The Farmers Boy | Page 5

never famed for patience, (it is not indeed so much as might be sometimes wish'd, very often the lot of strong and acute minds to possess largely of this virtue,) took his pen, and address'd a Letter to one of the most active of their Committee-men (a man of very bad character). In this, after stating that he took Robert at his Mother's request, he made free as well with the private character of this man as with the views of the Committee. "This," says George, "was very foolish; for it made things worse: but I felt too much to refrain."
What connects this episodical circumstance with the character of our Author follows in his brother's words.
"Robert naturally fond of Peace, and fearful for my personal safety, begg'd to be suffer'd to retire from the storm."
"He came home; and Mr. AUSTIN kindly bade him take his house for his home till he could return to me. And here, with his mind glowing with the fine Descriptions of rural scenery which he found in THOMSON'S SEASONS, he again retrac'd the very fields where first he began to think. Here, free from the smoke,[Footnote: But one word is altered in this Description; which reminds one of the?_Omitte mirari beatae?Fumum et opes_ Strepitumque Romae. L.]?the noise, the contention of the city, he imbibed that Love of rural Simplicity and rural Innocence, which fitted him, in a great degree, to be the writer of such a thing as the Farmer's Boy."
"Here he liv'd two Months:... at length, as the dispute in the trade still remain'd undecided, Mr. DUDBRIDGE offer'd to take Robert Apprentice, to secure him, at all events, from any consequences of the Litigation."
He was bound by Mr. Ingram_, of _Bell-alley_, to Mr. _John Dudbridge. His Brother George_ paid five shillings for _Robert, by way of form, as a premium. Dudbridge was their Landlord, and a Freeman_ of the _City of London. He acted most honourably, and took no advantage of the power which the Indentures gave him. George Bloomfield_ staid with _Robert till he found he could work as expertly as his self.
Mr. GEORGE BLOOMFIELD adds, "When I left London he was turned of eighteen; [Footnote: This should seem to require correction by setting the Age forward according to the Dates above stated. C.L.] and much of my happiness since has arisen from a constant correspondence which I have held with him."
"After I left him, he studied Music, and was a good player on the Violin."
"But as my Brother Nat_ had married a _Woolwich woman, it happen'd that Robert took a fancy to MARY-ANNE CHURCH, a comely young woman of that town, whose Father is a boat-builder in the Government yard there. He married 12th Dec. 1790."[Footnote: This Date from the Author. C.L.] "Soon after he married, Robert told me, in a Letter, that 'he had sold his Fiddle and got a Wife.' Like most poor men, he got a wife first, and had to get household-stuff afterward. It took him some years to get out of ready furnished Lodgings. At length, by hard working, &c. he acquired a Bed of his own, and hired the room up one pair of stairs at 14, _Bellalley, Coleman-street_. The Landlord kindly gave him leave to sit and work in the light Garret, two pair of stairs higher."
"In this Garret, amid six or seven other workmen, his active Mind employ'd itself in composing the Farmer's Boy."
"In my correspondence I have seen several poetical effusions of his; all of them of a good moral tendency; but which he very likely would think do him little credit: on that account I have not preserv'd them."
"ROBERT is a Ladies Shoemaker_, and works for DAVIES, _Lombard-street. He is of a slender make; of about 5 F. 4 I. high; very dark complexion.... His MOTHER, who is a very religions member of the _Church of England_, took all the pains she could in his infancy to make him pious: and as his Reason expanded, his love of God and Man increas'd with it. I never knew his fellow for mildness of temper and Goodness of Disposition. And since I left him, universally is he prais'd by those who know him best, for the best of Husbands, an indulgent Father, and quiet Neighbour. He is between thirty-three and four years old,[Footnote: Corrected from the above Date, p. vi, to his present Age, May 1800. C. L.] and has three Children;" two Daughters and a Son.[Footnote: Added from the information of Mr. R. BLOOMFIELD. Hannah_, born 25 _Oct_. 1791. Mary Anne_, 6 Sept_. 1793. _Charles_, 15 _Sept. 1798.]
Mr. GEORGE BLOOMFIELD concludes this clear, affectionate, and interesting Narrative, by a very kind Address to the Writer of this Preface. But, pleas'd as I am with the good opinion of a Man like him, I