be forgotten that the
noblemen named were life-long friends of Clare and his family, and it
would be unjust to reflect upon their memory because the relations of
"the hearty and generous Oxford," the Duke and Duchess of Queensbury,
and Lord Bolingbroke with the polite and scholarly Prior, Gay, and
Pope were not immediately established between the Marquis of Exeter
or Earl Fitzwilliam and the gifted but unlettered rustic who had
toiled in their fields.
Clare's proud spirit was almost always restive under the burden of
patronage, especially if bestowed on account of his poverty, but we
may feel sure that he did not expect to dine with these noblemen,
that no indignity was intended in sending him to the common hall, and
that it did not occur to him that he ought to feel insulted. Clare
was married to Martha Turner at Great Casterton Church on the 16th of
March, 1820, and for a time Mrs. Clare remained at her father's
house. She afterwards joined her husband at the house of his parents
in Helpstone, his "own old home of homes," as he fondly called the
lowly cottage in one of his most pathetic poems, and there they all
remained, with the offspring of the marriage, until the removal to
Northborough in 1832. Flushed with his recent good fortune, Clare
distributed bride cake among his friends, and received from all
hearty good wishes for his future happiness.
FIRST VISIT TO LONDON
Early in the same month, and before his marriage, Clare accepted the
invitation of his publishers, Messrs. Taylor and Hessey, to pay them
a visit in Town. He was accompanied by Mr. Gilchrist, and remained
for a week, making his home at his publishers' house in Fleet Street.
With great difficulty Mr. Taylor persuaded him to meet a party of
friends and admirers at dinner. It was impossible for him to overcome
with one effort his natural shyness, but the cordial manner in which
he was welcomed by Mr. Taylor's guests put him comparatively at his
ease, for he was made to feel that the labourer was forgotten in the
poet and that he was regarded as an equal. The host placed him at
dinner next to Admiral Lord Radstock, an intimate friend of Mrs.
Emmerson, a lady whose name will frequently occur in the course of
this memoir. His lordship had taken great interest in Clare from the
first appearance of his poems, and had already made him several
presents of books. By mingled tact and kindness he got from the poet
an account of his life, his struggles, his hopes, his fears, and his
prospects. Clare's share in the conversation made so deep an
impression upon Lord Radstock that he conceived for him an attachment
approaching to affection, and never ceased to exert all the influence
of his position and high character in favour of his protege. The
Editor has before him many letters addressed to Clare by his
excellent friend, but is restrained, by a wish expressed in one of
the number, from publishing any portion of them. The request does
not, however, apply to the inscriptions in books which Lord Radstock
presented to Clare, and as the intimacy had a very important
influence on the poet's career, those who are sufficiently interested
in the subject to read these pages will not look upon the following
passages as a superfluity.
In a work by Thomas Erskine on the Christian Evidences his lordship
wrote:--
"The kindest and most valuable present that Admiral Lord Radstock
could possibly make to his dear & affectionate friend, John Clare.
God grant that he may make the proper use of it!"
In a copy of Owen Feltham's "Resolves":--
"The Bible excepted, I consider Owen Feltham's 'Resolves' and Boyle's
'Occasional Reflections' to be two as good books as were ever usher'd
into the world, with a view to direct the heart and keep it in its
right place; consequently, to render us happy in this life and lay a
reasonable foundation for the salvation of our souls through Jesus
Christ our only Mediator and Redeemer. It was, therefore, under this
conviction that I not long since presented you with both these truly
valuable books, earnestly hoping, trusting, and, let me add, not
doubting that you will make that use of them which is intended by
your ever truly and affectionate friend, Radstock."
In a copy of Mason's "Self-Knowledge":--
"I give this little pocket companion to my friend John Clare, not
with a view to improve his heart, for that, I believe, would be no
easy task, but in order to enable him to acquire a more perfect
knowledge of his own character, and likewise to give him a close peep
into human nature."
In a copy of Hannah More's "Spirit of Prayer":--
"My very dear Clare,--If this excellent little book, and the others
which accompany it, do not speak sufficiently for themselves, it
would be in vain to think of offering you any further earthly
inducement to study them and seek the truth. The grace of God can
alone do this, and Heaven grant that this may not be wanting! So
prays your truly sincere and affectionate Radstock."
Similar inscriptions accompanied a copy of Watson's "Apology for the
Bible," Bishop Wilson's "Maxims of Piety and Christianity," and other
works of a corresponding character.
"A SOUL FEMININE SALUTETH US"
Soon after his arrival in London Lord Radstock took Clare to see Mrs.
Emmerson, who had already been in correspondence with him, and thus
commenced a friendship the ardour and constancy of which knew no
abatement until poor Clare was no longer able to hold rational
intercourse with his fellow-creatures. Mrs. Emmerson was the wife of
Mr. Thomas Emmerson, of Berners Street, Oxford Street, and afterwards
of Stratford Place. She was a lady in easy circumstances, and
occupied a good social position. [3] Being of refined and elegant
tastes, and singularly generous disposition, she associated herself
with young aspirants for fame in poetry, painting, and sculpture, and
to the utmost of her power endeavoured to procure for them public
notice and patronage. She was herself a frequent writer of graceful
verses, and her letters disclose a sensitive, poetic mind, a habit of
self-denial when the happiness of her friends was concerned, and a
delicate physical organization liable to prostrating attacks of
various nervous disorders. Clare preserved nearly three hundred of
her letters, the dates ranging from February, 1820, to July, 1837, or
an average of one letter in about every three weeks; and the Editor,
having read the whole of them, feels constrained, a different version
of the relationship having been given, to state his conviction that
no poor struggling genius was ever blessed with a tenderer or a truer
friend. No man of feeling could rise from the perusal of them without
the deepest respect and admiration for the writer. The style is
effusive, and the language in which the lady writes of Clare's poetry
is occasionally eulogistic to the point of extravagance, and was to
that extent injudicious; but all blemishes are forgotten in the
presence of overwhelming evidences of pure and disinterested
friendship.
