Spring
The Farmer’s Boy
ARGUMENT.
Invocation, &c. Seed time. Harrowing. Morning walks. Milking. The Dairy. Suffolk Cheese. Spring coming forth. Sheep fond of changing. Lambs at play. The Butcher, &c.
SPRING.
I.
Notes
[1] Rushing] kindling 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[2] hovers] hover fMS Eng 776; fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[3] humble lines] lowly tale {humble lines} fMS Eng 776; lowly tale fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[4] these] those fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[5] Throughout fMS Eng 776, Lofft has emended ‘Jiles’, Bloomfield’s spelling, to ‘Giles’. BACK
[6] As it goes] fairer hues 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[7] Fresh] Or 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[8] summon] summons fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[9] its] their 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[10] ploughs] plough fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[11] helpmates] helpmate fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[12] Assume] Assumes fMS Eng 776 BACK
[13] usurp the empire of his] adhesive loads his clouted 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] [fMS Eng 776.1 adds a note:] ‘This line past muster with Mr Lofft, but not without his owning its faults which he excus’d on account of its being almost a solitary instance of Bombast, and in his opinions admissible, (as he has since said by letter) But the Criticks thought otherwise on its being publish’d. For my part when it was written I had no precise idea of what constituted a fault of that kind. It was only good luck that such lines were not frequent in the Poem. BACK
[14] once transverse] transverse once fMS Eng 776; fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[15] breaks] pierce fMS Eng 776; fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[3rd–14th edns add a note by Capel Lofft (absent in Poems [Stereotype]):] In these verses, which have much of picturesque, there is a severe charge against Rooks and Crows, as very formidable depredators; and their destruction, as such, seems to be recommended. Such was the prevalent opinion some years back. It is less general now: and I am sure the humanity of the Author, and his benevolence to Animals in general, will dispose him to rejoice in whatever plea can be offered in stay of execution of this sentence. And yet more so, if it shall appear that Rooks, at least, deserve not only mercy, but protection and encouragement from the Farmer.
I shall quote a passage from Bewick’s interesting History of Birds: the narrative part of which is often as full of information as the embellishments cut in wood are beautiful… It is this.
Speaking of Birds of the Pie-kind in general, he says ‘Birds of this kind [p. 63] are found in every part of the known world, from Greenland to the Cape of Good Hope. In many respects they may be said to be of singular benefit to mankind: principally by destroying great quantities of noxious insects, worms, and reptiles. Rooks, in particular, are fond of the erucæ of the hedge-chaffer, or chesnut brown beetles for which they search with indefatigable pains. These insects,’ he adds in a note, ‘appear in hot weather in formidable numbers: disrobing the fields and trees of their verdure, blossoms, and fruit; spreading desolation and destruction wherever they go…They appeared in great numbers in Ireland during a hot summer, and committed great ravages. In the year 1747 whole meadows and corn-fields were destroyed by them in Suffolk. The decrease of Rookeries in that County was thought to be the occasion of it. The many Rookeries with us is in some measure the reason why we have so few of these destructive animals.’ [Wallis’s History of Northumberland.]
‘Rooks,’ he subjoins, ‘are often accus’d of feeding on the corn just after it has been sown, and various contrivances have been made both to kill and frighten them away; but, in our estimation, the advantages deriv’d from the destruction which they make among grubs, earth-worms, and noxious insects of various kinds, will greatly overpay the injury done to the future harvest by the small quantity of corn they may destroy in searching after their favourite food’. [Lofft further notes:] Mr. Bewick does not seem to have been quite aware that much of the mischief, as I have been informed by a sensible neighbouring Farmer and Tenant, is done in the grub-state of the chaffer by biting through the roots of grass, &c. A latent, and imperceptibly, but rapidly spreading mischief, against which the rooks and birds of similar instinct are, in a manner, the sole protection. C. L.]
‘In general they are sagacious, active, and faithful to each other. They live in pairs; and their mutual attachment is constant. They are a clamorous race: mostly build in trees, and form a kind of society in which there appears something like a regular government. A Centinel watches for the general safety, and gives notice on the appearance of danger.’
Under the Title, ‘Rooks,’ (p. 71) Mr. Bewick repeats his observations on the useful property of this Bird.
I confess myself solicitous for their safety and kind treatment. We have two which were lam’d by being blown down in a storm (a calamity which destroys great numbers almost every spring). One of them is perfectly domesticated. The other is yet more remarkable; since although enjoying his natural liberty completely, he recognizes, even in his flights at a distance from the house, his adoptive home, his human friends, and early protectors.
