Happy for Clare if his weary life had been allowed to end here, in dreams of his first, his purest love. But it was ordained otherwise, and he had yet to drag a miserable course of earthly existence for more than twenty years. The period was one of great physical and mental suffering. Much of it might have been, if not prevented, at least softened and alleviated, but for the fresh interference of troublesome foes and ignorant friends. There was clearly no harm in leaving the poet in his little cottage at Northborough, allowing him to tend his flowers, to listen to the song of birds, and to write verses to his Mary in heaven. Now as ever, he was as harmless and guileless as a child; he would not hurt the worm under his feet, and even in his most excited moods not an unkind word to those around him escaped his lips. A little additional assistance—if only from the 'county,' of which a noble earl held him to be 'a great credit'—might have made his own and his wife's existence perfectly free from cares, and softened the evening of their lives. But the great patrons would have it otherwise. Clare had no more books to dedicate to Honourables and Most Honourables, and they thought that the best thing to be done was to get such a useless 'county poet' out of the way and out of sight.
Clare had not been many weeks at his little home, resting from his fatigue, and enjoying the caresses of his children, when he was visited by the Mr. Skrimshaw, of Market Deeping, who had attended him on a former occasion. This person, who called himself a doctor, had a notion that poets were always and naturally insane, and that the very fact of a man being given to write verses was decisive proof of his madness. Mr. Skrimshaw, therefore, had little trouble in consigning Clare to another lunatic asylum. All that was necessary was to engage the help of a brother-doctor to go through a slight legal formality. This was soon done, and 'Fenwick Skrimshaw,' together with 'William Page,' both of Market Deeping, signed the due certificate that John Clare was to be kept under restraint at a madhouse, for the definitely stated reason of having written poetry, or, as literally given by the doctors:—
'After years addicted to poetical prosings.'
On the ground of this new crime, punishable, according to the wise men of Market Deeping, with life-long imprisonment, Clare was torn away from his wife and children, and carried off to the madhouse. He struggled hard when the keepers came to fetch him, imploring them, with tears in his eyes, to leave him at his little cottage, and seeing all resistance fruitless, declaring his intention to die rather than to go to such another prison as that from which he had escaped. Of course, it was all in vain. The magic handwriting of Messrs. Fenwick Skrimshaw and William Page, backed by all the power of English law, soon got the upper hand, and the criminal 'addicted to poetical prosings' was led away, and thrust into the gaol for insane at Northampton.
It was, perhaps, with some regard to Clare being considered, on high authority, 'our county poet,' that he was consigned to the county lunatic asylum at Northampton, instead of being taken hack to the more respectable refuge of Dr. Allen, who was anxious to see him again under his charge, and even expressed strong hopes of an ultimate cure. The change was not a hopeful one; though, as far as the patient's physical comforts were concerned, there was no suffering attached to it. During the whole of his long sojourn at Northampton, the poet was treated with a kindness and consideration beyond all praise, and which, indeed, he had scarcely a right to expect from his position. Earl Fitzwilliam, who had taken him under his charge, only allowed eleven shillings a week for his maintenance, which small sum entitled Clare to little better than pauper treatment. Nevertheless, the authorities at Northampton, with a noble disregard for conventionalities, placed Clare in the best ward, among the private patients, paying honour to him as well as themselves by recognising the poet even in the pauper.
