heart the wish to befriend him. But if it be otherwise, and he should
be doomed to remediless misery,

Why, let the stricken deer go weep,
The hart ungalled play,
For some must watch, while some sleep,--
Thus runs the world away."

Towards the end of January 1820, the Rev Mr. Holland of Northborough,
the minister already referred to, called upon Clare with the joyful
news that his poems had been published, and that the volume was a
great success. Next day a messenger arrived from Stamford with an
invitation to the poet to meet Mr. Drury and Mr. Gilchrist. They
confirmed the favourable report made by Mr. Holland, and at length
Clare had an opportunity of seeing the book which had caused him so
many anxious days and sleepless nights. He made no attempt to conceal
the honest pride he felt on receiving the congratulations of his
friends, and acknowledged his obligation to Mr. Taylor for the
editorial pains he had taken to prepare his manuscripts for the
press, but he was deeply mortified at the tone of the "Introduction"
in which Mr. Taylor dwelt, perhaps unconsciously, on Clare's poverty
as constituting his chief claim to public notice.

The success of the "Poems" could scarcely be overstated. The eager
curiosity of the public led to the first edition being exhausted in a
few days, and a second was promptly announced. "The Gentleman's
Magazine," the "New Monthly Magazine," the "Eclectic Review," the
"Anti-Jacobin Review," the "London Magazine," and many other
periodicals, welcomed the new poet with generous laudation. Following
these came the "Quarterly Review," then under the editorship of the