Although by no means insensible to the reception given to her own
verses, Clare's literary reputation lay much nearer to her heart. She
firmly believed that he was a great genius, and she insisted upon all
her friends believing so too, and buying his books. She very soon
began to feel an interest in his domestic affairs, and to send him
valuable presents. She was godmother to his second child, which was
named after her, Eliza Louisa, and for years the coach brought
regularly, a day or two before Christmas, two sovereigns "to pay for
little Eliza's schooling," another sovereign for the Christmas
dinner, and a waistcoat-piece and two India silk neckerchiefs "for my
dear Clare" with many kind wishes "for all in his humble cot." At
another time Patty's eyes were gladdened by the present of a dozen
silver teaspoons and a pair of sugar tongs. These were followed by a
silver seal, engraved for Clare in Paris and mounted in ivory, while
under the pretext that he must find postage expensive she several
times sent him a sovereign "under the wax." At one time she would
appear to have given him sufficient clothing to equip the entire
family, and when in 1832 Clare made his venture as a cottage farmer,
his thoughtful friend gave him L10 with which to buy a cow,
stipulating only (for the kind-hearted little woman must be
sentimental) that it should be christened "May." After that, she
strove hard to obtain for one of his boys admission to Christ's
Hospital, and in conjunction with Mr. Taylor discharged a heavy
account sent in by a local medical practitioner.
But in higher matters than these the genuineness of Mrs. Emmerson's
friendship for Clare was demonstrated. The poet poured into her
listening and patient ear the story of every trial and every
annoyance which fell to his lot, not concealing from his friend those
mental sufferings which were caused solely by his own indiscretion
and folly. Under these latter circumstances she rebuked him with
affectionate solicitude and fidelity. In perplexities arising out of
matters of business she gave him the best advice in her power, and
when her knowledge of affairs failed her appealed to her husband, who
was always ready to do anything for "dear Johnny," as Clare came to
be called in Stratford Place. When he complained of being distressed
by wild fancies and haunted by gloomy forebodings, as he did many
years before his reason gave way, she first rallied him, though often
herself suffering acutely, and then entreated him to dispel his
melancholy by communing afresh with Nature and by meditations on the
Divine greatness and goodness.
A PRIVATE SUBSCRIPTION
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.
NEWS OF KEATS
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:--
THE EVENING HOURS.
The sultry day it wears away,
And o'er the distant leas
The mist again, in purple stain,
Falls moist on flower and trees:
His home to find, the weary hind
Glad leaves his carts and ploughs;
While maidens fair, with bosoms bare,
Go coolly to their cows.
The red round sun his work has done,
And dropp'd into his bed;
And sweetly shin'd the oaks behind
His curtains fringed with red:
And step by step the night has crept,
And day, as loth, retires;
But clouds, more dark, night's entrance mark.
Till day's last spark expires.
Pride of the vales, the nightingales
Now charm the oaken grove;
And loud and long, with amorous tongue,
They try to please their love:
And where the rose reviving blows
Upon the swelter'd bower,
I'll take my seat, my love to meet,
And wait th' appointed hour.
And like the bird, whose joy is heard
Now he his love can join,
Who hails so loud the even's shroud,
I'll wait as glad for mine:
As weary bees o'er parched leas
Now meet reviving flowers,
So on her breast I'll sink to rest,
And bless the evening hours.
I LOVE THEE, SWEET MARY.
I love thee, sweet Mary, but love thee in fear;
Were I but the morning breeze, healthful and airy,
As thou goest a-walking I'd breathe in thine ear,
And whisper and sigh, how I love thee, my Mary!
I wish but to touch thee, but wish it in vain;
Wert thou but a streamlet, a-winding so clearly,
And I little globules of soft dropping rain,
How fond would I press thy white bosom, my Mary!
I would steal a kiss, but I dare not presume;
Wert thou but a rose in thy garden, sweet fairy,
And I a bold bee for to rifle its bloom,
A whole Summer's day would I kiss thee, my Mary!
I long to be with thee, but cannot tell how;
Wert thou but the elder that grows by thy dairy,
And I the blest woodbine to twine on the bough,
I'd embrace thee and cling to thee ever, my Mary!
A MODEST AMBITION THWARTED
Mr. Taylor called at Helpstone in October, 1821, on his way from
Retford to London, and published, in the "London Magazine" for the
following month, an interesting and genial account of his visit to
Clare. While at Helpstone he urged Clare to accept an oft-repeated
invitation to come to London and prolong his stay to a few weeks, but
about this time the poet, always yearning after independence, became
possessed with a longing to acquire a small freehold of about seven
acres, which belonged to friends of his own who had mortgaged it to
the amount of L200, and being unable to meet the interest thereupon
were threatened with a foreclosure. The owners offered the property
to Clare, who at once applied to his friends in London to sell out
sufficient of the funded property to enable him to acquire it. His
disappointment and mortification appear to have been very keen on
learning that the funded property was vested in trustees who were
restricted to paying the interest to him. This resource having failed
him, he offered to sell his writings to his publishers for five years
for L200. To this proposal Mr. Taylor replied on the 4th of February,
1822:--
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