The Northampton General Lunatic Asylum stands at a little distance from the town, on the brow of a hill, in a very beautiful position, overlooking the smiling plain traversed by the River Nene. It is a large establishment, containing, on the average, some four hundred patients, the great majority of them paupers. The private patients have to themselves a large sitting-room, somewhat similar to a gentleman's library, the windows of which overlook the front garden, the valley of the Nene, and the town of Northampton. In the recess of one of these windows, Clare spent the greater part of his time during the twenty-two years that he was an inmate of the asylum. Very melancholy at first, and ever yearning after his 'Mary,' he became gradually resigned to his fate, and after that never a murmur escaped his lips. He saw that the world had left him; and was quite prepared himself to leave the world. During the whole twenty-two years, not one of all his former friends and admirers, not one of his great or little patrons ever visited him. This he bore quietly, though he seemed to feel it with deep sorrow that even the members of his own family kept aloof from him. 'Patty' never once showed herself in the twenty-two years; nor any of her children, except the youngest son, who came to see his father once. The neglect thus shown long preyed upon his mind, till it found vent at last in a sublime burst of poetry:—
'I am! yet what I am who cares, or knows? My friends forsake me like a memory lost. I am the self-consumer of my woes, They rise and vanish, an oblivious host, Shadows of life, whose very soul is lost. And yet I am—I live—though I am toss'd
Into the nothingness of scorn and noise, Into the living sea of waking dream, Where there is neither sense of life, nor joys, But the huge shipwreck of my own esteem And all that's dear. Even those I loved the best Are strange—nay, they are stranger than the rest.
I long for scenes where man has never trod, For scenes where woman never smiled or wept; There to abide with my Creator, God, And sleep as I in childhood sweetly slept Full of high thoughts, unborn. So let me lie, The grass below; above the vaulted sky.'
This was the last poem which Clare wrote—the last, and, we think, the noblest of all his poems. Clare's swan-song, we fervently hope, will live as long as the English language.
For the last ten or twelve years of his existence the poet suffered much from physical infirmities. Previously he was allowed to go almost daily into the town of Northampton, where he used to sit raider the portico of All Saints' Church, watching the gambols of the children around him, and the fleeting clouds high up in the sky. When these excursions came to be forbidden, he retired to his window-recess in the asylum, reading little and speaking little; dreaming unutterable dreams of another world. Sometimes his face would brighten up as if illuminated by an inward sun, overwhelming in its glory and beauty. This life of contemplation, extending over many years, was followed by a singular change in the physical constitution. The head seemed to expand vastly; the bushy eyebrows grew downward until they almost obscured the eyes, and the abundant hair, white as snow, came to fall in long curls over the massive shoulders. In outward appearance the poet became the patriarch.
The inmates of the asylum treated Clare with the greatest respect—far greater than that previously allotted to him by the world without. To his fellow-sufferers he always was John Clare the poet; never Clare the farm-labourer or the lime-burner. An artist among the patients was indefatigable in painting his portrait, in all possible attitudes; others never wearied of waiting upon him, or rendering him some slight service. The poet accepted the homage thus rendered, quietly and unaffectedly, as a king would that of his subjects. He gave little utterance to his thoughts, or dreams, whatever they were, and only smiled upon his companions now and then. When he became very weak and infirm, they put him into a chair, and wheeled him about in the garden. The last day he was thus taken out, and enjoyed the fresh air and the golden sunshine, was on Good Friday, 1864. He was too helpless to be moved afterwards; yet would still creep, now and then, from his bed to the window, looking down upon the ever-beautiful world, which he knew he was leaving now, and which he was not loth to leave, though he loved it so much.
Towards noon on the 20th of May, the poet closed his eyes for ever. His last words were, 'I want to go home.' So gentle was his end that the bystanders scarcely knew when he had ceased to breathe. God took his soul away without a struggle.
Clare had always expressed a wish to sleep his last sleep in the churchyard of his native village, close to his 'own old home of homes.' In the very first poem of his earliest published book of verses, he summed up all his aspirations in the one that he should—
'As reward for countless troubles past, Find one hope true: to die at home at last.'
Accordingly, when the poet's spirit had fled, the superintendent of the Northampton asylum wrote to his patron, Earl Fitzwilliam, asking for a grant of the small sum necessary to carry the wish of the deceased into effect. The noble patron replied by a refusal, advising the burial of the poet as a pauper at Northampton.
But this lasting disgrace, fortunately, was not to be. Through the active exertions of some true Christian souls, real friends of poetry, the requisite burial fund was raised in a few days, and the poet's body, having been conveyed to Helpston, was reverently interred there on Wednesday, the 25th of May, 1864. There now lies, under the shade of a sycamore-tree, with nothing above but the green grass and the eternal vault of heaven, all that earth has to keep of John Clare, one of the sweetest singers of nature ever born within the fair realm of dear old England—of dear old England, so proud of its galaxy of noble poets, and so wasteful of their lives.
