Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 19, 2025
Veterans, with red noses and flying ribbons on their hats, kept tramping from one end of the country to the other, making every pothouse resound with tales of martial glory, and fearful accounts of 'Bony. Even into remote Helpston the recruiting sergeant penetrated, taking up his quarters at the 'Blue Bell, and with much political wisdom honouring the convivial meetings at Bachelors' Hall with occasional visits.
His spirits were raised additionally by the encouragement of a new friend, the parish-clerk of Helpston.
Earl Fitzwilliam punctually kept his promise to assign a new dwelling to Clare. The latter received notice at the beginning of May that he might remove in the course of the month to a pretty and substantial cottage which his lordship had erected for him at the hamlet of Northborough, three miles from Helpston, nearer to the Peterborough Great Fen.
It so happened that in the winter of 1822-3, an opportunity offered itself for acquiring a piece of freehold land of about seven acres, close to the poet's cottage, known to the people of Helpston as 'Bachelors' Hall' and already noticed as belonging to two brothers of the name of Billing.
Bell came down to Helpston, in greater excitement than ever. 'What do you mean by sending me such a d fellow? he broke forth in a burst of indignation. Poor Clare! he meant nothing, thought of nothing, and knew nothing; and all that he could do was in a few simple words to explain the whole story. The doctor quietly listened to the account of Mr.
'I know nothing whatever of your poet, was the reply; 'never heard his name in my life. This somewhat surprised the cautious publisher; he thought that Stamford being so near to Helpston, and poets being not quite as plentiful as blackberries in the fen-country, John Clare and his prospectuses ought to be of at least local fame.
On Helpston Heath and the neighbouring commons there were always some gypsy tribes in encampment, the two largest of them being known by the names of 'Boswell's crew, and 'Smith's crew. While out on his solitary rambles, John Clare made the accidental acquaintance of 'King Boswell, which acquaintance, after being kept up by the interchange of many little courtesies and acts of kindness, gradually ripened into a sort of friendship.
Clare had not had so much money in his possession in all his life, and he got frightened almost in looking at the glittering treasure before him. To secure it well, he took off his neck-tie, wrapped the sovereigns in it, and ran home as fast as his legs would carry him. There were happy faces that night in the little cottage at Helpston.
Thereupon John Clare and the Sunday-school teacher left Milton Park and went back to Helpston, slightly sad, and very hungry. To John Clare this first attempt to gain high patronage was profoundly discouraging; but not so to the worthy parish-clerk, whose experience of the world was somewhat larger.
Reflecting upon the subject, it struck his lordship that it would be best to take Clare still under his protection, in view of new editions open to dedication. Full of this idea, a messenger was despatched at once to Helpston, with a gracious order that the poet should present himself on the following morning before the noble Viscount.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking