Bloomfield

Bloomfield, ROBERT, the author of The Farmer's Boy and other pastoral pieces, born 3d December 1766, at Honnington, near Bury St Edmunds, was the son of a poor tailor, who died when Robert was a year old, leaving his wife to struggle with a school, where the future poet learned to read. At the age of eleven he was hired to a farmer, but ultimately became a shoemaker in London, where he wrote his Farmer's Boy in a poor garret. Through the efforts of Capel Loffit it was published in 1800, had extraordinary popularity, and was translated into a number of languages. He subsequently published Rural Tales, Wild Flowers, and other pieces. The Duke of Grafton interested himself in his behalf and gave him a small allowance. He made Æolian harps, wrote poetry, and embarked in the book-trade, but failed. Latterly his health broke down, he became hypochondriac and half blind, and he died in poverty at Shefford, in Bedfordshire, 19th August 1823. See his Remains in Prose and Verse (1824); and W. H. Hart's Selections from Correspondence (1871).