Excerpt from The Works of Robert Bloomfield "Bloomfield, thy happy omen'd name, Ensures continuance to thy fame: Both sense and truth this verdict give, While fields shall bloom thy name shall live.' Very happy was this exclamation of Kirke White, himself one of the most genial, although most unhappy of poets, concerning an humble poet and shoemaker, whose descriptions of nature are in some respects better than those of Thomson, although they scarcely equal those of Ebenezer Elliott. Yet, in writing a sketch of the life of Robert Bloomfield, there is somehow a void. We have not here to deal with the eccentricities of a young untrained mind, as in the case of Chatterton; there is not the intense interest about the career of this poet, as there is in some of those who struggle up from the foul noisome dens of poverty, - struggle up, and strive for immortality in common with peer or viscount, Byron or Maidstone. Yet there is an interest attaching to Bloomfield, as there is an interest attaching to most men who are self-educated, and who, although not starving, have to labour hard for their daily bread. Let us look at him in London, through his brother's eyes: - "I have him in my mind's eye," says George Bloomfield, "a little boy; not bigger than boys generally are at twelve years old. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.