The Sun. — London, England, 1820-04-05 00:00:00

LITERARY R Etri Ew.. POEMS, Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery.--By Jour: CLARE, a Northamptonshire Peasant. Second Edition. " These Poems have already attracted consi derable noiice by their intrinsic merit ; but they ate also emitted to attention from the circum stances under which the were wiitten. They are the genuine productions of a young Peasatit, a day.labourer its husbandry, who has had no ad vantages of education beyond others of his class; and though Poets in this collo:1.y .have seldom. been tortahate 0.19 i, yet he is, perhaps, the least favoured by circumstances, and the most destitute Of Itierids, or any that ever existed. " 301 m Clare, the author of this Volume, was born as ifelpstotie, near Peterborough, Northamp tonshire, on the 13th of July. 1793. He is the Wiry son of Paikerand Ann Clare, who are also natives, of the same village, where they have al ways .resided in extreme poverty ; nor are they aware that any of their imeestois have been in het ;et- Circumstances. Pailt.t . Clare is a farmer's antl lAtedy he was employed in thresh ing ; but violent colds broujt on the rhertma• such a degree that lie was at length un able to work, or even to move w:; bout assist- ACICC By the kind liberality of Lord Milton he Was then sent to the . See-bathing infirmary at carturrringli„ K here Are found great relief ; but returning home part of the w,ay on foot, from a desire to save exl'ences, his exertions and ex posure to the weather brought on the pain again, and reduced him to a more deplorable state than ever. (le is now a helpless cripple. and a pauper, receiving an allowance of tie shillings a Week from the richii. John (Aire has alevls lived with his parents at Helpstotre, except for those i.hort periods when the distance to which he was obliged to go for .fork prevented his retirin every evening. At his o;tn home, , therefore, he saw Poverty in all its most affecti ng shapes, and when he speaks of it, as 'in the Address to Plenty, p. 48, " Oh, sad sons of Poverty! Vicznus doozu'd to misery;, Who can paint what pain prevails O'er that heart which• Want assails ? • Modest Shame the pain conceals; No one knows, but he who feels"—r— " And again Toilinz in the naked fields, • Where no bush a shelter yields, Needy Labour ditherinz , Brats and - blows his numbing. hands; And upon the crumpiiia snows Stamps, in vain, to warm his toes"— he:utters . " uo poetic pains :" it is a picture of what he has constantly witnessed and felt. ONe of our poets has gained great credit by his exterior delinedtions of ,k hat the boor man suf fers; but in the reality of wretchedness, when " the iron enters into the soul," there is a t on e w hi c h cannot be imitated. Clare has here an unhappy adv,otage over (niter poets. Tl.e most misersbire of Alein were not always Nwretched. Penury and diseat , e were .not constantly at their heels, nor .w,44 pauperism their only prospect. But he has no•oi her, foe-the lot which has befallen his father, too,attich reason, be looked forward to as his own porticm, In the "simple annals of the poor" want occupies a part .of every page, except o perhaps, the last, where the scene changes tri the workhouse ; and then the bnrthen which is taken from the body is laid npon the spirit : at least it would be so with Clare; for though the contemplalion of parochial relief may administer to some minds a thankless, hopelvss sort of con solation, under the pressure of extreme distress, yet to the writer of the following lines it must be the highest aggravati,n of affliction " Oh, may I die, before I'm doetu'll to seek That last resource of hope, but ill supplied; To claim the humble pittance once a week, Which justice forces from disdainful pride!" (p. 78.) " While such was the destitute condition of his parents, it may secin extraordinary that Clare should beve found the means to acquire any learn ing whatever ; but by extra work as a ploughboy, and by helping his father morning and evening at thrething, he earned the %T:trey which paid for his educruion. From the labour of eight weeks he generally acquired as many pence as would pay for a month's schooling ; and thus in the course of three years he received, at different times, so much instruction that he could read very well in the Bible. He considers himself to have derived mucitbenefit fromthejtsdicious encogragem eot of his schoolmaster, \lr. Seaton, of Glinton, an ad joitling parish, from whom he sometimes obtained threepence a week in rewards, and who once gave bins sixpence for repeating, from memory, the third chaptcr of Job. %Vitt) these little sums he bought a.tew books. When he had learned to read tolerably well, be borrowed front one of his companions that uni versal favourite, Robinson Crusoe, and in the pe rusal of this he greatly increased his stock of knowledge and his desire for reading. He was thirteen years of age when another boy slimed him Thornson's Seasons. They were out in the &dos together, and during the day Clare had a good oppurtunity of looking et the book. It call ed forth all the passion of his