Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Charles Bidwell and Distributed
Proofreaders
By ROBERT BLOOMFIELD,
Author of The Farmers Boy
LONDON:Printed for Vernor and Hood, Poultry;and Longman and Rees, Paternoster-Row
By T. Bensley, Bolt-court, Fleet-street.
1802
The Poems here offered to the Public were chiefly written during theinterval between the concluding and the publishing of THE FARMER'S BOY, aninterval of nearly two years. The pieces of a later date are, the Widowto her Hour-Glass, the Fakenham Ghost, Walter and Jane, &c. At the tuneof publishing the Farmer's Boy, circumstances occurred which rendered itnecessary to submit these Poems to the perusal of my Friends: under whoseapprobation I now give them, with some confidence as to their moral merit,to the judgment of the Public. And as they treat of village manners, andrural scenes, it appears to me not ill-tim'd to avow, that I have hopes ofmeeting in some degree the approbation of my Country. I was not prepar'dfor the decided, and I may surely say extraordinary attention which thePublic has shewn towards the Farmer's Boy: the consequence has been suchas my true friends will rejoice to hear; it has produc'd me many essentialblessings. And I feel peculiarly gratified in finding that a poor man inEngland may assert the dignity of Virtue, and speak of the imperishablebeauties of Nature, and be heard, and heard, perhaps, with greaterattention for his being poor.
Whoever thinks of me or my concerns, must necessarily indulge the pleasingidea of gratitude, and join a thought of my first great friend Mr. LOFFT.And on this head, I believe every reader, who has himself any feeling,will judge rightly of mine: if otherwise, I would much rather he would laydown this volume, and grasp hold of such fleeting pleasures as the world'sbusiness may afford him. I speak not of that gentleman as a publiccharacter, or as a scholar. Of the former I know but little, and of thelatter nothing. But I know from experience, and I glory in this fairopportunity of saying it, that his private life is a lesson of morality;his manners gentle, his heart sincere: and I regard it as one of the mostfortunate circumstances of my life, that my introduction to public noticefell to so zealous and unwearied a friend.[Footnote: I dare not take tomyself a praise like this; and yet I was, perhaps, hardly at liberty todisclaim what should be mine and the endeavour of every one to deserve.This I can say, that I have reason to rejoice that Mr. George Bloomfieldintroduced the Farmer's Boy to me. C. L.]
I have received many honourable testimonies of esteem from strangers;letters without a name, but fill'd with the most cordial advice, andalmost a parental anxiety, for my safety under so great a share of publicapplause. I beg to refer such friends to the great teacher Time: and hopethat he will hereafter give me my deserts, and no more.
One piece in this collection will inform the reader of my most pleasingvisit to Wakefield Lodge: books, solitude, and objects entirely new,brought pleasures which memory will always cherish. That noble and worthyFamily, and all my immediate and unknown Friends, will, I hope, believethe sincerity of my thanks for all their numerous favours, and candidlyjudge the Poems before them.
R. BLOOMFIELD.
Sept. 29, 1801.
P.S. Since affixing the above date, an event of