* * * * *
Allen, Dr. Matthew, of Fair Mead House.
'Anniversary,' annual, edited by Allan Cunningham.
Artis, Edward, friend of Clare.
Bachelors' Hall, Helpston, meeting at.
Bains, Granny, cowherd of Helpston.
Baring, Sir Thomas, patron of Clare.
Bedford, Duke of, patron of Clare.
Behnes, Henry, sculptor, makes a bust of Clare; spends an evening with.
Bell, Dr. makes Clare's acquaintance; defends his friend; threatens him with the 'canister of the Blue Devils'.
Bellamy, 'Mr. Councillor' of Wisbeach.
Benyon, Tom, head-porter of Messrs. Taylor and Hessey; teaches political economy.
Billings, John and James, of 'Bachelor's Hall.'
'Blackwood's Magazine,' on Clare.
Bloomfield, Robert, letter from; death.
'Book of Job,' Clare's rendering of.
Boston, Clare's visit to; the mayor of.
Boswell, king of the gipsies.
Bowles, Rev. Wm. L. editor of Pope; quarrel with Mr. Gilchrist.
Bridge, Casterton, Clare working at.
Bullimore, Mrs. schoolmistress.
Burghley Park, Clare's first visit to; working as gardener at; received as visitor.
Burkhardt, Herr, watchmaker of the Strand.
Burns and Clare, compared by Professor Wilson.
Byron, Lord, funeral of.
Campbell, Mr. at Dr. Allen's asylum.
Cardigan, Earl, patron of Clare.
Gary, Rev. H. T. receives Clare at his home; at the 'London Magazine' dinner.
Chiswick, Clare's residence at.
Clare, John, birth; parents; in search of other worlds; at the dame-school; first pleasures of song; learns threshing; is attacked by the ague; goes to Mr. Merrishaw's school; studies algebra; travels to Wisbeach; interview with Mr. Councillor Bellamy; fails in becoming a lawyer's clerk; promoted to be potboy at the 'Blue Bell;' growing love of nature; takes to reading fairy tales; first love; meets with Thomson's 'Seasons;' efforts to obtain the book; the first poem; attempts to learn a trade; apprenticed to the head gardener at Burghley Park; dissipation; flight from Burghley Park; returns home; poetical aspirations; verses 'wanting fire'; consults a rural critic; becomes conscious of terrible ignorance; devours 'Lowe's Spelling-book;' unable to master 'quartacutes' and 'quintacutes;' in search of a patron; visits 'Bachelors' Hall;' enlists in the militia; swears fidelity to King George; is taught the goose-step; returns to Helpston; Love and the Apocalypse; turns gipsy under King Boswell; limeburning; zeal in writing verses; first meeting with 'Patty;' narrow escape from being drowned; attempts to publish a book; writes a prospectus; issues an 'Address to the Public;' quarrels with his mistress; bids farewell to 'Patty;' enlists in the Royal Artillery; determines to quit Helpston; meets with a patron; makes arrangements for printing his poems; gets intimate with Mr. Drury; meeting with Mr. John Taylor; first interview with Mr. Gilchrist; hears of the success of his 'Poems of Rural Life;' visit to Holywell Park; romance of fugitive love; patronized by Viscount Milton; by Earl Fitzwilliam; by the Marquis of Exeter; marries 'Patty;' first visit to London; troubles of fame; defends himself against patronage; has an annuity settled upon him; ignored by Sir Walter Scott; publication of the 'Village Minstrel;' correspondence with Bloomfield; visited by Mr. John Taylor; second trip to London; adventure in a hackney coach; short stay at Chiswick; visit to Charles Lamb; attempts to purchase a freehold; falls very ill; third visit to London; Fleet Street philosophy; is present at a meeting of lions; returns to Helpston; fails in getting work as a labourer; great poverty; takes to farming; publication of the 'Shepherd's Calendar;' writes for the annuals; Platonic love; last visit to London; turns pedlar; journey to Boston; glimpse of happiness; removal to Northborough; mental alienation; cry for help; publication of the 'Rural Muse;' excitement at the Peterborough Theatre; burst of delirium; is taken to Dr. Allen's asylum; escape from the madhouse; writes the diary of his escape; taken to Northampton asylum; his last poem; physical changes; death.