soul for poetry. Ile was determined to possess the work himself; and as soon as he had saved a shilling to buy it with, lie set off for Stamford at so early an hour, that none of the shops were open when he got there. It was a floe Spring morning, and when he had made his purchase, and was returning through the beautiful scenery of Burghley Park, he com posed his first piece of poetry, which he called " The Morning Walk." This was soon follow ed by the " Evening Walk," arid some other little pieces. "ills love of Poetry, however, would soon live spent itself in compositioos as little to be re rnembered..as that which has just beet) mentioned, bad it inkbeen for the kindness of Mr. John 'Fur - null, late of Helpstone, now in the Excise, who was indeed a benefactor to him. From his in strucAion Clare, ihough he knew a little of the rudi't•entsbefots, ; learnt ititig and Arithmetic : and to this Mind he Must, therefore, consider himself indehted for whatever good may accrue to him from rue-`exercise of :hose powers of mind with which , he is naturally endowed. " It is tkiiiv thcqeen years since Clare compos ed his first Poem that time he has gone on secretly cultivating his taste and talent for Prietry, without one word of encouragement - ; or the most distant prospect of reward. Jl - flat passion must have been originally very ssiong and pure, which coul,l sustain itself, for so many years, through want, and toil, and hopeless m;sery. Most of his Poems were composed under the immediate impression of this feeling, in the fields or on the road-sides. He could not trust his me smory, and therefore lie wrote them down .with pencil on the spot, his hat serving him for a desk ; and if it happened that he had no opportunity :soon after of tritii'Veribitig these imperfect memo ;Hal:, he CouldelifoTti decypher them, or recover ibis first thoogkti. From this circumstance seve !(al of his poems are quite lust, vad others exist only it, fragments. Of those which he bad commit ted to writing, especially his earlier pieces, many weie destroyed from another circumstance, which sheer's how_ little' he expected to please others with them : from a hole in the wall' of his room, where be siutfed bil.'nianuscripts, a - piece of paper was often taken togstrht the- kettle, • or light the fire." It is impossible to read 'the, aboye account, which we have extracted from the Introduction to the Volume, without feeling a very lively interest for the extraordinary ynuog map who is the sub ject of it; And that interest will, we think, be considerably increased by a perns'al of his Poems, of, which our limits will only allow us to give a few specimens, taken at random from the Volume : FALLING LEAVES Hail, falling leaves! that. patter round, Admonishers and frienus ; Reflection wakens at the sound— So, Life, thy pleasure ends. How frail the bloom, how, short the stay, That terminates us all? To day we florirish greiii and gay, Like leaves tomorrow fall. Alas' how short is fourscore years, Life's utmost stretch,—a span ; • And shorter still,. when past; appears Th►e vain, vain hie of •eau. These falling leaves once flaunted high, s 0 pride' how vain to trust : Now wit her'd on the ground they lie, And mingled with the dust. So death serves all—and wealth and pride Must all t pomp resign; E'en kings shall lay their crowns aside, , To mix their dust with mine. The leaves, how once they tloth'd the trees, None's left behind to tell; , The branch is naked to the breeze; We know not whence they fell. A few.:More years-, :and-111re same As they are now, _shall he, With nothing left, to tell my native, •Or answer, " Who was•he ? Greernurt's alloWd forgotten heap Is all that I shall have, Save that the little daisies creep To deck tuy humble grave. WHAT IS-LIFE? And what is Life ?—An hour-gla.s on the run, Al mist retreating from the morning sun, A busy, bristling , still .repeated dream; Its length ?--A minute's pante, a moment's thought; And Happiness ?A bubble on tie stream, That in the act of seizing shrinks to nought. What are vain Hopes?—The.puiting gale cf morn, That of its charms divests the dewy lawn, And robs each tiow'ret of its gem, and dies; A cobweb hiding disappointment's thorn,' Which stings more keenly.through the thin disguise. And thou, 0 Trouble 1--nothing ran suppose, (And sure the,power of wisdom only knows,) What need rcquireth thee: So fret and liberal as thy bounty flows, Swim necessary cause must surely he : But disappointments, p:tins, and every woos Devoted wretches feel, The universal plagues of life below, Are mysteries Still 'neath Fate's unbroken seal. And what is Death ? is still the cause unfound ? That dark, mysterious name of horrid sound ? A long and lingering sleep, the weary crave. And Peace? where can its happiness abound ? No where at all, save Heaven, and the grave. Then what is Life ?—When stripp'd of its disguise, A thing to be &sled it cannot he; Since every thing that useets our foolish eyes Gives proof sufficient of its vanity. 