BLOOMFIELD, Robert, was born of very humble parents at the village of Honington in Suffolk, in 1766. Losing his father at the age of eleven, he was apprenticed to a farmer, and could only cultivate his literary tastes by perusing such books as he could borrow. Thomson seems to have been his favourite author, and The Seasons inspired him with the ambition of being a poet. He came to London, and composed The Farmer’s Boy in a garret in Bell Alley. The manuscript fell into the hands of Capel Lofft, who encouraged him to print it, and it succeeded so well, that above 26,000 copies of it were sold. His reputation was increased by the appearance of his Rural Tales, Songs and Ballads, News from the Farm, Wild Flowers, and The Banks of the Wye. These are of unequal merit; but all breathe a spirit of purity and enthusiasm for the beauties of nature, that place the name of Bloomfield among the most natural and amiable of our pastoral poets. The extensive sale of The Farmer’s Boy and Wild Flowers seems to have done little for the benefit of the poet, who died in poverty at Shefford in Bedfordshire in 1823. His Remains in Poetry and Verse, 2 vols., appeared in 1824, and another edition of his poems in 1866. A selection from his correspondence, edited by Hart, appeared in 1871.