successfully, for years. That he did struggle manfully is evident
from his correspondence, and at length, acting upon the advice of Dr.
Darling, a London physician, who for a long time generously
prescribed for him without fee or reward beyond the poet's grateful
thanks, he abstained altogether. It will be seen hereafter that in
all probability Dr. Darling's advice was given upon the supposition
that Clare was able to procure a sufficient supply of nourishing
food, when unhappily he was almost literally starving himself, in
order that his family might not go hungry.

On returning from Nottinghamshire Clare took again to the work of a
farm labourer, and the poetic fervour which had abated in the
uncongenial society of Burghley once more manifested itself. After
taking infinite pains to that end, he had the satisfaction of
convincing his father and mother that his poetry was of somewhat
greater merit than the half-penny ballads sold at the village feast;
but his neighbours could not bring themselves to approve John's
course of life, and they adopted various disagreeable modes of
showing that they thought he was a mightily presumptuous fellow. His
shy manners and his habit of talking to himself as he walked led some
to set him down as a lunatic; others ridiculed his enthusiasm, or
darkly whispered suspicions of unhallowed intercourse with evil
spirits. This treatment, operating upon a sensitive mind and a body
debilitated both by labour and scanty and unwholesome food, had the
natural effect of robbing him of hope and buoyancy of spirits. In a
fit of desperation he enlisted in the militia, and with other
Helpstone youths was marched off to Oundle, a small town lying
between Peterborough and Northampton. He remained at Oundle for a few
weeks, at the end of which time the regiment was disbanded and Clare
returned to Helpstone, carrying with him "Paradise Lost" and "The