Clare, Parker, birth; marriage; poverty and sufferings; dependent upon alms; accompanies his son to Burghley Park; reproves John for writing verses; struck down by illness.
Clark, Mr. editor of a literary magazine.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, at a soirÉe.
'Cottage near the wood,' Clare's poem of.
'County poet,' our, and county patronage.
Crouch, Mr. issues Clare's poems.
Cunningham, Allan, at Mr. Taylor's house; letter to, from Clare; interview with; attempts to assist him.
Dalia, Mademoiselle, of the Regency theatre.
Darley, George, meeting with Clare.
Darling, Dr. attends Clare in illness; acts as his guide.
De Quincey, Thomas, at the 'London Magazine' dinner.
Deville, Mr. professor of phrenology.
Devonshire, Duke of, patron of Clare.
Drury, Mr. Edward, first meeting with Clare; offers to print his book; inspects the MSS.; submits them to a critic; intimacy with Clare.
Durobrivae, Roman station.
Elton, Charles, makes Clare's acquaintance.
Emmerson, Mrs. first interview with Clare; receives Clare at her house; renews her acquaintance; acts as hostess.
Etton, village near Helpston.
Exeter, Marquis of, first interview with Clare; visits the poet at home; finds Clare unfit for patronage.
Fair Mead House lunatic asylum, Clare's stay at.
Pane, Lady, visit to Clare.
Farrow, Jim, cobbler of Helpston.
Field, Baron, literary country gentleman.
'First Love,' Clare's poem of.
Fitzwilliam, Earl, becomes a patron of Clare; presents him with £100; gives him a cottage; maintains him at the asylum; advises to bury him as a pauper.
'Gentleman's Magazine,' the, on Clare's Poems.
Gilford, William, interview with Clare.
Gilchrist, Octavius, first meeting with Clare; becomes his patron; accompanies him to London; gives his opinion on Sir Walter Scott; disputes with the Rev. Mr. Bowles; engaged in 'Battle of the Windmills;' falls seriously ill; meets Clare at London; last interview with Clare; death.
Glinton, the home of 'Mary;' Memorial of Clare's first love.
Grantham, visit of John Clare to.
Gregory, Francis, landlord of the 'Blue Bell.'
Grill, Monsieur, cook at Milton Park.
Hall, Mr. S. C. editor of the 'Book of Gems.'
Hazlitt, William, at Mr. Taylor's house.
Helpo, founder of Helpston; 'mystic stipendiary knight.'
Helpston, origin of; the parish clerk patronises Clare; removal of Clare from.
Henderson, Mr. friend of Clare.
Henson, Mr. first interview with Clare; agrees to publish his 'Original Trifles;' returns Clare's manuscripts.
Hilton, William, paints Clare's portrait.
Hogarth's house, at Chiswick.
'Hole-in-the-Wall' public-house, the.
Holland, Rev. Mr. makes Clare's acquaintance; brings news of his success.
Holywell Park, Visit to.
'Home of Homes,' Clare's poem of.
Hood, Thomas, sub-editor of 'London Magazine.'
'Iris,' the, contribution of Clare to.
Joyce, Mary, John Clare's first love.
Keats, John, gift to, from Earl Fitzwilliam.
Lamb, Charles, visited by Clare; at the 'London Magazine' dinner.
Landon, Miss, error of dedication.
Langley Bush, sketched by Clare.
Leopold, King of Belgium, gift to Clare.
Lolham Brigs, near Helpston.
London, as seen from the distance.
'London Magazine,' the, on Clare's poems.
Lowe's 'Critical Spelling-book.'