The Rook is certainly a very beautiful and very sensible Bird; very confiding, and very much attach’d. It will give me a pleasure, in which I doubt not the Author of this delightful Poem will partake, if any thing here said shall avail them with the Farmer; and especially with the Suffolk Farmer. C. L.
BACK[17] Straw)] In fMS Eng 776 the brackets are closed after ‘Law’ in the previous line BACK
[18] Such centinels] a Centinal fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[19] fMS Eng 776.1 adds note:] This description was the first part composed before I thought of making it a regular poem; This passage, and the Lambs at play allways pleased me best; and were recited with greater interest than any other lines in the piece; perhaps because they were the original efforts, as to the Farmers Boy, or perhaps because they brought the most pleasurable recollections to my mind. BACK
[20] (Whence] Gave fMS Eng 776; fMS Eng 776.1; 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] [fMS Eng 776.1 adds a note concerning Lofft’s emendations:] ‘and added the parenthesis in this and several other places’ BACK
[21] glow’d)] glow’d fMS Eng 776; 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[22] white] bright fMS Eng 776; fMS Eng 776.1, which adds a note: ‘I meant that the Bird in starting to fly, shook the dewdrops, and not the Blossoms from the Thorn. But perhaps the Blossoms is best.’ BACK
[23] bold cock-pheasant] pheasant boldly 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[24] (Thus doubly seen) lighting] Thus doubly seen to clear fMS Eng 776; fMS Eng 776.1; Thus doubly seen to light 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[25] Giving] To give {Giving} fMS Eng 776; And give fMS Eng 776.1; To give 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[26] Effacing quick] And chase away 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[27] the] a {the} fMS Eng 776; a fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[28] Subordinate they one by one succeed; / And one among them] Subbordination stage by stage succeed, / And one amongst fMS Eng 776; fMS Eng 776.1; The strong press on, the weak by turns succeed, / And one superior 8th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] [fMS Eng 776.1 adds note:] ‘As these two lines were troubled with an incurable lameness, perhaps amputation would have been better in this case’. BACK
[29] Which] And fMS Eng 776; fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[30] fMS Eng 776.1 adds a note:] ‘Never was the word here used, but in Gays ‘Trivia’ where he speaks of the shoeblack having a stool’ [see John Gay, Trivia: or, the Art of Walking the Streets of London (1730), Book II, 159–61 ‘The God of day / A tripod gives, amid the crouded way / To raise the dirty foot, and ease his toil’]. BACK
[31] Butter’s dash’d] Butter dash fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[32] Streams of new milk] {Streams of} New milk around fMS Eng 776; New milk around fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[33] [A slave. The inhabitants of Gibeon were condemned by Joshua to be hewers of wood and drawers of water (Joshua, 9: 21).] BACK
[34] drain’st] drain{st} fMS Eng 776; drain fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[35] throngs] throng fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[36] Weveny] Waveny 5th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[37] or] and fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[38] [Three rivers in East Anglia.] BACK
[39] [Thin, watery milk which has been thoroughly skimmed and so has a bluish tinge to it. Suffolk cheese was notorious for its thin, hard quality, caused by skimming all the cream off the milk first to supply butter to the capital. This also made the cheese especially durable, and it was widely used in naval rations, the subject of bitter complaint by the sailors. See N. A. M. Rodger, The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy (London, 1988).] BACK
[40] bloom’st] blooms fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[41] fMS Eng 776.1 adds a note:] ‘Here begins the Remains of the Original MS now in the hands of Mr Hill, so that two hundred and sixty lines are lost. / This information I have from Mr Park, long since I began writing these sheets. Mr Park I find has taken the pains to compare the MS (as far as he had it from Mr Hill) with the printed copy. And he has now seen this new MS that from it he might compleat the collation from my Memory. This he has done, and published the result in the ‘Monthly Mirror’ for last month, January 1802 – And in return, I have assisted my Memory from his notes, through the remainder of the Poem.’ BACK
[42] shepherd idling] idling shepherd 9th and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] BACK
[43] Instinctively they haunt the homeward gate,] Bleating around the homeward gate they meet 2nd and later edns; Poems [Stereotype] [fMS Eng 776.1 adds a note:] ‘This bad rhime amended in the 2d edition’. BACK
[44] Drives] drive fMS Eng 776; fMS Eng 776.1 BACK
[45] fMS Eng 776.1 adds a note:] ‘Composed between May and December 1796.’ BACK