'Tis but a trial all must undergo; To teach unthankful mortals how to prize That happiness vain man's denied to know, Until he's call'd to claim it in the skies. These specimens we doubt not will convince our Readers that Clare possesses poetical talents of no mean order. The. following remarks, which relate to his character as a man, will shew bim in a still more interesting point of view. They are taken from the same modest, sensible Introduc tion, from which we have already made large ex tracts : " The Author and his Poems are now before the Public, and its decision will speedily fix the Lite of one, and ultimately that of the other ; but whatever be the result to either, this-will at least be granted, that no poet of our country has shown greater ability under circumstances so hostile to its development. And all this is found here with out any of those distreising and revolting alloys, which too often debase the native worth of ge nius, and make him who s wap gifted with powers to command admiration, live to be the object of contempt or pity. The lower the condition of its possessor, the more unfavourable, generally, has been the effect of eenins on his life. That this has not been the case u l ith Clare may, perhaps, be imputed to the absolute depression of his fortune. It is certain that he has not had the opportunity, hitherto, of being injured by prosperity ; and that he may escape in future, it is hoped that those persons who intend to diew hint kindness will not do it suddenly or partiAlly, but so as it will yield him permanent benefii. Yet when we hear the consciousness of possessing talents, and the natu ral irritability of the poetic temperament, pleaded in extenuation of the follies and vices of metl in high life, let it be accounted.Rome;in praise to such a manes Clare, that with all the excitements of their sensibility in his station, he has preserved a fair character, amid dangers which presumption did not create, and difficulties which discretion could not avoid. " In one of his letters he says, ' If my hopes don't succeed, the hazard is not of much (pence ; it I fall, I am advanced at no great dis tance from my low condition ; if 1 'ink for want of friends, my old friend Necessity is ready to help me, as before, It was never my fortune as yet to meet advancement Henn friendship: my tate has ever been hard labour, atnung the 112..5t %Align and lower conditions of men ; anti very small i 3 the pittance hard labour allows me,Ahough I al ways toiled even beyond my strength to ( gain it.' To see a man of talents stinggliog wider great adversity, with such a spirit, must svrely excite in every gCIIerOUS heart the wish to befriend LANCASTER ASSIZES, APRIL 1. BURNLEY MEETING. THE KING V. KNIGHT, DEWHURST, AND SIX OTHERS. The Court met this morning at nine o'clock, soon after which John Knight, George Dewhurst, Nathan Broadhurst, John Adamson, William Fletcher, John Bury, John Astin, and James . Wade, were put to the bar, and the indictment being read to them, they severally pleaded—Not Mr. LITTLEDALE stated the nature of the in dictment to the Jury, which contained 21 counts; the substance of which was, that the prisoners had conspired to go, and cause others of the liege subjects of the late King to go, armed to a meet ing for the purpose of hindering and obstructing -the`Nrag,istrates and peace-Officers in the execu tion of their duties. It also charged them with assembling an unlawful meeting, armed with swords, pikes, staves, fire-arms, &c., and of at tending at the same, to the terror of the lieg e sub jects of the late King, on the 15th Novem ber last, at Habergan Eaves, in the county of Lancaster. Mr. SCARLET: stated the case to the Jury. He said, he should not enter into any extraneous matter to . Show that the objects of those who con vened the meeting were unlawful, or that they intended to adopt proceedings different from what they professed. It would be quite sufficient for his purpose to rely on the circumstance, that the people weikt to this meeting' armed. That cir cumstance alone was quite sufficient to constitute it an unlawful meeting, wbatevet might be its avowed or intended object. He then proceeded to state the evidence he should adduce to fix the several defendants' with thr conspiracy charged in the indictment.—The.first witness called was W. Chaffer, eximined by Mr. RAINE—He stat ed that he was a constable of Burnley ; that a notice of meeting bad beet placarded for the Bth No , ember, but it was r iterwards advertised for the 15th ; that itt the. forem on of that day large patties artived at Burnley, preceded by music with banners, and proceeded through the town, to the place of meeting, where h:,stings were erected for the speakers!. !oat' as they were passing through the tour, Colonel ilargreaves4 who was on horse back, dash,d among the crowd, and seized a staff which apr&tred to have been prepared for a pike handle, and brought it away without opposition.. He supposed the numbets assembled to amount to 3,000 or 4,000. Ttsere were 18 flags and three caps: of liberty. Cross-examined by Mr. WILLIAMS—He noticed several of the in-scriptions on the flags ; on one was . 