Manton, Bill, stone-cutter at Market-Deeping.
Market-Deeping, visit to horsedealers at.
Marsh, Mrs. visits Clare; receives him at her mansion; takes him to the theatre.
Maxey, village near Helpston.
Merrishaw, Mr. schoolmaster at Glinton.
Milton Park, Clare's first visit to.
Milton, Viscount, interview with John Clare; takes Clare under his patronage.
Militia, life in the.
'Morning Walk,' the, Clare's first poem.
Mossop, Rev. Mr. patron of Clare.
Mounsey, Rev. Mr. of Stamford.
Murray, Mr. John, interview with.
Nell, Mr. bookseller of Peterborough.
Newark-upon-Trent, John Clare at.
Newcomb, Mr. proprietor of the 'Stamford Mercury.'
'New Monthly Magazine,' the, on Clare's poems.
North, Christopher, on Clare.
Northborough, Clare's removal to.
Northampton, Marquis of, threatens to patronise Clare.
Northampton asylum, Clare's stay at.
Northumberland, Duke of, patron of Clare.
Offley's tavern, visit of Clare to.
'Original Trifles,' a first poetical speculation.
Oundle, militia drill at.
Page, Mr. certifies to Clare's insanity.
Parker, grandfather of John Clare.
'Patty,' Clare's first sight of; meeting with; wavering between two suitors; supposed last interview; reconciliation; marriage.
Peterborough, Bishop of, visit to Clare.
Peterborough, the 'Red Lion;' episcopal palace, Clare's visit to; theatre, Clare's visit to.
Pickworth, Clare working at.
'Poems of Rural Life,' publication of.
'Poetical Prosings,' new form of insanity.
Poets, their patronage and income.
Poets and the poor-rates.
Porter, Thomas, of Ashton Green.
Preston, Mr. a 'brother poet.'
'Quarterly Review,' the, on Clare's poems.
Radstock, Lord, first meeting with Clare; refuses to assist him; interferes with Mr. Taylor; death.
Redding, Cyrus, visit to Clare.
Regency Theatre, Tottenham-court-road.
Reynardson, General, meets Clare; shows his residence.
Reynolds, William, at the 'London Magazine' dinner.
Rippingille, Mr. friend of Clare; leaves him in difficulties.
Rossini, sets Clare's verses to music.
'Rural Muse,' address to.
'Rural Muse,' the, publication of.
Russell, Lord John, patron of Clare.
Scott, Sir Walter, and John Clare; judged by Mr. Gilchrist.
'Shepherd's Calendar,' publication of.
Sherwell, Captain, friend of Sir Walter Scott.
Skrimshaw, Mr. sees Clare; certifies to his insanity.
Smith, Dr. physician of Peterborough.
Spencer, Earl, grants an annuity to Clare.
Stamford, the 'Dolphin' Inn; the 'New Public Library.'
Stamford bookseller, the, and John Clare.
Stimson, John, shepherd of Castor.
Stimson, Morris, visits John Clare; tries to lift him into a profession.
Taylor, Mr. John, first interview with Clare; receives him at London; procures an annuity for Clare; visit to Helpston; receives Clare a second time; reproves him for his ambition; receives Clare on his third visit to London; last interview with.
Taylor and Hessey, publishers, gift to Clare.
Tickencote, hamlet near Stamford.
Townsend, Mr. Chauncey Hare, visits Clare.
Twopenny, the Rev. Mr., incumbent of Little Casterton.
Turnill, John, teaches Clare algebra.
Ventouillac, Monsieur, publisher of the 'Iris.'
Vestris, Madam, reciting Clare's poems.
'Village Minstrel,' publication of.
Walkherd Lodge, home of 'Patty.'
Watts, Alaric, makes Clare's acquaintance.
Wilders, Mr. of Bridge Casterton.
Wilson, Professor, on Clare's poetical genius.
Wisbeach, John Clare's journey to.
Withers, nurseryman, employs Clare.
'Woman's Love,' Clare's poem of.
* * * * *
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