Ere yet the sun is two hours high Winds find all quarters of the sky With sudden shiftings all around And now the gra.s.s upon the ground And now the leaves they wirl and wirl With many a flirting flap and curl JOHN CLARE: A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE

_Works_

1

POEMS DESCRIPTIVE OF RURAL LIFE AND SCENERY. By John Clare, a Northamptonshire Peasant. London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey. 1820.

12mo. Pp. x.x.xii, 222. The second and third editions, 1820; excisions and alterations occur, but not in all copies. Fourth edition, 1821.

2

THE VILLAGE MINSTREL AND OTHER POEMS. Taylor and Hessey. 1821. Two volumes 12mo. Pp. xxviii, 216; vi, 211. Second edition, 1823. The two volumes were also, at a later date, bound in one cover lettered "Poetic Souvenir."

3

THE SHEPHERD'S CALENDAR; WITH VILLAGE STORIES, AND OTHER POEMS.

Taylor. 1827. 12mo. Pp. viii, 238.

4

THE RURAL MUSE. London: Whittaker & Co. 1835. 12mo. Pp. x, 175.

_Biographies and Selections_

5

THE LIFE OF JOHN CLARE. By Frederick Martin, London and Cambridge: Macmillan & Co. 1865. Fcp. 8vo. Pp. viii, 301.

6

LIFE AND REMAINS OF JOHN CLARE. By J. L. Cherry. London: Frederick Warne & Co. Northampton: J. Taylor & Son. 1873. (Issued in the _Chandos Cla.s.sics_, 1873-1877.) Fcap. 8vo. Pp. xiii, 349.

7

POEMS BY JOHN CLARE, selected and introduced by Norman Gale. With a Bibliography by C. Ernest Smith. Geo. E. Over, Rugby, 1901. Fcp. 8vo.

Pp. 206.

8

POEMS BY JOHN CLARE, edited with an Introduction by Arthur Symons.

Frowde, London, 1908. I2mo. Pp. 208.

9

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE BOTANOLOGIA. JOHN CLARE. By G. Claridge Druce.

Pamphlet: no printer's name. 1912. (It includes a memoir, and a cla.s.sification of the flowers described in Clare's poems.)

_Miscellaneous Clare Volumes_

10

FOUR LETTERS from the Rev. W. Allen, to the Right Honourable Lord Radstock, G.C.B., on the Poems of John Clare, the Northamptonshire Peasant. Hatchards' (1823). 12mo. Pp. 77.

11

THREE VERY INTERESTING LETTERS (two in curious rhyme) by the celebrated poets Clare, Cowper, and Bird. With an Appendix (Clare's "Familiar Epistle to a Friend"). ff.13. Charles Clarke's private press, Great Totham, 1837. 8vo. Only 25 copies printed. THE JOHN CLARE CENTENARY EXHIBITION CATALOGUE. Introduction by C. Dack. Peterborough Natural History Society, 1893. Pamphlet. Pp. viii, 28. An edition of 50 copies was printed on large paper.

_Clare's Contributions to Periodicals_

A detailed list of Clare's work in the magazines is a lengthy affair.

His main connections were with the "London Magazine" (1821-1823), "European Magazine" (1825, 1826), "Literary Magnet" (1826, 1827), "Spirit and Manners of the Age" (1828, 1829), the publications of William Hone, "Athenaeum" (1831), "Englishman's Magazine" (1831), "Literary Receptacle" (1835). He contributed once or twice to the "Sheffield Iris," "Morning Post," and the "Champion"; and much of his best work seems to have been printed in local papers, such as the "Stamford Bee." The annuals often included short poems by him: the "Amulet," "Forget-Me-Not," "Friendship's Offering," "Gem," "Juvenile Forget-Me-Not," "Literary Souvenir," etc.

Clare's magazine writings are not always signed, and in the annuals his poems often bear no ascription except "By the Northamptonshire Peasant." After 1837 he appears not to have contributed poems to any journals other than local; though Cyrus Redding in the "English Journal," 1841, gives many of his later verses.

_Incidental Reference Volumes_

ALLIBONE, S. A.--Dictionary of English Literature.

ASKHAM, JOHN--Sonnets on the Months ("To John Clare," p. 185)--1863.

BAKER, Miss A. E.--Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases (Clare contributed)--1854.

CARY, H. F.--MEMOIR OF; ii. 52-53, 94-95--1847.

CHAMBERS, R.--Cyclopaedia of English Literature, ii. 386-390--1861.

DE QUINCZY, T.--London Reminiscences, pp. 143-145--1897.

DE WILDE, G.--Rambles Round About, and Poems: pp. 30-49--1872.

DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY.

DOBELL, B.--Sidelights on Charles Lamb--1903.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA.

(GALIGNANI'S)--Living Poets of England: pp.172-174--1827.

HALL, S. C.--Book of Gems: pp. 162-166--1838.

--A Book of Memories: pp. 107-109.

HEATH, RICHARD--The English Peasant: pp. 292-319--1893.