4 Keep, within compass;" another was " Order, order !" Some of them appeared to be religious mottos, such as," A false balance is'au abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.l! Rickard Fletcher stared, that he was in company with a man named Wilson ; he saw several of the people with staves, and on their arriving at the ground they picked out the dirt from the boles which were made to receive the pike-heads. He saw several persons with pike-heads secreted tin der their coat-sleeves, and under their breasts. He immediately left the field to inform the Ma gistrates. He.returned soan after, and heard .a cry,. " 'the soldiers are corning," whereupon a number of people pulled out their pike-heads, and many of them fixed them in the poles. He saw 60 persons pull out their pikes, but only eight or ten fix them. He also.Saw43 other persons draw out their pistols ; those persons who so con ducted themselves were near to the hustings. Wirer: the alarm had subsided, they replaced their weapons in their former concealment. The alarm turned out to be false. Knight was not at this time'arrived. In about half an hour after this alarm Knight arrived, and was voted to the chair, when a cap of liberty was placed on his bead, and he addressed the assembly. He dwelt a good deal on the corn-laws, and lamented that so many per sons were banged for forgery ; after which he read the resolutions, and they were approved by the meeting. Witness could not recollect the sub stance of them. While this was going an, there was a second alarm that " the soldiers were corn ing," when several of the-people again pulled out their pikes and. pistols, but this also turned out to be a false alarm, when they again concealed them. This alarm caused many. people to run, when Knight and the other people on the hustings call ed - to them to be firm, and not to run. After Knight lett the chair, llewburst took it, and pro posed a resolution, " that if Parliament should pass any gagging bills, the Reformers should rise and meet on one day." He said, if they did not, " he should call them the greatest slaves upon earth." Cross-examined by Mr. COLTMAN—He stated that he had applied to different people to pur chase pikes tor the Burnley Meeting. He ad mitted.that he had a pistol, whit(' he had shown to different persons, and had boasted that he was well armed ; and would not swear that he had not d—d the Government,, and wished the Re formers we're all as well armed as lie was. William Wilson said that he was'a reed-maker, and lived at *Burnley ; and after stating the cir.. cumstances detailed by the last witness, he went on to give a mbre detailed 11CCOUtit of Knight's speech, and represented him to have - said, that it the Manchester Magistrates were not brought to justice, there was art end of all good govern ment, and the people bad a right to destroy such a govrrnmeut, or make a new. one, or to return to a state of nature, and live without one ; and he proposed a resolution. to oppose the measures of Alinisters, if they brought into Parliament any i3dls to curtail the liberty of meeting to discuss political subjects. Cross-examined—The witness stated he bad been in the habit of attending many meetings, and had given information to the Magistrates re specting the Blanket Meeting. That he had ne ver received any money for his services, but had expt ctEd a good deal at money in employing other persons to go round the couniry to obtain infor mation. There was now due to him 341. for ac- I n a l ~ dvantes. That he himself had been tried at that Court for a Capital offence in the sear 1808 ISIO. He -had v rote an account of the pro ceedinp, and on the ne\t day a more lengthened drlail. but neither of which were produced. Mr. Samuel Howarth, a sutgeort, residing' at liutnlq, stated, that he i.veut to the meeting, and ;was there when an aiarna was given abort tbd soldiers, and then saw one pistol, but rio He did not observe any thing particular in w e speech of Knight; and all that he could say is respect to Dewhurst was, that he recommended * subscription to be entered into to purchase Yew", papers, and 'that the - proceedings in ..Parliatieob should •be closely watched. He had some r.ec° ll lotion that it was proposed, that if ParliameTt did not redress their wrongs, there should general rising throughout - the kingdom, but ( 10 he could • not state with :certainty. That nil of them had sticks, such as...they might have pieke up on their way. There was nothing in the 5 1/_; pearanCe isf the people, or in the'prdeeedin U' the day, that struck him with any appretrensis° of immediate danger, although he considered i t might afterwards lead to serious consequences. Henry Bury and John Walton corroborated evidence of Fletcher and Wilson as to the and pike-staves ; and Bury added, that.a party a'" Reformers, on their return home, discharged ss many as 100 pistols; he could not say 'what .nuis" her of pistols, but he heard that number of sho tg in different directions.' . • • Christopher .Edmondson .stated, that be for Colonel Hargreaves seize a stick before-mention' ed; and at that momem saw one of the returner* with a pistol in leis hand, looking at the Culatielt and asked one of his companions, ".Shali shoot ?" His companion answered ‘ 4 No, re_ must not ;" when returned' the pistol itito 1 pocket. Several other witnesses were then examid" 49 corroborating the testimony of the former ‘ 411 .: nesses as to ine character of the weetiiig, Liao which, 11ary Hoyle was called, who positively swot that Wade was the wan who pointed die pistol Col. Hargreaves, as described by the witted Edmondson. On cross-examination, she stated tbat she vv B6 dicta .sly related to \Vatic% wife, and that 13:20V ade). was not living With ter as lie ought to do ; without waiting for the question to be put to ha , she added, " I have had no foul or angry 'lay' guage with him." John Carter proved that be saw the man dreff , the pistol and look at the Colonel, bat neither , the prisoners was the man ; that be knew Wal• before the 15th November, and if he had been tb man he must have known him. A woman, named Hanson, proved that she the reformers after the meeting was over, severs' of them bearing pike-staffs like umbrellas; sIW' also stated that she saw in a public-house a pike'' staff, half a yard long, which a man carried in • leather sheath ; it was sharp on both sides like • razor ; the screw was 4 inches long. The- prosecutors now produced the phcert which announced the meeting, and also the sta b seized by Colonel Hargreaves. Here the case for the prosecution clost4. Shortly after four o'clock Mr. WILLIAMS T O and addressed the Jury for the defendants, in.sl admirable and impressive speech, which octiopie° . , upwards of two 'hours in the •delivery. 'l l l e s Learned Counsel observed; that by the custosx and laws of this realm, delivered. tee us by our aie cestors, it was the undoubted right and privileg e lof Englishmen to assemble together for the par", pose of petitioning Parliament- f or a redress 6 1. grievances. The law had imposed no limit in re• sped. of numbers, and no assembly of the peopite however numerous, could be •pronounced illtlgi l on that account. The ostensible. object for 1030 4 the meeting in question was. convened was eked,' a legal one; and if the Jury should be convinced' ,from the eridence,that some individuals might have come to the meeting secretl y armed, yet, uolcs s that circumstance could be brought home to the knowledge of the defendants, they could not be affected by such a circumstance. It formed 1 7 part of the original design of the persons who a 9 ' sembled on this occasion that any part of the ,should come armed ; and therefore the isolated fact, that a number of persons coming to the meet ° ing with arms, to be used, as appeared, solely foe their own defence, could not render the meetiog illegal. Mr. Williams dwelt with great force 0 11 , the circumstance that not one of the defendants 1 10 . been brought into force with any of the persons wii i were armed, nor was theta any evidence to pro' that any one of the defendants was acquainted 0/ .0 the circumstance of there being any arms where've ( at the meeting. IVith respect to the charge alibi / conspir l acy, the Learned Counsel observed, there hail not appeared a single iota of evidence to prof° its existence. The prosecutor had not even show° that any two of the defendants had ever seen coot other before the hrith November, when they tog' on' the hustings. Great stress had been laid 10 tie fact that some persons had gone to the mei' ing with arms ; admitting that to be the fact, ifl maintained that it was the undoubted right Englishmen to carry arms in self-defence. It'w° so laid down by Mr. Justice Blackstone (a pas' sage from whose Commentaries the Learned Como t ; read). It was evident, from the whole cowls° of the persons so armed, that their only objeit go° self-defence, which was exemplified by their fog' bearaoce when the staff was seized byCol.Williasis i° and alio by, the fact that they only attempted pr e , paration at those moments when the alarm (4"; given that the soldiers were coming to attar"' them ; and could it be wondered that these Fe e sons should have prepared themselves with we e pons of self-defence, recollecting the trausaCti° l3l of the 16th of August, and the forcible diapersi°, of the meeting on that melancholy occasion- - ", e circumstance which resounded from one end all: kingdom to the other? He animadverted strogg , ":, ou the cruelty and ininstice which the defendsod had sustained on being committed on a charge d . high treason, for which the prosecutors, by x 13,1 conduct, confessed there was no foundation ; ° d o concluded in a solemn appeal to the Jury, o g which he conjured them to lay aside all fee li o i of prejudice imbibed against the defendants o to be governed in their verdict solely by e go evidence. The defendants were praceediog il d call witnesses, when the Judge interposed• t° j o the Court then adjourned till. onday niorteios, nine o'clOck. __..., LONDON: Printed i,v 3. 11. CAIISTAIRS, of No. Orniond-street, , Oaten-square; an:l published hV h(T I PPS, of No. 7, Soot!, Nlotton-street, at 'l l , :t frit Ortce, No. 112, Strand ; where Advertisements "a -- 1.04 n, 6,c. (poet-pail) mast ht ad/it-cunt. 1 , ) e